What age do you think you will retire by?

[SleepDreamThinkHuge]

I am close to 30 and I have read reports during my time retirement age could easily reach 75. Currently have no savings, investments or pension contributions due to needing money for unexpected circumstances. Gaining experience in the public sector now it things go well and I can progress hopefully a better salary in the next few years which should help me save more and invest my money. Realistically the latest I would like to stop working full time is by 60-65. I do not mind working part time after 65. However that depends how much I can save, salary progression etc..

When do you think you can realistically fully retire by or work part time only?

@DrMadelineMaxwell

I don't really understand the figures - on TPS website it says I can get £5k/year approx at 60 then there's another figure if I take at 67. I assumed I could get some at 60 and would then it would go up to higher amount at 67. I think they changed the rules after I had taught about 8 years.

Because I've been varying amounts of PT it's not the huge gold plated pension people seem to think!

I had hoped to finish at 60.

I am 52 and I feel like looking after my health now is the job I want. I want to take a walk, do some pilates, research all sorts of things online and follow various youtubers. Instead I have to sit at a desk all day. When I was young I wanted to be Rich! then I became less materialistic with age! now i want money again, so that I can do nothing, not so I can have cars, jewellery, holidays, just the money to do nothing!

@Zuve what age did you go down to three days a week, or 2.5 did you say? I want to go down to four days first, then 3, but can't execute that plan yet.
Also, I'd be concerned if I went to four days a week too early then I'd just hedonically adapt to that as they say! Then I'd want to go down to three days a week too 'young' because I'd got used to four days a week and wasn't appreciating it anymore. I would love to work four days a week now. I imagine I'd really enjoy that day off. Get up early, get the house in order, go for a walk, shop for geeky foods from health food shoop, check out a local pilates class!

DH doesn’t want to work anymore which I get, he worked for more than 40 years full time.

Due to my age and the likelihood of DH dying much before me, we are looking at ways for me to step back a bit and spend more time together but as much as I hate my job at times, it is right for me to continue right now and hopefully boost my pension a bit before easing back.

We always knew things would be a challenge at this point with our age gap but it’s been harder than we anticipated and we have been together more than 25 years so plenty of time to prepare🤣🤣

I'm out the door at 60. I'll have 38 years in my NHS pension by then. However DS will only be 21 so I might need to flexi retire for a couple of years until he is fully independent

@PandasAreUseless @Zuve This is my plan too! I don't think I ever want to retire completely. Part time work would be ideal. I'm 52 now. Could financially afford to retire at 62.

DH is a high earner and will retire from his corporate job at 62. He's 54 now. But he's got a well paid side hustle (hobby turned business) which he loves so he probably won't retire fully either.

@Overthebow you're kind of doing things the wrong way around if you don't mind me saying. Far better to max out pensions at a young an age as possible which allows the maximum time for investments to grow. Look up the power of compounding returns on investment.

And then start paying off mortgage at a later stage.

@xJoy I totally get what you are saying and feel like that too. With four kids and a full time office job, I haven't had time to look after myself much at all and would love some space to do that. Sadly not going to happen for a while as inhsve to put them all through uni next...

Having said that, once they start at uni I might get some time around my job to actually go to the gym or do something. Not been possible up until now....

If you keep going part time though, you can't go on a world trip or take advantage of last minute deals.
i think for me retirement is all about the travelling!

I think retirement is an extremely modern notion. Don't get me wrong I think you should be able to. But I agree with you I don't think it's going to be possible.

I went down to 4 days at the start of this year. It's life-changing and I can highly recommend it.

I'm 56 now and claiming one pension but don't think I will retire fully until 64. By 64 I will be done with it all I think.

I'm 40 I've just gone to 4.5 days basically doing compressed hours and I love it. At 55 with mortgage paid off I'll drop down o either 3 or 4 days depending on my financial needs. Aim to fully retire at 60 or drop more days 🤔 too many unknowns re health that may change it but thats the plan

@converseandjeans I would advise to check that out very, very carefully.

I don’t know anything about TPS scheme, but on other schemes you would normally be given a low figure (eg £5k per year) to take early OR a higher figure to take later. It wouldn’t normally be both I.e. a low figure to start off with, and then an increase later.

I hope I am wrong in your case. Please check carefully and make very sure.

Maybe they would have been vibrant and engaged retired people, though? You just don't know. It would be easy to do things like voluntary work or going travelling in retirement or learning a new skill or keeping fit etc if you don't have caring responsibilities or ties. If you have caring responsibilities and are more or less forced to retire then I can see how that could wear you down anyway. It may not be anything to do with retirement as such.

