Two USS paths, cannot decide

NTFI19081

Alexland said:

NTFI19081 said:
The tax thing has been bugging me as a lot of that 6.5k will be later and eaten by the 40pc with frozen thresholds. 

On behalf of taxpayers I'd like to thank you for working a few more years for not much benefit.

The frozen thresholds are now a similar disincentive to keep working as the LTA was.

brutal but true methinks. By leaving i will still be working but very lightly, but not full retirement. Its more I exit all the hassle of working for a big org. Its odd, 57 feels young - i think I am so conditioned to earn a lot and save a lot that i cannot believe its viable !

Alexland

NTFI19081 said:

brutal but true methinks. By leaving i will still be working but very lightly, but not full retirement. Its more I exit all the hassle of working for a big org. Its odd, 57 feels young - i think I am so conditioned to earn a lot and save a lot that i cannot believe its viable !

I've seen colleagues and direct reports choose gradual ramp down of work and it seems a nice way to retire and less of a shock to the body and mind.

If you have enough money to comfortably do what you want it's almost a mistake to run the numbers for a scenario you don't want in-case it looks better.

NTFI19081

Alexland said:

NTFI19081 said:

brutal but true methinks. By leaving i will still be working but very lightly, but not full retirement. Its more I exit all the hassle of working for a big org. Its odd, 57 feels young - i think I am so conditioned to earn a lot and save a lot that i cannot believe its viable !

I've seen colleagues and direct reports choose gradual ramp down of work and it seems a nice way to retire and less of a shock to the body and mind.

If you have enough money to comfortably do what you want it's almost a mistake to run the numbers for a scenario you don't want in-case it looks better.

thanks - I am waiting to see what the new role is, at least if its not great, I can take my redundancy option and take it from there. i can take the shock of leaving though as very busy and have the additional pt work already

dreaming

I had planned to retire at 60 on my company pension but due to my department relocating I took redundancy instead at 58. I had the benefit of a year of planning whilst the feasibility study was carried out and took as much advice as I could, and also went through my outgoings meticulously to make sure it was do-able. I also took steps to make sure my home was in as good a state as it could be and that any major appliances were upgraded if necessary. I reckoned I could always get a part-time job if necessary but it turned out to be so much easier than I had thought. I took half of my redundancy in cash and put the rest into my pension, then took the 25% TFLS from that and happily waved goodbye to work. Now I am 12 years on and also taking my state pension and living a very comfortable, if fairly simple, life. I never was much of a spender anyway so if you have aspirations to travel the world or similar, just  make sure you factor those expenses into any projected budgets. My main motivation to retire early was my dad, who worked so hard all of his life then died suddenly 3 months after he retired so never had the chance to take life a bit easier.

PattiTelongo

Option A every time, you have a nice amount to live on and your time will be your own. I think you have the perfect exit strategy before your eyes and you can finish work knowing you’ve done really well. Go and enjoy it.

chuffinnora

My wife recently had a similar choice in terms of making a decision to retire at 57 or 60, and taking a lower DB/TFLS or sticking it out to 60 for the higher figures.

Once we worked out all the pro's & con's it took her about 30 seconds to decide on going at 57.

She doesn't regret it for one moment and says to anyone who comments about her going early, what price can you put on that extra 3 years of doing her own thing.

Marcon

Seems to be the same question you asked a month ago https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6643310/two-uss-paths-cannot-decide/p1 and there were some very detailed answers then which won't have changed much in the last 4 weeks!

I've asked for the two threads to be merged to save too much repetition/ensure people have maximum info for any further answers.

NTFI19081

Marcon said:

Seems to be the same question you asked a month ago https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6643310/two-uss-paths-cannot-decide/p1 and there were some very detailed answers then which won't have changed much in the last 4 weeks!

I've asked for the two threads to be merged to save too much repetition/ensure people have maximum info for any further answers.

Yes, I did refer to that one earlir - have modelled it fully now. Thanks