Arrived back from Northumberland early Saturday evening. Funeral was dignified and it was fantastic to hear so many people pay tributes to my father. My dad had remarried after my parents divorced so could have been awkward but it wasn't too bad. Car performed brilliantly. The nephews and nieces I took with me were absolutely fantastic and I was so proud of them.


Decided yesterday to pay off the balance on my 0% credit card. Savings took a little hit, but for the first time in about 34 years I do not owe anyone or any institution anything at all!! Quite a pleasant feeling.


It has also been an expensive month. Unexpected journeys to the North East and associated costs, new tyre and check on the car plus one or two other things. In February car insurance is up for renewal as well as major car service and MOT. In March the House and Contents Insurance. Nothing major in sight after that for a while (Hopefully!!)


Aim now is to save at least £6000 between now and July 31st. I will still be short of my planned £50000 total but I am content.


After June 30th when I intend to fully retire from teaching I have decided to spend 5 months just relaxing, reflecting and maybe putting together some ideas for the next stage of my life. Determined not to rush it or follow a strict timetable. I have had a lifetime of timetables and bells!! I also need time to 'heal' both mentally and physically.


I may decide to do something part-time or ad hoc after that. The great thing is that I will have a choice!!


Hope you are all well. Be good to hear from some more genuine ordinaries!! Many thanks for all comments, opinions and stories shared so far.

I retired from education in March 2014 determined that I'd had enough. After about six months my mind and body were both bored with my highly anticipated pasts ime of watching the tide go out and come in again. Now I work approx four hours a week at my local FE college. Enough to make me glad I don't have to do it and to keep me in pin money (gin and whisky if you're interested).

I also do volunteer driving as my locale is very remote so public transport is either non-existent, infrequent or not in the correct place.

I love this phase of my life. Being productive without the responsibility or requirement of full time employment is simply brilliant. My SP will not arrive for another two and a bit years though I manage well on my occupational pension and savings. Savings not going down because of current account interest so far.

I'm now awaiting confirmation of my "long service leave" entitlement, to get a more reasonable forecast of when I will leave. It's pleasantly scary. (LSL accrues at the rate of nine calendar days for each year of service. After 10 years of effective service an employee will be entitled to 3 months full pay LSL.)

According to my calculations, I may have 4.2 months at full pay. This would set my leaving date at Dec 1st 2017, and my return to Blighty as 22/2/18, (the day after my daughter's birthday.)

I may decide to take it at 1/2 pay, and stretch it out for 8 months.

(More info on my situation can be found in this thread at #17, in case anyone is wondering what I'm blathering on about!)

Many apologies about the lack of recent posts but I have been very busy as well as taking stock after the first few difficult weeks of 2017.
Thought I would make a quick comment about use of financial advisors though. This has been debated quite a bit on another forum I read on the TES website. I am not sure why so many people pay out so much money using them. I sorted myself without help of financial advisors. Internet, personal research and some common sense are all that you need. Come on most of us are blessed with some common sense and experience of life! Be sure of your goals and just work to achieve them. Although for me it is not all about maximising financial returns (Shock!! Horror!!) but ensuring quality time for me and my family which need not be that expensive!
Maybe if you have extremely large sums to deal with but for most of us trusting ourselves should be enough.

Well I have used a financial adviser for many years.
I first used him when my mother went into care and I had to sell her property and then invest the money to pay the care home and then nursing home fees. It was very helpful to have someone with whom to discuss the way forward and I was impressed with his advice. At the start it was to make capital growth and then as time went on it was to just make as much as possible!

Since then he has been in charge of my portfolio which has grown very nicely, thank you. I know full well I would not have made such wise decisions on my own because I made some smaller investments and lost money! Using his advice I also invested with execution only stockbrokers. If you use them you get a share of their commission.
As far as I am concerned it is money well spent, I would not and do not want to spend my time reading the FT from cover to cover!!!

Hi Katiehound
Thanks for your reply. I believe in your particular case the help of a financial advisor made absolute sense. I just feel that in some cases people are capable of making reasonable financial decisions on their own. Hopefully I didn't come across as pontificating! Just giving a personal opinion. Take care.

Dear all
As the end of February approaches I only have 4 months to go until my fixed term part time contract finishes. To be honest I am getting a bit wobbly about finances even though deep down I know I shouldn't be! I think I have been reading the pensions forum too much and feeling useless when reading about some of the large amounts some posters have managed to accumulate on there. Some seem to dither even with these dream amounts!


However I know I need to stop work at least for a while. I feel so much better working part-time and I am looking forward so much to having the freedom to choose what I want to do. After the death of my father I realise even more that time is precious and cannot be bought for any money in the world. Why do I worry!!?


