Four working days to go before early retirement! How did you feel at this stage?

melanzana

Wow!

Thanks so much for all the positive comments. I am so glad things have worked out well for those who have left early.

Equally, I can understand the points of those who are not so happy. When the decision is made for you and not BY you it must be very difficult.

I am relatively young- 56. I started work at 17 after A levels, and climbed the ladder in spurts over the years, adding a few degrees and qualifications as I went along.

My job is very stressful. What job isn't! It peaks at a certain times of the year and getting home at 2 am for weeks on end is not unusual. Then there is the trough, when you want to murder someone because the days are endless.

Anyway. I am lucky enough to get a pension straightaway. And a lump sum.

I don't have children. My mortgage is paid off, no debts.

So while the pension is actuarially reduced, and will be a HUGE drop in take home, I am absolutely looking forward to living with it. I know I can manage financially. Although everyone was chiding me about this "daft" decision to leave a great job ten years or so early.

I don't care.

Your posts have made me so happy. Thank you.

And my best wishes to all who are retired, going to retire, and thinking of it.

I'm looking forward to the adventure of doing things I am interested in, or maybe doing sod all for a while. I need to get my job out of my system. Then onwards and upwards!

Thanks again all.

traineepensioner

Good luck with your retirement :beer:

I remember that euphoric feeling on leaving work for the last time and still smile when I think back to that moment.
Having spent my final 2 years at work planning my early retirement and boring my colleagues with "AVCs", "actuarial reductions" and "pension planning", I think they were probably quite relieved when I left

It was one of the better decision that I've ever made. I'm so busy now I really don't understand how I ever found time to go to work

All the best :T

Marine_life

I can sympathise with a lot of the emotions on here.

Have got to the point where I am checking on the internet how many working days there are to go until my 50th birthday (which is the trigger date for my early retirement)...and its actually 66 or less than 60 when you take out thw weeks holiday we have between now and then.

Our plan is to take two months holiday after my 50th birthday to really think about next steps with the intention that I will quit in January 2015...which is now ever-so-close.

A very close colleague at work died a few weeks ago at age 35 after a long illness but it really brings it home to you that after a few weeks of people talking about it, it's now a very distant memory and people have simply moved on (there was someone in her office with two weeks).

I imagine that is a little how it will be with early retirement. There will be some initial shock but then the world will quickly move on.

rudebhoy

I am retiring in October. I have got 49 working days to go (have set up a little widget on my laptop which I check every morning )

I am 53, have been working in IT for nearly 30 years, and have definitely had enough of that. Am a bit nervous about how retirement will go - have had some people telling me I will be bored and back working within a couple of months. Would hate that to happen, but I guess it is a possibility.

Am into gym and hill walking so will be stepping both of those up, but will need to find some other hobbies to pass the time.

Am also toying with doing some part-time voluntary work. Don't want to constrict myself too much but would like to help others less fortunate than me.

Any suggestions welcome!!

ManofLeisure_2

Good Luck Melanzana and to all those who are about to retire

I retired 3 years ago aged 55. It was the best decision I've ever made. I always smiled when I heard the comment 'you will wonder how you ever found the time to go to work', but have since found it to be absolutely true.
When I closed the door of my office for the very last time, I felt like the boy who was about to start his school holidays, and still do

Goldiegirl

I've been reading this thread with a lot of interest.


At the age of 50, I was made redundant, along with 200 colleagues in my office that was being closed down.


I took a pension as part of my redundancy settlement.


Those last few months were a strange, bittersweet time. I'd been working there for 28 years, so I had known many of my colleagues for years. There were celebrations, as gradually colleagues found new jobs, and commiserations when they were turned down for jobs. Gradually our numbers began to dwindle, and the people who had decided to stay to the end, for whatever reason, had a lot of fun for those last few months. Our employer ( a bank) provided a budget for staff entertainment, so we used that budget to by a load of prizes, then, every morning and afternoon we'd play bingo, and the winner would pick one of the prizes.


Not much work was being done, we'd spend hours playing computer games, doing quizzes, and making 'time capsules' to hide in the roof space, for the next tenant of the building to find (nearly 5 years later the building is still empty).


The last afternoon, we basically took over a pub, and everybody who had left to go to another job also came back, and it was a wonderful afternoon.


I don't really harbour any ill feelings towards my old employer. It had all gone pear shaped in banking, and I'd mentally said goodbye to my employer, way before we were made redundant. It was a relief when the redundancies finally happened.


I actually felt a lot of gratitude, because they allowed me to retire on a decent pension at a young age.


So it was an early retirement of sorts. as I had a pension, but I wasn't ready to stop work completely, so I found a part time job.


However, I am now ready to stop working completely, and around about next March, will take this final step.


It is a big thing to do, but we doing all we can to prepare.


I'll be 55, and I mainly expect to feel relief and joy.


I've never met anybody who says they regret retiring early, and I'm looking forward to taking each day as it comes, and not feeling constrained by a working schedule.

Jack_Itin

I am taking early retirement in April next year, at 62, and although it is still about eight months away, I have found myself saying '' well, that's another week nearer retirement''.....it IS a big step to take, I have been in the same job for 35 years, but I suspect that once I've gone, then those left behind will not give me a second thought, the world moves on, good luck to those that have already taken the leap into the unknown......and roll on April.........Jack.

melanzana

Love the posts. It is so true that things move on very quickly when you leave. But I have steadfastly said that I am NOT indispensable, nor is anyone else either! So that makes it a lot easier.

For those in high status jobs (I dont want to be big headed, but mine was to an extent one of those gigs), I think the loss of status can be crushing especially for men who retire, but no doubt us gals too. Would anyone agree?

I have coined a new phrase to deal with this..... I am not retiring, I am "in my post professional life!" I love that, it expresses what I hope to get from retirement. One adventure ends, and another one begins.

And as we speak I am holding a letter from HR telling me that I have another days leave due, so I am finito tomorrow. Happy days, I am so relieved, and so excited!

Best of luck to all.

Mel

loonytunes123

Gotta agree with Old Beanz, you are forgotten about quickly. What I will say is, I must admit, I equally quickly forgot about those I worked with for 15 years....strange, aint it?

Cyberman60

I retired without knowing it at 52 as that was the last time I worked and have never regretted a day since. I was self-employed in IT for 25 years and was taking a break when we hit the big crash. I lived off my savings but took a moderate deferred pension at 54 rather than go on the dole.

I can honestly say I've never been bored and have never enjoyed myself so much as I do now with my freedom to travel and explore the world, having only been in the UK for about 6 months out of the last 18.

I lost my brother a couple of years back and that made me realise more than ever how valuable my own personal time is. I have an offset mortgage mostly paid off on a large property from my pension lump sum which means I have a cheap form of equity release until the mortgage term expires.

Then the plan is to downsize and of course eventually get the state pension at 66. Meanwhile, inflation is low but my pension gets a guaranteed RPI increase of at least 3% every year.

Good luck to all !!!