About to pull the trigger at last!

Xenon123

Well.  I've posted here on and off about early retirement. I had planned to go early summer and delayed it, then late summer and Ive delayed it again.  I've now decided to early retire at the end of the year.  Without going in to the details, I have fairly serious health issues, enough to ensure that my life will more than likely be shortened considerably.  I am currently 57 and would have liked to work until 60 at least, but I've decided there's more to life, and I want to enjoy what I have left.
What I don't want to do though, is replace work stress, with stress related to worrying about my pension provision.

On the back of that and reviewing my pension portfolio, I have approx £280k available for drawdown,  I will be retiring at the end of the year, and my savings at that point will be about £30k.
My aim is to draw down approx £1750 per month until our SP's kick in.  My hope is that the fund will allow that. In other words, I have 10 years to bridge from now
My wife will be working on a few years before retiring on £21k pa on a DB pension with £65k lump sum. She is able to retire at 55 with full pension provision on a nice DB pension and lump sum.

I have now become very nervous given the economic climate and particularly the events of the last week or two and its a bit scary given I am no financial expert by any means.

I am meeting with my FA next week, but I suppose I wanted to ask for some opinions or advice about retiring in this climate.  I have this irrational fear of my pot vanishing down a plughole due to the economic madhouse we are in.  Over the last few months, I have seen my pension sums falling by thousands already.
 I have yet to decide when to start drawing down, but given my wife is still working, I could hold on drawing down until she retired, or draw less in the meantime and top up my monthly income with savings.  I could also refrain from drawing down for a period, and top draw a monthly income from my savings for a year or two in the hope that the economy will stabilise a bit more

My wife takes home approx £2900 pm.  When both retired, I would want our income at £3500 per month or 42k per year made up of her £1750 pm pension and the rest coming from my drawdown.
To give an idea of my plans, these are the rough figures for my plan

£280k pot.
25% taken tax free= £70k
Balance left for drawdown £210k.

Savings would include £30k saving plus 2x lumps from myself and wife= £165k

Drawing down from between 2023/24 to 2032 when state pension starts.
Monthly drawdown £1750 or £21k per year for between 8-9 years until SP age.
I would review this as time progresses. Obviously, things become more expensive as time goes on, but I also expect my spending to reduce as time goes on.
The SP for us at 67 would replace my drawdown somewhat (£1560pm at todays rate), but it would be nice if when I turned 67 there would be a surplus in the pension fund, or am I asking too much here!

I believe this should be sustainable, especially with a largish saving buffer.  (I say savings, but I haven't fully decided yet how to utilise the £165k from above.  We could take smaller lumps and leave more invested in my pension for eg.  I need to further investigate my options here)
However, the nightly diet of doom and gloom on the news is scaring me.  Should I be scared or just get on with it?

Albermarle

 I have this irrational fear of my pot vanishing down a plughole due to the economic madhouse we are in.  Over the last few months, I have seen my pension sums falling by thousands already.

How about looking back over the last 10 years, subtract your contributions and see how much it has grown ( hopefully) . Nothing goes up and up for ever, especially investments.

 in the hope that the economy will stabilise a bit more

With a diversified investment portfolio, what happens in the UK has only a minor effect. What happens in the US is dominating.

I have now become very nervous given the economic climate and particularly the events of the last week or two and its a bit scary given I am no financial expert by any means.

Although the present situation is a bit worrying, personally I would say what is happening is nothing like as scary as the GFC of 2008 with major banks going under, being nationalised etc

Xenon123

Thanks Albermarle.  How do the figures I have posted look to you?
In the round, am I worrying too much?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

I am meeting with my FA next week, 

Have you consider using an IFA, more likely to look after your interests.

And have you checked your State Pension forecast (in detail)?

If you don't have a DB pension you may be ok but worth checking exactly what you have accrued to date.

Xenon123

Yes, I have an IFA that's who Im seeing next week.  Myself and my wife have been paying NI for longer than the threshold already according to the Govt site, and should get the maximum SP when due.
I had a DC pension but due to health, I got the CEVC value transferred after getting the required financial advice.  My pot is effectively DB now and I will be drawing down on it.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Xenon123 said:

Yes, I have an IFA that's who Im seeing next week.  Myself and my wife have been paying NI for longer than the threshold already according to the Govt site, and should get the maximum SP when due.
I had a DC pension but due to health, I got the CEVC value transferred after getting the required financial advice.  My pot is effectively DB now and I will be drawing down on it.

There really is no threshold for the State Pension, well not for another 30 years or so.

You could have 50 years of contributions and not get the standard new State Pension as you are under transitional rules.

If you think having 35:years is relevant then you really need to check your forecast in detail so there are no unwelcome surprises further down the line.

Xenon123

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Xenon123 said:

Yes, I have an IFA that's who Im seeing next week.  Myself and my wife have been paying NI for longer than the threshold already according to the Govt site, and should get the maximum SP when due.
I had a DC pension but due to health, I got the CEVC value transferred after getting the required financial advice.  My pot is effectively DB now and I will be drawing down on it.

There really is no threshold for the State Pension, well not for another 30 years or so.

You could have 50 years of contributions and not get the standard new State Pension as you are under transitional rules.

If you think having 35:years is relevant then you really need to check your forecast in detail so there are no unwelcome surprises further down the line.

I have checked my state pension forecast on the Govt gateway.  I need 35 years to get my full state pension, and I have 40 years full NI contributions.  The indicated pension is for approx £9,500 per annum.  What else can I check?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

The indicated pension is for approx £9,500 per annum

That suggests you are slightly short of the standard new State Pension, currently £185.15/week so £9627.80 for 52 weeks.

Chances are you will have accrued one additional year already from working in 2022:23 so that will probably take you to the standard amount but the fact you have referred to 35 years means you haven't quite followed the transitional rules.

Gov.uk has more information here,

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/how-its-calculated

jim8888

If you retire now, perhaps you can take steps to improve your fitness and, hopefully, your health. Making a decision and taking action is always a relief, so go for it! I'm no IFA, but you can always be flexible with your investments - retirement doesn't have to cost a lot of money and you might be surprised by how your financial "priorities" change. When I left work, the positive change in both mental and physical health was almost worth the entrance fee, but retirement has its own challenges too, not least managing the financial side. But you can always go back to work, so if you can retire now then give it a go!

Xenon123

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

The indicated pension is for approx £9,500 per annum

That suggests you are slightly short of the standard new State Pension, currently £185.15/week so £9627.80 for 52 weeks.

Chances are you will have accrued one additional year already from working in 2022:23 so that will probably take you to the standard amount but the fact you have referred to 35 years means you haven't quite followed the transitional rules.

Gov.uk has more information here,

https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/how-its-calculated

I've just had a look, its £9660.86 and £807.07 on the Govt gateway for my projection so looks like Im on target.

Billxx

jim8888 said:

If you retire now, perhaps you can take steps to improve your fitness and, hopefully, your health. Making a decision and taking action is always a relief, so go for it! I'm no IFA, but you can always be flexible with your investments - retirement doesn't have to cost a lot of money and you might be surprised by how your financial "priorities" change. When I left work, the positive change in both mental and physical health was almost worth the entrance fee, but retirement has its own challenges too, not least managing the financial side. But you can always go back to work, so if you can retire now then give it a go!

I agree with the above. I retired four years ago and have suffered two serious health issues, in other words, you never know what is around the corner.  Go for it.