Stopping at 48 - is it possible?

Paul_Herring

FatherAbraham wrote: »

NI credits for youngsters who stayed on at school were introduced to encourage better qualifications. Loss of three years of contributions was particularly damaging when men needed 44 years of contributions to qualify for full state pension.

However, no such incentive for university study was ever introduced.

Record (from https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-your-state-pension/account/nirecord after logging in) for someone born May '72 (88/89 is the first entry):

The_Economist

Loving this thread.
Ive been number crunching for years looking for a way to retire early.
Conclusion it ain't easy.
Not gonna give up though.
A couple of websites to look at that might help you on your journey.
http://meanqueen-lifeaftermoney.blogspot.com
https://cookingonabootstrap.com

c'est_moi

Interesting website thanks. I think I am slowly mastering the art of spending as little as possible. Switched supermarkets a few years ago and try to plan for meals a week ahead. Making better use of the freezer. Not buying lots of clothes I don't need - better for the environment too. Do all of the Quidco, energy switch type savers as well. Our biggest extravengence is holidays and its probably that more than anything else that makes me nervous about a big loss in income.

I am into my third week off sick - first time ever in my working life. I think the great weather has helped me adjust. I am still going backwards and forwards in my head about where to go from here. I have had a bit of a halfhearted look at other jobs but nothing that appeals to me - I really don't know what sort of job I could do (other than not what I am doing now!)

I have also started to think again about pension options - I could take more in annual pension and less in lump sum - had not considered that up until now. I could also wait a couple of years till I'm say 57 to draw on pension (and use up some of the savings instead)- would then only take a 12% reduction. This might be better in the long term as the pension is index linked whereas the interest on savings does not seem to be moving up any time soon. I think this might also mean that my wife would get a bigger portion of the pension if I die.

I have also taken another look at where our savings currently are - I am going to move my £50000 ISA to a 2 year fixed rate ISA paying 1.8% which is better than where the money is currently.

So - still no firm plans yet but having a bit of a spring clean of our finances can't be a bad thing.

downshifted

I think you’re being very sensible to take your time, explore all options and give yourself chance to feel better before making any big decisions.

atush

We have £120 000 in savings making next to no interest but I have had my fingers burnt on investments in the past so do not want to move any savings into any shares etc.

This sounds like you investd in single shares or non standard investments. The only money i hae lost is in Single shares. Any and all trusts ad funds I have, have made me money as I invest for the long term. Some investment trusts have paid increasing dividends every year for Decades, incl during the financial crisis. So do look into collective funds for part of the money.

Happy Me had some good ideas in their post. Quit your current job, take a break and look for something new.

Do consider this over taking your DB pension reduced at 55.

justme111

c'est_moi wrote: »

I do regret that our life savings will be spent on bridging the gap rather than all the luxury holidays I would have liked, but I am now beginning to wonder if my health will hold out long enough to be able to enjoy them in 10 years time anyway!

Once again, thanks for all the feedback so far.

A couple of considerations:
-If you did not have all those luxury holidays during your working life you are unlikely to enjoy them when you retired - you will begrudge spending money that you never used to be able to spend and likely to be disappointed at what you get for that money. If you had already holidays that you describe as luxury then they are included in your expenses and you will be able to afford them anyway.
- money that you have is not all going to be spent on covering that gap - it would be about half of it . I reckon for someone who spends no more than 1 k a month 50 k is plenty for luxury holidays.

The_Economist

I think you are doing the right thing not rushing in to anything.
I would say there is plenty of home work to do first.
I'm going to keep looking at ways to reduce my out goings. I need to review savings & how best to get the best return on them. I'm like you risk cautious and don't really like tying monies up for a longtime.
Moving forward I think its not about giving everything up but doing things a different way.

Triumph13

How is your wife's pension provision looking? That's the one piece of the jigsaw missing at the moment.
I agree with the other posters about not rushing into anything and looking at part time work, but you are in a good position financially and clearly not enjoying work so it does look like time for a change.
Even if your wife has no personal or work pension you will eventually be able to cover more than your current spending from your DB plus 2 lots of SP. The challenge is to work out how to get there as DW's SP won't kick in for 24 years and I doubt she'll want to keep working all that time.
You need to look at her pension savings to work out when she would be able to retire too and make sure that's an answer that's acceptable to both of you.

c'est_moi

Thanks again for all of the responses.

My wife's pension is more complicated than mine as its in more than one pot, but I think it would be around about 8K per year if she draws it at 60. Ideally she would not work until then though!

Interesting thought regarding the holidays - yes you are right I like to get value for money so I would never be able to totally spludge on them. I guess what I mean by 'luxury' is 'bigger' - the 4 week week road trip to Canada w had always planned, rather than the 2 weeks SC in Spain we do now. We have 3 or 4 holidays a year but we also shop around. I guess we spend about 5K a year, but you are right when I have looked at what we would need to live on I have taken into account some holiday costs.

andy001

Hi

The best solution is.. change jobs.. It does the trick for most..
You can always retire in few years...

Best wishes and look after yourself

Andy