Early Retirement?

[600+]

Another one bites the dust at work.......well actually they decided to take Voluntary Redundancy!!

The package is well worth it!! They have been here for 25 years and are on a final salary pension scheme. They are 50 years old and defo on something more than £50k per annum.

This got me thinking again.......I know wrong thing to do!! But our generation (I'm 28) won't really have such an opportunity. We will have to save up for our pension or rely on our employers and whatever package has been build by the time we want to retire.

So the question is has anyone made any plans for early retirement?

I've read that you should be saving at least 10% of your gross income but that won't be enough!! What else do people suggest or even better are doing?

[neio79]

yeah i am still part of the best pension scheme in the countrty :) get to retire kind of at 40 :)

[Lozzo]

I retired at 44, got bored after 6 months so started working part-time fixing bikes and buying/selling Mitsubishi Evos and other cheapie cars. After 18 more months even that wasn't enough to keep my mind active so I went searching for a job and a week later went back to work full time in my current job.


Also, I found that interest rates were so dire that my investments were worth far less than I originally anticipated and I could see the money running out in short order. I'd been relying on a decent rate of interest to keep me in pocket money, and not have to touch the capital for a long while yet. As it turned out it's just as well I was making decent money from working part-time or I'd have used a sizeable chunk of it by now.

I honestly don't see myself retiring again for a long time, I'd only get bored again.

[tigersaw]

I've been saving 6-7.5% with my company for 30 years, plus saving hard for the last 20 myself, by means of paying a mortgage on a property I can sell and downsize from.
The plan is to give myself the opportunity to retire and self finance until my pension when I'm in my mid 50's.
If I could advise my former self, I'd not suggest I do anything different - the more you bung in at an early age the more it makes a difference

[timwilky]

There is a school of thought that suggests the earlier you retire, the longer you live.

I have been to plenty of goodbyes where the old codger leaving has clocked up his 50 years and then the news of his death seems to filter through after about 12 months and you wonder what has happened to all the pension he acquired.

As my own scheme is in deficit we are not allowed to take early retirement. But I am scheduled to get about £30k/year at current rates if I can make it another 16 years. Although the wife would be far better off seeing me dead before then as there is a good death in service provision

[maviczap]

Being in the 2nd best pension scheme, I'm not too far off, although I was a bit late joining.To get my 40years service in, I will have to work until I'm 58 at least.

Both my previous bosses took early retirement, at 55, but as Gordon & co have spent all our money, the chances of getting an early bath are impossible.

I don't think I could retire at 55, I'd have to have something to do workwise. Which is what both my former gaffers have done.

Some days I wish I could, but most of the time I enjoy being at work. Too many of my old colleagues have passed on, without using any of their pension entitlement.

What is worse, is when they die before reaching their pension.

[Viney]

When i retire i am going to kill someone. Therefore i spend the rest of my days in the dry and warm, 3 meals a day, a little exercise and free sex if you want it! Its a great idea prision :)

[Milky Bar Kid]

I will be 53 when I retire on full pension, however, I can see me getting bored with that and finding another job for a few more years!

[Bri w]

Original intention was to retire at 52 (next year) but the pension funds have performed so badly I can't see it happening before 60.

Been saving the suggested 14% for donkey's years. Also intended to sell up, and move to southern Italy. That would add another £150k to the pot, whilst the balance of the equity would buy a nice little Trulli somewhere near Bari.

Filling bags in Tesco with the other silver surfers is more likely if things don't improve.

[maviczap]

Original intention was to retire at 52 (next year) but the pension funds have performed so badly I can't see it happening before 60.

Been saving the suggested 14% for donkey's years. Also intended to sell up, and move to southern Italy. That would add another £150k to the pot, whilst the balance of the equity would buy a nice little Trulli somewhere near Bari.

Filling bags in Tesco with the other silver surfers is more likely if things don't improve.

Yes, but then the € rate ain't so good for moving to Euroland any more :(

[Owenski]

I'm 24, without a lottery win I wont retire.
Thats just the reality of it, it sucks.

[Littlepeahead]

I'm in a hybrid pension scheme, up to 28k final salary and the rest on a money purchase, I save about 5% and the company puts in a further 14% so that's isn't too bad. Not sure about retiring early, I think I'd get bored.

