When R U Officially Classed as Retired?

NorthernGeezer_2

I'm assuming its at your government defined retirement date, in my case November 2021.
So, if that's the case, up to then you are officially employed or unemployed?
At present i'm employed but intend to be unemployed on May 1st this year.
My gross 'earnings' for the tax year 2018/19 are likely to be £5000 so i'm assuming i can pay this whole amount in to my pension to gain the tax relief?
Does it matter when i pay this amount in to the pension pot?
I intend to withdraw my full tax free allowance from my pension in this tax year, presumably this cannot be classed as earnings under recycling rules.

Linton

"Retired" doesnt have an official definition. You can be taking your SP and still working. You can stop working whenever you want. Employed means earning. Unemployed means not earning but want to be earning. If you are not one of these you could class yourself as retired or living off private means or whatever - up to you.

The restrictions on what you can pay into your pension operate on a tax year basis. It doesnt matter when in the tax year your earnings were received. Note that any money you paid into your pension whilst employed counts against the £5K. Also note that your contribution should be 80% of what you want in yor pension - HMRC add in the 20%.

See here for a useful explanation of recycling rules.

AnotherJoe

Agreed, there is no such thing as "officially" retired.

What I will say from my personal experience is that financial institutions haven't yet caught up with how people run their lives and do insist on classifications that make no sense, and cannot understand Things like drawdown in terms of income. As I posted previously, I coudl be classified as having income anywhere from nothing to in excess of £100k a year depending how you'd like to measure it. (The £100k being entirely fictitious but if you just looked at incoming amounts to bank accounts that's what it would be)

OldMusicGuy

The UK employment figures seem to focus on the 16 to 64 age range, so I assume after that you are just ignored. I am "economically inactive" as far as the employment stats are concerned because I have retired from full time work aged 60, am not seeking employment and am not paying any tax or NI.

JezR

Some insurers have caught up, and have offer a category of 'living on own means' or some such. By the same measure, retired or unemployed tends to mean being in receipt of the appropriate state benefit(s).

Audaxer

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

I am "economically inactive" as far as the employment stats are concerned because I have retired from full time work aged 60, am not seeking employment and am not paying any tax or NI.

I'm in a similar position, but as I recently found out that I am not forecast to get the maximum State Pension, so I'm now looking to start paying voluntary NI contributions until I reach State Pension age.

It would be worthwhile checking your State Pension forecast if you have not already done so, as I had wrongly assumed that with over 40 years of NI contributions I would get the maximum State Pension.

Browntoa

Loads of employers started doing "offset" on the state pension , like yourself I am 3 years short on NI contributions

You can buy the missing years up to the point you start drawing your state pension

Brynsam

[QUOTE=Browntoa;73971694
You can buy the missing years up to the point you start drawing your state pension[/QUOTE]

Not quite accurate - see https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/deadlines

Deneb

JezR wrote: »

Some insurers have caught up, and have offer a category of 'living on own means' or some such. By the same measure, retired or unemployed tends to mean being in receipt of the appropriate state benefit(s).

If you use the category "Having independent means" you will attract a much higher premium than simply being "Retired" in my experience of trying these categories on house and car insurance quotes with different insurers.

I suspect they assume that you spend all day knocking back the Bolly and are at higher risk of drinking and driving or burning the house down whilst p*****d or similar!

Retired is surely as simple as having left employment voluntarily, with no intention of ever seeking further employment. My insurers are all happy to accept that, and I am 60 and not in receipt of any state benefits.

PeacefulWaters

When you're old enough not to abbreviate text speak.

green_man

I am 52 and have been retired for 2.5 years. I do not drawdown a pension nor receive state pension or any other benefits, however I have stopped employment with no intention of returning to work, hence I am retired.

retired
r!!!618;!!!712;t!!!652;!!!618;!!!601;d/Submit
adjective
1.
having left one's job and ceased to work.
"a retired headmaster"