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Early retirement… who did it?

Wine Man said:
I retired at 60, what surprised me at the time was the number of well meaning folk who repeatedly said '..but what are you going to do?'. 'Stop working' was my answer.
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Same here. Retired from a stressful profession with a high suicide and heart attack rate. My reply to the same question was, "Relax and enjoy myself". That puzzled the hell out of a lot of people. The notion of 'not having something to occupy yourself' just didn't compute with them.
 
Ginger said:
I know its not the done thing to talk about money but that's what occupies my mind most when I consider retiring. I guess it's different for everyone but assuming no mortgage or rent, what are your income expectations? I'm thinking about having to run2 cars, maintaining the house, saving a bit for car replacements, leisure travel etc etc.
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Much as I hate to admit it I was formed by the mass-unemployment of the 1980s. I learned then how to make a little money go a very long way. I actually learned how to turn a pittance into something more. I don’t drive, don’t have kids, don’t like going away on holiday, I’m not a drunk or drug user, I have no debt, and the things I do buy I buy very carefully indeed and usually with one eye on resale value (or at least total cost of ownership). Manage the outgoings and one really doesn’t need much at all coming in to be very comfortable. I spent a fair bit of time IT contracting in That London. I was on good money (simply crazy from my perspective), but I was paying out £1k a month on rent, had to buy an expensive Tube travel card, pay to eat out etc and money just flew out. Now it doesn’t, and even though I earn a tiny fraction now it feels like far more as I only need to find trivial household bills etc. It really is a basic I/O equation and to live the way I personally want to live does not cost much money at all. I’d like to live somewhere nicer and a bit more remote, and I hope to achieve that within the next decade, but conceptually once any house move is paid for there is no difference in day to day living as I’d certainly not borrow anything from anyone to do it. I’m convinced being terrified of debt and doing everything possible to avoid it is the best approach here.
 
mmm…

Sort of early retirement.

Nearly died when I was 43 yrs. old. Unable to continue career/s.

The Wife works from home to be with me.

“how did that work out for you? Was it too early? Would you do it again? Pros? Cons? Tips?”

Keep healthy.

Consider what you will do without the routine of work.

Maintain close friendships. Actively.
 
I want to become a Malaysian citizen first, as this has a big effect on medical costs - you UK residents have a huge advantage in retirement over much of the world. A bypass would eat about £50k
I suppose this means that all the early retirement plans in this thread depend on the NHS staying out of the US insurance industries clutches
 
davidsrsb said:
I suppose this means that all the early retirement plans in this thread depend on the NHS staying out of the US insurance industries clutches
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Certainly true for me. No way in hell could I contemplate a future without the NHS and an expectation of the basic state pension later in life (I’m fully paid-in despite several employment gaps). I’ve never had a sufficiently static income to contemplate a private pension or worked anywhere long enough to be eligible for a firm’s equivalent. I have some savings, but they’d likely evaporate within hours in a private healthcare scenario!
 
Nineteen years until I can claim a state pension. I expect the rules to have changed numerous times between now and then - my guess is they'll raise the age at which it can be claimed (currently 67 for me) and introduce some form of means testing.
 
I have a spreadsheet I maintain to work out our retirements situation as it's moderately complex as there are quite a few pensions involved (2 for me and 3 for my wife as well as the state pensions) and they all become available at different ages and with different options for lump sums etc. There will also be the proceeds from the sale of our main house as we'd be planning to retire into our place in the Cairngorms.

It's tricky to work out what you'll need but I reckon we could live very comfortably on say £40K per annum (and possibly a fair bit less), especially as our retirement place is likely to be a lot less costly to run than our main house is and we'd likely also downsize to a single car instead of the current 2 plus a motorhome.
 
I retired in 2010 aged 56. My wife three years later aged 55. During the three years between us finishing I did some (not very onerous) work for two charities. I was offered paid work but had no further interest in that sort of relationship.
In 2010 we bought a shack in SW France with some of my retirement wad and I would drive down then pick her up at Toulouse/Rodez/Carcassonne as she flew in for long weekends. After she retired we’d spend all spring then all autumn (my favourite) there.
I’m extremely fortunate in that we like as well as love each other very much and, other than her yoga classes, do pretty much everything together.
 
If it's financially possible I'd say go for it! I semi-retired at 52 by selling my company (via an MBO), the relief of being away from the rat race is immense, and I'm never bored. The new owners asked me to come back and take care of certain projects so I do some consulting for them (on an hourly rate), which to an extent gives me the best of both worlds.

