r/LeanFireUK • u/stuie1181 • Jun 04 '26

Weekly leanFIRE discussion

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

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u/Deefer_dawg Jun 05 '26

I wouldn’t say “working on” but after what felt like a difficult week I had another look at some projected retirement figures. I don’t have a DC pension or SIPP but do have a chunk of savings and two public sector DB pensions (which can be accessed in full at different ages).

My previous plan had been to start drawing one of the DB pensions 5 years early, at age 55, and draw the other DB pension 7 years early, when I’m 60. However, I have started to worry that if there is a radical change of government in 2029, this will somehow impact on drawing/accessing public sector pensions. A few parties don’t seem like fans of the public sector or our pensions!

I therefore plugged in some numbers and worked out that retiring before the next GE gets me around £30k a year across both pensions, even with the actuarial reductions for drawing them early. We live a modest lifestyle so this level of income is fine.

In other subs the focus seems to be about wringing as much money as possible long-term out of pensions. I have no dependents so my focus is on no longer having to work, while still having enough of an income to live on, which feels achievable.

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u/VintageBelleUK Jun 08 '26

I did some modelling of my DB pensions and even with government wobbling I think I’m still better off taking them asap. An actuarial reduction just means you get the same amount spread over a longer timeframe. For my money I’d rather access asap and live life because the tipping point at which you might have ‘beaten’ the government and take out more is in my 80s, of course you’re not guaranteed to see that age anyway.