Emeritus Prof Christopher MayA fellow retired baby boomer (writing to the Guardian) makes a number of points I might also have made....
Kevin Cunniffe@ChrisMayLA6 I thought much the same when I read the article the other day. (I can be found on a bike rather than a golf course). I see a lot of my gen helping out with grand children, although I live too far away for that.
Asking my daughter about pension plans she sheepishly said that I was her pension plan. Hoping she has to wait awhile!
Asking my daughter about pension plans she sheepishly said that I was her pension plan. Hoping she has to wait awhile!
MarjorieR@ChrisMayLA6 what puzzled me about Inman's article is the reference to the tax breaks you get by retiring early.
Apart from the fact that you have to accumulate more in your pension quicker and higher rate tax relief on pensions make this easier - if you have the income - I can't think how any of you make tax savings by retiring early, in fact you get tax breaks by retiring later, after state pension age as you stop paying NI contributions.
Of course this doesn't mean so much now you have to wait so long for a state pension.
NB at one time there was a limit ('lifetime allowance') on how much you could accumulate into your pension tax free, and it used to encourage e.g. (well paid) GPs to retire early, but the limit has now gone.
Ha ha, I assumed it was a snide reference to the retired not paying income tax on earnings anymore because they had (errr) retried....
@ChrisMayLA6 nice to know I don't have to pay tax anymore. I'll have to tell HMRC as it will be news to them too.
But yes, I suppose it applies if you retire early and your private pension was less than £12,570 (the personal tax allowance) but I'm not sure many would chose to live on that (similar or less than the basic state pension) and you might still need to pay into NI to get the years in for your full state pension. And if you retire early you will generally get a smaller pension that if you had waited to your regular retirement age anyway.
Of course some people have to retire early because they are no longer fit to work or otherwise can't work eg because of caring responsibilities.
Indy Richard 🏴@ChrisMayLA6 I completely agree with comment about the over 55's. Just before Covid I lost my job. During this time I slipped over the age of 55 and suddenly it seemed impossible to find a job. I was later told by someone who worked in HR that big companies told agencies not to pass on CVs for folk who were over 55 as these were rejected out of hand. I therefore retired a few years earlier than I wanted to. Instead of blaming older workers why not look at Brexit for manpower shortages?
@ChrisMayLA6 Oh by the way, am not complaining as losing job pushed me back into education where I completed my undergraduate studies as a mature student and am about to start a Masters (as a slightly maturer student).
Great; I was a mature student (I did my second masters in my late 50s too), from UG to PhD....
@ChrisMayLA6 UG? University of Glasgow?
UG = undergraduate/first degree - sorry, a standard university acronym
@ChrisMayLA6 Sorry must be slow today. I come from world of IT and have lived with acronyms for an age so when I cross the road, so to speak, to a new field it can floor me sometimes when am not sure what something means.
Hey, asking is never a problem....
Callalily@ChrisMayLA6
Very well said. I'd love to retire right now. I hope I can make it 5 more years to 70 so I can get my max social security if it's still there.
Very well said. I'd love to retire right now. I hope I can make it 5 more years to 70 so I can get my max social security if it's still there.
Eric@ChrisMayLA6 just how long is the baby-boomers generation supposed to have lasted? I was born in '58, am retired, but don't see myself as a boomer, which should only have continued till '53 at the latest
normally seen as between 15-20 years - I was born in 1960 & am usually included....
Dan Neuman 🇨🇦@ChrisMayLA6 I retired young, and part of my decision was that there was no reason to hold a job I didn't need when a younger person with a family definitely did need it. I am now using the goods and services of our economy without needing a job myself. That sounds like a net gain, no?
While that din't enter my reasoning for retiring at 61, its certainly part of the economic outcome
@ChrisMayLA6 I haven't been diagnosed as autistic, but there are signs.