Has the crisis changed your retirement date?

[TheStrangler]

For me personally, it's sharpened my focus, if anything made me more determined to get out.
Only problem being having to wait the rest of the year to get my pension even in the unlikely event I can apply next month!
Plan to use the combination of max lump sum and pension to keep me going around 9 years till I get my state pension.
Lucky enough not to have a mortgage and I don't go on holidays abroad so a grand a month should be fine for me.
I've looked at my outgoings over many years to come to that conclusion.
All being well as above, I wouldn't have to touch my savings either so that's a good position to be in.
My real concern now (aside from the obvious one of not catching this awful virus) is how it may impact the Rm pension and whether its feasible that when I receive this it will be lower than my previous quote from 6 months ago.

[Woody Guthrie]

For me personally, it's sharpened my focus, if anything made me more determined to get out.

I think this will be a common 'symptom' of the Coronavirus outbreak and lockdown.

Not seeing family, not enjoying the simple things makes you realise that once you get to a certain age the only real currency of any value is time. My mortgage is paid, I've seen most of the world I was desperate to see and I don't have expensive habits. It helps that I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world within 10 minutes drive.

I've outgrown the need to have the best of everything, I'm happier now making the most of what I have.

[RobertT]

My real concern now (aside from the obvious one of not catching this awful virus) is how it may impact the Rm pension and whether its feasible that when I receive this it will be lower than my previous quote from 6 months ago.

Assuming you're in the DB scheme, your pension is based on your wages and length of service, so the current financial crisis shouldn't have any impact of how much you get. The DBCBS is guaranteed to pay out at least the contributions going in, minus any early payment reductions.

But as to whether there will be a long term impact on RM being able to pay it's pension liabilities because of Covid-19, only time will tell. But it's usually employee members who carry the can.

You may have also seen in another thread about the RPI link(section C) being replaced by the lower CPIH, which will affect the increases on your RM pension for the rest of your life.

Any money invested via AVC's(or in the RMDCP) will probably have gone down and that would impact on your lump sum, but that will depend where your money is invested.

[NorthernBoy]

For me personally, it's sharpened my focus, if anything made me more determined to get out.

I think this will be a common 'symptom' of the Coronavirus outbreak and lockdown.

Not seeing family, not enjoying the simple things makes you realise that once you get to a certain age the only real currency of any value is time. My mortgage is paid, I've seen most of the world I was desperate to see and I don't have expensive habits. It helps that I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world within 10 minutes drive.

I've outgrown the need to have the best of everything, I'm happier now making the most of what I have.

Yes, I think a lot of people will re evaluate their retirement plans. At my partners workplace there are plenty of people who are in their 60s who have decent pensions, mortgage free etc but continue to work. My partner says these people may now retire and start spending money rather than working until they drop.

We are trying to work out how soon we can finish work. We are looking at Bulgaria as a retirement destination as we think with house paid off, you can live well on about £1500 a month. Is anyone else looking at retiring abroad, if so which countries are on your list?

[heapsy]

I still intend to retire at 60. Don't want to work until I drop. Pros and cons with working on or retiring early I know. The way I see it, the job will only get harder. RM will only want more out of us. I recently read an article in a finance column of a national newspaper. It stated that most people will have to mix and match their pensions. In other words, use a number of sources of income. Best all round advice if you ask me. If anything, people should use this current situation to assess where they put their money in order to spread risk. Sadly, there are still too many people we work with who think that if they pay into the works pension then that is all they have to do. They will be in for a massive shock.

[SpacePhoenix]

My gut feeling is that when the financial fall-out from coronavirus becomes clearer that the state pension age will get bumped up again, probably to at least 70

[RobertT]

I still intend to retire at 60. Don't want to work until I drop. Pros and cons with working on or retiring early I know. The way I see it, the job will only get harder. RM will only want more out of us. I recently read an article in a finance column of a national newspaper. It stated that most people will have to mix and match their pensions. In other words, use a number of sources of income. Best all round advice if you ask me. If anything, people should use this current situation to assess where they put their money in order to spread risk.

