Best time of year to retire (UK!)

zagubov

A factor in my retiring when I did was, in the TPS, as far as I can tell, if you don't retire at the earliest opportunity, you lose the pension.

Triumph13

As others have said, the right time is when you've got enough and when you've had enough. If you want to be absolutely, tip-top optimal though, I would say far enough into the new tax year to get your NI stamp and the multiple paid bank holidays, but early enough to get a decent holiday in before the prices go up!

Apodemus

zagubov wrote: »

In my job you can only retire on one of three different dates in the year (the last days of April, August or December).

Genuine question... How can that be legal? An employee can surely withdraw their labour at any time, subject to their notice period? Are the contractual notice periods set for these dates, rather than a fixed period from notification of the intent?

EDIT: Or perhaps this is not a true employee situation, but a partnership of some sort?

ScoobyZ

sheslookinhot wrote: »

Is working for an extra 2 or 3 months really worth it to get some tax refunded ? If money is that important why not just continue to earn.

:money:

Yea good point, I might work until I die then. I thought this was a money saving site!

:T

kuratowski

Apodemus wrote: »

Genuine question... How can that be legal? An employee can surely withdraw their labour at any time, subject to their notice period? Are the contractual notice periods set for these dates, rather than a fixed period from notification of the intent

Sounds to me like teaching, where your notice period runs to the end of the month following the end of the school term. At least, in the cases I know about.

zagubov

Apodemus wrote: »

Genuine question... How can that be legal? An employee can surely withdraw their labour at any time, subject to their notice period?

AFAIK, it's standard for educational jobs.

Apodemus wrote: »

Are the contractual notice periods set for these dates, rather than a fixed period from notification of the intent?

I think that's the way it's arranged; you can't pick other dates, but you can sometimes negotiate your notice.
The employer usually wants a term's notice, but in amicable situations this can be shortened (but the pension company needs up to a couple of months to arrange the pension)

LHW99

There used to be 3 specific dates for teachers to retire - 31st August, 31st december and I think 30th April. You were expected to give (I think) 3 months notice. It was part of the contract, and if you had a short term contract it would run until one of those dates. Supply teachers didn't work to those rules, because they were employed as and when, often for one or two days at a time, rarely more. You had the option of taking on the work as a supply, so there wasn't really a notice period as such

Parking_Trouble

I retired at the end of June this year, driven by a return from great holiday in Australia (good) and the continuing office politics (bad). I resigned at the end of March.

This gave me the benefit of long summer days to work through a peak of too many retirement projects. Now I've realised I don't have to work at the pace I did in employment so now have a more relaxed routine, of which outdoor activities have less daylight hours.

I did remark to people only last week that I feel noticeably happier. Still some way to go from being that grumpy frustrated git (but a good manager :-) ) at work but it feels like a weight has been lifted.

Had I stopped now with dark damp days starting I think it would take longer for the serotonin levels to rise.

Snakey

Yes - while you can always go somewhere (or somewheres) hot and sunny for four months directly after your last day, it doesn't fit well with the standard advice to not make any big changes straight away.

cfw1994

Triumph13 wrote: »

As others have said, the right time is when you've got enough and when you've had enough. If you want to be absolutely, tip-top optimal though, I would say far enough into the new tax year to get your NI stamp and the multiple paid bank holidays, but early enough to get a decent holiday in before the prices go up!

Just on this point.....makes sense to me, but how much do you need to earn for that?
Not easy to find online!