Retirement

[Darlo1973]

The place I was working at went through a number of voluntary redundancy phases and restructures. If I had took it, I would have left with 14 months wages tax free. I bit of belt tightening I could have not worked for 18-20 months and not worried. The restructure merged 3 jobs into mine for no extra pay and 2 years later I left to move somewhere where I could actually get something done. Did my standard 3 months notice and that was that.

About 2 weeks after resigning, they announced another round of voluntary redundancy on the same terms as earlier and anyone due to leave anyway was exempt.

Not taking it when it was first offered will go down as a regret. It was during the pandemic but the job market was just starting to move again. I suspect I could have got something in my field within 6 months. If I had wanted to keep money coming in, I could have done a bit of Tesco delivery for a while. Ironically that might have had a more negative impact on my CV than not working!

I don't think a 6-9 month gap in your CV later in your career is as damaging as it used to be if described as a "career break" or a "grey gap year"

I haven't had more than a few weeks off work at any one time since my 20s so I quite like the idea of once the mortgage is paid off in my taking a year out to do some travelling and then come back refreshed to do something totally different with what is left of my working life. I certainly don't want to be doing another 10-15 years of corporate middle management where there is yet another restructuring announced every few months. Being a Tesco delivery driver sounds great to me.

 

[42]

Here's a bit more detail in the figures

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[Nookie Bear]

I’m hoping to retire in three years at 55 or at least go part time - the dilemma I have at the moment is whether to merge six pensions into one but two of them are DB’s. Thought a meeting with pension wise last week would provide clarity but it was a waste of time - he kept banging on about minimum retirement age rising to 57 but that won’t apply to me as I’ll be 55 before the change.

 

[Paddy O'Dors]

Wonder who could possibly benefit by people putting that much extra money away into pensions? Not the 1300 pension funds they represent shirley?
I read the article but not the PLSA breakdown sometimes they have figures in there which are nuts.
There'll be single people on here still working and not going without earning a lot less than £31300. That's £2300/ month as a pension canny that, well it would be tremendous for me but everyone has their own 'number'

I think you have to strip the guaranteed £11k state pension out of the total figures, but that would still leave 1.8k a month or so to make up.

Some of the figures are a bit ludicrous like. £800 p/w for a retired couple to live moderately (if I'm reading it right)? We could live comfortably on half of that (admittedly with very little housing costs, but that would apply to lots of retirees).

 

[Town End Farmer Giles]

Here's a bit more detail in the figures

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Still bollocks IMHO. My plans are for a moderate lifestyle, but with more holidays, on less than that.

 

[42]

Still bollocks IMHO. My plans are for a moderate lifestyle, but with more holidays, on less than that.

I agree. There's an element of one man's comfortable is another man's moderate.
On the cost of food threads, I'm always amazed at how much some spend on food, and have been told my life must be grim & austere when in reality its nowhere near. I eat what I want, just don't have fancy tastes & dont buy expensive m&s pre packed stuff

 

[Tuono]

Here's a bit more detail in the figures

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Minimum for a single person includes £50 a year charity donations!
The figure of £14,400 minimum for a single person does look about right though.

 

[Darlo1973]

I’m hoping to retire in three years at 55 or at least go part time - the dilemma I have at the moment is whether to merge six pensions into one but two of them are DB’s. Thought a meeting with pension wise last week would provide clarity but it was a waste of time - he kept banging on about minimum retirement age rising to 57 but that won’t apply to me as I’ll be 55 before the change.

It's typically worth merging DC pensions (disclaimer: check any exit fees but most from the past 20 years should be fee free if they are "stakeholder compatible") but DB ones are usually best left alone

I currently have two - my current employer one and another which I merged all of my previous ones (apart from one from the 90s which only had £300 in it and the exit fees were almost as much!)

 

[Alfies Hat]

Not a gloating post I just want to celebrate that I have 12 working days left before i retire.

I think you're gloating ever so slightly .
Lucky bugger.
March 2025 for me which equates to 159 twelve hour shifts.
Not that I'm counting.

 

[Paddy O'Dors]

I’m hoping to retire in three years at 55 or at least go part time - the dilemma I have at the moment is whether to merge six pensions into one but two of them are DB’s. Thought a meeting with pension wise last week would provide clarity but it was a waste of time - he kept banging on about minimum retirement age rising to 57 but that won’t apply to me as I’ll be 55 before the change.

