Retirement - put it off or take it early?.

[Butch]

I would like to ask the numerous BM's here whether those who have already retired are happy that they did when they did, or if they would have carried on working given the option, and those who just want to get out of the game at the earliest chance.

Personally, I love my job, even though it is onerous and difficult. If I was given the option of working after retirement, I'd take it.

However, my life plan was to retire early and continue with the business interests we have, so I intend to stick to that, but I'll really miss my job, the blokes and the income!.

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by Butch

[Stillearly]

Was happy to pull the trigger at 50 ... I don't miss the work, the stress or the office politics , but do miss the interaction with colleagues 

Its great being able to go on holiday whenever I like , not getting up at 06:30 and filling my day as I see fit ... just over five years now and I'm not getting bored 😎

my advice to anyone is , when you can afford to do it , go for it , don't wait 

[Painter]

Just now, Stillearly said:

Was happy to pull the trigger at 50 ... I don't miss the work, the stress or the office politics , but do miss the interaction with colleagues 

Its great being able to go on holiday whenever I like , not getting up at 06:30 and filling my day as I see fit ... just over five years now and I'm not getting bored 😎

my advice to anyone is , when you can afford to do it , go for it , don't wait 

Wot he said!

[maipenrai]

I agree with both the previous posters - I was out the door with full pension at 55, and was then given seasonal employment with the same employer for the next ten years and could still be doing it now I if I hadn't chosen to move on for various reasons; I don't regret leaving at either time.  Now I am working another job as an "Auxiliary on Call" with our territorial gov't which basically means I can come and go whenever I like with a little notice and I will do this until I get tired of it, or my physical condition makes it uncomfortable. 

[boydeste]

34 minutes ago, Stillearly said:

Was happy to pull the trigger at 50 ... I don't miss the work, the stress or the office politics , but do miss the interaction with colleagues 

Its great being able to go on holiday whenever I like , not getting up at 06:30 and filling my day as I see fit ... just over five years now and I'm not getting bored 😎

my advice to anyone is , when you can afford to do it , go for it , don't wait 

Wot he said +2

[Butch]

great replies gents. Very interesting.

From my own perspective, I love my job so much at this moment in time I'd really regret it if I left. I've been doing the role for the last 25 years initially contractual and now full time capacity, work with some brilliant blokes (and also a female now who keeps bringing in the most awesome  home made cakes!!) people who just make every day a good one.

 

[Glasseye]

I make more now in income from my increases then I did when I departed the dear place. I've never looked back.

[KhunDon]

I was lucky and retired age 47 with a very handsome goodbye package. I did do a bit of work for the company after leaving full time, but I could pick and choose what I took on and after a year of not  doing very much for a lot of money, I finally cut ties with them. 

Do I miss anything about working, to be honest I don’t. 
Since 1999 when I met my future wife, I’ve never been busier and my time is filled much more than it ever was when working.
 

Marriage, travel and later a child fill my days much more that work ever did. Plus my wife doesn’t work so we get to spend most of our time together, something many married couples don’t get the chance to do. 

Back then, traveling the world living in hotels never really bothered me much, because I was able to travel and get well paid to do so. Everything was on expenses, so basically I was living FOC. 
I’d turn up at a company, do some pointing, ask awkward questions, write a report with suggestions on how, in my view, the company is doing etc, the usual stuff, but looking back now, the last few years I was just going through the motions and being paid silly money to do it.

Although the company must have thought I was doing well as they tried to change my mind about retiring for almost a year. 
Being a boss had many drawbacks for me, namely I couldn’t be seen to be one of the lads and join in the social side and that can get to you after a while. 

23 years have passed since retiring and my years in work, especially the last 10 years or so, are just a distant memory. 

[Pumpuynarak]

6 hours ago, Stillearly said:

Was happy to pull the trigger at 50 ... I don't miss the work, the stress or the office politics , but do miss the interaction with colleagues 

Its great being able to go on holiday whenever I like , not getting up at 06:30 and filling my day as I see fit ... just over five years now and I'm not getting bored 😎

my advice to anyone is , when you can afford to do it , go for it , don't wait 

BINGO, i could'nt quite believe my luck when my National Sales Director asked me if i was interested in retiring early at 50 yo. The company was restructuring and they needed to lose some senior managers and at 49yo and after doing 25 years with the company he thought i might be interested, if i accepted he wanted me to help with restructuring in my last year.

