For many teachers, it has felt like a long hard grind towards the end of this term. Here in Hampshire, for example, term doesn’t end until Weds 24 July 2024. With wet weather and grey skies dampening spirits, and just a few teasingly hot days in between, for many the summer holidays can’t come soon enough.
The school summer holiday gives you six weeks to fit in everything you, your partner and your family want to do. To many working full-time a six-week break sounds fabulous. Of course, as anyone connected with teaching knows, like myself, you may not really get a full six weeks due to end of term and pre-new-term planning.
However, you’re also in the same yearly cycle as your student’s families in terms of more expensive holidays, not to mention crowded kids’ attractions, and that struggle to fit everything in alongside your partner’s working hours.
Whether you have kids or not, teaching does limit your options for travel and holidays throughout the year. The result is that you might feel fenced in, constrained, with less options and flexibility than other full-time professionals. Teaching doesn’t hold the attraction it once did, and yet you’re still a few years away from the official retirement age.
So, if you were asked the question “Do you want to retire?” your answer would probably be “Yes, but…”.
And that “But…” is usually the voice in the back of your head saying, “Can I actually afford to retire?”
A tale of three teacher types
The answer is, yes, you may well be able to retire. In my years in retirement planning, I have found there are only three types of wannabe retirement teachers:
1. Those who don’t have enough in their retirement pot to retire yet
2. Those who have just enough
3. Those who have more than enough already (but may not know it)
The really interesting thing is that practically every teacher I talk to thinks they are in the first type. In fact, most experienced career teachers in their late 50’s are actually in the third!
So, what’s actually stopping many teachers looking at retiring is lack of knowledge about their financial position, both now and at their planned retirement date.
Luckily, I have a plan for that!
First, you need to know the teacher retirement deadlines. If you wish to retire from your teaching post at the end of 2024, you need to tell your school of your intention by the Friday of the autumn half term or sooner, depending on your role. Your last day at school would then be the final day of the autumn term.
So, if you are serious about retiring from teaching by Christmas, you need to put in the research spadework as soon as possible.
However, you and I both know that once the autumn term starts, it’s practically impossible to find time to do anything major like a holistic retirement funding review, let alone planning what you will actually do to create a fulfilling and purposeful retirement.
That leaves you the next five weeks. Now is the time to seize the day and say: “I will invest a few days of my summer into investigating my retirement options.”
And that is what the Life Beyond Teaching programme is all about.
Think of it as a Teacher’s retirement summer school, with practical planning for your own Life Beyond Teaching. After all, you’ve prepared your students for life beyond school, now it’s time to educate yourself on ‘how to retire’.
It starts with a free initial Discovery session where we get to know each other and look at your retirement timeline.
Then we knuckle down to details with your Life Beyond Teaching Prep session. This is a focussed 90-minute discussion that gives you an overview of:
- What you want from retirement, what you want to achieve and what’s important to you.
- What your Teachers Pension is (and will be) worth
- What other financial provisions you’ve got in place
- Other household incomes sources
You can walk away with a basic retirement plan at this point, but most clients realise they haven’t had time to cover the fundamentals of retiring from teaching, including:
- The optimal timings of when and how to retire
- The role of any paid work in your retirement
- Retirement planning – social, family travel, volunteering, health, etc
- Creating the financial framework support a meaningful and purposeful retirement.
So at this point you can book yourself in for your personalised Life Beyond Teaching programme, including weekly session of 1 to 1 coaching, planning sessions including finances, and my full, personal support throughout.
Sounds interesting?
To start your countdown to retiring from teaching, just get in contact.
Not quite sure yet?
Book a free 30-minute Discovery call on my calendar now, when we discuss your core requirements.
Life Beyond Teaching
Your personal retirement game plan from Panthera LIFE.
