how do you fill your time during a winter like this

Cycling or running with friends (obvs 1 at a time ATM). Walking the dog and having the time to not stress as he stops to snack on goosegrass. Catching up with all the stuff I’ve not had the time or mental space to do while working – music, art, books, films. Doing more proper cooking as I’ve got the energy to concentrate on something with more than just one step in the recipe! Hacking away at the garden.

The best thing is being able to get as much daylight as I want in winter, not being stuck at my desk.

Not meaning to be offensive but that thought to me shows a total lack of imagination

If I understand his sentiment correctly I don’t think he’s wrong. There’s a point you can achieve where you’ve paid of the mortgage and have saved a decent amount for later life whereby instead of retiring per se you can “downsize” your job to less hours, less stress, less responsibility – whatever floats your boat – because you no longer have the financial stress/responsibility. This is a path I’m taking, working damn hard now but saving madly with a plan to be devoid of mortgage and save/invest to reduce the effort of working in 3 years – aged 53 – from now. I’ll still work and save, but not the 70hr week sales stress I’m dealing with now.

Digger, it sounds to me like you had a crap life until you get to retirement age. I saw every single bithday of my son, put him to bed every night and made him breakfast most mornings. I work, but it’s in IT and i’m not sure it counts in the same way as digging roads 🙂

I’ll do ok when i retire, but before then i do things like trips to Morzine, i do trackdays at Spa, Jerez, Portimao on one of my 2 motorbikes i have here…

TBH mate, i think it sounds to me like you’re the one who’s got it wrong, not me.

@bruneep

You have:
36 years of full contributions
11 years to contribute before 5 April 2031
4 years when you did not contribute enough

Your forecast is £175.20 a week.
£175.20 is the most you can get
You cannot improve your forecast any more.

I’m 56 BTW, left school at 16 and went to college.
I’ve taken a few years out from work though (as per the 4 years stated above).

Also, in one of my qualifying years’, contractor, I paid £5.45 in NI contributions 🙂

I was reading back as Weeksy responded. Longer members on here will know I’ve enjoyed a journey away from over-materialism, but ultimately both of you are right, and inevitably this thread lends itself to people of our age and life experience.

You should understand how to save and invest to enjoy your picture of a realistic future, but you also need to enjoy life as it is today. My post above is based on living a decent standard of life (subjective of course) with the kids now, whilst also achieving our plan for retirement.

Yes, there should be a retirement plan, but once you’re on that journey there’s no reason any extra’s can’t be used for Weeksy’s trip to Morzine. for example. And if you can’t find something to enjoy it with, just save it.

All of this comes back to “wants v needs.

Let’s be honest, the “Needs” are covered by the state pension plus a bit. Any extra spend/earlier retirement is generally a Want.

any NHS people on here bought the additional pension benefits (APB) , the reply from SPPA was less than helpful or clear.

@intheborders

I had almost 30yrs contracted out by employer, but paid enough through secondary employment and self employment that all the haters hated 😊

Well this thread has given me some homework – I’ve been through my spending over the last year and have done a review of savings and pension pots etc and the net is that when you add them all up I have 30-40 years of typical spend before I factor in the state pension (starting in 12 years). For clarity, I don’t spend much so that’s not as big a number as it might sound.

So now I know I’m working because I choose to, or perhaps because I’m actually a bit scared about what to do if I stopped (I’ve been unemployed before and my mental health suffered badly). My job is interesting and rewarding, but not as interesting or rewarding as things like riding my bike on a summer’s day – but there’s a lot of time left over. On the flip side I’ve already dropped to 4 days a week because I had stuff to do and no time to do it but I don’t think the last year has helped me value that. Fwiw I don’t think there’s much scope to drop my working days any further at the moment.

Also I’m not sure MrsP is giving it quite as much thought as me, so if I did quit I’d likely be flying solo for a bit.

More thinking needed I reckon, need to delve into what’s actually keeping me at work…

any NHS people on here bought the additional pension benefits (APB) , the reply from SPPA was less than helpful or clear.

depends on what scheme you are in. I am in the 96 section and could not buy additional years

On the flip side I’ve already dropped to 4 days a week because I had stuff to do and no time to do it but I don’t think the last year has helped me value that. Fwiw I don’t think there’s much scope to drop my working days any further at the moment.