I'm 41 and worked in the NHS and had a pension with them for 18 years now so hopefully I'll have a decent amount (if the nhs even exists) by the time I'm 60. I won't get state pension until 67/68. We hope to pay the mortgage off in five years though so that money will go to retirement savings for me and DH.

This might be because there were two teacher pension schemes - the one that women could draw at 60, and then a newer one that started about a decade ago, which is meant to start at state retirement age.

It’s so difficult because it’s impossible to know how I’ll feel in my body at 65. However, we moved countries last year (I was 35) and I took a year out to focus on the move, kids, all that. I was. So. Bored. And depressed. Even though I made friends quickly. I actually chose to pay $2000 and get a working visa because I was just so bored. I did all my hobbies; yoga, reading, walking, crafting, I joined a few groups and a gym… didn’t even touch the sides. The thought of that again panics me a little bit. And I thought I’d love it and have to be forced back to work.

So I’m doing the ‘right’ thing. I’ve maxed out my contributions in this country, I’m still paying state contributions in the UK. We’ve transferred our private pensions out here. But the gap between 65-75, I can’t imagine unless I am poorly or something, wanting to drop out entirely. I’d like to go part time or job share with someone if possible rather than 35 hours a week. If I can live comfortably without the wage, I can help with childcare costs for my grandchildren or something.

The tricky thing is planning for the future when you have no idea how you will feel when you get there and whether you will get there! I think my ideal would be to have a super flexible line of work in my 60s (e.g. consultancy). That would allow me to keep the interest and social side of work but not feel tied down to a schedule, meaning e.g. I could block out a month and go somewhere interesting and sunny. That would mean not feeling that I needed to work financially, even if the extra money would be helpful.

Of course, things don't go to plan and what I really fear is being in a position where I want to give up for my health/to care for partner or parents but have to work financiall. I'm also worried by the experience many people seem to have in their 50s and 60s of being unhappy at work or made redundant and finding it impossible to get another job. Of course those things can happen at any age but it seems more likely in 50s and 60s.

So altogether I'd like to have the financial freedom to stop work from 60 (or ideally mid-50s) and then have the choice when I got there. Obviously that takes a lot of planning and some luck.

I'm 60 and planning to retire at 65.

@MistressIggi

This might be because there were two teacher pension schemes - the one that women could draw at 60, and then a newer one that started about a decade ago, which is meant to start at state retirement age.

That's my understanding that what was paid in before around 2010 I can access at 60. Then anything added after that date isn't available until 67. They also changed it from being based on last three years pay to career average. I'm hoping I can get the lower amount at 60 and then find a way to earn a liveable amount. I can't live off £5k a year even with mortgage paid off.

Yeah, we paid off our mortgage 6 months ago with the plan of investing the "saved" monthly payment. Inflation, high petrol costs and fuel bills has swallowed it up instead.

I heard this rule of thumb too, and I used to live by it, until I did the calculation and realised that method wouldn't provide enough (I have no inheritance coming my way and DH is older and a lower earner, and hasn't planned/saved for retirement).

It's worth looking at the total pot you will need (you can safely drawdown approx 4% per year - so a total pot of £500,000 would let you take a pension of around £20,000 per year) and work back from that.

I'm mid 30s and wonder whether a state pension will even exist by the time I retire 😪

I agree, I think it's meant to represent what you'd need as a minimum for a basic standard of living, assuming you'd also have state pension as a top up. It's very hard to project what kind of capital growth people will get over decades so what the final real-terms pot will be. I think it's probably not enough either, to follow that rule, but certainly very risky to be saving any less than that.

I'm so sorry, that's horrific. There should be much, much higher compensation for such life changing injuries. Not that that would make it ok, but it would at least help. 😔

I am working part time age 72.its a joy!! Those who stop working start aging.

I'm guessing here you must be referring to people who just stay in, pottering around doing nothing in particular?
Not exercising their body nor their minds ?

I know many, many retired people and they are ALL very busy.
They are busy doing things they want to do and thriving, as a rule.
I mean, it is a bit skewed in that I only meet people who are out and about doing things and wouldn't come across people who don't go out, IYSWIM.
But, overwhelmingly, people always look SO much better / healthier / fitter / relaxed / happier in the years after retirement (I am talking about people from about 60 - 85ish, not those older than that, as a rule) than those still sitting over a laptop each day, with no time to exercise and do things they actually want to be doing.