I have no debt, house is paid for and will have sufficient monthly income until 66 when it will further increase when the state pension kicks in.
Anybody else feel the same? Anyone else in similar position to me financially and doing just fine? Please do share your experiences. Am I over thinking this? Am I just feeling strange about not having to go to work!


On reflection I think it is more to do with feeling I have not saved enough over the years rather than income.
Anyway I will continue with my plan to have what I will call core savings from April when I can contribute more to my ISAs.
Plan is to have about £16000 in my cash ISA and move towards increasing my S&S ISA to this amount in next 12 months. (Incidentally this seems to be doing very well at the moment) It is in a low risk fund aimed at long term growth. I plan to leave it for at least 7years. I may drip feed smaller amounts into this from time to time. I will also leave a few thousands in premium bonds. No risk and you never know!


The rest, which isn't much, will form the basis of my fun and back up money for a while. I will also add a little each month to this to help fund one offs like Insurances, Car MOT, Christmas and Birthdays etc...
I also intend to pay voluntary NI contributions over 7 years to ensure I qualify for the full amount of state pension from 2024.


I have also decided to take July to December to rest and reflect. I will also do those little jobs I don't usually have time to do as well ask enjoy the garden and oversee a couple of house improvements( to be undertaken by others!!)


Come next January I feel I will be in a better position/frame of mind to look at where I want to go next. To see if part-time work appeals etc.. I will also know by then how the finances are turning out. Of course I might just be enjoying being in total control of what I do and when!


Actually feel better having written all this down. Would be great to hear from others.


Take care.

Hi Paul

Just read your thread and very interesting to see yours and other thoughts.

I'm sorry to hear of your father's passing, it does make you think about how much to work and I hope you also can remember the happy times you had rather than dwell on his illness.

I'm 52 and dithering at the moment. I have promised my main client three more years, but really there are days when I'd like to go tomorrow. I was approached to sell the business last year by one of my competitors or in theory I could probably just walk away and have a reasonable amount left £300k-ish????, though absolutely no real idea on tax situation.

Little in savings, really just 6 months living and around 25k mortgage left. Around 300k in private pension and apparently ( I had no idea until last week), that I never opted out of anything so luckily I get the full amount of £175.00 State pension at 67.

I do have an IFA and have done for around 20 years, his advice has been invaluable, I never, and still don't, wante the hassle of looking at investing money.

I think you've made your mind up, but are having an understandable wobble and need some people to just give you a bit of an internet push. You may find after a few months that you find some part time work that you enjoy, that you would never have come across if you hadn't had the time to look.

Hi Paul, as mentioned before, I'm retiring at 63, end of April, with 2.5 years to SPA. I am already working part time, have done for a few years, but fatigue is still a huge issue. have an NHS pension in the interim of £395 per month, plus will use savings. I'm used to living on modest means, and the house and car are paid for. Over the years I've adjusted to a new sense of what is "enough", by simplifying and downshifting where possible.

What I'll need to get used to is seeing my savings go down during that 2.5 years. I've taken that on board intellectually, but in practice reversing the flow after years of saving will feel odd, I'm sure! However, I don't feel that staying in work would be beneficial to me or to the organisation I've been working for. This sort of instance, and the chance to put family first, are what rainy day funds are for. I have approx £128,000 cash savings, sounds a lot but interest rates are low and it has to last the rest of my life! It's staying in cash until I decide if I will live with family overseas permanently.

I'm looking forward to the physical and mental release of retirement, and like you intend a period of pottering domestically and an undemanding life, getting small jobs done in house and garden, prior to heading off abroad to visit family for a few months, again on a modest budget.

My outgoings are approx £280 per month not including food. I'll keep the car which is economical on petrol, approx 60 mpg. However, when the weather's good, and for non local trips, I'll use my older person's bus pass (I live in Scotland). My social life has bloomed since I joined the U3A a few years ago, and at 50 p per session, is cheap, or rather, beyond price!

I wish you well with the unfolding journey. You've clearly thought it all through, and I can identify with a bit of trepidation, but more with the needing to stop work and the sense of relief and freedom that will bring.

Hi Paul
I know you didn't want to do it, but when you have time on your hands you may well want to do a little 'play the current a/cs' game!! especially if you are having a money panic.

Interest has been cut recently, chiefly with the Lloyds group but some of your hard earned money could be earning 3% and interest is paid out monthly. Certainly in these times 'every penny helps!' to coin that well worn phrase. So if you have money in a cash ISA or 2 you might like to think about it........take a few £ks out and dabble in those current a/cs, some of the monthly regular savers even paying 5%! Riches indeed.

Time to make your bucket list.
Decide what you really REALLY want to do.... and start planning.
Not everything costs big bucks, there are good deals around you just have to look.
If you have been frugle most of your life old habits die hard.

Best wishes for a great summer ahead
Katiehound (and the houndgang!!)

