Aibu to take my work pension early? What age/point did you decide that's enough for me?

I think all this time on this thread has seen my cookies target me!

Ive just found the pensions dashboard on the Moneyhelper website. It pulls all your pensions together and shows you what you could get each month on retirement.

I can’t find it yet but I’m assuming it’s the monthly output with no lump sum taken from any at the start.

It’s very handy! I am missing two funds but they are showing as pending to be updated.

I retired in 2021 aged 55 after 32 years as a primary school teacher. I'd always intended to go at 60 and then decided I could maybe last until 57. In the end, a combination of Covid, demanding parents and a bloody awful new Head meant I went at 55 instead. I obviously had to take a reduction in my pension for taking it early but manage just fine. I have plenty of savings which I haven't needed to touch. Various people have asked if I'd do supply and my response was " Hell, no!" Retirement is wonderful. I don't have the funds to jet off around the world but have been to France this year and have had a cou9le of UK breaks. My DH has reduced his hours to part time as he saw how much happier I became.

That is an unpaid job!

This is a good guide. It’s based on academic research on the cost of living and uprated annually for inflation:

https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/

Aah sorry. In that case you can call the provider (your employer should have given you paperwork with the details) and ask them for the estimated annuity at your assumed retirement date based on the current pot and also if you continue to pay in at your current rate. Some employers are really generous and some do the statutory minimum.

For many people there is also helping with the grandchildren.

I get up at 6.30am to go to my son’s house to get my granddaughter ready and then take her to school. I do pick up too. This saves them a lot of money and is better for her in my opinion too. That’s an unpaid 20 hour a week job and more in the holidays!

Yes I do appreciate that. It’s because I’ve only had a work pension since it became compulsory for employers to contribute that I have no idea how much long term work pensions pay.

Thankfully I’ve been paying into a private pension since my 30s but it won’t be overly generous!

Our financial advisor told my husband that if he wanted to retire at 55, he could comfortably afford to do so as he had enough in pensions to have a good income, so he did!
I worked for another 3 years but decided at 56 I was also going to retire. My pension isn’t as good as his but he takes extra from his to top up my account. We also have a lot in savings.

We’ve both worked full time since we were 17 and haven’t felt the need to look for part time work/volunteering etc. and neither of us feel any guilt. We worked enough!

We are both enjoying filling our time with things we enjoy - he plays golf a lot and spends a lot of time helping our sons with diy etc on their houses and I finally have time to read, go for long walks with the dogs, meet friends for lunch etc. I’ve lived in London practically all my life and realised I didn’t know it very well so one day a week, I spend a day exploring/visiting museums etc.
We also look after the grandchildren 1-2 afternoons per week.
We take lots of holidays both in the uk and abroad.
My parents put off everything ‘for retirement’ and both died young, dad just after retiring and mum soon after dad. They didn’t get to do anything they planned and we didn’t want that for us.

Surely that depends entirely on the income you’re used to before you retire, and what your circumstances are.
My parents live in a large house which has been their home for over 40 years, they’d be heartbroken to leave it but the maintenance and utilities are huge. What they consider adequate might be very different from my great aunt who lived in a small heavily-subsidised council property.

Yes a decent independent financial adviser is worth every penny. I would ask friends if they have someone they can recommend.

I would also chose someone who doesn't take a flat fee but a % of your investment. Because if its a flat fee thry have no incentive in getting the best possible return for you. A % the more you're getting, the more they make.

Personally I have some understanding of it, but the way ISAs work is you buy into a fund that has a specific goal or area it invests in or a mixture of those...say "Joe Bloggs USA shares for Rapid growth ". The fund management then invest across the USA share market to make money as quickly as possible.

That clearly could be risky. So a Financial adviser has by law to judge your view of risk and your ability to potentially lose money and match that to the best possible fund. The funds that have made me money are actually slightly lower than my position on this.

ISAs are tax free so all the profits can be reinvested. All the money you take out is also untaxed. You can put in upto i think £21k a year (its years since I've earned enough to put in thd max)

The real advantage of funds is that its not just one companies shares but spread over a range of shares

Sorry if I have patronised you there but if you're not aware of the way things work it is good to have it spelt out.

No-one said anything about going out and about every day but there's a few posters who see retirement as the start of mental and physical decline because all you ever do is bimble around the house looking for things to clean while waiting for Homes Under the Hammer to start.

People need to read Bertrand Russell’s In Praise of Idleness.

I am 43 and retiring now.

