As you know, mainly due to a major life event I finished my career back in 2009. Sort of partly through choice. I bummed around for a year or so before going headlong into a new job. I work full-time now and, although my hours are fixed (unlike before), I wonder what drives the desire to do this - apaert from the money of course. I found retirement dull after a couple of months.....
I have little or no stress in my new job, in my old job I belived that it was the "buzz" that I craved.... so what is the driver
|
Interesting that. I do enjoy my work ( most of the time ) and I'm lucky enough to be working in a fast moving and fairly interesting environment. But I'm convinced that if I could retire, I'd do so in a heartbeat provided I could support myself and my family adequately.
There is so much world to see and things to experience and if I had the opportunity to do that while still young and fit enough to enjoy it, I definitely would, and I am sure I wouldn't look back.
Not gonna happen though...
:-(
|
I'll never retire, as long as my health allows me to work. I may cut back a bit when my pension arrives in four years time, but I could never imagine not having a reason to get up in the morning.
Most of my working life has involved meeting people on a daily basis, some great, some indifferent and some you wouldn't want to live next door to but I'd miss that aspect the most.
|
Ok then, here's an idea for you guys who don't want to give up work, how about you give me your pensions so we can all have what we want?
;-))
|
|
Still working, but after day two of doing it, when I was 18, I thought "blow this for a game of soldiers" and have been trying very hard to get to that blessed position where I don't have to ever since. Can't wait to stop. I've got a zillion books to read and there's all those garden centres that need to sell me a coffee once a week. I don't need much else and never have.
|
When I went freelance in 1997 it felt like I had retired. Come and go as I please, do what I want as long as the work gets done and the clients are happy. That feeling lasted for a couple of months and as my client base grew, the volume of work grew along with the stress. I had to be there when the clients were there - 8am - 6pm, plus evenings and weekends. Everything is still the same now, I can do school runs and Tescos on a Wednesday afternoon where it's quiet etc as long as a client isn't pressing me for something urgent.
If I really, properly retire, I'd keep on with a couple of my favourite clients. Designing for me is like someone playing on a Playstation. I love it. I wake up on a Saturday morning, check emails and get cracking with the work. I like being active, I don't want to stay in the house curtain-twitching and watching telly.
There are also a couple of other things I'd like to do. I fancy owning a shop like Awkrights in Open All Hours. Wifey can stay in the backroom doing bookkeeping and accounts and checking stock. I'll be in the shop flirting with the mature ladies. I'd never retire from that.
|
Reckon Bad Dave has got it just about right, reminds me of a Farmer I know up on Bodmin Moor, reckons every day is a holiday to him - as he luvs his work.
|
I would guess one continues to work for a sense of purpose.
When my dad finally retired at 68 he just couldnt be bothered with work anymore, he was happy to spend his days pottering in the garden, smoking a cigar in his greenhouse reading the paper or doing entirely unnecessary DIY jobs. On a whim he decided he should take my mum on a cruise round the Caribbean, not the kind of snap decision he used to make when he was working, he plans alot less now and seems more relaxed despite the cancer and heart surgery, his mindset has now changed totally 7 years into full retirement - quite a change from someone who was used to 15 hour days when working.
|
>>>There is so much world to see and things to experience and if I had the opportunity to do that while still young and fit enough to enjoy it, I definitely would, and I am sure I wouldn't look back.
Agree 100%.
I first "retired" from a career at 40... as did MrsF (lump sum payoffs + deferred pensions). I then worked about 30hrs weekly self-employed until I was 55 when I retired a bit more and took my company pension early. She worked self-employed for a few years then accidentally fell back into a second career at 44.
Post 55 I'd tidied up a few loose ends (restoring our last house to sell at best price) then we moved to our current retirement house (bigger but easier maintenance). Then I expanded my broad interests into a small business that I can do at a pace that suits. I was not highly driven to do so but it keeps me in pocket money and puts profit on a proper footing with the taxman.
Much of my meandering course in life.. and my contentment with early retirement in whatever form... is driven by my life experiences at the hands of MrF Snr's over driven way. He moved the family for career progression/more money at just about every crucial time in my childhood. I don't resent him for it but it made things difficult as a kid.
I came to a considered position by the time I was early/mid 20s that I didn't need to seek the bright lights and "modest" would be fine. I've always worked hard and succeeded in what I've done at whatever level though and this has been reward enough.
So for me the gradual step down to full retirement is not such a shock and with a huge range of interests plus more time to devote to them I'm always busy. My current activities can easily ebb and flow with varying health so there is no reason for life not to continue much as now for a couple of decades unless I/we suffer a serious episode which is always in the lap of the gods.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 17 Jan 14 at 12:15
|
>> I'll never retire, as long as my health allows me to work. I may cut
>> back a bit when my pension arrives in four years time, but I could never
>> imagine not having a reason to get up in the morning.
You don't need a reason to get up in the morning, if you need a reason it means your life basically sucks. Retirement to me is nirvana, and I am up by 07:30 every morning because each day is a pleasure and I want to savour all of it.
|
|
I must be the opposite...thoroughly enjoy my 3 day a week retail job + extra days, but if its lashing down I can happily lie in bed till early afternoon, just reading or listening to the radio. Then go walk my mothers dog, two hours in the gym & sauna followed by early doors beer. Perfect. From Spring to Autumn I am busy working 6 or 7 days with gardening & decorating jobs for friends and self, so I relish the odd lazy day when the weather dictates. There have been a lot of those lately.
Last edited by: legacylad on Tue 21 Jan 14 at 09:39
|
I retired at 48.5, having done 30 years in the Old Bill.
At the end of my career, I went mad offering to cover others if they wanted time off (even if it was short notice), so I had a load of days owing to me, which allowed me to walk out the door several months early, on full pay.
After a month, I was as bored as hell. I found myself washing the car every day. Yes, being able to read a good book was a nice thing..but I definitely needed to 'do' something.
I now drive a van part-time and run my own business. Once the business enters a zone where I draw a wage, I'll bin the driving job.
The van driving job pays enough for me to not have to bother going to the cashpoint..the business pays my car/bike insurances, AA, mobile phone & local fuel...so between the two, it takes the edge off things.
I work as hard now as I was before, for less remuneration..but I'm far, far happier being out of London and being on the edge of Dartmoor....and away from the political correctness, farcical memos, 100+ e-mails per day, HR, civilian managers, endless meetings, hopeless budgets, staff discipline, complaints, endless crappy courses, etc.....leaving all that behind was like someone taking their foot off my chest...although I miss some of the people and the laugh we had. I miss the London wage as well...but you can't have it all ways.
|
Watching this thread with interest. Wife has been told redundant from Sep. I suspect I'll be in the same boat, so very tempted to retire early (50-ish).