They offered me a deal which was like winning the lottery, full pension as if i'd worked to the normal retirement age of 60.

The job was becoming more and more stressful as i was aging so early retirement was a no brainer for me and then i went on to work for a mate of mines company looking after problem kids (autism, ADHD etc) i could choose what days i worked and i found it very satisfying to be doing something totally different benefiting young kids as opposed to sales.   

[Aqualung]

Decided I'd had enough at 55 and cashed in a long standing personal pension. 

3 months later, the company I worked for went tits up and I missed out on 21 years redundancy money!! 

Som nam na as they say. But I also knew that I had another company pension to rely on.... Now dipped into that, as I had to care for my mother. Working wasn't really an option. 

Almost 4 years on I'm OK financially for now. My pension money has been spent, as as the money my mother left me. So I'm just living on my second pension at the moment which is OK. 

Im able to help my wife pay the bills here in Sweden from my UK rental income and my pension... But christ almighty I'm bored. But that's my own stupid fault. 

Next year I hope to sell my house back in the UK.... Currently valued at £225000. 

If that lasts me 10 years... Great, but I think I'll be dead by then. 

Retirement is great but sometimes, if you have nowt to do, it's bloody boring. Miss the people I used to work with but that's about it. 

 

 

[forcebwithu]

I was fortuanate enough to have a career in IT that allowed me to work remotely. That worked to my advantage when I decided at age 52 to semi-retire, move to Thailand and work part-time remotely. Even if it wasn't Thailand that I retired to, I still would have retired early as long as I had the option to work part-time, either remotely or in the office.

I don't ever see myself stopping what I enjoy doing and that is system design and coding. It was great when I was getting paid for it, but that stopped about six years ago. To continue to keep my mind engaged and have a sense of purpose I now do database and website work gratis for the local hash groups.

[biggles]

I manouvered myself into a job that I knew would be a redundancy possibility in 2 years. I was tired of constant changes in my workplace and 'retired' at 51, with a nice payout after 37 years of service. 

That was 27 years ago and not one day of work since. Not one day has passed that I regretted my choice. 

[Lemondropkid]

Great topic @Butch

Fascinating to see the replies and how many BM's got out around the 50 year mark

My retirement at 50 was totally unplanned, but a very happy moment🥳 I was doing a job I had enjoyed but had become very, very stressful and a working environment that had turned poisonous.

My scum bag boss had sent me an invite for a one-to-one meeting. Walked into it to find HR waiting with a nice severance package, Was a struggle to stop open celebrating in front of them less they withdrew it.

The timing was perfect as my Mum had advanced stage dementia. I pretty much became her main carer for the next 2 and a half years, with help from a very good friend of my Mum's. Doing that was obviously far more important than any of meaningless office s******

It hit me harder than I expected when my Mum passed and not too long after along came COVID!!

Over 6 years on now  from stopping work and I don't miss  one bit.

However..... in the past year of so I have suffered periods of not, knowing what the hell to do with myself. Now that has been a new development.However I'd confess was mainly me own fault. I'd let my exercise regime slip and had become lazy at times.

Now I'm a few days in to giving living in Thailand a go, and I think how lucky I am to have this opportunity.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Lemondropkid

[tommy dee]

my dad took ER at 57, and that was the worst decision as he seemed to age ten yrs for every one.  i sold my bsuiness when i was 50 to com ehere.  and planned not to work much but instead have it full on and whilst the money is crap, i love it.  it keeps my mind active  which  really need

 

then again I am lucky as work here in the LOS

[galenkia]

Due to my addictive and self destructive personality I need a structured day.

With my savings,pensions and the £138k my sister gave me, I don’t need to work, but too much time on my hands and too much money, it really won’t end well.

[forqalso]

I was working as a contractor in an oil refinery in Northern California when Covid kicked off. The refinery had all the contractors laid off and we were told, “we’ll call you back as soon as we get this figured out.” I had already been rated 70% disabled by the Veterans Administration and I had a review scheduled. My disability was upgraded to 100%. Then, I took that information to Social Security and got my SS started without a reduction.  Finally, my union also started paying my pension early without a penalty. In total, with the three income sources, I’m making the same as I was working, but the VA portion is nontaxable, so maybe a little ahead. All this got settled quickly, so by the time work called and told me the job was open again, I was in full retirement mode. I stayed in California until this February and now live in Jomtien.
I retired at 56, I’m 60 now. I’m happy it worked out as it did for me. I liked my job, liked working in refineries, but I haven’t missed it one minute in the last four years. I would have retired years earlier if I could.
 