Sadly, there are still too many people we work with who think that if they pay into the works pension then that is all they have to do. They will be in for a massive shock.

That does sum many people up and if they're happy to work until state pension age, then it might be enough.

There a few at my DO of a similar age and service to me, who have recently started to take an interest in their pension for the first time. They've never done anything other than pay their 6% into the RM scheme.

They were a bit surprised when I told them I was planning on going at 55.

Start early, save as much as you can and regularly review your aims and investments is my advice.

[heapsy]

I still intend to retire at 60. Don't want to work until I drop. Pros and cons with working on or retiring early I know. The way I see it, the job will only get harder. RM will only want more out of us. I recently read an article in a finance column of a national newspaper. It stated that most people will have to mix and match their pensions. In other words, use a number of sources of income. Best all round advice if you ask me. If anything, people should use this current situation to assess where they put their money in order to spread risk.

Sadly, there are still too many people we work with who think that if they pay into the works pension then that is all they have to do. They will be in for a massive shock.

That does sum many people up and if they're happy to work until state pension age, then it might be enough.

There a few at my DO of a similar age and service to me, who have recently started to take an interest in their pension for the first time. They've never done anything other than pay their 6% into the RM scheme.

They were a bit surprised when I told them I was planning on going at 55.

Start early, save as much as you can and regularly review your aims and investments is my advice.

I saw one of your posts the other day. You are very close to my age. I'm 53 in August. Getting too much for me. Also, you just cannot buy time. If you are like me, I've probably clocked up around 15/16 years of extra service with the amount of overtime I've done and I'm still doing it. Need to get out at a decent age and enjoy the early sun rise without worrying about the clock.

[RobertT]

I still intend to retire at 60. Don't want to work until I drop. Pros and cons with working on or retiring early I know. The way I see it, the job will only get harder. RM will only want more out of us. I recently read an article in a finance column of a national newspaper. It stated that most people will have to mix and match their pensions. In other words, use a number of sources of income. Best all round advice if you ask me. If anything, people should use this current situation to assess where they put their money in order to spread risk.

Sadly, there are still too many people we work with who think that if they pay into the works pension then that is all they have to do. They will be in for a massive shock.

That does sum many people up and if they're happy to work until state pension age, then it might be enough.

There a few at my DO of a similar age and service to me, who have recently started to take an interest in their pension for the first time. They've never done anything other than pay their 6% into the RM scheme.

They were a bit surprised when I told them I was planning on going at 55.

Start early, save as much as you can and regularly review your aims and investments is my advice.

I saw one of your posts the other day. You are very close to my age. I'm 53 in August. Getting too much for me. Also, you just cannot buy time. If you are like me, I've probably clocked up around 15/16 years of extra service with the amount of overtime I've done and I'm still doing it. Need to get out at a decent age and enjoy the early sun rise without worrying about the clock.

Going by what you've said in past posts, I think you're about 1 year older than me but I have around 1 year more service than you.

Over the last 2-3 years in particular I've got quite restless about the job and the way the company is going in general, and the recent Covid-19 situation hasn't helped at all. I really can't wait to go!

I've never been a big OT person to be honest, although I've had my moments. I think I've put myself where I am mainly by thinking about my retirement early, saving hard, taking advantage of the tax relief and getting good compounded growth over quite a long time. Plus I've never lost faith in what I've been trying to achieve.

I've probably made a few sacrifices along the way that others might not be willing to make. But I've never really earned drastically more or less than any of the others in my DO I mentioned in my previous post – I've just done different things with that money!

While I don't want to wish my life away, I'm thoroughly looking forward to 2023 and hanging up my pouch and box keys for the last time. If only VR would come my way!

[renrag40]

Amen brother on VR

[renrag40]

My gut feeling is that when the financial fall-out from coronavirus becomes clearer that the state pension age will get bumped up again, probably to at least 70

Why would that be? The reason the retirement age has been rising is because life expectancy has risen....... surely Covid 19 will have a negative effect on life expectancy wouldn’t it? Look at all the poor buggers dying in care homes, they are dropping like flies....... they are not included in the death figures on every news bulletin, that is just the figure for people who have died in hospital.... I wonder why that would be?

