Taking control of retirement
The situation
Do you know when you can stop working? Or how you will feel about stopping? Many people imagine that they need to keep going until they reach state pension age, but that is not always the case, and this was the position our client Steve, a Sales Director from Southampton, found himself in. Coming into his late 50s, he started to feel that the two hour commute to his workplace in Eastbourne had become too much, and was affecting his enjoyment of the role.
Steve mentioned this to Financial Planner David Gladstone, and that he was considering downshifting to a lower paid role closer to home. David decided to take a deeper look at his current and planned expenditure to determine how long he needed to continue.
The review
Spending and assets are discussed at every review meeting, and the discussions are often focused on lifestyle objectives.
When David sat down with Steve and his wife Julia, to take them through his analysis, he was able to show Steve that he could stop working straightaway: if his salary stopped he was not going to run out of money during his retirement. This was an unexpected surprise to Steve and Julia, and it took them a little while to come to terms with it.
The resolution
Though he could stop at any time, Steve decided that he wanted to continue in a part time capacity and work from home some of the time.
Knowing that he was in a position to work because he wanted to, not because he needed to, enabled Steve to take control of his situation and negotiate terms that suited him: staying with the same company but only working three days a week, only one of which requires a commute.
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