1688 days.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

andys15 said:

Thanks Dazed. I need to look into the state pension. I have worked for 30 years , so about 35 years when I retire. Is that not enough?  

No.  You are under transitional rules so the number of years you have isn't relevant.

As eskbanker says check your forecast is the starting point.

Another 5 years may be enough but it's not guaranteed.

mark13

good luck, great to have a target.

andys15

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

andys15 said:

Thanks Dazed. I need to look into the state pension. I have worked for 30 years , so about 35 years when I retire. Is that not enough?  

No.  You are under transitional rules so the number of years you have isn't relevant.

As eskbanker says check your forecast is the starting point.

Another 5 years may be enough but it's not guaranteed.

Hi I Just checked. I am currently estimated at £141 and would need to work a further 8 years to get full amount. 

I will look at how to top that up then. 

Are there any other repercussions not having the full amount except being about £30 a week down?  

jimi_man

andys15 said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

andys15 said:

Thanks Dazed. I need to look into the state pension. I have worked for 30 years , so about 35 years when I retire. Is that not enough?  

No.  You are under transitional rules so the number of years you have isn't relevant.

As eskbanker says check your forecast is the starting point.

Another 5 years may be enough but it's not guaranteed.

Hi I Just checked. I am currently estimated at £141 and would need to work a further 8 years to get full amount. 

I will look at how to top that up then. 

Are there any other repercussions not having the full amount except being about £30 a week down?  

None, but it's a reasonable investment. Around £750 or so gives you an extra £250 a year, so with tax you get your money back in four years. You've got another four - possibly five years contributions, so only three years outstanding. And the last year might not give you the full amount - if it only adds another £1 per week, then it's probably not worth doing.

Good luck with it all. Sounds a big ask, but you obviously have the income for it.

Out of interest were you paying an exceptionally high interest rate on your mortgage?  (you mentioned you went through the DFW so I wondered if your previous credit history meant you couldn't get a decent rate). I was just thinking about the logic of paying it off at the expense of any savings, when interest rates are pretty low at the moment?

Or is the desire to stop at 50 a recent thing?

andys15

jimi_man said:

andys15 said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

andys15 said:

Thanks Dazed. I need to look into the state pension. I have worked for 30 years , so about 35 years when I retire. Is that not enough?  

No.  You are under transitional rules so the number of years you have isn't relevant.

As eskbanker says check your forecast is the starting point.

Another 5 years may be enough but it's not guaranteed.

Hi I Just checked. I am currently estimated at £141 and would need to work a further 8 years to get full amount. 

I will look at how to top that up then. 

Are there any other repercussions not having the full amount except being about £30 a week

None, but it's a reasonable investment. Around £750 or so gives you an extra £250 a year, so with tax you get your money back in four years. You've got another four - possibly five years contributions, so only three years outstanding. And the last year might not give you the full amount - if it only adds another £1 per week, then it's probably not worth doing.

Thanks. Just looking a little more into it and it also mentions a COPE, where it says I was contracted out. That is showing as £40 a week. I assume that amount makes up part of my state pension and not added to my state pension. 

jimi_man

andys15 said:

jimi_man said:

andys15 said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

andys15 said:

Thanks Dazed. I need to look into the state pension. I have worked for 30 years , so about 35 years when I retire. Is that not enough?  

No.  You are under transitional rules so the number of years you have isn't relevant.

As eskbanker says check your forecast is the starting point.

Another 5 years may be enough but it's not guaranteed.

Hi I Just checked. I am currently estimated at £141 and would need to work a further 8 years to get full amount. 

I will look at how to top that up then. 

Are there any other repercussions not having the full amount except being about £30 a week

None, but it's a reasonable investment. Around £750 or so gives you an extra £250 a year, so with tax you get your money back in four years. You've got another four - possibly five years contributions, so only three years outstanding. And the last year might not give you the full amount - if it only adds another £1 per week, then it's probably not worth doing.

Thanks. Just looking a little more into it and it also mentions a COPE, where it says I was contracted out. That is showing as £40 a week. I assume that amount makes up part of my state pension and not added to my state pension. 

Just ignore the COPE figure. It has no relevance - it was just used to calculate the starting figure when the rules changed back in 2016.

andys15

Jimi. I made a big mistake paying off my mortgage. I was on an interest rate of 1.19. 

At the time I decided to become mortgage free it became almost an addiction to overpay it. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t really go without, and COVID probably helped us pay it off easier. 

There was no celebration when I made my last payment. I know I missed a trick, especially when the FTSE was down at 5500 ish, and I was still overpaying a mortgage on that interest rate. 

jimi_man

Thanks. I wasn't criticising, just wondered if there was another reason.

I'd love to be able to say that all my financial decisions in my life have been perfect, but sadly that's not the case. I've learnt a lot off here though, a wealth of information.

Audaxer

andys15 said:

There was no celebration when I made my last payment. I know I missed a trick, especially when the FTSE was down at 5500 ish, and I was still overpaying a mortgage on that interest rate. 

In hindsight maybe you missed a trick, although I wouldn't have invested it all in the FTSE100. It's still a good feeling to have paid off the mortgage.

Your savings target for the next 5 years is impressive, but I think you would be in a better position if you invested some of the £8k of savings each month, by aiming to live on a bit less than £5k a month from age 50 to 57. 

bostonerimus

You are above your lifetime allowance for pensions already and as you want to save to retire early at 50 you need easy access to your money. So I would save at least 60k into something safe ie bank N&S etc for emergencies. That's the savings bit sorted. Now open ISAs for you and your spouse and that's 40k you can put away each year. Then put the rest into general investment accounts. You will get pretty generous dividend allowances. But before you do this make a budget so you can see exactly what you need and where you spend your money.