What made you 'pull the trigger'?

Pat38493

LV_426 said:

Is anyone delaying retirement to preserve assets for their kids? I could technically retire now (56), but I'd be pretty much burning everything down. I wish to preserve my DC pension funds and hopefully be able to help the kids with house buying. I have a DB pension, but that doesn't start paying until I'm 65. And both me and the Mrs will get full state pensions.

My strategy is to kind of work out when we as a couple will be financially independent enough to pull the trigger, hopefully some time in next 1-3 years.  Once I've reached that point, from then on I am working for the kids inheritance.  Therefore it depends it bit on how much more working time I want to tolerate.  Probably not very long.  It's not our main objective although we would like at least to be able to help out even while we are still around maybe with house deposit or something at the appropriate time.  Also we would seek to avoid the expectation of an entitlement down the line.

The other way to look at it is that my plan will be designed to cope with historical worst case scenarios of return sequences, so the kids are a bit in the casino with pretty good odds - there's a chance they would end up with nothing but there's a pretty high chance they will get inheritance, and in more than 50% of scenarios it will be more than the initial fund values - as said the planning is based on the worst case assumption. 

comeandgo

LV_426 said:

Is anyone delaying retirement to preserve assets for their kids? I could technically retire now (56), but I'd be pretty much burning everything down. I wish to preserve my DC pension funds and hopefully be able to help the kids with house buying. I have a DB pension, but that doesn't start paying until I'm 65. And both me and the Mrs will get full state pensions.

Absolutely not, all our children are well settled and are actually better off than we were at their age.  We have told them we will be spending on ourselves and they are happy with that.

Plasticman

LV_426 said:

Is anyone delaying retirement to preserve assets for their kids? I could technically retire now (56), but I'd be pretty much burning everything down. I wish to preserve my DC pension funds and hopefully be able to help the kids with house buying. I have a DB pension, but that doesn't start paying until I'm 65. And both me and the Mrs will get full state pensions.

Nope. I love my kids but I've given up a large part of my life to care and provide for them and that's coming to an end now that they're adults. I'll always be there for them and I'm happy to help them out where I can within the budget that I have as a result of the life choices I'll make. 

We'll potentially have inheritance from both of our parents at some point and if we do then most of that will pass to the kids. 

Simon11

LV_426 said:

Is anyone delaying retirement to preserve assets for their kids? I could technically retire now (56), but I'd be pretty much burning everything down. I wish to preserve my DC pension funds and hopefully be able to help the kids with house buying. I have a DB pension, but that doesn't start paying until I'm 65. And both me and the Mrs will get full state pensions.

My kid is only 1 years old, so a long way to go but I won't be staying in my current line of work any longer than I need to. Thus I wouldn't stay to preserve assets for kids- they after all need to support their own way in life and not get a huge hand out.

Of course, I expect we will need to support them financially with securing a deposit/ in an emergency, however I consider that when we pass, they will own a share of the house which will be more than enough. The rest of the money/ savings is for I/Wife to enjoy retirement and support our care plan, thus when we hit that need, we will step back.

Bravepants

Silverbullet036 said:

Everyone seems to want to be social and say its a must for retirement. Personally I cant think of anything worse , I retired to get away from people and enjoy the peace and quiet

I don't think it's a must, but it depends on how many friends someone has. Like many of my generation I moved away from my home town to find work, as did many of my school and University friends and aquaintences. I don't think there needs to be continuous socialising, but every now and then getting out of my comfort zone and talking to new and different people would help prevent me from becoming some sort of hermit and going "strange". LOL Humans are supposed to be social animals after all.

LV_426

Pat38493 said:

LV_426 said:

Is anyone delaying retirement to preserve assets for their kids? I could technically retire now (56), but I'd be pretty much burning everything down. I wish to preserve my DC pension funds and hopefully be able to help the kids with house buying. I have a DB pension, but that doesn't start paying until I'm 65. And both me and the Mrs will get full state pensions.

My strategy is to kind of work out when we as a couple will be financially independent enough to pull the trigger, hopefully some time in next 1-3 years.  Once I've reached that point, from then on I am working for the kids inheritance.  Therefore it depends it bit on how much more working time I want to tolerate.  Probably not very long.  It's not our main objective although we would like at least to be able to help out even while we are still around maybe with house deposit or something at the appropriate time.  Also we would seek to avoid the expectation of an entitlement down the line.

