Can we retire please? How much money do you really need need?

[AnnK]

Yes he can make contributions to a pension scheme, the employer should have a scheme in place to which he will contribute to so daft not to join and have employer payment. The employer may delay for up to 3 months but go for it if he can.
is it worth it, well yes, as even if he only works for a couple of years whatever has accumulated he can take 25% tax free when he wants to and manage the balance of the fund for income later.

Thank you

 

[Scotch mist]

£5196 for sites Wow

that’s the worst case scenario , I am a FLT most of the time BUT. Occasionally pay for sites in the more touristy areas

 

[The Wino]

I have made up a spreadsheet for rough costs , keeping a house & running vehicles , £30,000 a year clear should be enough for me

I’ve met a British couple (PVC) full timing in France on £8,000 a year

a German family (2+2) living in a ancient MH in France surviving on €150 a month
inc food banks


View attachment 455860

You've missed out depreciation on car motorbike and motorhome and I think servicing mot etc.
I think it's a good idea doing a calculation we did it a bit differently and looked at our past spending over a year added in depreciation/cost of replacement and took off work related expenses. It came to a bit more than I thought!

 

[The Wino]

D

Yes he can make contributions to a pension scheme, the employer should have a scheme in place to which he will contribute to so daft not to join and have employer payment. The employer may delay for up to 3 months but go for it if he can.
is it worth it, well yes, as even if he only works for a couple of years whatever has accumulated he can take 25% tax free when he wants to and manage the balance of the fund for income later.

Doesn't it depend on the pension he's drawing now not being a personal pension so he isn't limited to the lower amount per year?
I'm semi retired but pay into the NHS pension and intended to contribute the rest of my earnings into a sipp. Do I get them grossed up as if I'm paying tax on all of it?

 

[CazPaul]

My mate always talked about pensions, investments, bonds, shares, really complicated it sounded, to the rest of us it was double dutch.

Oh, he died early aged 60. What a shame.

Never discount the unexpected, another work colleague dropped dead at work last month aged 53. I attended his funeral.

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[Rosemary1]

Yes he can make contributions to a pension scheme, the employer should have a scheme in place to which he will contribute to so daft not to join and have employer payment. The employer may delay for up to 3 months but go for it if he can.
is it worth it, well yes, as even if he only works for a couple of years whatever has accumulated he can take 25% tax free when he wants to and manage the balance of the fund for income later.

Personally I would. Any salary he contributes will automatically gross up by the tax element and he will also get a further 3% minimum from his employer.

 

[Diggerdi]

We've thought about this (well, I have lol). Hubby is already retired and I normally work two days per week although at the moment I am furloughed/signed off sick for 3 months minimum. We could easily live on hubby's pensions and we have a reasonably healthy "motorhome fund". Problem is, it's another 8 years before I can get my state pension. We are considering taking as much equity out of the house as possible when I reach 60, next year, as we have no-one to leave the house to. I will see what happens when/if this furlough/sickness period ends as to whether I still have a job.. My main worry though is that he is 11 years older than me and not in the best of health .

 

[mike mcglynn]

I attended a management course some years ago and all manner of things were discussed ,one of the issues was company pension scheme benefits ,at that time the company paid all the contributions .for all the employees.At that meeting I met a chap who was the actuary for the company and I asked him what does an actuary do ? He replied I basically bet on how long you are going to live with the pension fund as my stake.

 

[Otter Spotter]

We've thought about this (well, I have lol). Hubby is already retired and I normally work two days per week although at the moment I am furloughed/signed off sick for 3 months minimum. We could easily live on hubby's pensions and we have a reasonably healthy "motorhome fund". Problem is, it's another 8 years before I can get my state pension. We are considering taking as much equity out of the house as possible when I reach 60, next year, as we have no-one to leave the house to. I will see what happens when/if this furlough/sickness period ends as to whether I still have a job.. My main worry though is that he is 11 years older than me and not in the best of health .

Be aware that the way Equity release works is that the lender Lends a % of the current value of the property and the younger you are when you take the cash the smaller the % and they use the youngest life. At 60 they may lend you 25% of value more if you suffer a potentially life shortening sickness. If you do decide to take the money at 60 look for a scheme that will let you go back for more cash later, not all lenders do this. Find an adviser who is a member of the ‘Equity Release councils for independent advice. Advisers have to take additional qualifications to advise on them. Be aware that certain ‘National’ firms will arrange equity release for you but they are NOT advising so you have no means of redress if it goes wrong. Their terms of business will let you know if this is the case, be careful. I was an Equity Release adviser along with my other hats until retirement.

