Bold leap into retirement

plumb1_2

I’ve been reading these posts for a long while now and admire people who’ve take the jump into retirement 
I am 68 now and can’t bring myself to completely retire, I am self employed doing building maintenance working average 2 days a week and don’t have any hobbies.
I think I’ll make a separate post updating my figures 

handful

Smudgeismydog said:

HUSKYPAL said:

@Smudgeismydog - Have to say, this is the most helpful and useful forum I've found anywhere on the web for real world numbers and information. Very refreshing to have a community of like minded people with a simple objective to help each other navigate what can be a tricky decision, and to see what's likely on the other side. Thanks for starting it. I'd love to see some more updates from earlier posters as to how their plans/finances have panned out over time. My end date keeps creeping forward, now looking at June 27, but could be sooner, work motivation sinking below basement level...

Hello early posters;

@leosayer, @MetaPhysical, @savingmore, @Daffodil1234, @handful, @squashtraveller , @AliBee16, @cloud_dog

Do you fancy letting us know how you are getting on?

Hi Smudgeismydog!

I last posted in here in April 24, about a month into retirement so 20 months ago which seems incredible to be honest! I have no regrets whatsoever and thanking my blessings that my portfolio has done pretty well since making the move into the decumulating stage. I've still not been bored once, we did get away for 8 weeks in January to March this year, in our motorhome down into Southern Spain/ Portugal. That was fab, missing the worst of the winter and we enjoyed it so much we are doing the same in around 5 weeks time!

I've done loads of walking, running, cycling, playing golf and the one additional thing I've taken up to fill any spare time is learning to play an acoustic guitar. I had one from the age of about 16 but never had time to learn so I'm taking the opportunity now! I also have a group of mates with motorbikes and we go out quite a bit when the weather's good. The motorbike is something I bought just before retirement as it was something else I'd given up with due to lack of time!

So in summary, loving the freedom, feeling fit (and not taking it for granted), financially in a good place at the riskiest time (SORR) so no complaints from me. I will try and have a read through some of the thread since I last posted. I used to keep up with it whilst on luch break at work but I'm far too busy now! All the best to everyone else either approaching or after the leap!

kempiejon

GenX0212 said:

kempiejon said:

GenX0212 said:
I am actually doing that with my own earnings via AVCs and currently taking minumum wages which is a bit disconcerting looking at the monthly wage slip but is astonishing when you see how much gets added to the pension pot instead.

Minimum wage >£20k. If you've not considered it there's possibly another dollar to be leveraged from the tax system by adding the rest of your wages to a SIPP. You have £170k in cash and using some of that pot for living. But it eats into that buffer so not for all. 

I did consider adding more to my SIPP but I think the disadvantage is I would be taking money which is no longer subject to tax and putting into my pension and increase the risk of pushing myself into higher rate tax when taking it back out in future. With growth I will probably already be bumping up against the LSA at some point.

Good point the LSA is a limit here; for others with sub £1M pension pots the deferred tax on that minimum wage contribution might help with an earlier finish when grossed up then extracted 25% tax free.

MetaPhysical

Smudgeismydog said:

HUSKYPAL said:

@Smudgeismydog - Have to say, this is the most helpful and useful forum I've found anywhere on the web for real world numbers and information. Very refreshing to have a community of like minded people with a simple objective to help each other navigate what can be a tricky decision, and to see what's likely on the other side. Thanks for starting it. I'd love to see some more updates from earlier posters as to how their plans/finances have panned out over time. My end date keeps creeping forward, now looking at June 27, but could be sooner, work motivation sinking below basement level...

Hello early posters;

@leosayer, @MetaPhysical, @savingmore, @Daffodil1234, @handful, @squashtraveller , @AliBee16, @cloud_dog

Do you fancy letting us know how you are getting on?

