The finish line is in site- retirement planning and financial advice

[hellymedic]

[Straying into Ctrl-Alt-Del land]

Buy well, but once would be great if the old DSLRs would talk to the telescopes and computers updated systems. They don't always. David tracks and guides telescopes and stacks images. Ensuring mutual compatibility betwixt mont and camera is a headache...

I suppose that highly specialised requirements will always require highly specialised, and expensive, solutions.

The demand for more resolution in Astro-photography will never end.

Oh indeed but the issue is being able to use existing kit, which Just Won't Work after you've installed an update, after tiring of persistent nag messages.

[David Martin]

This is an issue with expecting plug and play tech, when your expertise is in the application rather than developing the means.
If you had a tame Kim then everything would talk to everything else

[Kim]

If you had a tame Kim then everything would talk to everything else

That's only because Kim's an open standards fanatic and refuses to buy things that won't.

Which does serve well in terms of future-proofing, at the cost of severely limiting your options (and indeed user-friendliness) in the short term.

[De Sisti]

Am I  really that  fortunate? ('8C'= £56,665 - £69,168 per year)

What, however, to do with the lump sum..

Back on topic; Joy of Essex, if you do no realise how fortunate you are; one has to wonder what sort
of life you've been living. Seriously though, that salary is enormous and the projected pension is a lot more
than millions in the UK would ever earn. Come on, you must have some idea of how well off you are?

[Jaded]

Am I  really that  fortunate? ('8C'= £56,665 - £69,168 per year)

What, however, to do with the lump sum..

Back on topic; Joy of Essex, if you do no realise how fortunate you are; one has to wonder what sort
of life you've been living. Seriously though, that salary is enormous and the projected pension is a lot more
than millions in the UK would ever earn. Come on, you must have some idea of how well off you are?

To be fair, he does appear to live in Essex.

[hubner]

£33k pension per year for the rest of your life, £100,000 lump sum, house paid for on the London/Essex border...

I think for 98% percent of the population, that's unattainable riches.

Might as well go on a permanent holiday!

[Si S]

Retirement is almost as much of a pipedream as home ownership, too many temporary contracts, crap employers ( including one who paid no NIC for 2 years, despite making the stoppages, that was fun at the job centre ) and 'life experience' decisions.

The only silver lining is that the finish line has moved so far beyond the historic maximum life expectancy of males in my family it's unlikely to be a problem.

[Nutbeem]

[Totally OT comment]
It is really sad that retirement from the NHS is a relief thather than a somewhat sad end to a long fulfilling and happy career...

Being in a clinical NHS Post allows me to retire at 55, which is now close enough I can count it in days. I'm several rungs down the ladder from JoE and spent the first 10 years of my Nursing career in the Navy, so my pension is consequently a lot smaller. We live fairly modestly, bikes and motorhome excepted, and our mortgage was paid of 8 years ago, with the mortgage money then diverted into savings. I'm reasonably confident that £11k a year, plus my wife's income and me working some bank Nursing shifts will be enough to get by.

To expand on what Hellymedic has said, I've worked full time as a Nurse since I left school. It's an exciting and challenging job, and at times very rewarding. I really enjoy working with Student Nurses and seeing/helping them set out on the same journey I started 38 years ago. At the same time it's physically and mentally exhausting on the front line, especially when NHS Management talk about work life balance but don't really have a clue (I worked Mon-Fri on Xmas week while all my cycling Buddies were out doing the Rapha 500).

If the pressure was just a bit less I'd consider another 5 years, giving my time a skill to an NHS that sure as hell could use it, but as things stand I think I would end up burnt out. I do feel for younger colleagues, and indeed those in other occupations who don't have the option of early retirement.

To come back to JoE's opening question, my lump sum plus savings will give us around £95K which we need to make work for us as best we can. I realise some of it will need to be held in reserve for things like car replacement and house repairs, but otherwise I haven't got a clue other than invest cautiously and hope for modest interest rates.

[joy of essex]

Thanks everyone, yes I do realise how fortunate I am and  will be  and  that I am way over the other side of the earnings scale. 

What to do  with  the lump sum and what to do with myself after 2021. Given  what I think the demographics of this  forum; or what I suspect them to be , I  can't be the only person thinking about this.

Yes, a 33k fixed income sounds  fine  but I also lived through the 70s and early 80s so can remember 15% inflation. I think we are  about due  some thing like that...

[De Sisti]

Yes, a 33k fixed income sounds  fine  but I also lived through the 70s and early 80s so can remember 15% inflation. I think we are  about due  some thing like that...

Bank of England statement ....quote from last paragraph...
"Any future increases in Bank Rate are expected to be at a gradual pace and to a limited extent."