Happy to downsize the house and live off the capital released until pensions can be invoked. So we can move anywhere, do anything! Just not quite sure what yet!
|
I guess it's not so silly to revert to the old adage of trying to turn one or more of your favourite pastimes into a source of income.
For me, it would ideally involve mountain biking somehow. Building them, fixing them, selling them, leading tours, teaching people techniques, or whatever, dunno...
|
I've never done any of the things I ought to have done and my 'career' has been random and haphazard. At the same time I usually think of myself as having had an easy life, with good luck in contacts and little or no effective effort on my part.
Actually most of that is illusion although I don't pretend to have been deprived in any way. I did, and hated, sweaty West End and other central London nine-to-five for many years. As a hack, when I had an interesting but financially unrewarding time, I wrote countless thousands of words on all sorts of places about which I seemed to know everything. Last night, going through some bumf, I came across a massive stash of pieces about British politics written in surprisingly good classy French journalese... coverage of Labour, Conservative and founding SDP conferences, TUC, Northern Ireland, a piece on British accents... I am forced to conclude that pretending to be idle is just self-glamorization and I actually did do some quite hard work sometimes. Even now I sometimes have to burn the midnight oil to avoid disgraceful open-ended lateness on some tiresomely convoluted translation.
Still can't rid myself of the schoolboy aversion to seeming 'a bit keen' on anything though.
|
Just taken redundancy at 54 in form of early payment of my Civil Service pension.
Still at bumming around stage at mo. Spending too much time on here but the house is uncommonly clean and Mrs B has a meal waiting on days she works. Not fulfilling my resolution to get out on a bike everyday though.
Need to start looking for some sort of work not least 'cos the clots in Shared Services HR gave me a bum steer on pensions and now say I don't get full amount until I'm 55. Down by about 20% on what I'd calculated based on the duff (incomplete) data they gave me. Just about to enter formal complaint process.
I'd like to get into the sort of stuff RP does. Was not directly public facing in my last job, though we got all sorts of weird inquiries 'cos we were first on a drop down 'contacts' list on out sponsor department's website. Loved my time as a caseworker for the Court of Protection 'cos of all the contact with the public.
|
|
Interesting thread, I can get my full final salary based pension in May next year at 60 but don't really feel I want to stop working, currently looking at whether to stay in IT & go contracting or to do something completely different, in either case probably on a part time basis.
|
I can't really understand the desire to go on working, full time anyway, when you don't need to; a realisation that I have probably arrived at over the last year.
A good friend of mine retired about 12 years ago at 53 on a modest pension, implying a fairly frugal lifestyle thereafter. I remember saying to him at the time that I was surprised that, as a youngish fit bloke, he didn't carry on for a while to get a bit more wool on his back.
His reply has stayed with me. He knew what he wanted to do with his retirement, and he had enough money to do it. Every extra year he worked would have meant a year less of active life to pursue his interests. He and his wife bought a motor caravan and subsequently have spent several months each year in Scandinavia, or eastern/southern Europe bird and animal watching, generally being nature enthusiasts (cheaper than you might think, as one can 'wild camp' in most of these places).
His reasoning was that his father, who had similar interests, became ill at 60 with Parkinson's, followed by depression. Too ill to do anything, until 70 when he died. My friend decided to get his retirement in while he could. He has been proved right. He has just been told, at 65, that he has degenerative disease too. Fortunately, after a bad year, he thinks he will be able to carry on travelling for this year at least. He feels he has done and seen more in the last 12 years than he did in his life before that.
I'm 60. Had I not been selected for the early bath in mid-2012, I may still be working full time. For a while I was selectively looking for a new job (having already decided that I wouldn't do anything I didn't like) but that didn't happen. With my friend's story in mind, I felt very relaxed about this - I'm not rich but I have enough savings to last me until 65 without being seriously depleted, and then I collect my best pension which will meet my income requirements.
Since then, I have actually picked up a few consultancy jobs - typically a few days, spread over a month or two. I charge a fair whack per day, on the basis that they either want me or they don't. I have probably earned about a quarter of my old salary but as I have only worked 5-6 weeks, mostly to my own timetable and inclinations, I feel much more relaxed, fit and happy than I have done for years. I turn down anything I'm not interested in, and anything to which I don't think I can make a worthwhile contribution.
The only thing I miss about work is the social aspect - I think that would apply to anybody sociable, and it's important to replace it.
So how to handle life after work? Keep getting up in the mornings like Zeddo, and do SOMETHING, but something you want to do. Enjoy the freedom. Never again will I sign up to having to be somewhere for 210 days a year whether I feel like it or not.
Apology for the stream of consciousness.
|
We are, of course - and its a recurring theme with the bees that inhabit the C4P hive, lucky in that we are all mostly from professional careers or trades, with well paid and stable renumeration enabling a large degree of future financial planning, aided by generous final salary pension schemes and attractive payoffs. Vital if you have any intention of jerking your nose from the grindstone early.
I feel sorry for those who will have to work hard till 65, 66, (and now 68), faced with a paltry pension and still servicing a large mortgage.
|
|
That's a good point for many it may be a question of when best to knock work on the head and enjoy their hobbies. For many it won't be an option.
|
|
I never realized how lucky I and many of my cohorts have been until I started working where I have. The number of people forced to work until they drop. Lots of time bombs waiting to go off for many not least people on interest only mortgages.....the plus side for them of house prices is that at least some are being dragged from negative equity.
|
>> I feel sorry for those who will have to work hard till 65, 66, (and
>> now 68), faced with a paltry pension and still servicing a large mortgage.
Seconded.
I will say that my friend wasn't rolling in money from when he retired, though he had been 'careful', paid the mortgage off, and had some decent savings with which to buy motorhomes.
He used to delight in telling me he lived well enough on £16,000 a year - hardly a king's ransom. They will shortly get a boost from their state pensions.
But don't mean to dilute your point - his is an occupational final salary pension, from an employer he had worked 30 years for.
With money purchase pensions, forget retiring at 60 unless you have at least half a million pounds in your pension fund or can live very cheaply.
Telling people they have to work until 68 or more to see a small state pension isn't very helpful for many people who are made redundant in their fifties, or follow occupations that they simply can't physically perform at that age.
|
>>With money purchase pensions, forget retiring at 60 unless you have at least half a million pounds in your pension fund...
Forgive my naive question but I really don't know how these things work and I am one of those who while I currently have a reasonable income have no pension. ( long story )
By saving and realising some other assets though I could maybe aspire to raising £250,000 or so in the next few years. I'm in my mid-50s now and can see no real alternative but to work until I drop...
What sort of things could I do with that relatively small pot to best limit the damage?
|
Spend every penny then let the State pick up the tab.
Next question?
|
>> What sort of things could I do with that relatively small pot to best limit
>> the damage?
