Decided life really is too short so time for pension @ 55.

Albermarle

drummersdale said:

I expect there is more chance of the Government pulling a “we are all in this together” stunt in the budget and suddenly deciding that an uncapped rise to public sector pensions is terribly unfair to everyone else and cane us again as it seems to be their go to thing when looking for headline.

Like a kind of windfall tax ?

drummersdale

Albermarle said:

drummersdale said:

I expect there is more chance of the Government pulling a “we are all in this together” stunt in the budget and suddenly deciding that an uncapped rise to public sector pensions is terribly unfair to everyone else and cane us again as it seems to be their go to thing when looking for headline.

Like a kind of windfall tax ?

Yes, pretty much. 

michaels

I am planning assigning some of my alpha pension to my DW in case the worse happens.  This can only be done when the pension is put into payment so this is another reason why I will take mine early.

bostonerimus

I’ll share some advice after my experience of retiring at age 52. 

1) make sure you have things to do. Hobbies, if your spouse works how will you spend the days? Do you have friends to hang out with a la "Last of the Summer Wine". Retiring is a chance to do the things you’ve always put off to another day.
2) do a detailed budget. This will allow you to control your spending and give you some confidence when the paycheck stops.
3) pay off as much debt as possible while you are still working to take pressure off your retirement income.

Korkyb

facade said:

Korkyb said:

One other factor I've considered is the fact that the NHS pension increase each year is based on the Consumer Price Index which is going to be astronomical this financial year. This (I believe) will mean that I should get a decent bump up in my pension in April 23 even though I'll only have been getting my pension part of the financial year.

If it works like the Teachers Pension, I'm afraid you won't.

Assuming that Our Masters can't do something to massage the September-Sepember CPI down, I know the TPS don't pay the full increase if you have been in receipt for less than a year, they % it.  (So if you only had 6 months pension from April, you get half the increase applied to your next full years pension) Must save them a lot with most teachers retiring in September, so they only have to pay 7/12 of the increase in their first year.

(They caught me with that one)

I'd bet 10p that the NHS pension does the same.

Thanks facade.

Yep I know that any increase I get next April will be pro rata.

I'll should have been getting my pension for around 6 months by April so should get 50%ish of whatever the rise is.

With CPI likely to be high it should still be a reasonable "bump" given that I'll only have had the pension for 6 months.

Korkyb

theoretica said:

You have calculated what you will be receiving in pensions - but not mentioned what you are spending each year at present.  Will your pension income be more than you are currently spending (eg if you are putting money into savings) similar, or require you to reduce spending?  Worth knowing, and thinking about!

As I said in my 1st post I haven't worked out my "number" yet (but am aware that I do need to get a spreadsheet on the go).

I'm confident though that we will be be able to live within our income given that:

- Our combined income just from work pensions should be £34k+.
- Over £100k in savings (including lump sums).
- No debt / mortgage paid off.
- Both wife & I are "sensible" (not frugal) with money.
- Kids are pretty much self sufficient.

I've also calculated by keeping my foot in the door at work (albeit at a lower grade) that just 6 hours work per week would earn me £8k or £9k per year which isn't to be sniffed at. The option for me to to work extra hours on top of this is generally available all the time as we are so busy at work.

Korkyb

bostonerimus said:

I’ll share some advice after my experience of retiring at age 52. 

1) make sure you have things to do. Hobbies, if your spouse works how will you spend the days? Do you have friends to hang out with a la "Last of the Summer Wine". Retiring is a chance to do the things you’ve always put off to another day.
2) do a detailed budget. This will allow you to control your spending and give you some confidence when the paycheck stops.
3) pay off as much debt as possible while you are still working to take pressure off your retirement income.

Good advice!

1/ I do need to find something to fill my time & being part of a "last of the summer wine" gang sounds right up my street 


2/ As my previous post I do need to put a detailed budget together - I'll try & get that going this week.

I was going to use the MSE spreadsheet but is there another that is recommended?
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#planner


3/ We are lucky to have no debt & paying off the mortgage a few years ago was a great feeling !!

theoretica

Korkyb said:

theoretica said:

You have calculated what you will be receiving in pensions - but not mentioned what you are spending each year at present.  Will your pension income be more than you are currently spending (eg if you are putting money into savings) similar, or require you to reduce spending?  Worth knowing, and thinking about!

As I said in my 1st post I haven't worked out my "number" yet (but am aware that I do need to get a spreadsheet on the go).

I'm confident though that we will be be able to live within our income given that:

- Our combined income just from work pensions should be £34k+.
- Over £100k in savings (including lump sums).
- No debt / mortgage paid off.
- Both wife & I are "sensible" (not frugal) with money.
- Kids are pretty much self sufficient.

I've also calculated by keeping my foot in the door at work (albeit at a lower grade) that just 6 hours work per week would earn me £8k or £9k per year which isn't to be sniffed at. The option for me to to work extra hours on top of this is generally available all the time as we are so busy at work.

I don't believe in random confidence in the absence of data or looking at only the positives and not the negatives.  If you have been spending £150k a year, living on that amount would need significant changes and attention - if you have been spending £30k it should be much easier - but worth including in your calculations that more time for yourself gives more time for spending money!

Plasticman

I'm hopefully heading to a similar position. Currently 50 but I've crunched the numbers and with our pensions and savings we could retire at 55 with a household income of £35K p.a. after tax (and allowing for 4% inflation on the part that's drawn down from cash). We've nearly finished paying off our mortgage, don't have any other debts and happily lead a very simple lifestyle so that should be fine. Unfortunately what we don't have beyond that is a lump sum to fall back on if we need it. Unless I manage to tuck a bit more money away over the next 5 years I might have to stay in my current job until I'm 56, get a part time job for a while or hope for a lottery win! It feels good just knowing it's so close though.   

Albermarle

Plasticman said:

I'm hopefully heading to a similar position. Currently 50 but I've crunched the numbers and with our pensions and savings we could retire at 55 with a household income of £35K p.a. after tax (and allowing for 4% inflation on the part that's drawn down from cash). We've nearly finished paying off our mortgage, don't have any other debts and happily lead a very simple lifestyle so that should be fine. Unfortunately what we don't have beyond that is a lump sum to fall back on if we need it. Unless I manage to tuck a bit more money away over the next 5 years I might have to stay in my current job until I'm 56, get a part time job for a while or hope for a lottery win! It feels good just knowing it's so close though.   

If you have DC pensions, rather than DB pensions, then a cash savings pot of minimum two years expenditure is recommended
So to avoid taking money from a pension pot after a market crash and before it recovers. 
Plus an emergency pot ( new boiler, car etc ) regardless of which kind of pension you have .