Aibu Retiring at 55 - 30 years of idleness?

My MIL retired at 55. She’s spent 20 years going out for lunch and going on holiday.

I’ve had 20 years of pictures of her food which she sends every time she goes out for lunch. She only gossips about people at her gym who I don’t know. It’s incredibly tedious.

Exactly this. I couldn’t give a damn about being interested and interesting. I love my job but I’d love to not have to work even more.
My dad died before retirement and my mum only got a handful of years before she passed. I imagine I’ll go young too. I’d love to be able to retire and have 2 weeks in Greece rather than know I’ll probably be working the day I drop dead. And with my job, they’ll probably phone me the following day asking if I’m coming in for my shift…

My role was made redundant when I was 53, so I wholeheartedly took early retirement. I was idle for the month I had shingles but apart from that, nope.

I never thought for one minute 'aah, I can be idle now' so maybe this is more about you.

@Scotsknowbest. Not everyone is like you.

Some people have the gift of repose.

Only boring people trot out hackneyed phrases like that.

Only boring people get bored

I'm 50 and hope to retire as soon as possible but just from my current career to write full time and hopefully another career. And if not, it would certainly keep me out of mischief. I have so many hobbies and can keep myself extremely busy if I want to. I don't dislike my job now but wouldn't miss it at all. I'd miss some colleagues but still meet up with older colleagues who have retired so I could still see them.

Some people live and are well into their late 70s or 80s. Others die in their 50s or 60s or develop debilitating conditions that significantly reduce their quality of life. If I can afford to retire in my mid-50s, you can bet I'll be doing it without a single hesitation. I want to enjoy the fruits of my labours while I'm still able to do so.

I couldn't care less if anyone thinks I'm boring because my retirement doesn't look like whatever their ideal retirement might be. I might travel a bit, but I don't expect to be gone a lot, because I'm happiest at home. Yes, I might perfect my garden and grow all my own veg. I might spend hours every day making art or indulging in the other hobbies I never seem to have enough time for currently. Is that boring to other people? I don't care!

Do what suits you and leave others to do what suits them.

Your last sentence completely resonates.

I’m having a tough time at work and the knowledge that, at worst, I need to do this for another 10 years (before I can afford to change career rather than retire) genuinely helps.

Exactly! I worked til 72 (had my own company with clients and staff, both absolute PITAS). I had to because I went through a financially crippling divorce in my early 60s and worked to max out my pension contributions. It was grueling, but definitely worth it, as I am reasonably comfortable now. I miss work not at all. When I wound down my business, I was so done! Retirement is full & enjoyable, I do advanced Spanish conversation weekly (group includes ex diplomats, v interesting), light gardening, gym 3x a week, ride my horse 3x a week. To afford the things I like to do we are frugal in many areas, shop carefully, eat out once a month, look for fee or cheap activities. We try to spend a month away in winter travelling somewhere warm. So far health is good.
The biggest issue with retirement as I see it is not what you do, but being able to afford to retire at all!

Backin the Middle Ages, when I started teaching, a woman could opt to either 55 or 60. Obviously, your contributions were monetry contributions were considerably higher to retire on full superannuation at 55, but many selected it.

That scheme was then closed down a few years after as they couldn't afford to extend it to men because of expense, and as it existed it was considered unfair. Existing members stayed put.

Everytime someone official from the Superannuation Scheme came to the school to discuss them, women who had opted to retitre at 60 did nothing but complain and grizzle for days about the choice they made at the age of 21/22, which might have been 30 years earlier. I had chosen 55, and felt very smug. And it was knowing that I only had to make it 55 that kept me going during my 40s

When you retire, whether it's aged 55 or 67, you realise that for the first time in your life, since you were 5 years old, you are in control of your time. You can do what you want.

Ok, I concede when we were babies we were on our own schedule. But it soon becomes a routine with people telling you when to eat and sleep.

And then there's school and holiday jobs. Then there's college with evening and weekend jobs, followed by uni with part time work. Then there's graduation and full time work and bam! that's it. You don't get free of that until you retire.

That's what hit me the most. From the age of 5 until retirement, your time is not your own. So no, I don't begrudge anyone having the retirement they want and I hope they love it, even if they spend it just sitting in a chair watching tv. If that makes them happy, why shouldn't they? They deserve it.

So it's fine for very wealthy people to never have a job and live their whole lives doing what they want, or for stay at home parents to live the life they choose because their other half can fund them, but people who have a job should stay in it until they drop?

Live your own life, that's the only one you get to control.

Those early retirees are also freeing up roles for younger workers, which seems like a good thing to me.

If you have enough money to retire, retire.

The main reason most people don’t retire young is because they need the money, boring isn’t even a consideration.

I don’t know a single person who works so that they are not “boring”. I know many many people who work because they have to to make money.

Seriously, how much Reformer Pilates can you do in a week?

You think working is the only thing that makes you interesting?

I would LOVE to never have to work again. I would 100% be doing my garden (yes, possibly daily), growing vegetables, cooking delicious meals from scratch. Bliss!!!

I would probably take up some more hobbies, read more books, watch more interesting documentaries on youtube, do more slow trips by train / ferry.

I don't see anything boring about that.

Take up gin

I wish I had talent in the visual arts and in crafts. That must give you a lot to do.

Can I ask how you managed retirement by 54? That's impressive!

May I ask what you do? It sounds really good!

If they choose to work, they can work. If they choose to volunteer, they can volunteer. If they choose to travel, they can travel. If they choose to do nothing, they can do nothing.

I think the point you are missing is that their retirement has given them freedom of choice and that is what they value above all else.

I would retire tomorrow at 35 if I could! My job doesnt keep me "interested and interesting" it just pays my ever increasing bills and drains me of joy and energy. Work is by far the least interesting thing about me and most people I know. If they can fund their life without working, why not just enjoy it instead of rushing around like a blue arsed fly all the time. Smell the roses!

It seems really early to me; I can imagine that opting out at that age could actually age you. By the time you're 70, you've been out of the cut and thrust of the world for 15 years. Personally, I don't think that that's good for ye olde neurons. When you're at work, you're around people of all ages and you learn new things.

There are also studies that say people are no happier five years after retirement than they were before.

I love my career and don't especially like to travel apart from the occasional holiday, so I have no desire to retire early. In an ideal world, I'd keep working until my early seventies. Just got to hope that my health holds out. I'd be more than happy if I had ten healthy years of retirement. If you retire in your early fifties and live to your early eighties or nineties, that's 30 or 40 years of doing either nothing or low-level boring volunteer work and not being part of anything. That holds no appeal for me whatsoever.

Still, we are all different, so live and let live. But I do wonder if people who retire that early might regret it. Someone I know retired at 54 from the police after 28 years, and he ended up so bored he got further jobs doing this and that.

You’re what I aspire to be at 81 😆 I don’t know if I’m going to make it that far, but you make it sound like a fabulous ride from retirement to there. Kudos to you. My grandmother was the biggest part of my life and my best friend and she was so active; I miss her every day.