When do you plan to retire?

[deebyhi]

Just thinking... I'm 40 and the thought of this job full time for another, what... 20-30 years is filling me with horror.

We have a small mortgage as we've only had one house (about £150k left).

I pay the minimum into my pension.

I have three young kids.

What's everyone's plan? What should I be doing now? Clearing debt? Overpaying mortgage? We do have a credit card that we are paying off (few thousand).

The thought of doing my job at 70... it just can't happen haha

I have a defined benefits pension that I took at 55. Housing was much cheaper when we bought but we paid off our mortgage when I was 35. This was because of an amazing return on a high risk investment, 21 years of no housing costs and investing is why two people who have decent but not amazing incomes have done so much better than we should have on our salary levels.

I did not go to University but have a level 4 NVQ qualification paid for by my workplace and a certificate in higher education that I took part time. A young graduate with a masters degree now has my old job, with all the debt that entails. I feel very sorry for the younger generation. DH was one of the last to have a completely free degree.

My Mother taught me all about money and investing way back in the 1970’s. I started investing low risk as a teenager as did DH.

DS is on a degree apprenticeship so it hasn’t cost us anything and he is earning a decent training salary already.

DH is still working as he is younger than me. All our pensions will bring in around 50k PA plus investment income, obviously thats unpredictable but they are doing well currently.

mid 40's with a very small mortgage so planning to get that paid off by the time the fixed rate period ends in just under 5 years time and then hopefully drop work to 4 days a week. I put more than the minimum into my pension scheme, mainly to avoid paying higher rate tax and have a monthly DD to savings accounts. That said, i've no idea what age i might be able to retire or what sort of lifestyle i could lead on it. I am seriously considering asking for unpaid leave or a sabbatical at some point though as i haven't had more 2 weeks off work since i graduated 25 years ago! It sounds awful but i just hope my parents don't leave everything to the local donkey sanctuary!!

I'm 40, mortgage free with just a tiny amount of credit card debt. I don't think of a cut off point for retirement. It's not something I'm aiming for. I'll just cut down my hours gradually and I imagine prob still work a day a week when I'm 70. My dh on the other hand works a completely inflexible and hands on job so he wants to retire as early as possible. I run my own psychology practice so can earn good money for a days work and it's mostly remote so I can do it anywhere (preferably somewhere hot!).

I save into a workplace pension, another private pension and a LISA. I have two other (LA and NHS) pension bobbing about too.

I got my DB pension at 60 and found that while it was enough to exist on, it's not enough tolive on if I want holidays etc, so I'm still working part time. I hope to give up in the next year or so, but it may not be until the State Pension kicks in at 67.

We have been loading our pensions for the past few years with the aim of retiring around 55. But that keeps getting pushed back due to one thing and another, so I think it will be more like 60.

The dc are always moaning about the long hours that dh works and how they’d like him to be more available. So I asked them how they would feel about us moving to a smaller house, which would allow dh to retire earlier and spend more time with them.

They were appalled! They acted like I was deranged for suggesting it. Leave this house? Live somewhere small? Are you insane? ‘Well that shows me where their priorities lie’ observed dh drily. It was quite funny.

That said, this house and its maintenance does sometimes feel like a bit of a millstone. In the last few years I’ve gone from saying I’m here for life to seeing the appeal of downsizing (despite the kids’ feelings) and releasing some cash.

That would only work if everyone had top notch health care was my first thought !

Well, it wasn't exactly work as most of us understand it. Nobody would have suffered if their 'work' went undone. And there is/was nothing to stop them stepping down if they actually wanted to.

I am hoping to do less at 60, maybe ditch my career job and work locally very part time. I’m 46.

At the moment the mortgage is until 70 though and we will have DD at uni (probably) until I’m 63 so that may not happen.

I have a final salary pension and an average salary pension so when I hit 67 I’ll be grand, as that’s almost as much as I get paid now. It’s the bit between 60-67 I need a plan for but if I were to lose my parents by then that would clear the mortgage. Breaks my heart thinking it though.

I'm 57 and will be retiring at 63. It is longer off that I would like but beggars can't be choosers. I've got 4 defined benefit pensions I will claim plus one defined contribution pot. Husband has his teacher pension. He will retire at 60. State pension will kick in at 67.

I'm late 30s and aiming to retire at 60 although I think that's optimistic. However it's always good to have a goal!

The main things I'm doing now is paying an additional sum into my pension each month (20% of my income from my contributions plus my employers'). I also save a set amount each month into a Stocks and Shares ISA that is intended to be my early retirement fund.

Housing wise we're lucky to have a decent amount of equity in our 4 bed house in the South East. We've been discussing moving back to the area my DH is from up north where we could afford to buy mortgage free or with a dramatically smaller mortgage but we're not set on that plan. We are fortunate to have that option though if everything goes to pot!

Otherwise, we're overpaying the mortgage. It's due to finish when I'm 58 but I want it gone before then so we overpay every month.

I am going to retire at 63/4 absolutely no way I'm working a second longer. I'm mid 40's mortgage will be paid off by the time I'm 50. Pensions are not great but I'm putting away a lot a month in savings. I'm planning to do some volunteering when i retire which I will get way more out of than sat behind a desk wasting away until I can't work anymore!

I'm 50 and a primary teacher.
In 5 years I'm going to drop a day or two and go part time.

Then at 60 I'm retiring. I can take the bulk of my pension at 60, inc a large lump sum, unreduced as that's when it matures. I'll live on that until I'm 67. Probably doing some tutoring to top up my pension.

