[Closed] When will I retire?

Worry about it later.

What is "retire"?

Worry about it now. Good equity can vanish overnight, example: I paid £26k for my first flat in 1982 and prices rose steadily then rocketed. In 1989 the flat was worth £75k but I'm off to Australia on a years working holiday, do I sell or rent? Rent was the wrong answer, but sadly the route I took. When I got back the housing market had crashed and the flat was worth a lot lot less. I sold in 1996 for £33k.

Some very clued up people saw this coming, most didn't. My advice is to pick an age when you want to retire and plan towards it. The retirement fund could include property equity but it shouldn't be the only source.

Good equity can vanish overnight

only if you try to cash out

whats that £33k flat worth today?

I wonder what will happen to houseprices when in 20 years time a lot of people will want to downsize to get their 'pension'.

I don't want to retire.

Interested in this thread
so what are the options for a tradesman whos no pension and a house he owns going to be in 10 years time

He lives happily ever after coz his parents or his wife's parents die and leave them a fortune.

No he doesnt coz 2008 financial meltdown wiped out all his savings
both sets of parents already gone so no inheritances coming in

Start binge drinking and chain smoking now, no pension needed, seemed to work well for both my grandfathers.

Sounds like you'll 'retire' in over 20 years' time.

Unless you've a secure, final-salary pension then any idea of retirement will depend on how much you can cut costs and live off your savings. 'Savings' here includes a money-purchase pension and any independent wealth you have.

We like to think that 'retirement' will come when we choose. Lots of people have to 'retire' from work because of ill-health.

Oldgit +1

The chances of having a cruise ship lifestyle in my retirement are more or less nil. I can live ok, but it'll be a lot of gardening and meals out at morrisons. With the reality check in mind I'd prefer not to be a redundant member of society draining a dwindling resource. By then I suspect there'll be so many old people that a cultural shift will have been forced about what retirement means anyway.

Either that or I'll be doing a lot of garden

[i]No pension whatsoever! [/i]

How old are you, or to put it 'better', how many years have you not been putting into a pension?

no final salary scheme here; never had, though my dad did and enjoyed the years of index linked payments!

I got a bit stung with first pension scheme (occupational) as the tied agent was a bit of a shark, but did contribute regally from early days (like aged 22 or so) and it also taught a lesson on not relying on others' 'advice'... was quite naive in those days..

Have been saving on regular basis pretty well since starting working life; by saving I also mean ensuring mortgage is at a reasonable level (incl. paying it down when opportunities arose)..

I've been fortunate in many ways, definitely, but have seen saving (in many forms) as a necessary part of monthly expenditure if you like; rather than something one would get around to, some day.

Just been looking on the government pension website, apparently I'll be getting my state pension from 6th November 2045. That's a pretty depressing thought considering that my work pension won't pay out until I'm at least 68 so that moves it on to 2046.

Oh well, only another 32 years to go 🙄

I'm hoping the retirement age rises so fast I never get there.

I'm gonna need a ton of cash when I retire for all the narcotics I'm going to consume.

Genuinely can't afford to pay into a pension. Looked at it ten or so years ago and with two mini wrightys in the equation it just wasn't doable. Both sets of parents still alive and kicking with my old dear not even 60 yet.

In exactly 6yrs 1mth and 18 days.

I spent 7 years paying into Nortel's final salary pension only for them to go bust with a massive (billion dollar) hole in the scheme. Still very unclear what will happen in the end and what, if anything, I'll see from it....

Got myself a younger wife who has a well paid job 🙂

Retired at 55. The equity in my house will give me a pension is not a guaranteed pension scheme . Invest wisely. A spread of schemes and early start is the key. Retirement is great you should aim to make the most of it. Burying your head in the sand isn't an option.

retirement is going to become an urban myth, something they did in the Elizabethian2 era before the charles era. Its going to fade away and vanish.

"Pick an age to retire and work towards it" - how about next year?!

My last transaction at work runs off in the mid-2050s, I am looking forward to retiring at over 90 then!

So you have no savings, but some equity in your house.

So you will have to sell your house to get cash to live on if you dont work for a living.

But then where will you live ? A tent ?

There seems to be a flaw in your plan, or you wont retire.

Retired at 55. The equity in my house will give me a pension is not a guaranteed pension scheme . Invest wisely. A spread of schemes and early start is the key. Retirement is great you should aim to make the most of it. Burying your head in the sand isn't an option.

