About this ebook
This is a hundred and twenty moments in retiring, written out in full, in the order they actually come up. Not a pep talk, not a set of tables, and not a single figure. There is not a square bracket in the book, and not one numeral in the body of it.
Deciding. The difference between wanting to stop and wanting to change, which arrive dressed as the same decision and have completely different answers. What you are actually leaving, which is always more than the money. What you are retiring to — described as an ordinary wet Tuesday two years in, which most people cannot do. The conversation with your partner, had properly. Retiring at different times from each other. Being pushed towards it, and being kept in longer than you want. The phased version almost nobody asks about. The rehearsal, which is a fortnight at home in a dull month and reliably changes plans. And writing the decision down, which is what ends the years of rehearsing it.
What you have. The inventory, which almost nobody has. Every scheme from every employer, reconstructed job by job. Tracing the ones that have lost you, which is extremely common. What a statement actually tells you and what it does not. The distinction between an arrangement that promises an income and one that builds a pot, which changes everything and which many people cannot name about their own. What you owe. Insurance you have forgotten you are paying for. And the most important page in the book: what each thing would actually pay your partner if you died first, asked in both directions.
What it costs. What you really spend, from twelve months of records rather than memory. What changes the day you stop — in both directions, because the list that goes up is longer than people expect. The one-off costs that break plans built on a monthly average. How long the money has to last, handled properly rather than by guessing. And the four levers that close a gap: work longer, spend less, the house, and draw more slowly.
Getting proper advice, which is the most important part of the book. Why guidance is not advice and only one of them carries any protection. The five-minute check that somebody is authorised — including the detail that catches out most people, which is to take the contact details from the register rather than from whoever gave them to you. How advisers are paid. What to ask, and what a good one will ask you. Reading the recommendation properly. Second opinions. And three entries on why this is the most systematically targeted moment in most people’s financial lives, how the approaches actually work, and what to do in the first hour if something has gone wrong.
The last year at work. Telling your employer. What you can ask for on the way out, almost none of which is ever offered. The handover. What ends on your last day, including cover you may not be able to replace later. Final pay, checked against your own calculation. Anything that vests, and the exercise window people lose money on. What to take with you, and what is not yours to take.
The paperwork. The order to do it in. Nominations, which take five minutes, are frequently decades out of date, and may decide more than your will does. The will. Executors. Arranging for somebody to act for you if you cannot — which can only be done while you are well, and which is the item most often left too late. Digital accounts and passwords. And writing down where everything is, for somebody who knows nothing about your affairs.
The first hundred days. The gap between the last salary and the first income, which catches out people who planned everything else. The first withdrawal. Spending anxiety, which stops careful savers enjoying what they saved for. The honeymoon and the dip, which almost everybody experiences and almost nobody is warned about. The people you no longer see. Both of you at home. And saying no in the first year, which sets the pattern for the next ten.
And the years after. Working again on purpose. Learning something, and the particular difficulty of being a beginner late. Travel — do the demanding ones first. Moving house while it is still a choice. Grandchildren, agreed rather than assumed. When health changes. Caring for somebody. Being cared for. Friendship after work. And the conversations to have with your family while they are still easy.
Every entry says where it comes up, answers the two questions people actually ask, and ends with three things to check.
Written to work anywhere. No country is named, no rule is stated, and there is not an age, a rate, a threshold or a currency symbol in it. Every number in this subject depends on where you live and on the year. What travels is the shape of the process and the list of what to ask.
It is not financial, tax or legal advice, and every part opener says so. Where something needs a professional it says so, says what kind, and says what to ask them.
120 situations · 240 questions answered · 360 things to check
