What age are you planning to retire?

[MooFroo]

Who is actively planning to retire way before statutory retirement age?

I know a few people who have retired in their 50s - they’ve mainly stayed in the same job at the same company for many years and have a decent pension stacked up when they hit pension age. They can take out 25% tax-free at age 55, which seems to be happening more and more.

I spoke to a friend about it the other day and he said he wanted to enjoy his life after working for over 30 years. He has some health issues that have started to bother him now and he couldn’t see himself working for the next 15+ years until state pension age.

I’ve been looking online and lots of early retirees tend to travel in this pre-retirement age while you still have your health and are well enough to make the most of the adventures. That’s what DH and I’d like to do, so trying to work out how to afford it and what we need to do differently now in our 50s.

We both have very small private pensions, no ISA or any stocks/shares, no inheritance to come and will need the state pension. We do have a buy to let property which will be mortgage free in a few years and give an income.

Just wondered if people have planned an early retirement age and how you will be funding your lifestyle once you stop working. Be great to get some ideas and inspiration

Thank you

I’m 38 working a high paid high stress job. I have significant heath issues and I love my job so it’s a case of going as long as I can but in reality if I made it to 45 I’ve done well, then I’ll have to switch to a part time job.

DH wants to retire by 60. Very much influenced by a recent death of a much loved family member in their early 60s from cancer- they never got to retire. Financially we should be ok to do this. One DC who will be an adult by the time I reach my mid 40s.

I'll be retiring in 2 years at age 52. I've never had a work pension, but I saved every spare penny into a SIPP (self invested personal pension), a S&S ISA and a cash ISA. I can't draw from my SIPP until age 57, so the two ISAs will fund my income for the 5 years until I can take my pension.

I just always knew I hated working and was focused from my 30s on early retirement. I never had a high income - I just went without takeaways, nice clothes etc and saved small amounts here and there.

I don’t see how it’s legal to stop paying state pension or means test it. It’s a contributory scheme that you pay into alongside your employer. It’s not free. You’ve paid into it for 30+ years every month as has your employer.

It's paid forward & no pot is saved for you. Demographically speaking it's not sustainable unless the age is 70 something. Bit of a joke when you think healthy life expectancy hasn't changed.

And that's just the pension. No idea what the NHS or social care will look like or cost.

when i started paying in the end goal was 60
i will be 60 this year and they have added on 7 years!
i could take some pension but it wont be enough and i would have to reduce my hours and thus pay less into the next pension, or leave the nhs totally!
i feel ok working at the moment.
ask me again in the winter

Two relatives of mine have recently been told they have cancer and have months left to live. It’s made me realise how fragile life is, so I’ll be going as soon as I can.

Yes there’s no state pension fund. Tax income each year pays for state pensions. The problem is we are not having enough babies to pay tax for our own state pensions when we get to that time. The solution is immigration, so we’ve enough workers to pay for state pensions, or reduce state pensions, or take state pensions later - take your pick.

Probably be working up to the morning of my funeral if the government carry on the way their going

We're both 55. Unlikely to be able to retire, hoping for good health to keep going.

yep there are already more over 65s then u15s so financially we are in for some tough choices.

The solution is immigration,

This isn't popular though...

Never. I’ll work in some fashion till I’m totally unable to if I get my way. I like what I do and I get terribly bored with nothing to do for days on end. I’d also be broke.

I’m 40 but the plan is to drop to a 4 day week at 50 and then retire at 55. Obviously who knows what will happen by then!
Lots of travel plans, will hopefully have some grandchildren by then, have made some shrewd investments, we save well now and I have a very good pension and all being well we will be in a good enough financial position.
I don’t think dh ever plans on retiring 😂 he runs his own business and think he always sees himself as being involved in it somehow.

60, with any luck. I've got some inherited money that I can live off for about 4 years, after that it's pension. I won't be rolling in it, but should be able to manage OK.

Never. Mid fifties - I got divorced last year, had to take out a pension until I'm 73. Private sector, so no work based pension. I covered all the child care, leaving exh to pay into his pension. Although part was transferred to me, it won't be enough to retire on.

Now supporting two older teens through university, no financial support exh, so no chance of saving any more.

