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?

I’m hoping to reduce my hours quite significantly in early 50s, with a view to stopping work at 56/57. I don’t think I’d call it retiring as I will want to be doing something with my time. It might be that it’s entirely voluntary or something paid for a small amount of time per week comes out of it.

In terms of funding from when I stop work, DH loves his work and will continue until 60 and we can live off his salary. After that, I can take most of my occupational pension at 60 which also comes with a lump sum. That pension, the lump sum and a couple of other savings vehicles lie ISAs and SIPPs will give us enough to ‘bridge’ to 65 when DH gets his pension and 67/8 when we both get state pensions.

In my experience, the thing that makes earlier retirement possible is having paid off the mortgage early and then used that money to boost savings/investments/ pensions for a few years before stopping work.

@WombatChocolate sounds really good. And well planned.

We haven't paid off any of our mortgage and are age 53 and 55. But we are ploughing money into our pensions and will take out a lump sum in 10 years time to pay off the mortgage. It's not huge.

DH plans to retire in 2030 age 62 and I'll probably retire in 2032 also age 52. DH has a small business which he'll continue after retiring from corporate job.

We have rental income we can live on until state pension starts. Plan to travel and go and live somewhere hot with much lower cost of living for a few years at least.

I enjoy working though and will probably try and find a part time job after retiring and traveling for a while. Even just working in a cafe a few hours a week. Not for the money but to give a bit of structure to the week and the social side.

Never. I might be able to partially retire at 67. I laugh hysterically now that when I joined the workforce 30 years ago people were able to retire at my sort of age, early 50s, on incredibly generous final salary pensions. I'm honestly expecting I'll drop dead in harness though I'm hoping to at least be able to move to a cheaper country. Might have to start learning Portuguese..... seriously though the earlier you start the better.

How are people able to retire somewhere hot or cheaper? If you are British citizen, isn't it no longer open to Brits to move to an EU country.

You can still live in some EU countries such as Spain, if you can prove a certain amount of earnings (including pension) each year.

@blueshoes we're not going to Europe. Further afield and more tropical 😎We have connections there though and dual passport.

Lots of countries have specific retirement visas, you usually have to prove you can support yourself.

Where we're going you have to show you have a joint monthly income of £1500 in order to qualify.

That is plenty to live extremely well there including having a housekeeper to do all the cooking and cleaning.

Cost of living is 80% cheaper than UK. But you have to factor in private healthcare and cost of flights back to UK every now and then. So probably £25k pa total.

Just noticed a huge typo. I'll hopefully retire at 62 not 52!

Retired last autumn , I’m 62
living on savings until the state pension kicks in
No mortgage
Might get a part time job next autumn if we get bored / need more money coming in

Think it'll be 68 before I can claim my pension, but that's ok. I'm happy in my job and have seen many go down hill fast as soon as they retire. Life's too short to watch daytime telly day in day out. Think staying active is a good thing.

@Amboseli I would love to know where you are talking about. Sounds awesome!

I hope by 70. I am a lone parent on just above mw.

This might give some ideas: wherecani.live/explore-options/retirement-visas/ !

I'm always surprised when people talk about retirement as boredom and day time TV. My parents planned for it as a stage of life and have really thrived in retirement. Obviously good health plays a part there but if you plan for interests that are active, social and absorbing then it can be a fantatic time. Certainly my parents have a really active life and have made loads of new friends.

@UserNameSameGame sorry I'd rather not say as outing but @Ali85 has linked to a great website. The world is your oyster!

We'll probably move around a bit as well, 6 months here and there.

@Ali85 I think good health and money is probably key to a happy retirement.....

Been thinking about this a lot since I turned 60. Don't really want to be working full time until 67 but can't take pensions early other than teeny amounts. Going to save like mad and probably downsize house to try to release 2 years living costs to retire at 65 or at least only work a wee bit.

Yes I am sure that's true but it does depend on what you like doing. Lots of the things my parents do are free, though of course that depends on where you live. My MIL is a member of a famcy private health club and spa and that is definitely key to her happiness in retirement!

Between 50-55. The nature of our businesses mean we will still earn after we no longer have to do any day to day work.

I’ll be dead long before I get anywhere near retirement.

I’m now imagining you as a pop star getting royalties…or a v successful author? .or is it nothing as exciting as that? 😆

Oh that’s great! I love the idea of Portugal or New Zealand for a few years.

So, do you still get your U.K. state pension if you are living in another country? And in some cases the other country doesn’t tax your income?

Do the people on here with very structured plans for early retirement in a decade or two worry about the possible changes to pensions? There seem to be a lot of think tank proposals to make pensions less generous (especially to higher earners) at the moment e.g. www.pensions-expert.com/Law-Regulation/IFS-calls-for-government-to-scrap-25-tax-free-lump-sum?ct=true and www.ft.com/content/684f88cd-a7ab-4325-a26f-88aead79d2f3 Of course think tanks don't have the power to change anything but I guess they are trying to catch the eye of the (almost certainly) incoming Labour Govt.

If you plan to retire in your mid 50s and pay your mortgage off with the tax free lump sum, it'll be quite a pain if they abolish the tax free lump sum and don't let you get your hands on any of it until your 60s.

Sadly, it’s nowhere near exciting as any of those..
Nobody would pay for this voice to be on the radio 😂

They wanna make you poor so you basically cannot retire early. Cos people are clearly being abit more sensible and planning more hence why they need to find incentives to get people over 50 who have retired early back into work.

Unbelievable really.

Yes, I was going to over-invest in my pension and use the lump sum for the mortgage in a few years, but now I am overpaying the mortgage instead. It’s a worse return, but less risk to me.

It would be a massive step to take though and would destroy people’s confidence in investment, after they have spent years trying to persuade people to invest for their own retirement. Ultimately it would be an own-goal.

I won’t stop working. I love it. The .gov website says I have 37 years of NI contributions already. So I could retire next year, but there’s no way I can live on £185 a week.