Early-retirement wannabe

elantan

Thanks GG did think about it lol


Maybe, just maybe I can actually afford to retire with my merge wage then

dlorde

ermine wrote: »

It's interesting that of the three recent voices of the already retired that I can identify in this thread the common theme seems to be that you may need less money when retired than you thought while working. But I didn't believe that either while I was working, and it's probably just as well, because if you're going to get that estimation wrong then rather too much than too little

I found that too - three years in and spending far less than I'd imagined. This is because, once I broke free of the work ethic, I discovered I no longer needed to drink away the stress, or buy stuff just to feel the work was worth it, or to get away whenever possible and splash cash on relaxing, etc.

Because I'm relaxed now, I'm a nicer person; I smile a lot and say 'hello' to people in the street, I chat with shop assistants. I cook more for myself than I go out to eat, I walk a lot, and I savour the coffee and the roses because I've got the time. These things cost very little, but hugely affect quality of life.

Many of the things I dreamed I'd do when retired, I don't really feel like doing anymore; they were the escapist dreams of a 9-5 commuter... I'm learning that it's OK take my time, to spend time doing 'nothing' - and that there's no-one to chase me about deadlines.

N1AK

bugslet wrote: »

and add that if it's a subject that you don't know a great deal about, from the outside it seems as if the goalposts keep moving and in some ways they do.

A very good point.

It always amuses me when threads like this start coming down to 'people should know better'. I don't think anyone is debating that they shouldn't, the point is that they don't.

The Egyptians should have known that slavery is wrong. Murderers should have more respect for other peoples lives. Obese people should lose weight. Three perfectly true, and pretty much pointless statements.

Unless we're going to return to the days of poor houses then those of us who are financially secure are going to end up making up the difference for people who should have saved for pensions. We, as a nation, aren't going to vote for that; partly because we're caring and also because the majority would lose out!

N1AK

dlorde wrote:

Many of the things I dreamed I'd do when retired, I don't really feel like doing anymore; they were the escapist dreams of a 9-5 commuter... I'm learning that it's OK take my time, to spend time doing 'nothing' - and that there's no-one to chase me about deadlines.

What is the opinion of those of you who retired early on the idea of partially retiring at an early age and fully retiring at a later point? Do you think that would have negatively affected your life satisfaction?

I enjoy working a lot but there is so much else I'd like to do which I struggle to fit in around it. I'm confident we could retire in our 50s but I would prefer not to have to wait another 25 years, and not experience more in my 30s and 40s.

There seem to be some barriers to going partially retired: finding work that supports it, generally lower pay, keeping up to date with skills etc. Are these major obstacles and do you think they still will be in 2040?

dlorde

N1AK wrote: »

What is the opinion of those of you who retired early on the idea of partially retiring at an early age and fully retiring at a later point? Do you think that would have negatively affected your life satisfaction?

I guess it's horses for courses; I'd rather work full time or not at all, but I know several people who are happy working part-time - some need the money, some enjoy their work, some both.

Goldiegirl

N1AK wrote: »

What is the opinion of those of you who retired early on the idea of partially retiring at an early age and fully retiring at a later point? Do you think that would have negatively affected your life satisfaction?

I enjoy working a lot but there is so much else I'd like to do which I struggle to fit in around it. I'm confident we could retire in our 50s but I would prefer not to have to wait another 25 years, and not experience more in my 30s and 40s.

There seem to be some barriers to going partially retired: finding work that supports it, generally lower pay, keeping up to date with skills etc. Are these major obstacles and do you think they still will be in 2040?

I was made redundant at 50, and took a pension as part of my settlement.

I now have a part time job, two days a week, so class myself as semi-retired.

At 50, I felt it was too soon to take myself out of the working environment.

However, after three years, I find that the two days a week I work are an interruption to my otherwise pleasant and relaxed life!

Frankly, I'd stop work right now, but I am going to soldier on for about another 2 and a half years, as the money is useful, and I want to build up a little more savings before I give up completely.

I'm quite lucky in that I found a job which matched my experience and skills, and the pay is decent too. But a lot of the part time jobs I saw were low paid.

Another thing with part time work, it can be difficult to keep up to date with new developments in the role - no one passes information on that I've missed, and I get no time to find things out for myself. But I'm sort of resigned to that aspect now

On balance, working part time is a good transition period from full time work to early retirement, but I've found out that the retirement part of it certainly suits me.

If I was made redundant now, I wouldn't look for another job.

dreaming

N1AK wrote: »

What is the opinion of those of you who retired early on the idea of partially retiring at an early age and fully retiring at a later point? Do you think that would have negatively affected your life satisfaction?

I enjoy working a lot but there is so much else I'd like to do which I struggle to fit in around it. I'm confident we could retire in our 50s but I would prefer not to have to wait another 25 years, and not experience more in my 30s and 40s.

There seem to be some barriers to going partially retired: finding work that supports it, generally lower pay, keeping up to date with skills etc. Are these major obstacles and do you think they still will be in 2040?