 

[Otter Spotter]

D

Doesn't it depend on the pension he's drawing now not being a personal pension so he isn't limited to the lower amount per year?
I'm semi retired but pay into the NHS pension and intended to contribute the rest of my earnings into a sipp. Do I get them grossed up as if I'm paying tax on all of it?

The restriction on contributions is if you are already drawing income (not the tax free cash) from Defined contributions pensions ( Personal are DC ) then yes max contributions including employers is £4,000 per annum. Defined Benefits (DB) schemes do not cause the £4,000 restriction.

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[The Wino]

The NHS pension I pay into gives access to the contributions history from the staff intranet. It's not one of the old defined benefits (final salary) ones sadly but the statement makes you realise that given the tax saving and the employer contribution it's bonkers not to put in as much as you can afford. It's just a pity from a pension point of view that I only started working as an NHS employee when I was 56! all the rest is savings and investments.

 

[Rosemary1]

We've thought about this (well, I have lol). Hubby is already retired and I normally work two days per week although at the moment I am furloughed/signed off sick for 3 months minimum. We could easily live on hubby's pensions and we have a reasonably healthy "motorhome fund". Problem is, it's another 8 years before I can get my state pension. We are considering taking as much equity out of the house as possible when I reach 60, next year, as we have no-one to leave the house to. I will see what happens when/if this furlough/sickness period ends as to whether I still have a job.. My main worry though is that he is 11 years older than me and not in the best of health .

Some of our circumstances are similar - hubby is retired, I work 2 days a week and have approximately 8 years before my state pension. We have no children and have just downsized (partly to release funds and partly to move to a new area near the coast).

What do you want to do? I don’t mind my job -it’s interesting and mostly online so am happy to continue, but if I didn’t like it or it kept stoping me from doing something I wanted then would retire fully.

What would you do if you retired fully? Is it stopping you from travelling, would you like to spend more time with your hubby? Are you enjoying being at home under Furlough?

 

[Bluemanc100]

Question please... I was made redundant in March 2020 at 56 and I took this as a chance to retire as I am already in receipt of an MOD pension.

My Gov.UK / HMRC info tells me I have paid NI for 41 years. Will my not paying NI until my state pension age at 67 affect the state pension I get or will I need to make a voluntary contribution of some kind?

 

[Al n Val]

Question please... I was made redundant in March 2020 at 56 and I took this as a chance to retire as I am already in receipt of an MOD pension.

My Gov.UK / HMRC info tells me I have paid NI for 41 years. Will my not paying NI until my state pension age at 67 affect the state pension I get or will I need to make a voluntary contribution of some kind?

i'm pretty certain not paying NI will affect your pension as it did mine, my "EX" account told me that after paying in since I was 16, after 33 years, paying anymore was pointless.

Unless i'm wrong (i'm certainly no tax accountant) its calculated on the previous 33 years to your retirement age and not the initial 33 years, so i had to make up the shortfall as they called it. I did my sums and I have to collect my pension for about 4 years until it balances out what i paid in, and as i intend to live until i'm 140 i should be in pocket.

please do your own checks as this may not be fully 100% correct

Al

 

[The Wino]

Isn't there a pension calculator site you can visit

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[Minxy]

I don't know your friends but, if they are able to live on £15,000 PA will they tell me, If you have a motorhome plus a car plus a house along with normal living costs I believe you will need more than £15000. What you must take into account is inflation! believe me whatever you think it will be at least double. Sorry to be a doom monger

We do, we need no more than £12,000k a year for everything including holidays in the MH (whatever they are!) and large vet bills. We've been doing this for years and one reason why we retired many years ago (me in my late 40s and hubby early 50s). We find it 'hard' to spend on stuff like meals out, etc as it's not something we've done much over the years anyway and have never desired the 'latest' gadget etc, our last massive spend was the Carthago but that'll be with us for a long time and does exactly what we want (well from what I can remember from last winter!). We may need to spend on stuff like repairs etc and are nearly mortgage free having paid over half of it (£55k) off over the last few months from Bonds, spare income etc. We'll have it paid off totally by the end of the year however it may be as early as May if we can manage it with other Bonds and spare income as we're using 0% long period credit cards by putting everything we can on them (up to their credit limit of course!) as it means the money can then go towards reducing the mortgage (and thus interest payments) and we'll pay the CCs off just before the 0% credit term ends.

