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

howard3844

I am 58 and kind of retired, have enough in my SIPP to get by (£16k pa) , and work when I want to ...... the best thing about it is "freedom". I may not have a lot of money but I am free to do what I want within a certain budget. If you want a luxurious retirement (big car / cruises etc which I don't need), then this is a different story of course.   

waveydavey48

For me it comes down to what you are working for in the first place.  If you are lucky enough to have a true vocation and are doing something you love then why give up. If, on the other hand, you are like most of us and working to pay the bills then as soon as you can afford it, stop. I retired at 57 and have no regrets. I can't claim to do anything earth-shatteringly exciting but I have zero stress and there is satisfaction in doing everyday things like walking the dog in a mindful way.  

rickenbacker330

I retired last October at 55. I'd always planned to be financially independent by 55 but was going carry on for a couple of years to tie in with my wife's 55th birthday / retirement date. But then one morning last June a work meeting invite arrived inviting me to a Zoom call to discuss "Business Re-structuring and how it impacts you". After my celebratory lap of the garden I soon decided that I was going to be retired rather than unemployed. I haven't regretted it one bit.

Stonesmike

Retired last September, was going to wait till this November (65th birthday) but a new principal took over and could see what was coming.
Took voluntary redundancy after working out figures etc and took the plunge, my wife retired a couple of months later, but will have to wait another 5 years for her state pension.
Fairly comfortable off and when my state pension kicks in, should be well comfortable. We have property in Spain, which is our biggest cash taker, and of course thinking we would be using the property for more & longer stays but obviously covid and to an extent Brexit has got in the way of that for the time being.
The wife’s job was quite stressful, mine less so. Will start to do some work on the house and look at down sizing and look to get away more in to the countryside and do more cycling & walking.

Bit too early to say, but we don’t miss work at all, and life is too short.

ex-pat_scot

Mickey666 said:

Plodding on, stuck-in-a-rut, is often the easiest and most comfortable option because it's a known quantity.  You've likely been doing it for many years, decades probably, and you know where you are with it all.  Change means uncertainty and most people shy away from it, preferring the comfort of a known routine.

Redundancy, a health scare, death of a partner, etc - these are major things that can jolt people out of their rut because they usually have little or no control over such events.  It forces change upon them, which is an uncomfortable and stressful process because people prefer to be in control.  But I've lost count of how many times I've seen colleagues made redundant and who later said it was the best thing to have happened to them - not necessarily because they retired but because it forced them to reassess their situation in life and their subsequent decisions and changes were for the better.

Spot on.

I have broad plans (ie direction of travel).
i have set the compass in the direction towards ER (55 and 3 months, at latest calc), based on the firm foundations of £40,000 pa contributions, an aggressive investment approach (VWRL or equivalent - low cost global trackers 100%).
The market gods will gift me whatever they return.

I expect a life event to be the prompt, rather than hitting the FI target. Whether that is parental illness or care requirement, or self / spouse challenges, or something with the many children. I can't plan for these, other than to make sure we are fit, healthy and active, and support the children emotionally with as much nurture as we can muster.
Life will throw the curve balls, as it always does. "Gods laugh when men make plans" is ever true. But we can prepare to our best advantage, and have a flexible approach.
For my parents' generation, it was the untimely death of a sibling at age 49 from poor health and overwork that prompted many into ER. 

I don't know what my prompt might be, other than to be as ready as I can be for when or if it comes.
If that means I've not hit my number, then frankly I can (probably) live with it. 
The children can manage.
We can manage on less, if required. 
We'll have 2 x SP as the base layer of retirement.
I can still go consulting at £10,000 pm approx. Part time / full time / career break, if necessary.  Perhaps not my first choice, but an option nevertheless.

enthusiasticsaver

Albermarle said:

There are a lot of positive stories here about early retirement but the title of the thread is 

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

Surely at least some people must regret retiring early ? Maybe they are just shy to admit it , or not the types to inhabit this forum ?

A lot of our friends did like us and retired early and none of them have regretted it.  Retirement to most of us means freedom from the often petty beaurocracy that seems to be part of a lot of  workplace cultures at the moment and lack of decent management. When I hear my daughters and son in law moaning about their work issues it is obviously still a big problem so I would not imagine many people regret giving that up.  The people who really do enjoy their work still or run their own businesses so don't have the bad management issues  probably do not retire early. 

