I was three screens into HMRC's higher-rate pension relief claim before I worked out I didn't have a claim to make.

The money question gets all the attention, and it's the easier one. The harder question is how you know you're actually done, and it rarely arrives as a single moment. The awkward part is that the signs telling you to go look almost identical to the signs telling you that you just need a change.

The average UK pension pot looks alarmingly small, and the sum the industry says you need for a "comfortable" retirement looks impossibly large. Put the two side by side and you're meant to feel behind. But the numbers come from different places, measuring different things, and even at face value they leave out most of what actually pays for a retirement.

A few weeks into retirement I woke up half-convinced I'd forgotten to tell someone official that I'd stopped. It turns out there's almost no one to tell. Here's who genuinely needs to know, including the insurers most people forget, and why the list is shorter and stranger than you'd expect.

Resign, and your pension provider starts sending you options to choose and decisions to make, often before you feel ready for them. If you're not about to draw on the pot, most of them can wait. Here's what they'll put in front of you, the handful of things actually worth doing now, and how to avoid being rushed into something you can't undo.

A meeting with an adviser or your pension provider is one of the few times you can get expert eyes on your plan. Go in prepared and it's a useful hour. Go in vague and it's a sales pitch you half-follow. Here's the prep I'm doing for my own, the information to gather, the questions worth asking, and the things that should make you pause.

The financial planning was thorough. But the questions that finally gave me the confidence to hand in my notice weren't financial. Here are the ones that mattered most - with my honest answers.

The years before you stop work are the most tax-efficient years to pay into a pension. Here's how the underused tools actually work, and what to consider before using them.

The Pensions Commission's interim report this week made the scale of UK under-saving impossible to ignore, driving headlines such as "45% of working adults aren't saving for a pension" and "Britain is undersaving for retirement warns Pensions Commission".

About half of UK employees saving into a pension are at the auto-enrolment minimum, according to the Pensions Commission's report this week. Most don't realise what that level of saving actually produces by retirement.

Not the yacht-and-startup crowd. People with a salary, a mortgage, a family and an ordinary income. So is it actually within reach, what makes it harder for some than others, and what genuinely moves the needle?

The plan I made was built on assumptions. Life will challenge some of them. Here's how to hold your nerve, adjust without panicking and keep the fundamentals intact when things go differently than expected.

Even though I was financially ready, there was something stopping me from actually retiring for over a year. And sometimes it takes a loss to see it clearly.

I've found myself in a situation that appears to be one of the most common yet least discussed scenarios in early retirement - when one partner decides to step back while the other continues to work.

Retiring early is one thing when it's only you to think about. It's another when a parent might still need you, financially or practically, at a time you don't get to choose.

In my own research into early retirement, I've noticed that the content landscape is abundant, well-funded, and predominantly driven by commercial interests. Here’s how to discern the valuable insights amidst the noise.

Forget retirement theory and generic advice. Here are the specific actions I took - some carefully planned, others stumbled upon - that truly helped make my anxiety more manageable.

"What if...?" Every instinct said don't go there. Here's why going there is exactly the right thing to do - and what usually happens when you do.

I put the "retirement spending reality" exercise off for almost a year because I was afraid of what it might reveal. What it actually revealed was almost the opposite of what I'd feared.

During my early retirement planning, the greatest source of stress wasn't the numbers; it stemmed from the unspoken concerns. Here’s a glimpse into those conversations and what typically unfolds when you finally address them.

Throughout this series I've consistently recommended professional advice. I haven't taken it myself. Here's why - and whether I think that was the right call.

My name is Tony. I'm 58 years old - 59 later this year. I've recently resigned from a mid-level management role after a long career and a good salary.