Obviously we know each other and know each other’s circumstances. No need to go into details on either front.
You make good points and in your situation it may well have worked out the best for you in the long run.
However, I feel you are being slightly disingenuous.
You are effectively counting your salary twice. I know how much it is, but your maths makes out that you save all of it into a pension. I know that, if invested wisely, it makes for a very solid financial foundation but you can’t honestly claim you have already saved hundreds of thousands of pounds purely for pension purposes.
If you do ‘pension pot maths’ as I have many times then it can paint a very different picture.
Now, I am on AFPS 75/15 and reached my IPP at age 38 which makes our circumstances slightly different. I intend to have my cake and eat it with regards to pension.
I think your situation and how it affects people who were caught up in the enforced switch to AFPS 15 in toto does probably make an earlier departure more financially sound. However, a longer career with a PAS pension (and don’t forget good schooling) is not all doom and gloom.
Also, don’t forget. Certain locations don’t suit everyone.
BV