Pension stuff, how's it all looking ? HAve you prepared ?

[Yorick]

I am, in financial jargon, what's known as 'arsehole lucky':

I have a 60/40 DB pension, which we were all moved out of a few years back, but will still pay out nicely when I hit 65. It's all index-linked and more gold-plated than Ratners could ever have dreamed of.

Plus, as the evil mill owners had evicted us from the DB scheme, they made the DC scheme very attractive to stop the workers revolting, contributing 25% of my salary into it every month. They also matched my recent AVCs up to 3%, so I can't really grumble.

Having both a DB and a DC pension gives a bit of flexibility around how to fund my, hopefully early, retirement.

All I have to do....is keep breathing.

You're a pal and wish you good luck.

But compared to me, you've wasted 12 years of your life.

No pockets in shrouds.

And that fiver you owe me?

[Buckaroo]

it took many decades of final salary pension to achieve this

And that's the thing that most won't benefit from.

I had 16 years in one when it was closed, so 16/60 of the projected final salary. Luckily, Filly is still working

There's an awful lot of luck involved in this, that's for sure.

[Potter]

It's worth remembering that work isn't actually horrible for everyone, I remember Jeremy Clarkson saying that he was fed up with people asking him if he planned to retire, he chooses to do jobs that he really likes instead and gets paid loads for it. My boss is the same, he's probably in the top few hundred richest men in the world but he has no interest in retiring and seems to get frustrated if I mention it, his attitude is to find something that makes you really happy and get paid loads for it and because he's one of these clever people he can do it.

I'm not clever enough to do that, if I carried on doing what I'm doing now until I was sixty-seven then I'd be stupidly rich, but I don't want to and I can't think of anything that I would really enjoy that pays as much, so I'll be retiring from corporate life and we think we're going to set up a little hobby business working out of our annex that pays it's own way and contributes a bit towards bills, but we're not doing it as anything other than an enjoyable part-time gig, our income will come from investments.

[weeksy]

It's worth remembering that work isn't actually horrible for everyone, I remember Jeremy Clarkson saying that he was fed up with people asking him if he planned to retire, he chooses to do jobs that he really likes instead and gets paid loads for it. My boss is the same, he's probably in the top few hundred richest men in the world but he has no interest in retiring and seems to get frustrated if I mention it, his attitude is to find something that makes you really happy and get paid loads for it and because he's one of these clever people he can do it.

There's plenty of other irritating cunts on here, you'd assume they're getting paid for it too

[Potter]

It's worth remembering that work isn't actually horrible for everyone, I remember Jeremy Clarkson saying that he was fed up with people asking him if he planned to retire, he chooses to do jobs that he really likes instead and gets paid loads for it. My boss is the same, he's probably in the top few hundred richest men in the world but he has no interest in retiring and seems to get frustrated if I mention it, his attitude is to find something that makes you really happy and get paid loads for it and because he's one of these clever people he can do it.

There's plenty of other irritating cunts on here, you'd assume they're getting paid for it too

I wish I could get paid for being an irritating cunt on here, I'd be minted

[Mr. Dazzle]

It's worth remembering that work isn't actually horrible for everyone, I remember Jeremy Clarkson saying that he was fed up with people asking him if he planned to retire, he chooses to do jobs that he really likes instead and gets paid loads for it. My boss is the same, he's probably in the top few hundred richest men in the world but he has no interest in retiring and seems to get frustrated if I mention it, his attitude is to find something that makes you really happy and get paid loads for it and because he's one of these clever people he can do it.

I'm not clever enough to do that, if I carried on doing what I'm doing now until I was sixty-seven then I'd be stupidly rich, but I don't want to and I can't think of anything that I would really enjoy that pays as much, so I'll be retiring from corporate life and we think we're going to set up a little hobby business working out of our annex that pays it's own way and contributes a bit towards bills, but we're not doing it as anything other than an enjoyable part-time gig, our income will come from investments.

