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

enator

Good for you melanzana, I hope it all goes well.


I would love to join you - I work for a horrible, aggressive American corporation whose management style is to make life so miserable, people just walk out (at little or no cost to them).


They do sometimes offer VR (I applied last time but was refused) & I'm sitting here to see if it comes around again.


What I can't seem to do is just walk like other people do - I'm stuck in the 'just one more year' syndrome, so would be interested in other people's experience of this & what they decided to do.

atush

I am waiting for the post on the 26th, when you have actually done it lol.

Then you will actually know what it feels like

OldBeanz

enator wrote: »

Good for you melanzana, I hope it all goes well.


I would love to join you - I work for a horrible, aggressive American corporation whose management style is to make life so miserable, people just walk out (at little or no cost to them).


They do sometimes offer VR (I applied last time but was refused) & I'm sitting here to see if it comes around again.


What I can't seem to do is just walk like other people do - I'm stuck in the 'just one more year' syndrome, so would be interested in other people's experience of this & what they decided to do.

Plan A for me was to work on for another 3 years but Plan B was to ensure that if they did offer redundancy then I would have my pensions in place. Old George then goes and blows wide open the requirements for drawdown. Quite happy that they made the choice for me as there is always the doubt about letting go.

A bit trepidation as everything before was onwards and upwards so just felt different when buying a petrol city car rather than a big diesel.

Marine_life

melanzana wrote: »

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 am in one of those.

High paying job, lots of responsibility etc. etc.

I think you have to balance the loss of status against the relief from getting away from the pressure and hypocrisy. But I also know that there are so many people who feel the same but are trapped by a high expense lifestyle or are happy to live with it.

I generally dress like a tramp ;-) so have no problem with dropping the status. I confess that I might miss have the "F**k you' money but I see that as a small price (no pun intended) to pay for freedom.

Thrugelmir

Marine_life wrote: »

I think you have to balance the loss of status

No one is indispensable. Life carries on. Status is often self assumed.

Marine_life

Thrugelmir wrote: »

No one is indispensable. Life carries on. Status is often self assumed.

I have seen enough people come and go to know how that is. In my case status at work has no relevenace to my life outside of work.

Marine_life

Goldiegirl wrote: »

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.

I sense a tinge of sadness in your post?

I really hope you do get the relief and joy that you hope for :-)

I always wonder how I will feel that first day when i wake up and never have to go to work again? I suspect for the first couple of weeks it will be like a long weekend.

But I now have so many ideas about creating income and using the experience I have gained over nearly 30 years of work that i suspect I will still spend at least 50% of my time looking for or doing feelance work.

It will be a new beginning...

melanzana

For me it's a relief. No doubt about it.

As I put it to people who ask WHY the hell are you going from that job so young? (ha ha) I say "my batteries are flat, and I'll NEVER recharge them here"!

I'm worn out, honestly. Just jaded. Sick of the politics, the craftiness, the !!!!!ing (male and female) and just generally worn out I suppose.

But it's been an amazing work journey and I'm so fortunate to have been able to to do it...up to now.

So onwards to the next leg of the adventure.

I've no doubt that sometimes it will be a challenge. But I'm prepared for that. I was often bored and under stimulated at work now and then too.

My plan is to be active at least three days a week. I can live with indolence the rest of the time if I can achieve that. I am retired after all!

Thanks for all the good wishes, and the same to those are or will soon be heading off before the rules say they should.

I know not everyone can do it. I don't want to sound smug at all.

Thanks and all the best

melanzana

Thrugelmir wrote: »

No one is indispensable. Life carries on. Status is often self assumed.

I often think of that saying or tribute or whatever it's called...

"The King is dead,....long live the king"

Sums up dispensability and moving on quickly to the next phase!

syorkshirelass

Hello
I was lucky enough to escape the rat race March this year. I too had a very stressful job and it was having a bad effect on my health. I left on bad terms after 38 years with the same employer who went on to say that I had been treated badly.
I ummed and ahhed wondering and worrying about leaving but decided that I would apply for VER and see what happened. I was able to access my final salary pension but worried about managing on the amount. Don't know why I worried so much.....
I was allowed to go at 55 with my pension. Took the smaller cash lump sum and worked out that I would have £75 week more for going to work !!!
There's more to life than money. Yes, bills need to be paid but there are so many things to do that don't cost. I walk my dog, garden, practice piano as well as help out my family. I am presently having a senior gap year. I am wondering about voluntary work, part time work but have slowly come to the conclusion that it is fine to do what I want to, when I want to.
My only worries are trying to understand the financial situation regarding tax and trying to make sure that my lump sum, savings etc are sorted. This forum is a wealth of information and I am trying to educate myself by reading more to try and make the right decisions.
So......4 months into early retirement......I am healthier, happier and able to spend more time doing the things that really matter.