Regret retiring too early with not enough money?

kidmugsy

jerrysimon wrote: »

We do meet up staff who have retired/left most years. Of those who have retired none of them have ever said they regreted it.

Maybe those who regretted it are the sort of miserable sods who avoid meet ups? Or are ill or dead?

My own experience says take early retirement if the terms on offer are good. Enjoy your health while you still have it.

kidmugsy

chiefie wrote: »

I think something has to be done more than today to get employers to pay more in.

You and I know that that means that the employee will be paying more in but won't recognise the fact. Bigger employer contribution = lower wage, other things being equal.

Eilagoss

Life is short, my philosophy is enjoy it while you can.time is more precious than money. My mother died saying where did the last 20 years go I wish I had done more whilst fit enough to do it. Retire early (before 66 nowadays!) and enjoy. Doesn't mean spending a fortune and you never know what the future has in store or what is round the corner.

MallyGirl

I agree.
I have started dropping the 'retire early' concept into conversations with DH. I am aiming for 60 - we are both 50. I will review as time goes on - I deal with all the finances. At the moment we both enjoy our jobs, they are well paid, there is very little need to travel and I work from home.
DD goes to uni in 3 years (she hopes) to do a 5 year course so I am not expecting we will make any radical changes until she is through that.
We have a variey of dormant workplace/personal pensions, both sal sac into current employer ones (me at 25% as I was behind DH after maternity and part time working), we do sharesaves to the max and S&S ISAs also to the max. Mortgage pretty much paid off - doesn't make sense to clear it when that money can be earning 5% elsewhere.
If it seems like we are slowing down earlier than 60 we can change the plan.

madeinireland_2

I've just retired in effect as remaining time at work is holiday. I was given a voluntary redundancy payment of 18 months salary.

I hope I have enough at 55 years old but as others have said I'd rather leave early and have a shortfall towards the latter years.

I will let you know in a few years if I regret it but I suppose if it all goes tits up I could get myself a less stressful job.

Good Luck all!

jamesd

MallyGirl wrote: »

we do sharesaves to the max and S&S ISAs also to the max.

At 50 the ISA looks like a mistake unless you're already putting 100% of pay into pensions or want to use it for an innovative finance - peer to peer - ISA. Better to get pension tax relief then tax free lump sum to use for the ISA. Or maybe increase mortgage borrowing to do both then tax free lump sum for mortgage clearing.

If not doing salary sacrifice down to minimum wage for the whole year it's most efficient to concentrate it in months down to minimum wage then normal sacrifice just to get employer matching. This maximises the amount of 12% NI saving because NI is calculated for individual pay periods.

kidmugsy

madeinireland wrote: »

I suppose if it all goes tits up I could get myself a less stressful job.

The posties around here seem fit and cheerful. Is it a reasonably stress-free job?

madeinireland_2

kidmugsy wrote: »

The posties around here seem fit and cheerful. Is it a reasonably stress-free job?

Yes I would imagine it would be and would be a way of keeping or getting fit but I won't be working again for at least a year and maybe ever if the money position remains good.

jerrysimon

I have retired early at 56.5 years if age. This meant a reduction of 3K in my DB pension (40 years of PS service) for taking it before 60.

This is my 5th month of retirement. My plan was to do nothing/make no changes for 12 months and just enjoy the first extended gap from working (40 years) for 12 months. I was never a good morning person and now dont get out of bed before 8-8:30am

I was chatting with a work colleague yesterday at the pub who has been retired 4 years (he left at 58) and he said the danger is you may just carry on like that lol

In practise we have our first grand child, I am training as a Samaritan, we are planning an extension on the house, have thrown ourselfs into our garden (new potting shed and greenhouse) and this is the second year I have ever grown vegetables. I indulge my hobbies of bike/wheel building/electric bikes and playing the guitar.

There was a bit of adjustment being around my wife of 33 years 24/7 but we have very quickly found ourselves quite busy. All I miss from work is the people I had been with for the last 16 years of my final work placement. I literally did not think about the processes at work the day after I left. I was managing IT service provision so it could get quite stressful/demanding if things stopped working. I am making lots of new friends from the above. Have popped back to work a couple of times to see friends there for lunch.

The make hay why healthy was a big factor for me in deciding to leave early, being a Type 1 diabetic and watching a very healthy fit work colleague die of a brain tumour 18 months ago at 53.

At 56 the option to go back to work if need be is there, but currently that is the furthest thing from my mind.

Like most my state pension together with my wifes (she works four hours a week) will increase our overall income significantly in 10 years time, if they don't change the rules again before then of course!

If we wanted to suddenly become world travellers/live the high life, I guess we could sell the house move into a smaller house/flat out of the city we are in and spend £250K instead of leaving it to the kids.

Jerry

Stubod

We both retired early (59 and 58). I thought MOH would really miss work, but absolutely not. I did not actually want to stop working, I had just had enough of the job I was doing. After about 6 months of "inactivity" I managed to get a contract job, (doing what I was doing before), and actually quite enjoyed it. (Lack of pressure and any longer term commitments). I did not enjoy "not working", but equally I do not want to ever go back to 5 days working. When this contract ends I plan to look for something, ideally 2 or 3 days per week, (including weekends if necessary).

..will our money last?..hopefully, (at least according to my spreadsheets ).