What made you 'pull the trigger'?

cfw1994

chubsta said:

To say I am 'planning' my retirement is a bit of an understatement - I have multiple spreadsheets dealing with historical and future outgoings, projected pension income, inflation rates etc. To be fair, I often have a bit of spare time in the morning so often spend an hour or so adjusting figures and making small changes to prospective dates so it doesn't get in the way, and whatever happens I want to be able to say that at least I covered all the bases when I make my final decision on when to leave work.

I dislike the place I am working at but have been there for over 38 years(!), the job has changed a huge amount recently though so I just want to leave, the plan is to then get a part-time, minimum wage job for a few years just to keep me busy for the two days a week I will have spare.

But as my prospective date gets closer and closer it is actually becoming quite scary - I have had the safety net of doing a job for decades that I can do easily so the idea of not doing it any more, as much as I dislike it, is very unsettling. But I am definitely going to leave in the next year or so, so my question to others is, what made you settle on a date to retire?

Was it:
I have enough money
I am fed up with my job
I want more spare time
a significant birthday (60 etc)
health

I would imagine for most people it is a combination of the above, but which was the actual one that made you think the time is right? I am at the point where I am working out whether I should go on X date, or 5 weeks later but perhaps I am going into it in such detail as a form of delaying tactic, as I can always think of a reason why I should go slightly later, then I work out that actually, sod it, I may as well go a month or two earlier!

I am guessing this sort of anxiety is recognisable to a few of you?

Interesting thread!

I guess my main trigger was the recognition of all our mortality!

I enjoyed the vast majority of my IT career, & feel very lucky to have had the travel experiences I did with some great colleagues, many of whom I keep in touch with…. but it is slightly scary how little I have missed it since stopping in May 2021 😜

I had always intended not to work to SPA….I think I put 50 as my goal several decades ago.

About 5 years ago I went to 4 funerals in just over 12 months 😔

Two my age (early 50s)….one of those my roommate from Uni days.  

It stiffened my resolve, so when the LTA was looming, I chose to step away. 

Actually a year after I intended, due to Covid - didn’t want my first experience of no regular work to be 100% doing DIY, zoom wasn’t that bad!

The markets weren’t super kind to my mainly DC pot, but I firmly (foolishly?  desperately? 🤪) believe they will eventually recover….& we have some cash funds to call upon in the meantime.

It gave us more time to spend with family…elderly MIL passed last year, and now we are having something of a travelling adventure start to this year.

Very much took on board some words of wisdom from both folk here and older pals - you do need a plan how to “fill your days” - as mentioned earlier in this thread, to “retire to something, not from something”.  For most retired folk I know, those days aren’t long enough!

Health is so important.  

We are doing very well really - another feat of skiing ahead today (the snow arrived this week in the Alps ⛷), but I am aware that once you are over 50, you need to work hard on that!


Nurture your hobbies and friendships, and good luck in your quest for freedom: remember, live your best life, none of us get out alive 🤪

jim8888

I started seriously thinking about retiring early largely inspired by a book (Early Retirement Extreme) and a blog (Mr Money Moustache). At fifty, I took the plunge when my employer and I parted ways and I received quite a generous settlement package which, I thought, combined with savings and investments, would see me to 55 and my pensions. It turned out I wasn’t ready for retirement at that age and I returned to work after a year, ending up staying with that employer until I was made redundant at 57. This job was at a much lower level than the one I had previously, but the fact that I felt I was choosing to do it made a big difference. Over six years, it made a quite big difference to my financial position too. 

I’ve been retired over two years now and turn 60 this year. I still miss the social side of work and would admit to sometimes finding it difficult to fill my days in a way that I find fulfilling. On the other hand, I’ve taken ten strokes off my golf handicap, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been, I’ve widened my social network and my wife’s retired too this year, which makes a big difference from doing so on my own. I’m a bit surprised at finding I still have to apply myself to retirement and, while some days are great, on others I find myself slightly envying my ex-colleagues still at work. I muse that I’d like a part time job (but then it would have to be only on the rainy, wintery days that I select!) I still feel I’m adjusting to the facts of life, that I’m sixty, I’ve had a great career and that I should now enjoy the spoils of it. But I still feel as if I’m 40, that I can still contribute, that I have decades in front of me and that I should only retire when I’m really ready for it. Will I ever be though? 

