Money needed to retire

I had to review my pensions last year in an attempt to finance myself through the pandemic. I am a director of a new small business and got no state support. I drew down an amount from my final salary pensions and transferred them into a Sipp. I know that this is a risk, however the amounts were much bigger than expected, and my living situation didnt work keeping them in the original company schemes. I am divorced and my kids are now adults, if I died then they would nt benefit as they are not financially dependant.
My pension is now invested and run by a regulated management company, who provide regular updates. I was lucky to be able to invest in the time of the pandemic as the bounce back in the stock markets has given me a good first year return.
The only problem with all of this, is that I am aware that I only have about 15 years worth of money to retire on. I am not in the greatest health and am currently having a discussion with the NHS about the future. Obviously they want to keep me well for as long as possible, I want to enjoy a good quality of life for the next few years, but not a long life. My parents died from cancer and dementia, the prospect of living in a care home is not appealing.
So I am embarking upon, a new regime of drink, mixed grills, motorbikes and wild wild women. Hopefully that puts a smile on my face for the next 15 years.
 
I had to review my pensions last year in an attempt to finance myself through the pandemic. I am a director of a new small business and got no state support. I drew down an amount from my final salary pensions and transferred them into a Sipp. I know that this is a risk, however the amounts were much bigger than expected, and my living situation didnt work keeping them in the original company schemes. I am divorced and my kids are now adults, if I died then they would nt benefit as they are not financially dependant.
My pension is now invested and run by a regulated management company, who provide regular updates. I was lucky to be able to invest in the time of the pandemic as the bounce back in the stock markets has given me a good first year return.
The only problem with all of this, is that I am aware that I only have about 15 years worth of money to retire on. I am not in the greatest health and am currently having a discussion with the NHS about the future. Obviously they want to keep me well for as long as possible, I want to enjoy a good quality of life for the next few years, but not a long life. My parents died from cancer and dementia, the prospect of living in a care home is not appealing.
So I am embarking upon, a new regime of drink, mixed grills, motorbikes and wild wild women. Hopefully that puts a smile on my face for the next 15 years.
Reminds me of what george best said ;
I spent a lot on fast cars, fancy women and drink then just wasted the rest.
 
Boro thru and thru -

£10/month for 400 months (33 years) is £4,000 topped up by basic tax relief would make it £5,000 with average balance of £2,500 ove the period.

That would be some investment return i.e your investment has risen by around 4,000% (40 times) in an average period of 16.5 years to give £100,000.

Do you mean £100/month which would be a return of 400% which is possible over 18 years.

Or did you contract out of SERPS? that would have given you a contracted out bond, but reduced your state pension?
 
Boro thru and thru -

£10/month for 400 months (33 years) is £4,000 topped up by basic tax relief would make it £5,000 with average balance of £2,500 ove the period.

That would be some investment return i.e your investment has risen by around 4,000% (40 times) in an average period of 16.5 years to give £100,000.

Do you mean £100/month which would be a return of 400% which is possible over 18 years.

Or did you contract out of SERPS? that would have given you a contracted out bond, but reduced your state pension?
Yep contracted out of seeps but still have 35 years ni contributions so not affected.
 
Hoping to pack in at 58 so fewer than 10 years to go. Lump sum from a FS scheme, decent income and a few savings to do various things with, then at 67 the state pension will also kick in for the wife and me. Income will be fine, paying for most stuff, no rent/mortgage critical to that.

No way I can face working until I’m 67, count myself fortunate I can leave much earlier.
When i turned 60 last year i thought could i carry on in my job until retirement age, in my case 67, but the last 12 months & switching plants has got me thinking theres no way i could carry on, at times i really I struggle to operate valves, carry out rigging, basically my hands feel as though theyre badly bruised, i have good days, but mostly bad
 
When they raised the retirement age to 70 for some people. I thought there are some jobs that realistically can't be done at that age by the average person. I worked with a dance teacher and she said she would not make 60 never mind 67. People might be living a bit longer, but it doesn't mean they are physical fitter in their late 60s than previous generations. We have more drugs now. For many working class people life expectancy is actually dropping slightly in the UK.
 
Erimus doing your job is there any way you could gradually ease into retirement by reducing your hours over time rather than having that cliff-edge moment?

I'm really starting to think about the prospect of doing 4 days a week for a couple of years then down to 3 days and so on.

It sounds great on paper but I don't know if it would be allowed or if indeed I could afford to do that 🤔
Great call. I think this should be written into law as retirement is as much a part of working life as maternity/paternity,etc.
My father-in-law really struggled going from working full time from 14 till the day he retired and then nothing.
 
