FIRE? Unless you hate or are bad at your job, isn't work the best part of life?

happyc84

just getting ready to go at 55. Can't wait to put all the work related stress behind me. No point working for years when your health suffers. Been working for 32 years in a mix of British and USA companies, for me the USA ones were miles ahead of the UK one.
British Management are a unique creature. Good Bosses are as rare as hens teeth.

Feel sorry for the younger people coming through behind me, we didn't have it easy but the low pensions and high house prices will make their FIRE calculations vert different.

Pollycat

HeyYeah said:

Voluntary redundancy at 57 is the dream scenario

Is that for you personally or people in general?

Albermarle

Feel sorry for the younger people coming through behind me, we didn't have it easy but the low pensions and high house prices will make their FIRE calculations vert different.

They will just have to cut down on the smashed avocado brunches , twice daily caramel oat lattes from Costa and the latest smartphone every two years 

stuart746

I understand the OPs message in that the role I do and those of my colleagues (industry) is one where people often work well in to their 60s and I have some colleagues in their 70s included quite senior figures. Salaries rise considerably as well and there is less ageism as there may be in some industries. To them it is part of their identity. In my 30s and 40s it felt part of my identity too and I didn't even consider the idea of retirement, but lately (and partly due to the pandemic) I have felt less engaged and have drifted a bit, looking around at other things to do, so the work has less meaning. It is still valuable and I am very lucky to have employment with lots of autonomy, but I can also see myself going by late 50s/60 and finding another chapter of my life to get involved in. Nothing against the work, but it is still work which many of my colleagues seem to forget.

LV_426

Chickereeeee said:

Most people need, and seek, agency (the ability to act independently and make their own choices) and relevance (their actions have a noticeable  impact on their immediate surroundings and/or the outside world). Most jobs provide you with little of either, which is why many people are unhappy at work. When 'retired' you can have far more agency (money permitting), but struggle with relevance. An extreme example would be boxers, who, having earned heaps of money before retiring,   try to return to the ring after a few years.

The examples given by OP are of people with a lot of both agency and relevance when employed. They can Surfer from loss of relevance if they retire.

Spot on!

SMcGill

Voluntary redundancy at 57 is the dream scenario 

That’s me and I agree, I feel very lucky indeed. I went down to 3 days per week in May, thinking it would either be a glide path into retirement or it might renew my enjoyment of work. Then in July a VS scheme opened and that decided things for me I’m currently seconded onto a project so I finish when that ends (or I end it) and I toddle off into the foothills of retirement with a small but nicely shaped bag of cash

Brricktop69

I am 52 years old and have been doing my current job for 19 years, it is a management role that over the years I have become dissilusioned with. I am hoping to be in a position to retire somewhere between 61 & 63 but recently have started to think about what i would do during retirement, my main hobby is golf but I also enjoy gardening. The thought then hit me that my back won't allow me to play more than 3 times a week and the golf and gardening are also very reliant upon good weather.

I am now considering going early from my current job but then looking for part time work doing something that I would get enjoyment from for 3 or 4 years instead.

RogerIrvine

Thanks for replies, have read all, and it got me thinking further about why I really don't like the slogan FIRE.

I did things the other way around: imagined in my thirties I was so good in my job that I packed it in and set myself up in competition. But my business failed and after a couple of tries at other ideas, I lost everything. When I went back to work, it was in the expectation of continuing to pension age. Which is what happened. And now - with the freedom to keep working, I am retiring. It's funny, but once you decide to leave someplace, it does its hardest to win you back.

I don't begrudge - but couldn't envy - anyone retiring early. Interesting to read (sic) "FIRE can mean anything you want." So not withdrawal and retreat, the dictionary definition of the R word. 

marlot

Everyone has different motivators.  If you gain happiness by working, that's great.  If you gain happiness by not working, that's great too.

To me, it's not the number of years of retirement that matters.  But rather, the number of good-health years.

Langtang

RogerIrvine said:

 Interesting to read (sic) "FIRE can mean anything you want." So not withdrawal and retreat, the dictionary definition of the R word. 

A line from one of my favourite songwriters: "I won't retire, but I might retread"