Can I really retire...

ams25

The other approach re LTA, assuming a balanced portfolio, is to skew the more aggressive part of you portolio towards ISAs and even taxable accounts (don't forget CGT allowances) while having proprtionately more lower growth holdings in your SIPP. I am knocking on the LTA limits and have tried to do this. Of course markets may resolve this for us in the next year or two.

Triumph13

jamesd wrote: »

The lifetime allowance is now supposed to increase with inflaion so withdrawing real rather than nominal growth should suffice.

Avoiding higher rate tax is one of the potential advantages of taking DB early, could help quite a bit after state pension age.

That only works with uncrystallised funds / unused LTA. OP will use up all of his LTA (indeed he may want to leave some of the DC uncrystallised to pay the LTA charge at 65 rather than have it taken from his DB).
If you've already used up all your LTA then further indexation doesn't help you as the test at 75 is against the nominal amounts you put into drawdown arrangements rather than against the LTA.

jamesd

JoeEngland wrote: »

Quote of the day: "Running out of money is only a possibility, running out of time is a certainty."

And in this case running out of money is really hard because of the DB pensions, state pensions and equity in two properties.

Somewhere in the future there's going to need to be some serious inheritance tax planning. Funding deposits for the children by selling the BTL, perhaps. Or mortgaging it to the maximum to fund that so its equity value doesn't grow too much. But first they need to become truly comfortable with realising that their past prudence means that money is plentiful compared to the target.

jamesd

Triumph13 wrote: »

That only works with uncrystallised funds / unused LTA. OP will use up all of his LTA

It's possible but I think there's a fair chance some will still be available. Can't be sure either way, though.

WirelessWizard

Thank you everyone, I am feeling more confident in my high level plans given all of the excellent comments and suggestions received. There are definitely some areas that have been highlighted that I need to consider and study before taking the next steps towards early retirement.

gadgetmind

Spreadsheetman wrote: »

You just play one on TV

I certainly don't (see sig!)

Marine_life

fred246 wrote: »

I was working from the Which magazine survey. £39k is a luxurious retirement according to current pensioners.

Then they have very low ambition

gadgetmind

I'm trying to achieve £60k pa (£5k pcm after tax) with (effectively) zero DB pensions coming online at any point and me putting £0 in for state pension as the sods simply can't be trusted!

missile

WirelessWizard wrote: »

Dear All,

I!!!8217;ve been a reader of this forum for some time but haven!!!8217;t posted until now.

I!!!8217;m 50 and my wife will also be 50 in Nov 2019, both healthy and active. My wife has already retired , she left her job 18 months ago and is enjoying the freedom that this has given her. I!!!8217;m still working full-time but I!!!8217;m finding it increasingly difficult to maintain my motivation levels as I did when I was younger (stress, business travel, politics etc). We!!!8217;ve both saved diligently through our working lives and now find ourselves in a very fortunate position in that I think I could consider joining her at some point. I think I!!!8217;ve analyzed the financials to the point where I think I will be able to pull the trigger on early retirement, but I think I!!!8217;m scared of giving up on the regular income. It feels like a big step even though I've been planning for this since I was in my early 20's. I!!!8217;d really appreciate any advice/opinion/thoughts on whether I can *really* retire early.

We have two sons (aged 24 and 22), one working and the other in his final year of Uni.

Desired Income in retirement: £48k net

Property
House (mortgage free): £800k (plan to downsize between 60-65)
BTL flat (mortgage free): £15k pa income gross

Savings
Cash/SS ISA!!!8217;s (Combined): £250k
Cash/Bonds etc (Combined): £285k

Pensions
DC (Me): £700k
DB at 65 (Me): £13k pa
DB at 60 (Wife): £7k pa
SP at 67 (Combined): £18k pa

My plan would be use the BTL income plus draw down the ISA!!!8217;s and Cash first, leave the DC for as long as possible. I will need to keep any eye on LTA as this may come into play quicker than I think. I'm not currently paying into my DC pension due to concerns over LTA but my employer is providing a pension replacement payment of 14% of salary which I'm funnelling into our ISA's.

Does this all sound sensible? I!!!8217;m considering taking to an IFA to validate our plans and to provide some specific advice, but I!!!8217;ve never really sought any financial advice before (I probably should have done) so any opinions on the value of doing this now would also be appreciated.

All advice/comments gratefully received.

Thanks for your time.

Go for it :j

I too retired early and was very surprised that after a year I really missed the challenge of working. How sad is that? Apparently this is quite common?:eek:

Fortunately I was able to find part time employment as a contractor.

I have since given that up too :A

justme111

WirelessWizard wrote: »

There are definitely some areas that have been highlighted that I need to consider and study before taking the next steps towards early retirement.

cop out.
they can be considered once you retired.