Bold leap into retirement

Smudgeismydog

He has full contributions and I am 1 year short.
I think I’m going to wait before buying the missing year, as I might cover it if I go back into something, but if not, then it’s definitely something I will do 

Thanks for the thought 

kipsterno1

I do enjoy reading the updates on this thread. Having been retired for the last seven and a half years and still under the age of 60 for some strange and unexplainable reason I have just returned to work. Nothing to taxing and zero hours. Thinking of starting my own thread, might call it, 'Slow shuffle back into employment.'   

Sarahspangles

Smudgeismydog said:

Would love to hear how you are all getting on.

21 weeks on Friday - not that I'm counting or anything! Monday is my non-working day (practice) and I'm just working out how much I can pay into my SIPP this year.

BestnamesRgone

Hi Smudge, thanks for the welcome. I have a daughter in her 4th year at uni and have been contemplating retirement once she graduates next year and I no longer have to pay her rent. I’ve seen many restructures at work over the last few years and waved goodbye to lots of colleagues, finally it’s my turn and the timing is perfect. I think it will sink in more when I have the letter with the numbers! I do have a little side hustle that I will look to increase going forward.

FIREDreamer

Retired 4 months and the time seems to have flown by!

Smudgeismydog

I’m so pleased to hear that FIREDreamer, me too!

So, without getting into a huge political debate (there are plenty of other threads for that), has the budget made any of you feel you want to make any changes to your retirement plans?
With pensions falling into the estate for IHT purposes, I am feeling that I am going to make a good effort to spend mine!

cloud_dog

Smudgeismydog said:

I’m so pleased to hear that FIREDreamer, me too!

So, without getting into a huge political debate (there are plenty of other threads for that), has the budget made any of you feel you want to make any changes to your retirement plans?
With pensions falling into the estate for IHT purposes, I am feeling that I am going to make a good effort to spend mine!

Nope.  Nothing else to say.

Sarahspangles

The only immediate impact is that OH will pay a penny less on beer!

Usually the BBC website have a Budget impact calculator to play with, but there don’t seem to be enough changes for individuals this time to justify one. With OH retired, we’ve already partly adopted our retirement lifestyle, and we’re even less ‘spendy’ than we expected. If we were putting our figures into a calculator, and fuel taxes were rising, my six tanks of petrol a year wouldn’t make much difference.

We’re affected like everyone else by fiscal drag and the wider economy. But not in any way we hadn’t already factored in. We do need to take evasive action on IHT, as we’re unwed…..

Moonwolf

Smudgeismydog said:

I’m so pleased to hear that FIREDreamer, me too!

So, without getting into a huge political debate (there are plenty of other threads for that), has the budget made any of you feel you want to make any changes to your retirement plans?
With pensions falling into the estate for IHT purposes, I am feeling that I am going to make a good effort to spend mine!

I wasn't doing any estate planning anyway as we don't have any children.  I always expected to run out by the time I am 90.  As it happens, if we both die early there may well be a bit of IHT to pay but my niblings will still be very well off. After all, I bought the house to live in so a fivefold increase in value isn't a good investment, just a product of government policy, societal changes and luck.

I wasn't really expecting anything in the budget to threaten my imminent retirement.  I was expecting a cut in TFLS and I was beginning to wonder what that might mean for UFPLS style drawdown, monitoring when it runs out but my spreadsheet suggests that won't happen for normal rates of inflation, even if it stays frozen.  Even then, it would have just risked me falling into higher rate tax when I ran out of the 25% tax free portion, which I have always seen as a fortunate problem to have rather than a terrible imposition.

MetaPhysical

I must admit, I was expecting pensions to be impacted more.  However, let's not forget she can revisit this at a future budget and so the continuous speculation will prevail in advance of every budget.  I do wish the government would set out a five year statement of intention to put to bed this madness and uncertainty.

Fortunately, I did not raid my TFC in advance of the budget and the speculation that the 268k limit would be lowered.  Because I am planning to use UFPLS that would have had a huge impact on my plans for when I do retire next year.  I held my nerve but acknowledge that I could have been wrong.