Well 55 was the plan but don’t have enough savings and pension so looks like 60 is my new goal

We are planning for DH to retire at the end of next year (he will be 62) and for me to retire at the start of 2030 when I will be 63. DH has a very physical NMW job. My job is sedentary but well paying.

I have 16 years in a final salary pension which will start at 65. I also have many years of paying into company pensions. My aim is that we will have a pension pot of around £350k when I retire.

We will use the 25% tax free lump sum to bridge the gap between retiring and pensions starting.

We dont have travel plans for when we retire. We have hobbies which we are looking forward to devoting more time to.

I’d like to go part time at 55yo and can probably afford to do so. Drop to 3 days a week. Saying that dh is 14 years older than me so he won’t be working then so maybe I’ll have to keep working full time! Honestly when i think about retirement I realise that my age gap relationship wasn’t the best idea from that pov!

But I have health issues so will have to prioritise my health at some point.

I'm expecting to go until 67 and I'm 57 now. I really should look into what I actually will get from my 30 years in LGPS scheme and then I'll also have 10 years in my new job. Sounds grand but I've always been a low earner. I'm trying to travel now while I'm earning so I can enjoy my hobbies in retirement. I'm twice divorced and with hindsight wish I'd paid more attention to my financial settlements.

A pension is not a 'perk' at work, it's been mandatory since 2012. If you have been in employment, you should have 13 years' of contributions.

But if you're self employed, like I am, it really is down to you. I actually run a small business, so pay into my staff pensions, but haven't been able to afford one myself.

I'm not sure on age but I'll be mortgage free at 40 (having made substantial overpayments on a smaller home consistently for years) and have paid into a good pension since I was 16.

I plan to plough the spare money into my pension at 40 and take big annual summer holidays using the 18 weeks unpaid childcare leave in my 40s while my kids can enjoy them too and i have my health and will take stock at 50.

Ideally i will carry on working as I like my job and if that changes I can look for something else; the option isn't necessarily this job or no job. I'd perhaps look at something low paid but more enjoyable or starting a business that allows me to set my own days and hours.

I see work fitting into my life for a long time, I will just be lucky enough to be more choosy and want to plan for helping with the grandchildren.

I will say that approaching 40 has made me focus on my health and I've been rigorously overhauling my diet (mostly of upf) and focusing on exercise for the sake of maintaining muscle mass. Its been dawning on my that whilst I could treat my body like shit as a 20 something, that shit won't fly in my 50s and I need to build good habits now and actively look after myself in a way that I didn't think about before. Its no longer good enough for me to be slim but very sedentary as that is going to lead to me being frail in years to come.

When my children flee the nest I plan to start winding down

Currently 42 with kids of 9 and 12

So probably somewhere around 57 or so
My husband is 48 so maybe 63 for him

Want to get some travelling time in before we are called upon to help with childcare as grandparents. My parents/in laws helped us with 2 days a week childcare between them and it made the world of difference to us so we would want to be able to offer that to our children when the time comes

I'm retiring at the end of August. I'll be 56 and 6 months. I'm a teacher and this is my 29th year of teaching. Paid the mortgage off last year and downsized.
Pension won't be great but I'm going to top it up with part time work as a speed awareness trainer. That and my pension will see me on roughly the same amount I'm on now. I have some equity from my house sale plus a lump sum for emergencies. I've also been putting some money into a SIPP which I aim to draw on when I'm 61 or so. I'm hoping that that stretches enough until I get to 67 and can draw my state pension.

Cant carry on in education anymore, totally done with it.

I think the key is to pay off your mortgage asap, invest if you have the bottle.

Unfortunately that’s not how it works - what you and your employer pay today funds current retirees, there isnt a lot of money out there with your name on it. Plenty of people don’t get what the contributed, and plenty more get way more than they contributed. Unfortunately the current system isn’t sustainable- not sure how it will be resolved, but I do fear means testing or significantly reducing benefit (increasing retirement age, eliminating the triple cap) are very much on the table.

I plan to retire by 55 and don’t factor a state pension in at all.

Don't plan to retire ever but instead plan to reduce my work. I'm sixty now and full time would like to drop to three days a week at state retirement age which for me is 67. I like working and I like the income. Awful pension provision, my own fault I have always been a spender not a saver. My mum retired at 80 and that was only because of COVID. She's very spry and I think working played a part in that.