I retired from teaching at 59. The pension is actuarilly reduced if taken before 60. I taught for 28 years and I had 10 years not contributing to my pension when our daughters were little. My pension, after tax, is £1370 per month.
My husband retired at 60 on a full pension.
We have travelled the world for 15 years-holidays several times a year. Grandchildren take up our time now. We have loved it all. It keeps you young. I would advise you to follow your dreams.

Sorry, also meant to ask why 'life is for living' isn't philosophical?

Cos it's stating the bleedin' obvious.

I’m 57 and cant afford to retire, I worked FT ( civil service ) from age 18-30 , had our DS, went back part time for 2 years, had our 2nd DS, had a break for approx 2years
Then I started to work in Early years, low pay but term time, had our DD, went back when she was 2years old-worked non stop since, shes now 16
I’m thinking of retiring at age 66, state pension, small civil service pension and a very small NEST pension
My DH retired last year, age 62, he tells me he has a significant pension pot invested, news to me as I thought we were broke!

All of my siblings have now retired, their partners too, a mixture of ages, 60’s, late50’s but none of them had children, all worked FT
I want to support our DD through Uni if she chooses to go, so my wages will pay for her to have a life, the loan does not cover all of Uni life-our DS went to Uni for 4 years and we helped with his bills significantly. He still came out with a £60 grand loan to pay back, he worked hard and got a 1st class masters, now doing a scholarship PhD
I think if you can afford to retire then do it!
I wish I had enough money to invest for a decent pension years ago, family bills need to be paid tho!

I took mine at 55 from an old employer. As the fund was closed and i wasnt paying into it, it didnt make sense financially not to. The gap between what I got at 55 and 60 was not big enough. I work part time 16 hrs. Other half who was 61 then took flexible retirement and works half the week. We have 2 days a week off together tagged onto the weekend. We love it. We both have a small pension each and a part time wage and it works for us. 55 felt the right time to slow down. Life is too short.

You'd be best starting putting your money in a global index tracker fund in an ISA. This is shares in lots of different companies so spreads the risk. However, it can be volatile, especially due to current world events so you need to be able to leave the money alone for at least 5 years, possibly longer, and then plan your withdrawals carefully, so you don't have to take money out if the fund is currently performing badly. If you can do that, you're very unlikely to lose money and your money will almost certainly perform better than cash. You could also do the same with pensions and there are advantages and disadvantages of each, but for someone in your position, the pension might just have the edge due to tax relief.

More info

Stocks & shares ISAs: find the best platform - MSE

Pensions & Future Planning | MoneySavingExpert

As I said, I love my job. It's not a hardship, it's not boring and is not at risk of AI replacing it any time soon, if at all. Of course, if you hate our job "transitioning" seems like a good idea.
And I am not saying everyone in retirement have nothing to do and nowhere to go but that's the situation many people end up in nonetheless.

I had a bit of a windfall which allowed me to leave my public sector job after 30+ years at 55 yrs old and buy a franchise business. It was a lifestyle business that took time to grow so I took my pension and lost about 35% of the monthly value although the lump sum allowed me to pay off a big chunk of my mortgage. I ran the business for 10 years, throughly enjoyed it and grew it enough to be able to sell it on and clear my mortgage. If I'd stayed in the public sector I'd have to have worked longer to clear my mortgage. I would have ended up with a better monthly sum long term but I have no regrets. I was totally burnt out at 55 and it spared me another 13-14 years in my original profession. It means I have largely positive memories from both jobs.

Yes I thought that.

Did you take a big lump sum?

Sorry if this question is ride. Not meant to be. Following with interest as I'm a similar age and would love to call it a day but the bills are just too high. No way can I quit yet.

I’m not sure how we prove this about men but it’s very true in my family.

I retired 4 days before my 55th Birthday, it was good timing - we sold our business, I don’t want to work for anyone else. Dh will retire 3 years after me - maybe earlier if he feels like it but mostly he loves working so I think that’s unlikely.
Money is not an issue, my private pension is fine - I have things planned that I want to do - things that we have been too busy previously to focus on. I have ADHD and there’s always some activity I’m obsessing over. Quite a few of my friends are retired too, so there’s plenty to keep me occupied.

my df was made redundant at about 48 or so
dead at 50
work keeps you alive, particularly for men

Its because we have saved over a million in ISAs and in pensions. And no between us the most we ever earned was £56k per year. We inherited less than £40k from the sale of my parents home. Which, because it was 1994 and interest rates were 15% and house prices had dropped meant We could clear the mortgage.

We got good financial advisors, made use of the tax free savings and two particular investments returned over 20% last year.

And as it's 40 years last month since my mum died, I would gladly give the fucking lot up for 5 minutes more with them.