When i turned 60 last year i thought could i carry on in my job until retirement age, in my case 67, but the last 12 months & switching plants has got me thinking theres no way i could carry on, at times i really I struggle to operate valves, carry out rigging, basically my hands feel as though theyre badly bruised, i have good days, but mostly bad
Normal retirement age for me is 62, worked out going 4 years early is negligible difference in monthly income due to the way the scheme works, lump sum lower but would rather have the extra 4 years retired.

Financial services for me, mentally taxing rather then physically.

Spend the time with your loved ones, doing things you enjoy whilst you still can.
 
I had to review my pensions last year in an attempt to finance myself through the pandemic. I am a director of a new small business and got no state support. I drew down an amount from my final salary pensions and transferred them into a Sipp. I know that this is a risk, however the amounts were much bigger than expected, and my living situation didnt work keeping them in the original company schemes. I am divorced and my kids are now adults, if I died then they would nt benefit as they are not financially dependant.
My pension is now invested and run by a regulated management company, who provide regular updates. I was lucky to be able to invest in the time of the pandemic as the bounce back in the stock markets has given me a good first year return.
The only problem with all of this, is that I am aware that I only have about 15 years worth of money to retire on. I am not in the greatest health and am currently having a discussion with the NHS about the future. Obviously they want to keep me well for as long as possible, I want to enjoy a good quality of life for the next few years, but not a long life. My parents died from cancer and dementia, the prospect of living in a care home is not appealing.
So I am embarking upon, a new regime of drink, mixed grills, motorbikes and wild wild women. Hopefully that puts a smile on my face for the next 15 years.
Rock out with your c0ck Boro in Devon!
 
It’s interesting reading everyone’s different viewpoints. Personally I spent my 20’s and early 30’s pretty much spending what was coming in. Buying nice things every time my savings went over a couple of grand. It’s only really in the last 5 years that I’ve done anything that will benefit me financially in the long term.

My company pension pot is pitiful, but thanks to some fairly generous share purchasing schemes and disciplined spending, I’m hopefully going to be mortgage free in a couple of years with enough spare to invest either in buy to let properties or a decent investment fund. I plan to spend the time between now and then learning about these and other potential options. I reckon 20 years or so should be plenty of time to build enough to see me through retirement. If I can do it any earlier, I will.
 
I'm about to retire at 57. I only have £13K p.a. pension (plus a resonable chunk of cash). It'll be a semi retirement, and I will do a couple of days work a week at a small/minimum wage for the next 5 yrs
The Mrs is working still, at £18K before tax but we can make this work easily. Debts will be more or less paid off when I retire, but there will be a little bit to wear away

I could work until I'm in my mid 60's and get around £25K p.a., but really won't need it then!
 
My dad died when he was 56, only 2 years older than I am now. It's a sobering thought and one I generally keep to myself without talking about it to the family.

What's that saying?

"There's no glory in being the richest man in the graveyard"
Thats so true Borofur & sorry to hear that, regarding your dad

I suppose we're guilty of working as much as we can to earn more to buy the expensive things in life for our loved ones
 
Once you retire, there are a few things you can do to help your pension fund grow. Moving money from a SIPP to an ISA, then back again will give you a basic rate tax uplift. You can do it up to about £3k pa, meaning you get about £700 uplift. A pension adviser will be able to do this.

Put all company money purchase pensions into a SIPP. You'll get a lump sum worth far more than the terrible annuity rates you get these days.

Keep any final salary pensions you have. Check to see if you get guaranteed annuity rates on any private pensions.

And above all, make sure you have details of all your pension accounts and providers, even if you don't keep the correspondence. A small pot from the 1980s might be worth much more now.
 
The planet only has a few years left anyway. You'll feel a bit silly if you've scrimped and saved for your entire working life just to find that the world ends a few weeks after you retire. I manage just about fine. But I don't have an extravagant lifestyle. No wife, no kids, no fancy holidays and just me and the dog and the Ranchus to worry about. I barely even drive anymore these days. I just invest most of my modest monthly income in booze and cigs to try and ensure that I won't live for very much longer. Seems like a sound and sensible plan to me.
bumface, i like you when you're been silly, or maybe the real bumface has been abducted 😳😢
 
"How much is enough" The eternal question.
And of course how fit will you be to enjoy it.
Is £18674.40 enough for a couple which I think is 2x state pensions?
Surely most of us have property to sell and downsize as well?
Brought up to always have something back for a rainy day.... what to hold back.
Then again they'll have it off you to pay for your care anyway and sell the house from around your feet?
Maybe it's better to enjoy blowing the lot and let the State pick up the tab?
Or maybe you wanna leave something for the kids?
Lots to think about rather than just "Basic" "Moderate" and "Comfortable"
No easy answer is there, another thing for me to worry about on top of things i worry about each minute of everyday 🙄
 
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