Whether you are in your young adulthood ranging in age from late teens / early twenties up to mid-thirties, in your adulthood from thirty-five years of age up to pre-retirement stage, whether you are working as an employee or a self-employed / self-occupied person, it is never too early nor too late to plan for your retirement.
An important factor when deciding at what age you wish to stop working is to identify how many employable years you still have ahead. This calculation would give you an indication of how many years you have to build your retirement nest egg which would then complement the pensionable income. The amount set aside as savings to be later invested depends on your present employable income as well as the quality of life you would aspire to enjoy during the retirement phase.
Here are some questions to assist you in calculating your income at retirement:-
1) Has a request been made to the Department of Social Security to obtain the number of paid-up National Insurance Contributions? This is a good start to get to know how much you still need to pay prior to retiring.
2) Has a request for a tentative assessment been made in order to know more about the pension rate you would eventually receive? Click on this link to request a tentative assessment.
3) How much can you save monthly/yearly taking into consideration your present financial situation?
4) Will the present savings / investments together with the eventual pension provide you with the desired quality of life that you envisage for retirement?
You should keep in mind that state pension age is as follows – at age
| Age | Year of birth | Comments |
| 61 | born on or after 1st January 1958 up to 31st December 1961 | paid 35 years of social security contributions * |
| 61 | born on or after 1962 | paid social security contributions for a period of 40 years * |
| 61 | born on and after 1st January 1969 | paid social security contributions for a period of 41 years * |
| 63 | born between 1956 and 1958 | |
| 64 | born between 1959 and 1961 | |
| 65 | born on or after 1962 |
* Retiring at 61 years of age, also known as the Early-Opt-Out, gives you the opportunity to retire at 61 provided that you are not gainfully occupied up to your proper state pension age. Employment can then be resumed at state pension age, according to table above.
For persons working in the private sector the Government introduced a scheme known as the percentage increase measure. The scheme motivates persons to continue working up to 65 years of age with an accumulative % increase each year reaching an aggregate maximum of 23%. In that, shall you decide to continue working up to 65 years of age, your pensionable income will increase by 23%. This can be compared to what you would have received if early-opt-out at 61 years of age was chosen. For more information about this incentive scheme click here.