[RobertT]

My gut feeling is that when the financial fall-out from coronavirus becomes clearer that the state pension age will get bumped up again, probably to at least 70

Why would that be? The reason the retirement age has been rising is because life expectancy has risen....... surely Covid 19 will have a negative effect on life expectancy wouldn’t it? Look at all the poor buggers dying in care homes, they are dropping like flies....... they are not included in the death figures on every news bulletin, that is just the figure for people who have died in hospital.... I wonder why that would be?

It's probably because the government are borrowing £Billions to fund the covid-19 crisis such as the furlough scheme, etc. I think it was something like £330 Billion in total the last time I heard.

It will have to be paid back sooner or later and by someone. Don't be surprised if the normal working man has to pay his share one way or another!

[Woody Guthrie]

The financial implications of the Coronavirus outbreak are complex, the bulk of the eye-watering sums quoted are in the form of Quantative Easing. That actually doesn't create debt it consolidates the UK debt under the roof of the Bank of England and actually helps pension funds offload government bonds.

The actual overall impact of QE on pension funds is up for debate, since a lot of that money ends up invested in the markets you could probably argue that the unprecedented gains of the past 10 years which has dragged a lot of DB funds out of a hole are at least partially down to QE however on the down side historically low interest rates has all but destroyed the annuity market leading to an increase in the use of draw down as a better option.

It's difficult to gauge where we go from here but personally I don't think government debt will effect pension age in the short term, life expectancy is a far bigger factor.

In the early 1950s we had a deficit of around 250% of GDP (far higher than now), we didn't default then and were able to set up the NHS and the welfare state and offer some of the best pension provisions in Europe at the time. We grew our way out of that crisis by investing in infrastructure and social housing.

It's a shame that ufortunately we don't seem to have the courage to do that now.

[stephen500]

The financial implications of the Coronavirus outbreak are complex, the bulk of the eye-watering sums quoted are in the form of Quantative Easing. That actually doesn't create debt it consolidates the UK debt under the roof of the Bank of England and actually helps pension funds offload government bonds.

The actual overall impact of QE on pension funds is up for debate, since a lot of that money ends up invested in the markets you could probably argue that the unprecedented gains of the past 10 years which has dragged a lot of DB funds out of a hole are at least partially down to QE however on the down side historically low interest rates has all but destroyed the annuity market leading to an increase in the use of draw down as a better option.

It's difficult to gauge where we go from here but personally I don't think government debt will effect pension age in the short term, life expectancy is a far bigger factor.

In the early 1950s we had a deficit of around 250% of GDP (far higher than now), we didn't default then and were able to set up the NHS and the welfare state and offer some of the best pension provisions in Europe at the time. We grew our way out of that crisis by investing in infrastructure and social housing.

It's a shame that ufortunately we don't seem to have the courage to do that now.

100% right, before Corona we were at 83% of gdp to debt. Nowhere near 1950s levels of 250% gdp and still won't be any where near it after this. Plus banks can now print 90% of the money they lend, just by hitting the keys on a keyboard. They need £100 for every one thousand they lend. Fractional reserve banking. Governments could get the money back, by turnover taxes on Amazon etc to prevent them moving profits around or could directly tax the billionaries. (btw the head of twitter has donated a third of his wealth to covid and the ex head of microsoft does his bit)

[heapsy]

Selling off the social housing seems to be the new way of making money now. Even Labour councils are doing it. A bloke I used to deliver to has a housing portfolio instead of a pension. He said to me once that he thought the government only had the housing market as an industry. If you can call it that. They've collectively sold everything off. And if they haven't sold it off, they've allowed other countries to overtake us one way or another. There's nothing really for the ordinary man to do. Unless you have real skills you are stuffed. A joint effort to destroy the final salary pensions was the final nail in the coffin for the masses.