I'm thinking of retiring....

[Twodogs64]

I'm 59 now and next year I will be sixty..
Divorced and still in reasonable health.
At sixty my army pension kicks in and having thirty years in with LGPS plus my age the eighty five year rule saves a big chunk of reductions on the pension .
So if I go for it I have a year to go...
I fancy jumping in my van and going travelling as much as the ninety day rule in Europe permits .
Now luckily I don't hate my job but feel the times right .
It's odd even to think about it having been living on site for twenty years .
Only one more cold UK winter...
Twodogs

[thecaretaker]

Do it. You'll never look back. Get out of the rat race. Jump off the merry-go-round of life.

But when I did, I was told the eighty five year rule no longer applies (it was removed a few years ago). I still managed to survive on my works pension for 6 years and now the old age pension has kicked in, it ain't too bad.

[Twodogs64]

Yep that's the plan
Do it while I can ..
Just coast though the next year ..lol
That won't be to bad ..
Twodogs

[twiglets]

Interesting, I've been looking at retiring, just turned 60. I haven't worked the figures out yet but, for some, it's a no brainer. If you have pensions coming out- and take every penny of your 25% tax free, then it might be a viable option. I'm homing in on 63 ish, why, because my previous job for 25 years has a reasonable pot and is due at 63, I have some SERPS as well , but that's 65. School pension would be 16 years then- it will be reduced by circa 4% year.
I totally agree-- you never now when you're times up, but you are likely to be 2/3rds now and probably more than that.
Enjoy what you have left you've earnt it.

[Keyolder]

Most of my friends retired early, and one of them in their mid-50’s. I could have retired at 65 but worked another year till I was 66, I’m not really sure why now?

In hindsight I now wish I had retired earlier probably around 60 years of age, as now I’m 10 years older my bones are really starting to feel their age.
Good luck with your plans

[Dragonrider]

The school NEVER contributed to my pension, they only supported the staff, ie: The teachers, menials were always excluded. The last straw was the final head they had (for me) she made life hell and in the end, I quit at 55. I was lucky that I was able to get a part time job fixing computers which gave me something to do, for not a lot of dosh for a year or three, then I was taken very ill. I was lucky, I got help and survived. Never worked again so money was tight.

In all that time though, I keep up the payments to my personal pensions, when they matured, I took the max 25% Tax Free lump sum, basically because I knew sooner or later I would be taxed on my income, which I am, so get the max of the Tax Free and invest it in ISA's where you can.

Even after that, I would still say, if you can swing it, retire as soon as you can afford to do so, you don't know how long you have left. I nearly died at just 60, but I'm still here 8 years later to enjoying my time now.

[Twodogs64]

Thanks for the comments folks you have made up my mind ...( It didn't take a big push to be fair ).

Dragon rider I didn't know schools could not contribute to a pension that's a scary thing to hear very bad for the future ,
As we all know it's all about the teachers not the support staff even if a lot have many years of service in .
Pension schemes are very expensive for companies and I think will become a thing of the past .

Yes as you clock up the miles health is the big one .

There is talk of restructure at the school later in the year I asked the BM about redundancy she laughed and said "forget it both you and I have to many years in "...

I did consider flexible retirement and going term time only .
I asked about the policy on this for support staff as I know it a done thing for teachers but never had a reply to my email .

Got to go now as I have important caretaker stuff to do .
Later folks
Twodogs

[EBJ]

I did work past my pension age as i liked the job and deferred my pension, but then it went academy and from a small family village school to a money making business. It was hard adjusting when retired as your routine has gone but i did quite a bit of private D.I.Y. to keep me occupied, when i finally stopped all together i started to take my state pension and got a tax free lump sum plus interest from my deferred pension and a private pension i have.
Take the early retirement and enjoy your self you earned it and do what you want, when you want and how you want as you are now your own boss, what ever you do i wish you all the best in the world and please join us old en's in the retirement lounge.

[Drone]

Go for it Twodogs. You only get one crack at life.

[magpie]

Just go for it mate, best thing i ever did.

When i went the rule of 85 only covered the earlier years in the LGPS before the changes but as i had a lot of years in before then it didn't affect me too much, i only lost £800 for going 4 years early.