Drain it down. Assume you retire at 65 and die at 80, draw (250,000 / 15) 16k a year out of it.
|
>> Drain it down. Assume you retire at 65 and die at 80, draw (250,000 /
>> 15) 16k a year out of it.
>>
I agree....If you can raise that sort of dosh.......then use it. We were left a similar amount 5 years ago...property....and haven't touched it yet because our pensions have been sufficient to enjoy ourselves on.
We're not extravagant, but live well and do whatever we want. Bills are paid when they come in. There's £250K equity in the house to leave the kids although they'll probably get the dough as well if we can't fritter it away in time !
We've got most things we want or need. We've got the time to do things and go places.
I don't have a part time job for the money.....I enjoy it and it gets me out and into the city with no stresses whatsoever involved. I suppose it pays for my car if I look at it that way.
I enjoyed my job and I'm still in touch with former colleagues by email or Facebook. Retirement's great !
The last thing I intend to do is die !
HO
|
>> By saving and realising some other assets though I could maybe aspire to raising £250,000
>> or so in the next few years. I'm in my mid-50s now and can see
>> no real alternative but to work until I drop...
>>
>> What sort of things could I do with that relatively small pot to best limit
>> the damage?
This is not advice :) Seriously, it isn't.
This is just a comments on how pensions work, unchecked and incomplete. There are lots of nuances.
My slightly flip comment was based on funding an annuity, currently looking poor value.
There's an annuity calculator here - have a look and then see what happens if you add in some inflation protection -
www.legalandgeneral.com/annuities/pension-annuity/annuity-calculator/
Under current rules, if you have a money purchase pot you can elect to do "drawdown" from your pot rather than buying an annuity.
With drawdown on a £250,000 pot at you could (rate as of today) at 65 draw up to £18,300 a year, taxable, or £62,500 tax free off the top and then £13,725 a year.
The caveats that go with this are given here
www.hl.co.uk/pensions/income-drawdown/income-drawdown-calculator
the main one being that the money you draw reduces your pot and if your investment income doesn't keep up then you might well find your income going down at some point. You are in effect funding your own annuity, but the risk is with you.
Bear in mind that if you could shovel £250k of cash into a personal pension over a period of years, and you are a higher rate tax payer, you could end up with >£400k in your pot, before investment growth. But the annual allowance for contributions with tax relief is £40,000 gross now, so even if you had the cash and the higher rate tax relief, that would take several years - you can't bung it all in at once and get tax relief (but IIRC you can use unused allowances from up to three years back).
You don't have to save in a pension to fund retirement. Once you have put money in pension it's essentially out of reach until you retire, and unless you already have £20,000 or more of guaranteed annual income from elsewhere, which would allow you to do 'flexible drawdown', then you can't get at it without some restrictions - you either have to buy an annuity or accept capped drawdown.
The main argument for using pensions rather than other savings (you can hold similar investments unsheltered or in ISAs) is the tax relief - especially to higher rate tax payers, who get 40% relief on contributions and are only taxed at standard rate when they draw it - and you have the option, currently, of taking 25% tax free at commencement, further improving the tax gain.
I know at least one person who has built up a buy to let business rather than saving into pensions.
Last edited by: Manatee on Fri 17 Jan 14 at 23:37
|
Thanks M. That's the sort of things I needed to begin to understand. I suspect as with most of my business life, I will need to try to make my own luck rather than rely on traditional methods.
We already have one btl property but that on its own wouldn't provide enough income. However, my wife is quite a bit younger than me so is still seen as suitable for longer term mortgages so maybe the btl route is worth looking at as a more serious option.
Or we cash everything in now and become hippies ! :-)
|
"I could maybe aspire to raising £250,000"
Build an extension and buy a genuine snooker table.
|
>> We are, of course - and its a recurring theme with the bees that inhabit the C4P hive
>>lucky in that we are all mostly from professional careers or trades,
>> with well paid and stable renumeration enabling a large degree of future financial lanning, aided
>> by generous final salary pension schemes and attractive payoffs
>> Vital if you have any intention of jerking your nose from the grindstone early.
>>
I am in that position. I retired just two years earlier than I wanted but the offer was too good to ignore.
Do not leave it too late to retire if you plan to travel as health issues / insurance may bite.
I have fantastic options on travel but due to SWMBO's health issues we have not had a holiday for a few years.
We are hoping that things improve.
Meanwhile I have had to learn to cook ( sort of) for the first time.
A thoughtful relative bought me a Haynes manual for Christmas.
www.amazon.co.uk/Mens-Cooking-Manual-No-nonsense-Buying/dp/1844258696
|
>> I actually did do some quite hard work sometimes.
For what though, apart from turning in something witty and well-phrased to be mauled by humourless illiterate subs? Money, that's what: not much of it and soon spent.
For a freelance used to the relaxed if quirky world of monthly and specialized journalism, though, mainstream broadsheet daily press or radio is pretty stimulating and astonishingly well-paid, with expenses to match when the office deems it. I loved being a hack on a daily (albeit a French Socialist daily) because these francs used to turn up in an occult way in my bank account. It were lovely while it lasted like. But all good things come to an end and my friend the foreign editor, who had left for the nicer life of a weekly magazine editor, was replaced by a steaming pile of Rosbif-hating excrement. A former trotskyist I was told... had this dapper Belgian twerp lurking on the sidelines waiting for my slot... gnash drool splutter God those carphounds...
|
|
I went from a 16 hr to a 30 hr to a 37 hr contract. I wanted the 37hr contract as it meant wandering around the countryside - sadly dropping the hours early on were not an option, they may be now I've settled down into it. I could do it in 24.
|
I cannot imagine anything worse than retiring as I can't sit still it is why I can't work in an office.
Hopefully when I retire probably at the national retiring age of 90 I hope to still continue working however I am off to pub soon to try and ensure that doesn't happen.
|
I am in my mid 40s and have been in pensionable employment constantly since I was 19.
However as far as I can see, and I speak for many of my generation, we are just going to need to work till we drop.
Probably many of those who retired up to the last 5 years or so came from final salary schemes and possibly came through and benefitted from surges in property prices etc.
But we don't have that as much now and with another 20 years or so to go till retirement, the expectation is that the goalposts will just be moved further and further.
I don't know what the answer is but I don't think it is auto enrolment! I have been involved with this quite a bit recently and basically people from very poor wages are being forced to contribute some of their earnings to a pension fund. In the big picture of things, this money is going to do absolutely hee-haw. It will be swallowed up with investment charges and the like. I really can't see how this is going to benefit anyone long term.
I know I have said this before, but maybe more in reply to Humph, but a friend's parents died within 6 months of each other. Only a couple of years into retirement. When he died the pension changed to 50% for her, when she died, the pension died with her. They reckon at that point there was still something like £250k in the fund but it all went to the provider.
