What made you 'pull the trigger'?

Albermarle

Sus59 said:

Thank you to the person who started this thread which is so useful.  I am in the process of being roped into a project at work that I would really rather not get involved in and feel it is time to tell them the truth.  
Having been treated for cancer in 2021 and had my first grandchild a few weeks ago also plays into the equation.
So have just emailed my financial adviser asking for a meeting to discuss my options.

Just for info, many people in your position ( weighing up if you can afford to retire) post their details on this forum, and invite comment/opinion. Some also have IFA's, and do this partly to prepare before an IFA meeting.
If you do, then you need to include some idea of planned expenditure, and not just current savings and investments.
Also best to start a new post and not just tag it on this thread.

sgx2000

Love this thread....
The best advice is always from those who have already done it....

Scrudgy

Sus59 said:

Thank you to the person who started this thread which is so useful.  I am in the process of being roped into a project at work that I would really rather not get involved in and feel it is time to tell them the truth.  
Having been treated for cancer in 2021 and had my first grandchild a few weeks ago also plays into the equation.
So have just emailed my financial adviser asking for a meeting to discuss my options.

I am in a similar position, just been asked to take on some duties at work that are pretty time consuming and boring that are typically done by people much earlier in they’re career, the current person is overwhelmed with the work and my boss thinks asking me to do it is the answer. Well it certainly spurred me into action and I have a meeting set up with a retirement planner to get my affairs in order to see if I can pull the trigger.

Running_man

After agreeing an extra year and signing contract alot has changed.TRIGGER PULLED.Have now told firm the date will be leaving.They would still like me to stay on.Even offered zero hours contract so could come and go as I pleased.This after them telling me they are reducing my wages (shorter hours but they had agreed not to do this after I took on extra responsibilities)
 
Worked on getting new machines fitted for over 18 months.They have now arrived.
Guy who is next in command said he has been after them for over 5 years has now taken project over 
Was angry at first.Then just thought “why should I care”
only got just over a year and when machines fitted makes my job easier

Mindset of Quietly quitting seems to be working 

BikingBud

Tabby_cat said:

I suspect, like most people here, it was a combination of things that finally made me jump ship.

In my early 30's I was told I'd probably be blind by my very old age. I returned to work the next day and was trying to read a drawing from the 1950's that had had a hard life. "Is that 3 ft 8? or 8 ft 3?" I really struggled and decided that day, I couldn't do this for another 30 odd years. I found an IFA and started my plan to retire at 55. My OH is 10 years older than me and was going to go at 65, so 55 would work for me.

We had a comfortable life and good holidays, but every spare penny I had, went toward my pension, and I achieved the FI part of FIRE in my late 40's, but mentally wasn't ready to retire then. It took a takeover of the company I worked for, by a big American corporation, (one I had no respect for) for me to start on the home stretch. I asked to be made redundant. No hope there because I was too useful and reliable. So, I dropped my hours and worked 3 days a week. After 18 months I could see there were no interesting projects coming up. There was work I could do, but nothing that excited me, so pulled the trigger aged 52 and three quarters, in December '18.   

Do I miss it? Like hell do I miss the corporate BS, pointless box ticking exercises and getting up at 5.30 in the morning. I do miss some of the people but since COVID most now work from home, so the social side of office work has disappeared. 

I don't miss the arguments with graduates who think they know best because they have a degree and I don't.
Grad - We're going to build it like this.
Me - We can't actually build it like that. There's no way of doing the bolts up.
Grad - But X (senior member of staff) says we are.
Me - But if you do it like that you can't get to the bolts. Explain to X we need to do it a different way.
Grad - Can't you make it work somehow?
Me - How? You can't do the bolts up! WHAT PART OF YOU CAN'T DO THE BOLTS UP DONT YOU UNDERSTAND....

This just happened once too often. 

Now, no stress. I get up at 7 but only because I want to. I'm lighter by 4 stone, fitter than I've ever been in my life and happy. You can't put a price on that and now nothing would make me return to my former profession. Yes, the last year has been interesting finance wise. But I still have enough to enjoy life and if my IFA ever suggested that wasn't the case, I'd happily go and stack shelves at Waitrose. Until then you'll find me at a fitness class or on my allotment.

Experts: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

Tabby_cat

Experts: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

Thank you @BikingBud Very good, I really enjoyed that. I've been an "Anderson" countless times, but, as a red haired, 5 foot nothing female, in a male dominated profession, I've not hid my frustration quite as well as he did. I don't miss that nonsence one bit!

Pensions_matter_2

Entertaining link - takes me back to all those project meetings, though luckly in my experience most people talked sense!

