How much to live on

louby40

Congratulations Baron Dale. I know full well how you will have shaped many students lives.
Definitely a time to reflect and celebrate.

2Scratters

@[Deleted User] congratulations on your latest qualification of retired. 

2 Scratters xx

Organgrinder

[Deleted User] said:

It is done! At 1400hours today I entered full retirement after being semi-retired for 6 years!

I do not regret continuing to work part-time, but I am now looking forward to new adventures and some rest!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my career. I will certainly miss my colleagues and students, the latter keeping me well informed and young at heart!

Out to dinner tonight with family to enjoy and reflect.

Amazing. I look forward to joining you in full time retirement in 4 years.

newroadahead

BaronDale 
Enjoy your well earned retirement

NRA

Skint_yet_Again

Congratulations on your retirement @[Deleted User] 

Enjoy! 

Brighton01

Congratulations @[Deleted User] You’ve certainly earned this. How’s it going so far?!

Murphybear

Retirement can be great fun.  One of the first things we did was join U3A.  I learnt how to play MahJong and croquet.  We played bridge and Scrabble and I ran the Quiz group.  We joined the lunch club, we met for lunch once a month at a local pub.  In rural Devon there were many to choose from.

It is lovely going shopping when most people are at work and on holiday when the kiddiwinks are safely tucked up in school  . As many others have said, how did I find time to work 

Organgrinder

Well the first of two lump sums came through this week and tempting as it is to pay off the mortgage, our current rate is fixed for the next 2.5 years at 1.64%....giving a healthy 3-4% extra as we can invest it instead. Ok we're not talking mega bucks but I'll happily take that £5k-£6k!

On the downside my plan on recycling my pension lump sum has backfired. HMRC rules are that you cannot do your calculations on the total lump sum you get which seems ridiculous to me.

Oh well, the above compensates for that!

[Deleted User]

Returned last Thursday from our 4 day nostalgia trip to Kent. Spent the last 3 days tidying the garden, catching up with the laundry, a little shopping, reading and planning activities.

I’m the type of person who needs a plan or schedule and have always been so since being a child! So this week the plan is to spend some time gardening, work on my French and German using the OU free courses and my purchased DVDs and books plus of course the usual household chores. I will also exercise daily (which to be honest I am pretty good at keeping too) and spend at least an hour or so reading each day.

No personal spends planned this week apart from the cost of dry cleaning a blazer. Food spending will come out of joint account I have with my older relative. The car has an almost full tank of petrol and will not need filling up for about 3 weeks.

I spent just over £300 in Kent. This seems high, but that included 3 very good meals in great restaurants, buying a large bottle of my favourite eau de cologne, two pairs of casual trousers and a couple of tops. All spends came out of their designated budgets so no impact on savings.

My last pay slip is fine on June 30th. It will only be about £300 net as I only worked a few days at the beginning of the month. Some will go to savings and the rest to top up main current account. I always have £1200 in my current account on the last day of the month ready for the larger standing orders/ direct debits that go out during the first few days of the next month. My small annuity arrives on about the 3rd of each month and my TPS pension on the 14th. On the 15th a standing order and direct debit for savings, annual bills budgets and ISA investment leave the account.

From July until next July, after all bills, regular payments and savings have left my account I will have about £276 a month for discretionary spending which is more than adequate. State pension begins in July 2024.

I plan to sort our my voluntary NI payment for the rest of the 2023/2024 financial year as I will have only paid 3 months worth in employment. This is the final year for me to do so. (Year 47!) I want to get this sorted as my state pension starts from July next year and I want everything in place by then.

Right, time to get out of bed and do my stint in the garden for today.

jevbanx1

Hello Baron Dale
I didn't know we could pay NI voluntarily? I'm going to look into that. Thank you. Enjoy your day