To those who retired early, what made you take the plunge (and any regrets?)

brewerdave

Dansmam said:

agent69 said:

Took early retirement February last year, with a plan to travel the world and see all the sights.

Then Covid struck .....

Sympathise - I went in July with plans to travel as soon as lockdown ended. Little did any of us know... Still, we've had plenty of time to research, read maps and plan 😉

A very good reason to take early retirement ! My wife decided to carry on working for ~ 8 years after I had thrown in the towel ,with a view to more financial security and varied travelling when she finished , but my health has deteriorated to the point where longer distance travel is a non starter ,even without covid.
 I wish we had taken the risk and both been able to finish work that 8 years earlier.

Stubod

..one regret we have is not going sooner!!

Busy_Mee

I have 17 weeks to go......

OH retired age 60  18 months ago. He has loved it and has no regrets despite COVID. I have been flip flopping about going but have finally decided to leave at the end of July aged 57.

I was waiting for a sign I think, but actually what made my mind up was that I just don't enjoy work that much any more and much prefer the days when I don't work.

 I have come to the conclusion that once  you can afford to retire, you really need to love it to carry on.

Albermarle

I have come to the conclusion that once  you can afford to retire, you really need to love it to carry on.

The problem is defining being able to afford to retire . We see many posters who by most parameters are able to afford to retire, but hesitate as they are not sure they have enough( I include myself in that group) whilst others think they can afford to retire at a relatively young age, whilst not really having a big enough war chest.

So it is also a lot about your mentality , especially about money matters , as much as whether you love your job or not .

Also many people do not love or hate their job , which to some extent makes the retirement decision harder.

Msjf

A very good reason to take early retirement ! My wife decided to carry on working for ~ 8 years after I had thrown in the towel ,with a view to more financial security and varied travelling when she finished , but my health has deteriorated to the point where longer distance travel is a non starter ,even without covid.

 I wish we had taken the risk and both been able to finish work that 8 years earlier.

Sorry to hear about your health issues.

I'm 58, retired from my main area of work, with some flexible other work if/when I need it and depending on how my SIPP and the markets are doing.  My OH is 55 and has another 5 years of work before reaching his retirement savings target. However, a health scare recently with suspected cancer has made us look differently, so now he aims to do another three years until our son finishes school, then we'll do up the house and downsize then rather than wait. We would like to travel extensively too, between houses, and the pandemic has added to the sense of 'seize the day'.

JustAnotherSaver

For those who have retired 'early', especially considerably early vs state pension age, I wonder how you were able to do so.

In other words, I wonder if the people in this thread who've done that are from a totally different position in terms of wage and how many of these people who managed to / decided to retire early were on a similar wage to myself.

To be black and white, I hit in the region of 26-28k currently. Wife is on less at around 16-18k so a combined household of 42k-46k. I'm going to have a stab at most people in the thread who managed to retire early possibly earn somewhere around that or more by themselves alone.

Dansmam

brewerdave said:

Dansmam said:

agent69 said:

Took early retirement February last year, with a plan to travel the world and see all the sights.

Then Covid struck .....

Sympathise - I went in July with plans to travel as soon as lockdown ended. Little did any of us know... Still, we've had plenty of time to research, read maps and plan 😉

A very good reason to take early retirement ! My wife decided to carry on working for ~ 8 years after I had thrown in the towel ,with a view to more financial security and varied travelling when she finished , but my health has deteriorated to the point where longer distance travel is a non starter ,even without covid.
 I wish we had taken the risk and both been able to finish work that 8 years earlier.

Bless you both, I know from family, over many years,  and from friends who have done classic retirement global travel, that local is often lovely and long distance doesn't always meet expectations. Personally I just want to drive round the uk and bits of  Europe - as and when restrictions allow. !Hope you have scope for different plans and can make the most of it all.

JGB1955

JustAnotherSaver said:

For those who have retired 'early', especially considerably early vs state pension age, I wonder how you were able to do so.

In other words, I wonder if the people in this thread who've done that are from a totally different position in terms of wage and how many of these people who managed to / decided to retire early were on a similar wage to myself.

To be black and white, I hit in the region of 26-28k currently. Wife is on less at around 16-18k so a combined household of 42k-46k. I'm going to have a stab at most people in the thread who managed to retire early possibly earn somewhere around that or more by themselves alone.

By the time I retired I was earning in the region of £7K.  However, we had been mortgage free for more than 20 years, so maybe that's the dilemma.

Albermarle

To be black and white, I hit in the region of 26-28k currently. Wife is on less at around 16-18k so a combined household of 42k-46k. I'm going to have a stab at most people in the thread who managed to retire early possibly earn somewhere around that or more by themselves alone.

You are probably right . However many higher earners give no thought to pensions etc and also can not retire early .
So ideal situation for retiring early  is some knowledge of personal finance , some restraint on spending and a good salary .

Msjf

My salary in my 20s and 30s was high, between £50K and £100K+, and that was when I made the pension contributions that have allowed me to start phased retirement (I still work a bit) in my late 50s.

Since having a child in my early 40s, I've had time off for childcare and gaps between work for my own business (now ended) as has my OH who has always been a BR tax-payer, and we've lived relatively modestly on a household income of £20K when just one of us has been working or c£40-45K pa with both of us working.

The key thing has been benefiting from the investment growth of early pension contributions, but a slower, steadier approach to investment with lower contributions over a longer period may well have given a similar result.

I am happier on a lower income with the life I've had over the past 15 years than I ever was with the stress of a senior management role, albeit I enjoyed the challenge and some of the international travel. 

It's not just about income relative to expenses, but priorities and values. Mine changed and the pandemic is doing that again for us as a couple.