I've finally decided on a retirement date from work...31/12/2024

bertie

viz said:

So is 50K pa enough? I mean I know it depends, but is that enough, sort-of? For a couple with no debt

 from a finance company web site

"Their latest figures show that a single person will need £12,800 a year to achieve the minimum living standard, £23,300 a year for moderate, and £37,300 a year for comfortable. For couples it is £19,900, 34,000 and £54,5001. The minimum living standard covers most people's basic needs plus enough for some fun."

Personally I dont see where such a big difference is between single / couple - a lot of things are pretty close, unless their taking things like "two cars"   etc. 

we're coping quite nicely on about £25k (1/2 is coming from savings)  at the moment which is actually more than my take home (less pension, co car tax etc) and  after mortgage payments when I was working so we based our requirements on that 

Mrs Bert gets her state pension this year,  and mine's 7 years away - by then we'll be on £34k and not dipping into savings, which was part of the plan anyway to enable early retirement.  We've got a good "slush fund"  to top up until then, and some savings not to be touched, and  put away for after.

viz

V helpful - thanks!

RandallFlagg

viz said:

So is 50K pa enough? I mean I know it depends, but is that enough, sort-of? For a couple with no debt

We will be living on notably less than that and maintaining our current lifestyle with some to spare.

Year 1 looks like we'll need £36K before tax, £33K after tax with £6K coming from a defined benefit pension I have in payment already and the rest coming from DC pensions and ISAs. Our combined pensions, and ISAs will be somewhere around £550K hopefully at the point of commencing drawdown plus the £6K inflation linked DB pension then full state pensions in 9 years from date of first drawdown (April 2025).

I have used retirement planning software modelling tools to check, recheck and check again the numbers, but a sizeable chunk of our portfolio will be in equity index funds and exposed to the whims of the stock market, so, we're in for a ride!

We have no mortgage, no debts, I shop around for the bills regularly and live in Norfolk, so cost of living is lower than for a City dweller but we will be running 2 cars still, certainly for the first foreseeable years.

RandallFlagg

Thanks all for the nice congrats comments, I have mixed feelings of excitement and fear 

Roland

viz said:

So is 50K pa enough? I mean I know it depends, but is that enough, sort-of? For a couple with no debt

Retirement spending won't be a flat line. In the first year or so many people spend lumps on travel and setting up hobbies. After that it settles down. After all there are no more suits and business shoes to buy. In later years you need to factor in increasing healthcare costs, and don't forget about the impact of cumulative inflation.

RandallFlagg said:

Thanks all for the nice congrats comments, I have mixed feelings of excitement and fear 

There are reasons that retirement is called the third age (after childhood and career). It's a new life.

bertie

RandallFlagg said:

Thanks all for the nice congrats comments, I have mixed feelings of excitement and fear 

you are not alone.   I was numb to start with,  elated about not having to go to work, massively apprehensive about coping.

Having worked for the same company for nearly 36 years.......... it was odd,  very odd.   No real "retirement do" cos it was mid Covid,  just a Teams meating with the 10 or so team members that were still in the company.......... quite a "damp fizzle" TBH

£1k spent on a good financial advisor helped prior,  and with 6 monthly reviews,  still helping  - its good as the office is literally over the road, and they actually allow us to park our car in their car-park !!  

Roland is spot on with the spending............... we spent £38k in the first year,  which "frightened" me a bit - but on review £15k was stuff that should (would normally) come out of savings,  not day to day living............  you just need to get on top of it. 

ToneControl

Roland said:

viz said:

So is 50K pa enough? I mean I know it depends, but is that enough, sort-of? For a couple with no debt

Retirement spending won't be a flat line. In the first year or so many people spend lumps on travel and setting up hobbies. After that it settles down. After all there are no more suits and business shoes to buy. In later years you need to factor in increasing healthcare costs, and don't forget about the impact of cumulative inflation.

RandallFlagg said:

Thanks all for the nice congrats comments, I have mixed feelings of excitement and fear 

There are reasons that retirement is called the third age (after childhood and career). It's a new life.

also the state pension will kick in after a few years

Musicwolf

I retired in Jan 2020, aged 56.  I endlessly crunched the numbers, ran various scenarios etc and retired thinking that, if things didn't work out, I could always go back to work (I already had offers).

Shortly after retiring Covid came along and we were all confined to barracks.  My son's school trip to Iceland got cancelled and we cancelled our family holiday to Croatia that year.  We also couldn't eat out for several months.

There was a massive drop in the stock market (I think that my investments went down by something like £50k between March and April that year), but things had recovered by the autumn.  Holidays, and to a lesser extent eating out, were such a large portion of our discretionary spend that it taught me that I need not worry as there were huge savings that could be made if I ever needed to.

