When and how did you afford to retire? (1 Viewer)

[Christoph]

Joined the Fire Service aged 20 and worked my way through the ranks to leave with a final salary pension at 55. There are easier ways to make a living but it was worth it in the end!

 

[bladerunner]

Retired NHS consultant at 57, nearly 2 years ago. Don't regret for a moment - the NHS is no longer a happy employer and 48 hour weeks plus the 120 hours on call every 4th week gets wearing.
My wife enjoys her doctoring and feels retirement is last departure lounge, so she is still working.

In my experience there are 2 groups:
Those on their first wife whose children have just finished university and those on their second wife with alimony and a sub 10 year old :-0!!!
The former can retire now, the latter not for decades!!

The final decision came after second parent died (enabling mortgage to be paid) and threats from arsey managers to cut my pay and thereby my pension. I can happily say that announcing your imminent retirement to a stroppy manager can be the most liberating experience.

Time is spent 1/3 on motorhome (summer and winter - skiing), 1/3 as tour leader for motorcycle tours, and 1/3 doggy walking and garden taming.

Haven't touched lump sum yet which I see as a good sign.

 

[old-mo]

Retired from serving H.M. government after 20 odd years..

Medical discharge, when I was 40..... spent my retirement day/week in Majorca...

Best years of my working life... loved it, every day was different.. and funnily enough, used to look forward to going to work..

Nearly 33 yrs ago..

God bless you Ma`am, and thank you very much... ££££££££££..

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[thIOM]

Retired this year at 57. I had 32 years in Government employment, mostly in the Prison environment. 2 years ago I went for routine surgery and the pre-med turned up very high blood pressure. And I thought I did not suffer from stress! Decided then that I would retire when it became financially possible. 2 years on, I further decided that "when it became financially possible" was a fairly subjective term and depends mostly on your own demands and needs for money. So I took the the leap. My wife is 19 years younger than me so the only issue is when she feels able to stop working. She has her own small business. Her work is the thing that limits our travel opportunities at present, which in turn led to our current modest investment in Motorhoming. Looking forward to our future travels.

 

[PhilG]

Im a bit of a 'live for today' merchant, so have no plans to retire as such, my expenditure is based on doing what I want now , on the basis that waiting till I am old to do it is wasting time.

Father in Law just spent £3000 to go up in a Spitfire.. he is 83. he could have done it 20 years ago..

 

[bellabee]

Just a word of warning for those waiting for their kids to stop being a financial drain.
It never happens.

...And if you're planning on downsizing, once they've left home, you can be in for a long wait. Our son went off to university, lived with his girlfriend for 7 years, then when the relationship broke up, moved back in with us.
Our house and garden are far too big (and old) to be practical, and it's always been the plan to downsize and pocket the surplus. No prospect of that at the moment!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Motörhead Fun]

So the moral is, noting there are some exceptions, is to get a job in the public sector and rely on the taxpayer to pay for 30 years + of retirement. Given current annuity rates, those of us in the private sector will have to work until we are nearly dead

 

[Spanishsteve]

So the moral is, noting there are some exceptions, is to get a job in the public sector and rely on the taxpayer to pay for 30 years + of retirement. Given current annuity rates, those of us in the private sector will have to work until we are nearly dead

When I joined the public sector at 18, retiring was the last thing on my mind, however out of that first pay cheque was a pension contribution of 9%, this percentage rose over the years to 11%, and I believe is now near 15%. Every month I had it deducted, and I went without things because of the reduced payslip.
Fast forward to retirement and yes I am quids in, however I have paid a substantial amount in, my work was sometimes life threatening but I carried on.
We all have choices in life, and for me, this choice worked. My colleagues who joined some 12-15 years later had their pension conditions changed so they will work for longer for less.
Anyway, I hope to be around a lot longer than 30 years.

 

[Teuchter]

So the moral is, noting there are some exceptions, is to get a job in the public sector and rely on the taxpayer to pay for 30 years + of retirement. Given current annuity rates, those of us in the private sector will have to work until we are nearly dead

It's a shame that a few on here seem to grudge the pensions of their Public Sector funsters such as Firemen, Police, Armed forces, Prison Officers, Teachers, NHS staff including doctors & nurses etc (all publicly funded occupations)

I spent 24 years in the Royal Navy and I do get a pension of circa £7000 pa.

I also spent 20 years in the Private sector and have a much more substantial pension from that!

Most Public sector employees are not particularly well paid ( I earned a lot more in the private sector than the RN) and remember that all of our pensions are/were compulsorily contributory so when starting off as a Nurse or a fireman at 20 then the pension contribution see

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[The Wino]

I think there should be a level playing field for all everyone should have the chance to buy a public sector pension the cost would indicate the true value I suspect about 25% of earnings at present. I don't begrudge those who have done very nicely out of their public sector pension (much!!! just envy) and are retiring now what really gets me is they are still available when we all know they are costing a fortune in the future.

 

[Motörhead Fun]

I think there should be a level playing field for all everyone should have the chance to buy a public sector pension the cost would indicate the true value I suspect about 25% of earnings at present. I don't begrudge those who have done very nicely out of their public sector pension (much!!! just envy) and are retiring now what really gets me is they are still available when we all know they are costing a fortune in the future.

