Plotting for an early retirement - anyone want to join me?

bluenose1

RueyE wrote: »

Hi,
After having a week off from work I have just started following this thread, and like everyone else I will be following this with interest.

I'm also heading for the early retirement door, with my current end date set to July 2021, by which time I'll be 58. OH will only be 54.
One thing I'm trying to sort out is how to convince my OH to stop work at the same time as myself, so we can do all the fun things retirement permits together.
One thing I'm finding is that it is a mental battle to overcome accepting that less money will be coming into the coffers than the amount being spent, especially as there will be about 2 years to wait before my half-decent company pension kicks in. We have been preparing for this by saving very hard, but with kids at university for at least three more years the costs are currently quite high.
Once we can accept the situation (and that we have prepared as best possible), I'm sure it will be fine.

Anyway good luck with everything.

I have one child still at University and a 16 year old who is likely to go as well. That is making me a bit fearful of future income requirements as worried about retiring and not being able to help them out as much as I would like to.
My husband retired a couple of years ago at 49 from the police so has a decent pension, but I think for me it is just fear of the unknown, financially speaking.

MallyGirl

I have a 17 yo who is looking at a 5 or 6 year degree so I don't feel able to make any decisions till we see what that feels like in terms of support.

cfw1994

I’m still crunching numbers, but with younger daughter scheduled to finish uni next year, that feels a good time to think about stepping away from the mayhem of work....I’m getting too old for IT these days :rotfl:

Our two then need to start to find their own way, so not completely out of our hands (or fiscal books :eek:) yet....but getting close....

My “fear” is that we may have a market correction, which could impact the value of things, but keep investing, keep planning....

I do feel that around 2 months into a tax year feels the right time of year to do, so May-June sounds good.....

JessyM

Hello All. I’m plotting and planning early retirement too. My OH has already retired, unfortunately due to ill health. So I would like to retire before the SP age so we still have the opportunity to have the retirement we planned. My current age is 57, so technically I could go now, but two financial commitments prevent this; car and mortgage. My CS pension lump sum would pay these two commitments off but I am loathe to do so, as about a third of my cash lump sum would be consumed.

I have a spreadsheet that calculates pension and lump sum for each year until age 67. When a little box turns green then that means the minimum pension I would like to take and I can tender my notice.. But work is such that some days I am the Statue, and rather less often, I am the pigeon:rotfl: We have a new dog and have relocated to be near the seaside. We have a brand new house, a low value mortgage, no debt and some modest savings. I have less than a thousand calendar days to age 60.

I want to be able to retire, be financially secure, and be able to do something else, something that is fulfilling and creative. I will also do some volunteering work.

Happy journey everyone

Cheshiregrin

I love this thread…

I find it so interesting reading this thread as I have become obsessed with early retirement myself and I love reading what everyone is doing and planning. I have a spreadsheet that I agonise over quite regularly but I am not at all certain it is correct.

I am 57 in a few weeks and hope to retire at the end of August 2022 when I will be 60. I pay into a work pension and I am planning on paying up to my annual allowance into an AVC to take advantage of tax relief until then, (sadly not salary sacrifice). I plan to live off the AVC savings until I am 65 and then start taking my work pension. SP kicks in at age 67.

That’s my plan but after a few very recent changes at work and after reading posts from people in a similar position, I am thinking it may be a good idea to continue part time for a while longer, even as little as 1 day a week. I should still have enough from AVC savings to leave work and retire full time as my original plan if working part time does not work out for me.

I also have an OH who is 4.5 years younger who I would love to have retire at the same time as me, but he is reluctant to do more that chat about it. I see that I am not the only one in this situation and that’s what is so great about reading your posts everyone! And now I won’t feel so daft when I play around with my spreadsheet! 

