Not too early for retirement or aibu?

[Orangeriessmellparadise]

Anyone has retired at age 48?
Frugal lifestyle and financially OK. Deciding to retire this year and hope with no regrets, actually cant wait! but friends think I'm too young for this even if I'm able to do it.

What do you do if you are in a similar position? How do you spend your days?
How do you come across people that see you as too young for not being in the workforce? Also health is not the best at the moment and my child is already a young adult so less and less responsibilities in general.
Is it too early or shall I go for it?

Sorry if it sounds like a bit silly question but is a genuine curiosity for your opinions. Thanks!

Retired at 51, sold up, booked it, packed it fucked off…. Zero regrets
one life - one chance 💫

I think @Singlespies makes a good point about retiring at the same time as contemporaries.

When DM retired at 56 she was the youngest (by some way) amongst her social group. She did find she was called upon to do a lot of the running around.

So @Orangeriessmellparadise if you retire early who will you socialise with? Is your social circle active during the day?

We went to live in Europe and there were plenty of other people our age who were retired or had a part time job who we lived around. The people who were 15 years older than us were not senile and were still very active. My gym classes were people of all ages and we were mostly on the same level. Travelling in Asia we socialised with people of all ages and the younger ones accepted us and didn't think of us as their parents. Age is not a barrier, attitude is.

I've tried to do it a few times, I'm in a fortunate position that I don't need to work. I get bored though and work through the winter, I signed on with an agency and it works perfectly for me.

Fuck yes! I'm 50, live abroad and earn peanuts even though I'm a qualified professional. If I could afford it I'd retire tomorrow! ☺️

No one can formally retire legally before 55 in uk. That’s the earliest in law you can pull on your private pension pot . Even that is now 12 years ahead of state pension kicking in.

if you stop working before 55 , it’s just that. You’ve stopped working, but you can only live on savings you’ve already paid tax on ( eg taxed income you’ve saved ).that’s an expensive thing to do, given the tax perks of pension savings

i retired at 55. I have 2 defined contribution pensions. I retired due to poor health and it was “ comfortable” amount to live off then - no mortgage to pay off by then, but couldn’t afford holidays or luxuries. Now, 6 years later its value has massively declined due to inflation. Yes, I do get raises each year, but the amounts have been 1-2% vs inflation at 7-14% . I have had to cut back massively. Private pensions are not tripled locked like state pension, and defined benefits pensions can be even more susceptible to inflationary devaluation.

think hard about stopping work so young completely. You’re at a big risk of never being able to increase your income in line with economic downturns

This is not related to an individual company scheme. It’s the law. The law changed in 2010 act, anyone after that needs to be 55 to draw a pension irrespective of what that pension is.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/increasing-normal-minimum-pension-age/increasing-normal-minimum-pension-age

that increases to 57 in 2028

Sorry earlier post had a bit of a 🤯, with stating wrong way round . My pension is DB and has had raises of 1-2% vs inflation, and its DC pensions that are more susceptible as any draw down income pulled usually costs more for increases for inflation each

Absolutely this.
I’ve posted before about needs to have capital savings at retirement for these sort of future liabilities. Pension income is likely to struggle to meet these sort of costs, if all these were needed because you lived a long life! This is why so many elderly end up having to resort to equity release . They’ve just not got enough savings or pension income to pay £20k for a new roof, or a £17k car etc when they’re in early 80s.

and you’ve not even included the potential £80k care home contribution that’s been touted for years and never made it to law …but guess that’ll be taken after 2nd surviving spouse dies and any home left , sold, to settle both bills.

and, I’m seeing many friends having to pay out for private medical procedures like hip replacement, cataracts, becuase the excessive waiting times mean they’re icing in constant pain or they’re eyesight is effecting quality of their life. That’s a massive chunk of savings they’d never had planned on when retiring 10-15 years ago.

it’s the thing that keeps me awake at night…worrying my savings won’t last for these big liability’s if I live a long life.

And yes, cars are vital in rural communities before anyone starts banging on about buses and bus passes. 80 year olds do still drive very well on average - it’s after 85 that older men have more accidents than the 17-25 year group.

I am 48 and can’t imagine doing it, I feel I have so much more to achieve in my career. I have also experienced people who retire early becoming “old” very quickly unless they have millions and travel extensively and stay active in charities etc. I’m surrounded by people at work who don’t want to retire because they enjoy going to work each day and interacting with people, I can see myself being the same way, having no routine and not having a reason to leave the house every day makes me miserable (I hate wfh). You could have another 40 + years to live; that is a long time and I would think that having to live a frugal life on a fixed income for so little could get challenging especially if you spend time with other retired people who may be older, have worked many more years and have more disposable income.

