Work longer but part time or full time but (possibly) retire a bit earlier?

[Softwear]

I'm 48 and tired, tired, tired!

Elderly parent with dementia a 7 hour round trip away. Elderly in laws with increasing needs 4 hour round trip in another direction.
Autistic 'high- functioning' (my arse) pre teen. Plus other dc & DH who do their fair share but still need a piece of me.

Mortgage fixed term about to come to an end and dreams of paying off early kyboshed by interest rates.

Currently work full time in the public sector but contemplating going part time - however with our finances as they are this would mean working until at least state pension age which is 19 years away, with little hope of retirement before then. This is not really a finance/money question, just setting the scene.

What would/did you opt for in similar circumstances?

What age will you be when you are mortgage free?

64, DH will be 66. We were overpaying but all that's meant is we're in a slightly better position now we're about to fix again.

I wouldn't retire until you have paid off the mortgage. I work part-time, but we are mortgage-free now, so that does make a difference.

Would working part-time harm any potential career prospects or earning potential? There's no point in going part-time if your hourly rate is not comparable with full-time for the same job.

What about your pension?

I would work full time for as long as you can. If you are both utterly burned out before your mortgage is paid off downsize to a cheaper property and pay it off so you can retire.

No certainly wouldn't be able to retire until mortgage paid off, and the chance of paying off early would diminish with going part time.

I could do my current job part time, pro rata pay. Public sector so no effect on bonuses, nor pay rises! Promotion - just not got the head space for that at the moment.

Pension ok-ish, have 10 years of DB plus a small pot of DC. DB will actuarially reduced if I retire before state pension age.

It's more about the trade off between working longer but part time, or possibly not having to work until 67 plus. Time v money conundrum!

Any chance you could move your parents closer?

OP you sound knackered. Is there a possibility to downsize or relocate to a cheaper area? Anything to facilitate part time.

Although I know moving house with a ND child can be quite daunting.

I wish I had the answer for you :(

Elderly relatives need to move closer or sort out paid care

Out of the 3 sets of people which one do you have hands on care with? I suspect at a 7 hour round trip most of the care here is mental load, can you hand that off/share with others such as social services or closer family?

Elderly parents 4 hours away are probably very independent still, again introduce light touch interventions where needed to take the mental load away.

Autistic child, are you getting support with them to facilitate a move to living independently? Their school/college should be supporting with this.

Edit: sorry just seen they're pre teen in which case statutory services are your friend here

Personally I would like to retire altogether sooner rather than go part time and work longer. You though have an awful lot going on so can you outsource anything or just go part time for a shorter period before going full time again or take unpaid leave to just move everyone closer to you?

The obvious MN question - what about DH, is he pulling his weight? Is he considering PT and if not why not?

Two other points 1) have you considered FT but compressed hours? So work ft hours across 4 or even 4.5 days. Longer working days of course but gives you a day or half day to get stuff done without eating into weekend/evenings. May be no better for you but just a thought.

2. Protecting your health is vital. Working FT is not financially beneficial if you end up getting sick and having to take long leave periods or stop work early. If you don’t currently have to sleep enough, exercise, eat decent food then I’d say going PT is much more sustainable and could even earn more over the long term compared with trying to do it all and burning out.

What about doing a 9 day fortnight? I do that and get a day off in the week every other week. It means I can support relatives who need shopping etc without trying to always doing it at the weekend.

So what's the difference in years? What age could you retire if you remain full time vs part time?

Thank you for all your thoughtful messages, it's actually really helpful to hear from outsiders that yes this is tough. I half expected to get told that at least we have a mortgage and a pension etc etc.

We've got a lot in place for my DP in terms of care etc and I do have one sibling who also does a lot (one who doesn't...) but each stage has been hard fought and the situation is only going one way.

In laws won't consider moving at all. They took early retirement packages on final salary schemes and have had quite the enviable retirement. DH & I do fall out about the support he gives them - for example hours on the phone to sort out problems with their printer (!!) the other night. But is it fair for me to complain when I've had to do more for my DP. Otherwise he does very much pull his weight. We also have a cleaner.

