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Original poster

What would you need in place to be able to retire?

15 replies

Liontomylioness · 15/08/2025 22:23

DH and I are in the fortunate position that we think we'll be able to retire early, but I'm questioning if we're being reasonable about this. If all goes to plan we'll have a mortgage free house and a modest passive income to live off which will cover daily living and a few luxuries. We also have some other investments we can cash in on in case of emergency. Retirement to me is not working at all, but being still young and fit we might pick up occasional work to boost finances.

I guess my question is, what do you feel you would need in place in order to retire? It might help me see things I've missed

OP posts:
brutali · 15/08/2025 22:33

Uni funds for all my dcs. Small amount to put towards their first cars / flats. Mortgage free. Enough money to go on 3 nice holidays a year. Enough to plan for care later in life. Bills and modest spending covered. We've had to go through this exercise recently and those are the main things we came up with needing to make sure are in place before retiring (we'd also probably have very modest income from very part time work).

YetanotherNC25 · 15/08/2025 23:56

A small lottery win. But thankfully it’s many decades off. I should probably think about this more but I don’t. Life is for living.

Original poster
Liontomylioness · 16/08/2025 00:02

YetanotherNC25 · 15/08/2025 23:56

A small lottery win. But thankfully it’s many decades off. I should probably think about this more but I don’t. Life is for living.

I've always been a bit blasé too, I often think things will always work out how they're supposed to. I hope they do for you!

OP posts:
Meadowfinch · 16/08/2025 00:11

I'm nearly there. My mortgage will be paid off next year. I'll downsize and move further away from London, freeing up some money for ds. I have some savings as well as a pension.

If I go then, at 63, I'll have £17k a year until 67, and £29k a year after that. Maybe work part time for the first four years.

An extra £50k would mean I wouldn't have to work at all in those four years.

measureofmydreams · 16/08/2025 00:23

i'm 63 and mortgage free. next year I will have approxe £160k in savings and a pension pot of £340k ish. but I'm too nervous to take the leap. DH has a pension pot of c. £600k but we run separate finances and go halves in everything. I own 75% of our house. I think that I'll need to fund £30k a year (until state pension) then I can reduce what I need to fund when that kicks in. I dont have enough for that yet.

Decisionsdecisions1 · 16/08/2025 13:41

It depends what happens with DD. Whether she needs to live with us in order to be able to work (eg if she can't get a secure job outside London or affordable rent etc) and whether she is financially independent.
This will determine whether we can downsize and whether we need to still support her.

A friend had planned to retire by now but her recently Oxbridge graduated daughter (who isn't just academic but has ample solid and relevant work experience, initiative and good communication skills, references etc) can't get a job, of any kind despite lots of applications.

loveawineloveacrisp · 16/08/2025 14:13

Mortgage needs to be paid off (2 years to go) then I could live off £2k per month from pension drawdown. Enough savings for 3 nice holidays a year.

CoastalCalm · 16/08/2025 14:16

We have 7 mortgage payments left , have a plan that means I’ll have sufficient funds for £2k a month from 55 so I’m doing it ! Husband has very little pension so working on a plan for him to ramp up savings after mortgage gone so he can retire at 60 - he’s a year younger than me but I’m prioritising my retirement as I’ve got a lot of health issues and frankly I deserve it

whirlyhead · 16/08/2025 14:18

I moved to Spain several years ago so don’t need to go on holiday ever again so that’s not an issue. I have a small mortgage to pay down, but the house is worth a lot so I can always downsize. I also have investments and bitcoin ive had for years to provide an income along with private and state pensions. I also have no children so no one to leave anything to or worry about which is a relief, so it doesn’t really matter what I do with my money. As long as I have enough to pay the bills and go out every now and then I am happy.

ImFineItsAllFine · 16/08/2025 14:24

It's a while off so we've not looked in detail but we'd definitely need to be mortgage free.

Would like to have savings pots for each DC - barring any disasters I think we could give them each enough for uni fees or a house deposit (but probably not enough for both).

PurpleCarpets · 16/08/2025 14:28

YetanotherNC25 · 15/08/2025 23:56

A small lottery win. But thankfully it’s many decades off. I should probably think about this more but I don’t. Life is for living.

This has been our approach too! We're pretty close now to retirement and thankfully it seems to have worked for us.

AgathaCrispies · 16/08/2025 15:06

We've paid our mortgage off. We live small with manageable monthly outgoings. We also live by the sea so don't feel the need to go on holidays all the time. We own our cars outright and they are old and battered which doesn't bother us at all.

We're already receiving our pensions from long term military service . Mine goes up at 55, DHs has already gone up. Then state pensions will go on top of that. We have investments growing that could do very well in the next 2-3 years. DH does some part time work to top us up.

We have one DC starting private secondary soon and one who will go in a few years time. One pension will cover the fees and we'll pay the 2 year overlap out of our savings.

I'm investing into the Kids Investment ISAs and I'm aiming to give them some money every month from 18 to help with Uni/Mortgage/life for as long as I can. We also have a lot of insurance in place which will go to the kids to buy them houses in the future so they're not waiting for our house to inherit anything.

I feel very lucky to be in this position. I'm grateful to have washed up on this shore after a long hard journey.

declutteringmymind · 16/08/2025 15:11

for us we would also need enough safes for big purchases such as cars, new kitchen/roof.

I Would also want to have some money kept aside to help children out with weddings, house deposits , gifts for grandchildren etc.

Darkling1 · 16/08/2025 15:19

I’d absolutely need my house paid off to be able to retire. 32 years and 10 months left to go…

I have a S&S ISA and recently opened a SIPP, which invest into each month, so those will need time to compound. My workplace pension is peanuts at the moment, so that worries me a lot. I also have an Emergency Fund, which alleviates some anxiety.

I’m hoping the state pension will still exist when I reach that age, but I am doubtful. (Hence why I’m attempting to make my own provisions.)

Sunshineismyfavourite · 16/08/2025 15:24

Mid/late 50s and mortgage free and retired from work three years ago. DH mid 60s and retired year before me.
It wasn't really a practical thing or financial thing that caught me out it was after a year of being retired I was bored! I also wanted to go or more holidays and have more disposable income that I thought we might need for luxuries while still keeping our rainy day savings to pay for emergencies. So I work part time, 3 mornings - luckily in something I love - and this pays for extras.

I would make sure that you have a bit of plan as to what you're going to fill your time with - the first few months or year is great but I found I needed more after that initial down time.

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