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Retirement

JAZZMANB said:
Ah ,OK.
The top up thing has been well aired lately
Martin Lewis etc .
I was ok but a couple of mates , bought there's
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I got caught out. When I checked about 10 years ago you needed 30 full years contributions and I worked out when I retired I'd have 29 full years contributions so wasn't realy worried about being 1 year short. A couple of years ago I checked up on the government website how much pension I was likely to get and found out that the goal posts were moved in 2016 and I now needed 35 year full contributions instead of 30 so I was now 6 years short and it was too late to top up.
 

ivanthereasonable said:
Again. Where'd you go last time ? The wife and i skiied there years back.
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Last time it was Beaver Creek, Vail and Breck, this time just Vail and Breckenridge with a couple of nights in Denver at the end. Been there and Whistler 11 times over the last 2 years, but this may well be the last Colorado trip now i have retired, as I can go to Hawaii for about 1/3 the cost of boarding in the States
 
Great thread.

I'm 53 now and planning to finish work at 55, which will be just before they plan to raise the age up to 57 before you can take your works pension.

I've worked out my figures and if I've done it right we should hopefully be OK.
Been squirreling away as much spare cash as possible for a few years so I should have an OK (to me) nest egg when combined with my tax free lump sum.
I've never earned that much really, certainly nothing like some of the figures mentioned here. Always worked to live rather than lived to work, and done everything on the cheap out of necessity.
Was lucky though that we've never upsized from our little house, I've been mortgage free since I was 35.

Seen too many family members and friends go far too young for me to think about working till I'm 67.
To quote Freddie Mercury, I want it all and I want it now :)

I have a second source of income playing keyboards in a covers band round the pubs and clubs, so I will have the time to do more gigs if I need the extra money.
Also my son will be leaving home soon enough, so he will be paying his own bills for a change - his girlfriend has decided she's fed up of flitting between both houses and wants them to get their own place.

I guess the most difficult part will be taking thar big leap into the unknown, but from reading this thread, there don't seem to be many who've regretted it.
 
You're all making me rethink my own strategy. I retired from teaching on a reduced 14 year pension and a full army pension, but the energy and CoL crisis scared me back to work, as I didn't, at that point, know how bad it was going to get. I did 2 years working for HMPPS, but found that I had little patience for poor managers and only did 2 years before leaving in a strop. I'm now doing the archetypal part-time shopping delivery job and questioning whether I want to keep doing it into what is now my 60s.
 
Kent_Mackem said:
My kids won't be finished uni (if they go, that is). That will be a major expense. :(
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I think we are paying about 800 a month to support both kids accommodation. Thankfully it's only for 1 year though as eldest is in final year.

She finishes 31st March but we have to pay her accommodation until July. Told her she has to stay in Manchester till we've paid up
 
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Devil71 said:
Great thread.

I'm 53 now and planning to finish work at 55, which will be just before they plan to raise the age up to 57 before you can take your works pension.

I've worked out my figures and if I've done it right we should hopefully be OK.
Been squirreling away as much spare cash as possible for a few years so I should have an OK (to me) nest egg when combined with my tax free lump sum.
I've never earned that much really, certainly nothing like some of the figures mentioned here. Always worked to live rather than lived to work, and done everything on the cheap out of necessity.
Was lucky though that we've never upsized from our little house, I've been mortgage free since I was 35.

Seen too many family members and friends go far too young for me to think about working till I'm 67.
To quote Freddie Mercury, I want it all and I want it now :)

I have a second source of income playing keyboards in a covers band round the pubs and clubs, so I will have the time to do more gigs if I need the extra money.
Also my son will be leaving home soon enough, so he will be paying his own bills for a change - his girlfriend has decided she's fed up of flitting between both houses and wants them to get their own place.

I guess the most difficult part will be taking thar big leap into the unknown, but from reading this thread, there don't seem to be many who've regretted it.
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It is a big leap mate ya right but at 55 ya still young enough to go back for a couple of years if you want to. Depends on ya circumstances as well, some lads who live with a lass struggle cos they are together a lot more, some single lads struggle cos they are alone a lot more.
I’d say if the money bit is right ( which wasn’t quite when I tried ) then it just takes time to adjust and re prioritise ya time.
The futures bright.
 
Anybody advise on best place to go for retirement financial advice?

I don’t think I’m in a position to go early, but good to know if what I’m doing is right and if I need to do something else to assist me when I eventually leave work behind (12ish years until 67)
 
buster said:
I knew a policeman who knew to the day when his 30 years was up , passed away within 6 months of retiring when he was still in his 50’s

He used to laugh when we asked him how long he had left .
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Nowt like being positive about retirement :rolleyes:

Plenty of stories like that, how about my FIL retiring with I'll health, DB pension at 48, died last year at 86.
 
buster said:
I knew a policeman who knew to the day when his 30 years was up , passed away within 6 months of retiring when he was still in his 50’s

He used to laugh when we asked him how long he had left .
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A few from our place died literally weeks after retiring. One died on the holiday he booked to celebrate. I’m shitting myself to be honest :neutral:
 
Fletch said:
Aye but they didn’t die because retired , everyone is gradually running out of time
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I don't know if it is medically backed up, but it feels like with some people once you stop working, your body and mind go into a different state and that can trigger and already existing health problem.

I do hear (and have seen a couple of cases) where people have died shortly after retiring, and it feels like it is a thing. I have not known anyone die in service, in the year before retirement.

But the thing is to remember, these are the extreme cases and you hear of more people who lived for decades after retiring.

I have just done a google search and it seems it is complicated with conflicting reports. One article makes a good point, that nobody died before the age of 65 who did not take early retirement, and that skews or must at least be considered in some of these reports. Obviously if you die before 65 and have not retired, then you never will so retiring at the statutory wins from the statistical point of view!
 
Darlo1973 said:
Just had a seminar at work on retirement planning. Quite scary that a 21 year old now has an expected retirement age of 2070.
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That's pretty optimistic for 2025,in 1987 the man from the Pru told me the state pension wadnt even exist if i lived to 65/2034.
 
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