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I am 67 years old and when people ask me if I've retired yet, my knee jerk response is, "No I haven't! What's retirement?"
I am a Psychologist, was formerly a teacher, and have worked and paid taxes all my life. I am well paid for the work that I do. I have paid my mortgage off and have no outstanding debts. In spite of this, I am now faced with the prospect of living on a state pension, which is just not possible, continuing to work or, as I have now decided, selling up and moving 200 miles away from my only granddaughter so I can live in a location where house prices are lower and I can afford to work less.
It didn't start out this way. I once imagined that somehow I would make such a success of my life that I would be able to retire at 50 or younger, enjoying being a lady that lunches, going on cruises, and doing the odd spot of volunteer work. But I didn't actually have a plan.
I started my working life as a teacher, got married at 30 then found myself to be a lone parent when my children were 2 and 5, with no family support. I was not well advised and ended up with the children, the mortgage, no pension, and an ex-husband who tried his best not to pay anything at all.
Around that time I decided I needed a career change, and started to train as a Psychologist, a long and very expensive process. I'm not quite sure how I did it, but I managed to work, study, and raise children — all on my own.
I was proud of what I accomplished, but had nothing at all in the way of savings; life was a constant struggle to make ends meet. I still did what I could and at 40 I started to pay £100 (about $127 USD) a month into a private pension. Now I know that I was badly advised and if I were to take it, this would only pay me around £1,500 (about $1,905 USD) per year —nowhere near what I would need to live on.
The obvious question is, why didn't I pay into the teacher's pension offered to me earlier in my career? Why indeed.
Not taking advantage of this is one of my greatest regrets. But when I was in my early 20s we didn't have any financial education. Even the teachers' unions didn't send out advice about pensions. To me, it just seemed like a large monthly outgoing from an already meagre salary, so I opted out and didn't give it another thought. Now I know that money would have made a big difference. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I realized around 5 years ago that the only way I could even contemplate retirement would be to downsize and move to a cheaper area in order to have a reasonably substantial nest egg to help me eke out my twilight years. Most of the advice I have read claims that to have a comfortable retirement where I live, one needs a gross annual income of around £40,000 (around $50,802 USD). I have calculated that with my state pension, bits and pieces for my writing, and interest on the surplus when I move, to reach that £40,000 I will still need to work at least one day a week. Not perfect, but a lot better than the five days I have been working.
With this in mind, I put my house on the market. Then my eldest daughter, who lives nearby, announced that she was pregnant. Fantastic as that was, I could no longer imagine moving away, so I carried on working five days.
I'm now more than a year past the typical retirement age and most of my friends seem to be enjoying a fruitful, active retirement. Meanwhile, I'm becoming more and more exhausted, suffering from frequent low-level infections, and becoming increasingly resentful.
Now, my house is back on the market. I will be moving to Derbyshire, where my younger daughter lives and where house prices are around half of those where I live now.
It will be a massive wrench, especially leaving my granddaughter, but I need to do it while I'm still fit and healthy. I have lived in my current house for 38 years and expected to leave it in a box. I've worked out a solution, although not ideal. I will have enough income to work one day a week, more time to focus on my passions, I'll be able to travel and get involved in the local community and still be able to visit my granddaughter every 6 weeks or so.
My advice to young people now? However distant it seems, don't leave it to chance. Make a retirement plan and start paying as much as you can into a good pension. The years fly by and it will be here before you know it.