As it turns out my problem is that I'm not spending enough, and my savings have increased over the last four years.  Finding the balance is tricky as, so they tell me, you can't take it with you.

VimFuego

congrats.
Oddly enough (and I missed this conversation 1st time round) I've been pondering the whole early retirement thing. I was looking at my financial position the other day (our finances took a major hit when mrs F got ill) and I reckon I could afford to retire pretty soon, especially if I moved somewhere cheaper. I quite like my job, but really hate the shifts and with the nature of those shifts you don't have a social life. I'm looking to maybe transition into retirement, there are benefits to staying in the NHS pension scheme for 10 years (when I'll be 62). I'm looking to go down to reduced hours next week, so I'll see how that feels.
Another option is I could do bank work, though my job grade there's not as much bank work available as a paramedic and work on my 2nd hand book business (which I believe nowadays would be called a side hustle). That allows me the freedom to work when I want and even have a bit of a social life outside of work.

RandallFlagg

I got a 20 year service award in September last year, we get £750 to go and buy anything we like and claim it back on expenses. So, I got the Lego Millennium Falcon (75192 set - the big one, 7500 pieces, the box is huge). It;'s sat in the bottom of my wardrobe and will be opened on 3rd January 2025, the day I would have been going back to work, my first retirement mission is to get it built, then disassemble so my wife can have a go at the build.

VimFuego

we will expect a build progress thread.

RandallFlagg

VimFuego said:

we will expect a build progress thread.

Really? Ok will do 

ArchtopDave

I retired 5 years ago from the NHS at the age of 70 years (having worked for 41 years….. largely as an Orthopaedic Surgeon).

I left it that long, because I had relatively young daughter, who did both her Undergraduate Degree and Masters in Scotland. She got a 2:1 in Biological Sciences at Aberdeen Uni, and a 1st for her Masters at Glasgow University in Biomedical Science. As you might expect, I am very proud of what she achieved, and continues to achieve.

It took her only 6 weeks pre-Covid to get her first job, working for private biomedical company, who worked her very hard for peanuts. She inevitably got furloughed twice and then made redundant.
 It literally took her a calendar month to get the job that she still has 3 years down the line. She works in a Research Lab at Newcastle University, where her unit is a European Centre for Research into a particular kind of Childhood  Brain Cancer. She organises the day to day running of the Lab, and is herself very good at analysing DNA and RNA. Hers is a world of  Nanograms and Microlitres.


As for myself, I keep well occupied. I live on my own, so I do all my own shopping, cooking. clothes get washed and ironed, and I have delightful cat to care for. I have a sizeable flower garden, and sone vegetable patches.

On Tuesday mornings, I join at group of people (over Zoom these days as we are quite spread out across the North East with a teacher) for a 2 Hour Italian Lesson. Thursday mornings, I have a 3 hour Band Rehearsal, and Friday lunchtimes a Pop and Rock Choir lesson for 1 and half hours in my second home (The Glasshouse  - formerly The Sage -  in Gateshead). With the guitar practice at home, plus some Italian home work, I'm frequently "Chasing my Tail", and then I'm slugging my guts out in the garden. 

I am extremely grateful that I have a State Pension, which is still Triple Locked, although subject to the vagaries of the Government. I have an NHS Pension, which is linked to CPI, so I get an annual inflation uplift (worth its weight in gold).

RandallFlagg

^^^ Nice one @ArchtopDave sounds like a very full and active retirement mate, long may it continue!

ArchtopDave

Yeah. When you've seen too many good people met untimely ends at a younger age, it reminds you not to waste your own time, whilst you are still breathing where you wake in the morning.

ArchtopDave

Musicwolf said:

 to.

As it turns out my problem is that I'm not spending enough, and my savings have increased over the last four years.  Finding the balance is tricky as, so they tell me, you can't take it with you.

It's fun isn't it, when you've slugged your guts working to look after family, and to try and out something by for the 'Rrainy Day'.

Along come financial advisers when you retire, and they all chorus loudly… "You've got  to give it all away, You've got to give it all away." The taxman will get it,The taxman will get it.

I wave two fingers at them all. I rather enjoy following the Stock Market. I have decent stockbroker, who can sometimes find me unusual investments that I knew nothing about. I have an intermittent, but longterm, interest inTechnical Analysis.
This year hasn't turnout at all bad with the recent sharp rise in Global Markets. Certainly Warren Buffett has produced yet another 20% rise for Berkshire Hathaway, as have my other USA investments. I've also done well in Japan and India, and there have been other individual funds that have produced 15% to 20% returns.