I then can take the rest of my teachers pension at 67.

We hope to stop working full time at about 60 and live part of the year somewhere warm.

We will still need to pick up some interim contracts till we are about 65.

Late 40s. We overpay the mortgage and paid 25% of salaries into of pensions and save as much as possible.

Very late. I worked part time when ds's little, and have only increased my pension contribution significantly a few years ago. So I'll probably have to work till the end to get anything decent.

We're in our 50s and are starting to discuss this. Don't want to leave it too late and find that we're too worn out to enjoy retirement, but don't want to do it too soon and find that we run out of funds.

At one point we were paying more interest on our mortgage than we were able to get on savings, so we did a lot of over-paying and are on track to be mortgage-free within the next few years. That will probably be the main thing to dictate when we actually retire.

I don't understand pensions.
My plan is to bring my mortgage term down to 15 years next time I remortgage, so we can pay it off by 55.
At that point the kids will be through university. We would then downsize, and hopefully be in a position to retire if we wanted to.

We are 38. DP is great with money and has savings. I am not and do not. He is aiming for us to have a passive income from his savings by 45. Mortgage will be paid off by then and he reckons we can live off 1k a month. I think he's on crack but I love the idea of retiring.

I will have to work until i drop...im divorced and live alone and earn shit money...the only upside is that im mortgage free.
However i dont think about it too much as my parents died at 52 and 56 so chances are i wont make retirement.

Mortgage- Latin...Mort- dead. Gage - pledge. Actually means a death pledge in Latin, so you are paying until you die. So sad how we are like hamsters on wheels then we die. Then they keep upping pension age. Anyone would think it's intentional... 🤔 I'm 49. DH and I paid off our mortgage so I now work 1.5 days per week. DH has his own business so still full-time. We both hope to retire mid 60s to squeeze in some more travelling before we are too old to do it. We are both on track for full state pension plus have a couple of rental properties properties. If mum doesn't require care in later years, I will have inheritance from that so will put most away for retirement.
I definitely think if people are able, to overpay your mortgages is best, but obviously not many are in a position to so that.

@idrinkandiknowthings

I quite like the idea of being carried off in a grow bag.

I'm 58, paid off my mortgage in 2022, left my civil service office job in May 2023.
I have a couple of pensions which will come in between 60 and 66 and state pension at 67.
I'm 59 so have a few years to get through yet -currently working as a foster carer.
I have an allotment and whilst we will never be self sufficient it will keep me out of mischief

I am 58 and retired over a year ago, OH is 56 and is now down to 2-days a week and planning to stop completely later this year.

I always intended stopping work at 60 and made all plans to that aim, the increase in SPA changed nothing as we were always going to be relying on private pensions/savings and intended using the SP as a (very useful) top-up.

As I got older I realised how much I was not enjoying the daily grind and the thought of having to work to 60 was a real downer.
COVID and WFH opened my eyes so when the call came to get us back into the office, I showed my reluctance by leaving although I asked for (and amazingly was given!) a "redundancy" package which really helped.

Although neither of us were high earners, we knew the value of forward planning, mortgages, savings & pensions which means we can do in retirement everything we want to do which is what I think makes the difference.
Although I really liked my job, I am so happy now and life just seems so much better.

57 here....and a lot is going to happen (or could happen) in the next few years which will influence when I can retire.

I don't hate my job, so happy to keep going for a while yet. But want to enjoy retirement when I'm still young enough.

Currently supporting 2 out of 3 children, but DD1 has got a grad job starting in the summer, so will be "off the payroll". Another year or two before DD2 will be independent.

We have 10 years of the mortgage left, however our equity is pretty high, and we could easily wipe it out by downsizing, which we want to do once the kids are gone.

We have a variety of decent pensions, particularly for DH, who has a 30-year DB pension.

All parents are still around, but hitting their 80s....who knows if they will develop long term health issues which will impact our ability to work, but there's a lot of family money which will probably come my way at some point (no guarantees etc etc).

So....on balance, if life goes according to plan I will be able to retire in the next 5-6 years, early 60s.

BUT.....DH hates his job, would retire tomorrow if he could. It's very unstable at the moment, and if he loses his job I don't know what he will do. At 55, he's really too young to retire - I've told him he needs to stay on the hamster wheel for a few years. As least until we've got rid of dependents and mortgage. If he retires, I won't be so interested in staying in work, but money will be tight if I retire too.....aargh. Too many "unknowns"!!

I'm 60 and my ds is 15. He'll finish A'levels in summer 26, and I will pay off my mortgage the same year. So I'm planning to retire in two years. On my pension fund I'll have a moderate retirement as described in the report last week.

If I were you, I'd put as much into your pension as possible to maximise contributions from govt & employer. Second, clear any debt, and then allow the mortgage to shrink with time.

@AcridAndStanLee We have a passive income from savings and investments. I know exactly what we have spent over the last 4 years that’s how I could retire early and we have various projections works out linked to inflation and other factors. We did the risky stuff when young now it’s all much safer.

You also need to note that as you are unmarried if everything is in his name you have zero claim. Plus with your pensions it’s an issue if unmarried to receive the benefits. You can claim but it’s not automatic.

That's what concerns me... inflation and economic changes. If the interest rates go back down it wouldn't be feasible. I'm not even sure it is now. I think we need to buy properties (take equity out of this and start a limited company so it's all shared) but even that's a minefield.

And thank you, yes very much noted and aware re the claim on pensions and safety net but many aren't.