Retirement

[Golfmmad]

I'm getting Fridays off.

Nice one, either end is good!

 

[IanM]

Retirement...

Played 18 yesterday.
Played 9 today, then spent and hour putting and chipping practice. Came home, cut the grass.
Tomorrow, fishing!
Thursday, golf, Seniors match
Friday? Who knows?
Saturday, off to Harlech for a few days playing in N Wales

Nit bored yet

 

[KenL]

What type of fishing @IanM ?

 

[Tashyboy]

I have agreed with Work that from April 25 I will move to working 3 days a week

Semi retirement here I come

I nominate Fragger to be a mod now he has time

 

[PhilTheFragger]

I nominate Fragger to be a mod now he has time

Absolutely NOT
Been there, done that, moved on

 

[Billysboots]

I have agreed with Work that from April 25 I will move to working 3 days a week

Semi retirement here I come

I do a bit of driving, as you know. Just three days. I’m looking at two from next spring. The nice thing is that I don’t view it as work - it’s a hobby I get paid for. If I viewed it as work I wouldn’t be doing it.

 

[IanM]

What type of fishing @IanM ?

Coarse... there's a fishery about 5 mins away. Small pond, mixed stock. I used to go fishing often when I was a kid...started going about once a month. I'm close to the River Wye, so building up to a barbel trip in the autumn.

Did some sea fishing when I was working in Southampton. Good way of unwinding!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Week tomorrow is my State Pension day - though I’m not going to be counting-down the days.

Hopefully it’ll enable my Mrs to feel more comfortable cutting her P/T work from a 4-5 day fortnight to the 2-3 days she’s doing now. She insists we need her to keep working when we don’t really…but she’s not been having it. Truth is she enjoys her job and the bit it brings in as it enables her to buy little extras for us and our two. My state pension covers the 2-3 days she is doing, so she could drop work completely, but she’ll keep doing it for the time being.

Besides…as she reminds me all the time, her little bit of income pays my golf club subs - though not quite all of my weekly spend at the club.

 

[PNWokingham]

checked my state pension forecast and this year is 35th qualifying year so job done, although another 13+ years to go until i get anything.

Still very concerned that the autumn budget is going to have a negative impact on private pensions - tax relief going in and/ or tax free allowance coming out. My current plans mean putting everything i can into pensions and isa so that hopefully i can be where i would like to be by the time i am 58 later this decade.

If i hit the numbers and am still in my current job i have been thinking about what i would do - one side thinks ditch it and retire but i doubt i would - i think i would just adopt a different attitude of not worrying about it as much and start spending much more rather than saving...choices i hope i will be in a postion to judge in a few years

On the state pension, it looks like pensioners solely living on this will have to be paying some tax by around 2027 on current estimates as the pension exceeds the annual tax free allowance

 

[PJ87]

checked my state pension forecast and this year is 35th qualifying year so job done, although another 13+ years to go until i get anything.

Still very concerned that the autumn budget is going to have a negative impact on private pensions - tax relief going in and/ or tax free allowance coming out. My current plans mean putting everything i can into pensions and isa so that hopefully i can be where i would like to be by the time i am 58 later this decade.

If i hit the numbers and am still in my current job i have been thinking about what i would do - one side thinks ditch it and retire but i doubt i would - i think i would just adopt a different attitude of not worrying about it as much and start spending much more rather than saving...choices i hope i will be in a postion to judge in a few years

On the state pension, it looks like pensioners solely living on this will have to be paying some tax by around 2027 on current estimates as the pension exceeds the annual tax free allowance

My grandad and his boss (friend of the family) both retired from standard life around 1994. (Think they were both around 55) So the majority of my life they have both been retired. My grandad is now slowly falling apart and the family friend is in a home with dementia. (These are both the last couple years) They have lived retired to the full, played golf every week together. Holidays. Etc. if you can afford to go at 58 I'd say go for it and enjoy the lifestyle before you get to a time where you can't anymore.

 

[Red devil]

checked my state pension forecast and this year is 35th qualifying year so job done, although another 13+ years to go until i get anything.

Still very concerned that the autumn budget is going to have a negative impact on private pensions - tax relief going in and/ or tax free allowance coming out. My current plans mean putting everything i can into pensions and isa so that hopefully i can be where i would like to be by the time i am 58 later this decade.

If i hit the numbers and am still in my current job i have been thinking about what i would do - one side thinks ditch it and retire but i doubt i would - i think i would just adopt a different attitude of not worrying about it as much and start spending much more rather than saving...choices i hope i will be in a postion to judge in a few years

On the state pension, it looks like pensioners solely living on this will have to be paying some tax by around 2027 on current estimates as the pension exceeds the annual tax free allowance

Let's see what the Autumn statement brings, then do what you have to do.
I think tax relief on pension contributions maybe looked at, one set figure for everyone. The rest? Well, they've been threatening that for years but nothing has happened.

