Do you think you will be able to retire before 65?

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I am approaching my mid 30s. Due to circumstances in the past, I was not in a position to save and invest. Hopefully I have started investing in the stock market I try to put what I can every year and hope to do so for the long term i.e. 30 years. In terms of pension, I will be opting in for a NEST pension which my employer provides I will be eligible in 3 months time as I started a new job. Luckily I have a house that I own with a mortgage when I factor in all my costs does not leave me with much to save at the moment. Maybe a few thousand a year.

I have checked predictions for my age of state pension eligibility and from what I read it seems like there is a strong possibility that pension age in the UK will be 70 plus in 2050.

However, 70 plus is an age where most people would not want to work full time. I am someone who say after 65 at the latest does not mind working but something shorter e.g. 4 days maximum or part time hours. If I live to 65 I want the years after to mostly be spent in having more free time and less work time.

So my question is how can I attain enough money to not work full time anymore before 65 and try and work as little as possible. I am trying to improve my salary as in the past I have worked in a lot of dead end jobs. But now I am in finance still on a not so high salary but with experience and training opportunities I have a good chance of good salary growth in the next 5 years. For the time being, I am not able to invest much into my stock market ETF. If I am lucky, I have started about a year ago and put £1,000 a year contributions in. (Hopefully as my income rises I can contribute a greater amount.)

What steps are you taking to ensure you can retire before 65 / not have to work full time anymore? I feel that I may have started to late. No pension contributions until now and I come late to investing in the stock market. But as they say surely better late than ever? And 25-30 years is still a lot of time to grow investments surely?

Thanks.

It's great that you are thinking of your future and a Nest pension is a great way to do it.

As well as a pension, think of some passive income, or a 'side hustle' for pocket money.

Property is difficult- do the sums. Ideallly buy a small rental that you can eventually downsize into to release equity from your current home. Not one to do straightaway but if you have some savings they could be used as a despair to snap things up. Be savvy. I picked up a property from an aunt who needed to sell her place. I got first dibs and we split what she would have paid in estate agent fees.

I'm sure you're paying your NI but might be worth checking how much contribution you have made and if there are any gaps.

I would actually plan to go let time sooner- to look after your health. Plus the endless eye, doctor, mammogram, appointments you have to go to.

If you have no dependents currently, make as much contribution to your pension as you can.

You're doing well.

my advice (fwiw) is don't give another thought to what you could have, but didn't, do.

you've got a good plan in regard to both working your way up the ladder & investing in S&S and a pension.

I made decisions, that I don't exactly regret because I had amazing experiences, but have left me a lot less financially secure than I was on track to be.

Don't let a bloke (or woman) stop you achieving your goals & be very careful about taking too long iut if the work place if you have children.

any money you can put into a pension or other investment will help.

im mid 50's. I won't be able to retire until state pension age (67 for me) and it won't be on much more than my state pension. But I will be mortgage free and in my own home. As long as I can afford to heat &!eat I'll be ok.

it's not great & I wish I'd made some better decisions along the way, but life's a journey.

It’s great that you’ve started thinking about this now! Gives you 30 years to build up your savings. I’m also early 30s and think I’m in an ok position. I’d like to have more, but wouldn’t everyone?!

I currently pay 5% into a pension, which my employer matches. I’m planning to up it to 7-8% when our pension window opens in September. From previous pension schemes my current pot stands around £20k so I really want to start upping my payments now.

I also have a S&S ISA with about £3k in it. I pay into it every month and plan to up this contribution as I (hopefully) earn more over the coming years.

Me and DH also own a house with a mortgage. Plan is to get the mortgage paid off before we retire, and potentially downsize to release some money to fund our retirement too, and be mortgage free.

Sadly I think retirement will become even more out of reach for some, which is why I’m now determined to save a lot to hopefully ensure I can retire around 60-65. I’d also like the freedom to reduce my hours once I reach my 50s, but we’ll see.

What can you do?

Work overtime or a second job or get a payrise or a side hustle

Regularly check your National Insurance Contributions, you currently need 35 to receive a full state pension, but this may change over time

55 looks alot different to 35
I believe that some private pensions, you can access at 55, but the age is going to increase
You may want to change job or work PT after 55

Look at FIRE

Beware of the unexpected in your plan like redundancy & illness. Look what happened with covid & the economy.look at interest price increases & crashes over history. Nobody has a crystal ball.

It’s great that you’ve started and you’re thinking about your projected income. You will however need to increase your pension contributions significantly if you want a comfortable retirement. When you get payrises, put half into your pension and you will benefit from the saving being tax free - and your employer may also contribute. £1000 per year, even over thirty years, will not augment the state pension even when you do get to retire.

