Early-retirement wannabe

thriftytracey · 27 August 2019 at 9:10AM

Yes, with the discount it is £90 for us as two "seniors". TBH we only use it for car parking on NT land (for walks) and their caravan sites. Having two dogs means that you are restricted. As a responsible dog owner I would love to be able to walk them on lead in the gardens (they are sometimes allowed on leads on the estate land). However, it is the usual sledgehammer rule where dogs are concerned.

GibbsRule_No3 · 27 August 2019 at 10:12AM

NT Ham House in Surrey allow dogs on leads in their garden and have a room set aside for dog owners in their tea room. Not sure if other properties do the same, very handy if you are out for a walk along the Thames and need a loo, to just pop in now. I was not aware until recently, well second year at new card rate, that I could claim a discount for being an OAP with length of membership but they happily changed my card and refunded the small amount the first year I asked about it.

Slinky · 27 August 2019 at 11:34AM

JoeEngland wrote: »

I'd also suggest taking a picnic rather than buying their food which IMHO is overpriced.

We look upon our food purchases as being another way to donate money to the property we are visiting.

JoeEngland · 27 August 2019 at 11:39AM

Slinky wrote: »

We look upon our food purchases as being another way to donate money to the property we are visiting.

Last time we bought a sandwich at a NT property it was poor quality and not cheap. Having once worked for NT I'm somewhat cynical having seen the organisation from the inside. We like going to NT properties though.

billy_the_kid_2 · 6 September 2019 at 11:35PM

Have been looking at early retirement for a while now. My wife has been a type 1 diabetic since she was 16 and we are now getting into the realms of frequent medical interventions. She has been ill health retired for a year, and receives ESA and PIP. In all she gets around 1200 net per month.

I'm nearly 56 and work have been great as I've been able to work flexibly around her illness and appointments. Checking my pension over the last couple of years, some form of semi-retirement seemed the best option. However I've now been pushed. The large water utility I've been working with for the last 23 years has gone through a major re-organisation and my role no longer exists and i leave the business under compulsory redundancy on Oct 4th. Thankfully i've got a defined benefits pension that is currently valued at 15500 pa. So the plan is to use both my current pension and my former British Gas pension valued at 4200pa (also DB scheme).

A move to the Dorset coast to a suitable home to help with mobility issues will give us the quality of life we are both looking for to reduce any stress we already have with trying to hold down a full time job. I cant believe that at just on 56 I've got plenty to live on I feel very lucky but my anxiety issues will not let me enjoy things until i know its all worked out.

If time and luck permit ill try and get some part time work, and or voluntary work. Also need to investigate if we are eligible for carers allowance.

My only long term issue is my state pension later on in life as my contributions were contracted out. I've seen some literature on the subject but its so confusing. Cant seem to find a guide that cuts through the gobbledygook.

nigelbb · 7 September 2019 at 7:09AM

billy_the_kid wrote: »

My only long term issue is my state pension later on in life as my contributions were contracted out. I've seen some literature on the subject but its so confusing. Cant seem to find a guide that cuts through the gobbledygook.

If you haven't already got enough contributions for a full pension you still have ten years in which to pay voluntary contributions if required.
Check your State Pension by following this link https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension & tell us what it says.

AlwaysLearnin · 7 September 2019 at 7:43AM

Carers allowance will give you NI credits for state pension qualifying years if you don't have full state pension yet. If you don't qualify for carers allowance, look in to carers credits:

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility

https://www.gov.uk/carers-credit

jamesd · 7 September 2019 at 11:47AM

billy_the_kid wrote: »

My only long term issue is my state pension later on in life as my contributions were contracted out. I've seen some literature on the subject but its so confusing. Cant seem to find a guide that cuts through the gobbledygook.

Try this post and this one.

thriftytracey · 7 September 2019 at 3:37PM

jamesd wrote: »

Try this post and this one.

It is complicated. You have to call one number for your NI shortfall and then another number to pay and there is no acknowledgement sent so it could have gone into a black hole for all you know. Will be paying another year soon on behalf of my husban - he has a number of years to make up and that does not include future years yet (he is 64 due to get his state pension aged 66) and has already retired.

And then there is my opt out to pay for and future years (I am 59 and retired this year so it will be several thousand).

Gary1984 · 16 September 2019 at 11:41AM

After about a year of reading this thread on and off I finally read to the end! Really enjoyed the read. Full of useful insight and interesting diversions into various different topics as diverse as cars, travel, tax and financial abuse.

I'm 35 and would like to retire by 50. Married with 1 child (2 years old, no more on the way).

Currently got around £80k in DC pensions, £20k in S&S ISAs and £120k equity in the house with £270k mortgage to go. Our house meets our needs and we have no plans to move house again until retirement - as long as my wife resists her urge to be beside the sea.

My general strategy as below is to max out my SIPP as soon as I can then use other tax efficient investments such as LISAs and VCTs. By maxing the SIPP I mean get it to a level where it would approximately hit the LTA by 58 with moderate (say 4%) above inflation growth. My investment mix is 70% Global Equity, 20% Global Small Cap and 10% Emerging markets. All in low cost trackers, currently with AJ Bell but will probably move to interactive Investor for lower charges at the end of the financial year.

Current income is around £150k per year but this is very dependent on continuing to find clients to pay me! I imagine my average over a 15 year horizon will be lower once I account for the time between contracts.

Would also like to go interest only on my mortgage when my fix ends in 3 years but not sure how possible that will be. Might require channeling some resources into overpayments to get the LTV down. This would free up some personal (as opposed to company) funds to put into LISAs and S&S ISAs. Plan would be to then use those to pay off the mortgage further down the line. If there's a shortfall we can downsize or use some of the pensions tax free cash.

Marine_life wrote: »

I would like to create a topic (don't see it at the moment - other than the NUMBER thread).

Who is aiming for early retirement (or who has retired early already)?
When did you begin planning and what drove the decision?
- Probably about a year ago after we bought our house and paid off family loans, credit cards etc that we'd accumulated from the purchase as well as furniture and decorating, etc
What is the strategy for getting there?
- I have my own limited company through which I do consultancy financial services consultancy work. My aim is to pay the maximum £40k into a SIPP every year and also try to make as much use of my carry forward as possible. When the carry forward has expired or been filled I will look to LISAs, my wife's pension and VCTs to continue saving alongside the max SIPP contribution. This all relies on my being able to find future clients - I also have about a year's expenditure in cash held in the business to smooth over any bumps.
How much of a relative decline in income are you prepared to take / did you take?
- It's probably a bit hard to say at the moment as I earn far more than I could hope to spend but we also have expenses such as childcare and a mortgage that we wouldn't have in retirement. To be really comfortable I would say around £40k a year in today's money. Basically maxing out my SIPP and drawing down about 4% a year should do it.
What are your main concerns?
- Not being able to make the consulting work long term and needing to go back into employment and/or ill health

I will post my strategy but wanted to get some thoughts

Early-retirement wannabe

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