Could you live on your pension?

[BoRED S2upid]

Sorry what’s the question? We live off our estimated combined pensions or we live off your £1400 a month?

[anonymous-user]

oyster said:

LeadFarmer said:

I have the option of retiring in 4yrs time at age 50, with a lump sum and an initial take home pension of £1000/month, increasing to £1,200/month after five years.

I intend to take this option, even though £1000/month isn't a lot, but my wife will still have her wage, and our mortgage will be paid off, and state pension will kick in later. I aim to take some stress free part time work to top up the pension, so with the mortgage paid off I might actually be better off than I am now.

I think the key is to list all your yearly outgoing bills that are known to you, and then allow for unexpected costs such as house repairs, vet bills, car repairs etc.

I'm only a year younger than you but can't stomach the thought that my weekdays would be devoid of proper mental challenge for 40-odd years or even more.
Retirement at 67-70 for me.

Why do your days have to be like that?
I retired last year at 56, since then I've bought a kit car, taken up all grain home brewing and I'm in two different bands.

All of those have proper mental challenges involved, they're just offering challenges from running an IT department and don't involve having to work with ahole customers on a day to day basis 😉

[EddieSteadyGo]

oyster said:

I'm only a year younger than you but can't stomach the thought that my weekdays would be devoid of proper mental challenge for 40-odd years or even more.
Retirement at 67-70 for me.

Retirement doesn't equal a vegetative state with no mental challenges. Rather it means being freed of the obligations of work.

I hope I have the capacity to work maybe 5-10 days a month long after I have "retired".

[Dermot O'Logical]

Following a back operation I had a "fk you" moment with my employer and took early retirement in 2012. I had a sort of "gap year" which involved doing not very much at all, and decided that if I earned £500 per month on top of my occupational pension (40/60ths of final salary, index linked) I could manage comfortably.

So that's what I did. Two half-days per week, working for a friend's business, doing his accounts.

In five and a bit years, I'll get my State pension, which, according to the HMRC website will be >£700 per month, indexed again.

Happy days.

[LeadFarmer]

oyster said:

LeadFarmer said:

I have the option of retiring in 4yrs time at age 50, with a lump sum and an initial take home pension of £1000/month, increasing to £1,200/month after five years.

I intend to take this option, even though £1000/month isn't a lot, but my wife will still have her wage, and our mortgage will be paid off, and state pension will kick in later. I aim to take some stress free part time work to top up the pension, so with the mortgage paid off I might actually be better off than I am now.

I think the key is to list all your yearly outgoing bills that are known to you, and then allow for unexpected costs such as house repairs, vet bills, car repairs etc.

I'm only a year younger than you but can't stomach the thought that my weekdays would be devoid of proper mental challenge for 40-odd years or even more.
Retirement at 67-70 for me.

Ive never understood that mentality. Unless you really love your job then I can't understand why anyone would choose to remain at work. There are so many things in life to do and experience that don't necessarily cost a fortune, and retirement allows you to do them. Why spend your time working for someone else, when you can spend it doing anything you want to do?

Plus, if I don't take the early retirement option then I'm effectively working for less money, as I could have got £1k/month for not going to work.

Edited by LeadFarmer on Monday 17th September 16:55

[StanleyT]

Ha-ha

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I manage fine, but the kids and the wife present a failarmy that is a disaster zone in that respect! Thank heavens for pensions being out of salaries and being able to chuck loads into AVCs over the last few decades, otherwise it'd be "can't we get a new cat / another vase / buy the contents of Home Bargains again this month and start saving for pensions next month?"....

(...to be fair we do bail her sister out after she left a not very good marriage so sometimes immediate family need comes before own future finances). As long as the Gov don't go bust and all my legacy final salary pensions disappear into the ether....

[anonymous-user]

BoRED S2upid said:

Sorry what’s the question? We live off our estimated combined pensions or we live off your £1400 a month?

I’m assuming it’s living off your own - sort of a practice session before the season starts.

[loafer123]

LeadFarmer said:

Ive never understood that mentality. Unless you really love your job then I can't understand why anyone would choose to remain at work. There are so many things in life to do and experience that don't necessarily cost a fortune, and retirement allows you to do them. Why spend your time working for someone else, when you can spend it doing anything you want to do?

Plus, if I don't take the early retirement option then I'm effectively working for less money, as I could have got £1k/month for not going to work.

Edited by LeadFarmer on Monday 17th September 16:55

Are you sure you don't accrue addition future income by deferring?

[98elise]

Don't forget just being in work costs money. Travel, clothes, food etc all mount up. We also need to run two cars which will drop to one when I retire.