I am retiring just before Christmas on the 19th December and will be 58 and four months.  Because I have been saving heavily into my pension this tax year I do not want to trigger MPAA and so need to live very frugally until April 2026 new tax year when all my pensions will kick in and be accessible to me.  My last pay day will be in December.  I have been putting some money aside in the previous three months to provide me some funds to help me get by until April 6th but may still need to go slightly into my savings to help tidy me through.  This is against all my principles but needs must! I could have pressed on at work until the next tax year but I cannot stand another three months of corporate BS and so I resigned with notice.  When my pensions kick in I anticipate a net income of about £4500 per month.  I have my house fully paid off.

I am extremely excited and cannot wait to leave the workplace behind.  There will be some regrets.  I work with great colleagues and my boss is a nice guy and has been very supportive.  But all our corporate policies are set in the US and our local management have little say.  I am sick of it and all their dictats.  I also genuinely really enjoy technology and engineering - I have a Masters in it and I am a Chartered Engineer.  But I have zero tolerance for the corporate world and its accompanying politics now that I am older and need to move on to a new chapter in my life. 

I will lose my company EV car and also my medical insurance which I used in November to have an operation under general anaesthetic.  I'm recovering from that but life without private medical cover is something I approach with trepidation, especially with my right hip.  I may explore options for buying my own cover (which I know won't cover that hip).

I love the gym, cycling, walking, astronomy, photography and playing music - guitar, violin and piano.  I compose music too.  I am getting remarried next year (I am a widower) and me and my future wife love travel and cruises.  Will I get bored occasionally?  Maybe, sometimes.  Winter is also not the best time.  But as I mentioned, I just can't stand any more of the workplace. 42 years since I was 16 years and two days old - not had a single day since then that I was not employed.  So it's a big step.

I am going to buy outright a decent car with some of my TFC - I'm looking at a Kia Sportage GT Line S hybrid with six years' warranty so that a lot of nipping about is under electric to keep petrol costs down and only slightly longer journeys and holidays will need petrol.  I'm leaving the world of BMW's and Mercs behind, I'm not a badge snob.  I need more car for the money, at a higher quality level, with a longer warranty than the German marques offer these days.

So all-in-all I am excited and ready to go!  Sorry for the essay!

NormalNorman

MetaPhysical said:

Smudgeismydog said:

HUSKYPAL said:

@Smudgeismydog - Have to say, this is the most helpful and useful forum I've found anywhere on the web for real world numbers and information. Very refreshing to have a community of like minded people with a simple objective to help each other navigate what can be a tricky decision, and to see what's likely on the other side. Thanks for starting it. I'd love to see some more updates from earlier posters as to how their plans/finances have panned out over time. My end date keeps creeping forward, now looking at June 27, but could be sooner, work motivation sinking below basement level...

Hello early posters;

@leosayer, @MetaPhysical, @savingmore, @Daffodil1234, @handful, @squashtraveller , @AliBee16, @cloud_dog

Do you fancy letting us know how you are getting on?

I am retiring just before Christmas on the 19th December and will be 58 and four months.  Because I have been saving heavily into my pension this tax year I do not want to trigger MPAA and so need to live very frugally until April 2026 new tax year when all my pensions will kick in and be accessible to me.  My last pay day will be in December.  I have been putting some money aside in the previous three months to provide me some funds to help me get by until April 6th but may still need to go slightly into my savings to help tidy me through.  This is against all my principles but needs must! I could have pressed on at work until the next tax year but I cannot stand another three months of corporate BS and so I resigned with notice.  When my pensions kick in I anticipate a net income of about £4500 per month.  I have my house fully paid off.

I am extremely excited and cannot wait to leave the workplace behind.  There will be some regrets.  I work with great colleagues and my boss is a nice guy and has been very supportive.  But all our corporate policies are set in the US and our local management have little say.  I am sick of it and all their dictats.  I also genuinely really enjoy technology and engineering - I have a Masters in it and I am a Chartered Engineer.  But I have zero tolerance for the corporate world and its accompanying politics now that I am older and need to move on to a new chapter in my life. 

