• The first stage of the forum upgrades has now been completed but they remain in a degraded state and are still being worked on. Normal posting/reading should now be possible.
    Please read this thread for more details.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.

Retirement

ChrisK said:
Sharp comes round mate and 55 is a great age to retire.

When you finally done I guarantee you will think why the hell did you not go earlier mate.

I Been on gardening leave since March and had a great summer, luckily still on payroll till end of year then that's my work ties cut.
I been lucky stood down in March with full pay and a redundancy lumper end of year to go with it, the icing on the cake.
I am currently well into a great retired lifestyle don`t want to bore you but loving it.
Don`t want to rub it in either but look at me ;) were off to Barbados next Thursday for a bit winter sun call it my retirement holiday !

Life too short and there are definitely more work days than rest days enjoy !
Click to expand...

Always look out for your posts because I think we have similarities- work etc.
Sounds just great Mate. My Ex boss walked out July and just loved not being in the Corporate shite. Unfortunately he is younger and has to work and find a job.
3 more weeks and need a few months just to settle.👍
 

Slim999 said:
Basically for a single person ( assuming you're mortgage-free homeowner) , I'd say that if you had upwards of £250k in a defined contribution pot & you were 55 / 57 ...... then retirement is Deffo an option.

For a couple- maybe £400k combined

Keep the lump invested ( make sure it's invested in a scheme that delivers at least 10% per annum average over 5 years ) - and your pot will continue to grow whilst you pull out £25k or so per year to live on . ( take out just enough to ensure your tax is minimised )

Less than £150k invested and you're taking a gamble retiring at 55 imo.....
Click to expand...

I think a £250k pension pot is a little on the low side to be retiring mid-50s unless you have other savings or investments/property to include as 10% growth is quite optimistic in the short to mid-term.

I'm 51 and the plan is to keep my head down at work for another 6-7 years and then hopefully be offered redundancy. It would be then good to take a year to do some travelling before coming back for a stress free part-time job and maybe downsize the house or move back north to liberate some equity.
 
Slim999 said:
Basically for a single person ( assuming you're mortgage-free homeowner) , I'd say that if you had upwards of £250k in a defined contribution pot & you were 55 / 57 ...... then retirement is Deffo an option.

For a couple- maybe £400k combined

Keep the lump invested ( make sure it's invested in a scheme that delivers at least 10% per annum average over 5 years ) - and your pot will continue to grow whilst you pull out £25k or so per year to live on . ( take out just enough to ensure your tax is minimised )

Less than £150k invested and you're taking a gamble retiring at 55 imo.....
Click to expand...
Brave person who thinks they can get returns of 10% over 5 years. You also seem to suggest that there's products out there that can guarantee this, where are they? Have a look at sequence of returns risk and see how it can go horribly wrong.
Tuono said:
Just checked again and I have 7 years where the Gateway site says,

You have:

  • 29 years of full contributions
  • 21 years when you did not contribute enough
£8,813 a year according to my State Pension Summary.
Click to expand...
Have a look here
You must be logged on to see external links
.
It shows you how it was worked out you may well just not have enough NI contributions down the years
 
Slim999 said:
Basically for a single person ( assuming you're mortgage-free homeowner) , I'd say that if you had upwards of £250k in a defined contribution pot & you were 55 / 57 ...... then retirement is Deffo an option.

For a couple- maybe £400k combined

Keep the lump invested ( make sure it's invested in a scheme that delivers at least 10% per annum average over 5 years ) - and your pot will continue to grow whilst you pull out £25k or so per year to live on . ( take out just enough to ensure your tax is minimised )

Less than £150k invested and you're taking a gamble retiring at 55 imo.....
Click to expand...

I think that is a very optimistic scenario. Conventional wisdom is more like 5% withdrawal over the long term is sustainable, but I don't think even that's happening at the moment.
 
Slim999 said:
Basically for a single person ( assuming you're mortgage-free homeowner) , I'd say that if you had upwards of £250k in a defined contribution pot & you were 55 / 57 ...... then retirement is Deffo an option.

For a couple- maybe £400k combined
Click to expand...
Almost exactly my scenario.
A lot of people seem to think the pension you take at 55 is the same as the amount you need at 70.
In reality I can take a bit more between 55-67, then I can reduce that by the state pension amount at 67. This means that the pot should still have a decent amount in by the time I die, even if that’s at 100.
Added to that, the older you get the less people tend to spend.
 
Nero the dog said:
Almost exactly my scenario.
A lot of people seem to think the pension you take at 55 is the same as the amount you need at 70.
In reality I can take a bit more between 55-67, then I can reduce that by the state pension amount at 67. This means that the pot should still have a decent amount in by the time I die, even if that’s at 100.
Added to that, the older you get the less people tend to spend.
Click to expand...
Until you start paying for care packages.
 
Boris Bear said:
Are you still at the passport place? Are the civil service still offering decent early retirement packages or is that a thing of the past?
Click to expand...
I’m still civil service but different department. CS pensions are still ok but now average over the time in the CS so if you started at the bottom and worked up - most outside London that had an impact. I’m still on the old terms so it goes on my current pay/grade.
 
Parkmaverick said:
I’m still civil service but different department. CS pensions are still ok but now average over the time in the CS so if you started at the bottom and worked up - most outside London that had an impact. I’m still on the old terms so it goes on my current pay/grade.
Click to expand...
I have 14 years on the old terms and left when TP’d Grade7 but guessing it will go on whatever my SEO salary was when I left x index linked. No idea what it will be worth now or in a few years but I’m guessing it will be decent.
 
Mine says I only need contribute another 3 years to secure the full state pension. I'm only 45.

Doesn't that mean pretty much everyone gets it?
 
Boris Bear said:
Where does it say that…you’ll need 35 qualifying years paying NI
Click to expand...
On their forecast service:

"Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2023

£190.96 a week
Forecast if you contribute another 3 years before 5 April 2046

£203.85 a week
£203.85 is the most you can get"

I have 29 years of full contributions and need another 3. I guess it's part of the transitional protection, meaning people my age only need 32 years?
 
Last edited:
From what I understand before 2016 you needed 30 full years NI contributions, after 2016 you need 35 years. I'm aged 65 and my forecast says I need 35 full years contributions.
 
I plan on retiring somewhere between 57 and 60.
Basically once I hit 57 I can access my pension and then it just a matter of seeing how work goes.
I'll probably hold on and monitor the pot and wait for a reason to stop, but I'm not planning on toiling away into my late 60s by no means.

A bloke I work with got made redundant at 59. I heard about it and told him how sorry I was about his news.
"I'm not" he replied "Got the pension all ready to go and this just a golden handshake for me, I nearly snapped their hand off"

Sounds like a plan :)
 
a1970man said:
I plan on retiring somewhere between 57 and 60.
Basically once I hit 57 I can access my pension and then it just a matter of seeing how work goes.
I'll probably hold on and monitor the pot and wait for a reason to stop, but I'm not planning on toiling away into my late 60s by no means.

A bloke I work with got made redundant at 59. I heard about it and told him how sorry I was about his news.
"I'm not" he replied "Got the pension all ready to go and this just a golden handshake for me, I nearly snapped their hand off"

Sounds like a plan :)
Click to expand...
58 for me. Will probably get a part time job mixing the paint in B&Q for a couple of days a week to pay for my beer money
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top