Does the DB ones pay out at the same age as the DC ones? I've got an old DB from my RM days which starts paying out a decent amount a week at 60, whereas all my DC ones pay out at 65.

 

[Joe Baker]

The figure of £14,400 minimum for a single person does look about right though.

Yep

 

[Nookie Bear]

Does the DB ones pay out at the same age as the DC ones? I've got an old DB from my RM days which starts paying out a decent amount a week at 60, whereas all my DC ones pay out at 65.

I’m just waiting for confirmation of that from them before I make decision but they have given me transfer values which are good - thinking about bringing them into one pot under pension bee then I’ll just have that and my civil service pension to manage - also trying to make life easier in terms of if I were to die as would be a lot easier for executors.

 

[Joe Baker]

I’m just waiting for confirmation of that from them before I make decision but they have given me transfer values which are good - thinking about bringing them into one pot under pension bee then I’ll just have that and my civil service pension to manage - also trying to make life easier in terms of if I were to die as would be a lot easier for executors.

With respect ......... b*****r the executors, it's your life and your pension. Do what's right for you.

 

[Fletch]

Wonder who could possibly benefit by people putting that much extra money away into pensions? Not the 1300 pension funds they represent shirley?
I read the article but not the PLSA breakdown sometimes they have figures in there which are nuts.
There'll be single people on here still working and not going without earning a lot less than £31300. That's £2300/ month as a pension canny that, well it would be tremendous for me but everyone has their own 'number'

thats a very good point, if such articles are sponsored by pension funds

the amounts do seem excessive

 

[JonnotheMackem]

I'm on course for my grand plan - dropping dead at my desk one day.

 

[Squat]

I think you have to strip the guaranteed £11k state pension out of the total figures, but that would still leave 1.8k a month or so to make up.

Some of the figures are a bit ludicrous like. £800 p/w for a retired couple to live moderately (if I'm reading it right)? We could live comfortably on half of that (admittedly with very little housing costs, but that would apply to lots of retirees).

95 quid a week for food for a couple as a minimum? christ, i spend about that for 5 adults.

 

[Nookie Bear]

With respect ......... b*****r the executors, it's your life and your pension. Do what's right for you.

Aye I will but having spent weeks after my dad died not long ago wrangling with various pension companies so it’s a consideration.

 

[SurreyMackem]

We are in the comfortable couple group but we didn't spend £1000 on clothes and £500 on shoes even when we were working.

 

[Paddy O'Dors]

95 quid a week for food for a couple as a minimum? christ, i spend about that for 5 adults.

With £95 p/w me and the missus could eat in the Grange every night. Two meals for £11 M-F, £10 each Sat & Sun.

I’m just waiting for confirmation of that from them before I make decision but they have given me transfer values which are good - thinking about bringing them into one pot under pension bee then I’ll just have that and my civil service pension to manage - also trying to make life easier in terms of if I were to die as would be a lot easier for executors.

I've thought about transferring the three smaller DC ones into one pot in Pension Bee just to simplify things, I've also thought about transferring them to my decent sized DC pot (it gives me the option on the app). It's not a huge amount in pension terms terms tbh and I'm guessing Pension Bee charges will 0.95% p/a with such a small amount while my large pension pot charges are 0.21% p/a.

 

[Nookie Bear]

With £95 p/w me and the missus could eat in the Grange every night. Two meals for £11 M-F, £10 each Sat & Sun.


I've thought about transferring the three smaller DC ones into one pot in Pension Bee just to simplify things, I've also thought about transferring them to my decent sized DC pot (it gives me the option on the app). It's not a huge amount in pension terms terms tbh and I'm guessing Pension Bee charges will 0.95% p/a with such a small amount while my large pension pot charges are 0.21% p/a.

The charges vary depending on the fund options from pension bee but the pension matters bloke did tell me under the small pensions arrangement anything under £10k in a pot you can effectively cash in - I have a couple of pensions that would apply under that ruling so I might just do that

Under contract-based pension arrangements such as your personal pensions, you can take up to three pension pots, each of no more than £10,000 in value as a small pot lump sum. Small pots aren't tested against the lifetime allowance, which means they can reduce the eventual tax charge that may become due.