Retirement...when, how old and how much??

Oh, I forgot to add, to qualify as a Charity case you must be covered in fur, walk on 4 legs and.... be prepared to sit on my knee and let me stroke you
 
vincent said:
Targeting 62 as my retirement age. Another 12/13 years to go. All being well, should have between 250-300k in my pot. Not great, but should be somewhat comfortable.
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Sounds plenty to me. I'm reckoning on a pot between £180k to £200k but with an option to downsize the house if/when needed. Not planning on leaving the kids anything as will help them when they need it in their 20s. Hoping to retire by 60 myself or at least go occasional work.
 
Paladin said:
I worked 40 years for the same utility company, 30 of those on a final salary scheme (defined benefits), ten on a defined contributions scheme. I transferred out last summer with a healthy pot, now invested following a recommendation from a fellow Bluemoon member.

My plan is to draw up to my personal allowance, supplemented by the interest free lump sum until it runs out. The growth in the fund should cover my drawings, so when I die, my sons will inherit the entire pot, plus any growth that has not been withdrawn by me. My wife will have a NHS pension of around £1k per month when she retires.

I took early retirement (redundancy) last summer, and have no intention of working again. I go for a run most days, have lost 4 stone in weight and feel as healthy as any time in the last 15 years. No mortgage, cars all paid for.

Once Covid is over, we will take the usual two holidays a year, plus a few short breaks and city breaks.

The tip about transferring the house to the kids when one of us dies is something I will definitely look into.
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My brother (Manchester, not Chicago!!!) does wills and trusts. You sound like a fella who needs that stuff taken care of, because you have assets that need protecting. I’m happy to put you (or anyone else) in touch with him. He will take good care of you, especially if you let him know you got in touch through me on here. He is on here, too, every now and then, but I’m sure he is too discreet to mention it himself! I have no such qualms! ;-)
 
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I can retire next August at 52, house to be paid off, wife is a lot younger so has years to do, daughter will only be 8. I don’t plan on doing much if it I do it will be for beer money, no intentions of tying myself down to anything. Hoping to by a VW van and o it up for camping trips for when the little one is on school holidays, if anything has sown me in lockdown is that in the 6 week holiday I will not be hanging round the house we will get out and about. I need to get my will done so that when one of us goes the daughter gets that half so they can’t take the house off the other one to cover care. Monthly I should be getting around £1100 and as I’ve paid the mortgage off I’ll be in exactly in the same position I am now without even getting out of bed! Need to get the wife in the promotion trail to get some more cash ;)
 
I retired six years ago at 56. My pension pot maxed out at 55 and I spent a year working and drawing pension. We decided early retirement was the way to go as I had seen too many colleagues banging their heads in only to drop dead a very few years after retirement. Life is for living and we only get one shot. I could have continued another 5 years and made a shed load but have had (at least 6) good years when I am fit and healthy to do the things we always wanted to do but didn't have the time. The amount of time I have been able to spend with my young grandaughters has been priceless. My pension is roughly 50% of my old salary as I took the 25% tax free lump and it keeps us in relative comfort.

Would make the same decision again and don't regret it for a second.
 
Retirement. The biggest con. Set up as some kind of lifelong aim by the powers that be. You will notice the rich and powerful do not aspire to "retire".
Work as little as possible, play as much as possible, stay as healthy as possible.
I wish I had the the statistics for the amount of people who die within two years of retirement, leaving more wealth than they have had at anytime in their lives, " not spent"
 
asahartford1 said:
Retirement. The biggest con. Set up as some kind of lifelong aim by the powers that be. You will notice the rich and powerful do not aspire to "retire".
Work as little as possible, play as much as possible, stay as healthy as possible.
I wish I had the the statistics for the amount of people who die within two years of retirement, leaving more wealth than they have had at anytime in their lives, " not spent"
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Yeah but what if you did that and then lived until you were 100 and had to spend the last 30 years of your life living on beans on toast and sat in the cold because you couldn't afford heating
 
vincent said:
Targeting 62 as my retirement age. Another 12/13 years to go. All being well, should have between 250-300k in my pot. Not great, but should be somewhat comfortable.
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I'm in a very similar boat to you mate. Maybe will have about 250k when I'm 62 in my pot.

Should be mortgage free by then, and with another pension I'll be drawing on by then I should be on about 18k pa with about another 8k pa from Age 66 on top.

2 hols a year, decent enough car, food in the fridge and a warm house and I'll be quite happy.

Fingers crossed.
 