Working out what you need to live on is important, and some outgoings are easily overlooked. There's a good Excel spreadsheet on the money saving expert website (Budget Planner: how to manage your money - MoneySavingExpert) which you can download and enter your weekly/monthly/annual costs of living. It's an interesting exercise to do. By the way, if you want to edit the format the unlock password is "money".
 
I retired last year at 58. I actually postponed it for 3 months because of COVID and should have done 6 months as we had the 2nd wave. I was working from home anyway. I did 32 years at the same company and my pension would have been a lot higher if I stopped on but I have things I want to do. In the 2nd lockdown I got a job working on the census. I’m enjoying retirement now but not relaxing. I’m renovating our flat and have some work to do on the main house too. I also work at my church foodbank as well as getting to the gym most days and recording and producing music. I don’t know how I ever managed to work! My pension is not one that allows me to be frivolous so I do have to be careful but I now feel I have a choice
 
Retired last October at 63 due mostly to lower back problems. Just as well, as COVID had turned my IT sales job from one of face-to-face client interaction to all day (7AM to 6PM!) zoom meetings. As long as I was moving regularly from place to place, I was managing the pain ok. But my back just could not handle that much continuous desk time. Anyway, it was a blessing in disguise!

My father died at 69, so I admit to secretly dreading retirement. But I was wrong to do so ! Am having no problem filling my days productively. Retirement has also given Mrs. Hook and I the time to focus on our recoveries from other recent serious health issues. We are also very fortunate to have saved well for retirement. We've been planning and investing for many years while living well below our means. Our hope was that it would allow us to travel and treat ourselves to an occasional luxury or two in retirement. Fingers crossed!

Like for so many others, COVID has turned our vacation plans into staycations, but that's ok. After 42 years, Mrs. Hook and I still enjoy each others close company. Ok, ok, I enjoy hers but the jury remains out on the reverse! :confused: We're both still hopeful that the pandemic will wane over time, and we can start to tick some places off our bucket list. Then it's Salisbury Plain, here we come! :cool:
 
I've mostly worked wi me 'ands not me 'ead, so early retirement isn't something I've ever considered given what I earn and the fact I don't own a home. I don't have a pension other than a few token company efforts started at various jobs, none of which are worth more than the steam off my piss. My job is already quite hard on my body at 42 so I shudder to think what it will be like at 55+

I'd jack it all in tomorrow given the chance, work is just something that gets in the way of life.
 
Interesting reading - we all seem to be in out late 40s and early 50s!

I'm 51 this year and been thinking about retiring at 60 - fortunately, I was in the military from 17 to 26 and have about 7 years of pension - no idea what it 'll be worth though! I recently contacted my current provider to see what my current pension would be if I were to retire at 60 and currently, it's £19k which has given me food for thought.

We'll be free of mortgage next year and I'm starting to wonder whether I might retire even earlier, aiming for 55...

As for keeping busy, I do a fair bit of voluntary work and would aim to do that - would also like to travel more so do wonder whether we rent the house out and sod off for a couple of years :)
 
My better half will probably retire at 58 or 60, she's a head teacher so will be well looked after in retirement. I always thought I would work well into my 60s but am now thinking differently due to recent job worries & ongoing covid situation. I am mortgage free, eldest about to enter his 3rd year of Uni & youngest in her final GCSE year; starting to think what else is there to work for?

Once both kids have exited HE & wife retires we can probably do with one car, lots of options to reduce outgoings.
 
Woodface said:
My better half will probably retire at 58 or 60, she's a head teacher so will be well looked after in retirement. I.
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I'm very pleased to hear that. The last time I was in a primary school one of the senior teachers there, a full time SENCO, had just got a forecast for her pension and she was horrified by how little it was.
 
I'm "retirement age" now, so any hope of early retirement has come and gone for me. My present plans are to continue working 'til I hit age 70. There's a nice increase in the monthly Social Security benefit at that age, plus things will be paid off and my savings will be in better shape by then. It looks like my combined income from benefits and savings then will be about the same as what I earn now.
 
Tony L said:
Just nine years to go for me, which in itself is terrifying! Two years from a free bus pass!
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Isn’t the age for a free bus pass the same as the state pension age?
My wife just got her first at 66.its the senior rail card at 60, but that costs.
 
Well, I am going at the end of September at 59 after 43 years in Reinsurance in various roles. Last ten years been very up and down following redundancy but actually enjoyed the role of the last few years and the people I worked with are all Ok.
Will probably join the gym that the Wife has joined after she decided to stop earlier in the year. We will be living on my pension which is a SIPP and bit built up at this last job. I think I'll probably go through a few shredders getting rid of accumulated old paper work etc. Time to do a declutter etc etc. The level of income is a good question. Always thought of our combined nett income as a place to start and then maybe adjust as necessary.
 
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