I don't begrudge public sector pensions per se but a level playing field would be nice. The truth is that people retiring now on these pensions are also costing money in the future as it is taxpayers now and in the future who will supplement the shortfalls in these pensions.

One only has to consider that for the Royal Mail sell off the pension liability remained with taxpayer. If it had been included it would have been impossible to sell to the private sector.

25% contributions would seem about right to obtain one half of salary after say 35 years of work

 

[Spanishsteve]

We can all probably quote examples of pensions on both sides that differ.
My friends wife worked for Natwest for 16 years and had a non contributory pension which pays out the same as my wife's contributory social services pension of 25 years of £350.
Another friend recently found out that the Japanese bank he worked for back in early 80's for only 3 years will give him a pension of £15k a year. This is nearly as much as his public sector pension after 30 years.

Why should everything be a race to the bottom ?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[The Wino]

I don't want a race to the bottom I just don't want to pay for someone elses race to the top!!!

 

[Forestboy]

Sold my business to an American company aged 42 not millions but made us financially secure. Worked for them for 10 years running their European operations. Paid big bucks but expect you too bleed from your eye balls for it.
At 52 kids nearly all gone university fees paid so sold the big house built ourselves a new one and bought 2 renters and retired before they killed me.
Had an exceptional pension fund when I ran my own business which is now paying me and my ex employees a decent return.
Can be done with hard work decent planning and a dollop of luck.

 

[Teuchter]

I don't want a race to the bottom I just don't want to pay for someone elses race to the top!!!

Most people starting work at 18 do not even think about retiring at 65 (or even 67) so probably don't bother to join a pension scheme - the Armed Forces for example (and I believe most if not all public service workers) have no option it is in fact part of their "package" and salary adjustments/superannuation costs etc are automatically factored in.

If a worker stays with his or her public sector job for 40 + years (perhaps gaining promotion during their service) then the contributions they will have paid in will amount to a significant sum - the more they earn the more they pay!!

How does that equate to someone elses "race to the top"

Without Police, Firefighters, Nurses, Teachers, Armed Services etc we could not survive and sustain the normal standards of living and service we have come to expect in our Country!

Methinks you may have an "axe to grind" Wino, or am I over reacting to your implied "hostility" to the public sector

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[thIOM]

Its all relative. Public sector pensions are usually calculated on one 80th of final salary for every year you work. I do not deny it is a good deal. If I had chosen to work in the private sector doing either of the jobs I did in the public sector I would have been paid considerably more. The PS pension scheme was always one of the reasons I stayed with it. Both jobs involved hard work and dealing with people and situations most of us would wish to avoid. Going back to the 1/80th calculation, very few public servants will work in public service for 40 years; most significantly less. Therefore the number of people entitled to a half pay pension is very much in the minority. If, like me, you elected to retire early, the pension is discounted to take into account the extra years (in my case 3) you may draw it. The taxpayer faces no additional burden as a result. What has brought PS pensions into greater focus is the relative poor performance of private sector pensions in recent years. Members of my family who worked in the banking sector benefited from much better pensions than PS employees but I guess the difference has narrowed, at least, as returns on investments have hit the rocks.

 

[Philh]

I am 61 and retired 3 months ago, I was bored of working and the chance of voluntary severance at way over statutory terms came up. I am currently on 6 months notice and on gardening leave then I get a lump sum in December. My wife has also been offered voluntary severance from next month but she has to work her notice so she will finish early in the New Year. We both have a final salary scheme plus a few other pensions picked up along the way and a chunk of savings. We also have 2 houses.

The sale of one house leaves us mortgage free. We bought a brand new motorhome for cash in March this year, the Jag and Merc are on PCPs which end in 2017 then I will buy my first used car for a long time. So with low outgoings we will have a higher disposable income than when working.

 

[rrusty]

So if a public sector worker gets £20k per annum pension, what would the market value of there fund have to be in today's money. I have been putting more than that amount into my pension fund for the past 10 years and my return is forecasted at 11K P/A after another 10 years.
Also where would the country be if it was not for all the tradesman.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Terry and Jan]

10 years in the Royal Navy, 30 years Police Service, paid into a private pension as well......Simples!

 

[Philh]

So if a public sector worker gets £20k per annum pension, what would the market value of there fund have to be in today's money. I have been putting more than that amount into my pension fund for the past 10 years and my return is forecasted at 11K P/A after another 10 years.
Also where would the country be if it was not for all the tradesman.

This can be calculated at looking how much money is required to give an annuity of £20k per year. For a 55 yr old couple with 3% increase a year and 50% paid to a surviving spouse and taking the maximum lump sum it would be around £1.25m. If you smoke you need a lot more

http://www.sharingpensions.co.uk/annuity_rates.htm

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

So if a public sector worker gets £20k per annum pension, what would the market value of there fund have to be in today's money. I have been putting more than that amount into my pension fund for the past 10 years and my return is forecasted at 11K P/A after another 10 years.
Also where would the country be if it was not for all the tradesman.

