Retirement can't come soon enough!

Post by **fly-catchers** » 10 Mar 2017, 19:23

What a s**t place RM is/has become! As you get older and slower with bad backs, bad knees and other aliments you just get endless hassles from the DIM about how much quicker every one else is! And bullying threats...
I am 60 next year and will have 30 years of Final Salary (20 actual work years and topped up with 8 years Added years AVC and 2 years brought using an earlier pension transferred). Plus the 2 years CARE pension. Although it is recommended not to take the pension early I am still tempted to take my 8 years paid into my NRA 65 early. I work out I lose about £600 per year but it would give me about £9000 over the 5 years I get it early. So without allowing for the index linking reckon it would take about 15 years before you would feel the loss. But adding the NRA65 to my NRA60 would give me roughly the ball park of monthly income I would hope to get.
Worked for a few years in the retail industry and largely hated it for the pressure of maximum sales over anything else. And found RM a breath of fresh air where you did a job worth doing and without any real pressures. Now that profit and savings are everything and cost cutting and pressure is going overboard this job is now almost just as bad! Ironic that as you leave any happy memories at working for RM will be long since dead!

GEZ61 · Post by **GEZ61** » 30 Mar 2017, 23:34

Go for it ,if it is peace of mind and health more important .Work out your finances and budget well I cannot see you having a problem .I should imagine you do not have a mortgage to pay? I retired early because of the stress of the duties which get harder as you age. I took the plunge and have never looked back

Post by **rambo1** » 13 Apr 2017, 23:46

You gotta be very honest and thorough with yourself and work out exactly how much your present lifestyle is costing you. If you would have enough, don't hesitate, time is more precious than money. Remember also, if you are taking £11500 a yr in pension (currently) you would be paying income tax on the amount above this. If you have your mortgage paid off, you should be ok on your pension, and when your state pension kicks in, you'll be laughing. Go as early as you can afford, and get your life back. Atb.

BeamishStout · Post by **BeamishStout** » 14 Apr 2017, 09:22

fly-catchers wrote:What a s**t place RM is/has become! As you get older and slower with bad backs, bad knees and other aliments you just get endless hassles from the DIM about how much quicker every one else is! And bullying threats...
I am 60 next year and will have 30 years of Final Salary (20 actual work years and topped up with 8 years Added years AVC and 2 years brought using an earlier pension transferred). Plus the 2 years CARE pension. Although it is recommended not to take the pension early I am still tempted to take my 8 years paid into my NRA 65 early. I work out I lose about £600 per year but it would give me about £9000 over the 5 years I get it early. So without allowing for the index linking reckon it would take about 15 years before you would feel the loss. But adding the NRA65 to my NRA60 would give me roughly the ball park of monthly income I would hope to get.
Worked for a few years in the retail industry and largely hated it for the pressure of maximum sales over anything else. And found RM a breath of fresh air where you did a job worth doing and without any real pressures. Now that profit and savings are everything and cost cutting and pressure is going overboard this job is now almost just as bad! Ironic that as you leave any happy memories at working for RM will be long since dead!

Are you my clone? Seriously though I am pretty much in the same position as yourself re being 60 (in April 2018) and that being the age I retire. Made up my mind towards the back of 2016 that my disposable income in retirement (from RM and other periods of employment) was going to be enough for me and my wife to have a lifestyle where we can do pretty much everything we enjoy doing now. Days off for me now are my window back to sanity and a world so far removed from the detritus and petty, unimportant things (to me) that now litter my working days at RM. I am currently saving as much as I can in AVCs so will be maximizing my RM pensions and even though I shall be taking the 5% hit pa on my NRA65 component. What is really difficult to quantify is the peace of mind that will inevitably come once I shove the last letter though the letterbox. 353 Days and counting till freedom...

Post by **fly-catchers** » 14 Apr 2017, 18:20

I have paid off my mortgage as I was offered EVR in 2015 which they eventually took away! I have paid into the Added years AVC (best decision I have ever made) and Bonus plan. Never did Flexiplan alas as I never picked up on the tax benefits till years later on this forum. And had been burnt early on with my Bonus plan option of Equitable Life where I lost over 20% of it when I moved to a different company under the Bonus plan scheme. But have however put regular amounts into a S&S ISA since they started. Plus one of my hobbies is growing tropical plants which until the workload at RM took its toll used to sell on Ebay and beyond. Too tired to continue that, though I am gradually saving the remaining plants I have not lost and intend to use this as an addition if only seasonal income as well. Not interested in expensive holidays or fast cars so have calculated that despite any pension losses I should be ok. Look forward to getting my NRA 60 pension details later this year. Will stay on at least to April to get my fullest wack into the current NRA65 pension and Bonus plan. And collect my bribe of £750 from RM. And my 30 year service award providing they still give anything for that by them!! Thank goodness I am not starting up in RM these days. A great job brought to its knees (along with my knees!). Good luck to you & your wife BeamishStout. Onwards and upwards!!