when is enough, enough? long term planning

ian1246

One thing you might want to consider is what happens to your wife if you end up in care. Your pension/ DC Pot would be entirely for your care costs only, meaning your wife would not be able to draw on it for her own use.
Might be worth investing substantially into her pension & LISA's (left in place after you both retire) so that she at least has a backup fund of income/£££'s should you end up in care.

Mick70

if you're only 40, just keep saving as you are doing so , anything could happen between now and you reaching retirement age , you are on track for a decent sized pot , don't become obsessed and miss out on your 40s/50s.. and for what ?

Albermarle

it sounds like a no brainer to me....I would take the job that minimises your stress levels and is more convenient for your location. ...one thing that money cannot buy you is more time!

There is still an unknown to consider . Moving to another job does not always work out . There might seem to be less stress , more time with family , but what if your new boss turns out to be a bad one , or the work is much more boring etc 

Grass always seems greener on the other side.....

tigerspill

Mistermeaner said:

I think nationally a lot more needs to be done to communicate about pensions otherwise lots of folk will be selling their homes looking for council accommodation and having pretty miserable retirements in 10-20 years time

TBH., surely this is as much to do with personal responsibility.
Any adult has the wit to ask themselves "how will I survive financially when I stop work?".
What actually happens is they bury their heads.  Or they have a YOLO attitude.  Adults should think and behave like adults and take responsibilities for their actions.  All the information is there if het did a quick look.
This is not me being "I'm all right Jack".  I made difficult decisions and sacrifices to prepare for my future.  I have no regrets, though it was tough at time.  I could have chosen a much easier path, but would have had to work for many more years.
We all have to make choices.

crv1963

tigerspill said:

Mistermeaner said:

I think nationally a lot more needs to be done to communicate about pensions otherwise lots of folk will be selling their homes looking for council accommodation and having pretty miserable retirements in 10-20 years time

TBH., surely this is as much to do with personal responsibility.
Any adult has the wit to ask themselves "how will I survive financially when I stop work?".
What actually happens is they bury their heads.  Or they have a YOLO attitude.  Adults should think and behave like adults and take responsibilities for their actions.  All the information is there if het did a quick look.
This is not me being "I'm all right Jack".  I made difficult decisions and sacrifices to prepare for my future.  I have no regrets, though it was tough at time.  I could have chosen a much easier path, but would have had to work for many more years.
We all have to make choices.

tigerspill I completely agree with you, but the point is most choose not to either take personal responsibility, spend all they earn or accept that they need to understand finances generally. I knew I was in a good pension scheme and sailed blindly along thinking "we'll be alright in old age" then circumstances changed and reality dawned on me. We're now repairing the damage from lost years of contributions into Mrs CRV pension pots at a cost - more travel/ working away from home than desired but with the ultimate goal of ensuring we both have a decent retirement.

OP I would do whatever your heart tells you- children grow faster than you think and time cannot be bought. My sons don't recall much about the costs of gifts/ activities etc, but they do remember time spent with them.

I would suggest that you try to get as much as possible into your wifes pots- retirement as a couple is a joint venture and while I will always be a taxpayer Mrs CRV will not, so we're not going to be very tax efficient in the draw down stage. Had we planned earlier then we would have put much more into her pot than we did. Now playing catch up!

Stubod

....I left school at 16 not knowing what I wanted to do for a job....now retired and still equally clueless...

Albermarle

tigerspill I completely agree with you, but the point is most choose not to either take personal responsibility, spend all they earn or accept that they need to understand finances generally.

Although I would agree with when it comes to average/middle earners,you forget a much bigger category. Those who usually by no fault of their own ( poor education, low IQ, low wage area etc )  have to live on very low wages and can hardly keep their head above water , never mind save for the future . For them finances means having enough to  pay for the next food shop for the kids. Most stats show that this would apply to at least 25% of households.

bostonerimus

You should be mindful of things like pension thresholds, but don’t use taxes or penalties as a reason to reduce your savings. You might consider redirecting some money to pay down mortgages or into non retirement accounts. One thing to consider is the issue of inheritance. I’m in the nice situation of compound interest growing my pot substantially and estate planning is now a big issue.

Mistermeaner

and so it begins..... notice handed in today 

mcooke999

Good luck.