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What made you 'pull the trigger'?
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Albermarle said:enthusiasticsaver said:sgx2000 said:I really appreciate posts like this....
While all the pensions, tax and investment advice is invaluable.... (thank you everyone who helps)
The more personal help with the decisions and outcomes is also invaluable...
I am 62 and am at the point of wanting to go, but really struggling to make the jump.....
My finances are a fraction of most of the posts on the forum... So making the decision a little harder....
I do laugh at the posters who say they have pots of £700k and dont know if they can afford to retire...lol
This is fully understandable from a psychological/ emotional point of view, but from a more purely financial view it is not very logical. During a 30 year retirement markets will go up and down many times, and for sure at least a couple of the drops, will be a lot more dramatic than the current one. Also if you take into account the very good years of the previous decade, then it still looks pretty good.
Basically it means if a drop of 15% or thereabouts scuppers your plans, you probably did not have enough in the pot to begin with.
Caveat is that the current inflation at the same time as a market drop, is particularly painful, but I think the logic still holds.
And when that pot drops to a certain amount and recovers less and less because there is less and less in it, boy will you have to make changes that income drying up.1 -
EdSwippet said:Hit the LTA ... or rather, the govt reduced the LTA so that it hit me. 2016. I had planned to work four more years, but calculated that I would lose around 25% in compensation over the period, either way: take fixed protection but lose my entire employer pension contributions and the added salary sacrifice NI uplift benefit on top; or, don't take fixed protection and lose 25% in eventual LTA penalty.
I have more self-respect than to work four years for effectively three years of salary. At the LTA, work becomes optional. I opted to stop. With close to a year of lifestyle planning already done, the transition was very easy to make. The pre-planning was crucial, though. Retire to something, not just from something.
I worked 100+hours a week as a junior dr then 25 years as a GP - extreme time poverty meant that I always spent less than I earned.
The retirement decision became much easier after COVID crisis. The economic hit / inflation would punish a 30 + year pot through huge LTA penalties. That alongside even more crushing workload within a crumbling health service decided things.
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GSP said:Albermarle said:enthusiasticsaver said:sgx2000 said:I really appreciate posts like this....
While all the pensions, tax and investment advice is invaluable.... (thank you everyone who helps)
The more personal help with the decisions and outcomes is also invaluable...
I am 62 and am at the point of wanting to go, but really struggling to make the jump.....
My finances are a fraction of most of the posts on the forum... So making the decision a little harder....
I do laugh at the posters who say they have pots of £700k and dont know if they can afford to retire...lol
This is fully understandable from a psychological/ emotional point of view, but from a more purely financial view it is not very logical. During a 30 year retirement markets will go up and down many times, and for sure at least a couple of the drops, will be a lot more dramatic than the current one. Also if you take into account the very good years of the previous decade, then it still looks pretty good.
Basically it means if a drop of 15% or thereabouts scuppers your plans, you probably did not have enough in the pot to begin with.
Caveat is that the current inflation at the same time as a market drop, is particularly painful, but I think the logic still holds.
And when that pot drops to a certain amount and recovers less and less because there is less and less in it, boy will you have to make changes that income drying up.Yep, SoR risks. If you have a robust plan, where market drops of 40-50% have been modelled, and your plan incorporates a cash buffer and allows some flexibility, you should be good to go. But I am so glad I'm not in that boat as I can imagine the choppy nature of the ride will not make retirement plain sailing for those of a financially nervous disposition. For such people, converting a proportion of the portfolio to fixed / guaranteed income may be beneficial.
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In answer to the original question...
Not being able to book a week's leave, during a spot of nice weather, because others were already off.
That was the final straw, and the trigger to put the plan into action 😎How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.60% of current retirement "pot" (as at end May 2025)19 -
GSP said:Albermarle said:enthusiasticsaver said:sgx2000 said:I really appreciate posts like this....
While all the pensions, tax and investment advice is invaluable.... (thank you everyone who helps)
The more personal help with the decisions and outcomes is also invaluable...
I am 62 and am at the point of wanting to go, but really struggling to make the jump.....
