Retirement....is it all it's cracked up to be ?

Kompany Car said:
The three things people dont factor in, tend to be tax, the state pension and the usual reduction in spending from your late 70s until you need care when doing the calcs.

I calculated my outgoings in retirement (not there yet but its good to know) and they are around £2400 per month in total for the two of us, assuming we dont downsize. This covers everything including running 2 cars, insurances, gas/elec, rates, a bit of social spending, season ticket etc. The state pension alone for a couple, works out at around £2100 per month from next year and is currently inflation protected due to the triple lock. So from 67 we would need to find 300 per month (adjusted for inflation), to cover the basics.

Outside that, having a big pot really only buys you an earlier retirement and/or more luxuries when it comes to holidays, eating out, gifting to family etc. So the only real question is how early do you want to go and what that looks like in terms of fun money. As you say its different for everyone, some want to be travelling the world in luxury, others are happy with walks in the pennines and lake district.

If I was happy with the minimum I could probably call it quits as soon as I hit my 35 yrs of paying in which will be in 2 yrs time, in reality I will probably be ready to give up full time work at 58/59 and maybe just do a bit of consultancy to keep my hand in for a few years, but give me flexibility to take extended breaks.

Whilst the 4% rule is OK, the chap who thought it up now says its too conservative as long as you have the stomach for a higher equities holding, remembering that the 4% rule is there to also preserve most of your original capital.

Looking at strategies I think I prefer the guardrail based rules like Guyton-Klinger which provides a bit more adaptable approach, but with a few tweaks around the edges.
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Excellent discussion!

I agree with your Guyton-Klinger, or guardrails, approach, with the bucket strategy back up and it’s what I’m using to plan my own retirement.

With a relatively strong cash cushion, it allows for a more aggressive guardrail approach, which (in the absence of historic negative outcomes over an extended period) should result in a very favorable outcome, including principal growth of a well-diversified equity portfolio.

I’m not sure if the UK has RMDs, so I’m not sure whether that’s an issue for people, but it can be an expensive wrinkle which, if addressed by increasing the high limit of the guardrail, could allow efficient conversions into taxed income. This is a future problem I’m looking to try to avoid, but which seems almost insurmountable given our specific position!

Regardless, I really like the Guardrail approach rather than the 4% Rule, but I also understand the 4% Rule is a good starting point for some people to do back of the envelope maths to give them a rough idea of not only where they are now, but also what they need to do to get to where they want to be.
 
Tuearts right boot said:
For the last year or so I've been toying with the idea, I'm coming up to 66 and the world is a big place......I've not had a holiday for years and get bored very easily and really enjoy my job, the people, obviously the money and the hours are more part time than full. I'm finacially stable and my state pension kicks in next year. So what's the problem....I mentioned this to one of my clients who runs a similar business, joking apart he picked up on the idea and ran with it, so I ran with him so to speak....figures, turnover, costs, profits, I even spoke to my accountant. Now he's seeing his bank manager on monday to sort out his finances and quite frankly the penny has just dropped and I'm quietly crapping myself....what am I going to do, I'll miss so much customer, suppliers and clients interaction and dont fancy sitting around the house watching Lorraine Kelly and listening to the wife. I know folks on here have done it but would be interested to hear how it's gone.
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Yes it's wonderful, lots of time to mess about in the garden killing plants and listening to Mrs Walker giving me my instructions for the day :)
We go away a lot, travel is wonderful.
Living in a warm climate probably helps with me.
I volunteer at the tourist information office one day a week and I'm still officially in a band, although we're all a bit apathetic these days about doing gigs.

I like waking up though and deciding what I want to do today. It's wonderful after 47 years of going to work.
 
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Been retired for 7 years now, and I love it.

I was fortunate to work for a progressive company years ago that paid more than I did into my pension fund, which allowed me to jack in work aged 61, and I couldn't be happier.

No alarm clock, no stress, and no worries. My life is my own to do whatever I want, when I want to.
 
retired at 53.5!! Best decision ever... it's been planned for 10 yrs or so and i was paying into my pension up to 15% of my own money that the co matched up to 13%.
I can draw that pension in may that is a DC, and i have a small DB that i can draw at the same time.
we accrued a decent chunk of savings that is in bonds and isas that the interest on savings is protected and pays for all our bills and we have money over.
You do not spend half as much as "they" say you need!!
We are mortgage free without dependents.
not wishing life away, but state pension kicks in at 67, so just plugging the gaps till then!!!
we absolutely love it.
I run 5 days a week, go walking on the other 2 and generally potter about and squeeze in a pint or two in my local or in an adjacent town.
we still go away 3 times a year and bought camping gear that we use the 2 weeks a yr the weather is ok.
Suppose im saying, it depends on your situation..
Plan ahead, put a fee quid away when you can and make it happen!!!
 
Blue Maverick said:
People always say don’t you get bored, only boring people get bored, if work is what keeps you going crack on but fuck me I couldn’t think of anything worse now.
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As you're a recent(ish) member of the not having to do things unless you want to club how have you found it?

I'm at almost 13 years now and I'm still waiting to be miserable or bored.
 
blue b4 the moon said:
As you're a recent(ish) member of the not having to do things unless you want to club how have you found it?

I'm at almost 13 years now and I'm still waiting to be miserable or bored.
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Struggled a bit in winter if I’m honest fucking miserable weather there’s only so much you can do in the house. Mine is a bit different with having a young family so no jetting off all the time like some. My van is ready now to be used to get away with the dogs once the weather turns a bit better. Cost of living going up hadn’t helped as much either but nowt I can do about that.
 
Blue Maverick said:
Struggled a bit in winter if I’m honest fucking miserable weather there’s only so much you can do in the house. Mine is a bit different with having a young family so no jetting off all the time like some. My van is ready now to be used to get away with the dogs once the weather turns a bit better. Cost of living going up hadn’t helped as much either but nowt I can do about that.
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Winter is the only downside sometimes, we can get away when we need to (Feb, Nov & Dec last year) but, even over at Fleetwood-by-the-Sea with the sea walks although a big step up on Oldham it can get easier to stay in rather than go out some days.

Don't have any kids living with us so we're a freewill 99% of the time which although we love them loads is a big bonus.

If we weren't both recovering from colds or what ever we've got I'd either be cleaning the seagull shit off the car, on a garden tidy as I think the worst of winter apart from cold has now past (the signs are there, the nesting Seagulls on the roofs facing us have returned early) or we'd be off down to somewhere like Lytham one day this week on a £10 between us day saver ticket for a mini crawl back up towards Cleveleys. Ideal exercise with a few walks in-between pints on a day like this.
 
Blue Maverick said:
People always say don’t you get bored, only boring people get bored, if work is what keeps you going crack on but fuck me I couldn’t think of anything worse now.
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Question for you ,did you think you were going to be as busy and on the go as much when you finished ?
It's come as a total shock to me I thought it would be chilling sitting about how wrong was I ,I've swapped a dickhead team leader for a 18 month old dictator who carnt put 2 words together but completely controls me :+)
 
Retired last year.
Absolutely loving it so far.
Having no mortgage or debt significantly helps but still mindful of being careful with the cash.
Have a place abroad that I get to frequently, with cheap flights.
Walk dog at least three times a day, gym and study every day.
Learning a new language at college.
Don’t watch TV.
Obviously, watching the mighty blues at the Etihad still plays a big part.
Busy every day with various bits and pieces.
The wife retires in a few months.
Come back to see if my answer is the same in 6 months………… :-)
 
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