But I am now an MCC associate member I only have another 12 years on the waiting list before full membership. That means I can sit in front of the Pavilion at Lord's with all the other old codgers watching the cricket in a horrid blazer before falling asleep with my mouth open and drooling. Lord's is often like a nursing home, but with better bars and entertainment. So that's my retirement sorted.

http://forums.sv650.org/picture.php?albumid=509&pictureid=3846

[davepreston]

well i have 8 years of the only garenteed pension only way i dont get it is if the goverment falls but if i rejoin the raf this time and do 15 years which is there min service before instant pension, that means i have 23 years at there rate (which is higher than the armies lol) so i'll be retired at 45 with a 23 year set pension till 55 then index linked woohoooooo

[Dave20046]

I've just took out the company pension scheme, took it to an IFS guy and he basically said I'd been given lazy advice-so another thing to add to my to do list :rolleyes:
Putting money into a pension so young still feels like a gamble...

[Jabba]

Putting money into a pension so young still feels like a gamble...

But not so big a gamble as doing nothing.

If your employer still offers a final salary pension scheme then go for it whilst you still can. Put in as much as you can in addition to normal contibutions to "buy extra years".

Money purchase schemes are still worth having as the govt give you your tax back on it. The lottery comes at the end when your pot (less a lump some of your choosing up to a limited amount) is used to buy you a pension on the open market. Retire young and you'll get less but for longer than you would if your retired later.

Don't listen to the folks of the .org (inc me) though.... speak to an independent financial advisor sooner rather than later :thumbsup:

[Dave20046]

But not so big a gamble as doing nothing.
That's what I figured, so ended up getting one. Wasn't a final salary scheme though they match what I put in.

[Red Herring]

When i retire i am going to kill someone. Therefore i spend the rest of my days in the dry and warm, 3 meals a day, a little exercise and free sex if you want it! Its a great idea prision :)

Could you make it my wife, then we'll both be happy.... (only joking dear, honest)

[600+]

Well I save 3% and my employer adds another 17%. I have the option to increase it another 3% and the employer will match it. Problem is though that this scheme is basically playing your money in the stock market and other similar places :)

There must be other ways of doing it:) I don't have a problem getting bored as I have plenty of hobbies and hopefully some real estate inheritance to look after ;)

But I need to make sure I'm self sufficient without the inheritance! What about these policies that you pay in some cash and after X years they give you back a lamp sum or maybe pay you in installments?

[Red Herring]

I've read that you should be saving at least 10% of your gross income but that won't be enough!! What else do people suggest or even better are doing?

Everybody gives the old bill a hard time over their "generous" pension scheme but that is exactly the point they overlook. I currently contribute 11% of my salary towards my pension and yes I am looking forward to cashing it in.....
The only issue I have with some of the government pension schemes, (our included) is this habit of senior officers getting promoted two extra rungs up the ladder a year before they retire, thus bumping up their final salary...and pension. It would make much more sense to base the salary on career earnings rather than final salary.

[Lozzo]

The only issue I have with some of the government pension schemes, (our included) is this habit of senior officers getting promoted two extra rungs up the ladder a year before they retire, thus bumping up their final salary...and pension. It would make much more sense to base the salary on career earnings rather than final salary.


Don't knock it - my old man left the army as a WO2 having spent the previous 16 years as a sergeant and never even trying for promotion. He was only a WO2 for something like 6 months and spent most of that time using up accumulated leaves. He's got a nice pension though.

[Red Herring]

My wife keeps trying to push me up the next step, but to do so would make me "management" and I'm not sure I could sell my soul.... I've told her I'm just going to find a cheaper wife when I retire...after all you are supposed to downsize about then!

[madcockney]

My wife keeps trying to push me up the next step, but to do so would make me "management" and I'm not sure I could sell my soul.... I've told her I'm just going to find a cheaper wife when I retire...after all you are supposed to downsize about then!
But aint that a slimmer model when you downsize :grin:

[Demonz]

I've avoided pension schemes as I dont believe the income tax savings although on the face of it will be that great in the future... I am self employed so these are different circumstances and not suited to all.

I believe the chances of government changing the laws and rules govening any moneyI put into the fund (eg taxing pensions) is very likely so I'm not convinced pension schemes are the way to go... or a safe option for savings. More so now after the big hole the country has in the finanaces.

I've gone the property route as an alternative form of pension planning. Fingures crossed this is a safer option.