Anyone who says life is too short to save into a pension isn’t thinking about the decades they’ll have scraping by.

I started this at a slightly earlier in age than you, early 30's.
Although the financial landscape was very different then from now, there were still many outward difficulties, (including 15% mortgage rates, negative equity in property and I was a lone parent).

I'm not a financial adviser and none of my story is advice for your particular circumstances, but here's a snapshot of how I achieved it. It can be done.

...in this sequence:

-protected income in case I was unable to work, initially through income protection insurance, then by building up a savings pot, equivalent to 18 months worth of basic financial needs.
-adopted a simple, frugal lifestyle, calculating household income and expenditure as if it were a business.
-never took on any debt other than a mortgage.
-overpaid as much as possible on the mortgage every month, and selected mortgages that enabled flexible overpayments.
-Any pay rises or additional income was diverted to straight to paying off the mortgage.
-After mortgage completion, I diverted excess income to top up my employer-run pension scheme. I spent some time researching the benefits of this.
-Also I set up ISA investments and a low cost stakeholder pension, with flexible and minimal contribution options. I never stuck to the providers default investment portfolio and always researched my own.
-I never used a financial adviser and always undertook my own research.

I paid off my mortgage in just under 9 years.
I went to very part time work, early 40's, and retired from paid work completely 10 years later.

One thing I would say is have a clear vision of where you want to be financially, but also be very honest with yourself about what you can and can't compromise on and sustain. For instance I was quite happy to buy second hand clothes and white electrical appliances, but I wouldn't give up nice holidays, and a healthy diet.

Also, although you need an awareness of the financial news within the country, and to take it into account, don't be too distracted or discouraged by it. There are always reports of national crises just around the corner, of impossible challenges ahead. Keep focused on your own goals and let the rest wash over you as much as possible.

There are always reports of national crises just around the corner, of impossible challenges ahead. Keep focused on your own goals and let the rest wash over you as much as possible.

Love this @seekingasimplelife. Things feel hopeless at the moment, I will try to think like this much more.

Pay in whatever you can while you're young and pre children.

As a single parent it is a slog.

I'm not in a bad position at 52 but wish I could visit my younger self and have a word!

I agree that every situation is very different. I grew up in a family with a lot of genuine poverty so was focused from an early age to ensure I was comfortable. I bought my first home on my own relatively young at 25 and ensured I paid into a work pension. When my youngest reached school age I took on a second job even though I ended up travelling quite a lot. Not ideal as my preference would have been to spend more time with the children. I also focused on getting promotions. This allowed us to start to substantially increase our mortgage overpayments and for me to then make additional pension payments too. I moved to an employer with an excellent pension scheme so currently a total of c38% of my salary value is also being paid into my pension between me and my employer. Overall this means my mortgage should be paid c10 years before retirement and I can retire by 60.

It's good you're thinking about this now. I'm mid 30s and don't earn big sums (actually only about £22kpa) but I've put 10% of my salary into my pension and it's currently about £40k. Not brilliant, but not dreadful. My plan is as follows:

Keep paying into pension at at least this rate and plan to increase my salary soon (I'm planning on upping hours when DD2 starts school.)

Overpay mortgage, even if it's by a small amount every month. We've been careful not to take a mortgage out that takes us to retirement age.... it's currently due to be paid off when I'm 58 but planning on making this sooner through the overpayments.

I save what I can into a S&S ISA each month. This is with a long term goal of being my "early retirement" pot.

I think I'm dreaming really as none of what I'm saving is big sums of money but I figure if I can keep chipping away at the mortgage and putting some money into pension and stocks and shares then I'm already used to the habit of savings and when (hopefully) my salary increases or when childcare costs decrease I can up these payments.

It could be more, but this is the best I can do.

Most definitely will retire before 65 and a few years before 60 I hope.

Started working at 18, first pension at 19 for me, now 56 with 33 years in a defined benefit pension and four in a defined contribution. Last two years I have been putting 50% of my salary in, and I’m now putting 100% in until I finish, hopefully in next six months. DH has always been Defined contribution and started at 20, but his income is much higher. Since we paid out mortgage off at 50 and the DC have become financially independent we have been lucky enough to concentrate on upping the numbers.

we also have savings, shares, investments and a third share of another house.

Its been accumulated over a lifetime though, not a lucky quick buck. We’ve had those lean years and child care years and redundancies and unemployment, university for the kids to cover.

As long as you plan and save now you will be ok.