Recently I have been thinking about retirement, not that I work now anyway, but the possibility of having problems in the future. The cost of living is always on the increase and I fear that if I did go back into work many years down the line, I could be looking at working well beyond the retirement age, which to get your state pension increases to 66 between now and 2020. There is also a proposed increase in the future for it to be extended to 68.
But that does not have to happen. With a good plan of action I can work out when I can take retirement if I so wanted. The past couple of months I have been reading lots of blogs about people who put a plan into action of saving a percentage of their incomes, investing in pension schemes and living minimally, that have been able to take early retirement, and I mean very early retirement. So this has spurred me on to do something about it so I too can look at taking retirement earlier.
I have checked how many years I have under my belt so far paying into the national contributions pot which determines whether you qualify for the state pension when the retirement age rolls around, and so far I have 12 out of a possible 30 that you need. I recommend checking your National Insurance contributions so you too can work out your retirement plans.
This for me is an ok figure to work with but of course to live I will need to be saving money for that future. So what is next? Well, when I do go back into work, which may end up being sooner rather than later, my aim will be to put money into a pensions scheme (some companies may match your pension contributions which is Free money, but check with each company), as well as just putting a little bit of money to one side. Having two daughters I know that there are going to be expenses with their education, hobbies, weddings, properties etc that we will need to save for, but having a minimum goal for retirement would make things a lot easier.
Act now and plan your retirement.
Do you plan to keep working as long as you can?