Having problems deciding whether to press that resignation button....

mat1964

So the decision is made.  I will be pressing the resignation button in January after the Christmas holidays and not accepting the offer of 3 days a week. 

Going to try and get my DC Pot up to £350k before I leave (am on 6 months notice) - so that will give us around £9k in DB already in payment  (plus an extra £1400 in 2 years), the £350k DC pot, and 2 full SPs in 7 and 9 years time (and £70k savings).  Plus I can do some contract work if I feel like it.  

Would have liked the DC pot to have been closer to £500k, but with the DB and our savings, our number of £30k a year seems achievable.

Happy with the decision and looking forward to a break after nearly 40 years of full time employment.

randompenitent

I stopped work (I'm still slightly uncomfortable about the word "retired") at the end of January and haven't regretted it for a moment.

There are social aspects of work I miss, and I largely enjoyed my job, but the freedom from work-related demands on my time is wonderful. What has surprised me is just how time-consuming doing nothing is. Well, not doing nothing, but catching up on all the reading I've not done for the past few years, and cooking, walking, and so on.

The big bonus was taking an extended summer holiday on my boat, starting in late May and finishing at the end of August. When working, I rarely took more than two weeks off at a time and three was very exceptional.  Having an extended holiday completely changes the experience - there are no deadlines, there's no pressure to do things, or to move on to the next place. 

Now if we could only sort out Covid so I could travel more easily, everything would be perfect.

Dazza1902

mat1964 said:

So the decision is made.  I will be pressing the resignation button in January after the Christmas holidays and not accepting the offer of 3 days a week. 

Going to try and get my DC Pot up to £350k before I leave (am on 6 months notice) - so that will give us around £9k in DB already in payment  (plus an extra £1400 in 2 years), the £350k DC pot, and 2 full SPs in 7 and 9 years time (and £70k savings).  Plus I can do some contract work if I feel like it.  

Would have liked the DC pot to have been closer to £500k, but with the DB and our savings, our number of £30k a year seems achievable.

Happy with the decision and looking forward to a break after nearly 40 years of full time employment.

No brained. You've got 30 k in state and dB pensions at 67.
What's your plan until state pension age ? Part time work, or just drawdown 20 k a year from your DC?
I have similar figures at 67 to you, in 3 yrs time I hope to have 280k + in DC and would happily retire/semi retire as dB pensions start to kick in.

.

sheslookinhot

My button is being pressed early December. Spending more time looking at the calendar until my eventual vocational freedom than I would like.

cfw1994

randompenitent said:

I stopped work (I'm still slightly uncomfortable about the word "retired") at the end of January and haven't regretted it for a moment.

There are social aspects of work I miss, and I largely enjoyed my job, but the freedom from work-related demands on my time is wonderful. What has surprised me is just how time-consuming doing nothing is. Well, not doing nothing, but catching up on all the reading I've not done for the past few years, and cooking, walking, and so on.

The big bonus was taking an extended summer holiday on my boat, starting in late May and finishing at the end of August. When working, I rarely took more than two weeks off at a time and three was very exceptional.  Having an extended holiday completely changes the experience - there are no deadlines, there's no pressure to do things, or to move on to the next place. 

Now if we could only sort out Covid so I could travel more easily, everything would be perfect.

Time: it's a thing that is so valuable!  
TBH, I am quite surprised how *little* of my work I have missed.   Still in touch with a reasonable number of good pals 🍻

Like you, I also have qualms about saying "retired".  Having to fill a couple of forms in recently, it was the only option, & having started drawing down on my pot, I'm getting more relaxed about it.    "A person of independent means" always sounds a bit more accurate, yet utterly pretentious 🤣

Congrats @mat1964 & @sheslookinhot - it is a liberating time.   Spend the weeks leading up planning for those first few months away, & you won't regret a thing 👍

Parking_Trouble

mat1964 said:

So the decision is made.  I will be pressing the resignation button in January after the Christmas holidays and not accepting the offer of 3 days a week. 

Going to try and get my DC Pot up to £350k before I leave (am on 6 months notice) - so that will give us around £9k in DB already in payment  (plus an extra £1400 in 2 years), the £350k DC pot, and 2 full SPs in 7 and 9 years time (and £70k savings).  Plus I can do some contract work if I feel like it.  

Would have liked the DC pot to have been closer to £500k, but with the DB and our savings, our number of £30k a year seems achievable.

Happy with the decision and looking forward to a break after nearly 40 years of full time employment.

Sounds like the right decision if you are happy with it.

Enjoy!

Albermarle

I stopped work (I'm still slightly uncomfortable about the word "retired")

I do not really like/feel  'retired',  but as said, there is not really a suitable different expression. Although  getting more used to asking if places have a 'Senior Discount ' 

However I think OAP should be consigned to the dustbin of outdated abbreviations, although you still see some places using it .

atush

squirrelpie said:

mat1964 said:

This is what I think could happen.  I work very long hours now 5 days a week just to keep up.

Have you discussed with your employer how they will be doing the rest of your present work if you do go to 60%? Have they identified and trained somebody?

Sorry if I missed something, but what actually happens if you do retire? Does another pension start, or is it one of the ones you already mentioned, or something else?

This.

You must agree with them you will be doing 3 days work, not 5 and that someone else is picking up the slack.  My OH went down to 4 days a week with Friday off, and will ask for 3 days this coming year.  The extra sleep and time off has made a world of difference to him.

marlot

Albermarle said:

It is very tempting to stay on for one more year as you get a year's extra savings and one year's less spending to worry about.

Or two more years , or even three .....

Although staying on longer than really necessary , is kind of frowned upon by some posters , it does mean you can maybe retire with a big cushion and not really have to worry too much about money at all .

I decided that it wasn't the number of years of retirement that I wanted to optimise, but rather the number of good-health years.

So I went at 55.

SouthCoastBoy

I have slipped into n more years syndrome, as all my pension is based on savings and dc pension I am at the vagaries of the stock market, and being a fairly anxious person, I just dont have the confidence to go. If I had access to a db pension I think that would have given me more confidence, unfortunately I dont so think I will be going to at least 60