A Couple of Questions for the Forum Retiree's ...

squashtraveller

sgx2000 said:

Us Paupers will probably be living on nearer £20K..

The most insightful comment I have seen is....
"If you retire at 65, you can expect 10 years of relatively good health, followed by 10 years of declining health"

So if you have more than you need to live comfortably...
Why are you wasting the good years??

Similar to others - I think I want to retire (or at least stop what I am doing) but have been struggling to decide. I think in part, it is a fear of the 'unknown'. And yes, I have done my calculations and am pretty sure we will be OK financially. Its just hard to give up something that has been part of your life for a long time (in my case near on 40 years making a career). As a well know ad says - maybe its time to 'just do it'. ps love ready all of the comments as it is a help in giving us direction. 

Albermarle

OldMusicGuy said:

1 Yes, but wish I had invested better so I could have retired earlier (I retired at 60, I think 55 is a good age to retire). I would say 55 is good if you don't like your job/have a lot of other interests. Otherwise a bit early for some people.
2 Yes. Ignored fully understanding pensions and investing when in my 40s and early 50s, invested too conservatively. , with too much in cash savings
3 Read MSE in my 40s instead of leaving it until I was 55........ There is so much helpful information here I wish I had invested the effort to find it earlier. I would have then made better investment decisions and been able to retire earlier. Fully agree !

Similar comments from me, just slightly amended.

sgx2000

squashtraveller said:

sgx2000 said:

Us Paupers will probably be living on nearer £20K..

The most insightful comment I have seen is....
"If you retire at 65, you can expect 10 years of relatively good health, followed by 10 years of declining health"

So if you have more than you need to live comfortably...
Why are you wasting the good years??

Similar to others - I think I want to retire (or at least stop what I am doing) but have been struggling to decide. I think in part, it is a fear of the 'unknown'. And yes, I have done my calculations and am pretty sure we will be OK financially. Its just hard to give up something that has been part of your life for a long time (in my case near on 40 years making a career). As a well know ad says - maybe its time to 'just do it'. ps love ready all of the comments as it is a help in giving us direction. 

Really hard
Going from being a saver to a spender....

Like you I think I have enough...
BUT... there is always the fear that something ridiculous could happen to the economy/shares etc

I wish I had got my financial head on before I was 55.....
And very much admire/envy the people who did....

Kim1965

I have 8 yrs till full sp, already getting 7.8k in fully indexed db. I have about 290 k in sipps, isa and savings and could probably retire. Mf, kids through uni, and need about 20k ish a year. 
 However i am always waiting for things to improve, onflation to come down, ukraine war to finish, markets to go up etc one more year of ft work perhsps. If i had a 20k db pension now, i would retire. Like many i dont like the uncertain nature of dc provision. 

SouthCoastBoy

Kim1965 said:

I have 8 yrs till full sp, already getting 7.8k in fully indexed db. I have about 290 k in sipps, isa and savings and could probably retire. Mf, kids through uni, and need about 20k ish a year. 
 However i am always waiting for things to improve, onflation to come down, ukraine war to finish, markets to go up etc one more year of ft work perhsps. If i had a 20k db pension now, i would retire. Like many i dont like the uncertain nature of dc provision. 

I think that is the issue, if people had the certainty of an fully index linked dB pension, many, myself included would retire. I guess the only way to achieve this is via an annuity.

whitehartal

sgx2000 said:

squashtraveller said:

sgx2tM000 said:

Us Paupers will probably be living on nearer £20K..

The most insightful comment I have seen is....
"If you retire at 65, you can expect 10 years of relatively good health, followed by 10 years of declining health"

So if you have more than you need to live comfortably...
Why are you wasting the good years??

Similar to others - I think I want to retire (or at least stop what I am doing) but have been struggling to decide. I think in part, it is a fear of the 'unknown'. And yes, I have done my calculations and am pretty sure we will be OK financially. Its just hard to give up something that has been part of your life for a long time (in my case near on 40 years making a career). As a well know ad says - maybe its time to 'just do it'. ps love ready all of the comments as it is a help in giving us direction. 

