Bold leap into retirement

Smudgeismydog

My partner handed in his resignation this morning, so after his 8 weeks notice, he will finish on the 14th June. I’m using up my last 5 days holiday to bring my last day to 21st June.
I can’t wait for us to start our next chapter!

Roger175

Smudgeismydog said:

My partner handed in his resignation this morning, so after his 8 weeks notice, he will finish on the 14th June. I’m using up my last 5 days holiday to bring my last day to 21st June.
I can’t wait for us to start our next chapter!

Smudgeismydog, having read your various comments in the last month, I was wondering if this might be the outcome. Your previous comment about him going to a meeting but  having his resignation letter in his back pocket. was interesting. I hope the next 8 weeks flies by and that you will have a long and enjoyable retirement together.

Daffodil1234

@Smudgeismydog , delighted to hear your update, wishing you and your partner all the best !   Hope you enjoy the countdown and plans for your future

katejo

I have just returned from a group holiday. There were several people on it who were slightly older than myself and the topics of retirement/adjustment to being retired  and travel opportunities came up a lot at meals. It got me thinking again.....
Today is my 1st day back at work...

MetaPhysical

I was on holiday in Tenerife with my fiancee last week.  I was chatting to her in the elevator quietly talking about how I would love this life of no work and off-peak travel and would do so much more regularly if we retired, not knowing the other guys in the elevator were English.  Two couples who were relatively young and fit looking - 57/55 and 55/55 (we are 56/55) and they overheard our conversation and said they have recently retired, were travelling lots and it is the best thing they ever did!!!!!  We met up a few times at lunch and they said they were loving it!

Can't wait to jump into this world if god/providence grant me the privilege and health.  I just would love another year's worth of pension contributions and that year will also see my DB pension position improve as well as living off of my earnings another year.  1000000% doing it next August!

older_and_no_wiser

Great discussion! 

I'm 55 and have just handed in my resignation at work. I'll drop to 3 days a week from the start of June and then quitting completely on my 56th birthday at the beginning of Sept. 

I've given over 30 years to the same company. It started as a small family ethos style business but got acquired by a massive US company 4 years ago and it's not been the same since. 

Life is short and I want to start a new chapter of more travel, learning new skills, hobbies and just appreciating things while I'm young enough. Can't wait! 

Smudgeismydog

Morning all,

Congrats @older_and_no_wiser, I’m so pleased for you, that’s a long time with the same company. It sounds you have some fabulous ideas for your next chapter.

@MetaPhysical, please be careful of the ‘one more year’ syndrome, I’ve seen lots of people on here fall into that.

Thanks for your comments @Roger175, and @Daffodil1234, you are both very kind. I promise to keep posting so you can see how it all works out.


I’ve now sold my house and agreed the price on our new home, I’ll need to find £25k to fund the new property, and my partner is going to cover all the moving costs (including stamp duty).
The new place will represent a complete change of lifestyle for us, and I can’t wait. We currently live in a modern house on an estate, and it’s been such a wonderful, safe place to raise the kids. 

The new house is on the outskirts of a village near the river. The house was built in the 1850s, and was in fact originally 2 cottages, now been knocked through into one house. There isn’t any structural work required, but it does need some tlc. The half acre garden is terraced and I am planning where to put a greenhouse and veg beds, my partner would also like some chickens further down the line. There is also a 1 bed cottage currently being used as an Airbnb, which we will initially use for the kids if they need it while they are getting themselves established. Yes, they will pay board, but it will allow them independent living space and a chance to get a deposit behind them. Then longer term, it can provide a source of income for retirement income for my partner and I.

I do have some ideas for travel in my retirement, and I’m looking forward to planning these adventures, but I’m a homebird at heart, and so the thought of paddle boarding and kayaking on the river, mountain biking and walking in a very picturesque area is really what I am ‘retiring to’. 

It feels like everything is falling into place, and I am so excited about this next phase of our lives.

WYSPECIAL

Rich1976 said:

Sarahspangles said:

Rich1976 said:

It does seem unfair that an employer should expect an employee to put together a business case as to why they want to reduce their hours. We have exactly the same written into our contracts and explains that before they would consider it the business case should include things like the tasks that the employee does and how it would impact their department if they did reduce their hours.

surely that is the problem for the department manager/company to sort out and shouldn’t be on the head of the employee. 

Actually it’s a statutory requirement, and I see some of the process is about to change.

https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/applying-for-flexible-working

It still puts it back on the employee though to justify how it will impact the business. The fact that people on here talk about wanting to do reduce their hours in the rundown to full retirement doesn’t seem to be justified from an employer point of view as that person still needs to consider how the workload will be impacted.
at my place for example I doubt anyone would be granted part time hours especially in my department as we struggle as it is when someone is on holiday for a week or two, let alone potentially having some of their work redistributed to the rest of us permanently .

It depends how much you wanted to reduce your hours. If you only want to drop one day a week then I think is likely to be rejected on the grounds of additional cost as they won’t realistically be able to employ someone for one day a week. If, on the other hand you wanted to drop to 50% FTE or even three days a week they could employ someone to make up the other half as a job share. There may already be someone working there that would be interested and you could both put a request and business case in. It would give more flexibility for covering annual leave etc as only one of you would be off at a time and there would be more people to pick up overtime.

MetaPhysical

@Smudgeismydog Yes, I am very aware of the "one year syndrome".  I am not falling for that, rest assured.  It has always been in my plans to pull the chute at 58, which is still 16 months away.  I need to drop my pension contributions for this month (I can adjust on a monthly basis) in order to pay for some big stuff in May, but will up them again in June.

katejo

MetaPhysical said:

@Smudgeismydog Yes, I am very aware of the "one year syndrome".  I am not falling for that, rest assured.  It has always been in my plans to pull the chute at 58, which is still 16 months away.  I need to drop my pension contributions for this month (I can adjust on a monthly basis) in order to pay for some big stuff in May, but will up them again in June.

What is the "1 year syndrome" please?