Plotting for an early retirement - anyone want to join me?

crv1963

Techno wrote: »

I have got to admit - having been adamant that I wanted to stop work, actually doing 2 days per week is great. It is enough to keep the wolf from the door and stop me from being bored. I am actually enjoying my work again but without any of the responsibilities and moving from 5:2 to 2:5 work day ratio leaves lots of time for leisure activities and, for the moment, we aren't having to dip into our retirement savings which leaves more for later

This is where I'm coming unstuck! I do enjoy what I do but the corporate rubbish and ever changing rules and targets seem designed to frustrate and irritate.

I am still full time (and a bit more) but think maybe a part time nearer home maybe an answer when I come to take my pension could be a way to ease into retirement. Quite a few "retire and return" 2 or 3 days a week in my line of work, I always wondered why but now I'm of an age to do it I can see the attraction.

Lomcevak

Interesting thread, i'm 44 in a high-pay, high-stress job, and starting to come to the realization that retirement could be much closer than I'd thought, so will watch with interest.

Mrs L has a good DB pension (she's a university professor) and I've been fairly aimlessly shoveling money into pensions for a while now, while the mortgage will be gone in a little over 12 months. After finally paying attention, crunching the numbers, and adding everything up I was stunned to find that house + pensions currently total a bit over £1.2M and liquid assets add close to £100k more, which is far better than I thought it was. We're adding about £80k per year to that at present, so I need to start to look ahead and work out where the exit is.

Fatbritabroad

Mrs_Z wrote: »

Thank you for your honesty! Like I mentioned previously, gardening is one of my passions and whilst I happily spend hours tending mine, I have often thought that I would not want to do it for living at £10ph. Whilst I don't exactly love my current job, there are plus sides in that I have many wonderful colleagues and the pay is good. I keep reminding myself that every month that I stay equals a month of early retirement in the bank.
It's the decisions made by higher management that are the pain. It seems that every change is something that makes our life more difficult on the ground level or adds another step or an obstacle for getting the job done. Year after year we need to produce more with less. And then there is the usual c**p with SLAs and KPIs that frankly speaking somebody drafted in their wisdom in such a way that they are pretty impossible to measure.

This is why I like being in sales. You still get the bull sh*t but if you ignore it provided you hit your numbers it's amazing how much of the boll*x magically disappears.

The rewards are higher in senior management but as it stands I get paid about 20% more than my boss and don't habe one tenth of the crap to deal with that he does

Rodz1300

I will also be following this one with interest,
Also 55 in 2023. No DB but high earner with good DC employer contributions and making AVC,s. Small mortgage and a portfolio of small cap shares held in SIPP. Pension annual allowance is getting just about fully used (depending on bonus) and coincidentally just managing to keep hold of full child benefit after giving up company car for allowance this year. (ironically one of the drivers to make me plan my tax more closely)
For no apparent or obvious reason I have been enjoying going to work less and less over the last couple of years and whilst probably not ready to fully retire at 55 I will be doing what i can to make sure i have some viable options come 2023. OH is half time working management accountant with DC pension. I may want to match her 2.5 days a week when 55 but likely a couple more years full time as we have 2 kids in school still.
looking forward to reading everyone's plans and tips

mark55man

On a countdown here - feeling a bit behind the curve at 55 - wuth a good DB pension and a growing DC. 8 years on mortgage but should be able to OP later, got a little derailed by family reasons. Realistically its going to be 60 so same sort of timescale, if a little delayed.

On the other hand at hte moment work is going really well, and I am enjoying it more than for a long while, although I do concur its harder as you age.

so good luck Mrs Z and everyone - I shall mainly be quiet (unusually) but will hot up as I get past various unwanted items off my plate and start paying better money into pension and other savings.

hugheskevi

I'm interested in why people choose to retire early, I'm the opposite and want to work for as long as my mind and body allow, I love the work, the people and what it allows me to do - travel , adventure, impact etc. Spending money on me and my family is fun too.

For me it is about variety.

I'd say I like my job, but nonetheless plan to retire around age 45 (currently 41) possibly with a spell of part-time working in the run-up to retirement.

Unlike for many, working keeps me very healthy as I cycle a 16 mile round-trip to work each day and take all my own food into work to ensure I follow an excellent diet. In winter months I use the on-site gym too, and run more outdoors in summer.

I couldn't ever envisage my work being the only focus though. I spend a lot of time running, and set up my own consultancy for a bit of variety and challenge a year or two ago. Along with a couple of holidays each year that is most of my time accounted for.

I also like to travel a lot, but proper travel, not just a couple of weeks away every now and again. In the past I've spent a year traveling on three different occasions, and look forward to doing that again in the future after retiring.

I work full-time now, and after retiring am very likely to work a couple of days each week voluntarily. That will be doing things I enjoy, giving a bit of structure whilst leaving lots of free time.

I also look forward to moving away from the city to a far more rural setting, having pets, and taking up some old hobbies from the past that I don't have the time for at the moment.

Vespaboy

I will follow this thread
for me hoping to go at 60 ( if I can last that long )

JoeEngland

dont_use_vistaprint wrote: »

I'm interested in why people choose to retire early, I'm the opposite and want to work for as long as my mind and body allow, I love the work, the people and what it allows me to do - travel , adventure, impact etc. Spending money on me and my family is fun too.

As you say you may get a part-time job or start a business, so is this actually about retirement or just looking for a better job ?

For me, getting PT work would just be for financial reasons to reduce drawdown on savings and pensions for a while. I don't want to work at all. To me work has only ever been a necessity and a means to an end. What I want now is time to live my life instead of work my life.

smutput

JoeEngland wrote: »

I don't want to work at all. To me work has only ever been a necessity and a means to an end. What I want now is time to live my life instead of work my life.

That's me in a nutshell. 55 in 2020 and can't wait to pack in work and have time to do things I enjoy. My other half and I enjoyed the start of 2019 because now we can say "we're retiring next year".

vulcanrtb

Hi all, I'll join in, hoping to also retire at 55 which is the end of 2020. So I can also say "I'm retiring next year", but with one proviso, see how the markets go :P