I will lose my company EV car and also my medical insurance which I used in November to have an operation under general anaesthetic.  I'm recovering from that but life without private medical cover is something I approach with trepidation, especially with my right hip.  I may explore options for buying my own cover (which I know won't cover that hip).

I love the gym, cycling, walking, astronomy, photography and playing music - guitar, violin and piano.  I compose music too.  I am getting remarried next year (I am a widower) and me and my future wife love travel and cruises.  Will I get bored occasionally?  Maybe, sometimes.  Winter is also not the best time.  But as I mentioned, I just can't stand any more of the workplace. 42 years since I was 16 years and two days old - not had a single day since then that I was not employed.  So it's a big step.

I am going to buy outright a decent car with some of my TFC - I'm looking at a Kia Sportage GT Line S hybrid with six years' warranty so that a lot of nipping about is under electric to keep petrol costs down and only slightly longer journeys and holidays will need petrol.  I'm leaving the world of BMW's and Mercs behind, I'm not a badge snob.  I need more car for the money, at a higher quality level, with a longer warranty than the German marques offer these days.

So all-in-all I am excited and ready to go!  Sorry for the essay!

Sure your not going to miss the endless Town Halls, Fireside Chats, All Hands, 121s, employees that work for free broadcasted on Microsoft Vista daily, multiple morning huddles, afternoon team huddles, behavioural training, annual training on money laundering etc, pressure to use AI for anything and everything, argh, lol!

Never saved so much in my life but feels soul destroying so started volunteering and took up a PT job to see me through the first part of retirement.

Cheers!

MetaPhysical

NormalNorman said:

MetaPhysical said:

Smudgeismydog said:

HUSKYPAL said:

@Smudgeismydog - Have to say, this is the most helpful and useful forum I've found anywhere on the web for real world numbers and information. Very refreshing to have a community of like minded people with a simple objective to help each other navigate what can be a tricky decision, and to see what's likely on the other side. Thanks for starting it. I'd love to see some more updates from earlier posters as to how their plans/finances have panned out over time. My end date keeps creeping forward, now looking at June 27, but could be sooner, work motivation sinking below basement level...

Hello early posters;

@leosayer, @MetaPhysical, @savingmore, @Daffodil1234, @handful, @squashtraveller , @AliBee16, @cloud_dog

Do you fancy letting us know how you are getting on?

I am retiring just before Christmas on the 19th December and will be 58 and four months.  Because I have been saving heavily into my pension this tax year I do not want to trigger MPAA and so need to live very frugally until April 2026 new tax year when all my pensions will kick in and be accessible to me.  My last pay day will be in December.  I have been putting some money aside in the previous three months to provide me some funds to help me get by until April 6th but may still need to go slightly into my savings to help tidy me through.  This is against all my principles but needs must! I could have pressed on at work until the next tax year but I cannot stand another three months of corporate BS and so I resigned with notice.  When my pensions kick in I anticipate a net income of about £4500 per month.  I have my house fully paid off.

I am extremely excited and cannot wait to leave the workplace behind.  There will be some regrets.  I work with great colleagues and my boss is a nice guy and has been very supportive.  But all our corporate policies are set in the US and our local management have little say.  I am sick of it and all their dictats.  I also genuinely really enjoy technology and engineering - I have a Masters in it and I am a Chartered Engineer.  But I have zero tolerance for the corporate world and its accompanying politics now that I am older and need to move on to a new chapter in my life. 

I will lose my company EV car and also my medical insurance which I used in November to have an operation under general anaesthetic.  I'm recovering from that but life without private medical cover is something I approach with trepidation, especially with my right hip.  I may explore options for buying my own cover (which I know won't cover that hip).

I love the gym, cycling, walking, astronomy, photography and playing music - guitar, violin and piano.  I compose music too.  I am getting remarried next year (I am a widower) and me and my future wife love travel and cruises.  Will I get bored occasionally?  Maybe, sometimes.  Winter is also not the best time.  But as I mentioned, I just can't stand any more of the workplace. 42 years since I was 16 years and two days old - not had a single day since then that I was not employed.  So it's a big step.

