Bold leap into retirement

QrizB

pterri said:

Moonwolf said:

Smudgeismydog said:

Moonwolf said:

It is today, I’ve set an out of office and handed back my kit. 

Congrats, how are you feeling?

A night out last night so hungover.

This is me next Friday 

I know people say that as you get older everything hurts. I hadn't realised it was because retirees are always boozing and it's a permanent hangover 😄

cloud_dog

cloud_dog said:

3 more days.  Way too busy at work to consider thinking about what happens after Friday.

The business unit has got a new director (about bleeding time) and my boss is keen to arrange a meeting before I go; how about Friday they say 🤔

Despite me saying to my partner that a) I wanted 3 months of nothing once I finished, and b) that I didn't want to get into what happens next until I had actually finished, we already have 4 trips lined up (Indonesia, Tenerife for a family get together, Germany, and UAE).  I did say I wanted to be hands off, but...

....and we are done!

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives.  Next...

pterri

Occasionally I waver and wonder if I’m doing the right thing. Today I showed my replacement around a couple of the sites I’m responsible for. Had a good chat, he told me he has no intention of working beyond 55 and has a plan. I told him what i did regarding AVCs and SIPPs. He’s absolutely of the same mind as me. One week left!

katejo

pterri said:

Occasionally I waver and wonder if I’m doing the right thing. Today I showed my replacement around a couple of the sites I’m responsible for. Had a good chat, he told me he has no intention of working beyond 55 and has a plan. I told him what i did regarding AVCs and SIPPs. He’s absolutely of the same mind as me. One week left!

Last week I heard a colleague discussing his flexible retirement options with a manager. He is exactly 4 years younger than I am so now 58. I have pencilled in next spring and I am definitely reducing to 3 days from September. I already have wavering/Am I doing the right thing ? moments. 

bjorn_toby_wilde

MetaPhysical said:

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

LHW99 said:

kipsterno1 said:

cloud_dog said:

I'm looking forward on Sunday to not having that.... 'Oh, Monday tomorrow'.

I'm interested in how long it may take before that completely disappears, or where my week is not defined by weekends

I'm just short of eight years retired. I still generally know what day of the week it is but honestly sometimes struggle to know what date it is.

Our week does still get defined by weekends (somewhat).

Weekends are the times we keep off the roads / away from the tourists and get stuff done at home. Weekdays are for the fun bits

That’s exactly how we do things. Go nowhere near the shops or crowded places on weekends.

A walk in the Peak District planned for tomorrow, with lunch at a country pub.

I'll have the Steak and Ale pie and a pint of Black Sheep please  

It’s brilliant to see you all joining us in retirement!

There’ll be a queue at the bar next week 😁

kipsterno1

cloud_dog said:

....and we are done!

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives.  Next...

Congratulations. I hope today is the first of many tomorrows.

kempiejon

cloud_dog said:

cloud_dog said:

3 more days.  Way too busy at work to consider thinking about what happens after Friday.

....and we are done!

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives.  Next...

Well done. When others realise their dreams and break free it makes me smile. I get a little hit of dopamine in support. Now how do you feel about being part of the economically inactive dragging the country down?

MetaPhysical

FIREDreamer said:

kempiejon said:

pterri said:

Moonwolf said:

It is today, I’ve set an out of office and handed back my kit. 

I’ll have to buy my own laptop in a few weeks. Gutted. 

It was not uncommon, in the last place I worked, to let leavers keep laptops and phone handsets on leaving. We had something like a 3 year replacement scheme so old tech was of little value to the Co. Might it be worth asking?
Current employer wouldn't be that kind.

Mine (monitor, keyboard, mouse, dumb client pc) were old when delivered from work 5 years ago at the start of scary lockdown 1.

I retired 4 years later in the summer of last year. I still had to take the old kit (at least 8 years old by then) back in to the office on my last day, even though they were practically worthless.

Looking at my figures now, I probably could have retired at the start of that lockdown so I worked over 4 years more than I should.

But you cannot foretell the kindness (or otherwise) of markets and soaring gilt yields enabled the purchase of a joint life annuity with most of my drawdown pot that was sufficient for retirement. The excess funds will be gravy from now on and one year on remain untouched. But I would swap those funds for 4 years more retirement which is effectively where these funds have come from.

With inheritance tax due on these pension monies I may draw down and spend even if I have to pay 40% tax thereon. I will be paying 40% tax from SPA in 6 years anyway (currently have a DB pension and annuity of about £39k so can take about £8k - £10k out at 20% tax for 6 years allowing for some savings interest being taxable).

I counsel people not to worry about the 40% tax on the pension if you take more than 50270.  Of course, if you can keep at 20% then so much the better but if you are in 40% territory then, if you need the money for your lifestyle and can afford it, so what?  Listen up; the government will tax it when you're dead!  I like Pete Matthew's take on this, think of everything you spend as having 40% discount because that'll be what HMRC will charge your estate when you're gone if you haven't spent it and are over IHT thresholds elsewhere.  Spend, spend and spend some more!

cloud_dog

kempiejon said:

cloud_dog said:

cloud_dog said:

3 more days.  Way too busy at work to consider thinking about what happens after Friday.

....and we are done!

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives.  Next...

Well done. When others realise their dreams and break free it makes me smile. I get a little hit of dopamine in support. Now how do you feel about being part of the economically inactive dragging the country down?

I (we) will be spending more in retirement than during the accumulation years, so it is something I'll just have to learn to deal with 😁

infj

Having just been on a short break to Stratford upon Avon, I bought a fridge magnet which says "There is money; spend it, spend it; spend more" - from Merry Wives of Windsor apparently. It made me smile and a good reminder that having spent years accumulating, you can't take it with you.