When and how did you afford to retire?

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Rita and Andrew

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We're in Caterbury Aire just now after an amazing 2 weeks in France. We're travelling back up to Scotland today and start back at work on Tuesday. Met lots of lovely people on sites who were over for a month or longer and they didn't look much older than us ( we're 54 and 53). I would love to know how and when people managed to give up work and travel more? It's a pipe dream for us at the moment :(
 
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I was 56 when I had the opportunity of vol redundancy and be eligible to draw my superannuation - no brainer. For me the financial crisis was a major bonus as local government had to slash its staffing numbers.
 
Is superannuation a final salary pension @Cal54? We have an appointment on Monday in Glasgow to talk to a financial adviser about our pensions as we don't have a clue.
 
In 2006 I gave up working, I was 57 .. Jan was 41 .. we sold up and went full time, traveling Europe and UK for over 3 years in a 36ft RV

That had been the plan for many years .. I wanted to do this earlier but plans changed... Chaz was born in 2000, so we waited until she was a bit older before setting off.. Our son Paul also came with us, he was 16 .

We lived on our savings and doing occasion part time work until receiving my private pension at 60, now topped up with state pension.. we now live in lovely quiet village in Suffolk.

It can be done.. you may not be rich but better doing while you can.. but have an exit plan, few live forever in a motorhome. Like us, you may get tired of it, or have to give up for health reasons.. Three years was enough for us.. many do it a lot longer.

Only last week I learned my cousin, younger than me , while on holiday in Spain had dropped down dead while crossing the street .

.. no illness.. heart attack, bang, wallop.. dead.. gone.. age 63 :(

Life is too short.. make a plan and do it..

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@Rita and Andrew , yes it was a final salary pension although the government had been trying for a few years to change the T & C. The biggest decision was how much to take as a lump sum and how much for a monthly pension. Easy decision for me - take as much as possible as a lump sum as long as I had enough left as a monthly pension to meet everyday needs. That way I got to spend when I was healthy enough to enjoy and it meant there was less for the taxman to attack and less for the local authority to take in care fees when the time comes. I won't draw my state pension for another 4 years and that will then be a bonus as I have managed without it!!
 
One way to do it is to rent out your home, but don,t be tempted to sell as your home becomes your security and available for you to go back to.
The way property prices increase you may find you cannot afford to buy another house once you want to stop traveling, the same thing seems to have happened to some people who bought in Spain, they can,t sell their Spanish property and can,t afford to move back home.
Keep your home.
 
Started a business 25 years ago, worked hard struggled for money, scrimped and saved and got out of the habit of spending money.

Then 5 years ago business had done well, money in the bank, lost a few friends and thought "life's too short for work" so let somebody take over the business and they can make a living out of it like we have.

Bought a motorhome and started our new life, we still don't waste money on little things, but we do on big ones.

Martin
 
I decided at 52 that I needed to do something to allow me to circumnavigate the world in an ocean going sailing Yacht. I set out my plans, I taught many unscrupulous people the art of conning others by selling PPI on loans and mortgages, stashed the income and then finally I robbed a local post-office for the big bucks. Purchased several rental properties and hey-ho there we go....... Griff........lemon-squeazy

ps, spoke with my financial advisor last month and he assured me that I am set for life.....

......providing I die before Christmas........
 
We both retired at 58 six and a half years ago now,we had planned to retire at 55 but the economy was in such a state we didn't want to risk it!
We both took our private pensions at 55 while we were still working based on the calculation that annuity rates were going down and we wouldn't get back what we were paying in per month.So for three years,we were drawing a wage,recieving a pension and not paying into a pension. (y)
It also heped having a wife who has kept a tight rein on all expenditure,if we couldn't afford it we didn't have it! she also kept all the financial records and investments for years and worked out that we could cover the expenses until we were able to draw our state pensions,roll on Thurs 29th....except they pay you a month in arrears!

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Popeye said:
I decided at 52 that I needed to do something to allow me to circumnavigate the world in an ocean going sailing Yacht. I set out my plans, I taught many unscrupulous people the art of conning others by selling PPI on loans and mortgages, stashed the income and then finally I robbed a local post-office for the big bucks. Purchased several rental properties and hey-ho there we go....... Griff........lemon-squeazy

ps, spoke with my financial advisor last month and he assured me that I am set for life.....

......providing I die before Christmas........
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Flowers or donations? :LOL:
 
In June I had a scare. Had a seizure in the middle of the road while on a Sunday morning walk. While in hospital I decided to reappraise my plans. I have handed in my notice and will officially retire in November, in reality I will not go back to work as I am now in a Liverpool hospital recovering from major surgery.

