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Retirement

TAD said:
Was a bit confused there when you said drop in pay but same hours, then realised you meant daily rather than weekly hours.
We are both 53 an went 4 days end of last year. We thought about condensing hours (longer days to not loose pay) but decided we could afford it and just dropped to a straight 31 hrs, Friday off. Well worth the drop on pay. So much more free time. By Tuesday night you are half way through the week. Recommended, if you can afford it time is much more precious than money.
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Yes, I didn't word that particularly well! I can see my employer loving the idea of me dropping wages for exactly the same hours!

One way that I am looking at it, is we are on a grading system with clear spine points. So I can look at a spreadsheet and know which spine point and amount of pay I will move to. None of this internal review that you get in the corporate world. There will be cost of living rises on top of that, but other than that, I can point to any day on the calendar and know exactly what I am going to be paid. Dropping 10% in 2 years time would only put me on a bit less than I am now and more than I was when I left my last job around this time last year.

I absolutely agree about time. I'm busy every evening this week, it was raining each afternoon last weekend so I never give the grass it's first cut. I need to take my daughter on a uni visit on Saturday and already she is hinting at me taking her somewhere on Sunday morning, with my son needing something on Sunday afternoon. Then I'm back at work on Monday. Finding an hour to do something I don't like is hard at the minute, and all the time I leave it, the problem gets worse. Not a cause of stress but always at the back of my mind that I need to find some time to do that.
 

For anyone who’s retired in recent years and had a DC pension / SIPP , did you go down the flexi drawdown route or UFPSL ? Trying to get head round how it works and difference etc . For missus who is retiring soon , first 6 month just using cash savings then will be using pension pot.
Need to get calculator out for myself at some point
 
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TAD said:
Was a bit confused there when you said drop in pay but same hours, then realised you meant daily rather than weekly hours.
We are both 53 an went 4 days end of last year. We thought about condensing hours (longer days to not loose pay) but decided we could afford it and just dropped to a straight 31 hrs, Friday off. Well worth the drop on pay. So much more free time. By Tuesday night you are half way through the week. Recommended, if you can afford it time is much more precious than money.
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A phrase I seem to repeat every day with only 11 more Monday`s to go. The end of June can`t come soon enough.
 
I mentioned a while ago that I retired at 60 and intended to use cash savings/ pension lump sum and wife’s part time earnings to live off.
All going well, loving life and just wish I could turn the clock back to when my parents were my age and tell them to spend and enjoy their retirement and money. They couldn’t adjust their lifestyle and when I had to get involved in their finances it was too late for them to change.
 
Fletch said:
For anyone who’s retired in recent years and had a DC pension / SIPP , did you go down the flexi drawdown route or UFPSL ? Trying to get head round how it works and difference etc . For missus who is retiring soon , first 6 month just using cash savings then will be using pension pot.
Need to get calculator out for myself at some point
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I retired 6 years ago and I went for flexi drawdown, I use my 12k tax allowance as an income of just over 1k a month, I then take some of my 25% tax free each tax year. So basically if I take 20k out of my 25% , I crystallise 80k, the other 30k remains invested but I will have a yearly income of £32570 and dont pay any tax, plan is to make my 25% last till I get state pension
 
macks1966 said:
I retired 6 years ago and I went for flexi drawdown, I use my 12k tax allowance as an income of just over 1k a month, I then take some of my 25% tax free each tax year. So basically if I take 20k out of my 25% , I crystallise 80k, the other 30k remains invested but I will have a yearly income of £32570 and dont pay any tax, plan is to make my 25% last till I get state pension
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So youre drawing 32k from a pot yearly and its still all under your 25% tax free figure ? That's a canny starting pot .
 
JAZZMANB said:
So youre drawing 32k from a pot yearly and its still all under your 25% tax free figure ? That's a canny starting pot
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JAZZMANB said:
So youre drawing 32k from a pot yearly and its still all under your 25% tax free figure ? That's a canny starting pot .
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Yes, pot was a fare size, worked for same company for 38 years, transferred out of the scheme when I left so I could do flexi drawdown. Didn't need to use it for first few years as I had redundancy and a small pension to use up first. 60 years old now and dont think ill be having any problems whatsoever.
 
Woodman Boy said:
I mentioned a while ago that I retired at 60 and intended to use cash savings/ pension lump sum and wife’s part time earnings to live off.
All going well, loving life and just wish I could turn the clock back to when my parents were my age and tell them to spend and enjoy their retirement and money. They couldn’t adjust their lifestyle and when I had to get involved in their finances it was too late for them to change.
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It is sad. Likewise, if I could just go back 15 years to when my dad was retiring, I would try to be more forceful with him in getting him to do anything. He was one of these people who didn't know what to do with himself, so sat in the chair eating and watching day time TV until an accumulation of health issues took him in his early 70s.

I bet if I had done some sort of volunteer day at Shildon or up at Bowes Railway, and dragged him along, he would have loved it and joined the team regularly. At the time, I had two very young kids, I live over 300 miles away and just did not realise the effect lethargy was having on him.

My message to anyone who is 45+, are looking at that 10-15 year stretch to retirement and have a bit more free time now you don't have bath time, stories and all the other things you need to do with little ones in the house - get off your arse and do something. Find a whole load of things that interest you, try different things out, get to the stage where you are desperate to retire because you don't have time to do all the interesting things you want to do.

Make models, do woodwork, consider buying a battered car or camper van and renovate it, gardening, music, join some groups, men in sheds, engineering type things like steam railways. Try them all.

I honestly think there should be some sort of 'careers service' type place for retirees. Men especially seem to struggle the most on giving up work, but the health benefits of finding things that interest you are enormous.
 
