Regret retiring too early with not enough money?

michaels

I am putting 100% of income into my pension for a few years: wonders of living frugally (including in the past to build up funds to live on now) and the govt is highly in favour of this and giving me huge subsidies to do so.

However despite chucking the kitchen sink at my pension I don't think I can retire before 55 on 36k pa joint income for life for self and DW although this is using some conservative assumptions in cfiresim rather than the 'modern' variable income approaches.

9 more years of work feels like a life sentence though

zagfles

jennyjj wrote: »

Join the club. That uncertainty is a true obstacle. Close family and friends saying 'You'll get bored' or 'You're too young'. They are SO wrong!
If the financials stack up, then it is important to set a date and tie yourself to that date. Maybe tell your boss unnofficially roughly when you'll be going. Almost paint yourself into a corner so that you MUST quit on that date. Otherwise you might find yourself doing 'one more Christmas'

JFDI.

Generally a bad move. You're unlikely to get a pay-off eg redundancy or a compromise agreement if you've told them you're leaving anyway!

There are of course non-financial reasons for staying in work. There are elements of my work I really enjoy, probably more than any of my hobbies, and I would really miss if I left. There are several people at our place in their late 60's who are still in work simply because they enjoy the job, no other reason, they aren't there for the money, they don't need it.

I'm now at the stage where I don't care what appraisal I get, I don't care what payrise I get, I'm more interested in doing work I find interesting. So I make a point of avoiding the boriung stuff. I work a very flexible shift pattern and can get whatever time I want, loads of paid leave and can take unpaid leave on top if I want. So being in work doesn't stop me doing what I want to do.

I'm trying to persuade my wife to retire once our eldest is 18, since she works term time only and so can't pick and choose when she gets time off, so that's our biggest restriction on our freedom. But I'm happy to carry on while I enjoy the work and have the flexibility.

Triumph13

trailingspouse wrote: »

Well, OH and I intend to work as hard as we can for as long as we can, so that our pension pot is as good as we can make it. We then intend to spend some of it on travel - there are many places in the world that look fascinating and that we haven't yet had the privilege to visit. We will take photos. We will post some of those photos on Facebook.

If this offends the OPs sensibilities, all I can do is apologise. And suggest that he/she does what feels right for them - as sure as heck we will be doing what feels right for us. You only come this way once.

There are many people who travel in order to see some of the wonderful and fascinating things that are out there. In my view, they are to be commended for it, especially if they have had to work and save hard to fund it.
There are also some strange people who seem to approach exotic travel as some kind of game of intercontinental one-upmanship and seem to only travel so they can swank about it. The OP seems to feel, perhaps wrongly, that his acquaintances are in the latter category and really need to grow up. He may well be misjudging them, or not.
For those in the former category, the challenge is in the trade off of more time, but less money if you retire early. Slow travel can really help with this, eg rather than spending a fortune on an organised 2 week tour somewhere exotic, spend an enjoyable month at home researching the best places to go then spend 6 weeks touring under your own steam for the same money.
As you say, we only come this way once, so you have to be careful not to leave things too late.

Yorkshirebornandbred

This is another interesting thread. I will retire sometime in the first half of next year age 53. There, I've said it. No more OMY. I know our assets will comfortably cover our retirement (pensions and savings >£2m) so why am I so stressed about it that I've had to seek help? I think the move from certainty (well paid City job) to uncertainty ("what are you going to do?") is really unsettling me. Has anyone else had similar thoughts/doubts/difficulty and did they go away once you finally made the leap? This is less about cash and more about change.....

Your post could have been written by me. I am 54 and II have run my own small business for the past 25 years, My goal has been financial freedom and I have achieved this. I also thought I wanted early retirement but I too have suffered doubts and difficulties over making that leap for several reasons.:-

Do I really have enough? If the worst happens
What will my new retired identity be?
There is no going back?
No one else is doing it and everyone questions why you are. Which is quite unsettling.

