Early Retirement - (nearly) one year on

cfw1994

Agree completely, & I feel very lucky to have had this relatively well-paid career to date: PLENTY of FAR more stressful jobs in FAR lower paid jobs: I do appreciate that (many of my pals are in some of those roles, some involving life'n'death work, which *most* IT roles do not).

vulcanrtb

Nobody said IT jobs are the only stressful jobs, it was just a group of people saying "yes, I'm also in IT and found it stressful".

Terron

MallyGirl wrote: »

I did quite a bit of Y2K work and, as a result, there were no issues with any of the systems I was involved in. I did, however, choose to spend millennium eve in the middle of nowhere in Wales, under no flight paths! Just in case others hadn't been as thorough!
It worked out well as OH got down on one knee at midnight and we have been married for 18 years now

I spent it at home under a flight path, working (on call) until 1 am.
I got a call at 8pm from a customer in Portugal (9 pm their time) asking how to increase the year field in their database,

DairyQueen

westv wrote: »

I wonder how many IT people were able to retire using the money they made with the Y2K "bug" scare? :D

Ha! Dec 31st 1999. My biggest ever pay day. I remember that night fondly. We sat there munching pizza as the clock ticked toward midnight. At one minute past the witching hour we began testing. The zillion-quid invested in the previous two years proved to be a sound investment. By 3a.m. we were out of the door having trousered a few thousand quid.

Happy days.

JoeEngland

cfw1994 wrote: »

Agree completely, & I feel very lucky to have had this relatively well-paid career to date: PLENTY of FAR more stressful jobs in FAR lower paid jobs: I do appreciate that (many of my pals are in some of those roles, some involving life'n'death work, which *most* IT roles do not).

Indeed. When dealing with stressful issues at work in IT and most industries it's worth remembering that ultimately it isn't important in comparison to other occupations where there's far more at stake.

Thrugelmir

Ganga wrote: »

Only my thoughts/ramblings but i am sure a lot of posters will not agree

Lost my job for life in October 1999. Quoted PLC (majority owned by family for over 40years) sold out to large private US owned business. As no one in the family was interesed in taking over the reigns.

Spent 13 years temping/contracting in the private sector. Though only unemployed for around 4 months in total during this entire time.

Just over six years ago. Took a 12 week temp assignment in the public sector. Was then offered a 5 month contract position. After which had a further 31 months of contract renewals between 3 and 6 months. Despite their being a head count freeze was offered a permanent role. Still there to this day. Though reducing my hours soon.

In the end perseverance, networking and delivering does open doors.

Boy was itself stressfull at times. The uncertainty of whether I would have an income in a few weeks time. Gave me plenty of sleepness nights. Would it do it again. Yes........

As the people I worked for, others that I met, along with the experiences that I had. Has widened my horizons. For this I thank my old PLC Finance Director who came to my location on my final day at work. Took me out for a 3 hour lunch, and filled my head with worldly advice.

Thorsson

Interesting that all the posts bar one are from those who have just taken, or who are looking to take, early retirement, rather than those that made the decision years ago. And the one exception is from someone who doesn't need to budget at all. Anyone else who retired well before 60 some time ago?

DairyQueen

Thorsson wrote: »

Interesting that all the posts bar one are from those who have just taken, or who are looking to take, early retirement, rather than those that made the decision years ago. And the one exception is from someone who doesn't need to budget at all. Anyone else who retired well before 60 some time ago?

Me.
Retired in 2011 age 52. OH is still working (his choice).

bugslet

Ganga wrote: »

One thing i have noticed reading all the replies in this post is that a lot of people think that because they have high paid high tech jobs that they are the only ones who found/find their jobs/lifestyle stressfull,i can assure it is something that isfelt in the full spectrum of employment.
Loosing your job when you are the main breadwinner wether you earn six figures or five figures a year is still a person loosing their job.
It could be argued that the people who earned massive salaries should be in a better position to withstand unemployment ( if even temp ).
Only my thoughts/ramblings but i am sure a lot of posters will not agree

As someone who has had neither a high paying job, nor a job in IT, I haven't read any comments that suggested their's was the only job with mega stress.

So yes, I disagree:p

uk1

Ganga wrote: »

One thing i have noticed reading all the replies in this post is that a lot of people think that because they have high paid high tech jobs that they are the only ones who found/find their jobs/lifestyle stressfull,i can assure it is something that isfelt in the full spectrum of employment.
Loosing your job when you are the main breadwinner wether you earn six figures or five figures a year is still a person loosing their job.
It could be argued that the people who earned massive salaries should be in a better position to withstand unemployment ( if even temp ).
Only my thoughts/ramblings but i am sure a lot of posters will not agree

I haven't read any posts suggesting this.