If you think you'll have enough saved for possibly 50 years then go for it. I would prefer to work, even part time for much longer myself but I know that's not for everyone. I would also be worried about having to be too frugal in retirement. My husbands aunt and uncle retired in their 50s. 10 years later they act like they're 100 despite having lots of money saved. Rattle around the house moaning about every ache and pain despite being in good health. Maybe that's just them though!

Hmm, my DH (nearly 51) would like to retire in a few years, but I’m skeptical. Personally, I think we’d need a few million in the bank to do so. You’re likely to live into your 80’s, OP, so think about the COL in 1983 compared with now. I’m 49 and have no intention of retiring soon.

I’d give it min. another five years before you retire, tbh. You’ll still have plenty of life ahead of you.

If the PP joined before April 2006 and it was a pension scheme with a specific right to retire at 50, they could still have a protected pension age of 50.

These are exceptionally rare

advice from Which

“there are some older pension schemes (schemes that started before 2006) where it was possible to take a pension before the retirement age at that time (50). These schemes were for specific occupations such as sportspeople or entertainers.”
^^
”These tax perks come with conditions, one of which is that normally there should be no withdrawal before age 55 (proposed to rise to age 57 from 2028). Early withdrawal can mean a significant tax charge arises and, because reputable pension schemes would not allow such an early withdrawal, it is likely you are being scammed and may lose a large part of your pension fund.”

That's talking about very specific pensions which could be taken before 50 though, so yep they're particularly rare.
There are still a few that can be taken at 50 or over, the NHS for example if you joined the 1995 section pre 2006. Lots of caveats I believe, have to have remained a member, not left and rejoined a new version etc.

The specific rules around them though are that the pension had to give the right to retire at 50 rather it giving the option to retire at 50.

@Notamum12345577 “I can, but it changed to 55 for new people not that many months after I joined. It’s a DB pension though if that makes a difference in that respect….also a work place one”

I think you’re probably wrong.

A company pension scheme can only act within the limits of the law. The law bases your pension access age on your date of birth, for some it’s 55, for others (younger) it’s 57 - because the law was changed. (actually technically the change hasn’t been finalised, but the government is open about it, it’s been in green papers for years, it’s certain just hasn’t completed the final legal stages).

I don’t think it changed for new starters - it was probably the year it changed for everyone, including you.

There are exceptions - but that’s decided by law, not on the whim of a workplace. NHS certain roles and military I mentioned - someone else mentioned sports people.

I would urge you to check your scheme or you could get a nasty surprise in your planning!

Even if you fall under one of these exceptions, it’s helpful if you mention that you can do it, to be clear it’s unusual.

Good on you! Get yourself retired!

It’s on my scheme info, when I log into my personal account, definitely 50. Railway

If you can afford to. Then do it! There is too much to do and see, to ever be bored.

@Notamum12345577 🤣 that was like pulling teeth! You finally in your last word mentioned “railway”. So lucky you, RPS has a Protected Pension Age protected when the law changed - protected by the law, not your employer. It’s one of the exceptions several of us referred to. The questions all arose because you implied this was your private pension not an occupational pension, and suggested that it might apply to OP’s private pension.

“At the OPs age she might be able to take her private pension at 50. I’m 40 and I can, I got in in time just before it went up to 55 🙂”

It's interesting how posters project their own ideals on these threads.
OP clearly stated that she has her finances sorted. She's happy living frugally. Frugally means different things to different people.
I was in a cafe last week and it was busy - with older people all spending money which keeps people in business and employed. It's not only working and paying income tax that contributes to society. People who aren't working aren't just sitting around sponging off everyone else. They are often saving the government money by volunteering or caring for older family members.
None of it has to be permanent either. She could go back to work if she chose, or not. Life is full of choices and if you have a permanent income stream and the house is paid off, why not take advantage of some of them?

To be fair, I think you missed Notamum's reply to you a couple of pages back, clarifying it was a workplace DB pension.

@FoxBaseBeta no I didn’t (but thank you!)
I replied to her directly on that saying that it was worth checking to be completely sure, as it’s unusual. All the questions arose because she was suggesting OP might have a private pension that allowed it.

pensions possibly require the most admin of anything ever…!

I’ve noticed some of my elders - well, family members - becoming less tolerant and less flexible as they’ve stopped working. Is this just getting older or is it not working?