What made you 'pull the trigger'?

Albermarle

retiringtoosoon said:

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…. 

Of course I knew that, but admittedly now when forking out for my own car, I do not always think of the tax I used to pay 

pensionpawn

Mrs PP retired last year just shy of 57. Having worked as a supermarket manager, which had its share manual work, a moody dragon of a boss and some awful experiences through the pandemic (all triggers) she reduced down to 4 and then 3 days per week over the preceding 18 months. Like myself, she's not going to have to worry about LTA issues however she has enough in her Sipp (and qualifies for full SP) to be able to enjoy not having to face 8 hours a day of mostly hell from now on. That's all she wants out of retirement.
Taking my cue from Mrs PP I reduced my hours last year shortly after turning 56 and now enjoy my work far more having jettisoned the awful aspects of my role. I'm going to see how it goes and will continue whilst I still enjoy what I do. Management knows that I can, and will, fully retire as soon as I stop enjoying it, so hopefully they'll just leave me alone. I too have seen personal tragedy with colleagues and the cruel fragility of life on plans together and that is the main trigger for me. I'd rather retire earlier on a modest level than continue at the grindstone to increase wealth I'm unlikely to need / spend. My immediate family is my treasure and I want to maximise my time with them. There's the possibility of a redundancy situation coming up in around 18 months however I don't see myself working past that point regardless of the outcome.

Plasticman

I'm hoping to retire at 55 for many of the same reasons. Not least the recognition that I'm actually mortal and I haven't got infinite time do to the things I want. Work seems to be less fun every year and I'm starting to see friends my age or older having serious health problems. I don't want to retire at 67 (NPA) and be dead by 70..... Not that I want a huge amount from my retirement. I'm not somebody who wants to travel the world, buy a boat or take up flying. I just want more time to do the things that make me happy - walking, cooking, gardening, spending time with my wife. Sorry if that's a bit boring! 

I'm still nervous about whether I can really afford it, despite what the spreadsheets tell me. If I work to 67 I'll be better off in retirement than I've ever been. By retiring at 55 I certainly won't be living a luxury lifestyle (but hopefully I'll be happy). 

Cottage_Economy

DH pulled the pin in May 2021 on his 60th. His plan was to retire at 62 but a close friend of his became ill in the February, was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer in April and was gone by mid-June. They were the same age.

The previous year I managed to move sideways in my job and get a decent payrise while training. When J was diagnosed, I worked out that once I had completed my training, the additional payrise combined with DH's NRA60 pension benefits and a small SIPP we had built up would replace his salary. Then an aunt died and unexpectedly left him a small lump sum and that sealed the deal. That became an extra 'cushion'.

We're in a good place- there's money in the bank that we have yet to touch, I'm aiming to retire in five years (I'm 12 years younger) and we're still on track. Even with the cost of living increases, we're doing ok and have a lot to be grateful for. 

His was a manual job and I wanted him out. I was sick of seeing him walk in through the door after every shift looking like a ghost. He's never going back. 

handful

I'm 60 and moving closer to pulling the trigger. I had thought about carrying on and try to reduce a day at 63 before finishing at 65 but an unexpected inheritance may enable an earlier exit from the treadmill. Not counting chickens until everything comes through but I suspect when it does hopefully arrive that will give me the catalyst. I will treat it as a voluntary redundancy package although it's more generous than that could ever be! Also been to too many funerals for people of a similar or younger age. Life definitely too short.

sgx2000

I'm 62 and would love to retire
But my greed constantly gets in the way.
My income currently exceeds my expenditure by £1000 per month....
So, my mind keeps saying every month you retire early has cost you £1000..
Also I had a knee replacement a couple of years ago (not the greatest success - still need a stick) and my company pays for bupa.  
If I retire and then try to take out the same health insurance privately they wont cover any future problems with my knee

NedS

sgx2000 said:

I'm 62 and would love to retire
But my greed constantly gets in the way.
My income currently exceeds my expenditure by £1000 per month....
So, my mind keeps saying every month you retire early has cost you £1000..
Also I had a knee replacement a couple of years ago (not the greatest success - still need a stick) and my company pays for bupa.  
If I retire and then try to take out the same health insurance privately they wont cover any future problems with my knee

@sgx2000 what do you think will be the trigger that changes your viewpoint and allows you to make the metaphorical (given your bad knee!) jump?

Anonymous101

sgx2000 said:

I'm 62 and would love to retire
But my greed constantly gets in the way.
My income currently exceeds my expenditure by £1000 per month....
So, my mind keeps saying every month you retire early has cost you £1000..
Also I had a knee replacement a couple of years ago (not the greatest success - still need a stick) and my company pays for bupa.  
If I retire and then try to take out the same health insurance privately they wont cover any future problems with my knee

Key statement - "would love to retire"

The £1000 per month isn't the key financial information. A key piece of information would be how much your expenditure is and how much your retirement savings are.

Appreciate the knee issue but the above financial information might go someway to providing a solution for that.


 

sheslookinhot

sgx2000 said:

I'm 62 and would love to retire
But my greed constantly gets in the way.
My income currently exceeds my expenditure by £1000 per month....
So, my mind keeps saying every month you retire early has cost you £1000..
Also I had a knee replacement a couple of years ago (not the greatest success - still need a stick) and my company pays for bupa.  
If I retire and then try to take out the same health insurance privately they wont cover any future problems with my knee

Yes, you need to change your mindset. Every day you work is a day off your retirement. You can’t take it with you.

Plasticman

I'm addressing my anxiety about whether I'll be able to afford to live off the amount I'll have in retirement by living of that amount now.

We pay bills that we won't have in retirement first (mainly the mortgage)
With what's left from our income we keep the amount that we expect to have when we retire.
Then the remainder goes in to pensions, investments and savings. 

We've lived quite happily on that amount for the past year so if we can continue to for another 4 years we'll hopefully the confident that we'll be able to continue in retirement. We had some unexpected expenses last year which were all paid for and still had £4K left at the end.