[David Martin]

[Totally OT comment]
It is really sad that retirement from the NHS is a relief thather than a somewhat sad end to a long fulfilling and happy career...

Being in a clinical NHS Post allows me to retire at 55, which is now close enough I can count it in days. I'm several rungs down the ladder from JoE and spent the first 10 years of my Nursing career in the Navy, so my pension is consequently a lot smaller. We live fairly modestly, bikes and motorhome excepted, and our mortgage was paid of 8 years ago, with the mortgage money then diverted into savings. I'm reasonably confident that £11k a year, plus my wife's income and me working some bank Nursing shifts will be enough to get by.

To expand on what Hellymedic has said, I've worked full time as a Nurse since I left school. It's an exciting and challenging job, and at times very rewarding. I really enjoy working with Student Nurses and seeing/helping them set out on the same journey I started 38 years ago. At the same time it's physically and mentally exhausting on the front line, especially when NHS Management talk about work life balance but don't really have a clue (I worked Mon-Fri on Xmas week while all my cycling Buddies were out doing the Rapha 500).

If the pressure was just a bit less I'd consider another 5 years, giving my time a skill to an NHS that sure as hell could use it, but as things stand I think I would end up burnt out. I do feel for younger colleagues, and indeed those in other occupations who don't have the option of early retirement.

To come back to JoE's opening question, my lump sum plus savings will give us around £95K which we need to make work for us as best we can. I realise some of it will need to be held in reserve for things like car replacement and house repairs, but otherwise I haven't got a clue other than invest cautiously and hope for modest interest rates.

Have you thought of moving into the teaching side of nursing? There may be scope to 'wind down' the career whilst still making an extremely valuable contribution.

[Nutbeem]

Have you thought of moving into the teaching side of nursing? There may be scope to 'wind down' the career whilst still making an extremely valuable contribution.

It's a sensible suggestion but not for me I'm afraid. I have every confidence in the Nurses who are going to qualify tomorrow, but I think this will be inspite of rather than because of the University Education they receive. We have 3rd year students who arrive with us who have studied physiology, sociology, ethics, et al. but haven't given and injection, inserted a suppositry or manually measured blood pressure. Needless to say our Team makes short work of correcting that - and the students lap it up. I'd prefer not to be part of classroom education that in my experience has somehow lost touch with the hands on skills that Nurses need to have.

I do have a Wind Down plan though:

A big part of my reason for leaving now is the heavy workload resulting from high demand and constant staffing shortages. A 9-10 shift with meals taken on the go is not unusual & while I can still cope with this physically it's doing not good for my mental health or home life. On retirment the same staffing shortages are going to turn in my favour as I'm likely to be able to pick up agency (NHSP) shifts whenever it suits me. As I will need some income to supplement my pension I intend to work a few days each week/month. I'm expecting this will be a win, win scenario; I'll be able to continue the clinical work I enjoy, probably with the same Team(s) I currently work with but at times that suit me. At the same time I will be an additional pair of hands helping plug the staff shortage.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Have you thought of moving into the teaching side of nursing? There may be scope to 'wind down' the career whilst still making an extremely valuable contribution.

It's a sensible suggestion but not for me I'm afraid. I have every confidence in the Nurses who are going to qualify tomorrow, but I think this will be inspite of rather than because of the University Education they receive. We have 3rd year students who arrive with us who have studied physiology, sociology, ethics, et al. but haven't given and injection, inserted a suppositry or manually measured blood pressure.

That must vary institution to institution. My wife did just 2 years of nursing (sadly had to leave in 2nd year due to complex reasons) but she had done all of those things and more, including catheterisation by the time she'd completed her first year. She hadn't given intravenous injections.

[frankly frankie]

Just seen this thread.
First up, I was very surprised and slightly concerned when my father retired (from teaching) a couple of years early - this is way back around 1970.  How wrong I was to be concerned - the years just rolled off him and within months he seemed 10 years younger than when he was working.

Moving on to my own case and with the above in mind, I was pressed quite hard for several years by my partner, to retire early (I think she had visions of us swanning around Europe in a camper van and the sooner the better) so I kept an eye on the figures and when I thought they would stack up and a redundancy cropped up (nice lump sum), I took it leaving work at 57.   (No the camper van didn't happen -  )
Once again, my general health improved dramatically.  I couldn't believe how much better I felt and how quickly that happened.
And my day-to-day living expenses seemed to drop through the floor.  Travel, food, clothes.  Later on various oap allowances kick in.
And my income (work pension plus later on state pension) has increased year on year at a much faster rate than the income of my near-contemporaries still working.  After 13 years of negligible inflation it is now up around my final salary in 2005 - could even be higher (I've stopped counting).   Sheila's a bit older than me so next year we get a free TV license 

Summary (so far) it's all good.