t0rt0ise

I was working in an NHS job where it was expected that we work Monday to Friday shifts with an extra Saturday overtime every four weeks and I was fed up with being expected to do this extra. I could have argued about it but decided to leave and look for something part-time instead. I was nearly 60 at the time and thought it would be difficult to find a job but managed to get a weekend only job with better hourly pay than I'd had in the NHS. Loved the job but after five years got sick, did chemo. Could have gone back but decided not to. Had enough savings and a very small pension from a previous job to tide me over till state pension time. I have way, way, less pensions income than most here but I seem to manage on far less than people here talk about.

Albermarle

Ciprico said:

I was going to retire In December at 60... Then thought I might as well wait till spring... At spring I'll probably find another excuse...

I can afford to retire but can't seem to find it in myself to just pack in a reliable, well paid, working from home, cushy, dull job.

Sounds familiar ( apart from I did some travelling around some weeks as well)
I could probably have retired late Fifties, but just carried on as it was a reliable, well paid job, that I had been doing for years, and could largely do in my sleep. Plus the best sort of boss- one who was very busy and lived in another country !
Eventually when 61, I said to my family I would retire in two years. They said logically what was the point in waiting another two years, you might as well just get on with it, So I did, although it was about a year before my replacement was in place and trained, due to Covid.

montventoux

NedS said:

As a civil servant, I got all excited when they recently announced 91,000 job cuts, but Rishi has since back-tracked and axed the plan much to my disappointment. I had my letter drafted to the head of the CS offering to fall on my sword in the interests of the country. They class me as essential, but I'm not really sure I am (and my pay rise cut certainly doesn't reflect that). Still, I live in hope.

You’ve posted (almost ) exactly what I was going to NedS.

We did have a VES scheme in the Govt Agency that I work for this time last year but I got turned down as my job role was deemed essential by the powers that be!😡

I guess there could be future VES schemes but as the saying goes you can’t buy time so I'm pulling the trigger in August after circa 38 years and will live off savings for two years until my Classic annual pension plus lump sum becomes payable @60.

200 days left (not that I’m counting)😀

german_keeper

drummersdale said:

german_keeper said:

drummersdale said:

I took partial retirement in August last year after 41 years and then got wind of the possibility of a VES scheme and got all excited - but then I thought I’d probably get next to nothing as my 60th birthday is coming up in February so I would be at NPA - for Classic at least. Although I’m now in the Alpha scheme so maybe they would treat my NPA as 67. Anyway the thought was nice while it lasted….

There was a lot of discussion about this a couple of years ago and I think it was confirmed that if in the Alpha scheme at the time of redundancy/early release then the NPA would be 67 and the rules applied as such. Not sure how widely it was publicised and I certainly didn't see anything from official channels.

The "package" boat sailed for me last August when I retired. The numbers added up for me and there was no real sniff of redundancy in the air so I decided you can't put a price on those extra years retirement.

I know a couple of people in a similar situation who are still hanging on hoping for things to change. But as I understand it the HMRC site where I used to work, which is a transitional site in the HMRC Superstore Project and due to close in 2025, now looks like it might be extended. For their sake I hope things change and they get their package, particularly with NRA of 67, but there will be no regrets from me at all.       

Hi @germ@german_keeper - if Alpha NPA was the defacto in any VES/VER scheme I would be very happy although I’m
not sure how much I would get as a) I’m effectively part time, b) partially retired and c) perhaps have too many years in (41). I did try reading the guidance but couldn’t make head nor tail of it.  I shall keep my fingers firmly crossed 🤞 Hope you’re enjoying retirement - I’m finding 2 and a half days is good for me and although happy to be flexible in terms of flipping the odd half day here and there my management seem to have grasped that if they send me anything (or invite me to a meeting) on a Monday, Thursday afternoon or a Friday then I simply won’t respond.

I was PR for about 3 years and it was great, those 4 day weekends. And manged to arrange my hours so that I was just below the abatement threshold and so about £100 per month better off. I love being retired, whether the gradual nature of full time, PR and then fully retired helps I'm not sure but I think I can see the logic in it.

