[Dave]

Not having a final salary pension, leaves my current pension outlook about 50% of my colleauges FSP . So I either double my contribution to make up the defecit, or work until I drop OR, you change your outlook on work / life balance for remainder of life.

I have just taken a pay cut to work 4 day weeks moving forward. In my eyes, rather than wait until I'm 65, 70 to retire, why not look at a form of mini semi retirement now ? Yes it's a financial impact, but this year I took the step to downsize to a house half the size & cost, so I'm not in the banks pocket all the time. This now allows me to take this step

I did this before I took my years sabattical & must admit it made a huge difference in work / life balance. Instead of being knackered at the weekend & finding the 2 days fly by, I found I had more energy at work & the 3 day weekend felt like a proper break. So much so, I struggled to take my holiday entitlement, as I didn't feel the need for time off work. In addition I reckon people get as much done in 4 days when full of energy, rather than 5 days when tired

I'll be spending the extra time off with the family & hopefully might even get some time to take the old camera out now & again

Anyone else considered a change of lifestyle ?

[fionaB]

Or worry about pensions when u r 60! lol
i ust love the way the government say get your own pension....save more...... yeah that would be good IF we could afford to!
I pay into NHS superann scheme, but apart from that i dont have any other form of private pension...... nor do i intend to. I dont have life insurance other than what is built into the superann scheme...... nor does alan ...... at the end of the day there are no pockets in shrouds and we can only save if we can afford to. live for today dont worry about tomorrow cos if we cant change something why should we waste energy worrying about it!

Fi

[sejanus]

Well, I kind of did it the wrong way round, as I coasted along until I was twenty five and then got into the 'hard work' thing. That was a sobering experience, as my latent depression (caused by being orphaned at the beginning of my adolescence) kicked in good and hard. The good news is that I got to do some very interesting things before then and have the pictures to remind me of them. There's more good news as I fell into the computer world about twenty five years ago and still can't believe how much money people will pay me to play with my second favourite toys!

I've more or less decided that I'm having far too much fun to ever retire. When I get the mortgage paid off, I'll become more discriminating on what I take on but my current plan is to just go on working as long as I can. Believe me, I know just how lucky I am next to other people and I have every sympathy with those who haven't had as much luck as me. All I can say to them is: things eventually do get better, provided you keep on trying.

[Dabhand16]

On the work/life balance theme, some time ago I (and others) worked seven day weeks for two and a half years because a computer system did not arrive on time, and the management had cut the workforce down in readiness for the day the button was pushed. In the last year, I only had eight days off!

Interestingly, the vast majority of us that did it had no sick leave in the period either.

Just goes to show that some of us Civil Servants are as dedicated as the self employed.

[jockwav]

Before i started my little takeaway shop,6 yrs ago,i had my own taxi for twenty yrs and worked all week and weekends.
I also worked every xmas and new year,although my wife and i work hard in this business now at least we get our weekends together.