Their wish had always been to go on the Orient Express but they couldn't afford it. As well as the pension , they had enough in savings that would have taken them on several holidays of a lifetime. But that was being kept in the rainy day fund.........
|
I really can't imagine not working at all.
After 30 years of working hours of around 75 average a week and living in a lorry cab for all of that time, the arthritis finally meant I had to give it up or not do it 'properly'.
I lasted less than a month and although I love gardening, it doesn't stimulate the mind or fill that many hours.
I was lucky in as much as my old boss made a suggestion that I retrain and set up a small business of my own with 80% of my work guaranteed from them.
It was the challenge I needed and I love what I do now, but still miss the old life.
I can take on as much or as little extra work as I want to, but it's being in the environment I'd always worked in that always makes me happy.
...and I can do this until I'm very, very old:)
Pat
|
|
With you on this Bobbyg. Didn't see your post before mine below.
|
I gave up main stream work when I was 39, went to live in the sun for 3 years got fed up with that and came to Cornwall where we've lived for the past 16 years.
I can be quite content to walk around the quiet lanes with my dog and the highlight of my day revolves around cleaning out the ashes from my multi-fuel stove, chopping wood for the kindling and getting the coal (anthracite) in ready for the next furnace.
It takes me about an hour to get 10kg (OMG!) of anthracite going good 'n proper, then I'll make a cup of Ceylon, sit back and enjoy the peace.
I live quite simply these days (through choice) drive an old Jap car and live in an old stone cottage, we haven't been on holiday in over 16 years, never go out for a meal (apart from fish & chips once in a while) never go to the cinema (picture house) and ... I've only drunk/drank one pint of beer in the last 12 months.
We're all different you see, although basically the same really, whatever floats your boat, then do it, because this life comes to any end only too soon, I've noticed.
|
",,,,,,,,,how does one handle it."
1. Make sure the mortgage is paid off.
2. Get up early every morning.
3. ABOVE ALL - TELL YOUR WIFE TO HIDE THE BISCUIT TIN.
|
Coming back to RP's question - 'what is the driver?' - I think that changes gradually as you get older, and the wish to do other things - well expressed by Runfer in the next post - kick in more strongly, and the buzz from work, driven to some extent by ambition, decreases.
I'm 65, SWMBO 66, and we retire this spring. We've enjoyed our jobs but we're looking forward to it. I'll still do bits of lecturing, examining and writing for as along as people want me to, and I'll still be a church organist, although probably more occasional and peripatetic after we've moved house. But above all I hope we'll have the health and time to relax - time that is our own rather than other people's.
I think that 'your time being your own' becomes more and more of the driver at this stage of life.
As one who tries to do so himself (although not, thank goodness, with pensions) congratulations to Manatee on an admirably clear explanation of a complex subject. A great gift to be able to do that, which fortunately carries on into retirement.
|
I would be inclined to get travel done while still working, perhaps switching to part-time work or getting leave of absence for longer periods. I dreamed of spending some months travelling in Bali. It would have ben easy for me since Malay is widely spoken there and
I had lived in Malaysia, where it is the lingua franca. I retired at 60 but now that I could go there, or almost anywhere, I never have. Since then, medical problems have emerged and travel has become so tedious that I don't feel inclined to go more than about 100 miles from home.
For something interesting to do, take an OU degree. This is what I, my wife and no doubt thousands of others have done. For an introduction to higher education, you could start with this;
www.futurelearn.com/courses/preparing-for-uni
>>I loved being a hack on a daily (albeit a French Socialist daily) because these francs used to turn up in an occult way in my bank account
To wander a bit off post, don't French journalists get special privileges, e.g, early retirement or tax relief?
|
>> To wander a bit off post, don't French journalists get special privileges, e.g, early retirement or tax relief?
I wouldn't know, but staff hacks working for solvent media outfits - not just French ones - get the sort of salaries, expenses, free accommodation and travel, etc., that freelances don't even dare to dream about. I've never been a staff hack anywhere. Hand to mouth all the way in my case. Even so, the money made a difference working for a daily, all those small stories added up over a month and the francs just appeared sort of by magic... after a while they gave me a byline (as opposed to 'Correspondance particulière de Londres') and eventually called me their London Correspondent. I learned an amazing amount about all sorts of British institutions, political practices and customs and took a deep and detailed interest in the splits and disagreements inside all the major parties. If it was hard work, and it certainly looks as if it was, I have completely forgotten what it felt like just as I seem to have forgotten all the stuff I then knew about this country.
Perhaps others have done complex and difficult work for a period which has faded in the memory and is now just a historical period as it were between brackets. I would imagine it's something that happens to IT people but also for example mechanical engineers who move on from one complicated project to another. N_C might be able to confirm that.
|
>> If it was hard work, and it certainly looks as if it was
It really was sometimes. A staff hack from Paris was visiting, cat called Villeneuve, and we'd asked him to dinner. However early that evening rioting broke out in Brixton so dinner was abandoned and I had to drive him down to Brixton although frankly I found the whole thing a bit depressing and didn't fancy it at all. Parked in Acre lane, went down to Brixton on foot and spent a couple of hours watching spontaneous urban guerilla tactics being developed, dodging dangerous missiles which were showering down on the fuzz from all sides (but they had shields and protective clothing), interviewing appalled local residents and sprauncy badass rioters, etc.
We went back to the car with the staff hack saying he'd got to phone Paris and file something s hit-hot from the spot. Anxious citizens despite the late hour were standing anxiously at their doors in Acre Lane listening to the distant sounds of mayhem, and I persuaded a family to let us in and use their phone for a transfer-charge call to Paris that would take a few minutes. I'm not an accomplished blagger at all but they agreed. During the hack's despatch I noticed him mentioning molotov cocktails. We hadn't seen any so after we had thanked the kind citizens and left, I said, what was that carp about molotov cocktails?
Didn't you see it on the TV in there? he said. I had. But that had been in Toxteth or some other place altogether. Funny, huh? No wonder I didn't make it as a hack.
|
Don't under estimate the lack of cash flow when you retire.
If I'm honest, that side of things has been a bit more difficult than I thought. You get used to a lifestyle and cash flow..and dropping back from that can be a little frustrating.
It's only the things like doing up the house, a holiday or new car..but if you're used to 'just doing it' and then have to wait and are not sure when..it's a completely different culture and mindset.
Don't get me wrong, the plus well and truly outweighs the minus..but...it is still a minus...
...and 'no' I'm not expecting any sympathy and don't deserve any...:-)
|
|
As of two weeks ago I am 45 (older than M Schumacher). As a child of the 60s/70s I have no realistic prospect of retirement. I seem to be in 'work til I drop' generation, even if I don't want to be, thanks to the longevity of my parents generation and the associated costs of keeping them in pensions and healthcare.
|
I can well undestand Bobby's and Alastair's point of view.