In the end I have chosen to work a 3 day week for a while and coast in to early retirement. So far it feels really good because I am enjoying more free time, no loss of identity and I am not yet using my pension/isa pot. For my personality type I think this transition phase is necessary. Others probably would be out of the door faster than you could blink. I do enjoy my work and even more now that it is not full time.

jennyjj

Originally Posted by jennyjj
Maybe tell your boss unnofficially roughly when you'll be going. Almost paint yourself into a corner so that you MUST quit on that date. Otherwise you might find yourself doing 'one more Christmas'

zagfles wrote: »

Generally a bad move. You're unlikely to get a pay-off eg redundancy or a compromise agreement if you've told them you're leaving anyway!

Could be a bad move in that respect. Depends on the likelihood of your job being retrenched in that way.

AnotherJoe

trailingspouse wrote: »

Well, OH and I intend to work as hard as we can for as long as we can, so that our pension pot is as good as we can make it. We then intend to spend some of it on travel - there are many places in the world that look fascinating and that we haven't yet had the privilege to visit. We will take photos. We will post some of those photos on Facebook.

If you mean that literally, there's a massive contradiction there since you will, by definition , be unlikely to visit those places as you'll work until you are no longer fit which likely means you cant do the travel (unless you are in a profession with a definite retirement age, such as a pilot?) Plus you'll have used up lots of time working which makes it more difficult to visit all those places.

trailingspouse wrote: »

If this offends the OPs sensibilities, all I can do is apologise. And suggest that he/she does what feels right for them - as sure as heck we will be doing what feels right for us. You only come this way once.

Why then will you be working "as long as we can as hard as we can " ????

Is the answer not to take the middle way, to work a bit longer beyond "just enough to get by" to get the optimum amount for your plans, but being cognizant of time passing and missing opportunities the longer you work?

chiefie

michaels wrote: »

I am putting 100% of income into my pension for a few years: wonders of living frugally (including in the past to build up funds to live on now) and the govt is highly in favour of this and giving me huge subsidies to do so.

However despite chucking the kitchen sink at my pension I don't think I can retire before 55 on 36k pa joint income for life for self and DW although this is using some conservative assumptions in cfiresim rather than the 'modern' variable income approaches.

9 more years of work feels like a life sentence though

I have two more years and it feels the same 😊

Johnny_Doe

Fascinating thread, and an interesting dilemma..

The big question is of course how long will you live?

You could save up £500k into a fund, retire comfortably at 65 and die a year later or retire earlier (say 55) and live frugally on, say, £12k yr for 40 years! Or somewhere in the middle.. It's all an unknown which makes it all the more interesting..

Personally, I prefer the retire early (but more frugally?) option.. I value my freedom (and health?) over having "stuff"..

I guess the most important thing is be happy and find what makes YOU happy (and healthy) Money, is of course also important but only to a point where you feel comfortable and have what you need, it kind of acts like diminishing returns in a sense where more and more makes less of a impact?

Ganga

aldershot wrote: »

This is another interesting thread. I will retire sometime in the first half of next year age 53. There, I've said it. No more OMY. I know our assets will comfortably cover our retirement (pensions and savings >£2m) so why am I so stressed about it that I've had to seek help? I think the move from certainty (well paid City job) to uncertainty ("what are you going to do?") is really unsettling me. Has anyone else had similar thoughts/doubts/difficulty and did they go away once you finally made the leap? This is less about cash and more about change.....

I know you said it is not about the money but you will have TWO MILLION to last you in your retirment and you are stressed!can you imagine what it is like for the rest of us :eek:,only joking ,i do not begrudge you what you have earned but a lottery win would not put me in the same bracket:rotfl::rotfl:

Gers

Travel? I travelled extensively because of my work, South Africa, Jordan included. My far flung family has caused me to travel to them over the past 40 years. On my last visit to Melbourne in April this year I declare 'no more' -it's time they came to me!

Done most of the foreign travel I wanted to for pleasure, USA UAE, Middle East, Far East, lots of mainland European places. Now I intend to spend my semi- retirement visiting places in my own country. Something which has been neglected over the years.

Cruises don't float my boat - sorry for the pun.

Yep, enjoying the times I've worked for. I never intended to work myself into a grave the way my brother did. He loved his work and died doing it. Not worth it.