Possible redundancy. Retire?

[MrsKeats]

My dh might be made redundant-it's after 30 years with one company and likely to get 100k net payment.
He has 550k in pensions and is nearly 60.
I am still working on 40k.
Could he retire you think?

It depends on his outgoings and what his pension will be.

Can he pension draw down rather than an annuity? If so then yes plenty

Too many variables, time for a financial advisor.

Do you have any mortgage?
do you earn enough to cover all bills?

Many of whom know nothing

Yes small mortgage which I can cover.
I will check on the draw down thing.

You can draw down 25% without paying tax. You can do it in dribs and drabs or a lump sum. Add that to the £100k- some of which will also be tax free. Work out how much you will need for each of the 7 years until he get his state pension (about £10K).

Sounds very doable if you can cover the mortgage, but you need to work out your joint expenses and factor in when you want to retire too. Alternatively could he do an easier or part time job until he reaches state pension age or gets a bit closer to it.

There are some reasonable online pension calculators which can help.

Do his private pensions kick in at 60? If I were him I'd take the redundancy money and retire then.

Will he get bored though, and spend thousands on some ludicrously expensive hobby like golf or restoring classic cars?

Surely it depends on your lifestyle choices ?

You need to find out his pension estimates , and yours

Are they ok for your expected living standards ?

Many couples will be fine on just your 40k salary and so wouldn't need to start taking the pensions ( delaying is useful ) - especially if the 100k clears your mortgage

Others will feel poverty stricken - what do you normally spend in a year vs save ?

@MrsKeats I’m a bit boring in these threads as I always advise checking your state pension entitlement now and once a year.

Its easy to do if you have a gmt gateway acct https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Even if your DH has to pay voluntary NI for a couple of years he will get the money back in less than 4 years once he draws his state pension.

Take the money and retire

If 100k would clear the mortgage, could he do a job 2-3 days a week to bring in enough cash for holidays and nice things - avoid touching the pension just for a few more years, while you live on your salary for day to day spending?

I'd be wary of dropping down straight from full time to nothing. It's a big jump and if your job has been a big part of your life it can be unnerving. Going part time for a bit gives time to pick up some new hobbies, make friends who want to do stuff in the week rather than just weekends and then drop down to fully retired in a couple of years.

If you're e.g. managing 5% growth on the pension that would mean it was 600k in 2 years time, so might be worth the wait?

Make sure he looks at where it is invested - if his pension plan thinks he's intending to retire at 67 they might not have fully transitioned it to lower risk investments yet (or you may want to keep it invested in equities, but worth knowing either way).