As I've moved about a bit, and haven't followed anything like a normal path into engineering, I don't have any significant pension pot - I have bits and pieces that seemingly can't be put together into one pot. Grrr. It seems to me that pension rules are built on the slightly old fashioned idea that people spend their working lives working for the same company - an idea which died in the 80's?
This pension worry was a big part in my decision to accept my job at the polyversity - academically compromising, but pedagogically challenging - after a series of contract positions with no pension, a permanent contract and a final salary pension was rather tempting.
In answer to AC's point above, the project work I've done has been rather varied, from a forthnight's investigation into the natural frequency of vibration of a planned aircraft control tower to six years contributing mechanical engineering support to a space mission. The projects which suited me best were the quicker ones - I get bored too quickly to enjoy aerospace engineering.
Railway projects were good - the pressure of having to instrument a train, and get it back into a state where it could meet its timetable was good fun, even when we were on the depot through the night in order to allow the train to go at 5 the following morning. Having a 40 year design life, railway bogies, and axlebox mounted equipment has rich pickings for engineers interested in fatigue and fracture!
SWMBO and I were discussing past projects today, she was saying how she wouldn't be happy if I were still doing project work which kept me away from home for weeks at a time.
When I refer to my project work, to my students, perhaps, safe from danger, I appear as a maim'd debauchee.
|
I saw you the other day NC. I took a photo of you driving the other way.
tinyurl.com/poujrfx
|
I sometimes photograph Zero driving his dog, Fifi to the park. That gives me an hour upstairs with Nicole.
tinyurl.com/ojp8tv4
|
>> I sometimes photograph Zero driving his dog, Fifi to the park. That gives me an
>> hour upstairs with Nicole.
>>
>> tinyurl.com/ojp8tv4
It must be cold and wet for you two on the roof then, we live in a bungalow.
|
|
Did you just bung a low roof on?
|
no its been like that since 1934
|
A couple of my friends are mid 50s, and retired a few years ago. One an ex policeman, the other ex fireman. Neither advanced far up the career ladder, but they tell me they have 'really good' pensions and both are having the time of their lives. Good health plays a major part, but they and their spouses both enjoy at least 8 foreign holidays a year. In fact, from May till Sept they are rarely at home, away cycle touring, motorbike touring, bare boat charter etc.
They seem to handle it with ease.
I myself am of a similar age and find it interesting how my contemporaries and friends are planning retirement. One of my older friends, pushing70, has a cracking index linked pension, and considerable savings, but refuses to spend any of it! Runs a tatty old car, rarely goes away apart from weekends with his offspring and tells me he might need his money 'on a rainy day'. And he continues to work part time, which he feels puts him under pressure. Takes all sorts I suppose, but I just wish I could get him to spend some of his savings.
|
>>but I just wish I could get him to spend some of his savings.
Maybe he is saving to pay for a "home" in which to spend his final years.
|
I have been reading this thread with interest.....
I retire on 31st March......SWMBO a few weeks earlier .....
For the last 40 odd years we have both worked more or less full time and we will frankly not miss work at all....we have been lucky I suppose in being born in the baby boomer generation and we will have a comfortable pension income , substantial savings and no mortgage.
Discussing this thread with virtually all of my friends who are now retired they have said to me how happy they are and that they wondered how they ever found the time to work....
Last edited by: helicopter on Tue 21 Jan 14 at 15:12
|
>>we have both worked more or less full time and we will frankly not miss work at all....<
Update required on 30th June please!
Pat
|
|
I retired from a 21 hour a week job 3 years ago at age 72. Since then I have taken on a number of relatively small and undemanding voluntary jobs which keep me mentally busy. I am an Environment Agency Flood Warden for my village, I give talks at the Rutland Water Osprey Centre from May to September when the ospreys are there! I do two mornings a week at my local school helping 8/9 year olds with their reading and do occasional work for the local Blind Society, I also deliver 50 issues of the village magazine once a month, door to door. It is interesting, varied, gets me out and about and keeps me busy. That's all I need!
|
I've been retiring/un-retiring ever since I was 35. For several years after moving to Wales from London I lived on small-holding and savings, then went back to work. A few years ago I dropped to 4 days a week when a small previous pension kicked in, and I am planning to drop another day when the state pension starts.
After that I don'tknow. I might continue shedding a day a week every few years, or I might just pack it in, or perhaps go back up again.
For me the biggest marginal benefit comes from working 4 days rather than 5. Having a 3-day weekend is miles more satisfying and useful than a 2-day. I'm not sure an extra 4th day will actually seem worthwhile - more just an excuse for wasting time perhaps.
Also there will be more work to squeeze into the 3-day working week, so less opportunity for just taking a day off on a whim because the weather is nice.
Observing friends and contemporaries, I'm wary of the mind-set change that seems to cut in if someone suddenly becomes "retired" rather than "working".
Retired people seem to fuss about things more. They'll be planning funerals and designing gravestones soon. Going to work keeps you in with the banter and the word on the street. It also means you meet people who can tell you how to operate electronic gadgets. We had a handy 13-year old child to do that until recently, but he's decided to get older for some reason.
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Wed 22 Jan 14 at 10:22
|
>> For me the biggest marginal benefit comes from working 4 days rather than 5. Having
>> a 3-day weekend is miles more satisfying and useful than a 2-day. I'm not sure
>> an extra 4th day will actually seem worthwhile - more just an excuse for wasting
>> time perhaps.
You've obviously more experience of this than I, but I am living proof of Parkinson's Law.
This morning I had the task of sending an introductory email to a new contact on a project I'm working on for a client. It was important to be clear and set the right tone, so some care was needed and there were a few references to look up, but had I been under pressure I could have done it in well under half an hour.
I started at 9 and i have just finished it!
I did manage to make some bread at the same time though. And I haven't had the wallsache of getting up at 6.30 and driving to somewhere I have to "be".
And I got paid yesterday for a project I finished in September.
Life is good :)
|
>>And I got paid yesterday for a project I finished in September.<<
I think you need to get a hold on your debt collecting! My customers wouldn't dare leave it that long:)
Pat
|
|
I will send my update in from the beach in Crete Pat ....... :0)
|
>> I will send my update in from the beach in Crete Pat ....... :0)
My idea of hell! Enjoy it.
|
Do you have a home there helicopter? I was there in October and everything, but everything, was shutting down for the Winter, the week after we left.
|
I do not own a home in Crete Meldrew but I love the island and the people and have holidayed there for several years and have many Greek friends there .
So we are looking to rent an apartment from friends for a couple of months at mates rates and just relax...... I may consider buying there at some point when we get the retirement finances sorted...
