Retiring right now

[Retiringrightnow]

I am retiring right now. I have no mortgage or debts and 120k savings. I have index linked pensions that add up to around 40k pa. I have a house that I love in an area that I adore. I live alone with my wee cat. I have 2 kids that I have already helped to buy their own houses. Am i unreasonable feeling insecure?

id mainly defined benefit final salary pensions from various sources

These don't exist any more in my work 😭

Enjoy OP!

Work your backside off for decades in a hideous job that destroys your mental health, and live frugally

Well done @Retiringrightnow in finding yourself in such a great position.

Remember as you get older / more settled into retirement, your costs will likely decrease. Most people get to a point where they eat less, shop less, travel less etc; so end up with a growing bank balance in retirement.

@IOSTT I thought all those pensions schemes had closed now though?

Retirement is a big change and not having a monthly income that you earn will probably feel really strange. You do have pensions though so you will have money coming in. At £40k pa the wolf isn't at the door so don't worry. If you're really worrying about it filling your time perhaps look for something particular time or agency?

@IOSTT can you explain how loving frugally turns into an 800k pension pot?

living

Oh my 🫣😬

I can’t speak for anyone else but I am very highly qualified in my chosen career. I worked massively hard and suffered serious stress in many different industries over the years, ending in NHS, and generally had final salary pensions which currently add up to about 43k per annum. I also have some other pensions that are not final salary and I don’t really count those. Looking on those as a good way of saving. Then I took a lot of risks property wise over the years. When I got divorced I bought ‘the best house on the street with the biggest garden’. Did a lot of work on it and it was then worth much more relatively speaking than any other house in the area and the area itself had gone up exponentially in the time I was there. I remortgaged my house and bought a flat near uni for my child. I had hoped it would mean they would go to the nearby library. That didn’t work out but ended up being quite lucrative and meant I could help them buy their own houses. That’s a big relief off my mind. Sold my house and moved and that’s given me the capital savings. Lots of difficulties and stresses and now I feel I can relax slightly. I might look into a financial advisor given the advice from @venusandmars

@Retiringrightnow I'm absolutely not questioning your qualifications or work ethic, I meant how does one achieve that in today's world...

I found some of the work-related pension stuff a bit of a mind fuck tbh.

I have always worked, payed my way, payed my taxes. Been fortunate enough never to have needed to claim benefits. I worked in the public sector for many years. I was paid by them. When I stopped working for them, they stopped paying me - obviously!

(In the intervening years I worked for other organisations, and then was self employed, with pension contributions going into a private fund).

So, I get to a certain age, and even though I STILL don't work for the public sector organisation, they start paying me again. That is so weird. I don't work, yet I am being paid???

My private pension I understand - money paid in, invested, money that can be paid out.

I know I paid 6% contribution from my salary for years, but the whole thing still feels a bit incomprehensible.

People who started work in the 1980s in public services generally paid into a defined benefit pension scheme payable at 60. Changes in regulations mean that the final salary / pay at 60 component may have changed at some point 2008/2014 but there will still be a large part of their pension which comes under this. The actual amount will generally depend on the grade/salary someone is working at, at the point of retirement.

In nhs the final salary component ended in 2022. There was a court case and it changed from 2015 to 2022.

The McCloud judgement.

if you are highly qualified and subsequently on a high salary and in a final salary scheme. Then you get more pension.

Im a higher rate tax payer but also a millennial & the final salary scheme my company offered closed whilst I was at uni.

They are all gone now I think. I would give a list of all the companies I worked for over all the years but it would be outing.

I have just looked up what generation I am and apparently I am a ‘generation jones’ which is between a boomer and generation x.

Don't feel bad, enjoy it! I plan on retiring before 45 personally.

I recognise your anxiety: for example, our water bill went up from £50 per month to £75. On a fixed income, these rises become worrying. And food bills 😞
I am not in the NHS, when I hit 40 I looked for a job which had a good pension - the DB pension I am receiving was not acturially reduced at 60 but the scheme closed about 5 years ago (henceforth we have a DC scheme - the employer puts in 13%).
At 40 I lost my mum suddenly (she was 64) and dealing with her estate, I wondered what on earth they were planning on living on (2 x state pensions and 1 tiny work pension and a mortgage still!)
I keep telling my colleagues that they must pay more into their DC pensions but they don't listen, it's always "jam, today". I am not talking about feckless youths - sensible well-educated women who have brain freezes when it comes to anything pension related... it's depressing...

I retired recently on a similar pension, but have equine dependents who love to burn money. I spent time making sure I had my budget sorted, and I’ve found I can have a lovely life on that income, so without that added expense you will be fine!

Thank you so much. Enjoy your lovely horses! :-)

I’ll be doing similar next year, I’m married, we’ll have our job pensions, but we’ll basically be halving our income. I think it’s totally reasonable to feel insecure. The idea of not having a salary coming in is making me extremely concerning, despite my DH’s reassurances. All our savings will go on moving areas. I would say, however, that you should definitely go for it!

Is the 40k after or before tax? If after then it's over 2.7k plus per month with another 945 arriving in 2 years. That's 2.7 without leaving the house with more to come. Sounds good unless you have some expensive tastes