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

[Buckaroo]

TBH, now the dust has settled on our decision, i'm kinda bottling it now! I just can't, in all honesty, say I want to give up work!

Why? I can't wait. Not sure what im going to do yet but im looking forward to finding out

Dunno mate. I suppose, it's the fear of the unknown? I've never been out of work, so it'll be so strange?

I completely understand your fears. I worked for 51 years, apprentice, graduate and professional. It's perfectly normal to be concerned. I went through the 'free at last ' period, to the 'right, what do I do now ' into the 'I'm of no consequence ' and now 'I don't know how I found the time for work '. It's a journey. Money? I worried about this. We barely use 50% of our income each month. I still carry on like I'm skint; old habits die hard. You will never find a grave stone that says 'I wish I'd stayed in the office '

Retire and enjoy.

[Count Steer]

I made a list. All the things I'd claimed I'd do* - "if I only had the time" and set about doing them. Stuck with some of them ever since and some of them came and went but I enjoyed the process and the first 3 years went really quickly. Still following that process I suppose - having started on another learning curve last year.

For some retirement seems more like the definition of holidays - 'nothing to do and all day to do it' but I've kept myself nicely occupied.



* this completely excluded all the domestic stuff I'd claimed I didn't have time to do and was, totally, the things I'd wanted to do. eg learn to read music and play an instrument with a degree of competence.

[Horse]

I made a list. All the things I'd claimed I'd do ...

Me too - done hardly any of them

However, other, unplanned and totally unexpected, stuff has happened. Such as occasional part-time work and being invited to become a Charity Trustee (which, ironically, means I sometimes meet work colleagues ).

What I hadn't anticipated about day-to-day life is how it alters like a transformer toy . Example: just had a 'weekend' in London with friends - but Wednesday & Thursday.

[Bustaspoke]

My HGV1 licence expires next month & last week I sent my licence to the DVLA for renewal,I put a X in the box stating that I don't want my HGV1 entitlement renewing.I've now been retired from Supermarket trucking 3yrs 3 months,not missed it for a minute.My only regret is that I didn't have the financial means to retire earlier.I didn't like my job or the people I worked for so I guess that made the decision easier.
For anyone with doubts about retirement I'd look at reducing my hours or taking a career break & see how that goes.
I took a 3 month career break 5 years before I finished & knew at that point I was ready to retire.I did the next 5 years to hammer the pension pot & another round of sharesave.For the last 2 years I went onto a 4 on 4 off shift pattern to give me more time away from the place.One thing I noticed was drivers had a different attitude to the job,some of them loved it & stayed in work when they could have retired,some detested the place but did nothing about it,some,like me thought of it as a neccesary evil & had a target to hit then leave.
Two things have surprised me since I retired,1) In the past I had done lots of backpacking and I thought I would be travelling again,but I've realised that I enjoy where I live & I'd rather spend more time here so I'm focused on making my suroundings better,(I've got a big landscaping project to get stuck into).2) How little money I spend,I enjoy going out for a walk 3 times a week & pushbike ride 3 times with 1 rest day,costs me almost nothing.

[the_priest]

My little pension pot jumped £20k over a month after I invested in the big dip three months ago. It is performing very well at the moment, but what goes up, can easily come crashing back down. I'm getting closer to the "lets move things into safer pots" territory, probably another 4 years of living dangerously with the current portfolio, and then I'll shift it over to safer lower danger investments. Wife is wanting to stop working to look after our daughter, so our payments into that fund will stop, and greatly reduce our return, but our daughter is more important.

[IccyV2]

Must admit fella, I have no clue why you still work.

Sell the cars and retire on the pension you have.

Whar are you actually earning for now?

I could write a big long post but it just suits us for now, plus while we're all living in the same area we're like a normal family, I see my lad most days, I see my daughter/husband and our grandson 3-4 times a week and we help out with childcare.
We'd give all that up (plus a very good standard of living and a wage) if we moved back to the UK.

The money is less important now but who knows what the future will bring, plus it's nice being able to help the kids out more.

I'm sure we'll know when the time feels right, for now it feels right to just stay put and make hay while we can.

[weeksy]

Must admit fella, I have no clue why you still work.

Sell the cars and retire on the pension you have.

Whar are you actually earning for now?

I could write a big long post but it just suits us for now, plus while we're all living in the same area we're like a normal family, I see my lad most days, I see my daughter/husband and our grandson 3-4 times a week and we help out with childcare.
We'd give all that up (plus a very good standard of living and a wage) if we moved back to the UK.

The money is less important now but who knows what the future will bring, plus it's nice being able to help the kids out more.

I'm sure we'll know when the time feels right, for now it feels right to just stay put and make hay while we can.

I never said you had to move back to the UK Can't you just retire where you are and enjoy the family even more there ?