Other options are being considered, one of my commercial pilot colleagues is a Greek lady who has a house in the north of Greece near the border with Macedonia which she has offered to let us use free of charge so that is another option......several interesting vineyards and spa's around the area.....
My brother has a large Mercedes camper van which he uses regularly to travel with his wife all over Europe and I may follow suit......
Who knows..... I may just keep the brain busy at home doing the Telegraph crossword or watching Countdown with a glass of wine ..... :0)
|
|
Got it! I knew main tourist flights ceased and hotels and car hire wound down until the spring. I had a very pleasant time despite staying in one of the derided coastal developments. Was impressed by the Aston-Martin Vanquish convertible at one of the rental firms though with the cost measured against the state of the roads and the 90 Kmph speed limit I wasn't tempted!
|
Last year, I seized the opportunity when after more than 41 years in public service (Civil service then Local Governement) I had the opportunity to take early retirement (at 58) via compulsory redundancy. I gave the matter some thought and worked out work out that I could manage on my pension but it would be tight. I would not miss the regular 82 mile commute to the office and the two hours it took each time I went there. Not feeling ready to completely retire I reckoned I could find a little part time job nearer to home.
I retired at the end of February 2013 and have not looked back or missed my previous life. After a couple of months I found work at a local car dealership as a casual driver and work up to 80/90 hours a month. Hours worked depends on the need of the dealership but I am guaranteed a minimum 1 day per week. I can then choose how many extra days I want and can take as many weeks holiday as I need. I don't work anti social hours or weekends. So it works well for me.
I enjoy driving cars around and getting paid is a bonus.
Last edited by: gramar on Fri 24 Jan 14 at 10:54
|
Last year, I seized the opportunity when after more than 41 years in public service (Civil service then Local Government) I had the opportunity to take early retirement (at 58) via compulsory redundancy. I gave the matter some thought and worked out I could manage on my pension but it would be tight. I would not miss the regular 82 mile commute to the office and back. Not feeling ready to completely retire I reckoned I could find a little part time job nearer to home.
I retired at the end of February 2013 and have not looked back or missed my previous life. After a couple of months I found work at a local car dealership as a casual part time driver and work up to 80/90 hours a month. Hours worked depends on the need of the dealership but I am guaranteed a minimum 1 day per week. I can then choose how many extra days I want and can take as many weeks holiday as I need. I don't work anti social hours or weekends. So it suits me just fine.
I enjoy driving cars around and getting paid is a bonus.
Last edited by: gramar on Fri 24 Jan 14 at 11:09
|
|
in fact you have so much time on your hands you can send us each post twice! ;)
|
>>41 years in public service (Civil service then Local Government) I had the opportunity to take early retirement (at 58) via compulsory redundancy. I gave the matter some thought and worked out I could manage on my pension but it would be tight. I would not miss the regular 82 mile commute to the office and back.
I was in public service and reckon you must be better off NOT working with compulsory redundancy terms - unless you were screwed?
|
>> I was in public service and reckon you must be better off NOT working with
>> compulsory redundancy terms - unless you were screwed?
Don't know about Local Government but for Civil Service voluntary terms have, since 2010/11, better than compulsory.
Voluntary is 1 months pay for each year of service to max of 21 months, with some protection for low paid and a cash max for those at top. Immediate pension without actuarial reduction is available for those over 50, or 55 for recent joiners.
Compulsory is max 12 months pat and adios - no pension option. Nobody can be made compulsorily redundant though unless they've been offered and rejected voluntary terms.
Compulsory has to be approved on a case by case basis by Cabinet Office. IIRC there have been only a handful of cases involving either those with very good redundancy insurance or twerps making a point.
I took the pension option at 54.
I'm now having a row with them. They failed to advise that, due to complex interaction between the method of calculating final salary and the statutory basis for uprating of CS pensions I don't get the full amount until end of this year when I'm 55.
Difference is £5k so not peanuts.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 24 Jan 14 at 12:28
|
As long as I´d have plenty enough food and a place to stay,
I´d volunteer for an unpaid "clean-up-the-area"- job somewhere in this area:
www.lakegarda.uk.com/ :D
My Gandparents moved there to enjoy their retirement. I´ve never seen my Grandpa THIS relaxed. Maybe a relocation could make you "find peace without work". :D
Last edited by: Fandango on Fri 24 Jan 14 at 13:03
|
On a slightly lighter note : Why I Like Retirement !
Question: How many days in a week?
Answer: 6 Saturdays, 1 Sunday
Question: When is a retiree's bedtime?
Answer: Two hours after he falls asleep on the couch.
Question: How many retirees to change a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.
Question: What's the biggest gripe of retirees?
Answer: There is not enough time to get everything done.
Question: Why don't retirees mind being called Seniors?
Answer: The term comes with a 10% discount.
Question: Among retirees, what is considered formal attire?
Answer: Tied shoes.
Question: Why do retirees count pennies?
Answer: They are the only ones who have the time.
Question: What is the common term for someone who enjoys work and refuses to retire?
Answer: NUTS!
Question: Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic or garage?
Answer: They know that as soon as they do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there.
Question: What do retirees call a long lunch?
Answer: Normal.
Question: What is the best way to describe retirement ?
Answer: The never ending Coffee Break.
Question: What's the biggest advantage of going back to school as a retiree?
Answer: If you cut classes, no one calls your parents.
Question: Why does a retiree often say he doesn't miss work, but misses the people he used to work with?
Answer: He is too polite to tell the whole truth.
QUESTION: What do you do all week?
Answer: Monday through Friday, NOTHING..... Saturday & Sunday, I rest.
Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow and asked, 'How old was your husband?' '98,' she replied.... Two years older than me'
'So you're 96,' the undertaker commented..
She responded, 'Hardly worth going home, is it?
Reporters interviewing a 104-year-old woman:
'And what do you think is the best thing about being 104?' the reporter asked...
She simply replied, 'No peer pressure.'
The nice thing about being senile is you can hide your own Easter eggs
and have fun finding them.
I've sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement,
new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes. I'm half blind,
can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that
make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts.
Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore.
Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends.
But, thank God, I still have my driver's license.
I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor's permission to
join a fitness club and start exercising.
I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors.
I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But,
by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over.
My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffee maker.
These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart says,'For fast relief.'
|
When I retired vouluntary redundancy was not an option. Local Goverment redundancy terms are the same as Statutory max + a little bit. After 42+ years I was paid 28.5 weeks of my final salary. Amount of weeks paid out on is dependent on length of service. Anyone made redundant after age 55 receives their pension based on the actual contribution they have paid in. Money is now very tight in Local Governement so there are no special packages or anything extra at least for the rank and file like me but I am not complaining - I was happy to go.