Hmm - I had a chat with the outplacement people yesterday (I am being made redundant in 28 days and taking early retirement at 58) and I came to the conclusion that we need a new word to describe not carrying on working. This is because most people (friends, colleagues etc.) keep asking me if I won't be bored - I think they imagine I am going to sit by the fire knitting. Although I do enjoy knitting, and will enjoy sitting by the fire in winter, I am planning to do a variety of things that I haven't had time to do with working fulltime and family commitments etc. I have signed up for a couple of adult education classes to start in the autumn, and I am planning a major overhaul of the garden. Added to that my new found interest in history, plus my hope to get involved with some voluntary work, and getting some exercise, I can see that I will be busy in a different way to how I am now, and that doesn't include all the other things that have been fizzing around in my brain as something I would like to know more about. I have decided to try and pace myself though as I don't want to overload myself too much at the beginning them run out of steam. Anyway, I thought about saying I was "working otherwise" - a bit like those who homeschool their children are said to be "educating otherwise". I do think that "retirement" has such connotations that if you said you were retired (or semi-retired) in your 30's/40's (as you mention in a later post N1AK) many people (possible future employers?) might not "get it" - career break sounds better.

I know it is only words and at the end of the day you have to do what is right for you, but I have been surprised at some of the negative comments I have received although I see this as a very positive thing for me.

lvader

My aim is to be financially independent by 55, after that I'd only perform work I enjoy. I quite lke the idea of short term contracts where I work for 3 months, have a few months off and then look for another short term contract.

ermine

N1AK wrote: »

What is the opinion of those of you who retired early on the idea of partially retiring at an early age and fully retiring at a later point? Do you think that would have negatively affected your life satisfaction?

Depends on your nature I guess. There seems to be a large constituency of people who feel work is necessary to their quality of life and give meaning. I'm not knocking it, each to their own. Work isn't necessary to my sense of well-being. I'm with dlorde - I'd rather work full time or not at all. Part-time strikes me as mucking up a perfectly good week with work, beats me why anybody would want to do that Much of what's great about being retired is that if an attractive option shows up you can just go 'hell yeah' and do it.

I had the choice of part-time working in 2010, but figured the stress was going to do for me anyway. I might as well stay full time and save more; if I fell in the meantime then so be it, I'd rather fall in the sprint for the finish line than string it out for twice as long. I hated what my job had become, in particular the whole performance management justify your existence every quarter.

What I did, the actual engineering, was great - I had a fantastic project towards the end - working on a small part of the London Olympics. I loved what I was doing and it was great project to go out on. But every time I interacted with the performance management system after one jerk stiffed me it did me in. I had a great line manager for the last project because I was lucky and I was the last man in the firm with the specialised knowledge for that project, all the others had been outed. He was good enough to say I went out on a high on my leaving do. Yes professionally. No psychologically - I was a husk. When something snaps it stays broken until you can get distance - I am less than halfway through the recovery period after more than a year.

You can't know at 40 what will happen, so yoru plan needs flexibility. Six years ago I was going to happily work to 60, collect clock and retire in 'the normal way'. Then life got in the way. I was lucky in that I didn't have any physical health problems. I've stood by the little pile of earth that was once a human being with ex-colleagues in their fifties a few times too often, and that sort of thing gets more frequent in that last 50-60 decade. Now I am old enough that some of those who fell by the wayside were younger than I am now. Things like that make you think. People lose resilience and some ability to kow-tow to crap as you get older. Stress seems to spew out in heart trouble and strokes, which, touch wood, I've avoided.

So yes, plan to have the cushion for the part-time option, and plan well, but know that life can throw curve-balls. If you ever need to send to know for whom the bell tolls, Hemingway had the answer; it tolls for thee. If you hear that, change what you are doing in life. No consumer crap and paying your kids at university and McMansions and all the other baubles that money stands proxy for is worth wrecking your health for IMO.

The world of work is getting worse, power is moving to capital from labour with globalisation, so by 2040 when the company says jump, you may have to ask how high? Working part-time for people like that still sounds a rough option to me, but it all depends on you, your skills, your industry. Look at where work has been going for the last couple of decades - it's trending towards zero-hour contracts and what used to be known as piecework.

@dreaming work is overrated. The world is plenty interesting enough to keep someone with a halfway active mind more than occupied. Time is the ultimate consumer good - use it well, they're not making any more of it

Goldiegirl

Lol, ermine, you've hit the nail on the head there, about part time messing up a perfectly good week!

When I fully retire, I want to try and move away from routines and timetables. Although I have much more free time than when I worked full time, my week still revolves around working on Thursday and Friday. I feel I need to get boring things like housework done on certain days, so I won't have much to do on my work days. When I stop work completely, I'm hoping that we can be more spontaneous, and do things at short notice, knowing that house stuff can be put off until another day, as everyday will be free.

I think it'll be quite a challenge to lead a less structured life, but I want to try.

I do feel positive about the future - I feel as if a new adventure is about to start.