I am going to buy outright a decent car with some of my TFC - I'm looking at a Kia Sportage GT Line S hybrid with six years' warranty so that a lot of nipping about is under electric to keep petrol costs down and only slightly longer journeys and holidays will need petrol.  I'm leaving the world of BMW's and Mercs behind, I'm not a badge snob.  I need more car for the money, at a higher quality level, with a longer warranty than the German marques offer these days.

So all-in-all I am excited and ready to go!  Sorry for the essay!

Sure your not going to miss the endless Town Halls, Fireside Chats, All Hands, 121s, employees that work for free broadcasted on Microsoft Vista daily, multiple morning huddles, afternoon team huddles, behavioural training, annual training on money laundering etc, pressure to use AI for anything and everything, argh, lol!

Never saved so much in my life but feels soul destroying so started volunteering and took up a PT job to see me through the first part of retirement.

Cheers!

Yep, all of those things that the American IT giants do.   I get it that earlier-in-career guys and gals may love all that but I don't!  If you can no longer talk the talk then don't do the walk, and I'm not any more.  I want to be walking or bodyboarding in Cornwall!

NormalNorman

MetaPhysical said:

NormalNorman said:

MetaPhysical said:

Smudgeismydog said:

HUSKYPAL said:

@Smudgeismydog - Have to say, this is the most helpful and useful forum I've found anywhere on the web for real world numbers and information. Very refreshing to have a community of like minded people with a simple objective to help each other navigate what can be a tricky decision, and to see what's likely on the other side. Thanks for starting it. I'd love to see some more updates from earlier posters as to how their plans/finances have panned out over time. My end date keeps creeping forward, now looking at June 27, but could be sooner, work motivation sinking below basement level...

Hello early posters;

@leosayer, @MetaPhysical, @savingmore, @Daffodil1234, @handful, @squashtraveller , @AliBee16, @cloud_dog

Do you fancy letting us know how you are getting on?

I am retiring just before Christmas on the 19th December and will be 58 and four months.  Because I have been saving heavily into my pension this tax year I do not want to trigger MPAA and so need to live very frugally until April 2026 new tax year when all my pensions will kick in and be accessible to me.  My last pay day will be in December.  I have been putting some money aside in the previous three months to provide me some funds to help me get by until April 6th but may still need to go slightly into my savings to help tidy me through.  This is against all my principles but needs must! I could have pressed on at work until the next tax year but I cannot stand another three months of corporate BS and so I resigned with notice.  When my pensions kick in I anticipate a net income of about £4500 per month.  I have my house fully paid off.

I am extremely excited and cannot wait to leave the workplace behind.  There will be some regrets.  I work with great colleagues and my boss is a nice guy and has been very supportive.  But all our corporate policies are set in the US and our local management have little say.  I am sick of it and all their dictats.  I also genuinely really enjoy technology and engineering - I have a Masters in it and I am a Chartered Engineer.  But I have zero tolerance for the corporate world and its accompanying politics now that I am older and need to move on to a new chapter in my life. 

I will lose my company EV car and also my medical insurance which I used in November to have an operation under general anaesthetic.  I'm recovering from that but life without private medical cover is something I approach with trepidation, especially with my right hip.  I may explore options for buying my own cover (which I know won't cover that hip).

I love the gym, cycling, walking, astronomy, photography and playing music - guitar, violin and piano.  I compose music too.  I am getting remarried next year (I am a widower) and me and my future wife love travel and cruises.  Will I get bored occasionally?  Maybe, sometimes.  Winter is also not the best time.  But as I mentioned, I just can't stand any more of the workplace. 42 years since I was 16 years and two days old - not had a single day since then that I was not employed.  So it's a big step.

I am going to buy outright a decent car with some of my TFC - I'm looking at a Kia Sportage GT Line S hybrid with six years' warranty so that a lot of nipping about is under electric to keep petrol costs down and only slightly longer journeys and holidays will need petrol.  I'm leaving the world of BMW's and Mercs behind, I'm not a badge snob.  I need more car for the money, at a higher quality level, with a longer warranty than the German marques offer these days.