If I won the lottery tonight I'd still go to work on Monday, just in a Rolls-Royce

I'd rather be happy about going to work than happy about the fact I don't have to do it any more. Fortunately for me, I know what job I want to do and I have the skills to do it. Winner

[v8-powered]

Chatting pension stuff with the wife last night (she's also my IFA!)

My pot that I pay in to has grown by 9.5% in the last 12 month's, hers has grown by 15% in the same period but she has a higher risk strategy as younger than me. I also have 2 final salary schemes from when i was a real worker but pay little notice to their performance, sure they are just fine.

[gremlin]

I am, in financial jargon, what's known as 'arsehole lucky':

I have a 60/40 DB pension, which we were all moved out of a few years back, but will still pay out nicely when I hit 65. It's all index-linked and more gold-plated than Ratners could ever have dreamed of.

Plus, as the evil mill owners had evicted us from the DB scheme, they made the DC scheme very attractive to stop the workers revolting, contributing 25% of my salary into it every month. They also matched my recent AVCs up to 3%, so I can't really grumble.

Having both a DB and a DC pension gives a bit of flexibility around how to fund my, hopefully early, retirement.

All I have to do....is keep breathing.

You're a pal and wish you good luck.

But compared to me, you've wasted 12 years of your life.

No pockets in shrouds.

And that fiver you owe me?

Where you getting 12 years from? I'm only 54, so barely got hairs on my nut sack.

And besides, our two situations are very different as to where we need/needed to be in terms of our respective wellbeing. I don't feel ready to pack up work yet. Everyone I know who has seems to have known when the time was right, and I've not had that epiphany yet. My job isn't too shabby, despite my occasional moaning.

And, just because of your post, I'm going to leave a caveat in my will that I be buried in a tailor-made shroud, with at least half a dozen pockets, just to prove you wrong. And in one of them will be that mythical fiver I owe you.

[Potter]

I don't feel ready to pack up work yet. Everyone I know who has seems to have known when the time was right, and I've not had that epiphany yet. My job isn't too shabby, despite my occasional moaning.

That's what I've been told as well.

An ex-colleague (who has ended up being a good mate) packed in once he'd got to his magic number, but he went back to work after a year or so. He said he'd spent years working towards the goal that they'd set (basically an amount of money that he thought was enough to retire with) and once he hit that number he pulled the trigger, but he said in hindsight he wasn't actually properly ready and missed the job.

I think it's unrealistic to expect that every day at work is going to be wonderful, but in fairness most days for me are ok, so if I walked away today I'm sure I'd miss parts of it. My mate reckons it would be a mistake and every time I mention it he tells me to do another year and see how I feel.

I reckon that unless you feel a real desire to pack it in and walk away, then quitting work might not be the dream decision.

[Potter]

However, whilst I'm laying out my thoughts I'd also add that it depends on the job.
If you have a job where you can switch off after your 7.5hr day and enjoy time with your family then fair enough, but if you can't then earlier retirement might be the right decision even if you still like work.

As I was saying somewhere else, I spent a lot of time over my career making sacrifices to get us into a good position but now it's not so critical, so family time is way more important than a job/money and I have a job where I can never switch off, so at some point I'll have to make the call.

There is an interview somewhere with Jordan Peterson (who I don't usually like) but he's talking to someone who has everything they've ever wanted, great career, great place to live, money, etc, but no kids or much family around them and he points out to them that they've sacrificed having a family so they could have all the other stuff and it's a bad mistake to make, they'll spend their elder years without the blessing of grandkids or family, etc.

[weeksy]

However, whilst I'm laying out my thoughts I'd also add that it depends on the job.
If you have a job where you can switch off after your 7.5hr day and enjoy time with your family then fair enough, but if you can't then earlier retirement might be the right decision even if you still like work.

As I was saying somewhere else, I spent a lot of time over my career making sacrifices to get us into a good position but now it's not so critical, so family time is way more important than a job/money and I have a job where I can never switch off, so at some point I'll have to make the call.

