year before retirement - how did you get your ducks in a row?

Samuelsjourney

im a few years out (3 to be exact) but im a planner and have set the date so that i can run into a new tax year without any problems. Have already taken a DB pension that is in payment and am completing things around the house whilst still earning. SAYE schemes at work complete fully a couple of months before my planned retirement date. Im adding cash to an ISA as a decent buffer. Have planned the years and drawdown sequence from 63 to 67. Only thing i cant legislate for is health but all is good. It really does feel like the countdown stage, to some it may feel like its to long to matter but to me ive been able to bring my retirement date forward by 6 months and even though i enjoy my job (shift work) i realised that im done with work. So yes 3 more years to focus on planning the activities/leisure side as all the financial stuff is in place.

horsewithnoname

I thought I was sorted. Then the pension age went up 7 years and decades of nil pay awards unsorted it😬

RogerPensionGuy

A great thread and posts very helpful to me even though I threw the towel in a couple of years ago.

Reference the title of the this thread, I read as maybe 1 year before the towel.

I used to like going to any pension type events and seminars since I was 40 years old and friends & colleagues though it strange as they 99% had no interest at that stage of life.

I remember chatting to another person at one of these events I used to frequent, his view was cool, fill pensions best as possible and at about 10 to 12 years before retirement, get more involved and really check and focus on pension planning, gentley more monitor from this point.

Then refocus harded at the 5 to 6 year marker m

Then fine tune at the 3 year line and keep watching closely especially if any offers of early retirement offers are possible and/or DC commutation rate rises and also annuity rates.

I probably spent too much time fine tuning my pensions, but I really enjoyed it and learned lots over the years and indeed have learnt so much on these threads, thanks to all posters for sharing such helpful information.

Cheers Roger.

NormalNorman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82095133#Comment_82095133

Indeed, it was a few jobs ago, one I thoroughly enjoyed, started this nonsense of diverting pay rises to lower grades meaning those of us who built careers with huge amounts of studying and qualifications got no pay awards for seven years. The only recompense was to do as much OT as possible. Then of course HR tried to screw hard working staff by banning OT and a regrading process, downwards obviously. During this you were blocked from the difficult parts of the role only to be restarted when the process was completed. Bye bye and changed job for a huge pay rise. Fortunately that role had an amazing pension scheme which will form a big chunk of the bedrock. Then covid hit and was rewarded with wfh and more crap pay rises when everyone else was getting paid to do nout including the wife… Since changed jobs twice again for more pay rises. But, with this life experience I do as little as possible, make the right noises and being a life long saver with a second job for security I no longer jump through hoops as worst case scenario I could survive now.

barnstar2077

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82093877#Comment_82093877

If Ibrahim5 turned out to be a retired IFA, it would be the greatest plot twist in the history of plot twists! : )

Ibrahim5

No plot twists I am afraid. I could never charge so much for so little.

butterflymum

Realise it will apply in very few situations/professions/industries, but when helping someone a year or two ago to plan for their retirement, reading retirement policy documents amongst numerous others within their Employer's online system, proved fruitful. The person was considering dropping a day or two per week, to see how things went, with a view to then possibly retiring the following year, on standard notice. It turned out, though, that there was a rather generous albeit not immediately obvious, pre-retirement leave "right" (with the catch being the need to give about a year's notice of retirement). After some quick calculations and considerations, they decided not to reduce to part time, hand in almost one year's notice and, with Public Holidays, Annual Leave and an odd bonus leave day taken into account alongside the pre-retirement leave, were able to "reduce" to 4 working days for a fair chunk of the year, but on full pay.

So, just on off-chance someone out there may have similar (especially if you are an employee of numerous years standing and on an older contract), buried deep in numerous company policy and procedures, it might just pay to read some of same in more detail (than the often cursory glance), to refresh your knowledge on what is and isn't a possibility.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82096988#Comment_82096988

Some good points, but presumably you are referring to a Defined Benefit/Final Salary type pension?

A DC pension would not normally have all these rules, although otherwise significantly inferior to a DB pension.

mrklaw

I’m trying to work out how to test run retirement but its tricky - all these pesky working life costs getting in the way. and some of the costs i’m assumign will reduce (eg less on groceries as the kids will be gone) isn’t working as they bounce back and forth from university.

I think I have to estimate the extra bits above retirement budget and make sure its both covered. probably skip 2027 as my daughter is finishing uni so we still have costs there, so get it in line for 2028 maybe

QrizB

… as they bounce back and forth from university.

My eldest has finished Uni and is back living at home.

Once they get their first pay cheque, they'll be paying me something every week for a change 😀