How to keep going for the last couple of years

[Deleted User] · 10 July 2018 at 12:01PM

I am counting down to age 58 in 5yrs which is when my pension kicks in.

I am slightly different in that my pension is considerably more than I am earning now and that seems unusual in that most expect a drop in income in retirement years.

I am also not hating my job like others so although the thought of time off is great I don't have that sinking feeling when Monday morning comes along.

I think the thing I am most looking forward to is choice, do I work or don't I, if the people or the role change I can just leave and not have to grit through it unlike when you are young. I am not even sure I'd finish at 58 tbh but I have set my Coundown app and we shall see.

I am also another who is not sure whether to relocate or not but given I will have aging parents I'm not sure that is an option.

I enjoy these threads and seeing how others are preparing for retirement, I have a friend the same age who is already replacing her sofa's etc but that seems premature to me as she wants to work until she is 60.

marlot · 10 July 2018 at 12:14PM

I think the secret is to work out what you want to do with your time in retirement and start doing some of that ahead of time - even if it takes some of your holiday or weekends.

A previous employer I worked at had a wonderful scheme - in your last few months to retirement you gradually wound down the number of days you worked. I seem to recall it was 4 days/week from 6 months out, then 3 days from 3 months out, then a couple of days a week in the last month.

JoeEngland · 10 July 2018 at 1:00PM

Triumph13 wrote: »

OP I feel your pain. I was finding those last few years so hard that I'm bailing 8 months ahead of plan.

What I have found is that time is very much non-linear in this situation. You can spend what feels like a year stuck at x months to go, then suddenly half a year goes by without you noticing.

I'm about to hand in my 3 month's notice and the feeling of freedom is positively intoxicating!

Congrats. How old are you now, and do you plan to fully retire or maybe do some part-time work?

The experience of how quickly, or not, time passes is strange, like the Friday afternoon time dilation when at work in the office!

michaels · 10 July 2018 at 2:13PM

AnotherJoe wrote: »

As "Joe England" hints, I bet you aren't including the (say) £15k a year "basics" you are spending in that year which is currently covered by your salary and you dont have to fund out of your retirement savings. Knock that off what you have for retirement and it would be much worse. Given you have 7 years to go, thats around £100k you dont need to finance, and that £100k can then be spread over (say) the next 30 years of retirement, so thats £3k a year extra at least, then add on top whatever you are saving. If that produces £1k a year, then each year is actually getting you £4k a year.

That would be normal, in fact my 12k net income is about 1/3 of our household income, the rest being unearned but diminishing over the next 10 years. Pension contributions are capped at 40k and I used a rule of thumb that this would give 1k pa for 40 years of retirement (inflation adjusted). Adding the 12k needed to replaced the lost income would increase the annual impact to 1300.

Less conservative drawdown assumptions are also available.

merlin321 · 10 July 2018 at 2:43PM

After reading all of the previous comments, I have re-jigged the 'plan'.
Down from 34 months to 30 months.
Providing the OH sticks to the plan, as her lgps Avc's are needed for a comfortable retirement.
Glad to see its not just me that is counting the days!

pimento · 10 July 2018 at 2:44PM

tacpot12 wrote: »

I found an app for my phone that counted down the number of working days. It is called Countdown. It allows you to set the number of days holiday you are allowed per year, and bank holidays, so that it tells you exactly how many more days you have to go to work. It is a bit daunting at first, and may not be helpful until you have less than a year to go, but it did cheer me up.

I have this app. I'm 57 (58 in September) and have two countdowns, one at 59 and one at 60. I really should stay til I'm 60 but it wouldn't be a total disaster if I went at 59.
My problem is less the job and more the fact that I travel almost two hours each way on public transport to get there five days a week.

My husband works from home but we plan to sell our house in the south east and move to Exeter which for various reasons will make his job easier to do. I have it in mind to work part time (that's if I can find someone to employ a 60 year old woman)..

Like someone up thread said, I don't want to wish my life away but I can't wait to retire.

pimento · 10 July 2018 at 2:45PM

Marcon wrote: »

Any chance you could go part time - say four days a week, giving yourself a long weekend in which to pursue things you find more interesting than your current job?

I thought about this and it would affect my DB pension, unfortunately.

Triumph13 · 10 July 2018 at 3:28PM

JoeEngland wrote: »

Congrats. How old are you now, and do you plan to fully retire or maybe do some part-time work?

The experience of how quickly, or not, time passes is strange, like the Friday afternoon time dilation when at work in the office!

I'm 52 and DW is about to turn 54. I may end up being conned into doing one or two days a week part time for a little while, but I don't really want to so they would really have to make it worth my while. Other than that the plan is to never work again - gardening, DIY and lazing in the hammock with a book until the kids finish school in 6 years time, and then lots of slow travel thereafter. We should have more than enough put by already, and once you have enough the value of any more money drops dramatically.

JoeEngland · 10 July 2018 at 6:18PM

Triumph13 wrote: »

I'm 52 and DW is about to turn 54. I may end up being conned into doing one or two days a week part time for a little while, but I don't really want to so they would really have to make it worth my while. Other than that the plan is to never work again - gardening, DIY and lazing in the hammock with a book until the kids finish school in 6 years time, and then lots of slow travel thereafter. We should have more than enough put by already, and once you have enough the value of any more money drops dramatically.

The money thing depends on what kind of person you are. I'm a similar age (52 this month) and would be content doing a bit of gardening, DIY and reading. I also write for a hobby, will get out for walks more when I'm retired and perhaps do some kind of volunteering. In contrast there are some people with expensive tastes and hobbies who "need" to have more money in retirement than many of us earn in FT work.

Don't let them con you into more work :-)

Thrugelmir · 10 July 2018 at 6:42PM

JoeEngland wrote: »

The plan is to hand my notice in on my 54th birthday in July 2020 !!!128515;

Perhaps it's planning for retirement so early that's your problem. Find something you enjoy doing, or start your own business. Work keeps ones brain active and maintains social contact.

How to keep going for the last couple of years

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free