I am not better off not working at my old job but the difference is not great. I chose to work part time because I wanted to and would you believe missed the commute to work!!
Last edited by: gramar on Fri 24 Jan 14 at 13:23
|
>> I was in public service and reckon you must be better off NOT working with
>> compulsory redundancy terms - unless you were screwed?
Things have changed then since I went nearly ten years ago.
I didn't do too bad, but missed the best terms:
One month's salary for each year of service (up to a maximum of 36 months).
Service enhanced by up to a maximum of six and two third years.
Pension payable from fiftieth birthday.
I had to sign away my rights to those before they'd let me go.
|
Read through all of these posts and my God, how lucky a lot posters have been....
I am firmly in the 'work until I drop group' as I have a stakeholder pension. The guy who sits next to me only 5 years older than me is, in the now closed, gold plated final salary scheme and is longing to be 55 when he might get the chance to shuffle off with a redundancy package and a non reduced pension. The place used to be full of these people treading water just waiting to go and not interested in doing anything over and above what was expected but there's only a few left now. I've worked out my pension pot would have to be £750,000 to get a 66% of final salary at 55.
My stakeholder pension forecast is currently, working until I'm 66 years old, is 26% of final salary after 36 years of contributions.
My prediction is that in a few years time, when self elected euthanasia is more common, far more generous annuities will be offered if you opt to call it a day at say 85. That's the only way modern pensions will ever pay a decent pension IMO.
|
>> Read through all of these posts and my God, how lucky a lot posters have
>> been....
>>
>>
I think you are right, and I am acutely aware that more by luck than skill or talent I have ended up all right and pretty content with my lot.
Also I agree the whole pension process has become another divisive two-nation situation.
The deliberate deceit fostered by governments and the pensions industry is that "saving enough for your pension" is only slightly difficult, and does not mean making major sacrifices.
Because it clearly does.
Just looking at the broad picture, and ignoring growth and inflation for a moment, if you expect to work for 40 years and then retire for 20, you clearly have to put aside a considerable proportion of your income, (25% ? I can't quite do the maths).
If you work for 30 and retire for 30 you would need to save half your income. No one does, and 5% or whatever figure people think is reasonable, is clearly nothing like enough.
The lucky ones are those who either
1) have considerable employer contributions
2) have a final salary gold-plated public sector scheme
3) develop a successful business and cash it in.
Most of the population inevitably will have none of those, so the government grudgingly provides the modern equivalent of the poor house.
|
@Cliff
I don't disagree with your general analysis but....
Final salary schemes are still around in private sector though many/most have closed to either new entrants or further accrual. While people blame Brown's removal of tax relief on dividends for this the reality is that that was merely one of many components of the storm battering funded schemes over last 20+ yrs. All FS schemes of course involved considerable employer contributions.
Moves to tax the schemes started under Lawson/Lamont because companies were alleged to be using them to hide profits from Corporation Tax. Schemes said to be over funded were amongst those hit. Longevity, poor stock market returns on capital, low interest rates and changes in accounting standards were but further blows.
|
|
One disadvantage has been overlooked. If you are not working then, logically, you can't have any holidays.
|
>> One disadvantage has been overlooked. If you are not working then, logically, you can't have
>> any holidays.
I have been under fire from management for not booking any trips away. I heard her telling her friend the other day "He's just not interested in holidays now he's at home all the time".
|
>> Also I agree the whole pension process has become another divisive two-nation situation.
A member of my wife's family has worked all his career in the City (insurance) and was paying loads into a fund...which somehow or other ended up coming to virtually nothing, so he'll have to keep working.
At one family get-together he got really quite narky about me retiring after 30 years in the police...and saw it as him working to keep me.
Personally, I think he should be directing his ire ate the thieving gits that nicked his pension fund...not those that do their time in a job and walk away when they're entitled to...
..unless he wants the army/police/fire brigade turning into Dad's Army types.
For obvious reasons, it's not normally a subject I discuss with others.
|
>> I think he should be directing his ire ate the thieving gits that nicked his pension fund
Ironic that the people to blame probably working near him in the City :-) Not nice for him but others will also have been equally badly advised by the 'experts'.
|
>> A member of my wife's family has worked all his career in the City (insurance)
>> and was paying loads into a fund...which somehow or other ended up coming to virtually
>> nothing, so he'll have to keep working.
excellent - hoisted by his petard. reap sow etc etc.
|
I made the fortunate decision not to bother paying much into a private pension. Self employed, only ever paid basic tax, and when I got divorced the ex got half the house which was fair enough, and half the surrender value of my smallish pp. So I started all over again, and what I would have paid monthly into a pp put towards a larger mortgage on a nicer house. The house is now paid for and my last pension statement tells me that aged 65, on current projections, I should get £700 a year. Wow. I have already spent the 25% tax free lump sun and will retire from my part time job aged 60.If not earlier. I make sure I earn just enough so as not to be liable for any tax. Clever me!
I cannot wait to retire...sell the house, downsize, and spend the released capital. 60 days each summer in California, lots of skiing in winter, do some long distance paths (maybe the SW Coast Path again as a thru hike). A month in the Gambia during the winter months, and basically sponge off friends with property abroad, doing odd jobs for them and paying a ground rent. Sorted. Hopefully I will run out of money in my rented flat just before I croak, but that will take a lot of forward planning, leaving nowt to anyone.
|
>>Hopefully I will run out of money in my rented flat just before I croak, but that will take a lot of forward planning, leaving nowt to anyone.
So you are actually no-legacy lad?
|
Absolutely correct
Maybe I'm being heartless but I cannot understand contemporaries of mine wanting to leave their house & substantial funds to their children and partners, most of whom are in their late 20's or early 30's and doing ok. In fact doing better than ok. Mortgaged to the hilt but most of them running two new cars and taking several expensive holidays a year. When I was their age I was running an old van and felt extremely fortunate to go self catered skiing for a week in January as my only holiday. Must be a paternal thing going on which totally escapes me.
|
Over the last decade we've had to help two people deal with their final years. They led modest lives and ended up with substantial assets (I don't mean millions but very comfortable for ordinary working folks). Their assets gave them choices during this final period of life that they found welcome.
Over the next decade we will be helping two people who have been on a spending spree since they early retired at 55 and now have almost nothing. They will not have choices and it's just dawning on them.
We have arranged our finances along the lines of the first couple. We will appreciate our choices if needed but if our girls end up with the lot then there couldn't be a more fitting financial end result of our lives.
|
I'm the total opposite. My father died aged 52, my grandfather late 40's. Until bad health intervened in my early fifties, my business dictated that at most I could only take 2 x one week holidays a year max. Not a problem as I loved my job. Once I give up my part time job, and downsize, the money will fly, both literally and figuratively speaking.