MallyGirl

Not daft at all.
OH is still enjoying some aspects of his job whereas I am not. I am only 52 though so have at least 3 years more skin in the game. I did say the other day that I would not be looking to just sit in the garden doing nothing - after my time on here I am interested in doing some volunteering around helping people with debt issues, maybe stepchange or something local. Maybe I will do that while he carries on for a bit. My boss is currently exploring dropping to 4 days so that might be a way to ease in gently - still keeping the generous health and life insurance etc.

geoffers4

Cheshiregrin wrote: »

I am 57 in a few weeks and hope to retire at the end of August 2022 when I will be 60. I pay into a work pension and I am planning on paying up to my annual allowance into an AVC to take advantage of tax relief until then, (sadly not salary sacrifice). I plan to live off the AVC savings until I am 65 and then start taking my work pension. SP kicks in at age 67.

That’s my plan but after a few very recent changes at work and after reading posts from people in a similar position, I am thinking it may be a good idea to continue part time for a while longer, even as little as 1 day a week. I should still have enough from AVC savings to leave work and retire full time as my original plan if working part time does not work out for me.

I also have an OH who is 4.5 years younger who I would love to have retire at the same time as me, but he is reluctant to do more that chat about it. I see that I am not the only one in this situation and that’s what is so great about reading your posts everyone! And now I won’t feel so daft when I play around with my spreadsheet! 

Ha, very similar story here...looks like we are exactly the same age, and I'm aiming for summer 2022 also! I'm also paying into an AVC but in my case that will probably go towards a small property somewhere warm & sunny. OH is 9 years younger so will continue working part-time doing a couple of things she really enjoys.

I would love to go part-time myself - but my boss isn't keen to say the least as we both have very demanding roles. Wonder what could persuade him - any suggestions anyone??

JessyM

geoffers4 wrote: »

Ha, very similar story here...looks like we are exactly the same age, and I'm aiming for summer 2022 also! I'm also paying into an AVC but in my case that will probably go towards a small property somewhere warm & sunny. OH is 9 years younger so will continue working part-time doing a couple of things she really enjoys.

I would love to go part-time myself - but my boss isn't keen to say the least as we both have very demanding roles. Wonder what could persuade him - any suggestions anyone??

Without knowing what you do and who you do it for here are a few ideas to consider:

Job Share
Flexible Working
Alternate Working Patterns
Sabbatical - though probably unpaid

shinytop

geoffers4 wrote: »

Ha, very similar story here...looks like we are exactly the same age, and I'm aiming for summer 2022 also! I'm also paying into an AVC but in my case that will probably go towards a small property somewhere warm & sunny. OH is 9 years younger so will continue working part-time doing a couple of things she really enjoys.

I would love to go part-time myself - but my boss isn't keen to say the least as we both have very demanding roles. Wonder what could persuade him - any suggestions anyone??

Part time or I'm leaving?

RueyE

Hi again,
I too have a spreadsheet that I tinker with once every few month (as the situation dictates).

Anyway regarding university costs, as we are (now) a low income family, we were able to obtain a bursary for each child at their university. So check that with university if that is possible. We managed to get £1000 per child per year - which was very useful.

The only possible restriction we placed upon my kids was that we weren't overly keen on them going to a university in London (due to the additional costs). We would have accepted it if they had wanted to go there, but it would have been a much more difficult financial balancing act, however we were lucky in that they chose elsewhere.
Basically all the money we get from Student Finance England (we get just shy of the maximum amount available), just about pays for their accommodation, eating costs and society memberships, and not much else. They use the university library to avoid the cost of academic books (which are very expensive) and we give both kids an allowance of £120 pcm (not a lot I know). We also cover the costs of any new clothing (they both are encouraged to use charity shops were possible), contact lens, mobile phones contracts etc.
The mindset of both my kids is that they don't worry too much about the overall debt they have built up (not my mindset though) as they see it for what is it, and will pay their dues once they earn over the threshold amount. (They don't know, but we have built in this cost to our retirement living expenses, so we will pick up the tab for that).
We also took out a Help To Buy ISA for each of them, due to be completed by the time they finish at university. So they will gain the maximum government contribution.

Anyway happy to share any other thoughts on university costs.