 

[PJ87]

My grandad and his boss (friend of the family) both retired from standard life around 1994. (Think they were both around 55) So the majority of my life they have both been retired. My grandad is now slowly falling apart and the family friend is in a home with dementia. (These are both the last couple years) They have lived retired to the full, played golf every week together. Holidays. Etc. if you can afford to go at 58 I'd say go for it and enjoy the lifestyle before you get to a time where you can't anymore.

Ironically I posted this a few hours ago.. I just received this txt from my dad

"Hi hope you are ok, just to keep you in the loop
Grandad has had lots of visitors today and the upshot is the care team have said it’s time he went into home
Lots of reasons I’ll explain when I see you
Hope your girls are all ok"

So I would definitely say go as soon as you could comfortably afford to go .. we don't work for years to not enjoy our final years. I know grandad didn't regret going early and he had a good 25 years of retirement (apart from a cancer scare)

 

[KenL]

Coarse... there's a fishery about 5 mins away. Small pond, mixed stock. I used to go fishing often when I was a kid...started going about once a month. I'm close to the River Wye, so building up to a barbel trip in the autumn.

Did some sea fishing when I was working in Southampton. Good way of unwinding!

I used to fish when I was a kid, just messing around really - mainly caught perch.
Tempted to get back into it one day.

 

[Crazyface]

Update. I'm STILL trying to get access to the main pension fund, the one that started me thinking about retiring. It's utterly ridiculous. I've now been sent, (this took two weeks to do), by e-mail gobble-dee-gook instructions about completing forms that the current holding pension company require from me, before they will release any money to my new super dupe paying out pension fund. After a quick e mail to the second one they said for me to just sent those to them, which I have done, but do not hold out any hope that that is the right thing to do. We'll see.

 

[Bazz]

I'm 41 so I'm way off even thinking about it, but the minute I can I'll be long gone. Life's too short to be spent working.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

My rationale is I’m 62 1/2, 63 1/4 when I go down to 3 days. Grandad went at 77, Dad 79 so I reckon I’ll make 84. But the activity level after 75 is highly unknown.

So that gives me 12 years of being fully active.

If I waited until 67 I’d only have 8 years

When I hit 67 and get my pension from Rachel Reeves I may well go to 2 days a week and pack it in totally at 70

Trouble is I really enjoy the job, but making golf and fishing plans for April next year

 

[PJ87]

I'm 41 so I'm way off even thinking about it, but the minute I can I'll be long gone. Life's too short to be spent working.

All this retirement talk got me to look at my pension statement, I'm 37 so way way off. In 2045 I'll be 58 with 40 years in the pension , i will have to see what the world looks like then. IE the kids being settled in life, mortgage cleared .. waiting to 60 will be more comfortable but it really depends what goes on around Me. My wife's pension will need to be considered and she won't be able to retire the same time as me so I dunno how she will feel about it! Lol

Time will tell I guess

 

[Springveldt]

Really interesting thread this one. I'm now late 40's and it's something that I've been looking into the last few years. I've paid into my company pensions since I was young but always the bare minimum as I was always under the impression that you could only buy an annuity and when you died the pension company kept your cash. Both my grandad's died at 65 and 67 (dad is 71 this year and still in great health, his brother is 81 this year so touch wood) so I used to think "sod that, I'm not paying all that money in just for some swanky stockbroker to keep it all when I kick it".

Obviously much more clued up now, we had a pension bloke into the company a few years ago and he explained all the new things so I've been paying way more into the pension the last few years. Most of the companies I've worked for have paid the absolute bare minimum into my pensions. My current one when I joined in 2012 didn't even contribute anything and only started to when made to by the government. Got bought by an American company in 2019 and I thought "well this is going to be crap" but to my surprise the pension isn't bad, they give 5% (limited to the £43K or so that the government set) and will match up to an extra 3% (of full salary) so I'm currently putting in 12% and they are 8% which is easily the most I've ever contributed to my pension.

Although my job is behind a desk and uses brain power rather than physical I don't want to be doing this until 67 even although I really enjoy my job. I know I'd enjoy playing golf 5 times a week much more.

 

[GreiginFife]

I’m still on track to retire in 5 years. Since turning to contract work some 13 years ago it’s given me the ability to load in to my pension and set myself up for doing the walk at 50.

 

[Tashyboy]

As you get older one tends to look back with hindsight. I could have done this, I should have done that. I have never beaten myself up over coulda , shoulda, woulda moments. Re my pension and retirement, my pension was sorted out for me, first week at work when I was 16 I paid into a pension and thought I was being robbed. As time went on it was something you got used to.
36 years later the pits shut and I retired at 52 1/2 years old. I have not regretted one minute.
At the moment the world seems to be obsessed with growth growth growth. It means we have gone to one person working with one at home looking after children, to both working paying for childcare, bigger mortgages etc etc.
There has to be me time, and that me time for me is retirement. Don’t get me wrong that don’t mean sitting at home all day doing nothing watching emmerdale and eating a bag of revels. Kids and parents have a good way of trying to plan your “ free time”.
Re Pensions, or private pensions, they are what they are when they mature. But I would make sure the state pension pot is sorted re full years so you qualify for full pension. 35 years = full pension.