Cant wait to longish trips and getting the garden up to standard. We are lucky in that our savings should be good enough to provide an income in the region 25-35kpa.
 
Retirement's a way off for me, but one of the problems I find is knowing what the hell I'll need to live on in retirement - in order to do the future planning now. I'd love to retire at 55 but really can't see that happening.

As I am now - with mortgage, 3 school-age kids, quite heavy commuting expenses etc - it makes it very difficult to judge what I'll need at retirement and how much my expenses will actually drop. We live a fairly modest life, don't smoke or drink, but do spend a fair bit on our (old) house and feeding 5 people! If come retirement the kids have gone then we'd be able to downsize to something that is cheaper to run, although we'd still want an older house.

I've got a couple of final salary pensions but they're from relatively brief periods of employment in an early part of my career, and of course they work on the final salary when you left that job - and I didn't earn much at the time. Aged 44 I'm paying a decent amount of voluntary pension contributions - in total I've got 22% of my salary (with my employer's contribution) going into my pension each month - and the projections still look dire!

In terms of a % of what was your working salary, what are you lot managing on? Can you really suddenly manage on 50% or less of what you earnt before?

I realize that tax plays a big part and that the "take home" from the pension will be a bigger percentage.

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Mr Macawber was right all along.

(Sorry if I got the actual words wrong.)
"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and six pence, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

PS Look at my Signature
 
Lost my brother in law when we were both aged 52. He was at an evening do and just collapsed and that was it :(. Still miss him now 9 years on! I decided as have many here that life's too short so was in the fortunate position at work to bid in for and get, early retirement at work. A deal I couldn't refuse as it was a great offer and meant I could draw enhanced pension (y). Since then I set up my own wee business and have a part time job running a small charity ....... what's not to like. Now the wrong side of 60 and enjoying the new freedom in our MH (y)
 
Self employed and worked hard all our lives without making any money apart from putting cash into private pensions from our very late 30's. We retired at 56 when we sold the business which gave us enough to invest and live off the income. When we get beyond motorhoming the sale of the van will give us another lump sum to continue travelling in other directions.
 
Up until 20 years ago I didn,t have much of a pension until my employer offered permanent employment as opposed to agency work.Instead of a wage increase we all agreed on salery sacrifice where a percentage of wages was paid into the pension scheme.I put in 20% of my wages the firm 10% and my pension pot built up quite rapidly.I could afford to live of my taxed income working overtime and being on-call.I worked on 4 years till i was 69 so building up my government pension .
10 years paying into a scheme with one employer left them in 1984 gave me a nice lump sum and a small pension.with the option of not having to get an annuity now i was able to draw out 25% tax free from my pot pay off the mortgage and upgrade my motorhome.Now recieving much the same in pensions as when i was working but also no mortgage to pay ☺
 
Public sector final salary pension, retired on my 50th birthday which was the earliest I could finish. Missed out on a full pension but got three years of my life back in exchange. I had planned it for a while as my job was really frustrating me but losing family and friends was the main reason, it reminded me that life is too short. I manage fine, sold my flat and full-time but my circumstances helped (single, no kids, no debt). Best thing I ever did, four years on the road and loving it, met some lovely people and seen some spectacular places. I will carry on like this until I feel I have had enough which will be manyyears into the future hopefully!

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Just good luck for me as opposed to any sensible planning. 22 years in the RAF gave me a pension at 41 which just about doubled at age 55 by which time I was offered a final salary pension from Anglian Water. With Ginny retiring as a teacher at 59 it gave us more than enough give up the rat race. Getting a motorhome was the best thing we ever did.
Less than a year away now from my state pension...no complaints!
 
Just looking at how we could live we have put away for years and live off about 50% of what we earn (shop cheap no new clothes no flashy holidays no phone contract no sky etc) now have 2 holiday lets in whitby a business premises we rent to our own business and 2 flats but only a bit in pension pots and isas. Its so difficult knowing when you have enough and how much you need to live off and vageuest of all how long you are likely to be around!!!
 
I retired two weeks ago, at 57. I have a final salary pension (reduced considerably for taking it early) and my wife has a smaller company pension. She gets her state pension in November. With those three together we'll have enough to live on as long as we're not silly. I could have waited 10 years and then we'd have been pretty well off financially, but who's to say either of us would have been healthy enough to enjoy it, or even still here? We're currently getting the RV ready for our first long-term trip. Carpe diem!
 