 

 

 

 

[Zambo]

3 hours ago, Aqualung said:

If that lasts me 10 years... Great, but I think I'll be dead by then. 

Yikes, you seem lively enough. 

[Zambo]

I think for poll questions 1 and 2 it should be a choice one or the other and question 3 is for all. But i see all questions have the same number of responses. Not important now but later it's going to be difficult to process the data.

[Bazle]

The UK has a big problem with "economic inactivity". Here is a report about it:

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/why-have-older-workers-left-the-labour-market/

[Zambo]

19 minutes ago, Bazle said:

The UK has a big problem with "economic inactivity". Here is a report about it:

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/why-have-older-workers-left-the-labour-market/

Quite shocking that health is considered a major cause of leaving the working population between the age of 50 and 64. These aren't old people in these modern days.

[forcebwithu]

Shit, is it too late to undo my early retirement.

Tips to Be Fit: Early retirement may lead to earlier death

Retirement is a phase that most of us will experience. But should we just ride off into the sunset and accept retirement as a phase we all have to live with? In a study of Shell Oil employees it was found that people that retired at 55 and lived to be 65 died 37% sooner than those that retired at 65. They also found that people who retired at age 55 were 89% more likely to die within 10 years than those that retired at 65. Social Security data noted the trend, as well. Men that retire at 62 had a 20% higher likelihood of death than the general population.
...

Edited October 8, 2023 by forcebwithu

[tko]

12 hours ago, Butch said:

I would like to ask the numerous BM's here whether those who have already retired are happy that they did when they did, or if they would have carried on working given the option, and those who just want to get out of the game at the earliest chance.

Personally, I love my job, even though it is onerous and difficult. If I was given the option of working after retirement, I'd take it.

However, my life plan was to retire early and continue with the business interests we have, so I intend to stick to that, but I'll really miss my job, the blokes and the income!.

 

I can't complete your survey unless you add "Nothing" as an option to question #3.

I pulled the trigger at the first day a pension was available at age 55, sold up, moved to Thailand, and never looked back.  I really enjoyed the majority of my career, but I was more than happy to move to this stage of my life.

[Butch]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for the responses. I apologise that the poll wasn't really that well thought out, but it really isn't that important, as the replies speak volumes about how we feel regarding leaving work earlier than the de facto govt suggested age.

The poll questions were actually an afterthought, and we've not had a poll on the forum for a while so don't worry about filling it in too much.

Very interesting points @forcebwithu makes regarding fitness. I'd never even considered that. In my own line of work I burn approx 5-6k calories a day, once I stop doing that the weight will pile on, as it does over a 3 week holiday.

It appears that many BM's have been lucky in respect of pensions and retirement arrangements. A cynical part of me asks if some companies are keen to get rid of log term employees because their contracts and T&C's are more favourable than the new ones offered, hence a motivation on their part to dispense with them.

 

 

[Derek Dangleberries]

Butch... You are not feeling well so go to the Doctor. He says that you've got 6 months to live.

 

Do you go to work for your remaining 6 months on this planet ???

[forqalso]

4 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Shit, is it too late to undo my early retirement.

Tips to Be Fit: Early retirement may lead to earlier death

Retirement is a phase that most of us will experience. But should we just ride off into the sunset and accept retirement as a phase we all have to live with? In a study of Shell Oil employees it was found that people that retired at 55 and lived to be 65 died 37% sooner than those that retired at 65. They also found that people who retired at age 55 were 89% more likely to die within 10 years than those that retired at 65. Social Security data noted the trend, as well. Men that retire at 62 had a 20% higher likelihood of death than the general population.
...

I was working for Shell when I retired at 56. 
When talking retirement, I always said, “are your years from 55 to 65 going to be better or worse than from 65 to 75?” I may die 37% sooner but I’ll have maybe my last ten good years in Thailand. If those that worked to 65 die in 10 years, the study says I should die 3.7 years earlier, for a total of 16.3 years of retirement. Dying at 71.3 or working ten more years and dying at 75. Maybe Shell doesn’t want to pay out 16+ years of pension rather than ten.

But studies like that can be skewed. What is a major reason for taking early retirement? Poor health. Couldn’t that be a reason for the early deaths for early retirees and not early retirement itself? Correlation does not imply causation.