Advice on early retirement - who's done it? (2 Viewers)

[Pausim]

Was thinking exactly the same and that almost everyone who has posted would be classed in the ‘economic inactive’ group, none of which helps the countries tax take from PAYE!

I am very economically active spending the children’s inheritance. I also pay my share of tax on my pension income. No you will have to do better than that to make me feel guilty about taking early retirement.

 

[Carpmart]

I planned to retire at 57, my health made me retire at 51, happily my pension fund was able to give me a full pension. Engaged a PFA to sort out what investments I had and have never looked back. That was 20 years ago, he emails now and again to ask if I want to draw down more cash. As a couple of posts have stated after a lifetime of saving you must learn to spend. Our sons expect nothing, after 20 years we now have more than we started with. Only tip is to pay off the mortgage early, very early, something our boys are actively doing. Oh, and no childminding duties, we tour, a lot.

Good on you! Sound like you’ve sorted the health issues. However, you need to try harder to spend more… difficult isn’t it!

Touring long term is great and I really appreciate the grandchildren when we haven’t seen them for months!

 

[jumartoo]

Typo?...... I'm guessing you meant to put "don't" before the word regret.

Oops

 

[Fragle]

Should have thought of this earlier: Back on the Road Again

Blog about a couple who retired early and are very transparent about their income and how they spend it.

https://backontheroadagainblog.com/2024/01/03/2023-spending-reviewed-the-only-way-is-up/

Just looked and seen a £28k spend for 2023

By comparison ours was under half that. including 150 nights in van 90 touring France and Spain. We had a Great year so goes to show you don't need that much. But if they have that much good luck to them

 

[PaulC70]

There is no doubt we are both work to live people believe me. Unfortunately though as nurses all our lives and having had 2 kids there's no savings and no investments, just our nhs pensions :-(

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[Jewellbags]

And on this subject , after much prevaricating contacted hmrc about my wife’s state pension and making a contribution towards her NI . Cost us £3700 but she gains about £1700 a year (assuming she doesn’t peg it early ) on her pension - kerrching!!!

 

[VXman]

Was thinking exactly the same and that almost everyone who has posted would be classed in the ‘economic inactive’ group, none of which helps the countries tax take from PAYE!

And national insurance of course.

 

[VXman]

And on this subject , after much prevaricating contacted hmrc about my wife’s state pension and making a contribution towards her NI . Cost us £3700 but she gains about £1700 a year (assuming she doesn’t peg it early ) on her pension - kerrching!!!

If you do a bit of exam invigilating for a local secondary school (zero hour contract so you choose how much you want to do) it entitles you to buy a year NI at class 2 (self employed) rates. I've just bought 2022-23 for £161!!! I'm going to do 2 more years (4 in total) to get myself back to full state pension. I had retired early, worked abroad and was contracted out due to teachers pension so was 6 years short.

 

[nicholsong]

Reading this thread made me realise why the government/media are always going on about the UK having too many people not working!

More than a fifth of UK adults not looking for work

The UK's economic inactivity rate was 21.8% from November to January, official figures show.

www.bbc.co.uk

But those figures did not take account of those of us who continued to work from 65-70.

 

[PaulC70]

Hmmm had a look on the state pension forcast so im elegible for the whole lot but I think that assumes im going to work another 3 years? Currently its telling me im 3 years short?

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[The joker]

Hmmm had a look on the state pension forcast so im elegible for the whole lot but I think that assumes im going to work another 3 years? Currently its telling me im 3 years short?

Worse case .......... Here's the plan work 3 years (where you are or somewhere else) pay off your mortgage get full stamp then sack it off

 

[Stonemags76]

You should ring the future pensions department to get the full picture, as the forecaster just generalises. I retired at 54 from nurse teaching, & it coincided with my husband being offered redundancy at 45, so we just did it! Sold the house, bought a Motorhome & travelled! We sort of knew we could manage, & we have since bought a house, & my state pension has kicked in, so we’ve been ok. It is hard to get used to spending your savings, but we always figured we could go back to work if necessary- in fact my husband did for a while, but has now decided he’s properly retired! The past 12 years have been great, & I wouldn’t change it! I now volunteer for one morning a week, but that’s enough!

 

[Abgs]

I retired from proper full time work at age 39 … We sold our business which gave us the funds to live comfortably, but not excessively, without having to worry to about having to work again.

However … we rebuilt an ruined house in France which went way over budget so we ended up having to holiday let it to justify it’s costs .. this turned into a nice lifestyle business which kept me occupied without having to work rigid hours. Apart from that I starting doing all the jobs that I used to pay people to do when I was busy working - gardening, house and car maintenance etc.

Managing finances also takes fair amount of time and having to juggle quickly when events like the 2008 meltdown, Covid and Brexit hit keeps you on your toes. When I was working we would also have two nice new cars every couple or years or so as they were a company expense, now we run a 13 year old and a six year old car with no desire to upgrade.