So all-in-all I am excited and ready to go!  Sorry for the essay!

Sure your not going to miss the endless Town Halls, Fireside Chats, All Hands, 121s, employees that work for free broadcasted on Microsoft Vista daily, multiple morning huddles, afternoon team huddles, behavioural training, annual training on money laundering etc, pressure to use AI for anything and everything, argh, lol!

Never saved so much in my life but feels soul destroying so started volunteering and took up a PT job to see me through the first part of retirement.

Cheers!

Yep, all of those things that the American IT giants do.   I get it that earlier-in-career guys and gals may love all that but I don't!  If you can no longer talk the talk then don't do the walk, and I'm not any more.  I want to be walking or bodyboarding in Cornwall!

Sounds amazing! I'm no surfer but still love the sensation of riding the waves, just not standing up, lol!

m_c_s

MetaPhysical said:

Smudgeismydog said:

HUSKYPAL said:

@Smudgeismydog - Have to say, this is the most helpful and useful forum I've found anywhere on the web for real world numbers and information. Very refreshing to have a community of like minded people with a simple objective to help each other navigate what can be a tricky decision, and to see what's likely on the other side. Thanks for starting it. I'd love to see some more updates from earlier posters as to how their plans/finances have panned out over time. My end date keeps creeping forward, now looking at June 27, but could be sooner, work motivation sinking below basement level...

Hello early posters;

@leosayer, @MetaPhysical, @savingmore, @Daffodil1234, @handful, @squashtraveller , @AliBee16, @cloud_dog

Do you fancy letting us know how you are getting on?

I am retiring just before Christmas on the 19th December and will be 58 and four months.  Because I have been saving heavily into my pension this tax year I do not want to trigger MPAA and so need to live very frugally until April 2026 new tax year when all my pensions will kick in and be accessible to me.  My last pay day will be in December.  

My understanding is MPAA does not impact what you put into your pension before you start taking money out of your pension. So you can take money out in Jan and then the MPAA rules will kick in for the rest of the tax year.

MetaPhysical

m_c_s said:

MetaPhysical said:

Smudgeismydog said:

HUSKYPAL said:

@Smudgeismydog - Have to say, this is the most helpful and useful forum I've found anywhere on the web for real world numbers and information. Very refreshing to have a community of like minded people with a simple objective to help each other navigate what can be a tricky decision, and to see what's likely on the other side. Thanks for starting it. I'd love to see some more updates from earlier posters as to how their plans/finances have panned out over time. My end date keeps creeping forward, now looking at June 27, but could be sooner, work motivation sinking below basement level...

Hello early posters;

@leosayer, @MetaPhysical, @savingmore, @Daffodil1234, @handful, @squashtraveller , @AliBee16, @cloud_dog

Do you fancy letting us know how you are getting on?

I am retiring just before Christmas on the 19th December and will be 58 and four months.  Because I have been saving heavily into my pension this tax year I do not want to trigger MPAA and so need to live very frugally until April 2026 new tax year when all my pensions will kick in and be accessible to me.  My last pay day will be in December.  

My understanding is MPAA does not impact what you put into your pension before you start taking money out of your pension. So you can take money out in Jan and then the MPAA rules will kick in for the rest of the tax year.

Not so.  If you make a taxable withdrawal such as an UFPLS from a DC pot then you trigger MPAA and are limited to £10k contributions for that year and I have so far made £14000 of contributions.  So if I were to make an UFPLS withdrawal in January then this would trigger MPAA.  I could take a tax free lump sum  but I don't want to do that as it would mean I would move money into drawdown.  I want to to take my money, certainly for now, as UFPLS.

MallyGirl

To get around this I transferred £20k from my SIPP to HL. I have so far taken £10K out under the small pots rule and may well do another before April. This avoids triggering the MPAA till the next tax year