Sunday, November 03, 2013

Light at the end of the tunnel

The end of the tunnel will be reached on Friday 11th April 2014, because that's the day that I retire !!!


Yes – after nearly three decades of putting as much as I could afford into a pension, payout day is near. It's going to take a couple of months to get everything sorted with annuities and suchlike, and I can't do anything irrevocable until then. I need to give three months notice at work, so I will be doing that just after Christmas, and retiring on 11th April.


As you can imagine it's a bit step, and one that sneaked up on us. In my profession (software developer) years ago it was commonplace move from job to job quite a lot. At one time I had five jobs in two years. Four of my employers no longer exist. So I made up my mind that it was safer to make my own pension provisions. Everything was going well until Gordon Brown all but destroyed our pension system. I was on target to retire very young, but it was not to be.


I just kept making the payments and hoping for the best, wondering whether I would actually be able to afford to retire even at 65. But here I am, 59 years old and ready to retire. I'm delighted, and as you might expect, Marie is doubly excited. She's ticking off the days.


Roll on April.

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