Early-retirement wannabe

Mr_Toad · 3 September 2015 at 9:58AM

I think people not liking the word retired is partly to do the fact that it is associated with getting old. Modern society is very much age obsessed, 50 is the new 30 etc. and people think retired means old.

For me it's not like that. For me having been able to retire early is a real achievement in a world of falling pensions and people complaining that they'll never be able to afford to retire so I'm proud to tell people I'm retired.

In another age people with an income who didn't work would be called gentlemen or women of leisure.

gfplux · 3 September 2015 at 10:58AM

gfplux wrote: »

I have posted this before but does not mean that repeating it makes it easier to deal with.
Many of us are defined by what we do....."successful accountant".......Company CEO, Engineer, Teacher etc.
when you retire you are a "USED TO BE"
wether we like it or not that can be difficult to cope with.
I confess that this did trouble me for the first one or two years.
Do not discount that in your calculations.

The above was a recent post of mine that some have not agreed with. Those comments have actually clarified my own thinking about this and that my post and othe posts I have made on this same subject have missed a VITAL point.

I did not define myself by my job. However after I had retired at 52 saying I was retired felt very strange in my mouth. In fact as someone pointed out retired was and still is associated with being old. Saying I was retired (I also, at that time looked young for my age) got some very strange looks. Some people gave me the impression they did not believe me. Some asked if I was just waiting for the right job offer to come along, others thought that I wanted to be a consultant but just had no clients.
All this took me by surprise and I began to avoid the subject.

Perhaps now nearly 20 years later being retired and in your early 50's is considered a success. Frankly I hope so. It did not quite feel so to me in 1996.

ManofLeisure_2 · 3 September 2015 at 11:33AM

I remember back in the 1980's when the general mesage seemed to be that the majority of people would be in the position to retire at 50 ish, or sooner. Hard to believe really.

missyrichards · 3 September 2015 at 11:40AM

Mr_Toad wrote: »

I think people not liking the word retired is partly to do the fact that it is associated with getting old. Modern society is very much age obsessed, 50 is the new 30 etc. and people think retired means old.

For me it's not like that. For me having been able to retire early is a real achievement in a world of falling pensions and people complaining that they'll never be able to afford to retire so I'm proud to tell people I'm retired.

In another age people with an income who didn't work would be called gentlemen or women of leisure.

I can't wait to tell people that I've retired.:D

coyrls · 3 September 2015 at 12:03PM

I think there’s an association between the terms “retired” and “pensioner” and the state pension age, such that either of these terms implies the latter. There have been relatively heated discussions in this forum about people retiring before they “should” (i.e. state pension age). I’m retired, not drawing any sort of pension (yet) and over six years from state pension age. I do refer to myself as “retired” but I’m still rather self-conscious about the term and some people seem to find the idea of me being retired difficult to grasp.

OldBeanz · 3 September 2015 at 12:51PM

ManofLeisure wrote: »

I remember back in the 1980's when the general mesage seemed to be that the majority of people would be in the position to retire at 50 ish, or sooner. Hard to believe really.

My memories of the 80's were people complaining about what Mrs Thatcher was doing to pensions. Hence my puzzlement for anyone who has not saved towards their pension years knowing things were unlikely to significantly improve.

Triumph13 · 3 September 2015 at 1:19PM

If you want a better expression than retired, how about really going back to an earlier era with either 'I have a small private income' or 'I'm independently wealthy'

Three years and 10 months before I have to decide which of those to use!

kidmugsy · 3 September 2015 at 3:43PM

OldBeanz wrote: »

My memories of the 80's were people complaining about what Mrs Thatcher was doing to pensions.

I don't remember that. What were they whinging about?

LottieJ · 3 September 2015 at 3:53PM

Hello early retirement wannabes. I would also like to retire early. I am 37 and am hoping to retire at 57 - or at least work part-time from that time onwards.

I have two key hurdles to this plan - one is that I would like my daughter (now aged 2) to be in fee paying education from at least secondary school onwards and the other is that we are not living in our 'forever home' and I would hope to move to a bigger property in the next 5 years or so.

I earn circa. £50,000 before tax at the moment. Self-employed. Hopefully that will go up over time but nothing is certain. I've had some recent health difficulties that have impacted upon my earnings but am hopefully getting back on course.

Up until now, my earnings have gone on clearing debts, funding my education, funding maternity leave and a house move but it is now time to start some serious planning for retirement.

I have just engaged an IFA to help me sort out a pension.

I would be incredibly grateful if someone could point me in the direction of some retirement planning tools that would help me to plan how I can meet my goals.

Best wishes,
Lottie

Marine_life · 3 September 2015 at 6:19PM

thank you for leaving # 2000 for me

Early-retirement wannabe

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free