Bold leap into retirement

DT2001

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82013753#Comment_82013753

Sorry to hear of your illness and hope your rehab progresses as you hope.

My OH is also medical but now only self employed. She enjoys helping others so despite us having enough to retire she takes on jobs/contracts that fit her criteria.

We are lucky to have a good work life balance and so retirement is not the holy grail as it is for some.

Yorkie1

Wishing you all the best with your treatment and recovery, @crv1963

cfw1994

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82013753#Comment_82013753

hey - “see how old names have got on”?
Less of the old, cheeky 🤣

I think you are right so suggest having flexibility is a block on going. Makes sense for many 👍

I am over 5 years past dropping the wage, but being a “corporate IT” job I can’t say I have missed it🫣

I do keep in touch with a bunch of former workmates/friends/family via a regular jokey TFIF email which keeps me as “in touch” as I want: my own little “social media bubble” 🤣

Busier than ever: we use an annual spreadsheet to plan what/where/when 😜

Also now planning a monster 10week RTW trip down under for Oct>Dec, catching up with a few relatives and pals along our way down Oz & around NZ.

Sorry to hear the health challenges: everyone worries endlessly about the money side of retirement, but health is the number 1 thing to manage as the years go by 🙏

GenX0212

Well that's me done! Finished. No more work 😀

Laptop given back without a 2nd thought. Any apprehension I had wasn't about giving up work was more about whether my withdrawal strategy was/is the right one. I have a number of months to sort that out before needing to start to worry about income. I guess only time will tell but time is what I suddenly have.

I will post my final numbers in the Numbers thread when I sober up 😂

Smudgeismydog

Huge congratulations 🥳

Enjoy the celebrations, and yes, come back and let us know your figures and plans

Yorkie1

Congratulations @GenX0212 🎉

barnstar2077

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82016034#Comment_82016034

Fantastic, well done! Time to get to living!

Vespaboy

congratulations GenX0212 enjoy your freedom

2 years since I pulled the plug on the world of work and I would have to say I have not missed it at all. I’ve gone from being a sedentary sloth to frequenting the gym six times a week.😳. Pension wise I’ve not yet cracked my Sipp egg open . I think I’m a lot more relaxed about finances now and to be honest I don’t spend as much as I thought I would in retirement. With Rachel from accounts attack on SIPPs and IHT I’m having to think about how I draw down my SIPP-good problem to have I guess

glass_half_full

Congratulations @GenX0212 !

Love reading this thread for inspiration and people's stories. I would like to share mine. Last Friday I submitted my resignation and notice of retiring at the end of August this year. It's the culmination of several years of planning.

Particularly since 2020 I have been planning to take early retirement by 60. I am 60 in November but as I work in a University, it makes sense to me to go at the end of an academic year.When I look back there are a few serendipitous moments. When I was in my mid twenties an older colleague at work explained pensions, AVCs etc to me. Showed me the benefit of regular saving and the effect of compound interest and growth over many years. From that moment I always paid some of my salary into AVCs or the equivalent. The second piece of luck was that I joined my University the month before they closed the final salary part of the pension to new entrants so I just got in before it closed. I had a career in industry before I moved into the University sector 15 years ago. Over the last 5 years I have consolidated several DC pensions, boosted my contributions, and been more intentional in how the money has been invested.So on to the numbers.

My wife and I are both retiring in August. Together we will receive defined benefit pensions of £20k. Together we will receive lump sums totalling £90k. When I am 65 I will receive an additional £12k from another DB pension. Both my wife and I will receive full state pensions. So from 67 our total household income will be around £57K. Thus the main challenge is funding the gap between 60 and 67. My DC fund is worth £540K so based on using this as a drawdown fund, this should be more than enough to fund the gap.We are mortgage and debt free so we aim to live within this one way or another.

Smudgeismydog

Congrats @glass_half_full, sounds like your planning has paid off, what level of household income do you need? Is the DC fund all in your name?