Retirement

ronk said:
Retired on my 60th birthday - my only regret is hadn’t done it earlier!

Do i miss the work? No ! Some of the people and the non pc banter - but that’s provably been stopped by now :rofl:

Boredom - I have less spare time than when at work. Time flies!
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Retired at 59, haven't given work a thought except for when old colleagues called me a few times with questions about the database. Agree best thing I ever did.

I had been planning to go at 62, but an opportunity came up to jump ship early and after several months of subtle manoeuvring and negotiation with personnel, I was able to give my line manager two weeks notice that I was leaving. Worked my butt off for those two weeks handing over to some poor grad he grabbed to try and fill the immediate hole. LoL The personnel system in larger companies is often far removed from the reality of the coal face. If you find a viable way out, exploit it. :wink: All I had to do in the end was refuse to sign a new set of Term of Reference. I was fortunate that having worked for the company for 27 years, my old Terms of Reference created a viable exit. What took months was creating the new role to replace myself. That I then refused, knowing the probable result. Worst case I would have carried on in the new role :D
 
You need a minimum of 35 years NI contributions for a full state pension
Make sure that you were not "contracted out" at any point paying reduced NI or you will not get a full pension.
Although I had 41 years contributions some of them were contracted out until 2016 when I retired.
I have just had to pay 4 years NI contributions on my pension to get a nearly full pension.
DWP are terrible at responding, they turn around a query in 28 days - even if its a phone call.
You should be able to take a lump sum out of your personal pension if that is useful.
Otherwise you pay tax on your total income so its everything in excess of your personal tax allowance..
If you are going to have to pay 40% tax on any of your income there are ways of avoiding that by putting money into what is called a SIP.
I suggest in that case you seek financialadvice as you cannot domit persdsonally.

Thats my two pennorth

Dont get me started - I wrote to DWP on May 4th, they revieved my letter on May 11th. which they confirmed on Jun 13th when I rang them asking whats taking so long. They still have not responded and it been over 2 months now.
Reason for writing pointing out that it was their consistent delay in responding tp how much NI I could pay to get a full pension and it took from August 2021 to March 2022 and despite making up the shortfall they did not backdate the additional pension
Good luck!!
 
Rucky said:
You need a minimum of 35 years NI contributions for a full state pension
Make sure that you were not "contracted out" at any point paying reduced NI or you will not get a full pension.
Although I had 41 years contributions some of them were contracted out until 2016 when I retired.
I have just had to pay 4 years NI contributions on my pension to get a nearly full pension.
DWP are terrible at responding, they turn around a query in 28 days - even if its a phone call.
You should be able to take a lump sum out of your personal pension if that is useful.
Otherwise you pay tax on your total income so its everything in excess of your personal tax allowance..
If you are going to have to pay 40% tax on any of your income there are ways of avoiding that by putting money into what is called a SIP.
I suggest in that case you seek financialadvice as you cannot domit persdsonally.
Click to expand...

If you aren't sure of your NI qualifying years you can use this service to get confirmation:- https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

But you have to register on the "Government Gateway" first.

Luckily I have 41 years contributions so should get the full State pension when I reach 66!
 
Mr Tidy said:
Rucky said:
You need a minimum of 35 years NI contributions for a full state pension
Make sure that you were not "contracted out" at any point paying reduced NI or you will not get a full pension.
Although I had 41 years contributions some of them were contracted out until 2016 when I retired.
I have just had to pay 4 years NI contributions on my pension to get a nearly full pension.
DWP are terrible at responding, they turn around a query in 28 days - even if its a phone call.
You should be able to take a lump sum out of your personal pension if that is useful.
Otherwise you pay tax on your total income so its everything in excess of your personal tax allowance..
If you are going to have to pay 40% tax on any of your income there are ways of avoiding that by putting money into what is called a SIP.
I suggest in that case you seek financialadvice as you cannot domit persdsonally.
Click to expand...

If you aren't sure of your NI qualifying years you can use this service to get confirmation:- https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

But you have to register on the "Government Gateway" first.

Luckily I have 41 years contributions so should get the full State pension when I reach 66!
Click to expand...

I've just pipped 42 so should be just about there when I finish work next April :)

Tim.
 
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