It is difficult start spending on stuff because it would be 'nice' to do so, rather than 'need' to, but it's a very difficult habit to break, once the mortgage is gone our annual outlay will be even less.

 

[ElddisNotElvis]

Be aware that the way Equity release works is that the lender Lends a % of the current value of the property and the younger you are when you take the cash the smaller the % and they use the youngest life. At 60 they may lend you 25% of value more if you suffer a potentially life shortening sickness. If you do decide to take the money at 60 look for a scheme that will let you go back for more cash later, not all lenders do this. Find an adviser who is a member of the ‘Equity Release councils for independent advice. Advisers have to take additional qualifications to advise on them. Be aware that certain ‘National’ firms will arrange equity release for you but they are NOT advising so you have no means of redress if it goes wrong. Their terms of business will let you know if this is the case, be careful. I was an Equity Release adviser along with my other hats until retirement.

Be careful and read up on Equity Release. Martin Lewis MSE site is a good starting point.

Should you equity release?

www.moneysavingexpert.com

Equity Release Scheme only has one persons interests at heart, and it’s not you. I seem to remember the odds are stacked against you and your house ends up not being of any value to you eventually.

That’s why we sold up and rent from a Housing Association. As I said in one of my previous posts, I call this our own Personal Equity Release, and we get to keep it all.

 

[philann]

I think that for the full new state pension you need 35 years contributions and that won’t increase if you work longer. Unless you were ‘contracted out’ of the serps scheme. Having worked for the MOD you probably were, so extra years should count up to the max of around £175 per week pension.

full details here: https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension

 

[Deneb]

Isn't there a pension calculator site you can visit

Check your State Pension forecast

Find out how much State Pension you could get (your forecast), when you could get it and how you could increase it

www.gov.uk

 

[The Lord Squid]

Edit: too slow - answered already.

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[ElddisNotElvis]

I think that for the full new state pension you need 35 years contributions and that won’t increase if you work longer. Unless you were ‘contracted out’ of the serps scheme. Having worked for the MOD you probably were, so extra years should count up to the max of around £175 per week pension.

full details here: https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension

I had over 40 odd years, but because my employer “contracted me out” I have had to pay Voluntary Class 3 contributions to get it up to the max of £174 per week. A bit annoying and I question why they couldn’t use some of my extra years over the max 35 years that I paid NI Contributions, towards the years that I was contracted out.

 

[Nasher]

I had over 40 odd years, but because my employer “contracted me out” I have had to pay Voluntary Class 3 contributions to get it up to the max of £174 per week. A bit annoying and I question why they couldn’t use some of my extra years over the max 35 years that I paid NI Contributions, towards the years that I was contracted out.

Yep, same here

When I first retired at 54, I had 40 years of contributions, so no need for more

Roll forward 8 years and the rules had changed (contracted out was my reason) so I opted to pay 2 years of contributions to get the full state pension

Which goes to prove, as posted above, you need to check your state pension forecast on a regular basis

 

[Bluemanc100]

I had over 40 odd years, but because my employer “contracted me out” I have had to pay Voluntary Class 3 contributions to get it up to the max of £174 per week. A bit annoying and I question why they couldn’t use some of my extra years over the max 35 years that I paid NI Contributions, towards the years that I was contracted out.

HMRC is saying that I’m at the maximum £174 per week already but I wasn’t sure whether the next ~8 years until state pension age will undermine the pension if I don’t pay NI.. I’m due to speak with an IFA anyway about my private pension so I’ll add it to the list of questions

 

[Stoosal]

Check the calculator for state pension forecast......changes to state pension in 2016 will affect many people, especially those who fall in between the old scheme, pre 2016, and those after. For example, Mrs Stoosal checked her figures 18/24 months ago with 35 years of qualifying contributions which then forecast a full state pension when she becomes eligible....on checking last week we now find that she needs another four years contributions to now qualify for full pension....it’s due to amended calculations based on ‘new’ scheme, new state retirement ages etc. Not sure why the calculations didn’t show up shortfall back then but we phoned the ‘futures pension advisors’ (who were fantastic but took some 40 minutes of being on hold before we got through) who confirmed figures and ability to make up shortfall. Worth checking if you are in both schemes and retired but not yet at state retirement age. You can make further voluntary contributions, which are about £800 per year, to make up the required years.

