If in retirement what do you wish you’d known before taking retirement

sheslookinhot

pensionpawn said:

If you are married, plan retirement as a couple. That only dawned on me in my early 40's. Make sure that you have sufficiently large pots to both be able to draw down (at least) your personal allowances until you croak it. If you then access your funds via UFPLS that will be a joint retirement income of £33k5 tax free. In order to achieve this make sure that the larger earner contributes to the lower earners pot over the years. I dumped a significant portion of my TFLS into my wife's pension to help the balancing process. Make sure that you'll both qualify for full SP as that will take the load off your personal pension(s) in your later years. Full SPs will also lessen the need for larger pots, giving you the option to (semi?) retire earlier. Your retirement income only has to cover your needs at retirement, which should be significantly less that during your accumulation phase e.g. kids growing up and leaving home (my water bill plumeted!) Take steps to reduce your outgoings in retirement e.g. install solar panels to reduce energy bills. Note that you can continue to pay £2880 (£3600) into your pensions (until 75) after you quit work. As a couple this will gain you £1440 of free money pa. With the exception of care / illnes your outgoings will be less as you get older, which could influence how large you believe your pots need to be. I'm no expert having learnt significantly from this forum and a long standing friend. Remember, tomorrow isn't promised. Don't plan for the future at the expense of the present, and enjoy your retirement planning as soon as you can. None of us are getting any younger.

Only if non tax payers

pensionpawn

MACKEM99 said:

What I did in the last few years before I retired was to live on the amount I would have in retirement and save\invest the rest.  Let me see if I could do it and provided an extra nest egg.  I agree it will not work for everyone.

I have done precisely that by reducing my hours at work to match my target retirement income. Trial run....

pensionpawn

PennyForThem_2 said:

This is REALLY GOOD ADVICE that you should plan as a couple.

Make sure your partner is on board, understands how you are as individuals you are planning to fund your retirement.

BUT most important of all, KNOW what happens if one dies and what you, as surviving partner, are entitled to.

We hope we have covered that too. The main weakness in our retirement planning is if one of us is beamed up just around SPA, which vanishes with you. To lesson the impact of the loss of SP, especially if funds haven't performed as well as hoped, we recently re-arranged our life insurance (as we'll still have a mortgage until 75) to a reducing term to end when the mortgage does (we had a fixed amount for a interest only mortgage). However I set the starting amount of the reducing life assurance to be precisely the right amount higher than the mortgage to cover the loss of a state pension from 67 - 75 (in addition to repaying the mortgage balance). Think of it as insuring one of our state pensions for 8 years. Yes I pay a little more for the premiums however if one of us goes early the mortgage is repaid and the there's no loss in state pension until 75, at which point there is also no mortgage repayment.

pensionpawn

sheslookinhot said:

pensionpawn said:

If you are married, plan retirement as a couple. That only dawned on me in my early 40's. Make sure that you have sufficiently large pots to both be able to draw down (at least) your personal allowances until you croak it. If you then access your funds via UFPLS that will be a joint retirement income of £33k5 tax free. In order to achieve this make sure that the larger earner contributes to the lower earners pot over the years. I dumped a significant portion of my TFLS into my wife's pension to help the balancing process. Make sure that you'll both qualify for full SP as that will take the load off your personal pension(s) in your later years. Full SPs will also lessen the need for larger pots, giving you the option to (semi?) retire earlier. Your retirement income only has to cover your needs at retirement, which should be significantly less that during your accumulation phase e.g. kids growing up and leaving home (my water bill plumeted!) Take steps to reduce your outgoings in retirement e.g. install solar panels to reduce energy bills. Note that you can continue to pay £2880 (£3600) into your pensions (until 75) after you quit work. As a couple this will gain you £1440 of free money pa. With the exception of care / illnes your outgoings will be less as you get older, which could influence how large you believe your pots need to be. I'm no expert having learnt significantly from this forum and a long standing friend. Remember, tomorrow isn't promised. Don't plan for the future at the expense of the present, and enjoy your retirement planning as soon as you can. None of us are getting any younger.

Only if non tax payers

We'll both be unemployed with no other taxable income!

RobM99

cheerfulcat said:

I’m 60 now. Most of my friends and acquaintances are of a similar age or older, and they are starting to die. My top non-financial tip? Make friends with some people younger than you.

Heartily agree here. Keep active both physically and mentally (I deputise as a bassist for rock bands and I'm 66 now). Do Wordle etc to keep the mind ticking over. Go walking and such.  All good stuff!

