Can’t be bothered with work any more

JohnB47

Lot's of very helpful replies here, I think.

My story - I really enjoyed my career in telecoms until the company decided they had too many employees. Lots of my bosses/colleagues were 'picked off' as too old and eventually I 'put my hand up' for redundancy. OK I was lucky to get really good terms and a pension at 50 but since then I've worked in various part time jobs. All reasonably long term (2, 6 and then 13 years) - all worthwhile and enjoyable.

My advice? Don't imagine that work life is over if you leave your current job. As others have suggested, try offering to go part time or leave to take a break for a rethink and then do part time work or retrain. I know how scary this might be to even contemplate. It's amazing how stuck we can become in life - I'm a prime example and even I managed.

Although it's important to take the family with you, I was surprised that my own family was more supportive of my decision to retire than I imagined. When it happened it was a 'OK, no problem' moment. That moment surprised me because I was frightened to have to make the decision.

Ocelot

Most people on this thread seem to be in the top 2% of earners in the country!

artyboy

Ocelot said:

Most people on this thread seem to be in the top 2% of earners in the country!

Which means they are probably well placed to offer empathy and suggestions to the OP, who based on what they have said, is in the same bracket.

Although to be fair, I'm earning naff all right now. I'm enjoying what I'm doing, but it comes firmly into the 'jam tomorrow' bracket. Hopefully vats and vats of the stuff 

HedgehogRulez

Ocelot said:

Most people on this thread seem to be in the top 2% of earners in the country!

I’m on minimum wage!

michaels

Personally I have recently been using the 'mortgage as a bridge' route - keeping a large (IO) mortgage and using what would have been repayments to maximise pension contributions (subject to AA and now LA on TFLS) with the plan that when the pension can be crawn I can use the effectively tax free TFLS to pay down the mortgage rather than taxed salary now.  Of course part of the reason this was a no brainer was zirp giving ultra low mortgage payments, the trade off is less attractive at current rates but probably still a win if you still have TFLS headroom. 

For us DW was a non-tax payer so we could earn a lot of interest on the extra mortgage advance before it was spent, for most an offset mortgage would probably be most efficient.

jackieblack

There are times when, bizarrely, I feel like earning a low wage has been an advantage to me as it means I am well accustomed to living on a much lower amount than many on here feel they 'need' in retirement..  Although I haven't been able to squirrel tens/hundreds of thousands of £ away for retirement (if I had what OP has, I'd have gone months ago!), my lifestyle requires far less to live happily on. I'm lucky that in my current role, although still low paid, I'm earning more than I ever have before, so the extra is being put aside for my 'freedom' plan. I'm currently planning to retire around 58/59 with a small pension supplemented by savings until SPA when I will have an income broadly equivalent to my current salary.  Like the OP, I just can't be bothered with all the rubbish of working any more and would like quality time to spend with family/ small grandchild and all the things I love to do but currently have no time for, while I still can.
Having witnessed older relatives go through various health issues over the last few years, the years of good (enough) health as I get older are far more valuable to me than a few extra £.

shortseller09

HedgehogRulez said:

Ocelot said:

Most people on this thread seem to be in the top 2% of earners in the country!

I’m on minimum wage!

How does that square with your earlier post?

artyboy

shortseller09 said:

HedgehogRulez said:

Ocelot said:

Most people on this thread seem to be in the top 2% of earners in the country!

I’m on minimum wage!

How does that square with your earlier post?

Oh that's an easy one, they have obviously salsac'd their big income down to NMW in order to build that £730k pension pot!

Hey presto, instant 'man of the people' transformation. Bit like me and my virtually zero real income (apart from my pension cashback side hustle)

Cobbler_tone

Ultimately the OP needs to think/find something they will enjoy.
In my experience of being with the same company for over 30 years, there are some people who will never be happy.
I always advise "If you are not happy, do something about it or leave" with hundreds of opportunities and career paths available in-house. The trouble is some people want it putting on a plate for them, or think the grass is greener elsewhere.

I have bad days/weeks when I consider jacking it in to deliver groceries (nothing wrong with that chosen profession BTW). Then I look at the upside of my job, the pay, the pension, healthcare and a good boss with plenty of flexibility....before knuckling down again. 

Reduce your hours, get a hobby, get a new partner, get an earring or a motorbike. You've got to find your own happiness, after working out what the potential root cause is. It is rarely just the job in my experience.

Nebulous2

I've told my story previously, but I've worked in care all my life. I've twice walked away from jobs I was no longer enjoying, and started again at a lower level. The financial rewards simply aren't there in care, that exist in many other professions, but I was often earning more than most people around me. There was always a sense of purpose however, a feeling that I was bringing some value to people's lives. I've never measured my worth in the world by how much people were paying me. Nevertheless, I lost out by changing career, and would have earned more if I hadn't, at the expense of disliking what I was doing. 

I've worked in roles that require holding people in much more senior positions than me to account. Some of my colleagues tied themselves in knots about dressing a certain way, driving a particular car, being meticulous about knowing the legislation by rote, as they felt insecure challenging senior people. I didn't feel the need for any of that. I was outside their hierarchy and had no need to measure myself against it. I met them as an equal, with certain expectations they had to meet, or suffer the consequences, whoever they were. 

In addition to changing roles myself, I've recruited 100s of people into basic grade and first line management positions. Many of them without previous care experience. My view is if you are going to change careers it has more chance of working if it is closely related. There was a massive attrition rate in people coming into care for the first time. There were all sorts of reasons for that; the loss of status, the lower pay, people convinced themselves that didn't matter, but as they saw the impact on their lifestyle, they found that it did. 

One of the biggest issues was idealism. People would get a job in care intending to change the world. They didn't figure that if the world was easy to change, we might have done it already. Six months in, having discovered the world is resistant to change, they would become disillusioned and leave. People who recognised the job was difficult, but the small wins and rewards were there, and needed to be treasured, were much more likely to hang around.