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

DH is 52 and will be retiring at 55. Our mortgage will be paid off by then. Our kids left home almost 10 years ago. I am self employed and wfh and have no plans to retire yet, but my job is so easy, tbh I feel like I'm retired anyway. We plan to stay at home for about 9 months of the year, but close for 3 months over winter and spend that time travelling to warmer countries.

I retired at 55 a few years ago my husband at 54 but he now works 3 very flexible days from home in his specialist field from home. We paid off our mortgage by 48 and I then concentrated on putting as much as possible into my pension over the last few years of working. We have a lovely life style, travel, socialising and hobbies. We have 2 children who have both graduated and are now travelling before settling into grad jobs.

Retired at 54 (still 50s) due to carer responsibilities

Do lots of volunteering

Start small paid job soon

Me too. Zero regrets.

I'm 47, self employed with not much pension pot but DH 52 has a decent civil service pension. Mortgage is very recently paid off but we have three kids to fund through uni in the next 8 years .... So I'm thinking as I get older I'll gradually reduce the amount of work I take on and by the time he retires around 60-65 I'll be just doing a few hours a week, or stop completely if we can afford it.

I'm assuming either 67 or until they decide I'm too old and manage me out through capability. So about 20odd years to go.

Very, very envious of the teachers who came before me.

I’m going to cease my current job at 60/61 but probably will do something for a couple of days a week. I already volunteer. It baffles me how folks want to stop working but don’t have a clue how they will fill the days. I can’t see me calling it retirement until I’m 75.

Sits down with popcorn and prepares to drool over how incredibly lucky we all are, lol.

I expect some juicy stealth boasts to come!

55 unless I decide to reduce to part time and work a little longer - I have enough to cover my share of the outgoings each month plus a decent amount of ‘fun’ money - husband will need to work to 60 and no plans for elaborate travel as I have some health issues. I’m 53 now , have 10 mortgage payments left and living comfortably on less than I’ll have if I do retire

Never. Will always work.

I plan to retire at some point between 56-60 but I'll stay longer if I'm still enjoying it or leave earlier if I'm not (and pay for missed NI years). My main income source in retirement will be DH's pension 😳(we've always had completely shared finances, he is retired at 55 with a SIPP well over the old LTA - which is plenty to maintain our current lifestyle and pass some on to DC earlier rather than later).

I'm 52 now. I need another 4 years of NI contributions to get to 35 years. At 60 I'll get £9K/yr in teachers' pension (I've been part-time (0.4-0.6) for all but 6 years, and had four years out, hence why that is so low) and then the part of the pension I am building up now at 67 (currently that is less than an extra £2K/yr). I'll get a bit extra from the AVCs I paid whilst I was FT but not much (£650/yr). Assuming I take everything at the standard ages and take the standard lump sum.

Lifestyle wise we've always lived below our means to enable this early retirement (also preference). We could've afforded to have a house that is worth twice as much, gone on more expensive holidays, had more kids...but financial comfort always came first but we didn't really want to either. We have build up a decent amount of savings/investments and now DH's lump sum has been added to that too. Mortgage was paid off well over a decade ago. Not sure this was always the right choice but it is what we did. We were very lucky to have the choice, neither of us came from backgrounds will bring inheritances. It was very important for us to to be able to financially support DC into adulthood (especially give how much harder things are now - there would be no early retirements or part-time work for me if we weren't in a position to do that in addition to funding ourselves).

67. I've got about 14k coming in defined benefit schemes, plus the state pension. I should be mortgage free by then with about another 100k in a SIPP. 7 years to ho!

I was offered a package, but on compulsory terms, to retire early at 58. Civil Service or I couldn't have afforded to. As it was, I still needed to get a part time job for the next 6 years before my State pension kicked in.

Never regretted it

Have you checked your online government gateway account for an accurate number of years needed for full state pension? As you are 52 now the 35 years is irrelevant to your circumstances as your NI record will have started well before 2016. You could need anything between 29 and 49 years depending on you previous circumstances.

55 part time then 60 finish

I have had 2 careers both with defined contribution pensions, had paid off the mortgage by 45 and considered moving but decided our home was big enough and that we didn’t want another mortgage. The money saved went into an ISA to boost my retirement pot.

At 55 I took my first pension and dropped to 3 days a week in my current job which in theory was great but hasn’t turned out to be as good as expected and I have to really manage my time to not do a full time role on part time pay. Whilst I could carry on for years I have had enough and after 18 months with no sign of my employer recruiting to cover the hours I dropped or changing anything I am now planning full retirement for next year when I’ll be 57.5

I also love to travel internationally which is restricted by the company 2 week maximum leave periods unless you beg for longer and the only just above statutory allowance, so this is more incentive to retire.

DH has a defined benefit pension, has loads of job satisfaction and loads of annual leave so will continue until he is at least 60 which is 4 more years.

I can do consultancy type work relating to my job after retirement but my current thought is to find something completely unrelated or voluntary to keep me active in mind and body.

@HoskinsChoice my full employment years (20+years) were before 2012 and I never earned enough to pay into a pension but enjoyed my work. Due to my son's disability it has been impossible to find a job with the flexibility to account for his needs so I have been self-employed for 20+ years although I haven't earned enough to pay into a private pension. However I did buy a home for us and will be paying my mortgage until I'm 67.

So, just as the past 20 years have been financially difficult, it looks like my final years will be too.

As for pensions being an employment 'perk' in some jobs it certainly is, the Civil Service being a good example of this.

I think we'll see changes to means test all the other stuff that older people get. Continue NI contributions after 67, bus passes, free prescriptions. The winter fuel thing was the start of that.

Also they have to get rid of the higher rate deductions for pension contributions soon, that really is unfair.

Yes, @rainbowunicorn , I've checked the government gateway and this is what is says for me. Thank you for checking I had done this though!
I've just checked it again and I need to contribute another 4 years (which I think takes me up to 35, but I may be wrong on the total years).

That's good. I just thought best to mention as a lit of people don't realise and just think it is 35 years.

Thanks! Just added up my contributing years and it is 31 so far, so it will add up to 35.

I only missed the years I was at uni, as despite not paying into the teachers' pension for four years I was working still and paying NI (very poor timing of maternity leave/changing jobs/not paying attention 2003-2007 - I could sort it out but it isn't worth it for the amount I was working).

If you do the maths it makes sense though. If we increase pensions every year by more than the tax base grows, which we do, then pensions take up more and more of the government spend and so it has to be pushed back and back. The alternative is to limit pension increases to GDP growth and no one is suggesting it.

It was good advice @rainbowunicorn.

The biggest impact ( though not the only one as you already said) on the 35 years criteria comes for people who were contracted out of the Additional State Pension ( SERPS) at any point in their working life before 2016 - and lots of people aren't aware of that/ may not even realise they were contracted out.

I can take my current workplace pension without deductions at 65, so that’s the latest I will retire. I think I can probably afford to stop at 62 if I want to.

I expect to drop to PT at some point before retirement. But not yet - the T&C of my DB pension scheme make it prohibitive to do so. Once they close it to existing members (it’s been closed to new joiners for 5 years already), I’ll definitely drop my hours.

I’m 58 and technically part time

I love what I do and only do about 10 hours a week. I could afford to stop anytime I wanted to, so I’ve reframed it as a hobby I happen to be paid for. I will only stop if it stops being a pleasure