Bimbly

I am not yet retired, but I found the following interesting:

The 4 phases of retirement | Dr. Riley Moynes - TED talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMHMOQ_054U

pensionpawn

SarahB16 said:

I'm anywhere from 11 to 18 years away from retirement and at 49 am already considering my retirement.  Not that I don’t enjoy my job but I don’t wish to look back at the age of 60 or 67 and think I wish I’d known that when I was say 50. 

I work full time and am satisfied with my pension provision but there are also other non-financial aspects to consider regarding how to spend your time when retired.  I volunteer in my local community and also have many friends that live nearby and as I get older I think having friends that live near to me will become more important because as I get older it may be harder to travel longer distances.     

I would love to hear from people who are in retirement or are approaching retirement but are actively doing something now to improve their retirement.  This may be something financial but ideally I’m looking for non-financial responses.  If anybody could kindly share their advice perhaps how they enjoy spending their time and what they wish they had done differently with hindsight or perhaps just share their tips for having an enjoyable retirement. 

I forgot to add that I favour maximising paying into the pension, without compromising the present, instead of overpaying the mortgage (to be mortgage free asap). This has been very attractive for many years now as the interest you are paying on your mortgage is significantly less than (until recently) the growth you could expect on you pension contributions. Yes, overpaying does free up income in the years (decade..) prior to retirement however the government tops up your pension contributions and the earlier you contribute the longer you have for the pot to grow. You also have limits on how much you can contribute each year so you may find restrictions to how much you can contribute in your final years before retirement. Also, bear in mind that your TFLS, which the government and your employer have contributed towards, can be used to repay your mortgage. What a lovely feeling that the government / your company repaid 20% of your mortgage for you! Of course being mortgage free is also a lovely feeling, so it's horses for courses. Finally, make sure that you contribute the minimum out of your salary to trigger the maximum employers contribution.

pensionpawn

Bimbly said:

I am not yet retired, but I found the following interesting:

The 4 phases of retirement | Dr. Riley Moynes - TED talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMHMOQ_054U

I see retirement as life: stage 3. Stage 1 was from birth until the end of education. Stage 2 is from starting work, meeting that special person, setting up a home and raising a family. I agree that you need something to do in retirement however it's a matter of perspective. If you are a live to work type, the transition could be difficult without the framework mentioned in the talk. However I'm a work to live person and see the continuation of work a restriction on (the time available) to do other things I am interested in (more reading, travelling, new coding skills, helping my adult children, learn to cook better.... the list is endless). I know of friends and family in retirement who have said that they don't know how they found the time to fit in work! I will no doubt sit on my !!!!!! (and thoroughly enjoy doing so) for some time however I (and my wife) have a natural list of things we want to do, independently (very important) and together. Those staring at a vacuum (and I work with plenty like this) after they quit their jobs may have a problem. That could account for why so many I work with are there into their 60's and 70's. They don't know what else to do.... 

Albermarle

You have to get used to saying you are retired. Some people do not like saying that as it makes them feel old/over the hill 

Like many people on this forum, I was always reasonably cautious/sensible with money, although I relaxed about it a bit more as I got older. I thought when the regular pay packet stopped and was only replaced by a regular DB income of around 25% the size, I thought I might start counting the pennies again. Instead I have gone a bit the other way ( not too much mind ).
I think it is partly that I worked a couple more years than I really needed to and if anything have overshot The Number ( although 2022 has done its best to rectify that ) . Plus I think just the act of retiring has made me realise more clearly that all that money saved and pension contributions made, were for a reason and not just to make my offspring/OH rich when I die !
Still old habits die hard and still not shopping in Waitrose or M& S yet  

cfw1994

SarahB16 said:

I'm anywhere from 11 to 18 years away from retirement and at 49 am already considering my retirement.  Not that I don’t enjoy my job but I don’t wish to look back at the age of 60 or 67 and think I wish I’d known that when I was say 50. 

I work full time and am satisfied with my pension provision but there are also other non-financial aspects to consider regarding how to spend your time when retired.  I volunteer in my local community and also have many friends that live nearby and as I get older I think having friends that live near to me will become more important because as I get older it may be harder to travel longer distances.     

I would love to hear from people who are in retirement or are approaching retirement but are actively doing something now to improve their retirement.  This may be something financial but ideally I’m looking for non-financial responses.  If anybody could kindly share their advice perhaps how they enjoy spending their time and what they wish they had done differently with hindsight or perhaps just share their tips for having an enjoyable retirement. 

A bit ahead of you, and retired from the day job 15 months.
If you are a high rate taxpayer, chuck money into that pension!
Also put some aside to give you flexibility to jump ship before you can access pensions….
Nurture those friends & local community things: they are precisely what you want flourishing when you chose to give up the day job and retire!
Unclear on your personal circumstances: to some (incl me), family is important, and time spare to help those can be precious.