Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms When do you know...

That pretty much coincides with my plan...I would still add travel, motorcycle and Morgan riding

May be missing something but cannot see any money making opportunity there

With the right figures though could be fun.

Correct! But I'll get a few weeks of fun out of it. I'll take pleasure over money any day of the week.

After many years of working to live, there is nothing better than living.

Those who can afford it should live as they wish.

Unfortunately, nowadays many people cannot afford it.

Not to mention the people who have to fight for their lives......

When you look at the Calendar thinking what else you could be doing.

I retired October 2018 and was very happy, however I retired to make the most of my pension as working longer was going to put me in a different category and I was going to be worse off. My boss always thought I wold take a few weeks off and come back, which we planned after my pension was sorted out however as the usual with a big bureaucracy paper work got lost etc and I was off until January 2020. I was not that happy as I had enjoyed my time off and really only went back because I realised my boss had put in a stack of effort to get the paper work though.

By working and collecting a pension I have managed at my sons house to pay for a new roof house, two new bathrooms, a carport and pay off 30% off the mortgage. I also ordered an Australian Frontline MGB as my view was if I am working I want something for me. However I worked out that the money I earnt has covered the house but as the MGB has taken longer that I expected I actually could have covered it just from savings from my pension, meaning I could have ordered the car without working. While not ideal I could have probably got the loan increased to cover the house renovations. So yes I am much better off financially but I probably could have coped without working.

I could work another two years and fully pay the house off or retire and pay it off over 12 from my pension.

While retired for 14 months I joined a Monday cycling group, however it was full. After working for about 6 months I was told I could join them, once I joined them I was invited on a Wednesday Cycling group, then a Thursday and then a Friday cycling group. Then some of them invited me to join their Tuesday caning group. I have not gone canoeing but generally do about one ride a week depending on weather or work commitments.

The bad news is when I first retired I was quite fit and I think if I had not returned to work I would have stayed fit as I would have have been sitting in a chair working on computers all day long and and often the night as well. However with working long hours I have lost a lot of fitness and put on too much weight.

I plan to leave end of June and then do more cycling, maybe try canoeing and concentrate on getting as fit as possible. I feel life is too short to let your health deteriorate and you end up having and even shorter life. Working two more years is tempting to finish the mortgage off but really I feel I want to live longer and that is more important than my son inheriting my house paid off and have his house paid off. I also have lots of other things I want to do as well like enjoying the MGB, more work around the house, making guitars and playing music.

I hope all your retirement plans work out as well as you hope they will guys..

I suspect that any younger generation folks might be somewhat envious reading of how well it seems Baby Boomers were able to plan retirement using promised pension payouts, lump sums and early retirement, none of which I suspect will be available to all but the most fortunate of following generations, unless they work in the financial services industry, perhaps..?

I remember well sitting in my late twenties at the interview for my last job, and when the topic of pension possibilities was brought up by personnel, I was less than interested, I just wanted that job...

I got the job, as the new boy I sat at a long table in the billet, nearest the door where every time it opened a cold draught would swirl around me...It did not take long to understand the pecking order and those guys up at the other end of the table where it entered a sort of alcove and where the heater was situated, were the old guard, and their regular topic of discussion was pensions, pensions and pensions, boring or what...? Over the years and as nature took it`s coarse, I moved out of the draught and closer to the heater, and on that slow journey up the table I became ever more interested in the old guards usual topic of discussion.. (-:

In the early 80`s when mortgage rates rose to to their highest, the company offered us the opportunity to join an alternative pension scheme, to assist us as we might be finding finances a little tight. My pension pay-in was 7% of my earnings and the company paid in 14%, the kind offer the company made was to reduce my pay-in to 5% of earnings, they would pay in 7% ....I decided to stick with the old scheme.

The scheme matured at age 60 for everyone, and at 60 I would be four years short of maximum pensionable service. I asked if I could increase my monthly contributions over the years in order to buy the years require to reach the max on retirement... Yes, I could buy added years, but only with a single cash payment, and the offer which was only available for a limited time, equated to quite a few thousand pounds... I declined.

Some years later the company came to us with a suggestion that if we allowed them to borrow from the pension fund, dependant on length of service they would give us additional years entitlement in the pension scheme. Agreement reached, had I earlier paid out the thousands to buy added years, I would have been no better off...!

