An interesting thread. Good to see everyone’s thoughts and experiences.
I had a life changing health episode nearly three years ago and that has made me rethink my work and retirement plans. I had originally planned to retire when I was c.60 taking advantage of a previous final salary scheme that had retirement at that age until my current work pension kicks in at 67.
I have a good job (self employed in a large Partnership) but my personal experiences have made me realise that I don’t need to put up with the politics and sniping at work with some people whose ethos jars with mine and so I’ve brought forward my plans! I’m now aiming for 55 which is 2 years away in May.
As part of this, from April I am moving to working 3 days per week! (Currently I work ‘full time‘ over 4 days so going to 75%).
I hope that moving down in a staged way will allow me to adjust gradually rather than falling off a cliff and I plan to use my time to enjoy more family time, go cycling (of course!), photography and a whole myriad of things on my to do/get involved with list - all of which I feel I have to trade-off at times in my current work.
Financially, we have been lucky/prudent and if we are sensible we can make this work And be comfortable. We’ve got no mortgage and just have to keep supporting the kids as they go through the latter years of school, head to university and beyond (goodness knows they may still be living with us when they are 30 😬 !!)
I think that our Mindsets do change as we get older, our priorities evolve and I certainly don’t yearn to keep on working. I love what I do but it doesn’t define me.