Pension and general stuff

Two and a half years on, and I can honestly say that retirement is the best thing I've ever done. I can completely indulge my hobbies of art and (playing) music, and financially it's all worked out fine.

Best wishes,

Chris

No need to tell your pension provider about your diagnosis & treatment although if you also have critical illness cover you may find that they are happy to pay out based on your T3 diagnosis - people sometimes forget about their critical illness cover and miss the boat.

Re the possibility of retirement - you have had what was intended to be curative treatment so, unless your PSA starts to rise significantly, there is no reason to think your life will be any shorter than it would have been if you had never got prostate cancer. I think there is something though about quality of life. John was 50 at diagnosis and 52 when he had a recurrence; just before his 60th birthday, I suddenly panicked that it would be awful if he worked full time to 65 or 67 or whatever it is now and then didn't have many years of retirement for us to do all the things we had planned. I suggested on a Tuesday evening that he talk to HR, he spoke to them on the Wednesday, we had a meeting with the financial adviser on the Thursday and he retired on the Sunday. He draws two small company pensions from many years ago - this just about pays for his car & his bee-keeping stuff - but I am a bit younger and still working full time otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do it.

It is essential to get financial advice before making a decision like this; they usually know all the implications of drawing down a pension pot early, etc etc. Ours worked out that if John survives until he is 77, we will have lost out financially by him taking his pension early but to be honest, I just felt that 17 years of not having to commute 3 hours a day on the M62 / being able to go on holiday as often as we like / having all the hours in the day to follow his hobbies would be worth far more than the few pounds he might lose out on. Plus, our actuary calculated that it is very unlikely he will survive to 77 having had cancer at 50 and a recurrence at 52.

Edited by member 30 Dec 2021 at 22:30  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Ernie,

When you said you intended to work until you drop is that because you like working, had nothing else that appealed or needed more income.

In many ways being ill doesn't change that you can work till you drop. Although if you want to drop later it could be that stopping work might help.  Although some people get bored being retired which might make them drop earlier.   I know a few people who went back to work after retiring, some full time, some part time.   Some due to boredom, some for a bit of money.

Also you might want to talk to your pension provider or look up the details as some pensions will give you a higher payout if you have ill health that might shorten the time they pay out.

I was nervous about retiring at 55 although I'd always wanted to go in my 50s.  You never know if you'll find it boring or not have enough cash.  I discovered I was made for being retired although my brother in law is the same age as me and says he's got several years more work planned, he will work until he drops.

All the best
Peter

Edited by member 31 Dec 2021 at 10:41  | Reason: Not specified

Well done Francij - life is for living 👏