- Secondary school teacher?
- Tired of teaching?
If you want to leave all that stress, marking overload and out of hours additional work behind for 2023, you’ll need to tell your school by the end of October half-term, or sooner depending on your contract.
As you’ll know, you and your secondary school colleagues are dealing with one of the most stressful exam periods in recent years. For some, and maybe yourself, that experience will be the proverbial straw that takes you from “maybe” to “definitely”, either to retire, or leave the profession for a new career.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I really want to go through all this again next year?
- Do I really want to continue teaching into 2023?
And the elephant in the room question:
- Do I actually enjoy teaching anymore?
The answers may well confirm that you do still want to be in this rewarding profession.
Now is the time to consider all of these. Take the summer holidays to reflect and think about what you want to do, so you can start the new autumn term with a plan.
How much is my Teachers Pension worth?
I’ve worked with teachers for over 20 years, helping and advising on how to make the most of the Teachers Pension. I’ve found that many teachers focus solely on the numbers – how much their Teachers Pension will be worth.
To be honest, you don’t need me to tell you that. You can use the calculator at Teachers Pensions to get “an estimate of your final pension based on both a final salary and a career average pension scheme.”
What Teachers Pension won’t help you with is working out what other optional benefits you might have, or what happens if you retire early. Or indeed what you are going to do in your 30+ years of retirement.
It might be that there is a financial “gap” between when you’d like to retire (i.e. now!), and when you decide to claim your Teachers Pension or your State Pension. That doesn’t mean you can’t retire until you are of State Pension age. It just means you may need to do some retirement and financial planning to bridge the gap. (You may be surprised to discover that you can already afford to fund that gap without struggling.)
Free at last!
As a busy member of secondary school teaching staff, the freedom retirement offers seems incredibly attractive:
- No more being tied to term time holidays
- No more out of hours marking and lesson planning
- No more extra curriculum activities
and
- No more teaching other people’s kids how to behave!
Most of all, no more stress.
On the flip side, of course that also potentially means:
- No structure to your days
- Less mental stimulation
- No more chats in the staffroom with colleagues that have become friends.
Retirement can seem very quiet after school life, and if your partner is still working, it can be a bit lonely too.
Work with me on your retirement planning
That’s the double-headed challenge of retirement that I aim to help you solve;
1. To calculate the numbers so they work for you, and
2. To help you plan the adventure and opportunities of 30+ years of retirement.
I’ve devised a programme of retirement planning that does all that and more – and it’s specifically for teachers.
If you want to retire outright, we can plan to make sure your retirement is fulfilling, and not just filling days. If you still want some income and continue teaching without the stress, we can explore part-time and supply teaching options, as well as other opportunities to use your skills outside the school environment.
Professional retirement planning for teachers
Wherever you are in your retirement journey from school to freedom (!), invest in professional retirement planning now. The hours you spend planning your retirement from teaching can inform and guide you towards a retirement that many others will envy.
I offer 1-2-1 retirement coaching delivered at a pace to suit you, so you can feel confident when you hand in that resignation letter in the Autumn term that you’ve covered all the bases.