My finances are a fraction of most of the posts on the forum... So making the decision a little harder....
I do laugh at the posters who say they have pots of £700k and dont know if they can afford to retire...lol
This is fully understandable from a psychological/ emotional point of view, but from a more purely financial view it is not very logical. During a 30 year retirement markets will go up and down many times, and for sure at least a couple of the drops, will be a lot more dramatic than the current one. Also if you take into account the very good years of the previous decade, then it still looks pretty good.
Basically it means if a drop of 15% or thereabouts scuppers your plans, you probably did not have enough in the pot to begin with.
Caveat is that the current inflation at the same time as a market drop, is particularly painful, but I think the logic still holds.
And when that pot drops to a certain amount and recovers less and less because there is less and less in it, boy will you have to make changes that income drying up.
I think a good cash buffer can help, even if it only helps you sleep at night.3 -
Albermarle said:GSP said:Albermarle said:enthusiasticsaver said:sgx2000 said:I really appreciate posts like this....
While all the pensions, tax and investment advice is invaluable.... (thank you everyone who helps)
The more personal help with the decisions and outcomes is also invaluable...
I am 62 and am at the point of wanting to go, but really struggling to make the jump.....
My finances are a fraction of most of the posts on the forum... So making the decision a little harder....
I do laugh at the posters who say they have pots of £700k and dont know if they can afford to retire...lol
This is fully understandable from a psychological/ emotional point of view, but from a more purely financial view it is not very logical. During a 30 year retirement markets will go up and down many times, and for sure at least a couple of the drops, will be a lot more dramatic than the current one. Also if you take into account the very good years of the previous decade, then it still looks pretty good.
Basically it means if a drop of 15% or thereabouts scuppers your plans, you probably did not have enough in the pot to begin with.
Caveat is that the current inflation at the same time as a market drop, is particularly painful, but I think the logic still holds.
And when that pot drops to a certain amount and recovers less and less because there is less and less in it, boy will you have to make changes that income drying up.
I think a good cash buffer can help, even if it only helps you sleep at night.
Historically I have quite a bit of cash, around 40%,but currently this is being eroded in real terms. I have bought more equities when the market was lower than it is now so most probably I have about 35%cash now, I want to get to a 80:20 equities:cash ratio before I reach retirement.
It's just my opinion and not advice.3 -
I'm not retired yet, but have a firm plan to do so when I'm 53, which is 4 years, 6 months and 4 days away
My drivers?
1) My mum died at 57. Thankfully she and my dad retired about 7 years before, so at least she had a wonderful retirement while she was still well. This taught me that the future is by no means guaranteed, so I need to retire as early as possible to make sure I can enjoy it.
2) both kids will have finished high school which will be the trigger for us to downsize, whilst knowing that we can afford to support them at Uni.
3) during covid my work went crazy busy. I was working 12 hour days and weekends for about a year. That was as close to burnout as I've ever been. I may even have been there. It was knife edge stuff. I don’t think I've recovered from it even now, and have gone from loving my job, to hating it, even though my hours are more sensible and nothing else has changed.
4) triggered by 3) I started looking seriously at my finances to see what retirement age was possible. In doing so I discovered that even retiring at 53, I'm likely to exceed the LTA. Working later than this will see me breach it by some margin.
With 4.5 years to go, I hope that my financial position will allow it to happen (my very detailed forecast spreadsheet says it will) and that I live long enough to actually get there.13 -
1. I’d always intended to retire early … for me that meant before 60, otherwise all those expensive holidays etc I didn’t take were a waste of time
2. The final lockdown ended and my employer started talking about returning to normal … I thought “not bloody likely, thank you very much”
3. A voluntary severance scheme opened up … I thought “that’s my bus!”10 -
SMcGill said:3. A voluntary severance scheme opened up … I thought “that’s my bus!”
You wait ages for a bus, then three turn up at once (hopefully!)5 -
SMcGill said:
3. A voluntary severance scheme opened up … I thought “that’s my bus!”Mortgage free!
Debt free!
And now I am retired - all the time in the world!!5
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