Around that time, Mr Gordon Brown the then Labour chancellor changed the law on pensions allowing folk to continue working and claim their pensions pay out... Not that Mr Brown had learned from that nice Mr Maxwell that UK company pension funds surplus was HUGE at the time, hard to believe I know... Mr Brown determined to protect us all from the likes of Mr Maxwell ever having the opportunity to rob pension schemes ever again, Mr Brown determined that he would ensure there was to be a given amount per head secured in any pension scheme.... The sting in the tail was that any amount in the fund over his pre determined per capita set point.... would be taxed.... Thus he generated a windfall for the government coffers out of pension funds having to pay the new tax, and from the extra taxation on those who were able to continue working and taking their pension and no doubt spending more on taxable goods and services..A nice little earner for the Govt..?

In time that worked out well enough for many folk with company pensions of a certain age.... until the banking crisis hit and pension funds were reporting losses, deficits and some failed...!! No sign of Mr Brown saying he would restore that which he taxed out of the pension funds in an attempt to off-set the failures... Hmm..?

As an aside the company doctor completed a survey of ALL employees back in the 70`s and there were quite a few hundreds in my local area, which is renown for enjoyment of fried foods, smoking and hard drinking... The doc`s assessment of average lifespan worked out after retiral.....? As best I can remember was supposedly circa seven weeks....!!! No wonder the pension funds had been in such excess at that time and that Mr Maxwell spotted an opportunity ripe for plundering, all of which was well covered in the media at the time, no doubt noticed by Mr Brown who then created a legal route to get in on the act...?

I am no accountant, political pundit, or financial advisor, the above is a rough outline as to my personal perception of events over the years... I would prod EVERY youngster to get themselves educated on pensions and keep up to date with any evolution that might affect pension entitlement.

As an example of how simple it might be to plunder pensions...... While still in employment I attended a pension meeting where the sec of the pension scheme had flown up from London to answer any questions. Being a large spread out organisation we were split up on site into groups relative to billet locations. Getting ever closer to retirement I asked quite a few questions. As the meeting progressed the pension sec. looked at his watch, said he had more sections to visit and had over run the time allocated for our section... Later in the day while passing through security, one of the guards complained to me that he had missed his lunch break as the result of the number of questions I asked, extending the length of the session... !!! Yeah, no wonder the financial services industry and companies alike could slope off with the contents of folks pension funds while they are out to lunch...... Sigh..!

Very fortunately for me my accrued pensions are still paying out, quite how long that might last, given the combination of Truss economics which recently seemingly threatened total collapse of the pension system... and IMF projections for the UK economy...Hmm..? Someone somewhere seems not to have been paying attention....?

Paul F is right. I did 6 years after retirement (65 here) working three days a week. Job was interesting (maintenance repairs) but after that time I had the same feelings. I just got sick of trying to please everybody all the time. So finally left and don't know how I found time to do everything when working. It is a nice feeling, sort of like a looong holiday. I still feel weird when being with working people (feeling guilty) Hah Hah.

Yes, I have shown younger people at work how by doubling the standard Company superannuation contribution by adding their own tax concessional contributions they can have a great self funded retirement. Most of them get it and feel yes it makes sense to add in extra to provide for myself.

Other countries are different. Until 1992 Australia had superannuation only for certain jobs so a lot of people didn't save and rely on the age pension. Now a lot of people have super but not enough to retire well on it. I agree that younger folks are envious of the ones in the old schemes but as only a small part of the population had access to those funds I feel the younger generation are better off as they have longer in the workforce with a decent compulsory company superannuation and the ability to top it up with tax benefits. THe younger they are when they get educated the better off they will be.

I am working on about 5 projects at the moment, supposed to be part time doing 24 hours a week but end up closer to 40, at least I get paid by the hour and have a 40 hour limit like the full time workers but even working full time I get behind, I woke up at 2am one morning last week thinking who do I want to annoy this week by not meeting their deadlines as I can't get everything done for everyone. Woke up later on with the Rick Nelson Garden Party song in my head singing "You can't please everyone so you might as well please yourself.". I was thinking was retiring again "Pleasing Myself", it seems to fit.

I think everyone is different.... I retired in my early 40's having sold my company. Did nothing for a few years but am now a consultant and have been involved in several companies.

My view (which will be different to others of course) is that a man needs a mission. I like having the focus of being involved in a business - mentoring younger executives etc

Had I not stopped in my 40's, I might feel quite differently - it's impossible to say.

PJ (of this parish) and I have often talked about it over the years, there's no easy answer!