Retirement

[Slim]

I've reached that watershed moment when you start to think seriously about retiring. I'm at a confluence of two factors contributing to this: firstly we paid off our mortgage last week and secondly my job is becoming more stressful and annoying at the same time.

So I'm writing this post partly to straighten things out in my head.

I can't draw the state pension until November 2026. I also have three company pensions, none of them particularly lucrative and although I could draw on them before 2026, I'm determined not to - to give the overall pension pot a chance to grow a bit. I'll obviously get a bigger yearly wedge of cash out of all of them if I leave them alone for now.

However - I do have a substantial chunk of savings. I've saved pretty diligently this last ten years or so and I also inherited some money. I could live off savings, modestly anyway, until November '26 and still have most of them left in 2.5 years time once I start living off my various pensions.

So: knowing that I could retire right now, at a pinch, makes it very tempting to do so.

Against that: every month I stay in work is another £2Kish I can add to my savings, now that I've paid the mortgage off. And of course it's one fewer month I'd be draining them when I do retire.

Then again: why not use my savings for electricity bills, Tesco, car maintenance and the rest for a couple of years? It's not like I have other plans for them. No wish to move to a bigger house. No desire to own a Porsche or a boat. I have no desire to be, as my wife occasionally puts it, "the richest man in the graveyard".

Another option is to quit my job and do something lower paid and less irritating and demanding for a year or two. Maybe I could start a YouTube channel and get some income off that, or get occasional writing work. Or do occasional short contract IT work.

So there are a lot of variables and considerations to this. Another thought is that I do get a sense of purpose from my job. It does occasionally provide me with a bit of pride and satisfaction.

If you've retired - did you experience a lasting surge of joy at being released from having to work for a living? Or did you look out of the window on a rainy Monday afternoon with no job to go to and think: "is this it?"

[Nickslikk2112]

I couldn't wait to retire. I spent all my working life thinking about it. As a social retard the whole process of going into work and being with people filled me with dread and I couldn't wait to be free of it.

After my second redundancy, because I was getting on a bit the employment I did get wasn't as remunerative as before so I got used to living on less. I had paid 20 years into a final salary pension with my first job which will pay a reasonable amount at 65 so I've got that.

My state pension age is 67, but I'd estimated that with savings and company pension starting two years earlier that I could finish work at 62, but an inheritance enabled me to bring it forward to 59

My day is now my own and I can make the most of sunny days and get out on the bike. Two years on though I still have work related nightmares...

[pxr5]

I couldn't wait to retire either and luckily circumstances allowed me to quit when I was 54 (I'm 60 later this year). I have no regrets at all; similarly when I left the military after 26 years I didn't look back and while there were some elements I missed 26 years really is enough for anyone. 

Mine and my wife's pensions leave us quite comfortable and we haven't had to draw down on any of our savings but we won't be getting our state pensions for quite a few years yet.

I love being able to do anything I want to, when I want without getting up at 6am like I used to and going away for work to shitholes I would never have wanted to visit with people I would never have socialised with.

[Slim]

You've just reminded me of something Nick. On my very first week as an analyst/programmer at Rolls-Royce, one of the old lags in the office was about three weeks from retiring. He'd been there since the '60s and he was counting the days. And I remember him saying to me, with a wry smile, "you've got about 35 years to go, haven't you Jim?"

He knew I was 29, and people typically retired at 64 in those days.

And now I think about it, that'll be 35 years ago in August.

[Fishy]

I,m packing it in next March.. nhs does phased retirement 3 months out from your finish date..so next Jan will be 4 days a week.. Feb 3.. Mar 2 days a week..so the plan is to hang on to 8 days holiday which mean I can finish basically end of Feb and take the whole of March off .... Letter goes into HR 6 months from the finish date so late summer this year...

[Thenop]

Ouch, when I read all this. I am. 54 and have another 13 years and then some to go. State pension current starting date is January 4th,2038. It sounds like a science fiction concept...
Mind you I don't mind working, and my current job suits me just fine.
I have always gotten by regardless of how much the salary was. I am currently quite comfortable, but need to start saving up a bit more.

Having said that, I have had quite some colleagues that started working less, 4 days, some even 3. It sounds appealing, when the time is there.
Also, I wouldn't mind working a bit after my retirement, find something nice and get on with it. But that's what I'm saying now of course..

Good luck making your decision though James, I can only say it would leave more time for cycling. And guitar playing. Or playing guitar while cycling, the possibilities are endless!

[David L]

I'm really looking forward to packing in work in August after notching up 44 years for the same company. I joined Post Office Telecommunications as an apprentice on 1st September 1980 the day after my 17th bithday. When I joined, retirement was set at 60 years of age and from the age of 18 we paid into the defined benefits pension scheme which was designed to provide a lump sum and an annual pension based on half your final salary after 40 years service. However.....It all changed in 2009 because it was too expensive.

The final salary scheme was replaced with one based on career average pay and the retirement age was increased to 65 years of age. I think (?) we also had slightly increased contributions too (of course, the benefits already built up under the previous scheme were not lost). However.......A number of years later this too was deemed to be too expensive so it was junked for a defined contribution scheme (roulette wheel!).