[Skyedriver]

Just started this in real life having retired at the end of May.
I'm learning to be a little bit frugal (at times) but remembering also that life is finite, in "n" years I could be in a box or incapacitated and therefore still look to enjoying life.
Regarding keeping active, I've a whole house to redecorate, kitchen to fit, in the process of building a garage, nearly finished a patio with fencing, there's a polytunnel in the overly large garden and a TVR & a Caterham in the garage that aren't getting used due to that workload!

[James_B]

I’ve not spent my whole salary as I’ve progressed in my career, spending nowadays what I earned a good few years ago. I think that if I ever retire I’ll probably have more to live off each month than I spend now, which is good, as there is a who,e raft of expensive hobbies that I’ll probably want to take up.

[LeadFarmer]

I shouldn't notice a great difference in income when I retire. Although my monthly income will be less than it is now, my outgoings will be much less as my mortgage will be paid off. I currently over pay it by 100%.

[Drumroll]

Just starting to find out. Retired just shy of my 56th Birthday in March. I am currently living off savings and looking at starting to take my pension next April.

I believe we can live on the money we have. (no round the world cruises though.) The big question for everybody is what will happen to pensions post brexit.

I do wonder if my daughter will ever be able to retire though.

[Cheib]

Drumroll said:

Just starting to find out. Retired just shy of my 56th Birthday in March. I am currently living off savings and looking at starting to take my pension next April.

I believe we can live on the money we have. (no round the world cruises though.) The big question for everybody is what will happen to pensions post brexit.

I do wonder if my daughter will ever be able to retire though.

Decent amount of our children's generation will struggle to buy their first homes without help from their parents. That's something else that lurks for a lot of us.

[sidicks]

Drumroll said:

Just starting to find out. Retired just shy of my 56th Birthday in March. I am currently living off savings and looking at starting to take my pension next April.

I believe we can live on the money we have. (no round the world cruises though.) The big question for everybody is what will happen to pensions post brexit.

I do wonder if my daughter will ever be able to retire though.

What do you think will happen to pensions ‘post Brexit’? What issues are you concerned about?

[Cheib]

sidicks said:

Drumroll said:

Just starting to find out. Retired just shy of my 56th Birthday in March. I am currently living off savings and looking at starting to take my pension next April.

I believe we can live on the money we have. (no round the world cruises though.) The big question for everybody is what will happen to pensions post brexit.

I do wonder if my daughter will ever be able to retire though.

What do you think will happen to pensions ‘post Brexit’? What issues are you concerned about?

If there's a "Hard Brexit" I imagine the Govt will be looking to save money wherever it can...Pensions Tax Relief in terms of contributions is one that would almost certainly come under pressure again. No idea what they'd do in terms of existing pensions.

Personally I don't think Hard Brexit happens....politicians never, ever agree on anything until the last minute because until they're forced to actually make a decision it's all about posturing and face saving. That's where we are right now.

[Drumroll]

sidicks said:

What do you think will happen to pensions ‘post Brexit’? What issues are you concerned about?

As most peoples pensions (excluding state pensions) are tied up one way or another in market prices, the concern is if there is a downturn in the UK economy then there will be a downturn in the pension "pot(s)"

[LeadFarmer]

Drumroll said:

The big question for everybody is what will happen to pensions post brexit.

I do wonder if my daughter will ever be able to retire though.

If Brexit has a negative effect on pensions, do we think this will only affect existing pensions, and could we expect any new pensions taken out after Brexit to be relatively unaffected as share prices will have already dropped?

[HoHoHo]

I’m 55 and currently can see no end to working.....I have 5 children including an 8 and 12 year old, my older children have flown the nest.

I started my company 22 years ago and have in many different ways been saving furiously for years so I could retire at 55......

Hang on a minute.............that boat has now sailed well into the distance but to be fair I like my job so no issue there.

I like my standard of living and would like to keep it and I keep saving to provide me, my wife and children in the style to which we have become accustomed to, so when am I going to retire........?

I simply don’t know and it’s a thought I have more than twice a month.

At the age of 50 I lost 5 mates all just under 50 and all suddenly so my silly side says feck it retire now, cheaper car, cheaper holidays. However my sensible brain says keep going, you’ve got 15 years more working life in you to save for that luxury retirement I dream of...........and I’ll only be 70

Or will die before my eggs hatch like my best mate did

It might sound odd but it’s a really difficult time of life because in fact I’m looking at the end of the tunnel with no end game in sight.

So the answer is.....currently, no.

[LeadFarmer]

HoHoHo said:

I like my job so no issue there.

I genuinely envy people who enjoy or love their job. I hate mine, I've hated nearly every day of it for the last 21 years, but the money and security is ok, and I can retire in 4yrs when I'm age 50, which is much earlier than most people.

Would I do the same again if I could relive my life - I really don't know. But I will be encouraging my young son to go into a job that he will enjoy, and not just chase the money, as you are a long time at work.