I retired at 57, AMA

[PuzzledObserver]

Six months in, no regrets.

Right, after a day of doing things I enjoy at my own pace, I’m back to answer more questions.

@BookWorm45:

Do you feel that you may wish to have a structure to your volunteering (e.g. you always volunteer on a Monday to drive people) or do you feel you want to keep it more loose ?

I think I’ll start off keeping it loose and see how it goes. The application form asked if I would prefer to do regular or ad hoc lifts, and I said I had no preference. I thought flexibility would be helpful to the charity, but it may be it would more helpful to them to know they have a regular driver for certain bookings (as some people book weekly), but also someone who can be available other times as well.

@PupInAPram:

do you find your outgoings are reduced compared to when you were working? Have there been any unexpected savings or expenditure that you hadn't forseen?

I can’t think of anything that’s reduced really. I was wfh and got expenses for all business miles, so in a sense I’ve lost that contribution to the running costs of my car - but having switched from diesel to electric, most of that is made up by the fuel savings.

We are having more lunches out, but we have moved to a cheaper part of the country, so those lunches are generally a bit cheaper, as are concert tickets. My old hairdresser charged £49 for a cut and blow dry, the new one is £26!

So overall there’s not much difference…. barring the fact that inflation has shot up of course. I’m trusting that our investments will grow in real terms, so will enable us to take a higher income if we find we need it.

@Justkeeppedaling

I'm sorry OP, but that sounds really boring! What do you do for mental stimulation?

We’ve joined 2 book groups, so I am reading books I would not otherwise have done, and then discussing them. Also in 2 choirs and that takes a surprising amount of mental effort. I am reviving my passing acquaintance with Spanish.

One feature of ADHD is a tendency to be drawn to novel things and then be intensely interested in them, at least for a time. Since we moved I have learned everything there is to know about solar panels, batteries and electric car chargers. There is no end of things that interest me. It doesn’t matter whether they are the same things that interest other people.

@Waferbiscuit

How much did u contribute to savings and how much did your DH?

Don’t know, never counted. When we got together he had more assets and a higher salary than me, but he soon packed that in and did the retraining. When he started earning again, it was considerably less than me. But since we combined finances when we got married, it’s impossible to say who contributed how much.

Let's be honest most women retiring at 57 couldn't do it (a) if single and (b) if their dh wasn't on a good income.

And most men couldn’t retire at 61 unless their wife had enabled their career success or (heaven forfend) earned more than them for part or all of the time.

Is this not just a stealth boast about being a smug married and having a successful husband?

That didn’t enter my mind. If that’s how you read it, I suppose I’ll just have to grin and bear it.

By the way, my ‘successful’ husband ended his working life earning just enough to get NI credits, but without needing to make contributions. Whereas I put a roof over our heads for the last 5 years, as well as while he was retraining (as he did while I was.) But yeah, it’s all about him.

@ShebaQueen

Can I ask about your relationship with your husband and if the dynamic has shifted since you both retired?

It's something that worries me, I remember my Dad struggling with retirement and my Mum finding it difficult having him around so much - it's not that they didn't love each other and they're fine now, but it took some getting used to and give and take on both sides. My partner and I are both very busy in our jobs and we're not used to spending all day every day together.

Good question! Yes, it’s changed, but we are used to that, because there have been lots of shifts in the time we have been together. Basically every possible combination of part-time, full-time, in education, working from home, working elsewhere. It’s always a bit disconcerting, but we settle down,

One of the things we have learned is that we need both time together and time apart. So we have arranged that each of us has space in the house which is our own. We have some things we do together, and each of us has things they do which the other is not interested in.

@MapleMay11

This kind of retirement is what I dread to be honest.

So have the kind of retirement you want, then. What would that be?

*@PuzzledObserver * Very similar to what I do now. Very active, outdoors a lot. Busy competing with the horses and dogs but also lots of relaxing holidays. I don't like to sit around in the house and I don't see that changing. We know we're very lucky to have such a great life balance, thanks to generous inheritances from both sets of parents and well paid jobs that allowed us to invest when we were young.

Good for you! You sound like you're really enjoying your retirement. A lot of snide digs on this thread. I suspect it stems from jealously!

I always have a laugh to myself at people who define their whole self worth by their job! From experience, I find that they usually find out the hard way that their job is not half as important as they think it is, and as soon as they leave/retire they quickly get forgotten about.