The plan would've been to pay off mortgage early 60s or downsize, but with DC diagnosis we know that we can't consider moving in the foreseeable. School (mainstream) have been very good, and as we have no family support, the friends network we've built up is invaluable. Moving to a smaller house in this area wouldn't free up much once all costs considered unless it was to a really small place, which would come with its own stresses.

Rising interest rates & COL will have put many peoples long term plans into doubt though, I just didn't anticipate feeling so done in at such a relatively young age!

Any likely inheritance coming your way when you are older?

For your health, have you started HRT as you are more than likely perimenopausal, which doesn't help with all this either!

It's the sandwich generation and yes ... it's shit! I feel your pain. All responsibility in both directions. Just do what you can but keep yourself healthy and your relationship strong. Those are the lynchpins

I forgot to answer your actual question!

Public sector is good as I assume it's flexible so you could try compressed hours, buy more holiday and use it for long weekends away, go part time then back up to full time etc. Do you have any policies on menopause or caring responsibilities that might be useful? Don't forget your dh could reduce hours as well, or compress. It isn't all on you.

I wouldn't go pt right now if I were you, wait and see how things go. Especially if you are currently perimenopausal. I feel much better at 50 than I did at 48 - weird

I think you should cut your hours a bit for now.

I'm planning on moving to a 9 day fortnight so I'll have a long weekend every second week, to catch up on life, admin and rest. The financial hit isn't too bad when you take tax etc into account.

Parental (unpaid) leave might also be an option if your dc are under 18. You can take weekly blocks - might be useful around busy times e.g. Christmas, just to give you a bit of breathing space when you have so much going on.

Also - if I was in your situation I would try to move to a 4 day week and work longer, possibly with a bit of parental leave thrown in.

Actually got a GP appointment next week to discuss HRT. Female GP who's very enlightened by all accounts so I'm not anticipating pushback.

My sleep (& cortisol levels no doubt) is atrocious. I try & exercise when I can. Stopped all alcohol save for very special occasions.

@PosterBoy you saying you feel better at 50 is music to my ears!

I've always taken a couple of weeks unpaid parental leave to help with holidays and I'm
sure compressed hours would be permitted, I'm not sure how much leeway that would give me (already have decent flexi, I rarely build much up).

DH's role is very much full time plus with occasional travel, we earned similar pre kids... I then took the public sector with flexibility route. It's a much trodden path isn't it!

@Softwear the two key financial factors are salary and pension. I assume you are now in a career average DB pension.

Dropping hours has a bigger impact on pension than net salary. You need to factor this in to your calculations.

My advice is:

• 9 day fortnight now ie. 74 hours or 8 hr 15 mins x 9 days. Make NWD Monday to maximise BH.
• start paying the additional pension contributions that mean you can take your pension in full at 65. This negates some of the actuarial reduction.
• maximise savings interest vs mortgage interest
• Over pay mortgage either monthly or once a year depending on interest rates (see above)
• Each January check state pension entitlement
• Annual pension statement - use modellers to work out pension and actuarial reduction.
• McCloud remedy - engage with this e.g. communications, so you understand which option is best for you. Whilst your older DB pension may look less a) you may get it at 60 or 65 b) it may be based on FTE salary
• age 55 ish look to drop to 4 days a week by cutting hours to 33 hours = 4 x 8:15 days. This minimises the drop in pension and salary. Again Mondays as NWD.
• Age 56/57 look to get promoted to boost final salary
• 1 or 2 years later Age 58 ish = drop to 24 hours e.g. 3 x 8 hour days.
• really number crunch when you can go. Do a detailed out goings spreadsheet - include everything. Use a gross to net calculator to work out net pension income. Remember no NI or pension contributions on your pension.

I know I'm not the op, but that's really helpful for my own options too - thank you!

@Sisterpita amazing, thank you. I'll copy & save your post.

@Softwear @PosterBoy
Glad you found it useful.

Everyone is different but planning ahead for retirement gives you options. If you want really radical options look at FIRE threads on here and MSE. This is Financial Independence Retire Early.

As you are Public Sector McCloud is going to be very interesting.

I work 4 days a week in my 50s.
It is nice, but be careful if you do drop hours that the extra day doesn't just become subsumed into additional care for others. No point taking a pay drop to do more unpaid work.