In my workplace they had the habit of shaking up the business structure seemingly for no good reason but essentially it was to save money.  Usually it meant losing staff which meant more work for the staff left behind who got stressed, some off on long term sick or left for another job so more staff rehired who then needed training and new management brought in who then reorganised it all again.  Doesn't save money and usually doesn't help staff morale. Who could regret leaving  that behind? 

brewerdave

Albermarle said:

There are a lot of positive stories here about early retirement but the title of the thread is 

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

Surely at least some people must regret retiring early ? Maybe they are just shy to admit it , or not the types to inhabit this forum ?

I was forced into it by successive redundancies but haven't regretted taking early retirement.
However, an ex colleague of mine from several years ago regrets it bitterly, to the point that a conversation with him ,even now ,is painful.
He and his wife had/have expensive tastes and hadn't paid their mortgage off when he felt forced into retirement in his mid 50s. He cannot accept his reduced circumstances - he extended his mortgage term and has had to take a series of quite physical jobs just to keep the wolf from the door. All he talks about when I see him (infrequently!!) is how unfair life is. 
The difference between us ,was that I was always quite a pessimist re the future, so tucked any spare cash away into ISAs, SAYE schemes etc - he ,on the other hand , continued to enjoy "the high life" even when the writing was on the wall for the industry we were employed in..

Ganga

ex-pat_scot said:

Mickey666 said:

Plodding on, stuck-in-a-rut, is often the easiest and most comfortable option because it's a known quantity.  You've likely been doing it for many years, decades probably, and you know where you are with it all.  Change means uncertainty and most people shy away from it, preferring the comfort of a known routine.

Redundancy, a health scare, death of a partner, etc - these are major things that can jolt people out of their rut because they usually have little or no control over such events.  It forces change upon them, which is an uncomfortable and stressful process because people prefer to be in control.  But I've lost count of how many times I've seen colleagues made redundant and who later said it was the best thing to have happened to them - not necessarily because they retired but because it forced them to reassess their situation in life and their subsequent decisions and changes were for the better.

Spot on.

I have broad plans (ie direction of travel).
i have set the compass in the direction towards ER (55 and 3 months, at latest calc), based on the firm foundations of £40,000 pa contributions, an aggressive investment approach (VWRL or equivalent - low cost global trackers 100%).
The market gods will gift me whatever they return.

I expect a life event to be the prompt, rather than hitting the FI target. Whether that is parental illness or care requirement, or self / spouse challenges, or something with the many children. I can't plan for these, other than to make sure we are fit, healthy and active, and support the children emotionally with as much nurture as we can muster.
Life will throw the curve balls, as it always does. "Gods laugh when men make plans" is ever true. But we can prepare to our best advantage, and have a flexible approach.
For my parents' generation, it was the untimely death of a sibling at age 49 from poor health and overwork that prompted many into ER. 

I don't know what my prompt might be, other than to be as ready as I can be for when or if it comes.
If that means I've not hit my number, then frankly I can (probably) live with it. 
The children can manage.
We can manage on less, if required. 
We'll have 2 x SP as the base layer of retirement.
I can still go consulting at £10,000 pm approx. Part time / full time / career break, if necessary.  Perhaps not my first choice, but an option nevertheless.

Is that PER MINUTE or PER MONTH ,great wages even if the second .

Langtang

Albermarle said:

There are a lot of positive stories here about early retirement but the title of the thread is 

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

Surely at least some people must regret retiring early ? Maybe they are just shy to admit it , or not the types to inhabit this forum ?

I would assume that people don’t want to admit mistake. I find the same thing on the savings & investment board. You never see people posting that they’ve made a loss, or a mistake, and yet people always tell you to do your own research. Everyone on that board bought the right thing at the right time, and sold at the right time also making big profit. Maybe there needs to be a fisherman’s tales board..... 

Albermarle

Langtang said:

Albermarle said:

There are a lot of positive stories here about early retirement but the title of the thread is 

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

Surely at least some people must regret retiring early ? Maybe they are just shy to admit it , or not the types to inhabit this forum ?

I would assume that people don’t want to admit mistake. I find the same thing on the savings & investment board. You never see people posting that they’ve made a loss, or a mistake, and yet people always tell you to do your own research. Everyone on that board bought the right thing at the right time, and sold at the right time also making big profit. Maybe there needs to be a fisherman’s tales board..... 

I am sure you are right . Nobody hardly even says ' On balance I made the right decision to retire, but I do miss work sometimes/get a bit bored ' which I am sure in reality is often the case.