Also, the sheer lack of imagination by some who couldn't find fun stuff to fill their days with is pretty astounding😀

I work part time in an ok job , and have no desire to do anything else at this stage of my life. We are mid fifties with one 20 year old at home. We are planning on lots and lots of holidays when dh is able retire in a few years!
I cannot wait!

I can retire at 57 , in my role i have to retire when I reach 40 yrs so that is 58

I can still do some work when i retiire and likely will on a part time basis. I have a terminally ill husband and my youngest is 7. So dont have the luxury of being able to make extensive plans

I enjoy my job and am good at it, but I don't think I would find retirement boring - there are some many things to do, to read.

I could easily fill a morning or an afternoon most days just swimming at the pool, going to the gym etc. I'd love to learn more about my garden and how to make it beautiful, instead of the high impact/low effort option I go for currently. I could spend hours perfecting my bread making and learning new cuisines. I could join a French conversation class and get my language skills back up to scratch.

I find doing the maths for how one would manage for retirement quite confusing just because of having to allow for inflation. With my main pension (DB) that is easy because it grows with inflation but I think I would have to reduce my annual pension significantly in order to take it early so am assuming I will need to at least mainly live off savings for any kind of early retirement.

I'm currently living in a much smaller house than I can afford (perfectly adequate size realistically) and currently debating whether to move and extend my mortgage or keep on overpaying my current mortgage which will facilitate higher retirement savings. I am currently thinking the latter.

Does your IFA mainly do broad investments? I can see I need to start investing to get my money working for me, especially while I still have nearly 30 years til any kind of feasible retirement age, and assume I probably need to use a tracker type object but it's very much outside my comfort zone.

@TheresSomebodyAtTheDoorNeil

The bitterness on this thread is hilarious 😂 Enjoy your retirement op. And I for one love a good jigsaw.

It’s surprised me, tbh, but then this is mumsnet, so it shouldn’t really.

I think a lot of people have assumed (wrongly) that I have said one or more of the following:

1) Anyone could retire early if they make the right decisions.

I’ve clearly said it’s not possible for a lot of people. I’m very conscious of how fortunate I am that it’s an option for me.

2) Everyone should retire early

Absolutely not. If I had still been finding work enjoyable, fulfilling - or even possible - I would not have retired.

3) Everyone should spend their time in retirement doing what I do.

Never said that, never crossed my mind. People asked me how I spend my time and I answered. I know retired people who spend all their time playing bowls, golf and running steam railways. Can’t think of anything worse - but they like it.

Your retirement sounds fab OP. I’d like something similar but with more sport thrown in (I love watching football, athletics, tennis and rugby).

May I ask - what was the total value of your pot when you were 57?

I love my job. It's challenging and rewarding and my colleagues are great. But I am still going to retire by 57. I won't be bored, I have so much I want to do and want to retire when I am still young enough to do it!

I retired ten years ago at age 60. It's wonderful to be able to spend my time doing what I want to do, rather than what someone else wants me to do. I go out. I browse round the shops. I see friends and we have lunch. There's cinema, dog 🐕, grandchildren- I pickup twice a week. I read, browse the internet; how did I ever find time to go to work?

@BIWI

I've been working - at the mercy of the alarm clock! - since I was 16. Even through my university years I worked. I can't tell you what a joy it is to no longer have my life determined by that clock.

My time is now completely my own. It's a total revelation and I still haven't got used to it.

I revel in the fact that I can do whatever I want to, whenever I want to.

Of course, I'm forever grateful (and never forget) that I'm very lucky financially, to have this kind of freedom.

But I'm also very mindful of the fact that my mum never got to enjoy her retirement. Diagnosed with cancer aged 62, she died aged 66. So that is always at the back of my mind.

yup. I lost my husband 4 years into what should have been our retirement and he was ill for almost all of that time. His Mum was dying too so it was a difficult few years. I know its minor but I LOVE not wearing a watch....odd times I have timed appointments or of course the grocery deliveries but the freedom of not being tied to a watch id fabulous.

@Gladioli23

Does your IFA mainly do broad investments? I can see I need to start investing to get my money working for me, especially while I still have nearly 30 years til any kind of feasible retirement age, and assume I probably need to use a tracker type object but it's very much outside my comfort zone.

Financial advice is heavily regulated - they have to find out all about your circumstances, goals and attitude to risk before they give you advice. Our IFA has access to the whole market and usually goes for broadly based funds. They actively keep them under review. Our portfolio manager has built a bespoke portfolio just for us.

Tracker funds are a low cost way to get into investing. A good managed portfolio will outperform trackers (ours have) at the expense of higher charges. Our investment in the managed portfolio has risen 150% in 10 years. But there are also bad managed portfolios which underperform.