A strong doses of Brexit and Covid disruption meant the French house was sold and, as we were nearing proper early retirement age, with the kids allegedly self sufficient, we took up motorhome meandering…

 

[Deadloss]

I retired at 54 and haven’t looked back. I’m good with spreadsheets, but did use and independent advisor to back up my calculations. My top tip to anyone considering retiring early (or retiring at any age if planning to live solely off investments) is to make sure you understand the concept of compound interest as it relates to inflation (I.e. what a given sum might be “worth” in a few years time). It can be quite an eye opener, particularly if you think there may be other periods of high inflation over the next 10, 20 or 30 years. I know some people who’ve been badly shocked by the impact of the last couple of years inflation numbers. Once prices have gone up, they never come back down…

 

[lebowski]

the 60’s decade is also known as sniper alley if you can transit this decade without too much of an issue you should be reasonably ok for the next few

Can't recall which chat show I heard that on but it certainly seems to be true for me, since turning 60 I've rarely not had something wrong physically. Only another 6 or so years to go and I can relax......

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[Ianbenny]

I've asked for a statement and it says I can take one section from 55 even though it says normal retirement is 60 so it's quite confusing, plus even though I joined it in 1994 (this section only goes to 2015 which is 21 years) its only showing 11 years reckonable service so i need to find out what the hell thats about :-/



Tis if you've no clue :-/

I'll check out the MSE pensions sections for sure, but gonna ask whats DC?

Sorry, DC is indeed Defined Contribution or sometimes known as money purchase scheme, compared to DB which is Defined Benefit or Final Salary.
Not many DB schemes now, just government ones usually, as they are costly, and as the tax relief was removed form them by a Chancellor of the Exchequer(Gordon Brown) not viable for most private companies.

There has been lots of discussions regarding IFA's and DIY pensions on the MSE forum. IFA's can help especially with tax efficiency and if you have no idea of how to run the pension investments, but in my case, my IFA was encouraging me to cash in my Final Salary pensions, which was not good advice

 

[Yorick]

We've plenty to give us a comfortable life.

But recently our neighbour who is an estate agent, said our villa here has doubled in value in 8 years. Prices are rising and we've chucked 50k at it. We got it really cheap as it was rundown.

It's going to our nephews and nieces.

But, after CGT and Spanish IHT tax laws, over half will go to tax man. In 10 years time, the house will be enough for taxman to get half a million.

So, we're looking at equity release schemes.
We can take a big chunk and our family will still get plenty.
Tax savings will be huge.

Then it's proper party time

 

[Nirvanauk]

There is no doubt we are both work to live people believe me. Unfortunately though as nurses all our lives and having had 2 kids there's no savings and no investments, just our nhs pensions :-(

Well, I'm glad I have an NHS pension and not a private one, as you know it performs very well.

 

[Jewellbags]

I retired at 54 and haven’t looked back. I’m good with spreadsheets, but did use and independent advisor to back up my calculations. My top tip to anyone considering retiring early (or retiring at any age if planning to live solely off investments) is to make sure you understand the concept of compound interest as it relates to inflation (I.e. what a given sum might be “worth” in a few years time). It can be quite an eye opener, particularly if you think there may be other periods of high inflation over the next 10, 20 or 30 years. I know some people who’ve been badly shocked by the impact of the last couple of years inflation numbers. Once prices have gone up, they never come back down…

Agreed , I factored compound inflation in for the next 20 years (here’s hoping) at 6% but also state pension compound increases , savings and pensions growth with compound interest . I always had the costs compounding at a higher rate that the incomes .

 

[tomgrey]

We've plenty to give us a comfortable life.

But recently our neighbour who is an estate agent, said our villa here has doubled in value in 8 years. Prices are rising and we've chucked 50k at it. We got it really cheap as it was rundown.

It's going to our nephews and nieces.

But, after CGT and Spanish IHT tax laws, over half will go to tax man. In 10 years time, the house will be enough for taxman to get half a million.

So, we're looking at equity release schemes.
We can take a big chunk and our family will still get plenty.
Tax savings will be huge.

Then it's proper party time

I was thinking, that if you have plenty for a comfortable life, then an option might be to keep the house and when the relatives inherit, as long as they reinvest in EU, there may be no tax to pay, just yet. Of course, at that point they are deferring tax, but if it is worth a tidy sum, depending on how many relatives there are, they could use their share to buy a house that suits their needs at that time, in Europe and have all the available sale funds (minus agents fees, etc.) to spend as there should be no tax? I am ready to be told, by those that know better, that this is wrong. But that is my understanding.

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[Yorick]

I was thinking, that if you have plenty for a comfortable life, then an option might be to keep the house and when the relatives inherit, as long as they reinvest in EU, there may be no tax to pay, just yet. Of course, at that point they are deferring tax, but if it is worth a tidy sum, depending on how many relatives there are, they could use their share to buy a house that suits their needs at that time, in Europe and have all the available sale funds (minus agents fees, etc.) to spend as there should be no tax? I am ready to be told, by those that know better, that this is wrong. But that is my understanding.