Should I live to be 80, I reckon by then I will not want to ski, or at least as much, fly long haul at the drop of a hat, or go for long walks. I fully intend to spend as much of my hard earned as possible whilst my health allows. Both my ex's grandparents spent all their savings paying to be in an old folks home. Not out of choice. And when that was gone, a charge was put on their small semi, so my ex's parents were left very little. Not that it bothered them. My biggest fear is not enjoying my health whilst I have it (again) and nobody will be able to take my memories. Assuming I have any memory left when/if I get older. Being in a crappy old folks home is a small price to pay for, hopefully, 15 years of self indulgent pleasure before that happens.
|
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promised joy.
|
>>hoisted by his petard
That pesky Shakespeare again. Here's more, but Levin could have gone a lot further
inside.mines.edu/~jamcneil/levinquote.html
|
>>he got really quite narky about me retiring after 30 years in the police...
Am I right in saying that you had to pay a higher rate than normal in the public service to secure your pension?
|
>>Being in a crappy old folks home is a small price to pay for, hopefully, 15 years of self indulgent pleasure before that happens
The trouble is that your attitude is likely to change by then and you regret your self-indulgence. Of course, too much caution would mean you never had any enjoyment out of life at all but prudence is also needed.
I am trying to find out what "homes" in my area offer but finding it very hard. I am beginning to think I will have enrol as a temporary guest in a selection of them to find out.
|
|
My wife was complaining t'other day. No pay rises for three years (got 1% this year) and contributions raised to 11%....so I guess they do.
|
I've just recalled an interesting after-dinner discussion with a group of friends some years ago in which someone suggested that we all got together and bought a nice retirement home just for us, employing people to look after us.
As we died the remainder would interview likely replacements and let them in if everyone liked them.
There are probably snags we hadn't thought of though.
|
I've often thought of similar but for younger people. A sort of gated community of houses, where you have to pass certain behavioural and attitude tests to live there. If someone fails to behave in an acceptable manner then the others have the power to vote them out. I might get voted out quite quickly though!
From my grandfather's experience it is definitely important to have one or more hobbies. He found being stuck around the house wasn't much fun if you know what I mean ;-)
|
|
Wasn't there one of the viral email thingies a while back of the old woman who lived permanently on cruise ships as it worked out cheaper than an old folks home?
|
|
You could always give this place a go effendi: www.findhorn.org/aboutus/ecovillage/#.UuQVyRBFBD8
Last edited by: Dog on Sat 25 Jan 14 at 19:52
|
I am discovering from this thread that being naturally idle, with a high boredom threshold is good!
Viva la siesta!
|
>> someone suggested that we all got together and bought a nice retirement home
>> just for us, employing people to look after us.
>> As we died the remainder would interview likely replacements and let them in if everyone
>> liked them.
What a splendid idea. There's enough older folk hereabouts to fill a home or two, and just think of the potential savings...
|
|
A C4P home - so long as Pat isn't employed as the cook it could be ok !
|
>> A C4P home - so long as Pat isn't employed as the cook it could
>> be ok !
>>
Quite right. That's a job for Zero.
|
>> Am I right in saying that you had to pay a higher rate than normal
>> in the public service to secure your pension?
>>
Yes.
11% for at least 12-15 years, before that it was 9.5% if my memory still holds...quite a lot compared to other professions...
...although you have to bear in mind it was all public money anyway...i.e. the salary, tax payments etc and pension contributions were all provided by the State and then the State took some back.
For the past 10 years or so, the new comers have got to work for 35 years before they can get a pension...and more recently, the existing pension schemes have been significantly tweaked, to the disadvantage of the individual.
Last edited by: Westpig on Sat 25 Jan 14 at 20:48
|
>> Yes.
>>
>> 11% for at least 12-15 years, before that it was 9.5% if my memory still
>> holds...quite a lot compared to other professions...
With notable exception of Local Government most Public Sector schemes are unfunded. Retiree's pensions are paid by deduction from worker's pay and from general taxation via a levy paid, like Employer's NI contributions, on top current employee's salaries.
In the Civil Service the scheme was, until 1992, non contributory. Employees paid 1.5% for a widows and orphans pension but those whoo were unmarried/childless got contributions back when they left or retired.
After 1992 those opting for a 'Premium' scheme which accrued in 60ths (rather than 80ths) and paid a pension to ummarried partners contributed 3%. The current government is escalating contributions further so some folks will end up paying close to 10%.
Now that may be justified but effect is to make nonsense of yesterday's coalition claim of people being better off.
On taking early retirement my 'best' final salary, after indexation, is a three years average ending April 2006. Equal to nearly 25% more than my actual pay at time I left.
|
After due consideration, I think I have sorted 2014.
Resign from my part time job Monday. Feb spend with a pal who is over wintering in the Gambia.He has 2 spare bedrooms. March I have my 3 week road trip planned, skiing in BC, Montana, Idaho, Oregon & CA. April stay with friends in Madeira & Las Palmas. June & July back to sunny CA to chill with my teacher friend whose summer break begins earlier than the UK. Hot tub, margeritas, trips to the coast, Vegas, some culture in SF & San Diego. August & Sept rent a cheap place close to friends who live on Mahe (cheap flights time).October back to Madeira and take up the long standing invite. Nov early season skiing & Thanksgiving in the US staying with chums, whose motto is ''our casa is your casa'' provided I pour large G & Ts every night at 5pm. Dec another month in the Gambia.
2015 I have a friend who suggested a leisurely drive NY to LA over a 3 month period.
Now, back to the question of how to handle life after work.
|
Sounds great. How often will you have to punctuate all that with a bit of light bank robbery or mugging?
;-)
|
|
Back of an envelope calculations make it surprisingly realistic. Not a hotel in sight. Plenty of motels for the March road trip, already booked, and staying with/at friends/mates rates other times. Mind bogglingly do-able, if only I had the nerve!
|
|
What's the insurance premium?
|
|
£54.78 Worldwide annual multi trip, inc winter sports. Maximum duration of any individual trip 70 days. Obviously excludes 'extreme sports' such as synchronised tequila drinking and prolonged ogling.
|
>> After due consideration, I think I have sorted 2014.
>> Resign from my part time job Monday
>> Feb spend with a pal
>> April stay with friends
>> chill with my teacher friend
>> rent a cheap place close to friends
>> take up the long standing invite
>> staying with chums
>> another month in the Gambia.
>> I have a friend ... drive NY to LA over a 3 month period.
Fairly serious question.
How long before they get fed up with you, or you with them?
|
|
Mrs RP has just corrected me - currently 13.5% Police Officer employee contribution, to go up to 14% in April...equates to around £450.00 per month.
|
Life after work - how does one handle it. - Runfer D'Hills
