Is my pension pot big enough?

[Summer24isRubbish]

I’ve a pension pot of £290/300k and I’m 59 ( and own home £270K)

Unlikely I can add much to it as I’ve a teenage DS and a single parent.

I’d like to retire at 62 …. Can I do it ? I know I need to speak to my FA but I want to hear from Mumsnet what you think ? State pension is 67

My monthly outgoings are £4k but would look to reduce when I retire and DS is out of education to £2.5k probably another 3 years.

Thoughts ?

OP is aiming for £30k pa net.

The Citizens Advice Bureau offers pensions advice - it was a useful part of the mix when we investigated options. We found financial advisors useless - they’re all trying to sell only options they know about or get financial benefits from.

There’s loads of great advice on line and you need to work out your attitude to risk etc. But I cannot conceive of outgoings on £4000 pm without a mortgage. I’d do some serious accounting and work out how to reduce my expenses.

Good advice @theresnolimits

Lots of misunderstood stuff on this thread.

Google Meaningful Money and educate yourself by watching the videos and listening to the podcsst - all excellent free content.

Work out what you think you could/should live on in retirement, live on it starting now, and use the excess to fund your pension. It may be that you have to do a halfway house for a bit if still supporting DS but it should both help you to understand whether your spending expectations are realistic and help you save much more in the short-medium term.

If OP does this her income will be £20k per year not £4k (actually this includes 25% tax free cash so will be less).

When someone needs income from a pension and has no other income/income below tax threshold it is perfectly sensible to take a taxable lump sum.

You could withdraw £16,760 of which 25% would be your tax free amount with the remaining £12,570 being taxable income (using up your nil rate band). It is a good way of getting more than 25% out of your pension without any tax. It doesn’t work if you are already using your nil rate band.

On top of that you can also earn £6k of interest tax free.

@Summer24isRubbish I can recommend looking at James Shack's YouTube channel. He is a financial planner and has fantastic resources and data regarding pensions and retirement. Some really interesting content that you may find helpful.
James Shack channel