DaveH said:
It is sad. Likewise, if I could just go back 15 years to when my dad was retiring, I would try to be more forceful with him in getting him to do anything. He was one of these people who didn't know what to do with himself, so sat in the chair eating and watching day time TV until an accumulation of health issues took him in his early 70s.

I bet if I had done some sort of volunteer day at Shildon or up at Bowes Railway, and dragged him along, he would have loved it and joined the team regularly. At the time, I had two very young kids, I live over 300 miles away and just did not realise the effect lethargy was having on him.

My message to anyone who is 45+, are looking at that 10-15 year stretch to retirement and have a bit more free time now you don't have bath time, stories and all the other things you need to do with little ones in the house - get off your arse and do something. Find a whole load of things that interest you, try different things out, get to the stage where you are desperate to retire because you don't have time to do all the interesting things you want to do.

Make models, do woodwork, consider buying a battered car or camper van and renovate it, gardening, music, join some groups, men in sheds, engineering type things like steam railways. Try them all.

I honestly think there should be some sort of 'careers service' type place for retirees. Men especially seem to struggle the most on giving up work, but the health benefits of finding things that interest you are enormous.
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Spot on and wise words mate.
 
DaveH said:
It is sad. Likewise, if I could just go back 15 years to when my dad was retiring, I would try to be more forceful with him in getting him to do anything. He was one of these people who didn't know what to do with himself, so sat in the chair eating and watching day time TV until an accumulation of health issues took him in his early 70s.
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Similar to my dad. Was made redundant in his early 60s so took his works pension as an annuity. It wasn't much but enough to get by. Apart from a few year of being a granddad to my brother's kids he didn't have any hobbies or friends so mostly sat at home and was gone a few days after his 75th birthday. My mam's still battling on though, she's 91 next week and will probably outlive me.
 
Darlo1973 said:
Similar to my dad. Was made redundant in his early 60s so took his works pension as an annuity. It wasn't much but enough to get by. Apart from a few year of being a granddad to my brother's kids he didn't have any hobbies or friends so mostly sat at home and was gone a few days after his 75th birthday. My mam's still battling on though, she's 91 next week and will probably outlive me.
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My mam has amazed me. My dad did most of the DIY or the harder work, while she just did painting. He had 5 years dealing with him as a carer, with a hoist and her strength getting him in and out of a wheelchair, rolling to get him dressed etc. When we lost him she saw all these jobs that had backed up and got stuck in learning how to do them.

There was a load of block paving she wanted doing in the back garden, so she did that. I was not expecting a WhatsApp message from her saying how brilliant angle grinders were. She was unhappy with the flooring downstairs, so she bought loads of packs of laminate and did most of that, with the loan of a mitre saw. Then recently I was up there having a few DIY days, pulling out fitted wardrobes and doing a few things she was not confident in. Even then, when we went to the tip, I told her to leave the heavy stuff, but she still grabbed a load to hurl into the skips. She is in her mid 70s and only 5ft tall, so throwing some things over the edge is much harder for her. It didn't stop her.
Town End Farmer Giles said:
Ive said it before Dave, I'd honestly rather go back to work than do any one of those 😂
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:D It is worth every few months people posting things that they have started to do in retirement or in the 10 years building up to quitting work. There are quite a few pop into this thread who have said they would retire but don't know what to do with themselves. I worry about people like that.
 
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Fletch said:
For anyone who’s retired in recent years and had a DC pension / SIPP , did you go down the flexi drawdown route or UFPSL ? Trying to get head round how it works and difference etc . For missus who is retiring soon , first 6 month just using cash savings then will be using pension pot.
Need to get calculator out for myself at some point
Click to expand...
I use flexidrawdown.
If you use yearly UFPLS you may end up with a larger tax payment than you should in the first month and it may or may not be a frig on getting it sorted.
If you do monthly UFPLS at best you'll probably have to do a manual withdrawal every month, at worst (vanguard) you'll have to go through the phone calls every month which is a real frig on 👍
 
I'm done on 31st March, just agreed "deal" with employer last week, all signed off.

As for what to do, plenty, have a huge list to get through. Most importantly getting my bbq hut and ovens/smokers ready for some hammering and sprucing up the garden. Motorhome and some travelling.

Can't wait, really looking forward to it.

Pity about the markets, but won't affect the decision.
 
bozwellboyce said:
I'm done on 31st March, just agreed "deal" with employer last week, all signed off.

As for what to do, plenty, have a huge list to get through. Most importantly getting my bbq hut and ovens/smokers ready for some hammering and sprucing up the garden. Motorhome and some travelling.

Can't wait, really looking forward to it.

Pity about the markets, but won't affect the decision.
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It's a year for me coming up end of month
It's flew over
No massive bucket list stuff ,just stuff I did before, which was quite a lot , but I'm in a much better frame of mind with the world .
 
JAZZMANB said:
It's a year for me coming up end of month
It's flew over
No massive bucket list stuff ,just stuff I did before, which was quite a lot , but I'm in a much better frame of mind with the world 👌.
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Excellent, your last line resonated.

My bucket list is more a list of jobs to sort at the minute, but will enjoy doing them.
 
DaveH said:
Men especially seem to struggle the most on giving up work, but the health benefits of finding things that interest you are enormous.
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Not long after I started work on the buildings, I still remember an old bloke retiring at 65, not many got to that age especially then, we were working on a site opposite wearmouth pit. On his last day was took to the colliery tavern.
Come the Monday after, he appeared all dressed suit, waistcoat, tie etc he was nearly in tears, as you say (and plenty of others have) he simply didn't know what to do with himself, I still remember the look on his face.
We moved site a week or so later but he came around the job every day until we moved. Poor f***er.
 
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