Retirement, would you if you could?

[Dave7]

I am with @dave r . I was able to retire aged 63. Not rich but comfortable.
I was quite smug as I had excellent health and was fit. Did lots of cycling, golf, walking, bird watching etc which was fantastic.
Then Mr Cancer came calling. (After 4 ops I am presently clear).
Then this year the dreaded virus has wiped me out.
If you can afford it
If you are confident you have enough to fill your days
GO FOR IT.

 

[figbat]

In a heartbeat! I have a great final-salary pension built up currently with 28 years’ service and I can retire at 55, in 5 years’ time although this brings an early retirement penalty for the pension. A while ago someone I knew well at work retired apparently healthily and soon after passed away. I plan to take time to do stuff I want to do - I get around 3 years before my wife can also retire, should she wish, so lots of ‘me’ time. The only small fly in the ointment is that our kids will be at going-to-univer$ity age at exactly the time I plan to retire.

 

[accountantpete]

I semi-retired years ago.

Every day is a holiday with a bit of work thrown in - sun comes up, hot day in prospect, then hop on the bike and see where life takes you. Lots of hobbies open themselves up, different part-time job opportunities arise, you meet new friends and avoid all that commuting.

The mental and body clock needs a bit of time to get used to the more relaxed pace - it's a bit like giving up smoking at first as you are always looking for something to do.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I'd love to retire early but that's never going to happen unless i win the lottery, which is unlikely since I don't enter it.

Exactly my situation, always had shoot paid jobs, well undervalued by my employer, but the work was great building businesses, he's made many people millionaires along the way, sadly I'm not one of them, I have no or little savings, no pension to speak of, so it's at least another 7 years for me until the pension arrives, unless it gets pushed back further. But even though I like my job I would retire in a heartbeat, I work to live, not live to work, although as I work 7 days a week, 365 days a year it would be a big change.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

In a heartbeat! I have a great final-salary pension built up currently with 28 years’ service and I can retire at 55, in 5 years’ time although this brings an early retirement penalty for the pension. A while ago someone I knew well at work retired apparently healthily and soon after passed away. I plan to take time to do stuff I want to do - I get around 3 years before my wife can also retire, should she wish, so lots of ‘me’ time. The only small fly in the ointment is that our kids will be at going-to-univer$ity age at exactly the time I plan to retire.

I remember one fella who collapsed and died whilst making his speech during his retirement do on the day he retired.

 

[gbb]

Rather sadly, I have no real outside Interests and actually do enjoy my job when I'm left to do it. Its challenging and rewarding but there are lots of flies in the ointment nevertheless, whose job is perfect.
I have some modest pension ongoing and a frozen one with circa £60k in it (probably less now with all the financial upheaval at the moment )
I'm 63, should retire at 66 I think. Will I ?...probably not, I am struggling with OA but I need to keep moving or I seize up. I struggle for motivation when at home and soon get quite aggravated. I need things to do, I need some purpose or I will stagnate.
I could manage financially, not easily but I'd soon adapt. I only work 5 days a week, 40 hours and see no reason why the company would 'encourage' me to retire, I'd like to think I still an asset, I'm the go to guy when there's problems.
Nah, all things being even, I plan to work on for a while at least.

 

[ColinJ]

I remember one fella who collapsed and died whilst making his speech during his retirement do on the day he retired.

Poor Vernon only lasted a couple of days. IIRC, he died on his retirement holiday.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Poor Vernon only lasted a couple of days. IIRC, he died on his retirement holiday.

Yes, I remember that.

 

[Once a Wheeler]

If you are considering retirement, you are in the wrong job.

 

[welsh dragon]

I retired at 51. We paid off our mortgage and had no not commitments. We also had enough money put aside for us to live on for 10 yeats as long as we were careful. When Mr WD then officially retired his pension kicked in, and at 60 my private pension also started. We are not rich, but as we don't work, we don't have many overheads so manage quite well. I have another 14 months to go before I can get my state pension . Best thing I ever did was to stop working. I to have seen to many people work to retirement age only to be worn out and die 12 months later. No thanks

Retiring is all a question of a person's own feelings. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.

 

[Toshiba Boy]

At 56, I could have retired a year or so ago (have a good FS Pension (27 years) from previous company, plus 11 years DC pension from current). However, I do really enjoy my job, Mrs TB works part time (she's three years younger than me) and also has another house she lets out.

