FIREside Chats

Retireinten

becky_rtw said:

Okay asking that stupid question kicked me a bit and I have reviewed my state pension forecast, I already have 20 years (yeah for starting work young) so should end up retiring on 23 or 24 full years so will then need to look at whether buying the gap is worth it versus the age I will be when receiving it and our planned income at that time. 

Thanks for the useful chat @hugheskevi and @Suffolk_lass

I can't help you with your state pension question sorry but your retirement age of 42 jumped out at me, so I've read back to your first post.


I must admit I'm a little bit envious of your retirement age   but I think you're hubby is older and it makes absolute sense to finish together so you can enjoy retirement fully. I've known a few couples where they seem to be playing a waiting game... one sat at home waiting for the other to retire and one at work waiting for the day the numbers say they can afford to retire too. 


I would just make sure you are okay financially if the worst was to happen to your husband, given that you won't have a great deal by way of pension income yourself.  That money has got to last you a very very long time

becky_rtw

@Retireinten yes the things you have to think about with an age difference! Hopefully all in hand, but definitely something we will revisit once we retire and sell and turn estimates into actual numbers on values. 

Retireinten

becky_rtw said:

@Retireinten yes the things you have to think about with an age difference! Hopefully all in hand, but definitely something we will revisit once we retire and sell and turn estimates into actual numbers on values. 

It sounds like you have a solid plan.  And given the short timescales you have left to save and also the number of years you have to wait to access any pension savings I can see why you're making the decisions you are making.


That is what is so useful about these sorts of threads, we're all aiming for the same thing, maybe at different ages, with different targets and plans for our retirement.  But it's the nuggets of ideas that we pick up from each other which help feather our own nests that I find invaluable.


I contradicted myself a bit though. My plan does involve me finishing work a year earlier than my husband simply because I am a year older.  But I am sure I can manage to entertain myself for a few months while he slaves away to top up his pension savings  . 

Busy_Mee

A bit of a repeat of something I posted on my own diary, because it is relevant on here. I did a couple of jobs towards operation retirement yesterday:

I checked my state pension forecast ( thanks Suffolklass).  Although I have 40 years where I have paid NI I am currently 4 years short of the full SRP because of a period where I was contracted out. Because I am retiring mid year ( end of August) I will have paid another year of NI, so will be left with three years short of full state retirement pension. My SRP retirement date is 2031, so I have 10 years to decide how to make that up. I am hoping grandchildren may come along in that period and I can claim carers credits to make up the shortfall but we will see. I "think" you can pay back up to 6 years and the earlier years would be cheaper, so need to have another look in 6 years time.  None of this totally desperate because our SRP has always been additional income.

Deciding to retire mid year has been helpful in gaining another year's NI, has given me the opportunity to invest again in my SIPP and also given me the bulk of the bank holidays which fall in April and May 
It is definitely worth thinking about when in the year you retire, lots of people assume you should leave around your birthday but that is not always particularly advantageous. 

I  also rang B@rclays mortgages to check my plan to repay £30k off our repayment mortgage. We currently have a mortgage in two parts, a repayment mortgage of c£34,400 and an IO part of £150k

 As I hoped paying £30k off the repayment mortgage will reduce our contracted repayment amount from £980 to £136. We can then keep the IO part of the mortgage running to the end of term. Once I make the payment it takes 14 days to revise the contracted rate to change. So hopefully that will happen in time for the May payment. I intend to blast this money saved at the IO mortgage for the period I am on full salary.

I am bucking the normal trend of getting the mortgage paid off before retirement because our mortgage product is so good (.69% above base), currently 0.79%. The mortgage term ends in 2024, by which time the now small residual repayment mortgage will be finished and I will pay whatever is left of the IO mortgage. I am hoping to continue to chip chunks off the mortgage during the last three years of its term, so the final balance is not so scary. 

Less than 15 weeks to go now 

Suffolk_lass

becky_rtw said:

Quick question on state pension that I feel I should know the answer, but I dont:

Do you get it if you live abroad? 

We are planning on living in France and since I will be 42 when I retire, I'd always worked on the basis I wouldn't get it, so hadnt looked into buying additional years, but now I am wondering if I should look at this?

@becky_rtw I believe you can in some circumstances, and you certainly used to be able to make voluntary contributions - the rules for many things change but this is the leaflet link you need to read. Be aware that if you then move abroad when drawing your pension it may freeze. It used to be that this rule was not applied if you lived in the EU when we were in it. Whether this is one of the reciprocal agreements post-B depends on what is agreed. If you moved to Australia (eg) it would freeze, with no inflation uplift. I did read this might be corrected if you ever returned to the UK.

With regard to making up years the cheapest way to do this is by being a carer and claiming credits (eg for parent or grandchildren) @Busy_Mee this could be you! - I have not checked all the details as we don't have either and my candidate neighbour is a bit here and there (IYKWIM).