There is an interview somewhere with Jordan Peterson (who I don't usually like) but he's talking to someone who has everything they've ever wanted, great career, great place to live, money, etc, but no kids or much family around them and he points out to them that they've sacrificed having a family so they could have all the other stuff and it's a bad mistake to make, they'll spend their elder years without the blessing of grandkids or family, etc.

Whilst i'm on here all day, i have superb levels of freedom, i dropped my lad at school most mornings and picked him up each day, in a given year he is woken up by me 360+ times a year and the same number of nights, i'll be the one who puts him to bed (yes even at nearly 16)
Work outside of my given hours, simply doesn't exist in my mind, once i turn the laptop off, it's done. My weekends are my own, Xmas is my own (even though at times on-call). I think i 'need' to retire less than many people... because i've got a great balance.

But even retiring, i'm still not 100% on... I'd like to set up a bicycle workshop for play money, earn a few quid, keep up to date on technology, etc..

[Mr. Dazzle]

Totally the other way around for me, I'm never not working

Even when I'm on holiday having a great old time I'll just get a thought pop into my head about something work related, I'll then retreat into my own mental world for a short while as I ponder it.

It's not a stressful thing, I'm not kept up at night worrying about it or anything like that. I just love what I do and there's no real distinction between work and not-work for me.

I often get "Why did you e-mail me about this idea at 15:30 on a Saturday?" type Q's from colleagues

[Potter]

Whilst i'm on here all day, i have superb levels of freedom, i dropped my lad at school most mornings and picked him up each day, in a given year he is woken up by me 360+ times a year and the same number of nights, i'll be the one who puts him to bed (yes even at nearly 16)
Work outside of my given hours, simply doesn't exist in my mind, once i turn the laptop off, it's done. My weekends are my own, Xmas is my own (even though at times on-call). I think i 'need' to retire less than many people... because i've got a great balance.

But even retiring, i'm still not 100% on... I'd like to set up a bicycle workshop for play money, earn a few quid, keep up to date on technology, etc..

I was going to use you as an example of quality time with your lad, the time you've given him is literally priceless.
I've never a job that would give me that freedom, although I think we found a decent balance and the kids have turned out good, we both have great relationships with them and we're very close as a family.

It's an age old debate about time versus money, especially when you're a young family, I don't know what the right answer is, but I reckon that if you get to a point where retirement is an option and you don't have family around you because you spent all your time chasing something else, then you'll have wished you'd invested a bit more time into them.

[Couchy]

It's on my thoughts a lot recently having had my life fucked up again. I'm 55 so can assume I've got another 10-15 years at most doing what I want when I want. Could argue I'm lucky to still have my health now so what to do. Next year sometime I'll be in my own place with just day to day bills. My daughter will be 11 so that's 5 years staying local till she's off to uni or wherever. I'm happy living there though it's cheap and has cycling on my doorstep and peak district 30 mins away. Ignoring my head is fucked but assuming it won't be at some point I could kick the pension in next year. I'll have a decent income for 15-20 years then a more basic state pension plus a bit once I hit 70-75. I guess this begs the question why not ? My business is doing well so I'd be giving up that bit and not sure more money from it will provide me with anything more than I have or want now. I just don't have the desire for anything expensive or to travel the world. Quite happy with what I have and staying local or at most Europe. Fuck knows lets see how I feel in 6 months when everything is paid for

[Dodgy69]

Part-time is the answer, reduce your hours. Keeps you in the working loop but with more family/hobbie time, say 3 or 4 day's, whatever suit's.

Imo, it also depends where you live and what interests you have. In the uk it's harder in cold winters than 25° sun. I've had time out of work and in the summer it's great, outside all day tatting about, in the winter it's a lot different.

It's different for everyone, it's all about being as happy as you can be.

[Horse]

I don't feel ready to pack up work yet. Everyone I know who has seems to have known when the time was right, and I've not had that epiphany yet. My job isn't too shabby, despite my occasional moaning.

