Retirement calculations - Can I ever retire ?

[Dave7]

Yeah - the onlt fly in ointment is that we don't get that until 67 years old......

That is true and is a real dilema.
No help to you.......I retired at 63, had a lump sum and got state pension at 65. Mrs D got her state pension aged 60.
I think my daughter has to wait till she is 70.
It does cause some real problems.

 

[Donger]

The one who is working pays a little - I don't want to up that. I have always said there is a home for as long as he wants it - I wouldn't want to go back on that promise.

That's nice of you. Having a home for as long as he wants it is fine, so long as he is at least paying for his keep. He shouldn't be costing you money. You could always keep letting him pay less than the going rate for room rental so that he can save towards a deposit for renting/mortgaging, but don't let him take advantage and end up costing you money you can't afford.

 

[kingrollo]

That's nice of you. Having a home for as long as he wants it is fine, so long as he is at least paying for his keep. He shouldn't be costing you money. You could always keep letting him pay less than the going rate for room rental so that he can save towards a deposit for renting/mortgaging, but don't let him take advantage and end up costing you money you can't afford.

Hes a good lad - studying for qualification and is buying a property as an investment - If he was out doing coke every night I wouldn't cut him so much slack !!

 

[derrick]

You need to reduce your outgoings are far as possible when you do retire which means getting rid of the car and anything else unnecessary to reduce costs. I think you will be okay but don't book the luxury cruises yet. Your lump sum if invested won't provide much of an income. Anything you can save now and put into investment plan will help so look into that.

I'm lucky as I live here quite cheaply and have a house in UK which I rent out. I opted out of serps in my twenties so that is now quite a tidy investment plan. I don't get the full state pension because of that but it's not much anyway. My wife still works.

Getting rid of the car, i don't think so, a car is a real must for us, we run two of them, Only do about 5000 miles between us, i maintain both cars so cost is minimal.

 

[neil_merseyside]

We had some luck so stopped 'proper jobs' many years early, then worked 'seasons' in both winter and summer to keep us busy so we didn't have time to shop/drink/eat our nest egg away - in what would otherwise would have been lots of free time. My wife now gets a work pension and even though I'm now able to draw on my pension we don't, and instead let it sit there (was rising ever so slightly) so leaving it untapped for the moment (B word worries might change that).
We've both worked with many retirees who had returned to work to curb their spending - and to recharge their holiday/bike/whatever funds, some were on staggering 'full' personal pensions that way exceeded our previous joint incomes, but as they had carried on spending/consuming/wasting at their pre-pension rate had to return to work. Luckily neither of us is spendy/wasteful, but sometimes a call for money can just happen, better to build a really good buffer!
As has been mentioned working life outgoings have to reduce hugely for pension income, OK some of it will be dumping a car/train season passes/business suits/tools/whatever but the ability to just buy stuff on a whim is the biggest change we've seen being the issue.
I wouldn't bank on actually getting the state pension at 67 as that is only the proposed pension age...
Oh and finally I'd make plans for both of you to stop work/reduce days at the same time just for the sake of fairness.

 

[cyberknight]

Due to The wifes health issues I am having to move house and having young kids one of whom isn't 18 till I'm 62 means I will be mortgaged till state pension age so I'm working till I'm dead

 

[midlife]

50% of earnings as a pension sounds like public sector. You can juggle lump sum versus pension for most schemes.

 

[numbnuts]

I was forced to retire very early without any warning so could not prepare for it, so you cut corners, make do and mend, but after a while you adjust to the amount of money you have coming in and surprisingly you find that your money is going farther than you first thought and then you can start enjoying yourself again.

 

[Gunk]

We met with our financial advisor this morning and although we both have a decent pension provision it still means some careful financial planning, my goal is to semi-retire at 60 (5 years time) and fully retire at 65.

As we’ve been reasonably careful we won’t need to down size, just be a bit bit more mindful of our expenditure, however like others I would be prepared to carry doing some odds and sods to top up our income, I do enjoy working.

 

[Dirk]

Getting rid of the car, i don't think so, a car is a real must for us, we run two of them, Only do about 5000 miles between us, i maintain both cars so cost is minimal.

We always used to run two cars.
We thought long and hard about cars when we retired five years ago.
We decided to go down to one car.
In five years there's only been two occasions when we could have used an extra car. On each occasion we either walked or got the bus.

 

[Chris S]

While we're on the subject, I'll be 67 in 2032. Will there still be a state pension then or will we just have the government-promoted workplace pensions that most people are now paying into?

 

[Drago]

Just gotta work out what your projected outgoing will be, and deduct that from your projected income. Thats the only way you'll ever know.

 

[wonderloaf]

Just gotta work out what your projected outgoing will be, and deduct that from your projected income. Thats the only way you'll ever know.

This ^^
Mrs W & I both retired 8 months ago at 60 y.o. and this exactly what we did through our financial advisor. We had to do quite a detail breakdown for our expected outgoings to get an annual 'income' requirement from our pensions and savings and the advisor supplied a projection using this amount, telling us how long it should last for. We've decided to go for a drawdown pension (with a small regular annuity) as annuity rates are so low at the moment and hopefully this should last us until we are well into our 90's (fingers crossed).

Which? magazine did a study on how much you need in retirement and although we've only been retired 8 months our current expenditure rate is bang on their finding for a 'comfortable' lifestyle:
https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensi...how-much-will-you-need-to-retire-atu0z9k0lw3p

 

[Dirk]

.....I do enjoy working.

So did I when I was 55, but I found out that my lack of enjoyment accelerated exponentially with each each passing year.
By the time I was approaching 60, I had zero interest in it and started to resent having to do it.
God knows how I would have managed to do an extra 5 years up to 65.

 

[Sharky]

I was a bit worried before I retired, and stayed on for 3 months after my retirement age (65). But with less money coming in, you pay less tax, no NI and you have no travelling costs, no business suits and no expensive lunches, so it all works out in the end.

But be warned - you don't get any holidays when you are retired.