What are your retirement plans (financial perspective)?

[diy_fun_uk]

I don't expect folk to post overly specific and/or personal information, however more broadly speaking, for those on here who still work, what are your retirement plans? I've instigated project 'retire earlier' in my own life, here's the rough outline.

Current age
50

Planned retirement age
60

Retirement planning

• I have a workplace pension that, come 60, I'll have paid into for 28 years. This will be left untouched until I'm 67 to avoid penalties for taking (portion of) earlier.
• Overpaying on mortgage to clear when 60.
• 3 x BTLs (currently mortgaged.) Intend to sell 2 when in my later 50's, retain 1 with mortgage cleared and use rental income as pension boost.
• Plug the 7 year gap (60 to 67) with investments, savings and aforementioned BTL income.
• Come 67, start drawing work and state pension.

Other considerations
I don't have wife, kids etc. So, assuming I don't feel I'm leaving myself disadvantaged in any way, I might explore equity release to further boost pension income.

In summary
If at all possible, even if it means a few years of living more conservatively from a money pov, I don't want to keep on working beyond 60.

 

[big-all]

keep in mind
even iff you have the full 35 years contributions to your state pension will time out and you have to keep paying the stamp [pension contributions]for most or all off the 8 years untill your 68[expected age for retirement]

 

[The Samaritan]

keep in mind
even iff you have the full 35 years contributions to your state pension will time out and you have to keep paying the stamp [pension credits]for most or all off the 8 years untill your 68[expected age for retirement]

Siblings left wwork after 35 years and wont be paying a penney more in stamps but will lose out on the amount of pension,

Pensions give you a choice and projections I think if you carry on paying or not after the 35 years, You get less if no pay but they have properties, so no worries.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

keep in mind
even iff you have the full 35 years contributions to your state pension will time out and you have to keep paying the stamp [pension credits]for most or all off the 8 years untill your 68[expected age for retirement]

Yes, or just accept I won't receive full state pension at retirement age, is that right?

 

[ReganAndCarter]

keep in mind
even iff you have the full 35 years contributions to your state pension will time out and you have to keep paying the stamp [pension credits]for most or all off the 8 years untill your 68[expected age for retirement]

Never heard that. So the 35 years is meaningless if you have to keep paying afterwards until you retire.

 

[The Samaritan]

Meaningless indeed, lol. I too found out and like my sibling stuck my 2 fingers up to them - will get less pensions state type but they are peanuts anyway. - will get something but not full amount, lol

 

[big-all]

when i got to 60[8 years ago]i retired on my railway pension and the lump sum
i was 3 months short off contribution so thought i have six years to top it up so checked after 5 years and was quite a few short not the full 5 years but some good years at the beginning with 100% contributions had dropped off the calculation and replace with some less than 100%
the easiest way is to join the government gateway and each year check your pension forecast to find out
https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension/sign-in/prove-identity
in my case i lost about £30 a week so £140 instead off about £170

 

[ic1927]

I retired this year aged 63, living off savings, got no private pension, I did the government state pension forecast and as I've contributed nic's for forty odd years I'm entitled to the full state pension when I reach the age of 66.

 

[HERTS P&D]

I don't have wife, kids etc.

You must be loaded!

Andy

 

[big-all]

I retired this year aged 63, living off savings, got no private pension, I did the government state pension forecast and as I've contributed nic's for forty odd years I'm entitled to the full state pension when I reach the age of 66.

keep checking your forecast each year to check
many are surprized you have to continue contributing to get your full pension

 

[stem]

I think much will depend on your workplace pension. I have three, a frozen one which is final salary (15 years) so great, I know exactly what I should get from that (provided it remains viable and doesn't run out of money, which it might as there's no one contributing into it anymore )

Also, I have a frozen defined contribution pension from a previous employer (7 years) and a current defined contribution from my present employer (15 years) and they are the unknown area. At the start of COVID two years ago the value of these funds dropped by £30,000 overnight. They have bounced back somewhat but are still £17,000 down. And then upon retirement what do you do with the money? buy an annuity that provides you a guaranteed income until you die which will be fixed based on the deal you get at the time (not good at the moment) or hope that the funds will give you enough to live on as long as you need it......so interest can't be relied upon as used to be the case.

The bad news for me is that for the last 30 years it was planned that Mrs. Stem would retire at 60, which she did in December. She only worked part time, and never had a private pension as we calculated the government pension would make up the shortfall when she retired. However a few years before she hit 60 the government moved the qualification age to 67 and at such short notice there was no time for us to put something in place to cover it. So we are now having to cut our cloth accordingly. Quite annoying when we consider that she has paid NI for 44 years and at today's pension rate will loose out on over £65,000 of government pension. Especially as she has an older sister that only worked for 5 years and has happily been claiming her full pension since being 60.

We don't have kids and considered equity release, but once heard of someone that sold their home to an equity release company that went out of business and because of their debts the house was sold and the equity release tenants that had thought they could live there until they died were evicted. This was along time ago, so perhaps more protection is now in place, but it's something to consider.

 

[The Samaritan]

when i got to 60[8 years ago]i retired on my railway pension and the lump sum
i was 3 months short off contribution so thought i have six years to top it up so checked after 5 years and was quite a few short not the full 5 years but some good years at the beginning with 100% contributions had dropped off the calculation and replace with some less than 100%
the easiest way is to join the government gateway and each year check your pension forecast to find out
https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension/sign-in/prove-identity
in my case i lost about £30 a week so £140 instead off about £170

Done all that and you need to reg with the gov online site and we have with the self assessments and i think you can see it via that re ni contributions and
and i think we asked for the projections - as i will retire at 67, left work at over 50 well below 60, its peanuts and not worth the while imo as we have other pensions and property.

 

[ic1927]

keep checking your forecast each year to check
many are surprized you have to continue contributing to get your full pension

Been told if I'm not earning, which I'm not, then there is no need to pay anymore nic's, and I've contributed enough to qualify for the full state pension.

 

[The Samaritan]

Been told if I'm not earning, which I'm not, then there is no need to pay anymore nic's, and I've contributed enough to qualify for the full state pension.

that can't be right unless you are claiming benefits unemploment pay where they pay you NI contributions. the new pensions work differently

 

[ic1927]

that can't be right unless you are claiming benefits unemploment pay where they pay you NI contributions. the new pensions work differently

Not claiming any benefits, living off savings, been through all this with the accountant, the government people who deal with this, I wanted to make certain that my 46 years of contributions covered me for the full state pension when I reach 66, I packed in work at 63 and been told there's no need to pay anymore nic's.