Early retirement

I early retired but only by about 6 months.  I nearly returned to work as Mrs One hadn’t retired.  Once she had retired things looked up.  I suppose for us the thing to get used to was the sudden and dramatic drop in income.  With our pensions and interest on savings etc our income dropped by roughly 65%.  We do have a sort of flexible routine, nothing too onerous but enough to ward of boredom. 

I took the maximum 25% tax free portion of my pensions and turned in the companies tax free ‘share save scheme’ which gave us a substantial tax free lump sum.  

Good luck with whatever you decide Husky🐕

Husky as long as you feel able to continue living in a similar way to the one you enjoy now with some inevitable adjustments I'm sure you'll make the best of retirement. It does mean the end to an income stream from work but if you can your arrange finances to give you the best outcome even if it's a bit reduced there are a lot of pluses to retiring. We took a big hit, like many others retiring unwittingly when the banks collapsed so we lost a lot of our income stream from savings. You might be lucky and see some savings start to come up a bit. I semi retired at first, doing things gradually. It was lovely when we both finished, we were slightly younger than 60 at the time. At which point we bought a caravan and for the first time in many years had time to ourselves.

Good luck to the Huskies. 

I bailed out at 53, I'll be 59 in June. For me and the job I did it was a simple choice, either carry on working or carry on towards a having a possible mental breakdown. the pressure from the directors was that bad.  The best thing was when I handed in my notice and told them my plans, they tried to talk me in to staying but the decision was made. The highlight was their faces when I said I was going, I swear I heard a bang as the Engineering directors jaw hit the floor.  My Wife had already had to retire early because of ill health.  My Wife was a Bank manager and convinced me we could do it. one of the things she did was show me two spread sheets. Income and outgoings. 

One thing that stood out was our Sky TV which we didn't use a lot. it was costing more a month than our council tax so it went.

You soon adjust and to be honest it was scary at first but I wouldn't change a thing. go for it 

Retired two years ago aged 59.The company I woked for had given us plenty of time we were due to close.Went out with a final salary pension after 42 years service.

First 3 months found it very difficult,felt anxious and fidgety all of the time.Leaving 12 hour shiftwork straight into nothing was difficult as well.

Then had a lovely holiday, and it all began to settle,now 2 more granddkids making 4 in total, Wife retired as well,joined a walking group every Wednesday, with tea and nibbles after, went to a over 50 walking football session and injured left knee! We have taken up ballroom dancing,and boy do I find it difficult especially the Waltz.

The whole week now is covered so much that you have to still book things in advance.

Yes money is basicaly half,but by being careful ect ect.

I find now that sometimes I am working harder than when at work and not getting paid for it!! I also visited a financial advisor,but a lot of he said went straight over my head.

Go for it HD but let the day come to you,and you will get into your own routine.

 

 

With the drop in income comes a drop in expenditure, less travelling if you travel to work now, parking fees, lunchtime snacks, I found that it was cheaper for me to be home than going to work.

 

This is my second year and I took early retirement in the sense that I took my tax free lump sum and pension early (which as a teacher is very generous as it's now changed for younger teachers) but for me the deciding factor was looking at income v outgoings and how much I started to value free time over money. I'm not saying I go away all the time but simple things like getting to a site Friday Lunchtime and leaving a site on Monday morning (the OH still works) makes a lot of difference.Or a walk along the beach on a Tuesday afternoon.

I'm not trying to teach you to suck eggs but make a detailed spreadsheet showing what you get in now from all sources and all outgoings and what would be the figures if you retired and factor in holidays, cars, servicing... 

I'm extremely lucky that my working 'skills' are still in demand so now I work if I want to. I'm a part time inspector I also worked out that with a couple of inspection weeks a term and being an exam board examiner twice a year I would be down to about 60% so well worth the extra time gained.

Now an interesting point, after a few months, the house and garage/shed tidier than ever, cars washed each week... I actually started to miss teaching, being in front of a classroom (yes I know mad) so I started doing supply work, it's actually much easier than 'normal teaching' as there is no (contractually for day to day work) no preparation or marking. I also choose my schools wisely! It's certainly not every week and not every day and on the schools I choose I sometimes do feel guilty about taking the money. 

So it's a better way of life, holidays are cheaper too not only caravan but amazing deals on going abroad. 

I retired twice, well sort of. First time at 50 redundant, but redundancy and pension kicking in meant we could have just about managed. However, certainly not bought a caravan and tow car. That came later. So I spent some time looking for another job, which took about a year. I would have stuck with that until 60 and then possibly gone part time, as others had done. Then they moved the office 20 miles into the centre of a major city, requiring 2 - 3 hours of traveling a day. When I factored in the traveling cost and the hours of unpaid traveling, it just was not worth the continued effort. So at 3 months short of 59 I retired properly. OH continued her part time work until I was 60 and other pensions kicked in, and then also retired.

Looking back, them moving the office was probably the best thing that could have happened, as it forced my hand. We have certainly never regretted it.

My OH has also been looking into retiring in a couple of years time, or possibly earlier. So its interesting reading others thoughts on the subject. 

He has taken what his company call flexible retirement at the moment which means he only works 3 days a week, with the option of extra if required. Good option to see what it's like not working. 😉

It is always a difficult one to give an answer on as we are all different. Some people love to work but for others circumstances often force the decision. I retired at 58 but worked another 3 years part time. In my case I realised that my level of management was likely to be under review and personally I did not want to go through all that hassle. I was fortunate that I had a final salary pension and my employees had not opted out of SERPs so once you allow for the fact that you no longer pay NI I don't think I was substantially worse off than when I was working. We were able to pay off the mortgage. If you are financially secure it helps. However as others have mentioned you do have to adjust your mindset as you do need something to replace the space left by work. For most of us on this forum we have the advantage of having a hobby that can be expanded to fill some of the time. Others will struggle, some will miss the camaraderie of work. The fact that someone is are thinking about early retirement is perhaps provides a clue, someone who is immersed and happy in their work I suspect wouldn't be thinking about the option?

David

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