I agree, we both had a lump sum and pension, but have been saving for a while, in order to take the early option!
Although when we both started the retirement age was 60 in most public sector areas.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
My pension is a local government one. Never was paid much for admin work but the 36 years spent in slavery made the difference.
With careful squirrelling away of a small amount of extra cash when the critical illness policy paid out, and having married an older man (pension next April) its worked out.
We won't have the dream life we planned when we first got married but with both of us having had a near death health issue we are just pleased we are still here.
I may have to get a part time job at some stage but I'm not worried about maybe doing some office cleaning on an evening so my days are ours to do as we please. OH does evening office cleaning. Its a tradition in the family on retirement!!!
Seven more years for me if my back problem do's not get any worse than it is now and five years for the wife before we throw the arlam clocks in the bin .
So I retire in 15 months at 57 mrs c will give up her part time job 6 months before me to start to get things ready for our move to inland (30 mins inland if that) Spain. We will buy a camper van and if it gets really uncomfortable we will head around northern spain in July and August. We will keep a flat over here in case of emergencies or we don't like it. I am counting the days.