That is the difference between public and private pensions.
The public ones are not funded from investments but current revenue from taxes.
Private pensions are dependant on the fund value and in the low interest economy cannot make much headway with increasing their value.
As I have said on other threads, an element of luck is involved as not everyone's skills are suitable to work for the public sector. Also said before, final salary schemes in the private sector have just about vanished as the employer could not afford them ( because the employee contributions would not be enough - exactly like the public pension employees contributions are not enough).
Inflation is the only way that private pension funds will ever pay something closer to the public or final salary schemes.
BTW THAT AINT GOING TO HAPPEN

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[spitfire]

So if a public sector worker gets £20k per annum pension, what would the market value of there fund have to be in today's money. I have been putting more than that amount into my pension fund for the past 10 years and my return is forecasted at 11K P/A after another 10 years.
Also where would the country be if it was not for all the tradesman.

I wish !! Ex civil servant and I get 666.50 per month !!! And my finishing job was JC Manager !!!

 

[lorger]

That is the difference between public and private pensions.
final salary schemes in the private sector have just about vanished as the employer could not afford them ( because the employee contributions would not be enough - exactly like the public pension employees contributions are not enough).

Yes my final salary pension will end on the 31st of December

 

[Philh]

That is the difference between public and private pensions.
The public ones are not funded from investments but current revenue from taxes.
Private pensions are dependant on the fund value and in the low interest economy cannot make much headway with increasing their value.
As I have said on other threads, an element of luck is involved as not everyone's skills are suitable to work for the public sector. Also said before, final salary schemes in the private sector have just about vanished as the employer could not afford them ( because the employee contributions would not be enough - exactly like the public pension employees contributions are not enough).
Inflation is the only way that private pension funds will ever pay something closer to the public or final salary schemes.
BTW THAT AINT GOING TO HAPPEN

The reason for the decline in non public final salary schemes was the 1997 abolition of Advance Corporation Tax on dividends received by the pension funds. A lot (most?) of the income of pension funds is from investing the money, a pensioner receives more value than he/she paid in. It was one of Gordon Brown's most controversial decisions. Documents subsequently released under the Freedom of Information Act showed that civil servants warned at the time that the move, which generated £5bn in tax revenue, could lead to the closure of many occupational schemes, which subsequently came to pass.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[chaser]

Don't understand one word of this pensions stuff, been farming all my life looked after my own money bought land when it came up, built houses when the chance arose now manage on state pension and rental income, nowt to do with tax payers.

 

[Philh]

Don't understand one word of this pensions stuff, been farming all my life looked after my own money bought land when it came up, built houses when the chance arose now manage on state pension and rental income, nowt to do with tax payers.

Basically the government nicked our pensions

 

[The Wino]

Most people starting work at 18 do not even think about retiring at 65 (or even 67) so probably don't bother to join a pension scheme - the Armed Forces for example (and I believe most if not all public service workers) have no option it is in fact part of their "package" and salary adjustments/superannuation costs etc are automatically factored in.

If a worker stays with his or her public sector job for 40 + years (perhaps gaining promotion during their service) then the contributions they will have paid in will amount to a significant sum - the more they earn the more they pay!!

How does that equate to someone elses "race to the top"

Without Police, Firefighters, Nurses, Teachers, Armed Services etc we could not survive and sustain the normal standards of living and service we have come to expect in our Country!

Methinks you may have an "axe to grind" Wino, or am I over reacting to your implied "hostility" to the public sector

As I said I think it ought to be possible for everyone to have the same benefit so there is some transparency what contributions there are and what the benefits are if I want an index linked annuity at age 60 with the same benefits as a public sector pension I suspect it would be 2.5% or so. If someone retiring now on 45K final salary and expecting to get a 30k pension given they have spent a lot of their working life on lower salaries what do you think they might have contributed to their in effect 1.2million pound pension pot or to put it another way if they are retiring on a low pension of 7.5k what are the odds they have contributed significantly to a 300k pension pot. The figures don't stack up the way interest rates are now that's why all the private pensions have become average wage pensions or defined contribution (no guaranteed payout) pensions only in the public sector do the old schemes remain (including MP's) why should the rest of the taxpayers make up the difference.My hostility is to being expected to pay for someone elses pension when there is no possibility of those outside the public sector having that sort of guarantee or perhaps you have a vested interest in it staying that way!!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[The Wino]

This can be calculated at looking how much money is required to give an annuity of £20k per year. For a 55 yr old couple with 3% increase a year and 50% paid to a surviving spouse and taking the maximum lump sum it would be around £1.25m. If you smoke you need a lot more

http://www.sharingpensions.co.uk/annuity_rates.htm

Actually you need less the annuity rate is higher as you are considered to have an impaired life expectancy!!

 

[Yorick]

Time is spent 1/3 on motorhome (summer and winter - skiing), 1/3 as tour leader for motorcycle tours, and 1/3 doggy walking and garden taming.

Top bombing

 

[Yorick]

25% contributions would seem about right to obtain one half of salary after say 35 years of work

Have you been smoking strong drugs ?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}