The other way to look at it is that my plan will be designed to cope with historical worst case scenarios of return sequences, so the kids are a bit in the casino with pretty good odds - there's a chance they would end up with nothing but there's a pretty high chance they will get inheritance, and in more than 50% of scenarios it will be more than the initial fund values - as said the planning is based on the worst case assumption. 

I respect peoples' views that they wish to enjoy their retirement benefits. I don't disagree, and I'm not saying we won't. Of course I'll make sure we have enough to maintain our lifestyle. However I do see the difference between now and back when I started work. It's a very much more debt laden society we have. I got a completely free higher education, was able to buy my first house on a reasonable single income. You just can't do that now. I'm happy to pay those financial breaks forward, if I can. If that means working a bit longer, I'll pay that price.

Pat38493

LV_426 said:

I respect peoples' views that they wish to enjoy their retirement benefits. I don't disagree, and I'm not saying we won't. Of course I'll make sure we have enough to maintain our lifestyle. However I do see the difference between now and back when I started work. It's a very much more debt laden society we have. I got a completely free higher education, was able to buy my first house on a reasonable single income. You just can't do that now. I'm happy to pay those financial breaks forward, if I can. If that means working a bit longer, I'll pay that price.

There is also the house value of course if it doesn't get used up by care home fees etc.  

I am not counting on any inheritance from my parents (even though I might well get some it plays no part in my financial plans), and the message I would send to my kids is the same - they should not count on it as obviously we need to look after ourselves first.  However, there is a good chance of course that they will get something in the end but not something that should be factored in to their planning.

I also agree with you and I also struggle a bit with that balance with my wife - she is more of the view that we should spend all our money and not be planning for the kids, whereas I do see that case a little but that we were very lucky to live through a time of plenty - this is quite possibly the first generation for a long time where our kids will be poorer than us.  Therefore I do see a case for what you are saying.  I also put a large dollop of my success in life down to luck just as much as skill or talent - right place at the right time and so on.  

LV_426

Pat38493 said:

LV_426 said:

I respect peoples' views that they wish to enjoy their retirement benefits. I don't disagree, and I'm not saying we won't. Of course I'll make sure we have enough to maintain our lifestyle. However I do see the difference between now and back when I started work. It's a very much more debt laden society we have. I got a completely free higher education, was able to buy my first house on a reasonable single income. You just can't do that now. I'm happy to pay those financial breaks forward, if I can. If that means working a bit longer, I'll pay that price.

There is also the house value of course if it doesn't get used up by care home fees etc.  

I am not counting on any inheritance from my parents (even though I might well get some it plays no part in my financial plans), and the message I would send to my kids is the same - they should not count on it as obviously we need to look after ourselves first.  However, there is a good chance of course that they will get something in the end but not something that should be factored in to their planning.

I also agree with you and I also struggle a bit with that balance with my wife - she is more of the view that we should spend all our money and not be planning for the kids, whereas I do see that case a little but that we were very lucky to live through a time of plenty - this is quite possibly the first generation for a long time where our kids will be poorer than us.  Therefore I do see a case for what you are saying.  I also put a large dollop of my success in life down to luck just as much as skill or talent - right place at the right time and so on.  

Absolutely was down to luck for me too, and making good decisions at the right time. By chance things have fallen into place, but it wasn't down to any kind of long term planning, other than always paying into an employer pension scheme.
And of course I benefitted from the housing market boom and crash of the late '80s and early '90s, which is probably an event never to be seen again. The fact that I currently live in house which is financially way beyond my means, says a lot.
It was indeed a time of plenty, and our kids will likely be poorer than us. Nothing wrong in my mind with helping the kids, and inherited wealth is a very common occurrence. Difference is it has now become more common the middle classes, bearing in mind the above historical financial good times.

michaels

LV_426 said:

Is anyone delaying retirement to preserve assets for their kids? I could technically retire now (56), but I'd be pretty much burning everything down. I wish to preserve my DC pension funds and hopefully be able to help the kids with house buying. I have a DB pension, but that doesn't start paying until I'm 65. And both me and the Mrs will get full state pensions.

Not specifically although I guess practically - we do plan to downsize or pass on potential inheritance to help kids onto the housing ladder which in theory could instead be used for earlier retirement.  I see it as them getting some of their inheritance earlier when it can still impact their lives.  Any inheritance we get (if we do, I don't factor it into any calcs) will come after we have achieved a secure retirement so will have very limited impact on our lives.

chubsta

In our case we have already provided each child (3) with enough money for a house deposit, they will of course get inheritances when the time comes so will be far better provided for than we were, their needs are not figuring into my retirement finances - they need to work for what they want just like I did!