We'd caravanned for years but Val always fancied a motorhome, so it was on the cards. Meanwhile, I had what was diagnosed as a bad asthma attack that put me in hospital for a week, on release, I wasn't getting much better and a while later, my dad died. He left us some money so we bought Busty, now or never sort of thinking. I continued seeing "experts" through my work's private health scheme, but wasn't improving. After a couple of occasions returning to work on reduced hours and then work finding me a day shift job, which I managed for around 18 months, I had a bit of a relapse. Off sick again and after 6 months put onto SSP, from being on one of the best paid shift jobs in the area to £72 a week was an eye opener.
Work suggested going for ill health retirement and sent me to their pensions doc in London, who thought I should try getting back to work, and he would review me in 6 months time. About 5 weeks later, out of the blue, I had a heart attack and needed a stent fitted. I still had to wait the 6 months to be told that I would now qualify for my pension, that was a very worrying time. Running alongside this, my GP arranged an appointment with a specialist in Newcastle, who after 3 years of prodding and tests gave me a diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a partially paralysed diaphragm. The good news is I'm still here, the flexibility of the camper suits us as we tend to plan breaks around my "good times". I got a final salary pension, but as I'd only contributed for the 15 years I worked there, it's not massive, a phone call to BP got them to start paying my deferred pension and some of my lump sum got my son started into his own house.(y)
So retirement was forced onto me, I'd rather have my health, but also, I don't miss the 4:30 am alarms and night shifts :)
Just reading this back to myself and I'm aware of how some folk love telling you about their operations and ill health, in fact my FIL used to tell me that "He'd enjoyed ill health all his life !" and there was Tootle's post the other week about the "professional poorley" but some of us don't reach retirement in favourable circumstances, but you just have to adapt and make the best of the situation.
Edit: that's why I wasn't doing much pushing when we were all getting stuck in the mud at Chester this year ;)
 
Public sector final salary pension, left at 49, then got a job locally whilst youngest son at college. We bought a holiday home in Eastbourne using it at weekends. This August sold large house in Surrey and moved into home in Eastbourne. Now 54 and packed up work, wife packed up 4 years ago. Now looking at buying house in Spain and spending summers in uk and winters in Spain with motorhome holidays in between.
Very fortunate but worked hard and paid lots into my pension from 18.
Got diagnosed with worst type of skin cancer 2 years ago fortunately diagnosed early so only missing one earlobe, had critical illness insurance which paid out a reasonable amount.

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I always aimed to retire aged 55, had a public sector pension & stakeholder pension. Between the two, my were watering from an early age, but the final figures looked do able. Then I was attacked in the ambulance by an extremely violent (female) patient when I was 50 & I decided to pack it in, wasn't worth dying for. Now 55 & we're looking at possibly going full time. We have two grown up unofficially adopted kids & basically no-one to leave anything to, I've no intention of handing the lot over to the government, so its now time to blow it & enjoy life while we're still relatively fit to do so. We've agonised over this for a long time & done our sums very carefully & we should still be quite well off. so bring it on.
 
We both retired at 48, 12 years ago ...We already had a holiday home in France so sold up in the UK and moved to France fulltime and put our money in an 'Assurance Vie'....( A very tax efficient/safe savings account not available in the UK). Overall France is a cheap place to retire to, but an expensive place to work!! Just started to take our pensions. Perhaps in the UK we could have retired at 55 but more than likely we would still be working...
 
I had planned to retire at 50 or as near as possible (currently 48), this might change by a couple of years but I won't be working after 55 unless something drastic changes in our lives. I'm currently on a final salary pension which the company have decided to end on the 31st of December when we will change to one which comes out at 25% so not too bad compared to others.
We set a rough plan to retire early since our 20's and have bought and sold several properties to aid this, when our daughter was born in 97 we bought her a house which is the best thing we ever done. She is now at Uni and the house is paying for her fees. We are now mortgage free in all our properties and will be looking for our next project in a year or two when we finish the one we stay in.
What I have learned over the years is you don't need a big fancy house to be happy, we built our dream home in 98 and loved it until we found out it had tripled in value so sold it and now reaping the rewards with a better lifestyle. On our 3rd house since then.

One big change in my life that has made me more determined to retire early is the loss of my mum this January even though she was 76 my dad is still talking about all the things in life she wanted to do and never did even though they could afford it.
 
lorger said:
We are now mortgage free in all our properties and will be looking for our next project in a year or two when we finish the one we stay in.
What I have learned over the years is you don't need a big fancy house to be happy, we built our dream home in 98 and loved it until we found out it had tripled in value so sold it and now reaping the rewards with a better lifestyle. On our 3rd house since then.

One big change in my life that has made me more determined to retire early is the loss of my mum this January even though she was 76 my dad is still talking about all the things in life she wanted to do and never did even though they could afford it.
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An object lesson in how to do things mate. A divorce in the early 2000s knocked me sideways but I always protected the pensions.
Sorry to hear about your mum, but I kinda get the impression that she's like the idea of her life pointing the way that others might want to go, a good example.
Do life before life does you.

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