Early-retirement wannabe

Marine_life

Triumph13 wrote: »

Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. Currently riding high in the betting stakes are:

1. ML bottles it and decides to do another year;
2. ML's bonus is bigger than expected so he decides to do another year to get another bonus;
3. ML does actually try to hand in his notice, but decides to stay after they offer him more money;
4. As 3, but they offer him a really interesting project so he stays to do that;
5. ML decides to go part time, but ends up still doing full time hours anyway;
6. ML really does actually do it this time!

Ha Ha :beer:

I told them I was thinking about quitting a few weeks ago and they told me I could make up my own job. But when I told them what the job was, they didn't like the idea (i.e. they didn't mean it).

You are right on 5 which is what has put me off that option.

The mostly likely outcome is that I resign or rather "negotiate an exit" (I'll explain that one later) and they offer me an interesting project. I can't imagine what they could offer that would sway me so if I was a betting man I would be calling number 6.

gfplux

Having been on this thread for what seems a lifetime with ML my money is on 1.

chucknorris

Marine_life wrote: »

Ha Ha :beer:

I told them I was thinking about quitting a few weeks ago and they told me I could make up my own job. But when I told them what the job was, they didn't like the idea (i.e. they didn't mean it).

You are right on 5 which is what has put me off that option.

The mostly likely outcome is that I resign or rather "negotiate an exit" (I'll explain that one later) and they offer me an interesting project. I can't imagine what they could offer that would sway me so if I was a betting man I would be calling number 6.

If you had to answer in just one sentence, what is holding you back from retiring?

Is it that you are not convinced that you have yet reached financial independence, or is it that you just don't want to let go?

In the end I have settled for working one day a week (or equivalent), I think that deep down I just didn't want to let go, despite easily having enough to live very comfortably. I'm 59 in January, but one day a week will not intrude on my lifestyle, in fact, it will probably enhance it, so I reckon I might even continue working that beyond my state pension age.

edinburgher

I can't imagine what they could offer that would sway me so if I was a betting man I would be calling number 6.

That would be insider dealing, not fair

Karmacat

jamesd wrote: »

As long as it works for you, that's all that matters, however high or low the numbers happen to be.

I didn't see this originally, jamesd, thank you

As well as the kindle writing and the cat sitting, there are other options too: at some stage I'll get £60-70k from my mum, I have an investment property in France I'll be able to sell in a few years (it costs me, right now! Not an investment at all ).

I *might* be happy to downsize again, eventually, to a maisonette, but I'm staying right where I am for the moment, for lots of reasons; but the financial reason is that I work(ed) from home, and 1.5 rooms are devoted to that work - which would make the tax situation a bit of a downer, if I sold this place any time soon.

Marine_life

chucknorris wrote: »

If you had to answer in just one sentence, what is holding you back from retiring?

Tricky. In one sentence?

Well...its this..."I want to be absolutely sure I'm making the right decision because once I go there is no going back"

And that statements covers a lot of things including career, financial, retirement lifestyle etc. I think the financial piece has pretty much resolved itself and if i look back to the spreadsheets i had in 2010 then we are significantly better of that that. I think I will be pretty happy with a retirement lifestyle so the only thing remaining is career.

When you've worked so hard for something it's difficult to let it go but I don't believe there is a job out there for me that meets the things I am looking for (but I am now increasingly confident that I can find part time work to fill the gap (of wanting to remain engaged).

So my strategy now is to the the right thing, while maximizing my exit package and (hopefully) paving the way for a future consulting role.

In the meantime I am also taking the opportunity, while we still have expensive private health insurance to make sure a number of medical and dental treatments are all up to date and / or done.

That#s a bit more than one sentence.....:D

enthusiasticsaver

My OH is retiring at the end of October and as he gave his company 6 months notice he is entitled to his yearly bonus (pro rata of course) which will be paid with his last pay salary in October whereas normally it is paid in January. He reaches the grand age of 58 at the beginning of October and thought it was time to go whilst he is still healthy. I on the other hand will be continuing with my part time job for at least one more year ( I am 56) and maybe going in 2018 sometime when I am 58. I only work 3 days a week though and one of them can be from home. As I work in a University I get a lot of the summer off and the job is enjoyable so I am quite happy to continue for a few years yet.

We got the quotes for OHs pension back in April and as the pension is 75% DB and 25% DC we have opted to keep it in the company pension scheme and will be receiving £22500 per year (including a levelling pension until SP age) and lump sum of £145k approx. depending on disinvestment date. As I earn around £1k per month after tax, pension etc we should be fine as we already have investments and savings of around £110k.

Looking forward to the next phase of our lives until of course OH starts getting under my feet! He has lots of hobbies though so I think he will find plenty to keep himself occupied. First thing though is to buy him a car. First one since he was 18 as he has had company cars throughout his working career so he has to hand it back in 8 weeks time.

enthusiasticsaver

Loving reading about all the pros of early retirement and hope to join you within the next 2 years sometime.

aldershot

First thing though is to buy him a car. First one since he was 18 as he has had company cars throughout his working career so he has to hand it back in 8 weeks time.

That's harder than it looks. Most of us on this thread are savers by nature rather then spenders and trying to find the sweet spot of motor purchase, new (discount from list px of course), nearly new, 3 years old, 6 years old, old banger etc, is not easy.

My passat is 15 years old and I really should replace it but I don't know whether to spend £20k/£15k/£10k/£5k.

Marine_life

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

My OH is retiring at the end of October and as he gave his company 6 months notice he is entitled to his yearly bonus (pro rata of course) which will be paid with his last pay salary in October whereas normally it is paid in January. He reaches the grand age of 58 at the beginning of October and thought it was time to go whilst he is still healthy. I on the other hand will be continuing with my part time job for at least one more year ( I am 56) and maybe going in 2018 sometime when I am 58. I only work 3 days a week though and one of them can be from home. As I work in a University I get a lot of the summer off and the job is enjoyable so I am quite happy to continue for a few years yet.

We got the quotes for OHs pension back in April and as the pension is 75% DB and 25% DC we have opted to keep it in the company pension scheme and will be receiving £22500 per year (including a levelling pension until SP age) and lump sum of £145k approx. depending on disinvestment date. As I earn around £1k per month after tax, pension etc we should be fine as we already have investments and savings of around £110k.

Looking forward to the next phase of our lives until of course OH starts getting under my feet! He has lots of hobbies though so I think he will find plenty to keep himself occupied. First thing though is to buy him a car. First one since he was 18 as he has had company cars throughout his working career so he has to hand it back in 8 weeks time.

Sounds like you have a good plan! Wish you lots of luck with it.

Our bonus system is a little more of a dark art - it's paid in arrears i.e. the bonus coming up is for the year to June - but they take a while to decide what the bonus number should be and (more importantly) how they should allocate it as not everyone gets the same amount (they allocate more to people who they want to keep). Usually the announcement comes around mid-end of October and once its announced there would be no going back. I have six months notice in my contract so I will also get a bonus for this year...but it's only this years figure I have in my budget so anything extra is cushion