Would it be foolish to stop work at 52?

Albermarle

I think many middle class people are going to be shocked to their core about maintaining their standard of living in retirement. 

Especially any dreams of retiring early /before the state pension(S) arrive will have to go on the back burner .

robatwork

Albermarle said:

robatwork said:

To get back on track... just a general comment about this particular forum. As well as being one of the most useful and realistic resources for UK (pre) pensioners, it tends to err on the side of financial surety. I've seen threads where £30k or even £40k wasn't seen as enough to live comfortably in retirement.

Obviously it depends on your lifestyle, but just bear it in mind. In your position I'd be leaving my detested job as soon as I could. 

In the unlikely worst case there are still jobs available to people in their 50s. 

The retirement surveys indicate that a couple need around £45K - £50K after tax to have a comfortable retirement with some luxuries . 

Retirement living standards | Loughborough University (lboro.ac.uk)

That would not be a proper luxury retirement, as that would cost triple that probably .

The problem with those kind of surveys/reports is - apart from unforgivably not being able to scroll to the right to actually read the thing (had to reduce page size to 75%) - their numbers are too generic. A "Moderate" single person spends £750 on clothes/footwear yearly? I haven't ever spent that yearly!

jim8888

robatwork said:

Albermarle said:

robatwork said:

To get back on track... just a general comment about this particular forum. As well as being one of the most useful and realistic resources for UK (pre) pensioners, it tends to err on the side of financial surety. I've seen threads where £30k or even £40k wasn't seen as enough to live comfortably in retirement.

Obviously it depends on your lifestyle, but just bear it in mind. In your position I'd be leaving my detested job as soon as I could. 

In the unlikely worst case there are still jobs available to people in their 50s. 

The retirement surveys indicate that a couple need around £45K - £50K after tax to have a comfortable retirement with some luxuries . 

Retirement living standards | Loughborough University (lboro.ac.uk)

That would not be a proper luxury retirement, as that would cost triple that probably .

The problem with those kind of surveys/reports is - apart from unforgivably not being able to scroll to the right to actually read the thing (had to reduce page size to 75%) - their numbers are too generic. A "Moderate" single person spends £750 on clothes/footwear yearly? I haven't ever spent that yearly!

So you're not planning to buy a pair of Rishi Sunak's £300 trainers?

robatwork

jim8888 said:

So you're not planning to buy a pair of Rishi Sunak's £300 trainers?

Only to Ebay.
I might buy myself a pair of £60 Asics trainers every few years.

Now I googled them I wish I hadn't - I see he spent £95 on some plastic flip flops. Hope he's less profligate with our money.

ChocolateWombat

Yes, the burden from 52-60 falls on DH and him earning the £3k net per month.  The whole scheme is based around that.

Originally he was looking at working full time to 60 and then going part time until 65. But after I crunched the numbers, I told him, he could stop at 60.  So he’s interested in that, but still hasn’t ruled out continuing part-time as he really likes his work.  There’s scope to do consultancy work and to just do a little bit, so he might choose that.

As he’s in the public sector, his job is likely to be there whilst he wants it.  It’s true that he could suffer ill health.  We don’t know, but the odds are galant it at this age.

One thing which encourages me, is that the £37k we will have between us in DB pensions by 67, can be drawn at a reduced rate from 55.  Obviously the sooner we take them, the less we get and for that reason, our current plans don’t involve taking any early, apart from the tiny bit I will accumulate in the Career Average part of DB pension after April, the Final Salary McCloud windfall which has given us 7 years of extra final salary pension ends.  BUT, if a crisis happened, those pensions can be taken early - money will be available from 55.  And given we will make sure we each have the full state pension (DH will get it anyway and I will probably have to purchase the last 4 years) we know more is on its way later.

I agree that many on these forums are high salary earners and have big pension plans.  Good for them.  We feel pretty sure we would be fine with £2-2.5k per year and actually what we have in place will deliver more than that.  Both of our pensions will pay a spouses pension on the death of the other - mine will pay 50% to DH and his will pay 37.5% to me.  Clearly after one has died there will be less monthly income, but the fact we both have our own pensions and will both have state pension too, means we can both manage alone when we have to.

I take on board the points about not maximising my tax free allowance if I don’t work.  Maybe something will come up that gives small earning potential and a little boost to income, as well as last years of NI contributions.

I also welcome the advice to get out of doing something I really don’t like as I will be able to afford to.  Why slog on for even more years when there’s no need?  I will have already given many years to this job which doesn’t give me satisfaction but lots of stress.  I don’t need to be a martyr.