Last year some of my colleagues opted to initiate a 'Flexible Retirement' option which allows you to take the defined benefit part of your pension and continue to work for a maximum of two years (salary plus pension). However.....BT has periodically offered quite good redundancy packages ('Voluntary Leaver Scheme' - recently been capped at 12 months salary). A lot of engineers in my role are of a similar age and most were hoping one day we would benefit from VLS. I duly decided to go for the Flexible Retirement Scheme but not before I made equiries about whether a VLS package would be coming down the track in the near future. I was told it was most unlikely. With that in mind, I had a decision to make on how to take my pension (min. lump sum, max lump sum, PIE etc.). Happy with my decision, I 'pressed the button' last June and started the countdown to my last day of work being no later than 31st August 2025 (my 62nd birthday).

I never intended to work until that date and decided that I would take a year of the pension payments before quitting. I informed my manager about six weeks ago that I wanted 31st August this year to be my last day of employment. I was happy to be leaving on my own terms at a time that suited me.

However.....the shine has been taken off my leaving due to a VLS being announced just a couple of weeks after I gave my boss my termination date. This means that colleagues of a similar age, in a similar role will now be walking away from the company with over £40K redundancy. The few in my position were pissed with the situation and a snotagram was sent to my senior manager. Stock reply stating the redundancy package would not have been offered to me anyway because I'd opted for Flexible Leaver Scheme.

 I feel I've been a bit unlucky but when you factor in the pension payments for 12 months, interest on the lump sum and the fact that I've been erroniously paid a call-out retainer for nearly six years (even though I have brought it to management's attention at least three times!), I've done OK. I've also enjoyed what is possibly one of the best engineering roles on the company and for the last five and a half years I've been blessed to work in a stunning part of the world (Gloucestershire Cotswolds) with little or no managerial interference whatsoever - probably the most enjoyable period of my career. So I needn't feel too sorry that I missed out on a wedge of cash that, in truth, I don't need. I've also been fortunate enough to squirrel away the maximum into my DC pension from my salary for the last few years and probably won't need to touch it for quite a while. All I need is for the BT share price to fly. That would be gravy!
 
If I hang on to the lion's share of my unused annual leave, I should be leaving around mid August. It all sounds great unless........WW3 ruins it all

[The Picnic Wasp]

Work had me by the throat for too many years of my life. I was in an unrewarding job, well beneath what I feel I should have achieved in life but circumstances in my early twenties dictated that I just had to bring home a wage despite what the unwashed general public contrived to throw at me. I met some very interesting people along the way. Stories that I wouldn't dare to write here, but it could never soak up the regrets of, you guessed it, what might have been.

However, about 2018, I was surprised to discover that one of my workplace pensions, my first one in fact, had grown to an extent I had never thought possible. Not quails eggs in Mayfair for lunch money, but a sum which opened up a world of possibility that I never imagined would happen. Folk at work actually started to notice that my A4 day book was constantly full of unintelligible figures. All I did between work commitments was scribble fanatically, calculating possible retirement dates and income. I was probably 58 and suddenly rejuvenated into a world of excitement and adventure.

Then the company I worked for was sold, voluntary redundancy was offered and to my bosses disbelief, I strolled into the boardroom and asked to be considered. I got it. I'd been there twenty years and felt nothing as I left, only disappointment that M&S wasn't open yet so I had to park up for a while so that I could buy a nice lunch for me and my sister. Had a couple of part time jobs afterwards but struggled to find the correct spec's prescription for the screens. Got sore eyes, then double vision, thyroid eye disease (get checked folks) and so, so lucky it all happened after the redundancy situation which set me up quite nicely.

I hated work and love every day I'm not there, but weirdly as Nick mentioned earlier, I still dream about it in the most tormenting ways. Can't shake off the people or paperwork dramas which were of no significance then or now. But still they surface. Retire, James, I've a feeling you'll love it.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Reading my grim chapter back makes me think that if only my bass playing skills had been picked up by pals called Neil and Alex, things could have been significantly brighter. Or perhaps the cyst currently residing in my throat would be a greater issue if I'd managed to perfect the caterwauling of my perceived idea of the perfect male singing register.

[Slim]

Wife suggests that, in the long run, I probably wouldn't save any money by leaving the company pensions alone until state pension age.

Tempting as it is to walk away from all the various work commitment nonsense, turning off the money tap is an uncomfortable thought, especially at the very moment when I get to keep more of it. Funnily enough I just got a pay rise as well today, not a big one though. Below inflation actually.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Sorry, James. Now edited. Where did Jim come from?

[The Picnic Wasp]

Wife suggests that, in the long run, I probably wouldn't save any money by leaving the company pensions alone until state pension age.

Tempting as it is to walk away from all the various work commitment nonsense, turning off the money tap is an uncomfortable thought, especially at the very moment when I get to keep more of it. Funnily enough I just got a pay rise as well today, not a big one though. Below inflation actually.

Yes, the one thing I miss is that stream of cash hitting the account on that same day every month. If you are in good health and not overwhelmed by work I would definitely recommend that tap being left completely open for as long as it's available.

[Slim]

Sorry, James. Now edited. Where did Jim come from?

Probably my reminiscence from 1989, that's what my colleagues used to call me back then.

Honestly there was no need to edit it, I don't mind it at all.

[Slim]

However.....the shine has been taken off my leaving due to a VLS being announced just a couple of weeks after I gave my boss my termination date. This means that colleagues of a similar age, in a similar role will now be walking away from the company with over £40K redundancy.

This is yet another variable I need to think about. A few years ago there were two waves of redundancies at our place. I highly doubt they'd offer voluntary redundancy but it's just possible that they'd do it again, and I'd get the (involuntary) chop this time.

My payout would be at least £16,000 as a statutory minimum which is not life-changing, but I'd hate to leave my job and miss out on it a couple of months later, if it happened.