Over 50's club

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Angus Clydesdale Jul 2020 8:07am, 10 Jul 2020 18,833 posts	0 Angus Clydesdale We took out a 25-year endowment plan 20 years ago. Fortunately we’ve been able to arrange finances such that we aren’t relying on it to repay (all of) our mortgage - on account of it being forecast to fall short by ~£30k.
Bazoaxe Jul 2020 8:13am, 10 Jul 2020 16,913 posts	0 Bazoaxe HG, I guess I am one of those people :-O. In our defence we have received lower salaries for all those years but an overall broadly equivalent package when you add in the pension and benefits. Bigleggy, I had read it was safer to be at 3% rather than 4% for withdrawals, but maybe that's because of my attitude to risk. I currently have a dilemma on my hands. A Final Salary but now closed pension that will give me something like 40% of my final salary or transfer out and collect a lottery sized payout but accept the risk is all mine and I could run out of cash.
HappyG(rrr) Jul 2020 8:23am, 10 Jul 2020 35,559 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) My colleagues in banks and other finance companies didn't get lower salaries! And they had great annual bonuses, sometimes 30% in the good times. And loads of other benefits - holidays, lots of free insurances and things (before they counted as benefits) and back in the day very low mortgages etc. I don't begrudge them it - I couldn't have stayed working for one company for 25-30 years like they have. But they didn't get good pensions because they got lower salaries. Not from what I have seen. The other thing is divorce. And again, I can hardly blame anyone else whose been happily married for 30 years for my personal mistakes! G
Mandymoo Jul 2020 8:25am, 10 Jul 2020 9,900 posts	0 Mandymoo We are mortgage free and plans afoot to retire in May next year for me and September for OH. I am going very early (will be 55) and OH will be 62 and has the good final salary pension (hence September as that is where his year end for pension is). OH is very lucky that in his final working year he has 13 weeks holiday to adjust for retirement. My boss has asked me to work 2 days a week for him from home so that is always an option if I want to. We have several plans afoot - one of which is possibly move to France, but no matter what we will move from where we live now. If in the UK i dont know where... Over the years I have inherited small amounts from grandparents. My mum (adopted) has nothing much left. My dad (birth) and his wife are sitting on a very pretty financial pot and my brother and I have told them to make sure they spend as much of it as they can. We try to help the kids out as much as we can now, when they need it.
bja61 Jul 2020 8:26am, 10 Jul 2020 70 posts	0 bja61 Baz, the Government Actuaries Department (GAD) publish a useful scale of recommended max drawdown rates, that vary by age. This is a legal limit for some old capped drawdown plans, but a useful guide too for everyone in more modern flexible drawdown schemes. They are a pretty cautious bunch, so you can afford to be a little more aggressive. For example at age 60 they suggest 3.7% of current fund value, at 70 5.3%, at age 80 9.1%. Obviously this is a larger percentage of a gradually reducing falling fund value as you age.
bja61 Jul 2020 8:31am, 10 Jul 2020 71 posts	0 bja61 I should have said, you can take 150% of the limit they give, and they suggest updating the calculation every three years to account for investment returns. So if you are 60 and have a £100,000 pot they suggest a rate of 5.3% giving £5,300, and a maximum of £7,950pa. You draw this amount for 3 years, then redo the calculation based on fund value and using the age 63 calc.
bja61 Jul 2020 8:33am, 10 Jul 2020 72 posts	0 bja61 Unless you are very unlucky with investment returns income should gradually increase over time to give some inflation protection as their calls are based on a “risk free rate” of 0.5% at present. The tables are updated every month.
bja61 Jul 2020 8:37am, 10 Jul 2020 73 posts	0 bja61 Sorry, age 70 in second post above for a factor of 5.3%. At 60 it is 3.7% so £5,550pa on £100,000.
CK2 Jul 2020 8:41am, 10 Jul 2020 442 posts	0 CK2 Joining in .... hope that’s ok! I’m 55 this year and recently received my pension information. I’m baffled by it! (And by the above financial calculations even more) However no plans to retire for a fair few years yet so hopefully nothing to do yet! (But I will read and try to understand it!)
Bazoaxe Jul 2020 8:45am, 10 Jul 2020 16,914 posts	0 Bazoaxe HG - not the case for me sadly and in fact as a long serving staff I earn less than many that report to me and have recruited people on more than I earn. The message is that just the way it works if you are a long serving staff member bja, thanks that's interesting. One of my jobs when on holiday for the next 2 weeks when at home rather than on the cancelled holiday is to review where my wifes pensions stand. She left the good final salary scheme and has then had a series of jobs with poor pension provision so most of our eggs are in my basket so to speak.