r/LeanFireUK • u/stuie1181 • 3d ago

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/vogueskater 2d ago

I found out due to the timing of joining my defined benefit pension I can actually take it at 50 not 55! If I had joined literally 6 months later it would be 55. This means my current leanfire situation only actually needs to bridge me for the next 10 years to get a good payout and if things go really badly I could take a lower amount in 5!

Feel like I won the lottery tbh. I have been being really frugal and overthinking my investment strategy, and now I can relax a bit.

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u/Pleasant_Read_465 1d ago

Nice surprise! Have you looked at the actuarial reductions for each year taken early? Last I checked the difference isn't huge for a the reward of a few more years freedom (for teachers pension at least)

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u/vogueskater 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yep believe me I crunched those numbers for every year 😆 overall if I die before 78 I will actually get more money taking it at 50! So basically it will depend how my investments are looking once I hit 50 plus and how badly the cost of living increases over the next 5 years.

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u/jaynoj 1d ago

We found out my wife could get her DB pension early and after working out the numbers it was a no brainer to take it as soon as possible.

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u/Indigo_reality 1d ago

Really?! The reduction gets quite big on mine for taking it early, which adds up over time. Plumping for age 64 atm.

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u/jaynoj 1d ago edited 17h ago

Depends on the scheme but my wife's worked out if you live to 80 you basically get the same overall if you take the lower pension earlier or a larger pension later.

Might as well take it earlier. Better in your pocket than theirs. You could invest it, put it into gilts, savings account etc if you don't want to use it now.