I think it’s enough

Secret2ndAccount

Buying NI costs £800 for each missing year. That gets you £5/wk in extra pension, so you are ahead after 4 years.
Very roughly, you will need about 35 years of NI to get a full pension, but go to https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension and get the exact numbers. Ignore the first amount, written in giant text, which will very likely be £179.60. Look down to see what you are entitled to now. You can probably add £5 to that because they won't have counted this year. Then you can figure out how many extra fivers you need to hit your Max. That's how many years of NI you will need to pay.

saucer

El_Torro said:

Troxy said:

QrizB said:

For that matter you could probably stop work tomorrow.

The only 2 issues about retiring tomorrow are; not enough NI years so would need to buy a couple of years each - I’ll look up how much that is; and also a reduction in one of the DB pensions - I’ll need to work that out.

Do you really need to take your DB pension early? This usually involves quite a big hit on your annual income from the pension. It might be better to leave it til 60 and live off your cash and ISAs until then. It might not be, just something worth assessing.

Although looking at my NHS pension, taking it early appears almost cost neutral when you account for having contributed for less time and allowing for the additional time it will be in payment. Happy to be corrected on this.

Secret2ndAccount

saucer said:
Although looking at my NHS pension, taking it early appears almost cost neutral when you account for having contributed for less time and allowing for the additional time it will be in payment. Happy to be corrected on this.

It's called an actuarial reduction for a reason. For a given pension, the extra money at the start vs the lower annual amount balances out somewhere in your 80's so you don't end up winning or losing a lot. If you have good use for the money now, take it early. If you prefer the security of a guaranteed income later in life, then take it later. It's a personal choice without a right or wrong answer.
The most obvious exceptions would be if you are hitting the lifetime allowance, or are in poor health.
However, in this case, the OP is talking about losing the opportunity to contribute and build up the DB pension. They would need to do the sums to help with their decision, but it's not a wash like the above case. If you put less money in, you're going to get less money out. It then becomes a question of whether they can still afford their retirement plan.

MaxiRobriguez

You've got over a million in investments and a DB pension of £28k which for a CETV would probably net you £600k odd. Even with a mortgage and teenage daughter to fund still you're comfortably over a million in assets.

I wouldn't be retiring tomorrow I'd be retiring today.

Albermarle

saucer said:

El_Torro said:

Troxy said:

QrizB said:

For that matter you could probably stop work tomorrow.

The only 2 issues about retiring tomorrow are; not enough NI years so would need to buy a couple of years each - I’ll look up how much that is; and also a reduction in one of the DB pensions - I’ll need to work that out.

Do you really need to take your DB pension early? This usually involves quite a big hit on your annual income from the pension. It might be better to leave it til 60 and live off your cash and ISAs until then. It might not be, just something worth assessing.

Although looking at my NHS pension, taking it early appears almost cost neutral when you account for having contributed for less time and allowing for the additional time it will be in payment. Happy to be corrected on this.

The reduction on most DB pensions is 4 to 5% a year . The lower figure of course is better if you do want to take it early , although if it is only a couple of years early it does not make much difference.
Also if you are the kind of person who is reasonably healthy but maybe have a not so healthy lifestyle , you might feel taking it early could be better Value for Money . Although from what we see on this forum most people seem to underestimate their chances of living to a ripe old age.

Albermarle

and we have a teenage daughter who we hope will go to university and we will support her.

I think maybe like some other posters you are expecting to pay more than you will probably will have to .

Putting aside the suggestion of buying a house for her ( not saying this is a bad idea by the way ) .

It is financially sensible for students to take out as much student loan as possible , as it is likely that most/some if it will never have to be paid back. The loan she could get for living expenses will be limited due your financial assets , and typically in this case the parents will pay for the accommodation costs, which are £4K to £7 K pa  .

In your case this would be a relative drop in the ocean , so not really something major to take into account in your early retirement planning. Plus of course she might not go to Uni, or go to one near home. 

As others have said you could retire now , but of course another two or three years would give you a bigger  safety margin and mean you would almost certainly never have any money worries in retirement, or even have to give money much thought.

Having too much is not necessarily a bad thing !

MallyGirl

uni maintenance loan is based on household income, not assets, so being retired could work very well in terms of what she could borrow.

Albermarle

MallyGirl said:

uni maintenance loan is based on household income, not assets, so being retired could work very well in terms of what she could borrow.

OK fair enough , but even with max loan it is not enough and you probably still need to sub them two or three grand a year.
In the OP's position it is almost neither here nor there whether it is £3K or £6K 

Troxy

Thanks folks, a few things to ponder and work out. I don’t think we are ready to stop just yet but gives us confidence that we can, in the mean time going part time is attractive