Semi retire at 55

Dazed_and_C0nfused

You probably are going to be entitled to the full new State Pension, or possibly more, but assumption is never a good idea with finances.

Particularly when you fall under transitional rules not the much vaunted 35 years is what matters.

Just check your State Pension forecast on gov.uk and then you will know the facts and whether you might need to make voluntary contributions after early retirement.

Make sure you read it in detail, not just the headline figure.

HobgoblinBT

With regard to work have you considered going part time?  I worked in a stressful job and 3 years before I took early retirement at age 57, my employer agreed to changing my contract from 35 hours over 5 days to 32 hours over 4 days.  Once tax was taken into account, the difference in take home pay was negligible.  Reducing working days by 20% increased my non working days by 50% boosting my me time, and reducing work stress. 

eastcorkram

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

You probably are going to be entitled to the full new State Pension, or possibly more, but assumption is never a good idea with finances.

Particularly when you fall under transitional rules not the much vaunted 35 years is what matters.

Just check your State Pension forecast on gov.uk and then you will know the facts and whether you might need to make voluntary contributions after early retirement.

Make sure you read it in detail, not just the headline figure.

Do you think it's ok to take the figures as being correct? My headline figure is £175, that's up to April 2020. Further down it gives the figure up to April 2016, and the figure is identical.
It says I have 5 more years to contribute. I have 29 full years , and 16 missing. These were worked outside the UK. 
Is it possible that with 29 years full , I could get £175, even I didn't contribute for the next five years? I'm not planning on doing that, but it makes it sound like I could if I wished to. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Why do you think they might be wrong?

Yes it is possible, under the transitional rules, to get £175 with 29 years. 

It could be argued that you are a loser under the new system but there is nothing you can do to change that now.  You have the advantage of knowing that you will get £175 even if you don't add any additional years.

It is not impossible that adding pre 2016 years could increase the £175 but you should contact the Future Pension Centre to check that.

NottinghamKnight

It's certainly possible to have qualified for the full new pension on 29 years, a higher earner who wasn't contracted out for example would get there that quickly.

michaels

I got there after about 24 years working plus the extra years credited when I was a student etc. I was about 1 year short when the system changed so I am a real loser from not having contracted out. I get no pension benefit on any NI paid after my late 40s. I guess I should console myself that I am therefore doing more than my share of supporting the NHS.

eastcorkram

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Why do you think they might be wrong?

Yes it is possible, under the transitional rules, to get £175 with 29 years. 

It could be argued that you are a loser under the new system but there is nothing you can do to change that now.  You have the advantage of knowing that you will get £175 even if you don't add any additional years.

It is not impossible that adding pre 2016 years could increase the £175 but you should contact the Future Pension Centre to check that.

I don't think it's wrong. I was just wondering, as my figure , I've just re checked , and it's actually £177.16, seems high to me, compared with some of the figures I see on here, given it's only from 29 years. I'm not complaining. It does say I can increase it, by buying one of the missed years. 
Many thanks for the answer.

[Deleted User]

You need to build a plan and an investment policy for yourself.

 Figure out how much you need to take from your 500k pot and when. Will be a variable number as your family’s other income and, possibly,  expenses will change over time.  That will tell you what “success” looks like - having the pot to provide for your needs for as long as necessary.

Like others have said, you then need to build a single investment policy across all your accounts.  Understand your risks, risk tolerance.  Establish your asset allocation that meets your needs and the risk profile.  The more money you need to take out of your pot, the more risk you need to take on.   Right now a 50/50 portfolio has low expected returns because bonds (half of that portfolio) are expected to return less than inflation. Not necessarily a problem, you might be ok with a “safe” portfolio with very low returns. 

Once you do pick an appropriate allocation of assets, find the most cost efficient and simple vehicles (funds) to meet your needs. Minimizing costs means doing some reading.  A given asset allocation has something called “expected return”.  Fees come of your return. That includes platform fees, fund fees and adviser fees (if you have them).  Say a 50/50 portfolio is expected to return 2% above inflation. If your total costs are 1.5% per year then three quarters of what your money makes goes to the intermediaries.  If you do get IFA advice, don’t let them set up something that requires them to manage it on an ongoing basis. Regulated or not, the quality of IFA advice varies and there are plenty of examples on this forum. 

On a side note, I don’t like Royal London portfolios and how they are presented, but that’s neither here nor there. Read a few books, starting with the simplest. Something like DIY pensions by Edwards. 

 

You have time now, so decide if investing a few hours to do a little reading for the sake of your family’s prosperity  is going to be worth it. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

eastcorkram said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Why do you think they might be wrong?

Yes it is possible, under the transitional rules, to get £175 with 29 years. 

It could be argued that you are a loser under the new system but there is nothing you can do to change that now.  You have the advantage of knowing that you will get £175 even if you don't add any additional years.

It is not impossible that adding pre 2016 years could increase the £175 but you should contact the Future Pension Centre to check that.

I don't think it's wrong. I was just wondering, as my figure , I've just re checked , and it's actually £177.16, seems high to me, compared with some of the figures I see on here, given it's only from 29 years. I'm not complaining. It does say I can increase it, by buying one of the missed years. 
Many thanks for the answer.

Worth checking that out then as it's possible c£800 could add £5/week to your State Pension.

But check the actual increase before buying the extra year.

DIYPhil

1_robbo said

Thanks for the reply, not really thought of her losing job, it's rare teachers do lose their job but I understand there's always a risk. 

There is also a risk that a) your wife could suffer ill health and be unable to continue working and b) have a accident e.g. a road accident, which was her fault and be unable to claim for her injuries, loss of earnings and pension etc.