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

middlewife

LV_426 said:

middlewife said:

Spot on, I retired yesterday on my 59th Birthday. 

Congratulations!!

Although, I am doing 5 hours a week for them as a medical notes summariser which was part of my existing job. Initially they said no, whcich rather surprised me, then when boss realised 50% of her staff had left this year she saw sense and gave me a new contract. I can work whichever day I want, roll up hours and have a week off, then work 10 the next, so it keeps me in touch with the social aspect and the whole "How was your weekend/the kids/the dog" etc. To meet my need to help people I have signed up 1 day a week as a befriending link worker with a local charity, which also does a lot socially, so busy life ahead, but on MY terms

k6chris

middlewife said:

Spot on, I retired yesterday on my 59th Birthday. I will get a DB pension in a year but we have enough savings for me to to go now. OH is the stellar opposite. Work is his identity, 60 hour week working from home, plus weekends; he's gained 2 stone, high blood pressure and I fear will go the same way of many of the patients I dealt with. Every week someone else in their 50s had a stroke, heart attack, cancer or serious mental health issues. That was the end of the retirement they never got to and most of them didn't see it coming. Too many people believe they are indispensible, if work is your identity, what on earth are you going to do in retirement, therefore why would you retire (sad);  for some, the opposite is true, work is an unhappy means to an end and a wage packet and they count the days. Some are only happy when they are working for a variety of reasons, others are happiest when not working. Work often makes you cash rich and time poor, retirement often has the opposite effect, it's not how much time you have, but what you choose to do with it that will make you happy or frustrated. No one on their deathbed (and I've sat at a few) ever says "I wish I'd spent more time at the office".......

This, this. A thousand times this.....

Pendle_Gazza

marlot said:

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.

Nail. On. Head. 

As for me, giving up full time can't come a day too soon. 

Albermarle

middlewife said:

marlot said:

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.

Spot on, I retired yesterday on my 59th Birthday. I will get a DB pension in a year but we have enough savings for me to to go now. OH is the stellar opposite. Work is his identity, 60 hour week working from home, plus weekends; he's gained 2 stone, high blood pressure and I fear will go the same way of many of the patients I dealt with. Every week someone else in their 50s had a stroke, heart attack, cancer or serious mental health issues. That was the end of the retirement they never got to and most of them didn't see it coming. Too many people believe they are indispensible, if work is your identity, what on earth are you going to do in retirement, therefore why would you retire (sad);  for some, the opposite is true, work is an unhappy means to an end and a wage packet and they count the days. Some are only happy when they are working for a variety of reasons, others are happiest when not working. Work often makes you cash rich and time poor, retirement often has the opposite effect, it's not how much time you have, but what you choose to do with it that will make you happy or frustrated. No one on their deathbed (and I've sat at a few) ever says "I wish I'd spent more time at the office".......

These comments are good, but probably some reality checks needed.
Firstly people do die in their 50's , 60's etc with no time to enjoy the benefits of retirement. We all know someone who worked until 65 and then died a few months later . However the statistics show that this is a minority, and the average life expectancy for a man in his 50's is actually between 83 and 88 ( depending on whose figures you use ) . As it is an average this means 50% will live longer than this, and for women you can add on a couple of years.

You are also right that some are only happy when working and some  are only happy when they stop work.
However my guess is that the majority are somewhere inbetween . Happy/wanting  to work when younger , a bit 50:50 in middle age and eventually reach a point where not working looks more attractive. Plus of course many have to continue working until they are older,  as they can not afford not to. 

No one on their deathbed (and I've sat at a few) ever says "I wish I'd spent more time at the office".......

On the other hand you could also say ' No one on their deathbed ever says ' I wish I had spent more years on the dole /living off benefits /counting the pennies'

Albermarle

SouthCoastBoy said:

Ive always treated work as a means to an end. Imo the worst thing about work is the amount of time it consumes. Cant wait for the time when I can decide what to do when and no more appraisals 😁

From other threads, I think you have amassed a large war chest and have  easily reached the point you can retire , but are reluctant to pull the trigger ?

OldScientist

middlewife said:

Spot on, I retired yesterday on my 59th Birthday. I will get a DB pension in a year but we have enough savings for me to to go now. OH is the stellar opposite. Work is his identity, 60 hour week working from home, plus weekends; he's gained 2 stone, high blood pressure and I fear will go the same way of many of the patients I dealt with. Every week someone else in their 50s had a stroke, heart attack, cancer or serious mental health issues. That was the end of the retirement they never got to and most of them didn't see it coming. Too many people believe they are indispensible, if work is your identity, what on earth are you going to do in retirement, therefore why would you retire (sad);  for some, the opposite is true, work is an unhappy means to an end and a wage packet and they count the days. Some are only happy when they are working for a variety of reasons, others are happiest when not working. Work often makes you cash rich and time poor, retirement often has the opposite effect, it's not how much time you have, but what you choose to do with it that will make you happy or frustrated. No one on their deathbed (and I've sat at a few) ever says "I wish I'd spent more time at the office".......

I was like your OH until I was hit by severe mental health issues caused by my working practices - at that point we had not reached FI, so I hung on for another 10 years until retiring just before 57. Since retiring it has taken about 2 years to recover some mental balance and, despite the pandemic and a year's worth of long covid (now pretty well gone), these have been the best two years I've had since I was in my early 30s. It was never a long held intention to retire early, but I'm very glad I did.

