Personal pensions/retirement planning with no dependants

Freefaller said:
I've salary sacrificed quite a bit to lower tax threshold but also maximise my pension. Fortunately my work provides a very generous contribution (12%) which I'm also contributing as well. It makes for a reasonable chunk every month. I'm hoping to wind my career chase when I get to my 50s and start to just enjoy a more calm work pattern.

I do have kids so I'm ploughing as much as I can so that I can not only cover the financial support (if needed) for the kids but also be able to enjoy priceless memories of nice holidays and so on in the future but also allow enough unplanned spending to enjoy life without worrying.

There are lots of retirement calculators out there but inflation is often not considered so it's tough.

Clearing things like mortgages in time with retirement can be quite advantageous as your disposable income suddenly doesn't need to be as large.

It depends on lifestyle, some people are ok on 20k per year some need closer to 60k per year to maintain the standard of life they have. Others make sacrifices like down sizing etc...
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Mortgage will be cleared. That's for sure.
Don't need a more grand house. To be honest one more room upstairs and one downstairs (if a couple) would be fine. Current house is lovely as a one person.
Clearing mortgage is one of my main big todos.

Mortgage is 200k. But I've managed to save/invest 36k since February 2020 (when I went down to 2k after buying house) so I have no doubt that will be cleared as long as I can still work.

Alongside pension I will hopefully have S&S ISA income too.

If didn't have to pay 900 a month (current mortgage) I could probably live on 20k a year in todays mone. Especially as a big chunk of my income now goes on saving. Which wouldn't be needed.

Inflation is the spanner in the works. Who knows what it will be. Suppose there is equity release too in house of don't have kids to leave it to


Maybe it isn't looking so bad. Pension is low though
 
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Mortgage free is a game changer,I work part time 15k max a year ,fuel to get to the beach and coast paths is all I need ,my pension pot isn't big so will draw down and extend the house or maybe put a residential annexe in the top of the garden
My savings are impressive for a poor person also but I am pretty frugal
 
moon man said:
Mortgage free is a game changer,I work part time 15k max a year ,fuel to get to the beach and coast paths is all I need ,my pension pot isn't big so will draw down and extend the house or maybe put a residential annexe in the top of the garden
My savings are impressive for a poor person also but I am pretty frugal
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Well it's much easier for people our age because we know we will get 10k + from the state at 66/67. Not touched my SIPP either, quit my part time job and just living off savings for the next few years.
 
Uther said:
Well it's much easier for people our age because we know we will get 10k + from the state at 66/67. Not touched my SIPP either, quit my part time job and just living off savings for the next few years.
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Any reason not to start drawing down up to the tax free personal allowance (£12570) each year and reinvest it into an S&S ISA to reduce tax liability later?
 
EvilRob said:
Any reason not to start drawing down up to the tax free personal allowance (£12570) each year and reinvest it into an S&S ISA to reduce tax liability later?
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I don't need it so will wait a few years for the stock market to recover.
 
Uther said:
I don't need it so will wait a few years for the stock market to recover.
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You could put it in the same fund in an S&S ISA and avoid paying any income tax on that part when you withdraw in future.
I think the only reason not to is if you think you'll never spend any of it and want to protect it for IHT reasons. Or if you think you will start making significant contributions again in future.
 
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Found all my pensions now.
Some of them are sub 2k after leaving jobs in well under 2 years and having a 3 month wait to subscribe.

Total wasn't quite as bad as I thought due to one that has done fairly well (18 percent rise in 3 years considering recent market.) and I was there years (always maxing out employer contributions) .

Still very much not enough if I was relying on pension alone.


I dread to think what done people will face... Ie work till you drop
 
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413x said:
Found all my pensions now.
Some of them are sub 2k after leaving jobs in well under 2 years and having a 3 month wait to subscribe.

Total wasn't quite as bad as I thought due to one that has done fairly well (18 percent rise in 3 years considering recent market.) and I was there years (always maxing out employer contributions) .

Still very much not enough if I was relying on pension alone.


I dread to think what done people will face... Ie work till you drop
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As long as you have your mortgage paid off you could work 2 days a week and still have a comfortable lifestyle.. It will actually be good for you. Not everyone actually hates their job. My Grandad worked till 78 part time refurbishing computers for the Russians till the Soviet Union collapsed. He lived till 93 so still got 15 years of retirement without doing any work.

He had state, army and ICL/Fujitsu pension so didn't need the money.
 
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adam cool dude said:
As long as you have your mortgage paid off you could work 2 days a week and still have a comfortable lifestyle.. It will actually be good for you. Not everyone actually hates their job. My Grandad worked till 78 part time refurbishing computers for the Russians till the Soviet Union collapsed. He lived till 93 so still got 15 years of retirement without doing any work.
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Yeah that's number one.
Its primary financial goal. Can't imagine what rent would be going forwards. Especially in UK.

Even without overpay mortgage has 20 years left. I reduced the term to keep payment amount the same.

If life goes smoothly (lol) I'd hope to pay it off in 15 years max.
 
without kids, leave it to friends or other family i guess.

if you dont have those then are there any charities or causes you are interested in?

personally without kids however i would try to work out exactly how much money i need to live on, and rather than having a large excess of cash, would bring my retirement date forward.
 
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I got a bit of stick for my home bias but dumping 50k plus of bond heavy stuff and doing this has given me a much better result this last 12 months
I have the latest dividends in the next week or so from the ETFs so have to make a decision. Home, USA, bail out to cash for a while ...........it's been a roller coaster though and you get to cope with paper losses without panic

IMG20230103175443.jpg
 
moon man said:
I got a bit of stick for my home bias but dumping 50k plus of bond heavy stuff and doing this has given me a much better result this last 12 months
I have the latest dividends in the next week or so from the ETFs so have to make a decision. Home, USA, bail out to cash for a while ...........it's been a roller coaster though and you get to cope with paper losses without panic

IMG20230103175443.jpg
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Tbh I think it's a bit late to bail out now. I'm happy that I never went the usual route at my age of jumping heavily into bonds, I'm still all in ETF's. Interesting video James Shack just dropped about dividend investing. I was thinking about it before, now not so sure.
www.youtube.com

The No.1 Strategy For Retirement Income...

*Looking for help with Financial Planning?* I am a Chartered Wealth Manager and Partner in a financial planning practice based in the UK. If you would l...
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