Whilst I agree with your comments, it's easy to say if you're a baby boomer IMO.

I'm retiring this year 😀

So very excited about it

(and yes that is my birth year)

"I wonder what will happen to houseprices when in 20 years time a lot of people will want to downsize to get their 'pension'."

I guess they'll end up using their equity to give their kids deposits to buy their overpriced houses.

As I've said before, find a vet and cultivate a very good friendship with them.

'Retirement' is basically a quaint little never-to-be-repeated anachronism that a gilded generation were allowed to do.

I reckon that for anyone say 45 or under, you can expect to work until you drop, or at the very best, some grim subsistence level existance for a year or so as you shuffle off your mortal coil

some grim subsistence level existance for a year or so as you shuffle off your mortal coil

That's taking it to the extreme (since most people who have a pension beyond the state one have enough to cover more than one year) but other than the baby boomers, that was always what retirement acutally was - 10 years or less. I can see that becoming the norm again, the problem being that medicine will keep people alive outside those parameters...

Obviously, our MPs will set a grand example by working on selflessly for the good of the country until they are very old.

Oh wait......

If I'm very lucky in about 19 years but possibly 27 years as they keep changing the rules. However if I do another 25 years it is very much in my interest. Not sure if I'll manage that though as our work load is increasing year on year.

I have a house I bought in 1996 through so got some very good equity there. What ever you do never sell your house in a crash unless you really have to, especially if you can rent it out.

The good/bad news is that as you are male that statistically you won't need much of a pension cuz you'll be six foot under fairly early on after retiring!

Retirement' is basically a quaint little never-to-be-repeated anachronism that a gilded generation were allowed to do.

I reckon that for anyone say 45 or under, you can expect to work until you drop, or at the very best, some grim subsistence level existance for a year or so as you shuffle off your mortal coil

Well I only exceed your age limit by a year but reckon on still retiring.... never moving house from the first one I bought and not breeding mean I should hopefully be able to afford it.

I'm paying into a pension because of the tax advantages and the fact I can't access it till I'm 55. Who knows when I'll retire but I would like to give it a go!

Saving for a pension has never been better value what with funds getting ever less expensive and still generous tax breaks for pensions. Just save something, even if only a few £'00 a month and it soon adds up.

Yeah, mine added up until Mr Maxwell went missing. Then I found that all my contributions were worthless. Tell me about my money in the Prudential, too. Where's that gone, eh?

Saving for a pension has never been better value what with funds getting ever less expensive and still generous tax breaks for pensions. Just save something, even if only a few £'00 a month and it soon adds up.

Based on some rough calculations, with me contributing £500 per month and my employer contributing the same (with higher rate tax relief), my workplace pension will give me a whopping £1,485 per year (with a 25% lump sum) 😕

That's retiring at 65, so 33 years from now.

Putting £1,000 past (and employer matching) would leave a pension fund of approx £1.1m, which gives £2,795 a month. I'm extremely uneasy about sticking £1m into a private pension and expecting to be able to rely on it.

Tempted to take up wing suit flying so that I don't need to worry about retirement 🙂

Current strategy is to maintain existing level of pension contributions and use "rainy day" fund every few years to stick into a buy-to-let. A family member does the same and by buying smartly is actually generating a decent profit from the rental income, which he's then investing elsewhere. Easier said than done though I suppose.

My father had a sit down a few years ago and took a proper look at his private pension figures.

He scrapped the whole thing and bought a boat instead. 🙂

There's no way I'm paying into a pension now and expecting to get everything I was promised in 25 years time. Not that there's much promised anyway.
See R Maxwell and Prudential comments above.

Another vote for OAP wingsuit flying for me.

Well, I've 1652 days to go till I retire. I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy 'the now' and not wish it all away. Make provision for your retirement by all means but live for today, ye cannae get the time back!

Not planning on retiring. Planning to pay off the mortgage as soon as possible and reduce my monthly outgoings and take occasional or part time work doing something stress free that I enjoy to cover bills and holidays. Spend the rest of the time cycling, hill walking and learning. Hopefully I'll be healthy enough to do all that still.

what mr grim said... be it odd jobs / gardening / fixing bikes

I still pay a couple hundred into my company scheme and have done since i was 23 because i would be foolish not to - my company pays in nearly double what i pay and as said above - funds are priced low comparitively so you can get more now to "increase" later if that ever happens.