We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Turning off the tap

Options
Triumph13
Triumph13 Posts: 1,966 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
A question for all you early retirees and wannabe early retirees: The more I get into all this, the more I find that the psychological aspects are more interesting than the financial ones. There is one particular aspect that I would love to hear people's views on. Most discussions we have on here tend to centre on making sure you have enough money for your retirement, but the other side of that is that when you do retire early you turn off the money tap from your employment. Yes, you have (hopefully) made sure you have enough to live on, but if you delayed retirement for x more days you would have £y more that you could spend on whatever floats your boat. This is the slippery slope leading to OMY (or quite a few more years in ML's case). What are the thought processes that let you decide that the utility of the £y isn't enough to make up for the x days?


[purplesignup][/purplesignup]
«13456710

Comments

  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 18,155 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Hung up my suit!
    In our case we took early retirement without any qualms when the deliberately highly pessimistic financial plan showed that we could live into our 90's on the same standard of living as previously and meet some high one-off expenses in preparation for our life in retirement - we knew exactly want we wanted to do with the extra free time. We didnt want anything beyond that, and so had no motivation to work longer for extra money.

    Without the plans the 2008/2009 crash which happened 3-4 years later could have been very frightening. Now even taking into account the crash the original assumptions have indeed proved to be wildly pessimistic.
  • coyrls
    coyrls Posts: 2,508 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Triumph13 wrote: »
    A question for all you early retirees and wannabe early retirees: The more I get into all this, the more I find that the psychological aspects are more interesting than the financial ones. There is one particular aspect that I would love to hear people's views on. Most discussions we have on here tend to centre on making sure you have enough money for your retirement, but the other side of that is that when you do retire early you turn off the money tap from your employment. Yes, you have (hopefully) made sure you have enough to live on, but if you delayed retirement for x more days you would have £y more that you could spend on whatever floats your boat. This is the slippery slope leading to OMY (or quite a few more years in ML's case). What are the thought processes that let you decide that the utility of the £y isn't enough to make up for the x days?
    [FONT=&quot]I was at the dithering stage and then got the opportunity to take a voluntary redundancy package that was roughly equivalent to working another year. If I hadn’t taken the redundancy package I would have felt that I was working for free for a year and so it gave me the nudge I probably needed as I already had the “One More Year” in the bag.[/FONT]
  • Triumph13
    Triumph13 Posts: 1,966 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    Linton wrote: »
    In our case we took early retirement without any qualms when the deliberately highly pessimistic financial plan showed that we could live into our 90's on the same standard of living as previously and meet some high one-off expenses in preparation for our life in retirement - we knew exactly want we wanted to do with the extra free time. We didnt want anything beyond that, and so had no motivation to work longer for extra money.

    Without the plans the 2008/2009 crash which happened 3-4 years later could have been very frightening. Now even taking into account the crash the original assumptions have indeed proved to be wildly pessimistic.
    Thanks Linton. Very interesting. Which do you think was the stronger push, "we can't envisage ever having any desire to spend more than we have already amassed" or "we can't wait to sail off into the sunset on our barge"? With hindsight do you think the desire to keep going until you had more than you would ever spend led to you retiring later than you really should have?
  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 18,155 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Hung up my suit!
    Triumph13 wrote: »
    Thanks Linton. Very interesting. Which do you think was the stronger push, "we can't envisage ever having any desire to spend more than we have already amassed" or "we can't wait to sail off into the sunset on our barge"? With hindsight do you think the desire to keep going until you had more than you would ever spend led to you retiring later than you really should have?

    Both were necessary. We needed both the lack of a reason to carry on working and a reason to retire. If we had no idea what we wanted to do in retirement but really enjoyed our jobs and the social contact with our colleagues the financial situation would have been irrelevent. On the other we wanted a stress free retirement. Even if we hated our jobs and colleagues we may well have carried on working if retirement meant relative poverty.

    Obviously with hindsight one can make better plans and had we known our economic future we could have retired a year or two earlier. We decided to retire when the plans just barely worked out as work had lost its attraction and then waited until the following round of regular redundancies. Now with hindsight and 12 years more experience of planning I know that if the assumptions werent wildly pessimistic we could have been in trouble - the criterion for a successful plan was rather dodgy.
  • ermine
    ermine Posts: 757 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Photogenic
    Triumph13 wrote: »
    What are the thought processes that let you decide that the utility of the £y isn't enough to make up for the x days?

    I retired early because I was getting sick of the performance management rigmarole and the way companies manage people these days. So I saved like mad and retired eight years early just before the company mind-games were about to drive me round the bend.

    After a couple of years it occurred to me that this had been A Good Thing in retrospect. I could have carried on to 60, but those eight years of owning my own time are eight years I'll never live again. Had that not happened I would have wasted that time working. Sure, I have less money than I would have working longer. But I wasted a lot of money in compensating for the stress of working - fast and furious holidays, and compensating for the stress with consumer goodies. I am fitter than my working self because I have the time to walk more, and the time ot take in my surroundings, and had the opportunity to move to somewhere with more natural interest for me but with little employment availability.

    The antidote to OMY is that that's OMY you'll never see again. Your time on this earth is finite, and it's running out 24 hours every day. If that thought doesn't make you get your skates on, nothing will ;)
  • Ganga
    Ganga Posts: 4,253 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I for one was scared to retire because i had worked all my life and did not know any different,loved meeting people and getting out of the house.
    The truth is i wish i could have retired earlier,why wait till you are old to enjoy the things that cannot do whilst working,more people chase the next £ but when they have it,who knows.Check on the Insurance board for people who are struggling to get travel insurance to go on holiday.
    What is the point of having large sums in the bank if you are not able to enjoy them.
  • OldBeanz
    OldBeanz Posts: 1,436 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Had a mate who could have afforded to retire at 60 quite comfortably but kept going till he turned 65. His wife fell ill so had to travel to the hospital every day for 18 months then had 6 months of good health before deteriorating over the next 12 months and dying. So instead of having 5 years or more retirement he had 6 months. Retire - there are plenty ways of spending your time - volunteering; hobbies to take up; part time jobs or seasonal ones, as well if you need some cash.
  • bugslet
    bugslet Posts: 6,874 Forumite
    I could retire now, could make a significant difference by a couple of 100k if I wait another year, might make no real difference. When I know which way it will go, I know one day I'll just decide the time is right. It's the way I always do things, I really don't like to over think things.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    More to life than money. For some, work is more about the social aspects. Not everyone has a large extended family or lots of good friends. Using one's grey matter and keeping active doesn't require money either. Yet these will help one potentially live longer.
  • A heart attck at 57 made me determined to pack work in at 60 - time became more important than money. Icing on the cake was actually being made redundant at 60 and a quarter which, essentially, gave me another year on full pay.
    So, I immediately celebrated by busting a femur. Rather than being my gap year I've been hobbling around for months. Maybe back on the bicycle next year . . . .
    So I feel comfortable ( a pension equivalent to the minimum wage, some savings for bigger items and the state pension to come in a few years time). Mortgage is paid off, no debts.
    Filling time quite well at the moment ( but winter may be more of a challenge) but is it worthwhile enough - I don't just want to watch daytime TV. So am volunteering one day a week at Citizens Advice, have taken up archery and doing an online course in Cosmology.
    But really want to cycle across France next year . . .
    Moral of the story - you never know what life will throw at you. Feel I've already wasted too many years 'waiting' for the 'right time'.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.6K Spending & Discounts
  • 244K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.9K Life & Family
  • 257.3K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.