Pension

I wanted to retire at 55 but I live on my own and needed a reasonable final salary pension so I stayed until I was 60 having completed 40 years of service.

My lump sum paid off my mortgage but living in London I had very little savings so I found 3 very part-time jobs, two were associated with my previous job so were well paid. I worked for 5 years until I broke my ankle and had surgery.

I took mine at 55.

I took my teachers pension at 55 and had it reduced. It suited me though as The lump sum paid off my mortgage so therefore didn’t have to work full time any more. I did supply until just before lockdown, will manage till I’m 66 next year when I get my state pension.
It did mean my monthly teachers pension isn’t great but taking into consideration I was overpaying my mortgage by £500 each month, I worked out that as long as I did 2 days supply a week I wouldn’t be any worse off if you see what I mean.
My husbands occupational pensions could have been drawn at 60 but he continued til he was 65 and took them then when he retired.

It varies, if it is a final salary scheme it will probably be linked to years of service and salary at the time of retiring or leaving the scheme. For example you can’t normally claim a Teacher’s Pension until you are 60 and then it is linked to years of service, each year of full time service worth 1/80th with 40 years being the maximum you can get. If you worked part time it will be reduced accordingly and if you claim it before 60 it will be actuarily reduced unless you are granted a special pension because of ill health or redundancy. Other schemes vary such as the police pension when you can claim the maximum pension after 30 years service.

Money purchase schemes are more common now and you can access the money in your pension pot when you reach 55 but there is talk of increasing this age to 57. Pensionwise do a useful leaflet outlining the different ways you can use your pension pot and there is useful information on the moneysaving expert website.

55 where I work to get the Occ Pen.

It may depend on terms and conditions of individual system. I was able to access mine at 58 claimed as ill health retirement pension I had to jump through a few hoops before it was granted. Police, Fire and Armed forces can claim theirs early you need to speak to the provider or look at your paperwork.