How did you feel when you committed to retirement?

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82095009#Comment_82095009

however I have started volunteering with the CAB

I looked into this once but there seemed to be no vacancies anywhere. However these forums are a bit like CAB !

Eco_Miser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82094354#Comment_82094354

Not my experience (I'm 76). However some of the sleep may be taken during the day.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82094431#Comment_82094431

There sometimes is, going for a stroll to watch the midsummer sunrise when no-one else is about, is fun.

Tomorrow I'll be up early to catch a bus that will take me to the wild moors.

eastcorkram

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82095009#Comment_82095009

Depends on the person. Everyone's different.

There's nothing whatsoever wrong with retiring without a plan.

bjorn_toby_wilde

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82095866#Comment_82095866

Agreed.

Nothing wrong with a bit of frittering.

@John_of_Denbigh your post is a bit contradictory in that you speak of the dangers of retirement without a plan and yet you retired as the result of a “spur of the moment” decision.

NoMore

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82095916#Comment_82095916

I think he's speaking from experiencing of retiring without a plan and wishes he had had a plan in place. Not contradictory at all.

Purplelady65

I retired five weeks ago age 60. I have a busy social life and go away a lot and work was starting to interfere with my activities, particularly in the summer months, resulting in me feeling tired as I never had a day at home. Having worked all my adult life since uni I did wonder how I would adapt to not working. When I handed my notice in I did have mixed feelings. Should I stay for longer as quite a few of my colleagues are older than me? Would I miss the interaction with my colleagues? Would I regret not working for another year and the opportunity to save more money? Would it take a while to adjust to being retired and might I regret going? Would I miss the mental stimulation and challenge of work? I have actually been quite surprised that work became a distant memory very quickly and no period of adjustment was required! I’m really glad I’ve retired when I have and didn’t stay working any longer. I’d recommend it!

KintsugiWhippet

My retirement from a professional partnership starts on 1 November. I’ve been working in what has been the highly stressful environment of the law for 46 years. A divorce (not my choice but at least I’ve now only got myself and my crazy dog to worry about) in 2020 did not help one bit financially. The last 7 years have been hugely difficult. At one point, I was working 4 jobs, 7 days a week, to sustain the mortgage I took out to buy out the ex’s share of the equity in our joint home. My fix ended in the midst of the Truss debacle. I had to move to interest-only to survive. It was grim! However, in 2024 I was finally able to sell and downsize to become mortgage-free. That was a turning point, enabling me to retire this year with a modest, comfortable but not luxurious, pension at age nearly 67. Mine is a January birthday meaning I just sneaked into state pension age at 66 by three months. That has also helped.

I am relieved to have resigned and I feel excited about the next stage of my life. My niece and godchildren will have an inheritance of some sort but I’m not overly concerned about leaving any cash behind. It’s a different experience retiring as a single woman, no kids, from what I expected, say 10 years ago. But what I can say is that the last 7 years have made me as resilient as it’s possible to be. I will not miss the clients in any way. As others have said, Covid changed the office environment and most people work in the office only 1 day a week. For medium firms like mine the environment is tough. Lots of mergers and I have no appetite for the upheaval they create. Being in a professional partnership brings financial and regulatory hassle over which I have limited control as I’m not a majority owner. For me, the biggest change will be being able to relax. I’ve been operating on high alert for so long, that living in a different way will be a shock to the system for which I’m preparing now. Keeping my lifestyle healthy, developing my hobbies, meeting friends, building new friendships are my focus. I’ve spent my working life sorting out other people’s problems in an office (and court room) environment. That takes quite an emotional toll. I’m looking forward to finding out who I am beyond being a paid crisis manager!

daveshep26

Definitely calmer and more clear-

I gave my line manager informal ‘heads up’ in February of plan for leaving in around 12 months. After a bit of chasing up, I agreed this week with LM that I would write voluntary resignation letter to date 31/12/26 (I’m actually on 3 months’ notice) to help with the (replacement) recruitment process. So I am now 100% committed – and feel more relaxed after ending slight uncertainty of my final date, when I’ll be 58.5.

12 months’ ago I wasn’t sure at all about my transition route to retirement – I had considered it being a career break / or partial retirement around then. The ups & downs feelings - 'am I doing the right thing?' continued for some time … The last annual leave breaks I’ve done (June and last week) however, have been ‘nail in the coffin’ for that way of thinking – I really know deep down that I choose not working over employment – although I do still enjoy the role and work with a great team and many excellent colleagues. Having the time and complete discretion of choosing when to do more/ other activities and be with family being the main factors.

As mentioned, actually signing (well emailing) that piece of paper with the last date on it meant that I wasn’t spending any more emotional energy on timing the announcement – and I also feel more focused on all the (work) tasks to do for me, the team and projects remaining in last 5 months. My OH finishes at same time as P/T self employed consultant, the financial planning is pretty much on standby and ready to go (a lot of modelling & sensitivity analyses being done in last 2-3 months) so my formal notice was the ‘final piece of the jigsaw’ of commencing the transition phase.

mrklaw

@daveshep26 no concerns about them kicking you out early?

I’d love a long countdown. Part of me knows my company is not the best at hiring or thinking ahead so they might appreciate it. But I also know they can be reactive so eg if a project pitch goes south they might just pull the rug on me.

not sure yet, but currently tending towards waiting until Jan to give notice - and if they can’t find a replacement quickly I may be open to extending with a negotiated cost or eg 3-4 days a week or both

Yorkie1

Wishing you all the best @KintsugiWhippet