[Deleted User]

I think I'm in a different category to a lot of people here, in that  I'm in my mid 60s, work in an interesting medical/computing area and actually would like to keep going till well over 70. However, this year I hear nothing in the press but new plans to try and relieve me of the money I've saved, and the pension and SERPS contributions I've made over 45 years, e.g.

Should the state pension be means-tested?
Should the tax free lump sum be capped/removed?
Should there be a maximum on ISA values?
Labour MPs lobbying for a wealth tax to be in the manifesto.

My current thinking is that if (or as seems more likely when) Labour get in, they will move on some of these, and maybe it makes more sense to bail out before the next election.  I have no faith that they would be so nuanced as to accept how much cash you need saved in the private sector at 60-something to get a pension remotely comparable to a public sector one

By converting the lump sum to an annuity I'll drop off the radar of easily targetable savings to be relieved of.  I know you shouldn't let the tax tail wag the investment dog, but it would be madness to work another ten years just to replace the money avoidably taken as tax.
Anyone else had similar thoughts, or have good reasons not to think this way?  Thanks.

Albermarle

cambsperson said:

I think I'm in a different category to a lot of people here, in that  I'm in my mid 60s, work in an interesting medical/computing area and actually would like to keep going till well over 70. However, this year I hear nothing in the press but new plans media speculation/scaremongering to try and relieve me of the money I've saved, and the pension and SERPS contributions I've made over 45 years, e.g.

Should the state pension be means-tested? Unlikely for the foreseeable future, although the removal of the unaffordable triple lock seems likely at some point
Should the tax free lump sum be capped/removed? Even more unlikely as it would be so unpopular
Should there be a maximum on ISA values? Maybe one day, but effectively will only mean some tax on values above a certain high level.
Labour MPs lobbying for a wealth tax to be in the manifesto. Very,very difficult to impliment in practice.

My current thinking is that if (or as seems more likely when) Labour get in, they will move on some of these, and maybe it makes more sense to bail out before the next election.  I have no faith that they would be so nuanced as to accept how much cash you need saved in the private sector at 60-something to get a pension remotely comparable to a public sector one

By converting the lump sum to an annuity I'll drop off the radar of easily targetable savings to be relieved of.  I know you shouldn't let the tax tail wag the investment dog, but it would be madness to work another ten years just to replace the money avoidably taken as tax.
Anyone else had similar thoughts, or have good reasons not to think this way?  Thanks.

Anyone else had similar thoughts, or have good reasons not to think this way? 

Probably best not to believe everything you read in the media and usually best not to plan you financial future based on things that may or may not happen.

Pat38493

Albermarle said:

cambsperson said:

I think I'm in a different category to a lot of people here, in that  I'm in my mid 60s, work in an interesting medical/computing area and actually would like to keep going till well over 70. However, this year I hear nothing in the press but new plans media speculation/scaremongering to try and relieve me of the money I've saved, and the pension and SERPS contributions I've made over 45 years, e.g.

Should the state pension be means-tested? Unlikely for the foreseeable future, although the removal of the unaffordable triple lock seems likely at some point
Should the tax free lump sum be capped/removed? Even more unlikely as it would be so unpopular
Should there be a maximum on ISA values? Maybe one day, but effectively will only mean some tax on values above a certain high level.
Labour MPs lobbying for a wealth tax to be in the manifesto. Very,very difficult to impliment in practice.

My current thinking is that if (or as seems more likely when) Labour get in, they will move on some of these, and maybe it makes more sense to bail out before the next election.  I have no faith that they would be so nuanced as to accept how much cash you need saved in the private sector at 60-something to get a pension remotely comparable to a public sector one

By converting the lump sum to an annuity I'll drop off the radar of easily targetable savings to be relieved of.  I know you shouldn't let the tax tail wag the investment dog, but it would be madness to work another ten years just to replace the money avoidably taken as tax.
Anyone else had similar thoughts, or have good reasons not to think this way?  Thanks.

Anyone else had similar thoughts, or have good reasons not to think this way? 

Probably best not to believe everything you read in the media and usually best not to plan you financial future based on things that may or may not happen.

I’m sure chancellors have their eyes on pension assets, but upsetting current or soon to be pensioners may not be electorally advisable.

Tend to agree, including the point that the triple lock on State Pensions is indefensible and illustrates the electoral power that pensioners wield.  Double lock if defendable but not the 2.5% part.

Sometimes it feels like a lot of developed democracies spent a large part of the last 15 years printing money and inflating markets, so I am more concerned about market crashes than Labour putting additional taxes - I’m sure we will all have to pay for it one way or another but we cannot know how.