My nephew is getting half and her 7 the rest. Gonna be too complex. We want them to benefit, not the taxman.
It's our money, so we'll try to spend what the taxman was gonna get.

 

[PaulC70]

Well, I'm glad I have an NHS pension and not a private one, as you know it performs very well.

? Mines saying £5000ish a year, is that good????

 

[Coolcats]

We've plenty to give us a comfortable life.

But recently our neighbour who is an estate agent, said our villa here has doubled in value in 8 years. Prices are rising and we've chucked 50k at it. We got it really cheap as it was rundown.

It's going to our nephews and nieces.

But, after CGT and Spanish IHT tax laws, over half will go to tax man. In 10 years time, the house will be enough for taxman to get half a million.

So, we're looking at equity release schemes.
We can take a big chunk and our family will still get plenty.
Tax savings will be huge.

Then it's proper party time

whatever we have when we pop off then it will all go to the Donkey sanctuary, the nephews and nieces will have their parents pile so someone has to help the donkeys and if you haven't seen this video you may just want to leave them something as well

 

[Yorick]

whatever we have when we pop off then it will all go to the Donkey sanctuary, the nephews and nieces will have their parents pile so someone has to help the donkeys and if you haven't seen this video you may just want to leave them something as well

That's so amazing. Our lass works at a donkey sanctuary and she'll love that

 

[CazPaul]

As soon as I saw this thread I thought” Here we go a good 500 Willy waving replies guaranteed”
There must be a very small minority of people who can afford to retire really early and all these people seem to be members on here.
I’m still searching for a forum for skint Yorkshiremen looking for second jobs

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[carolyn]

? Mines saying £5000ish a year, is that good????

As the state pension is now over £8000 then I’m afraid £5000 is not enough. I have just edited my post as I noticed your post about you both being nurse and another about you being confused about amounts.
Because of when you started working you will have been covered by 3 different pension schemes 1995, 2008 and then 2015. This had big effects on your pension.

I was lucky the practice accountants told us what to do!

Some of us could stay in the old schemes which were better, depended on age.

Also some of your years may have fallen into the “opted out” years so you paid reduced NI contributions. Since then you don’t This means you won’t have your full pension years so need to top up.

You need to look at the nhsbsa.nhs.uk document “NHS Pensions Retirement Guidehttps://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2023-03/NHSPensions_RetirementGuide_(V26)_202303.pdf

 

[Russell's Dad]

As you were looking for advice on early retirement, here is mine. Get out the NHS as soon as you can afford to!!!!

My wife was a Staff Nurse for 35 years. The last 5 years before she retired made her physically ill as a result of the stress, mostly due to poor management and unrealistic targets. She became a nurse to care for the patients, not to produce manipulated statistics for management.
She retired just before start of covid, when she could simply no longer stand it. You can imagine her reaction when the same people who treated her like sh@t sent a letter saying she was wonderful and would she come back to work, please.
Things appear to be much, much worse now In the NHS. You have done your bit.

Wife is now back to her old self. We both love retirement.

 

[Coolcats]

As the state pension is now over £8000 then I’m afraid £5000 is not enough. I have just edited my post as I noticed your post about you both being nurse and another about you being confused about amounts.
Because of when you started working you will have been covered by 3 different pension schemes 1995, 2008 and then 2015. This had big effects on your pension.

I was lucky the practice accountants told us what to do!

Some of us could stay in the old schemes which were better, depended on age.

Also some of your years may have fallen into the “opted out” years so you paid reduced NI contributions. Since then you don’t This means you won’t have your full pension years so need to top up.

You need to look at the nhsbsa.nhs.uk document “NHS Pensions Retirement Guidehttps://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2023-03/NHSPensions_RetirementGuide_(V26)_202303.pdf

Have to say the opting out or sp2 was never explained properly and think most would have been happy to pay a little more so it did not affect the private pension.

 

[Coolcats]

As you were looking for advice on early retirement, here is mine. Get out the NHS as soon as you can afford to!!!!

My wife was a Staff Nurse for 35 years. The last 5 years before she retired made her physically ill as a result of the stress, mostly due to poor management and unrealistic targets. She became a nurse to care for the patients, not to produce manipulated statistics for management.
She retired just before start of covid, when she could simply no longer stand it. You can imagine her reaction when the same people who treated her like sh@t sent a letter saying she was wonderful and would she come back to work, please.
Things appear to be much, much worse now In the NHS. You have done your bit.

Wife is now back to her old self. We both love retirement.

No one should be treated poorly at work, performance reviews normally take from a person rather that add to them.

As a nation we need well treated and respected work force be it in the NHS or elsewhere.

 

[Hawkstone]

? Mines saying £5000ish a year, is that good????

I currently get £497 a month from my NHS and that was for 15 years service from ‘85 to 2000. Mostly part time as I had 3 children. It was more than the figures they were quoting me. The lump sum was bigger than quoted too.

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