To give up working at 52?

[caniquitwork]

I am a teacher, but I've had enough.
I have a small teacher's pension- small because only paid in 15 years and even then mostly only part time. Have some other private pensions which will eventually pay out about £1000 a month, but not till I'm 60. Would not touch teacher's pension until then either.
So here's the aibu part - I have a house I own outright so no mortgage, but to live on until 60 I have about £250000 I inherited. Would obviously invest but don't think interest would be enough to live on, so would also just withdraw from the pot iyswim.
Would that work? Would it be selfish- should I keep this money safe for my children?
No dh in the picture. Keep
going round in circles. Wouldn't mind working in another job to supplement but worried if I could even find anything.

I used to teach, I gave up a few years ago and went part time in another completely different sector. I've just retired at 54. Go for it, if you have to work part time, it can be for something easy that won't take up your whole bandwidth like teaching.

I think you should also speak to your Teacher's pension scheme provder to understand the impact of stopping contributions early. You will be missing out on about 14 years of contributions in to what is a very good penson scheme. It may not sway your choice ultimately but one to seriously consider.

OP paid for her house and also for her pension and teacher’s pension, so it is a combination of inheritance and assets she earned. I’m not sure why if she has the money and a decent financial planner to make the best use of her assets, why she shouldn’t retire. She doesn’t owe her children anything…they likely will split the proceeds when he house sells anyhow.

I don't see any hostility to her spending her inheritance, what I see is lots of posters urging the OP to not burn through her nest egg on living costs and to make that money work for her and provide her with an income for many years to come. Having a house that she fully owns is great, but the value of that house is tied up until you sell it and the OP needs a place to live, so it's an iliquid asset for the foreseeable. If she burns through her inheritance over the next few years all she will have to live on after that is a few small pensions, topped up once she reaches retirement age with the state pension. From what she's said, that is not going to provide her with a very generous living on its own. Planning for retirement is important and making a snap decision, based on receiving a good, but not massive inheritance, is not advisable.

Obscene?

You must have lived a very sheltered life.

Isn't in £20,000 (or is it one of those allowances that are changing)?

In any case, I would have thought your first port of call would be an independent financial advisor to see how to maximise returns on your lump sum. Sticking in an interest bearing account is not usually the best way to maximise returns

OP - if it's helpful, PM me and I can give you contact details of an independent financial advisor, working for a large and reputable firm, who can help,you work through your financial options. They offer a complementary first appointment - this won't be to enable you to make a decision but likely to sketch out your options and to see if you 'gel' and want to proceed further with financial advice and investment. He has helped me move to a happy and active retirement - and while I still have some health and energy!

It was stated in the last budget that the ISA allowance will remain at £20k until at least 2030, but in any case, any future changes are unlikely to affect money already in ISAs, as in the OPs case.

People need to think critically about information sources and wording. There seems to be an awful lot of 'suggestions' by 'random think tanks that no-one has heard of' being translated into 'this is definitely happening soon' by a lot of people.

See also the increase in the pension age to 71. The Government reviews pension ages every five years and even the move to 68 is currently only a proposal that is not yet set in stone. So it is vanishingly unlikely that today's 50 somethings will need to wait until they are 71 to receive their pension.

"Retirement is not meant to be longer than your career"

what should it be - a short period before death? (Mind you, when the state and occupational pensions were first set up, that was the intention! Which is why greater longevity has contributed to funding issues)

Why would it 'drag'? The times that work has dragged (and dragged me down) - as it seems it has for the OP

Ive recently found the answer to that

when OAP was set up in 1909 it was 9 years of expected life on average (age 70 at retirment)

now it is 20 years of expected life( age 66)

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle

don't we all wish it was £20,000 PA before tax - but no the tory gov froze the PA at £12.500 until 2028 and its unlikely that will change

Aren’t there just, and opinionated too, in particular ‘CinnamonJellyBeans’ bitter and jealous to the core

Retirement isn't a drag (usually). Dh is almost retired. I'm very pt. All the retirees I know have very full lives.
Might be boring if you're stuck in.

I retired early but my DH was still working in a job he enjoyed so we had no money worries, I don’t think I’d have done it otherwise. I did have a little investment income coming in but would personally never have spent my capital. Our outgoings were relatively low as we’d also paid off the mortgage.
I used the time to move home and renovate a lovely project house, we made far more on that than if I’d been working.
I did have a pension due at 65 but didn’t claim it early so that I’d get the maximum when I did finally take it.
As others have said, a good compromise would be finding a job you enjoy, paying less?

You're 52 now and I think your finances would allow you to live worry free for a good length of time. You have no mortgage, and as for the kids' inheritance, surely leaving the house to them would be enough to see them ok. I would definitely go for it and maybe find a little part time job further down the line, even if it's just in a little coffee shop, whether it's to give you a little bit of pocket money or just to keep you busy.

The only obscenity is believing life free from work is a long and meaningless lazy crawl towards death

I would consider working for a few more years and during that time put your £250k in a high performing fund (see a financial advisor). My ISA fund has increased 32% in the last 3 years.

If you use the 250 to live, what will you do if a roof fails in 3 years, some big expense with the house emerges?

At your age you could easily live to 100 too! (unless there's some kind of ill health you know about). You're very young to retire IMO - but maybe you ahve lots of plans / things to do up your sleeve

If you think that, it says more about you than the OP.

All the people I know who've retired recently say that they don't know how they ever had time to work and are off hiking, visiting museums and galleries, taking advantage of reduced price tickets and annual passes so it costs them hardly anything, also volunteering, gardening, decorating and doing up their houses etc etc. You know, all the stuff that people want to do but often can't if work gets in the way.

[deleted]

I thought it was still £20,000 - at least for 2024/2025

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/print (government website)

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa/ (Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert website)

The personal allowance and the ISA allowance are two completely different things. I think some posters are getting confused

I'm planning to quit at 52 - my son will be 18, and I intend to have substantial savings for him and for myself.

I might do some pottering jobs for a bit of cash here and there, but otherwise be self-sustaining before my pension drawdown.

My life is my own to waste or not.

Hence the bit about seeing a financial planner.

I know, CinnamonJellyBeans stands very firm with her opinion though, there’s no moving that one, horrible person, sad and obnoxious

I left teaching at 55 and took a reduced pension. I now do exam invigilating which tops my pension up nicely. There's much more work than I realised but it's a casual 0 hours contract so is really flexible.
Zero stress and you can walk out the door and not think about it again until your next shift.
I'd definitely take the leap if I was you. Teaching sucks the life out of you. I'm so much happier now. Good luck.