Have friends and relatives that have retired between 50 (Police) and 55, whilst another friend only retired last year at 69, was bored and has come back for two days a week.

Aim to definitely work to 60 (as long as I continue to enjoy it), and then, take a year at a time to max 65, with opportunity to drop a day or two a week every so often (the gradual retirement idea does appeal).

All of the above subject to usual caveats, health, inheritance, etc., etc., and taking the useful insights posted above, thanks.

 

[PaulSB]

No doubt some of you visit the Retirement Thread and think this lot are bonkers, possibly we are. One thing retirement brings is a feeling, a good one, that one can do as one wishes and all the retired people I know do so. We can switch from being entirely serious to very silly at the drop of a hat - it's a lot of fun.

My wife retired at 60 and myself at 62, the original plan was 60 but the 2008 crash hammered my pension fund. The four key points I feel for anyone considering retirement are:

• Does my job define me? If it doesn't you probably will fill your days very well. If it does think hard about this before going
• What will I do? What are the things I want to do more of? What happens locally I'd like to get involved with. If you have to ask yourself "How will I fill my time?" think very hard about the first three.
• Be comfortable if you can. Check the finances carefully. Make sure you fully understand your living costs to the 'nth degree and look at potential savings. I do mean everything. It's a good idea to keep careful records for the 12 months before retiring. Try to avoid cash purchases - when I came to understand our finances before retiring I was astonished by the amount of cash we withdrew from the bank and had no idea how it was spent!
• Money. Find a good Financial Adviser. Get to grips with the idea it can be prudent to spend cash savings before taking a pension income. Understand taking a pension income is not necessarily the best way to use your pension pot.

In our experience retirement is not expensive on a day to day basis. We don't pay tax and won't for another two years. we are not rich. When I retired we had enough to live off for five years if things went badly wrong. By then both state pensions would kick in.

If you can retire do so. It's impossible to know what is round the corner. I suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2019, the "will he wake up" sort. Don't waste a day working if you can get out. I retired on a Friday. Saturday was a strange day, by the Monday I had forgotten work and was fully retired!

Oh yes, buy a damn good bike out of your tax free lump sum!!

 

[Brandane]

I retired at 39 . Well, partially. I had 19 years Police service when I was diagnosed with an atrial fibrillation. Long story cut short, they pensioned me off with a pro-rata pension, index linked. In effect it means I get approximately 19/30ths of what I would have got, had I gone the distance to 30 years service. It certainly helps and gives me some security, but sadly not enough to live on.

At the time I still had a mortgage, and retiring at 39 was never going to happen anyway on the monthly payment I was getting. I took on full time work again, in various jobs, until the mortgage was paid off in my early 50's. Then I took the foot off the gas a bit and went part time, by which time I was driving HGV's. So took redundancy from the company I had been driving for full time for 6 years, and went with agency driving work. That didn't turn out as I had hoped, so 4 years ago took a part time job as "handyman" at a local care home. Now getting fed up with that, as "handyman" was a bit of mis-selling (porter/gardener/driver/H&S clerk/painter decorator/entertainer/buyer/anything that isn't someone else's job just about covers it).

At the age of almost 59, I am now at the stage of wondering if I could maybe get by on my pension until I am 67 when the state pension would make things comfortable. But I would have to do without an awful lot of luxuries that I am used to having, and have never been very good at doing without (I like bikes - pedal and motor versions, and cars too). So as I look out at yet another cold, wet, miserable day; I wonder what I would be doing if I wasn't working (even part time)? In my own personal circumstances, it makes more sense to carry on working - but for me work is most definitely a means to an end, and I fully intend to jump from the rat race at the earliest opportunity. I recently renewed all my HGV related qualifications, so will have a look at returning to that on a part time basis if that is feasible.

To summarise from my own experience, it all depends on a multitude of personal circumstances. As Kenny Dalglish might say, "Maybeez aye; maybeez naw" .

 

[stephec]

As soon as it's financially viable I'll be on my way.

I've always looked at work as a way of paying the bills and nothing more, work to live, not live to work.

@screenman I know you'll not be agreeing with me, will you? 😄

 

[Brandane]

If you are considering retirement, you are in the wrong job.

Everyone I know are in the wrong job then!