Would you retire really early and burn down most of your DC pension assets?

cfw1994

Pleased to hear you enjoyed monuments of sudden enlightenment whilst working, & I wish you years of happiness in life as you move forwards.  

I know I did too, but they weren’t especially linked to work, unless you included many boozy evenings across the US & Europe 🤣  Some lifelong friendships were built that way, and I am grateful my role at work allowed that…but it was time to move on for me!

My memorable moments were more like our marriage on a tropical beach, with family around us; I was at the births of our two; so many school plays, music evenings, scouting activities & a happy wealth of memorable parties & holidays with family & friends.    

They will form my satori moving forwards: you can relax, I don’t think my moving on from work will in any way be a disappointment for us 😎   Being busy or being idle is most certainly NOT a function of whether you are in salaried employment, I can assure you 😉

We are all different 🍻👍

Oh, I tend to lean towards your final piece of advice too, those winners seem to keep on giving 😜👍

LV_426

cfw1994 said:

We are all different 🍻👍

And that's the crux of it. There are no generalisations. Do whatever makes you happiest.

Sea_Shell

ajfielden said:

cfw1994 said:

We are all different 🍻👍

And that's the crux of it. There are no generalisations. Do whatever makes you happiest.

🎶"Do, you, enjoy what you do, if not, just stop, don't stay there and rot"🎶

Terron

MallyGirl said:

I think the next generation may be better. They are certainly more aware of the environment/recycling and the like. My daughter is currently upcycling a bedside table she got from our local Buy Nothing group. She has also done a huge amount of volunteering that I wouldn't have considered at her age.

But probably still less so than my parents' generation who grew up during WW2 with "make do and mend". Certainly less so that earlier ones who would recycle everything they could (involving a lot of very unpleasant jobs).

Terron

Diplodicus said:

It is easy to forget that, when we were young, pensioners were the poor of society. Now they are the rich. And on that note, 
do not rebalance your investments, cfw1994 - long term it pays to let the winners run.

Pensioners stil have on average lower disposable incomes that non-pensioners, though the ratio is not as high as it used to be, and both are richer. This graph from the ONS shows median disposable incomes adjusted for inflation.

LV_426

Sea_Shell said:

ajfielden said:

cfw1994 said:

We are all different 🍻👍

And that's the crux of it. There are no generalisations. Do whatever makes you happiest.

"Do, you, enjoy what you do, if not, just stop, don't stay there and rot"

A very good philosophy, and one I've applied throughout my career.

Sea_Shell

ajfielden said:

Sea_Shell said:

ajfielden said:

cfw1994 said:

We are all different 🍻👍

And that's the crux of it. There are no generalisations. Do whatever makes you happiest.

"Do, you, enjoy what you do, if not, just stop, don't stay there and rot"

A very good philosophy, and one I've applied throughout my career.

The gospel according to George! 😉🎶

michaels

Terron said:

Diplodicus said:

It is easy to forget that, when we were young, pensioners were the poor of society. Now they are the rich. And on that note, 
do not rebalance your investments, cfw1994 - long term it pays to let the winners run.

Pensioners still have on average lower disposable incomes that non-pensioners, though the ratio is not as high as it used to be, and both are richer. This graph from the ONS shows median disposable incomes adjusted for inflation.

Interesting, I wonder how disposable is defined for this metric for example if it is after housing costs then where you live in the country, whether you have a mortgage, rent or have paid off your mortgage well as as how much of your income you decide to commit to housing could give very different 'disposable' income figures.

cfw1994

michaels said:

Terron said:

Diplodicus said:

It is easy to forget that, when we were young, pensioners were the poor of society. Now they are the rich. And on that note, 
do not rebalance your investments, cfw1994 - long term it pays to let the winners run.

Pensioners still have on average lower disposable incomes that non-pensioners, though the ratio is not as high as it used to be, and both are richer. This graph from the ONS shows median disposable incomes adjusted for inflation.

Interesting, I wonder how disposable is defined for this metric for example if it is after housing costs then where you live in the country, whether you have a mortgage, rent or have paid off your mortgage well as as how much of your income you decide to commit to housing could give very different 'disposable' income figures.

Wonder no more: from ONS here:

“Disposable income is the amount of money that households have available for spending and saving after direct taxes (such as Income Tax, National Insurance and Council Tax) have been accounted for. It includes earnings from employment, private pensions and investments as well as cash benefits provided by the state.”

So no, *not* after housing costs - they will come out of that income….hence perhaps many retired folk will have more “real usable” wealth to hand, I would guess 👍 

pensionpawn

cfw1994 said:

michaels said:

Terron said:

Diplodicus said:

It is easy to forget that, when we were young, pensioners were the poor of society. Now they are the rich. And on that note, 
do not rebalance your investments, cfw1994 - long term it pays to let the winners run.

Pensioners still have on average lower disposable incomes that non-pensioners, though the ratio is not as high as it used to be, and both are richer. This graph from the ONS shows median disposable incomes adjusted for inflation.

Interesting, I wonder how disposable is defined for this metric for example if it is after housing costs then where you live in the country, whether you have a mortgage, rent or have paid off your mortgage well as as how much of your income you decide to commit to housing could give very different 'disposable' income figures.

Wonder no more: from ONS here:

“Disposable income is the amount of money that households have available for spending and saving after direct taxes (such as Income Tax, National Insurance and Council Tax) have been accounted for. It includes earnings from employment, private pensions and investments as well as cash benefits provided by the state.”

So no, *not* after housing costs - they will come out of that income….hence perhaps many retired folk will have more “real usable” wealth to hand, I would guess 👍 

cfw1994 said:

michaels said:

Terron said:

Diplodicus said:

It is easy to forget that, when we were young, pensioners were the poor of society. Now they are the rich. And on that note, 
do not rebalance your investments, cfw1994 - long term it pays to let the winners run.

Pensioners still have on average lower disposable incomes that non-pensioners, though the ratio is not as high as it used to be, and both are richer. This graph from the ONS shows median disposable incomes adjusted for inflation.

Interesting, I wonder how disposable is defined for this metric for example if it is after housing costs then where you live in the country, whether you have a mortgage, rent or have paid off your mortgage well as as how much of your income you decide to commit to housing could give very different 'disposable' income figures.

Wonder no more: from ONS here:

“Disposable income is the amount of money that households have available for spending and saving after direct taxes (such as Income Tax, National Insurance and Council Tax) have been accounted for. It includes earnings from employment, private pensions and investments as well as cash benefits provided by the state.”

So no, *not* after housing costs - they will come out of that income….hence perhaps many retired folk will have more “real usable” wealth to hand, I would guess 👍 

I've always defined disposable income as the money I have left after I have paid for the essentials (rent / mortgage, council tax, food etc). i.e. money that I can chose how to dispose of (or save) rather than money needed to pay essential bills. Same goes in retirement, however the essentials are hopefully much lower!