Paladin said:
OK. My dad signed his house over to his three children back in the 80s, so we are the legal owners. He died in 2001. One of the conditions in his will (or the transfer agreement) was that my mum and my sister could live in the house as long as they wanted or until they died, rent free. They are both still there. Does our arrangement predate the rule you refer to?
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The rule to which I referred concerns IHT.
If the estate was below IHT thresholds it’s irrelevant.
 
asahartford1 said:
Retirement. The biggest con. Set up as some kind of lifelong aim by the powers that be. You will notice the rich and powerful do not aspire to "retire".
Work as little as possible, play as much as possible, stay as healthy as possible.
I wish I had the the statistics for the amount of people who die within two years of retirement, leaving more wealth than they have had at anytime in their lives, " not spent"
Click to expand...
I know a billionaire. She has just retired aged 77. She carried on to that age because she was addicted to work (or possibly money). I'm sure she will have a comfortable retirement. Her house (a castle) is stunning.
 
asahartford1 said:
Retirement. The biggest con. Set up as some kind of lifelong aim by the powers that be. You will notice the rich and powerful do not aspire to "retire".
Work as little as possible, play as much as possible, stay as healthy as possible.
I wish I had the the statistics for the amount of people who die within two years of retirement, leaving more wealth than they have had at anytime in their lives, " not spent"
Click to expand...

My mum died at 60 and dad at 72
I'm 57 and in good health. I was cancer screened a couple of months ago and am in the low risk category
I'm looking to jack in work in five years, which should give me ten good healthy years in which no fucker, not even the Mrs, will be telling me what to do on a daily basis and I intend these ten years to be one long holiday

A lad I worked with is now 67 and in good health. Two years ago he qualified for his state pension, his Mrs works part time and qualifies for an NHS pension and is coming up to state retirement age. He's mortgage free and, two years ago, had a personal pension pot of £400,000
He loves his holidays and they have their first grandchild
He's very fit for his age but his family has a very dark history of hereditary bowel cancer for which he's checked every year
I asked him why the fuck he was still working as he'll never get to spend his pension money. He said that he wanted just one more year of work to pay for the kitchen extension then he would retire. Two years from that chat and he hasn't. The stock market has crashed which will have hugely impacted on his pension value and will take probably five years to recover
Lovely bloke but I think he's been a greedy fool
 
Paladin said:
I worked 40 years for the same utility company, 30 of those on a final salary scheme (defined benefits), ten on a defined contributions scheme. I transferred out last summer with a healthy pot, now invested following a recommendation from a fellow Bluemoon member.

My plan is to draw up to my personal allowance, supplemented by the interest free lump sum until it runs out. The growth in the fund should cover my drawings, so when I die, my sons will inherit the entire pot, plus any growth that has not been withdrawn by me. My wife will have a NHS pension of around £1k per month when she retires.

I took early retirement (redundancy) last summer, and have no intention of working again. I go for a run most days, have lost 4 stone in weight and feel as healthy as any time in the last 15 years. No mortgage, cars all paid for.

Once Covid is over, we will take the usual two holidays a year, plus a few short breaks and city breaks.

The tip about transferring the house to the kids when one of us dies is something I will definitely look into.
Click to expand...

Similar situation. I took the money out of DB scheme when the transfer value went through the roof thanks to Brexit-there is the only one good thing about it from my perspective. Lost a kidney to C so decided to take early retirement at 55. Lots of travel and the chance to do things in the next 15 years that most people cant do till 65+ and many can't afford to do at all. Pension has performed quite well for last 3 years and capital amount is about the same despite Covid effect. Except for the illness, no regrets and glad to be out of the travel industry right now!
 
Blue Maverick said:
I can retire next August at 52, house to be paid off, wife is a lot younger so has years to do, daughter will only be 8. I don’t plan on doing much if it I do it will be for beer money, no intentions of tying myself down to anything. Hoping to by a VW van and o it up for camping trips for when the little one is on school holidays, if anything has sown me in lockdown is that in the 6 week holiday I will not be hanging round the house we will get out and about. I need to get my will done so that when one of us goes the daughter gets that half so they can’t take the house off the other one to cover care. Monthly I should be getting around £1100 and as I’ve paid the mortgage off I’ll be in exactly in the same position I am now without even getting out of bed! Need to get the wife in the promotion trail to get some more cash ;)
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That plan will only work if you own the house as tenants in common.
Most houses are owned as joint tenants where you both own all of it.
They never do “take the house”.
They put a charge on it until the survivor dies then call in the charge.
As they will on the half your wife will still have if she needs care.
Furthermore you want to hope your daughter doesn’t divorce after you’re gone and her ex demands his share of the assets...
 
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dickie davies said:
Some people live to work
I work to live
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Strange isn't it? My old boss had a stent fitted at 48 and both his parents died from heart things before 50, both kids grown and successful, wife retired headteacher, property bought and paid for here and abroad, no debt, huge pension and still he works.
 
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