Early Retirement - (nearly) one year on

JoeEngland

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown at age 58. That's when I decided I had to stop asap. Part time work was not a possibility where I worked so I decided I could hang on for 2 years. By that time our son would have finished uni and be off our hands. My countdown clock was running for 2 years....

I had plenty of offers of consulting work once I quit but I just wanted to walk away completely. I genuinely did want to fully retire.


Yes, but I would not take one out at the present time. I have plenty of savings outside my SIPP that can tide us through until SP, plus I can also UFPLS from my SIPP without paying tax. I also want to keep all my DC funds available for my wife to inherit in case I go unexpectedly early.

Annuities will definitely from part of my retirement strategy later in life. I can see me using them in 10 years plus time to secure income and release us from the vagaries of the market in later life. If I survive my wife, I think it likely I will increasingly annuitize my assets so I have little left invested when I die. We don't plan on preserving wealth for our son as we will gift him a chunk of the equity we release from downsizing. He knows he will be getting an early inheritance.

Wow, a 2 yr countdown when stressed sounds hard going. Because of health issues I need to give up FT work this year and have a goal of getting to the end of August. Ironically, the nearer it gets the harder I find it to keep going. It's as though time is dilating more each day! Frustration with my health issues and not having time to do other things because of work is causing sometimes severe mood swings. One day I can be okay, but then some little problem can get me wound up and massively frustrated. It wasn't helped this week by a 3 hour personal development meeting which felt more like a job interview thanks to an a******e manager.

Now I've decided to set mini targets in case that makes it more bearable. If I get to end of Feb then I'll hit a financial target for the holiday fund, then if I get to end of June I'll have my 35 years NICs, then if I get to August then I'll have done another year with no drawing down against my plan which was started a few years ago when I was out of work.

barnstar2077

JoeEngland wrote: »

Wow, a 2 yr countdown when stressed sounds hard going. Because of health issues I need to give up FT work this year and have a goal of getting to the end of August. Ironically, the nearer it gets the harder I find it to keep going. It's as though time is dilating more each day! Frustration with my health issues and not having time to do other things because of work is causing sometimes severe mood swings. One day I can be okay, but then some little problem can get me wound up and massively frustrated. It wasn't helped this week by a 3 hour personal development meeting which felt more like a job interview thanks to an a******e manager.

Now I've decided to set mini targets in case that makes it more bearable. If I get to end of Feb then I'll hit a financial target for the holiday fund, then if I get to end of June I'll have my 35 years NICs, then if I get to August then I'll have done another year with no drawing down against my plan which was started a few years ago when I was out of work.

Sad to say that this is how I feel, I pretty much have the goal of making it to my next pay day so I can top up my pension and buy myself a step closer to retiring early. I still have years to go, but knowing I am working towards sweet, sweet freedom seems to help

Chin up, it will be here before you know it!:beer:

crv1963

Thank you OMG for the thread and others for their useful (certainly to me) comments.

The figures quoted are broadly similar to ours, we reckon for us 16k covers all base bills/ utilities etc; 24k pleasant retirement; 32k+ gives us luxury or very pleasant retirement. None of the former figures includes SP as that is 12 yrs away for me and 15 yrs away for Mrs CRV, although we may be able to draw DC pot at a faster rate knowing that these are going to come.

We are at the 16k mark now but plan to work on a few more years to reach the 24k figure.

I like the idea of passing an inheritance on with warm hands- we have told our heirs that they may end up with something but not to rely on it. Although we are trying to help them out as we can afford to do so, but not huge sums!

JoeEngland- sorry to hear of your health, I had time off 2 years ago following a heart attack, actually got hooked on this site during my enforced resting. My reflections led to my serious planning our escape, I returned to my stressful role and 6 months back there I realised that if I stayed I'd be dead or in a Nursing Home within a couple of years.

So I changed roles/ posts to a different area and this has led to a different lifestyle with greater earnings and so increased DB pension when the time comes to take it. Busy trying to pay down debt (had to get a better car and need to pay mortgage down) and increase Mrs CRV DC pension pot as like OMG with his wife I want mine to have a bit better financial security when (or if) I go first.

I view each payday as either items we need or money we've saved. For instance Novembers shift enhancements and overtime were to pay for oldest sons car(£500 12 year old car to learn to drive in); I have February overtime in my mind to pay half into Mrs CRV pension pot and half to pay off new electrical goods I've bought(on interest free for 6 months deal).

Personally I find if I have the monies earmarked for a particular item(s) I can focus better or be more disciplined with myself. Mrs CRV just thinks I'm a little bit potty!

bugslet

JoeEngland wrote: »

Wow, a 2 yr countdown when stressed sounds hard going. Because of health issues I need to give up FT work this year and have a goal of getting to the end of August. Ironically, the nearer it gets the harder I find it to keep going. It's as though time is dilating more each day! Frustration with my health issues and not having time to do other things because of work is causing sometimes severe mood swings. One day I can be okay, but then some little problem can get me wound up and massively frustrated. It wasn't helped this week by a 3 hour personal development meeting which felt more like a job interview thanks to an a******e manager.