Kim1965

I believe the average uk household income after tax is £2566 pm, presumably mr average has to pay rent/mortgage, feed & clthe children.
 You should be fine. At worse you may havevto work pt, but a least it will not be doing the job you hate. What you have decided rightly or wrongly is from when you retire, you will not be able to improve your financial position. This goes against the instinct of many on this forum. 

atush

If you cant save while on the one income, i feel you dont have enough savings/Sipp to retire at 52.
 
Rethink going at 55, go part time to see if that helps, or get a different job for a few years.  Will give you more time to save

DT2001

atush said:

If you cant save while on the one income, i feel you dont have enough savings/Sipp to retire at 52.
 
Rethink going at 55, go part time to see if that helps, or get a different job for a few years.  Will give you more time to save

In the original post it says they can live on £3k that OH earns net. OP’s other half is increasing his pension and OP is not aiming to draw until 60 so in effect increasing amount payable then.
There is also the BTL which is generating £6k.

Personally I’d look at taking an actuarially reduced figure. I took mine at 51 (protected age clause in redundancy package) as although the crossover point from getting more (in total) was mid 70’s in my case I will have paid less tax and theoretically our spend will decrease from 75 onwards.

Albermarle

robatwork said:

Albermarle said:

robatwork said:

To get back on track... just a general comment about this particular forum. As well as being one of the most useful and realistic resources for UK (pre) pensioners, it tends to err on the side of financial surety. I've seen threads where £30k or even £40k wasn't seen as enough to live comfortably in retirement.

Obviously it depends on your lifestyle, but just bear it in mind. In your position I'd be leaving my detested job as soon as I could. 

In the unlikely worst case there are still jobs available to people in their 50s. 

The retirement surveys indicate that a couple need around £45K - £50K after tax to have a comfortable retirement with some luxuries . 

Retirement living standards | Loughborough University (lboro.ac.uk)

That would not be a proper luxury retirement, as that would cost triple that probably .

The problem with those kind of surveys/reports is - apart from unforgivably not being able to scroll to the right to actually read the thing (had to reduce page size to 75%) - their numbers are too generic. A "Moderate" single person spends £750 on clothes/footwear yearly? I haven't ever spent that yearly!

Yes the clothing/shoes  spend does stand out as somewhat OTT . On the other hand a grocery shopping bill of £200 a month is rather low , unless you are teetotal and always buying cheap food .
I think the overall figures look about right . Although it seems that some can manage on a lot less.

I agree that many on these forums are high salary earners and have big pension plans.  Good for them.  We feel pretty sure we would be fine with £2-2.5k per year 

robatwork

Albermarle said:

robatwork said:

Albermarle said:

robatwork said:

To get back on track... just a general comment about this particular forum. As well as being one of the most useful and realistic resources for UK (pre) pensioners, it tends to err on the side of financial surety. I've seen threads where £30k or even £40k wasn't seen as enough to live comfortably in retirement.

Obviously it depends on your lifestyle, but just bear it in mind. In your position I'd be leaving my detested job as soon as I could. 

In the unlikely worst case there are still jobs available to people in their 50s. 

The retirement surveys indicate that a couple need around £45K - £50K after tax to have a comfortable retirement with some luxuries . 

Retirement living standards | Loughborough University (lboro.ac.uk)

That would not be a proper luxury retirement, as that would cost triple that probably .

The problem with those kind of surveys/reports is - apart from unforgivably not being able to scroll to the right to actually read the thing (had to reduce page size to 75%) - their numbers are too generic. A "Moderate" single person spends £750 on clothes/footwear yearly? I haven't ever spent that yearly!

Yes the clothing/shoes  spend does stand out as somewhat OTT . On the other hand a grocery shopping bill of £200 a month is rather low , unless you are teetotal and always buying cheap food .
I think the overall figures look about right . Although it seems that some can manage on a lot less.

I agree that many on these forums are high salary earners and have big pension plans.  Good for them.  We feel pretty sure we would be fine with £2-2.5k per year 

Well yes, I tend to spend £300 a pop at Costco but their food (and bog roll) is good quality and lasts for weeks in the freezer (not the bog roll unless it's a special occasion). I've done my own sums and think it's more than possible to live on £25k pa and have holidays and a decent car. Given the way the cost of living is going however unless it's index linked I may have to revise this.

That final line you quoted in italics was from ChocolateWombat and I'm sure a typo for per month.