I am not a financial advisor.

@GreenClock

May I ask - what was the total value of your pot when you were 57?

Mine (ISA’s plus personal pension pot) £480K
DH’s (ditto) £660K

My defined benefit pensions are worth a few K per year more than his.

Tbh, when I see that written down I have to pinch myself.

Will your defined benefit pensions be enough to live on or do you expect to need to draw on the pension pots/ISAs then too? With defined pensions coming (and presumably state) plus those pots £30K a year spending sounds quite cautious.

But I'm also very mindful of the fact that my mum never got to enjoy her retirement. Diagnosed with cancer aged 62, she died aged 66. So that is always at the back of my mind.

My mum died suddenly younger than that and it has always been a driver to make sure I lived life to the full while I was young. She planned to take early retirement to do so many things but never got the chance.

@OffsetQ

Will your defined benefit pensions be enough to live on or do you expect to need to draw on the pension pots/ISAs then too? With defined pensions coming (and presumably state) plus those pots £30K a year spending sounds quite cautious.

Mine (including state pension) add up to just over 20K and his to 17K - and yes, that’s plenty to live on. In fact it would be more after tax than we are drawing now.

We could spend more, we know that. But we are very comfortable with our day to day standard of living and I don’t see the point in spending money for the sake of it. We appreciate quality, but we have no interest in designer labels or status symbols. We both have a sense of “that is too much to pay for that” even though we could afford it. I have to say it is more acute in DH than in me.

It does mean that when Covid goes away, that trip of a lifetime to New Zealand can be lengthy and involve lots of extras. And we have security should we ever need to pay for care, no worries if we have expensive things go wrong in the house etc.

Our ultimate beneficiaries will be our nieces and nephews. I have in the back of my mind that, maybe in our 70’s, we will look into starting to pass some of it to them (or their children) before we die.

@Waferbiscuit

How much did u contribute to savings and how much did your DH?

Let's be honest most women retiring at 57 couldn't do it (a) if single and (b) if their dh wasn't on a good income.

Is this not just a stealth boast about being a smug married and having a successful husband?

Wow, bitter much?

Yes @Valdes - I think there's a lot of bitterness and jealousy on this thread.

@shinynewapple22

Do you think you need to be a particularly self motivated person to fill your days with useful activities (eg voluntary work, open university) rather than just sitting on the sofa watching TV or messing about on the internet ?

My husband took early retirement during first lockdown (due to particular circumstances, not planned) and he just seems to waste his life away sleeping and watching TV. Up until now I had been looking forward to retirement, but now I see it looming (I'm the same age as you), the idea is starting to terrify me now as I'm not sure I'm motivated enough to do all the things I had imagined I would do. I don't want to work another 10 years but neither do I want to feel I'm wasting my remaining years .

Apologies @shinynewapple22 for the delay in responding to this one. I saw it, thought "ooh, I need to think about that" and then forgot. I blame the ADHD.

So.... I don't think you necessarily need to be highly self-motivated, but you need to be aware that there is a potential issue. Not that you are under any obligation to spend a certain proportion of your time doing productive things - who would decide that? More to be aware of the reasons why you are not and ask yourself if you are happy with the situation.

I have suffered from depression a number of times - never hugely severe, but when I was in a low patch, sitting round doing bugger all seemed a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Or more to the point - getting up and doing anything seemed just too much effort.

It's something I'm on the lookout for. There are various things we do every week/month - if I start to find myself thinking I can't be bothered, that would be a warning sign. Or if we stopped the days out, concerts etc, or if life admin started piling up.

At the moment I have no concerns on that front. We are getting out, socialising, doing things we enjoy, and I'm about to start doing something useful (volunteering). I mean, I can't for the life of me understand how DH spends quite so many hours as he does cataloguing and rating his extensive music collection, but he seems to enjoy it, so fair play to him. It's given me space to do some much needed admin things, and shortly we'll be going out to pick up an item that's been repaired, combining that with a bracing walk along the sea front and a nice lunch somewhere.

Living by the coast makes for a perfect retirement @PuzzledObserver. We considered a move ourselves as I love to be near the sea, but our family is here in the Midlands so we will have to make do with plenty of holidays !

I am a single parent and will not be able to retire til 67 but I still find the discussions interesting!! The comment about this being a smug stealth boast are a bit harsh. There are other people thinking about the same decision. maybe me saying i'm a single parent is a stealth boast!? (I won't have a husband at home annoying me when I finally retire ;-)