Can’t be bothered with work any more

jackieblack

Ibrahim5 said:

HedgehogRulez said:

Similar situation here. We stand in solidarity!

Would retire straight away if I could access my pension, but think that’s locked away for 12 more years. My plan is to hit 50 and then take stock. Aiming for 53 leaving the corporate world and find a nice part time shelf stacking job somewhere with no stress.

- 45 yo with £730k dc pot and £120k s&s isa
- 45 yo wife (deputy head teacher) in the TPS and a separate £40k sipp and £120k s&s isa.
- Two teenagers to fund (though with £35k junior isas each)
- £60k mortgage to clear (at 1.14% for another 2 years)

You end up in a good position by earning lots of money in the 'corporate world'. Minimum wage is now £12 an hour. £100 a day. Before retirement I was earning way over £100 an hour. Doing minimum wage jobs afterwards just seemed crazy to me. I had to decide either that I didn't have enough money to retire and go back to earning properly or accept that I really did have enough and give up minimum wage work. Earning pathetic amounts when you have the capability to earn serious money didn't cut it for me. Have you ever done shelf stacking? They don't even let you have a chair! Stood up for 8 hours manual labour for £100. Really?

It’s not always about the money.
If someone really hates their job enough, no amount of money makes it a worthwhile way to spend their time.
We only get one life.

Mistermeaner

Hi all thanks everyone for input defo helps shape my thinking 

the money is good and useful for our family unit ; I’m going to make a finance plan that minimises pension contributions and maximises cash in hand (as much as the tax inefficiency will Gaul) to build a readily available war chest - building this will hopefully give me enough incentive to put up with the bull poop in work and give that safety net in case this job goes wrong. 

Ultimate plan is retirement , that’s not possible at the moment - a more fulfilling job at lower pay is likely the sustainable answer so I’ll start looking but not knee jerk out of my current position 

zagfles

Don't worry about kids and uni, if your household income is low they'll get full loans plus usually bursaries on top which should be enough without anything from you. See Martin Lewis' 6 need-to-knows about 'Plan 5' English student finance (for 2023 and later starters, see links for earlier systems)

SarahB16

Mistermeaner said:

Hi all thanks everyone for input defo helps shape my thinking 

the money is good and useful for our family unit ; I’m going to make a finance plan that minimises pension contributions and maximises cash in hand (as much as the tax inefficiency will Gaul) to build a readily available war chest - building this will hopefully give me enough incentive to put up with the bull poop in work and give that safety net in case this job goes wrong. 

Ultimate plan is retirement , that’s not possible at the moment - a more fulfilling job at lower pay is likely the sustainable answer so I’ll start looking but not knee jerk out of my current position 

I would agree and also perhaps consider only working four days a week (either from working part time or full time on compressed hours) or four days one week and five days the following week (via a flexible working request to work compressed hours).  

Sarahspangles

Mistermeaner said:

Ultimate plan is retirement , that’s not possible at the moment - a more fulfilling job at lower pay is likely the sustainable answer so I’ll start looking but not knee jerk out of my current position 

Most of my career has been spent on projects or secondments, so I’ve changed jobs a lot. Sometimes just moving into a new team has been a pleasant change. Maybe look out for something like that, especially if it will add variety to your CV.

I don’t know many people who’ve had a complete career change, but the two I do know opted to work outdoors. One was a GP and became a gardener, the other was in procurement and is now a greenkeeper. The latter is more of a seasonal job.

artyboy

Yeah, another sympathizer right here. A few more years and a few more hundred k of pension on the clock than you, but I effectively walked out of my last job because, very well paid as it was, it was just mind numbing and politically nasty.

I've known many former colleagues totally switch tack - some have gone into teaching, some have taken up trades, I know one that even went off to become a local bus driver. We are the fortunate ones that have accumulated over the years and at least have the freedom to effectively do what we want with our lives, within reason.

But exercising that freedom is still difficult, because there is a tendency to benchmark future success through a delta of what you earn today. You could probably bridge the gap until you access your pension with a much lower paid job that you might enjoy, but it takes a mental leap of acceptance that this is a good thing, not an admission of failure.

So... what is it you would actually like to do?

barnstar2077

Mistermeaner said:

Hi all thanks everyone for input defo helps shape my thinking 

the money is good and useful for our family unit ; I’m going to make a finance plan that minimises pension contributions and maximises cash in hand (as much as the tax inefficiency will Gaul) to build a readily available war chest - building this will hopefully give me enough incentive to put up with the bull poop in work and give that safety net in case this job goes wrong. 

Ultimate plan is retirement , that’s not possible at the moment - a more fulfilling job at lower pay is likely the sustainable answer so I’ll start looking but not knee jerk out of my current position 

I am soon to be 48 and switched a few years ago from primarily stuffing my pension for the same reason (my numbers are miserly compared to yours though.)  I am aiming to go at 55, but if I really get fed up I will go at 52/53 and do some part time work for spending money until I can access my pensions.  An ISA gives you a lot of options, and you can always take money from an ISA and put it into a pension at a later date if you want to.

If you decide to stay, then the closer you get to the date when you can leave without compromising your own plans means the less you have to play the game and agree with whatever they say.

It is surprising how much more you get left alone to get on with it when they know you will fight them on everything.

Cus

OP you have to find something that you want to do and feel good doing. One life and all that..

IamWood

I can completely relate to how OP feels. Personally, I don’t dislike my job—in fact, I enjoy the technology I work with and appreciate the competitive pay, which is about £200K. Last year, I was offered a promotion to a managerial position with significantly higher pay. However, I turned it down because of the increased responsibilities and the expectation to be more physically present in the office. I chose to stick with my current remote work arrangement, even going so far as to declare that I wouldn’t accept any future promotions unless they allowed me to maintain this setup.

I’m content with my decision to remain an individual contributor rather than taking on the demands of managing a global team.

Could OP explore the possibility of changing your role within your current company, perhaps even accepting a pay cut, to reduce your responsibilities?

Alexland

Mistermeaner said:

as much as the tax inefficiency will Gaul

Once you have contributed enough to (with growth) hit the cap on the TFLS it's not that inefficient to draw the income at higher rate for ISA stuffing as you would likely have to pay at least basic rate tax in retirement on drawing any extra voluntary contributions and there is the lower NI rate. Obviously continue to contribute enough to get max employer matching. Maybe try and think about the overall tax/ni you are paying relative to your income rather than focusing in on the higher rate element and it will seem less of a % increase.