Aibu Retiring at 55 - 30 years of idleness?

Everyone’s different. Obviously. Some people are genuinely happy pottering about doing gardening and walks or whatever. I don’t work and am a similar age to you but wouldn’t want to only to potter about although I do love walking and gardening.
I have quite a few hobbies that I get masses of enjoyment from. I also do a lot of sport and travel. We travel long distance a couple of times a year and go on short haul holidays regularly too. I also hang out with my adult kids and help out with their houses. I get on with my Mum really well and I love the fact I can spend time with her.

I know I’d enjoy working if I had the right job but if you have enough money and good enough health then you should be able to find a way to enjoy not working too.

My Dad retired from paid work at 63. He took himself back to university for a masters in a VERY obscure subject of particular interest to him. Academic staff enjoyed teaching him and he has effectively started a third career. He’s currently working harder than I do and surprised his stamina isn’t holding up as well as 20/30/40 years ago. He is planning to retire again aged 76 and not sure what to do. His very few hobbies (he never had time) are struggling because mates of a similar age have unfortunately died.

i think he has hugely benefited from mixing with a younger crowd and would try and do something similar. My mother has always run the house and I see her world shrinking, with no obvious retirement and increasing concern about entertaining etc.

If you were visiting someone in a care home, then most 76 year olds you know, would be living in a residential setting and need care. If you lived in Glasgow or Blackpool, they'd be dead already. So perhaps we need to leave elderly people to decide how they spend their time. The cleaning that she is doing might be tiring her out.

Your parents sound healthy, that's good.
My mum had a stroke at 64, got gradually worse for the next 6 years and died at 70.
Nothing is guaranteed in life.
I wish my mum relaxed more, had a little more fun tbh

I’m 55 and retired. I am midway through a philosophy degree, I volunteer quite heavily for the Samaritans and my DH and I travel.

There may be valid reasons for it. Declining health or maybe some people in their family didn't have great longevity and they want to enjoy retirement whilst they can.

Then that's fine, you keep on working if you can't imagine filling your life with anything other than work & stop judging others for what they choose to fill their lives with. Working doesn't make you more interesting.

Great idea. What would you like to study? Can I suggest something interesting?

You are being judgemental. Maybe you get your worth from working all the time. Some people get anxious when they are not doing anything, maybe you are one of them.
It seems to me that you think you are superior to your retired friends.

I retired at 59. I am on my second degree since retirement. I am a trustee of two local charities and volunteer once a week at three other activities. And I have a number of hobbies too. I barely have time to turn round. I retired early after a health scare and decided there was more to life than working for a boss I did not respect. Being retired doesn't mean you need to sit on the sofa all day watching television, though if that's what you want to do crack on.

My dad passed away at 61 whilst still doing a very physically active job. My mum is 63 and has had to give up work due to health reasons and is now under palliative care through the local hospice. Both have worked their whole lives and neither have been able to enjoy any form of retirement. If I could afford to I would retire tomorrow and live my life with some form of freedom while I still could.

I also hope I'll be able to help with any grandchildren who come along

Ive thought for years that if I could afford to retire from my "proper" (stressful high paid) job in my mid/late 50s I'd like to do things like:

• be a magistrate (ive got a professional background that would make me a decent candidate for this)
• try and get elected to the local county council
• volunteer at local primary schools to either hear kids read
• offer to run (for free) afterschool music groups such a school string group or choir (ive got relevant skills & dbs checks & experience as a registered chaperone for child performers).

For me retirement didnt mean giving up work. It was more about not being responsible to an employer and being able to organize my own day and time as I saw fit.
I feel like this about it

My parents retired early and I’m so grateful they did as my mum developed dementia at 67 and my dad is her full time caregiver. They had 10 years of lovely holidays etc. Non of us are promised old age. They knew from their own parents that not everyone makes it to retirement age.

It's very tragic if the only thing that makes you and your friends interesting is work. My condolences.

There’s a difference between having a sit down and sitting down in the same place almost all day, every day. That sounds like a limited and unhealthy existence. Most mid-70s people I know are very active- exercising, travelling etc.

I burned out from a toxic workplace at 54. I decided to take my pension early and top up with some agency type work. I stopped doing that too at 59. I didn’t rely on work to make me interesting, that was my hobbies which I now do more of - singing, playing an instrument, reading. I’ve started to learn embroidery. I volunteer walking dogs at a shelter. I’m in a book club. I go to the theatre and on holidays - mostly short, some alone, some with friends. It’s great. I actually enjoyed my job, but I don’t miss it at all.