The next cheapest is Class 2 voluntary for a self employed person (includes some specific occupations including exam invigilator too - this was my plan before COVID!) at approx £3 a week for income under approx £6,500

The other option is Class 3 voluntary (about £780 a year, based on current prices). Looks like this will be me now. I need the four years after stopping work to compensate for opted out impact (benefit repays in 4.5 years).

My decision to buy will be based on my health and I am not buying as I go - I will take the extra financial hit by adding the certainty that I am alive when I pay (you never know!).

edinburgher

£3.84 paid into my SIPP today (£4.8 after gummint largesse).

More to the point, neither of my parents had heard about the fact that they could still pay into a pension after retirement for a bit of pin money. What's better, one of them isn't a tax payer, so I think they should get £900/year between them, mum is checking the details

jennystarpepper

I have loved reading everyone's plans and look forward to reading how everyone is progressing, along with more new plans / members.

As for the future, what does everyone have planned?  When the big 'R' (retirement) comes what are everyone's hopes/ dreams or whimsies,  no matter how big or small.... cheap and cheery or blowing it all?

Hopefully Mr. Pepper and I will be mortgage free in 4 / 5 years time, the plan then is to finish a few things in the house, (we are very lucky as Mr. pepper can fit kitchens / bathrooms and do most home repairs, (fancy new bathroom is sitting in a bedroom waiting for it's day as I type)..... we do get the experts in for plastering and some building work.

Downsize and fingers crossed by an apartment in the canaries, the main reason for this is medical (osteoarthritis and new knees for both of us).  We have toyed with a full time move abroad, but for us we need the winter heat and to swim daily.  Hope to be able to jump on the plane with hand luggage and in a taxi within an hour of landing. 

Mr Pepper will then grow his veg March to October and I will make his pies and other treats... then it will be off to the sun to 'let it all hang-out' with a few beers and gins sitting on our balcony and BBQ and salad for dinner / tea. 

edinburgher

@jennystarpepper - sounds like my parents retirement - they are very happy 😊

Nothing particular planned here. Travel the world, spend time with DD (and future grandkids?) Cook good food, read good books, plan very little...

Edit: I'll add - try and leave the world having done something to preserve it for those who come after us

Cheery_Daff

jennystarpepper said:

I have loved reading everyone's plans and look forward to reading how everyone is progressing, along with more new plans / members.

As for the future, what does everyone have planned?  When the big 'R' (retirement) comes what are everyone's hopes/ dreams or whimsies,  no matter how big or small.... cheap and cheery or blowing it all?

Hopefully Mr. Pepper and I will be mortgage free in 4 / 5 years time, the plan then is to finish a few things in the house, (we are very lucky as Mr. pepper can fit kitchens / bathrooms and do most home repairs, (fancy new bathroom is sitting in a bedroom waiting for it's day as I type)..... we do get the experts in for plastering and some building work.

Downsize and fingers crossed by an apartment in the canaries, the main reason for this is medical (osteoarthritis and new knees for both of us).  We have toyed with a full time move abroad, but for us we need the winter heat and to swim daily.  Hope to be able to jump on the plane with hand luggage and in a taxi within an hour of landing. 

Mr Pepper will then grow his veg March to October and I will make his pies and other treats... then it will be off to the sun to 'let it all hang-out' with a few beers and gins sitting on our balcony and BBQ and salad for dinner / tea.

Excellent question! My plans aren't as detailed as yours... partly because they're further away, and partly because some of them are a continuation of now. 

We have an 18 year age gap, and Mr Cheery left his job (early, at age 47), several years ago. He's been rather part time self employed since then doing musical stuff, and that will continue for the foreseeable future. 

I work full time for now, dropping to four days later this year (hooray!) Because of that, our mortgage free date has shifted back a bit, and I'll likely be in my early 50s. I'd like to leave work once that's paid off, preferably at 50, but definitely by 55 - at that point Mr Cheery will be 73 😮

So no great plans for jet setting - for me retiring early is about sharing our 'retirement age'. If I wait til my official retirement age (68) Mr Cheery will be 86, and with the best will in the world that's not really an age for too many adventures. 

So my aim is to get out of as much work as possible for as long as possible, to just do normal hanging out things while we're both relatively young... Musical stuff, gardening, cafes, baking, sewing, knitting - not even got any big plans to travel, although I'd like to spend a bit more time at the seaside 😁

Of course best laid plans can go out of the window anyway... Mr Cheery's recent health issues are partly what's prompted my shift to four days - no point me working flat out for 10 years then stopping completely, when it might be better to work a bit less now, even if it has to drag on a little longer... We'll see.

Looking forward to hearing other people's plans! 

jennystarpepper

edinburgher said:

@jennystarpepper - sounds like my parents retirement - they are very happy 😊

Nothing particular planned here. Travel the world, spend time with DD (and future grandkids?) Cook good food, read good books, plan very little...

Sounds marvelous, we plan to travel more.  Happy to hear parents are enjoying life.  Books and one day at a time whilst at home - perfect.