I think it's unrealistic to expect that every day at work is going to be wonderful, but in fairness most days for me are ok, so if I walked away today I'm sure I'd miss parts of it.

I reckon that unless you feel a real desire to pack it in and walk away, then quitting work might not be the dream decision.

From 2021, I was considering going part-time. But a tough project through 2021and a real @rsehole of a project in 2022 beat a lot of the enthusiasm out of me.

The arrangement now is that they offer me work that might suit me, if I agree then we go ahead. It won't involve the kind of responsibilities I had then.

However, I was never intending to do nothing in retirement. That's part of the reason for taking up the community first responder role. Plus plenty of other stuff too.

[gremlin]

Part-time is the answer, reduce your hours. Keeps you in the working loop but with more family/hobbie time, say 3 or 4 day's, whatever suit's.

That's the route I'll probably go down. Employers must, by law, give consideration to flexible working (read into 'consideration' what you will), and it's something a couple of lads at work have done. It keeps a bit of income coming in, along with the continued, albeit lesser, pension contributions, private healthcare (fuck, do I need that these days?!), Death in Service protection (12 x annual salary, it's a wonder Mrs. G hasn't pushed my down the stairs!), etc, etc/. Plus, it mentally prepares you for the huge lifestyle change that stopping working brings. I was speaking to an ex-colleague some years back and I remember her saying it took her a year or so to adjust to not working. I don't think anybody should underestimate how going from the 5-day-a-week grind to retirement can mess with your well-being.

[weeksy]

Death in Service protection (12 x annual salary, it's a wonder Mrs. G hasn't pushed my down the stairs!),

Wow... i thought 3X was good !!!

[Sunny]

[...]they've sacrificed having a family so they could have all the other stuff and it's a bad mistake to make, they'll spend their elder years without the blessing of grandkids or family, etc.

This bit doesn't work for me. I've never been interested in having kids/grandkids, and at 44 that's not going to change. I have Muz and we have a dog and a place we like living, and spare cash to spend on toys.

But I also never intentionally set out to have 'a career' - it kind of happened by accident. Hell, I was working in not much more than a call centre when I joined VD twenty-odd years ago. Now I actually have a career, and have had for a while, I'm finding the balance odd - my job is demanding and takes more of my time than a job ever has before, and it's noticeable - I've stayed away from home so much I'm a Titanium Marriott member (that's a minimum of 75 nights in a year).

But I'm also smashing through the mortgage, so figure I'll keep it up for now. Work/life balance has always been important to me though, so in another year or so, something needs to change. I like the idea of a four day week, but not sure about the practicalities of it, and I'd be pissed at the pay cut.

If I didn't do this job ever again, I don't think I'd really miss it, but I would miss the people.
So retirement, and doing something like Citizen's Advice appeals to me. Doing anything early massively hits the pocket though, and certainly isn't feasible right now.

[Taipan]

My wife has semi-retired and I asked about the possibility of dropping down to 4 days a week and it was approved (3/1 ratio of on site/wfh) but I haven't taken them up on it, yet. The wifes Mum is 92 and has dementia, hence the wife going part time. I think if i have more time at home i'll end up helping out and to be frank, i'd rather be working and I dont think i can help with that anyway, so might as well keep topping the retirement pot up.

Our retirement goals have changed, yet again! Having holidayed for a few days in Portugal last month, it brought home to me how much I dislike winters here. We'd planned to go touring southern europe in the campervan during winters when we retire, but having just rented a pool with a villa, we now think we'd like to get a similar place abroad, although probably Spain and not Portugal. We could get visitors then rather than keep returning home. My Daughter is really keen for us to do this and will manage it on AirBnB for summer rental income so it pays for its running costs etc and then keep it free for us in winter. The likelihood is our old folk will have passed away by the time we retire so that would free us up. I dont mean that as callously as it sounds, but i'm sure you get the gist.