The plans of men (or women)....

michaels

https://www.retireeasy.co.uk/news/will-decide-retire-body-boss

While most of us assume that we’ll be retiring at a date of our choosing, new research shows that almost half of early retirees are forced out of work unwillingly by either poor health or redundancy.
In fact, found the Just Group research, 33% stop work due to ill health or physical problems, and a further 15% after losing their job and finding themselves unable to find another one. Another one in 12 retirees give up earning an income to care for a loved one.

SO we can plan all we like but half of us will not be retiring on our own terms.

Grr - I checked out the original research and the proportions are 'of those who stopped working earlier than they planned' not of everyone as the not entirely without an agenda retire easy website portrayed it.

barnstar2077

Well the way I see it, if you plan on retiring early then you are a lot less likely to be forced out due to ill health or redundancy : ) 

ex-pat_scot

I'm always clear that, whilst I have a general plan, I rather expect that "events" will precipitate the move away from work.
Frankly, I'm happy with that. In my mind, the worst you can do is be fixed on one course of action.
Prepare.
Remain alert.
Consider the risks/ opportunities. How would we cope in the event of death, divorce, illness, caring responsibilities, issues with children, redundancy, a new toxic boss...   Pension legislation changes... You can't prepare for all of these, but you can at least think through how you might cope or adapt.
It's a bit like crisis management and business continuity. The actual event is rarely that which you might have planned for, but the act of preparing and thinking through the consequences of various possibilities is the real strength.

In the meantime, you still need to plough on with your financial (and work) exit plan.  All the time knowing it will certainly be wrong. Even the simple financial planning will not land where you think it might - investment returns, inflation, tax changes, charges and fees, contributions - but it will get you close enough.

barnstar2077

ex-pat_scot said:

I'm always clear that, whilst I have a general plan, I rather expect that "events" will precipitate the move away from work.
Frankly, I'm happy with that. In my mind, the worst you can do is be fixed on one course of action.
Prepare.
Remain alert.
Consider the risks/ opportunities. How would we cope in the event of death, divorce, illness, caring responsibilities, issues with children, redundancy, a new toxic boss...   Pension legislation changes... You can't prepare for all of these, but you can at least think through how you might cope or adapt.
It's a bit like crisis management and business continuity. The actual event is rarely that which you might have planned for, but the act of preparing and thinking through the consequences of various possibilities is the real strength.

In the meantime, you still need to plough on with your financial (and work) exit plan.  All the time knowing it will certainly be wrong. Even the simple financial planning will not land where you think it might - investment returns, inflation, tax changes, charges and fees, contributions - but it will get you close enough.

Although I agree that no plan has ever survived a war, if you are pessimistic in your predicted returns then it should help to make it a lot harder to be disappointed.

NedS

barnstar2077 said:

Well the way I see it, if you plan on retiring early then you are a lot less likely to be forced out due to ill health or redundancy : ) 

Absolutely, or those life events just precipitate the planned move. I think a big part of the move to push SPA up to 68 recognises that a lot of people won't make it in work until 68, and it's a lot cheaper to pay £75/week means tested benefits for those forced to stop work than it is to pay £175/week state pension, for those without private provision and dependent upon the state. Those who have worked in physically demanding roles their whole life start dropping fast post-60 in terms of what their bodies are still able to do, and by then it's far to late to retrain for most.

Albermarle

barnstar2077 said:

Well the way I see it, if you plan on retiring early then you are a lot less likely to be forced out due to ill health or redundancy : ) 

Or you could it even more simply . Whether you retire early or later , voluntarily or involuntary , it will always be easier if you have plenty of money !

Thrugelmir

Likewise people in relationships believe that it is forever. Often it's not.  Hence why attempting to plan in detail 30 years hence can be a fruitless exercise.  Life throws up too many curved balls when you are least expecting them. 

Reckless_Saving

I've a loose plan of retiring in 5-10 years time between 50-55 depending on whether I'm enjoying my work (less likely), an unplanned event like redundancy would just be the icing on the cake and bring retirement forward.

pensionpawn

michaels said:

https://www.retireeasy.co.uk/news/will-decide-retire-body-boss

While most of us assume that we’ll be retiring at a date of our choosing, new research shows that almost half of early retirees are forced out of work unwillingly by either poor health or redundancy.
In fact, found the Just Group research, 33% stop work due to ill health or physical problems, and a further 15% after losing their job and finding themselves unable to find another one. Another one in 12 retirees give up earning an income to care for a loved one.

SO we can plan all we like but half of us will not be retiring on our own terms.

Grr - I checked out the original research and the proportions are 'of those who stopped working earlier than they planned' not of everyone as the not entirely without an agenda retire easy website portrayed it.

In addition to my pension planning I (we) have critical illness and permanent disability insurance until 60. This is on the basis that my pension will be able to cover any problems after 60 (I plan to retire 57-58).
I have also been out of work for months at a time in my 40's however starting my first pension after graduating, even though there were periods where I didn't contribute, has allowed time to cover those contribution gaps. In my opinion there's no substitute to starting a pension asap, hence my daughters started  theirs in their teens.
You can't control everything, however you can foresee future problems and plan to mitigate them...