I’ve dropped to 4 day week and still don’t have enough time. Tempted to try 3 day week soon…

The real question for me is how do you fill your time during a winter like this unless you have plenty of cash?

I think a lot comes down to where you chose to live at this stage in your life. We have deliberately chosen to move to somewhere where it is easier to create a more sustainable lifestyle (grow your own / local produce etc). The community also provides ample opportunity for volunteering and maybe part-time work. I also set-up a small online business 3 years ago with a view that it could be operated from anywhere that has the potential to generate a small income and can also be extended to offer some B2B sales locally. At today’s rates, we can get by on £18k/year – which is about half of what my pensions will yield. I’ve already got a camper van, 7 bikes and 2 dogs – apart from a small sailing boat, there’s probably little else I can think I would like right now.

@tjagain wife in 95 scheme and a special case, (in more ways than one) midwife can retire at 55 instead of 60

Special Class membership allows you to apply for your full 1995 section pension entitlement from the age of 55 rather than the normal pension age for the 1995 section which is 60.

as she is only P/T looking to buy APB to boost pension but SPPA less than helpful with reply

OK, time to get back to work you lot, you’re wrecking the economy!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/20/exodus-of-more-than-half-a-million-from-workforce-puts-uk-economy-at-risk

haha this is my thread. I had forgotten about it. Too late. Ive submitted my notice to retire in march 2023 🙂

Too late.

Selfish bastard! Inflation is all your fault!

Interesting to re-read this thread. I am nw semi-retired (since April 21), living on savings until I can access my pensions in a couple of years, plus a bit of part time work. Even with the squeeze on living costs affecting my budget things are good – it is surprising how expensive working can be, and if you have more time things are actually much cheaper.

In terms of filling my time, between a PhD and elderly parents there is no lack of things to be doing, but I do find it hard ot get up before about 0800 these days (used to be in the office 1hr15mins drive away by 0730 when working….)

haha this is my thread. I had forgotten about it. Too late. Ive submitted my notice to retire in march 2023

Lucky bugger, I’m (36) currently trying to figure out if it’s possible to ever get off the working to pay the mortgage treadmill.

Feels like the whole system is rigged against retirement. Saving for a deposit is a PITA because of student loan repayments, saving for a retirement is a PITA because of mortgage repayments, and by the time the mortgage is paid off it’s too late to figure out how to put all that money you suddenly have spare into a pension to accrue any meaningful compound interest.

Lucky bugger, I’m (36)

I reckon quite a few financially stable retirees would would happily swap to be 36 again 🙂

Its still worth chucking money into the pension pot. With the tax advantage, compound interest and rising stock market long term you will do OK. I had very little in mine at 36.

Make sure you have something left in the pot when you eventually pop your clogs. You can’t rely on the afterlife being completely free.

Thisisnotaspoon it feels like and and I’m sure that’s by design to keep people working, consuming and most importantly paying taxes.
If I could speak to my younger self advice would of been buy a house sooner, stop buying crap you don’t need and salary sacrifice earlier into pension to prevent the gov getting it.
I left it late and didn’t get myself into gear till at least 40.

I’m one of those selfish bastards that are “crashing the economy” at the moment by being retired at 57.

No actually if most employers didn’t crush the very soul out of experienced staff with utterly pointless stuff we would have probably kept working as we used to enjoy it and always took real pride in our jobs.

Due to big changes in the personal side of my life 😀 I’m setting up as self employed in the new financial year or I’ll get slightly bored (lot of tax to avoid for now) and I’m going to be the pickiest sod going as to what I take on. But so far all concerned are beating my door down 😮

Like I said it will be to suit me and fit in around my “new life”

davey – you have no dependants but do you have a will? If you don’t, the state will benefit when you die.
If you do, have you checked to see what happens to your pension as, given your circumstances, it’s likely that when you die it dies with you.
It might be sensible to get a transfer value and explore the options; likely you will need an IFA and acceot you will incur a mid-high 4 figure fee.

I dont have 400k in savings. But I left my job at 59. A good decision for me.

Frank – no and I keep meaning to get around to it. All to animal charities when I pull my finger out and get it sorted.
But I don’t like to talk about my charity work.

£6k a year? I somehow manage to spend £6k a month – hence I don’t have £400k stashed away.

51 and wondering if I’ll ever retire 🙁