[Wossname]

@Iccy… I think you recently bought quite a nice house in the UK - what’s happening with it? Do you let it out, or have you just got somebody looking after it? And the cars you’ve got here - in storage?

Just nosy, me….

[IccyV2]

Must admit fella, I have no clue why you still work.

Sell the cars and retire on the pension you have.

Whar are you actually earning for now?

I could write a big long post but it just suits us for now, plus while we're all living in the same area we're like a normal family, I see my lad most days, I see my daughter/husband and our grandson 3-4 times a week and we help out with childcare.
We'd give all that up (plus a very good standard of living and a wage) if we moved back to the UK.

The money is less important now but who knows what the future will bring, plus it's nice being able to help the kids out more.

I'm sure we'll know when the time feels right, for now it feels right to just stay put and make hay while we can.

I never said you had to move back to the UK Can't you just retire where you are and enjoy the family even more there ?

Not really, you'd need half a million a year coming in to make it work.

[Dodgy69]

We are all different, look at Donald Trump, why why why.

[JackyJoll]

We are all different, look at Donald Trump, why why why.

Do you mean why doesn’t he retire?

[Yorick]

We are all different, look at Donald Trump, why why why.

[MyLittleStudPony]

Quite a drop in the US, mainly after the FTSE had closed I think. Be interesting to see where it goes on Monday.

Might just be the start of something. But I think it was just a reaction to some news about jobs. But ...

[Count Steer]

Quite a drop in the US, mainly after the FTSE had closed I think. Be interesting to see where it goes on Monday.

Might just be the start of something. But I think it was just a reaction to some news about jobs. But ...

Really strange - the Google AI appears to respond that the markets haven't fallen when asked 'why have the markets fallen?

Nasdaq down 4%, DOW down 695 points. Could just be folk tidying up before the weekend. Monday will be interesting.

[MyLittleStudPony]

Quite a drop in the US, mainly after the FTSE had closed I think. Be interesting to see where it goes on Monday.

Might just be the start of something. But I think it was just a reaction to some news about jobs. But ...

Really strange - the Google AI appears to respond that the markets haven't fallen when asked 'why have the markets fallen?

Nasdaq down 4%, DOW down 695 points. Could just be folk tidying up before the weekend. Monday will be interesting.

I have got access to the fancy version (or one of them) of ChatGPT. It says this:

Here's a summary of what happened in U.S. markets today (Friday, June 5, 2026):

Major Indexes
Dow Jones Industrial Average: -695 points (-1.35%)
S&P 500: -2.64%
Nasdaq Composite: -4.18% — its worst day since April 2025.
What drove the sell-off?
1. Strong jobs report spooked investors

The U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May, far above expectations of around 80,000, while unemployment held at 4.3%. Normally strong employment is good news, but markets interpreted it as reducing the likelihood of Federal Reserve rate cuts later this year. Higher-for-longer interest rates tend to hurt growth and technology stocks.

2. Massive semiconductor and AI-stock selloff

The biggest damage came from AI and chip stocks after disappointing news from the semiconductor sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell about 8.5%, and more than $1 trillion of market value was wiped out from chipmakers in a single day.

Major losers included:

Nvidia
Advanced Micro Devices
Broadcom
Intel

Many fell between roughly 6% and 13%.

3. Bond yields jumped

Investors sold Treasuries after the jobs report, pushing yields higher. Rising yields make future earnings less valuable in today's terms, which especially pressures high-growth technology stocks.

Bigger picture
The S&P 500 snapped a long winning streak and recorded its worst daily decline since 2025.
Despite today's drop, major indexes remain positive for the year.
The market narrative has shifted from "Fed cuts coming" toward "rates may stay elevated longer," which is weighing on the AI-driven rally that dominated much of 2026.
Key takeaway

Today's move was essentially a double hit:

A stronger-than-expected economy reduced hopes for rate cuts.
AI and semiconductor stocks suffered a sharp repricing after weak sector news.

That combination led to a broad risk-off day, with tech stocks bearing the brunt of the selling.

If you'd like, I can also break down which sectors won and lost, or explain what today's action means for investors over the next few weeks.

[JackyJoll]

The S&P 500 snapped a long winning streak and recorded its worst daily decline since 2025..

2025 was only last year.

We may as well keep things in perspective.

[ZRX61]

Dow cracked 52,000 this morning.

[gremlin]

I'm stuffing as much as I can in AVCs currently to take advantage of the salary sacrifice benefits, on top of the ludicrously generous DC contributions my employer makes. The figures are looking rosy indeed.

[Taipan]

This time next year Rodders…

[Dodgy69]

Talking to a chap today who is just 66, his wife is younger. He's got a few bob, let's property's etc. Started drawing his state pension recently. His financial advisor has found a way to get him nearly 17k a year. Chap says it's some sort of bonus, wasn't too sure himself he says.

Doesn't include any personal pensions or old works pensions just state 17k. How. ???