Both my parents died at around 60 so all their plans for retirement came to nothing. Luckily, as it turned out, my dad had been made redundant a couple of years before his illness and death, so they had a small amount of time to enjoy themselves.

iwilson16

middlewife said:

marlot said:

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.

Spot on, I retired yesterday on my 59th Birthday. I will get a DB pension in a year but we have enough savings for me to to go now. OH is the stellar opposite. Work is his identity, 60 hour week working from home, plus weekends; he's gained 2 stone, high blood pressure and I fear will go the same way of many of the patients I dealt with. Every week someone else in their 50s had a stroke, heart attack, cancer or serious mental health issues. That was the end of the retirement they never got to and most of them didn't see it coming. Too many people believe they are indispensible, if work is your identity, what on earth are you going to do in retirement, therefore why would you retire (sad);  for some, the opposite is true, work is an unhappy means to an end and a wage packet and they count the days. Some are only happy when they are working for a variety of reasons, others are happiest when not working. Work often makes you cash rich and time poor, retirement often has the opposite effect, it's not how much time you have, but what you choose to do with it that will make you happy or frustrated. No one on their deathbed (and I've sat at a few) ever says "I wish I'd spent more time at the office".......

This is so true ... !    My brother-in-law passed away from cancer 2 weeks ago.   We had worked together for over 30 years, in 4 or 5 different companies!  He was only 54 .   Its definitely made my mind up about retiring next spring (I'm 59 now).   You never know how long you have left.   My IFA keeps telling me that my net salary in retirement will be a bit more than I'm earning now (and I'm well paid!).   But inertia, momentum, hanging on for that next bonus etc. just keep you from making that big decision!

I think retirement is something that needs to be worked on.  Most of us will need to make an effort to go out and find new, interesting, stimulating  and fun things to do with your time. 

jamesd

Just to add to the tales of early death, my father died of a heart attack at 45. I'm well beyond that age now.

itwasntme001

Albermarle said:

middlewife said:

marlot said:

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.

Spot on, I retired yesterday on my 59th Birthday. I will get a DB pension in a year but we have enough savings for me to to go now. OH is the stellar opposite. Work is his identity, 60 hour week working from home, plus weekends; he's gained 2 stone, high blood pressure and I fear will go the same way of many of the patients I dealt with. Every week someone else in their 50s had a stroke, heart attack, cancer or serious mental health issues. That was the end of the retirement they never got to and most of them didn't see it coming. Too many people believe they are indispensible, if work is your identity, what on earth are you going to do in retirement, therefore why would you retire (sad);  for some, the opposite is true, work is an unhappy means to an end and a wage packet and they count the days. Some are only happy when they are working for a variety of reasons, others are happiest when not working. Work often makes you cash rich and time poor, retirement often has the opposite effect, it's not how much time you have, but what you choose to do with it that will make you happy or frustrated. No one on their deathbed (and I've sat at a few) ever says "I wish I'd spent more time at the office".......

These comments are good, but probably some reality checks needed.
Firstly people do die in their 50's , 60's etc with no time to enjoy the benefits of retirement. We all know someone who worked until 65 and then died a few months later . However the statistics show that this is a minority, and the average life expectancy for a man in his 50's is actually between 83 and 88 ( depending on whose figures you use ) . As it is an average this means 50% will live longer than this, and for women you can add on a couple of years.

You are also right that some are only happy when working and some  are only happy when they stop work.
However my guess is that the majority are somewhere inbetween . Happy/wanting  to work when younger , a bit 50:50 in middle age and eventually reach a point where not working looks more attractive. Plus of course many have to continue working until they are older,  as they can not afford not to. 

No one on their deathbed (and I've sat at a few) ever says "I wish I'd spent more time at the office".......

On the other hand you could also say ' No one on their deathbed ever says ' I wish I had spent more years on the dole /living off benefits /counting the pennies'

There is about a 1% chance of someone who is 60 dying within a year.  Whilst that is not anywhere close to meaning that it is likely, it is also not insignificant when you consider the fact that it is death we are talking about.

That 1% remains the same roughly for 10 or so years.  But rises fast as one goes into their 70s.

Life expectancies are just averages and like any average of population statistics say, there will be a distribution around this average.

I think you now will understand why so many chose to quit in their 50s, particularly if there are underlying health issues or family histories.  Even if it means "being on the dole".

itwasntme001

MaxiRobriguez said:

In work I'm:
- Treated poorly by management on a day by day basis.
- Not given adequate resources to be able to do my job.
- Get harassed by customers on a daily basis, often for things that aren't my responsibility or expertise.
- Do not do anything that genuinely contributes to a better world. I simply make money for the man.

Whilst I get paid reasonably well, the idea that I'd continue with the above after I have accumulated enough money is, frankly, masochism, when instead I could spend time with friends, family or doing the hobbies I actually enjoy, without the stress of the above.

You might say "your job sucks, get a new job" but in my experience of the industry I'm in and the seniority I'm at then this is simply normal. So the choice for me is harder in that if I did move jobs to get away from the above I would almost certainly be looking at a halving of my pay, and our family can't afford that, so here we are, FIRE is the target.

We must have the same job!

In all seriousness this is spot on.  Don't under-estimate the impact that harsh working conditions in the current age has on one's mental health.  We may not have the physical harshness of coal mining, but mental health can have just as bad or even worse impact to one's own well-being.

I have dealt with narcissistic bosses and colleagues who would push you in front of a moving bus if it meant that they could get promoted before you.

Fortunately I have FU money so can quit whenever I want to.  When the time comes I will even try to engineer a redundancy out of it.