Really hard
Going from being a saver to a spender....

Like you I think I have enough...
BUT... there is always the fear that something ridiculous could happen to the economy/shares etc

I wish I had got my financial head on before I was 55.....
And very much admire/envy the people who did....

That second point is what gets me all the time, sgx2000...I retired last year at 52, but I plan everything based on the "ridiculous"...like a 400g block of cheese rising to £200!!!

When we have people still thinking they "must" replace their £1200 phone from 2022 with the latest £1400 phone in 2023 because "look - it has a better camera", then why on earth would product manufacturers NOT keep putting up prices?!!

Now...where's that block of cheese??? 

sgx2000

Kim1965 said:

I have 8 yrs till full sp, already getting 7.8k in fully indexed db. I have about 290 k in sipps, isa and savings and could probably retire. Mf, kids through uni, and need about 20k ish a year. 
 However i am always waiting for things to improve, onflation to come down, ukraine war to finish, markets to go up etc one more year of ft work perhsps. If i had a 20k db pension now, i would retire. Like many i dont like the uncertain nature of dc provision. 

Hi Kim
Nice to see someone else on the forum that only needs about £20k to live comfortably 
Imagine only being 3 years from SPA  -  the financial instability of s&s, and worse bonds, is really annoying...
Just a little more excess needed....
But, will that always be true... I just need a little more???
 

sgx2000

@whitehartal
 Funny ... But true...

sgx2000

SouthCoastBoy said:

Kim1965 said:

I have 8 yrs till full sp, already getting 7.8k in fully indexed db. I have about 290 k in sipps, isa and savings and could probably retire. Mf, kids through uni, and need about 20k ish a year. 
 However i am always waiting for things to improve, onflation to come down, ukraine war to finish, markets to go up etc one more year of ft work perhsps. If i had a 20k db pension now, i would retire. Like many i dont like the uncertain nature of dc provision. 

I think that is the issue, if people had the certainty of an fully index linked dB pension, many, myself included would retire. I guess the only way to achieve this is via an annuity.

Annuities......
Now there is a minefield....
Better returns of late
But, the prospect of handing over all your hard earned....    buurrrr... shiver down my spine

[Deleted User]

sgx2000 said:

Kim1965 said:

I have 8 yrs till full sp, already getting 7.8k in fully indexed db. I have about 290 k in sipps, isa and savings and could probably retire. Mf, kids through uni, and need about 20k ish a year. 
 However i am always waiting for things to improve, onflation to come down, ukraine war to finish, markets to go up etc one more year of ft work perhsps. If i had a 20k db pension now, i would retire. Like many i dont like the uncertain nature of dc provision. 

Hi Kim
Nice to see someone else on the forum that only needs about £20k to live comfortably 
Imagine only being 3 years from SPA  -  the financial instability of s&s, and worse bonds, is really annoying...
Just a little more excess needed....
But, will that always be true... I just need a little more???
 

I'm another one who's expecting to need a modest income in retirement.

As a couple, I'm reasonably sure that we can comfortably get by on £25k per year, topped up with 25% tax free pension withdrawals if needed. This should hopefully keep us tax free or thereabouts.
Our passion is motorhoming and we plan to travel a lot. We've been doing it for years already, so know what the costs are.

In today's money, state pension will bring in 20k per year, which leaves 5k a year to be covered by other pensions (which will easily be covered).

I'm mindful that when one of us is gone, income will drop by 10k and this shortfall will need to be covered (again, this shouldn't be a problem for us).

My dilemma is when to retire (and start depleting various pots at £25k per year until SP kicks in) but more importantly, have I got it wrong?
I frequently read articles suggesting that you need 40, 50k plus to have a 'comfortable' retirement.

I've spent these kind of sums while the kids are growing up, paying mortgage etc but how do you spend that much in retirement?

We don't need luxury lease cars, or jet-set lifestyles, so why would we need all this money?

Am I missing something?

@sgx2000 I'm not looking to take your thread off-track, hopefully just raising some points to help us both?