 

[The Wino]

We do, we need no more than £12,000k a year for everything including holidays in the MH (whatever they are!) and large vet bills. We've been doing this for years and one reason why we retired many years ago (me in my late 40s and hubby early 50s). We find it 'hard' to spend on stuff like meals out, etc as it's not something we've done much over the years anyway and have never desired the 'latest' gadget etc, our last massive spend was the Carthago but that'll be with us for a long time and does exactly what we want (well from what I can remember from last winter!). We may need to spend on stuff like repairs etc and are nearly mortgage free having paid over half of it (£55k) off over the last few months from Bonds, spare income etc. We'll have it paid off totally by the end of the year however it may be as early as May if we can manage it with other Bonds and spare income as we're using 0% long period credit cards by putting everything we can on them (up to their credit limit of course!) as it means the money can then go towards reducing the mortgage (and thus interest payments) and we'll pay the CCs off just before the 0% credit term ends.

It is difficult start spending on stuff because it would be 'nice' to do so, rather than 'need' to, but it's a very difficult habit to break, once the mortgage is gone our annual outlay will be even less.

We're not big spenders but were earning pretty well and that's why we paid everything off so soon. I do envy you having £12,000k a year though!!! I recon I could manage on £12m a year!!!!!!
I think there is always that balance more time retired and more money in retirement and between more money to spend and having to work longer.

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[ElddisNotElvis]

Yep, same here

When I first retired at 54, I had 40 years of contributions, so no need for more

Roll forward 8 years and the rules had changed (contracted out was my reason) so I opted to pay 2 years of contributions to get the full state pension

Which goes to prove, as posted above, you need to check your state pension forecast on a regular basis

No brainier though. £780 gets you £5 per week onto your pension - up to the £174 per week max. Only have to live for 3 years for it to pay for itself. Every year after that is for free (provided I don’t kick the bucket)!

 

[Nirvanauk]

We do, we need no more than £12,000k a year for everything including holidays in the MH (whatever they are!) and large vet bills. We've been doing this for years and one reason why we retired many years ago (me in my late 40s and hubby early 50s). We find it 'hard' to spend on stuff like meals out, etc as it's not something we've done much over the years anyway and have never desired the 'latest' gadget etc, our last massive spend was the Carthago but that'll be with us for a long time and does exactly what we want (well from what I can remember from last winter!). We may need to spend on stuff like repairs etc and are nearly mortgage free having paid over half of it (£55k) off over the last few months from Bonds, spare income etc. We'll have it paid off totally by the end of the year however it may be as early as May if we can manage it with other Bonds and spare income as we're using 0% long period credit cards by putting everything we can on them (up to their credit limit of course!) as it means the money can then go towards reducing the mortgage (and thus interest payments) and we'll pay the CCs off just before the 0% credit term ends.

It is difficult start spending on stuff because it would be 'nice' to do so, rather than 'need' to, but it's a very difficult habit to break, once the mortgage is gone our annual outlay will be even less.

Do you run a car on that amount as well?

 

[jeffcav]

Isn't there a pension calculator site you can visit

<Broken link removed> this calculator seems ok.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Question please... I was made redundant in March 2020 at 56 and I took this as a chance to retire as I am already in receipt of an MOD pension.

My Gov.UK / HMRC info tells me I have paid NI for 41 years. Will my not paying NI until my state pension age at 67 affect the state pension I get or will I need to make a voluntary contribution of some kind?

I may be wrong, but I am sure you get a full pension at your state retirement age with 35 years of full contributions
Check online using your government gateway and NI number

 

[Stoosal]

I may be wrong, but I am sure you get a full pension at your state retirement age with 35 years of full contributions
Check online using your government gateway and NI number

Changes in 2016 mean individuals will now vary in number of qualifying years.....used to be that 30 qualifying years was enough to get a full pension. After 2016 it is likely more years needed. Mrs Stoosal presently has 35 but needs another 4 years to qualify for full pension.

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