Good luck to people who can afford to retire at 55!

I retired and drew my pension at 60. For me retirement didnt mean giving up work. It was more about not being responsible to an employer and being able to organize my own day and time as I saw fit. After having put my share into the community I enjoy not being responsible to anyone.

For the first 10 years of my "retirement" I continued to do academic consultancy with colleagues at the uni where I had worked. I also indulged my love of antiques and vintage by opening several online shops doing international business.

At 81 I now do private online tutoring and am still running the online shops, but gradually winding down.

I’m 36 and I would love to retire.

My work / all-consuming career is the most boring thing about me.

The ones who can’t cope become chairperson of the parish council or U3A. The rest of us just enjoy ourselves.

Some people are content to just be, pottering, hobbies, out for lunches with friends etc, others need to do more. Sounds OP that you may be the latter type of person but I think you may be surprised how easily you will fill your time.

My dad retired at 55, sold up from SE and moved cheaper to fund it. Within a couple few months he told me that he didn't know how he'd found time to work as was enjoying hobbies that he'd put off for years as had no time. He retired early because he was sad to see his friends start to pass away, and work colleagues not even enjoying a year of retirement before dying. It's food for thought though, dad died 74, had he waited until retirement age, he'd have had 9 years, as it was he had 19.

For those who have a job they love, every age is too young to retire. To those who don’t have a job they love, they’d retire tomorrow if they won the lotto.

Personally, I think anyone who has extra money and doesn’t retire isn’t thinking it through. If you love your job and have so much extra money, set up a nonprofit or volunteer and do your job for free three days a week; money needs to be spent. So much of it being trapped in banks and Cayman Island accounts has fucked a whole generation; it’s one thing to retire at 60 from a white collar job but quite another to be forced to work a thankless, hellish retail job until 70 because SO much fucking money has been removed from society and is being holed up. I could go off for a while about these supremely selfish billionaires who don’t do a thing. Never forget - Elon Musk told the UN Food Programme to present him a problem to solve world hunger for $6 billion, a tiny portion of his wealth. They did present a workable plan, and he didn’t give them a cent. So yes, multibillionaires have fucked us all. They’re just money hoarders at that point.

But yes, this is (a small part of, but still a part of) why we’re in the position we’re in - because the people who CAN afford to leave the job market don’t, and the people who can’t afford to can’t get jobs that are already taken. Need both hands and both feet to count how many times a friend was going to be promoted but it was shelved at the last moment because “Bob” decided not to retire, despite having the money. Sort of like how it’s really difficult to get on the property ladder when some people have no house to own and others take advantage of that situation by owning 3+ houses and squeezing people dry of private rent, which has risen at exponential rates in comparison to salaries.

Sorry, OP - just in an incredibly bad mood about inequality at the moment. I’m sure you’re a nice person, and I think it’s lovely you help your da. I’m just a bit frustrated, and in a lot of pain. I know none of this is your fault. We live in an incredibly unequal society and the people with the power to change it are… what? Giving their whole lives up to age 70 to corporations, when society desperately needs their brain power elsewhere? The best afternoons in hospital were when we had volunteers; most of them were OAPs and they would just get you tea and joke around with you. Those people made a horrible time bearable and I’m very, very grateful that’s how they choose to spend one day a week of their retirement.

What a very different world it would be if everyone retired at 60 with a VERY decent state pension and GOOD lifelong medical care in exchange for volunteering until 62. I recommend anyone interested (OP maybe?) do some readings about Blue Zones where a larger proportion of people live to 100. In none of these zones is it because they were forced by circumstances to keep working.

I only know people who have regretted retiring because their pension was too small, and that’s really not a great reason to regret it. I’ve NEVER heard a wealthy, intelligent person complain about retirement - the world is literally endless. Well-paid retirement means you could start learning Japanese or breeding Syrian hamsters tomorrow.

You come across as quite snobby and self satisfied.

Lots of people have done hard physical graft for 30 years. They're not sitting on executive boards or running their property portfolio rentals. For many people work is an absolute slog and exhausting - mentally and physically. By 50 you feel done. So if they come in to an inheritance and can afford to retire, then more power to them.

@PhaseFour what's infuriating about a 75+ year old enjoying a sit down?

I should have added that I'm going to be starting a Mexican cooking class. There's a few classes that interest me. I also feel as though I'm nurturing my body more.