Regards VES/VER, assuming NPA does prove to be 67 I think you would be entitled to 21 months. Current rules are 1 month per year of service with a max of 21 months. PT just reduces the service, a bit like in the old final salary schemes, with FTE earnings used. Compulsory redundancy is max of 12 months but voluntary has to be offered first.

New scheme, which was knocked back in a judicial review a few years ago, was 3 weeks per year of service with a max of 15 months and still 12 months for compulsory I think. Also not sure if voluntary had to be offered first. It was only really knocked back on a technicality, due to lack of consultation, and they launched a consultation a while back so I assume if large scale redundancies are planned they would probably try and get it through. Keep them fingers crossed!! 

Sus59

Ciprico said:

I was going to retire In December at 60... Then thought I might as well wait till spring... At spring I'll probably find another excuse...

I can afford to retire but can't seem to find it in myself to just pack in a reliable, well paid, working from home, cushy, dull job.

This sounds familiar. I'm 63 and working from home. Have just cut down to working 4 days a week.
What nobody has mentioned is loss of benefits when retiring. I get paid for private health insurance for myself and subsidised for my partner as well as cheap travel insurance which covers pre-existing conditions.
Having been treated for cancer in 2021 made me realise that life is short and I should retire, but I'm reluctant to lose the benefits and the salary and pension contributions although I probably have enough to retire on.

Albermarle

Sus59 said:

Ciprico said:

I was going to retire In December at 60... Then thought I might as well wait till spring... At spring I'll probably find another excuse...

I can afford to retire but can't seem to find it in myself to just pack in a reliable, well paid, working from home, cushy, dull job.

This sounds familiar. I'm 63 and working from home. Have just cut down to working 4 days a week.
What nobody has mentioned is loss of benefits when retiring. I get paid for private health insurance for myself and subsidised for my partner as well as cheap travel insurance which covers pre-existing conditions.
Having been treated for cancer in 2021 made me realise that life is short and I should retire, but I'm reluctant to lose the benefits and the salary and pension contributions although I probably have enough to retire on.

I also lost a fully paid company car, and it was a bit of a shock to the system to pay for one myself.
On the other hand I do not have to drive up and down the M1, M6 etc unless I am going somewhere I want to go.
To a large extent, these benefits are there to stop you leaving, for exactly the reasons you say.

drummersdale

I was PR for about 3 years and it was great, those 4 day weekends. And manged to arrange my hours so that I was just below the abatement threshold and so about £100 per month better off. I love being retired, whether the gradual nature of full time, PR and then fully retired helps I'm not sure but I think I can see the logic in it.

Regards VES/VER, assuming NPA does prove to be 67 I think you would be entitled to 21 months. Current rules are 1 month per year of service with a max of 21 months. PT just reduces the service, a bit like in the old final salary schemes, with FTE earnings used. Compulsory redundancy is max of 12 months but voluntary has to be offered first.

New scheme, which was knocked back in a judicial review a few years ago, was 3 weeks per year of service with a max of 15 months and still 12 months for compulsory I think. Also not sure if voluntary had to be offered first. It was only really knocked back on a technicality, due to lack of consultation, and they launched a consultation a while back so I assume if large scale redundancies are planned they would probably try and get it through. Keep them fingers crossed!! 

Hi @german_keeper if that was the case I think I’d be lighting a candle in church never mind keeping my fingers crossed!

retiringtoosoon

Albermarle said:

Sus59 said:

Ciprico said:

I was going to retire In December at 60... Then thought I might as well wait till spring... At spring I'll probably find another excuse...

I can afford to retire but can't seem to find it in myself to just pack in a reliable, well paid, working from home, cushy, dull job.

This sounds familiar. I'm 63 and working from home. Have just cut down to working 4 days a week.
What nobody has mentioned is loss of benefits when retiring. I get paid for private health insurance for myself and subsidised for my partner as well as cheap travel insurance which covers pre-existing conditions.
Having been treated for cancer in 2021 made me realise that life is short and I should retire, but I'm reluctant to lose the benefits and the salary and pension contributions although I probably have enough to retire on.

I also lost a fully paid company car, and it was a bit of a shock to the system to pay for one myself.
On the other hand I do not have to drive up and down the M1, M6 etc unless I am going somewhere I want to go.
To a large extent, these benefits are there to stop you leaving, for exactly the reasons you say.

You do realise that those are taxable benefits….