Hi Paul , Thanks for sharing your plans , you tell it very well . I am already retired , but will have a go at writing my story , not as well as you .

My story starts in 2005 , I was 51 and had a heart bypass . My wife and I thought it would be good to retire early , but with ten years to go on the mortgage there seamed no way . We used to watch "A Place in the Sun" and after seeing the price of houses in France we thought we could sell up , pay off the mortgage and buy a house for cash in France , so that is what we did .
Taking my works pension early , obviously greatly reduced . My wife got early voluntary redundancy so had a good pension . After 4 years in France we decided the winters were too cold for us , so looked for somewhere warmer and decided on Cyprus . No way could we afford to buy a villa so we decided to live out our days renting one . Just one more year till I get my state pension . Really enjoy being retired , good luck with yours .

Hi Salfordkid
Many thanks for your interesting contribution to the thread. Great to hear from someone renting in Cyprus. I always feel so relaxed and happy when there. I prefer to stay in the Coral Bay/Peyia areas. Long-term rental as far as my research tells me is so much cheaper than paying for short-term holiday villa lets. I regularly find 3 bedroom villas with a pool available long-term for about £700 to £800 per month which is great value. For Cyprus holidays I have often paid double that for a week! Although of course up to now I have had to pay school holiday rates!
Would be great to hear about your experience of renting in Cyprus and the cost of living. Do your pensions or savings cover all living expenses? Any idea if your plans could be altered by brexit? Did you ever consider buying an apartment outright with a communal pool? Some of the developments in my favourite area are really lovely with prices ranging just £45000 to about £100000. Some great townhouses can be bought for prices in that range too.
I guess I have been spoilt by renting good quality villas for a couple of weeks or so with their own pool. I certainly couldn't afford to buy one of those. However a long-term rental, maybe next year, to see how I really feel about spending part of every year there is very viable. Great value too, especially if other members of the family go to stay and share costs.
I hope by retiring early your health has been less of a worry. How were you both able to claim pensions so early?
Again many thanks for your valuable contribution. Keep the news about Cyprus coming.

General recent news.
I have recently joined a local website that connects tutors with students on a one to one basis. I have said I will be available from October 2017. It is not an agency but a way of connecting people for only a small fee per hour worked. I can choose when I work, set my fee and how far I want to travel. At rates of £25 to £30 an hour it will be a useful top up. Had to spend £52 updating my DBS check via my current employer and have joined the government's automatic update scheme to avoid future hassles. This costs £13 a year.


Just another 31 working days for me between now and June 30th.
Gives me a very positive feeling. Then I really do have the choice about what to do and when! Not ruling anything out.
New tax year approaching and soon time to re-allocate funds to improve returns as previously stated.
All the big annual bills for 2017 now paid. 4 more months of serious saving too!
Hope you are all well.

Salfordkid was your wife offered a non-reduced pension as the result of her redundancy? Just wondered as you say she has a good pension. Are you 65 next year then as you say you able to collect your state pension in a year's time. Just if you were 51 in 2005 that would make you only 63 now. Just being curious!


Did you top up your NI over the years to improve your state pension? I will certainly do this over the next 7 years to ensure I get the new full pension after many years of being contracted out.
I have calculated that I would pay an extra £5117 to gain an extra £31.15 a week index linked (at the moment) for life. Great value. In profit before 4 years are up!

Excellent typo, we all need to re-allocate our funs and get more of a return on them

bet those 31 days seem sweet.

@Salfordkid, as I am in Salford right this minute, I suspect you really are better off in sunny Cyprus.

Dear all
Everything always seem so much better when the sun is shining!
Spent the first of my two days off this week gardening and walking the dogs. Now just chilling!
Tomorrow begins the new tax year. I will transfer some money into my Stocks and Shares ISA and top up my cash ISA just a little. Trying hard to save a little more money before June 30th.
Just 27 more working days to go before the end of June too!
As you know have signed up with a tutor company but have said I am not available until October 2017.
Going to enjoy three months of chilling, sorting and gardening before then. Been thinking about a trip to Cyprus but nothing finalised yet.
Work on the new drive begins on May 2nd.
Feeling positive right now!


Take care
Excelpaul

I have found this whole thread very interesting and reassuring. It also seems more personally relevant to me than many other pensions/investment threads. I am also in education and can identify with the need to "go early" - much is said about how manual workers will never be able to work up to the new retirement age, but I think teachers also should be added to that list! I have summarised my situation below. Exact figures not included because I am still working them out!

Qualified as a teacher in the late 1970s and struggled to get permanent work (three temporary contracts in three years), so went teaching overseas (not pensionable work). As I also (stupidly!) requested to withdraw my 3 years of UK teachers' pension as cash, I didn't pay into any occupational pension at all during my 10 years of school teaching.