Now I've decided to set mini targets in case that makes it more bearable. If I get to end of Feb then I'll hit a financial target for the holiday fund, then if I get to end of June I'll have my 35 years NICs, then if I get to August then I'll have done another year with no drawing down against my plan which was started a few years ago when I was out of work.

That's what I thought when I read 2 years and fair play to OMG to sticking it out.

I've 64 operational days left and in some ways it feels like a hard slog, in others I think, well I'm not going to be here when X happens.

OldMusicGuy

JoeEngland wrote: »

Wow, a 2 yr countdown when stressed sounds hard going.

There was a financial reason behind it, because I had some stock options that I had been awarded in performance reviews vesting over that period. I actually had 4 years left over which the stock options would vest, so I gave up two years worth. But the stock options that were vesting in the next two years after my crisis point were well worth having so I hung on to get those and put them in the pension.

Fortunately my employer was very understanding when I had my crisis. Although they would not let me go part time, they took some of the workload off me. I also told them that I was going to retire in two years time, which enabled me to say no to extra work and big new projects as they knew I would be leaving in 2 years.

It was a bit of a risk telling my employer 2 years ahead of planned retirement but it actually worked out well. Because of the nature of my work, I was able to tick off big deliverables throughout that period and say "that's the last time I ever have to do that...." That really helped.

I met up with some ex-colleagues who are still working at the same job before Xmas and one (similar age to me) said they had been off work for three months after a stress-related health incident (massive spike in blood pressure).

crv1963

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

I met up with some ex-colleagues who are still working at the same job before Xmas and one (similar age to me) said they had been off work for three months after a stress-related health incident (massive spike in blood pressure).

A good reminder to take care of yourself. I had high blood pressure- it isn't called the silent killer for nothing, I thought i'd managed it reasonably well, but the heart attack was a clear indication that I hadn't!

The reason for changing from my high stress level job to a lesser stress level role was because others in the Team had also had heart attacks, one is still off sick 14 months later and taking retirement next month (March).

I would advocate to anyone if the job is killing you, make a choice and if you can afford to go then go.

bugslet

crv1963 wrote: »

I would advocate to anyone if the job is killing you, make a choice and if you can afford to go then go.

I know my numbers aren't likely to take me over 30k, but since I don't earn that nett anyway, I'm fine with it.

So as someone with high blood pressure - I didn't dare look last year - the early exit is well worth it. Still some stress, but less now.

blisteringblue

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

It was a bit of a risk telling my employer 2 years ahead of planned retirement but it actually worked out well. Because of the nature of my work, I was able to tick off big deliverables throughout that period and say "that's the last time I ever have to do that...." That really helped.

Tell me about this one, I told mine 5 years ahead of time and boy has that bitten me hard (posted about it in the big early retirement thread.) but we seem to be through that now, I'm still there and am actually managing to wind into retirement and am actually enjoying work after some fun and games. 4 years 2 months for me. Could actually go in under 4 years now but have decided to see out my final tax year.

I was one of the stupid (visionary ) ones who sold out his DB to DC with crazy CETVs but that was funny watching it slide down towards the end of 2018. But it's still good, my goal has always to be to retire at 55, been planning since mid 90s and the CETV was the only way I could do this. I only "gave up" 13k a year and that was split 9k at 60 and 4k at 65. Our company shut the DB back in 2006 when we were taken over, so I've been well aware of the DC ups and downs with 2008 crash in that.

I love threads like this though, gives me a warm smiling glow that I'm just around the corner from this too.

crv1963 wrote: »

A good reminder to take care of yourself. I had high blood pressure- it isn't called the silent killer for nothing, I thought i'd managed it reasonably well, but the heart attack was a clear indication that I hadn't!

Superb Advice, my wife laughed when I asked for a home blood pressure monitor for Xmas, and it's my daily ritual now. And yes it is slightly higher than I would like, so working on that too. Glad it sounds like you are through the worst CRV. My driver for retiring at 55 was my dad having a heart attack at 55. He is still with us though, but it's in the family.

Pat_Fleming

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

Although we didn't have a big holiday, this number does include nearly 2K on trips out for the day, meals out, trips to the cinema etc. That could be cut if money became tight.

Everyone is going to be different, but that's why doing a detailed plan is helpful in assessing what you need. I can assure you ours is pretty detailed......

Slightly off topic perhaps but do you bank with Lloyds? OH & I have 3 x Club accounts (2 singles & 1 joint) & the lifestyle benefits give us 18 free cinema tickets per year. So 9 nights out with the savings going towards the post film meals...

thriftytracey

I was going to wait until aged 60 (I am 59 this month) but the last couple of years I have found work to become increasingly stressful and tiring added to that I seem to be more affected by brain fog and memory issues. So, I made a decision 12 months ago to go in May. Of course Brexit and global market slowdown put loads of doubts in my mind but I decided my health is more important and as my OH is retired I want to spend as much time with him as possible as he has a life limiting condition.

I am counting down now and these months are passing oh so slowly! Added to that a colleague has just moved teams and there are no signs of replacing them, so my workload has now doubled.