Bought a house in the UK during this time and spent a year overseeing its renovation from 3,000 miles away. Luckily sold it before the big crash of the early 1990s, but only made back what I had paid into it. The next 6 years was spent using savings and the house sale proceeds to study for a masters and PhD (including working part-time the whole time, to support my funds).

So, I restarted my career in 1996 as a university lecturer, with a zero bank balance and a car loan. Paid into a defined contribution pension scheme for 10 years, in the US (which is currently worth about £80k). During this time, essentially made no money from house ownership as house prices in the area I was living did not go up for 10 years.

In fact during this 10 years I bought a UK rental property, which eventually lost me about £20k due to awful tenants and the poor housing market where I bought the house (I know, sounds like I am bad at financial planning, but more a case of bad luck and bad timing than bad judgement).

Restarted my career in the UK in 2006, and also bought a UK house for £180k at that time. From then until now I have thrown about every spare penny into my defined benefit occupational pension, including purchasing some additional years, into occupational money-purchase AVCs, and into unit-trusts housed within a SIPP and ISA. I have also started pulling cash withdrawals from my US pension to bring it over here while the $$ is strong. This is being put into the SIPP or ISA, or used for living expenses (as most of my salary is being put into occupational pension AVCs).

I plan to go part-time for one year and take early retirement at age 61 (in 2018), subject to my employer's approval. At that point I will draw my occupational pension, and convert the usual lump sum into pension at a commutation rate of about 1/20th (£1,000 pension p.a. for each £10,000 cash). Luckily, my employer's MPAVC scheme is linked to the defined-benefit scheme so all the MPAVC cash will be taken tax-free as it is approximately 25% of my total pension value.

The SIPP and ISA investments will stay put and fund me through retirement as needed.

The main messages I take from all of this are:

You can start investing late in life and still have enough to retire early. I essentially started at age 40, with no house and no savings.

Don't assume that property is a sure bet! A house is something to live in, not make money from.

You can figure out your own investment strategy, using basic principles (diversify, use low-cost investment platforms, buy when others are selling, and don't get greedy!)

Planning for retirement is more than just finances. You have to think about quality of life, and what you will do when you take the final jump. Like others on this thread, i'd love to do some part-time work - I still have valuable skills.

At some point you have to have trust and make the jump. Like others, I panic a bit about the fact that I will stop earning and the bank balance will start to go down, until state pension kicks in 6 years later.

- I could write a lot more but feel like this post is already a bit long so maybe will come back and add more later!

dunroving
Many thanks for your excellent and informative post. Looking forward to reading more.
Always reassuring to hear from others in a similar position making exciting and reasonable plans.
I agree that some of the threads on other sections of this forum can be disheartening.
Totally agree that quality of life as well as enjoying your time and relationships to the full are the most important things to consider than straight forward accumulation of wealth. Likewise a house should be a home.
Thanks again!

Hello excelpaul and dunroving. I've spent the morning looking at my finances because I have applied for voluntary severance in the final salary TPS and should hear in the next week or so if it has been accepted. I have applied to go in July 2018 when I'll be 59.5 and because that way I will get the maximum £30K tax free lump sum for severance. (I thought it would be easier that way than saving £1500 for 20 months, in what is now a precarious job situation and one in which I'm tired of the relentless pressure.) After what will be 36 years in teaching, my deferred unreduced lump sum at 60 should be £77,664 and deferred unreduced pension £25,888.

This has come into sharper focus than expected, as my other half is just about to leave his job due to burnout, so saving anything in the foreseeable future will be very difficult unless he gets a new job fairly quickly (I had planned to save £1,500 pm to cover the 6 month period before I can claim my teacher's pension, so as to not eat into the £30K). Like him, I think I'll need to get another job in due course. I'd planned on doing something much less demanding for a while, a job you can't take home with you, perhaps on a part-time basis, to bring in a little money.

Some colleagues work until their late 60s - I guess that's fine if that's what they want to do, but I am more negative, thinking that my 60s will be a decent decade, before decline in my 70s. I've seen too many have heart attacks straight after retiring, whilst others who went at 60 say it's the best thing they did.

Bournefree
Many thanks for your interesting post. Are you sure you will need to work? With your very decent lump sum and redundancy pay you would appear to be very well placed. Your pension will also be several thousand more than mine. I also will have taught for 36 years but took part of my pension at 55 when I entered and the rest at 58. I also maximised my lump sum to ensure all debt was paid off. I have no inheritances ahead so it will be all down to me. I am currently paying to TPS again during my part-time fixed term contract and I am also investigating a pension transfer from the LGPS that I gained when doing dinner duties! At 65 it will be £51 a year and a £131 lump sum! Hopefully the transfer sum may help me make better use of the.
I am sure you will be fine. I wish you well with all your plans.