Retire at 55

[Zighy1]

Hoping to retire next year at 55. I will have worked 39 years by then. Fellow early retirees what are your lessons learned? Any regrets? I am looking forward to being able to exercise, explore, and slow down but am realistic that I will miss the money. How soon do you adapt?

I stopped working at 56 and started fostering, life is never dull now! DH is 57 and still working, he won't get to retire sadly so I would say go for it if you can.

@secretbookcase This is how I hope my week will be post retirement. I will take 6 months or so to reset then get a part time job for a small income and just make the most of my days. I won't be cash rich but time rich. After years of full time work, children's demands, parents getting older etc I want "me" time. I also want to travel a little while I am younger. Time is relentless and before you know it another year has gone.

@cptartapp Absolutely, that's another reason to push the button and retire now. Husband is almost 60 and far too many of his friends/colleagues have suffered ill health or died too young. Life is too short.

@bloodywhitecat Wow hats off to you doing that, I imagine its as hard as its rewarding.

I retired at 58, 4 years ago. Dh still works.
I love it. I go to the gym, hike, visit galleries, have lots of lunches and coffees...we go away in this country every month for a couple of nights so I plan the itinerary. Never bored...I live my own company, love reading and live in a beautiful part of the world.

I retired at 62 about 3months before covid hit so its not been quite the campervan travelling and trips out to cultural things life I imagined.. but.. I have no regrets.. I n fact I suppose that the enforced ' rest' after 40 years working was needed! Now I am full of energy and ready to go again and full of plans .. havent missed work one iota in I walked down those stairs and out the door ( and I quite liked my job) .
I did have my pension 'ducks' in a row though.. one thing id strongly recommend to anyone thinking about this is if you can to make Additional Voluntary Contributions ( AVCs) on your pension if you can .. I did for the last 15 years of my working life t made such a huge difference
to my retirement income

My DH and I retired recently (55 and 52) so far all is going well. We have lots of holidays planned, have joined a fancy spa and my DH has joined a golf club. We have lunches out a few times a week, go to the cinema once a week. I see my friends each week. We still have young adult DC at home which is really nice. We’ll probably move in about 5 years.
I don’t think I’d enjoy it if money was tight.

I retired from a job I loved at 52. It was with ill health and totally unexpected. I ended up with an excellent pension. Remember when you retire you don't pay a lot of expenses, eg pension contributions, smart cloths, transport etc. My dh retired as well and we moved countries.
I've never been bord. I've time to do what I want. We travel an awful lot. My health can be poor but with planning we manage a lot. I would always go for it. My mum and fil didn't make 60!

@MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers

I was recently bullied out of my teaching job so resigned at 54 and will take my pension at 55. I'm having what I call my gap year right now. I will never go back to work as I just love having time to do exactly as I please. I have never been defined by my work or felt the need for busy-ness. I am living in the same amount my pension will be and although I won't be going on any round the world cruises, I have enough.

MyCatEatsPrawnCrackers, I love your name. 🐈

As another retired teacher I feel exactly the same way about doing whatever I please. Some days it’s having a lie in or not doing much of anything. After thirty years of a hectic pace, I’d never return to work!

I won’t be going on any world cruises either but having the time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life is priceless.

I retired last year at 54. I can afford it, but if I have to I can entertain myself pretty economically (walking, cycling, reading, gardening).
I liked my job and my colleagues. But I am really I'm not stuck at a desk any more. I spend a lot of time outside in the daylight now which makes all the difference in winter.
I was careful to make plans and get out to meet people though. Lots of coffee/lunch/walk/cycle meetups.

Retired earlier this year at 57. My husband retired two years ago at 60.
There's so much for us to do. Our garden is a source of much of our enjoyment but being able to holiday, outside of term time is so lovely. ( I was previously a HLTA.) and it's so much cheaper!!!

We do what we want, when we want and it's bliss!

I retired at 54, but I was self employed for the previous 20 years so I could suit myself really. DH retired about 3 months later.

I took my occupational pension - from my previous employment - when I was 55. I chose to maximise the lump sum and minimise the monthly payments.

I love it! We've always taken on rescued dogs, but we've now got so many of them and other rescued pets that they take up a significant part of the day.

In our spare time, we cook, read, we go out for lunch, I volunteer with Cats Protection, we have a NTS membership and membership of the nearest zoo, we love our garden, and we're active in the local community. DH sometimes takes on extra voluntary roles but I don't as I also have a lot to do for my mum and my brother.

Never regretted it for a minute!

Wow you have all really inspired me and I am know counting the days to my 55th. I have lots of plans including a rescue dog so thank you all.

I retired last Friday! Obviously a bit too soon to give a proper opinion at this point but I will say that I am ridiculously happy . I'm 56 in a couple of days.

Do you enjoy your work? Nice colleagues etc?

@AnyFucker

I flexibly retired at 55 and stayed in the same job 2 days/week.

I love it as I still feel too young to be “retired”. It gives me more time with grandchildren and to be more present for my adult kids that I am very close to.

The weeks whizz but round to my 2 days in work but I feel I still need that challenge (fast moving, stressful job). My sleep patterns are all over the place but I am a chronic insomniac anyway.

How does it compare financially? Am toying with doing the same but my ESR seems out of date.

I'm so jealous. How did you all manage this?

I'm in my thirties, and on my mortgage application I put that I'd retire at 70

Any advice on doing it younger??

I retired quite early, at 47. It was probably a bit too early if I'm honest and it took me a while to find my rhythm.

That was five years ago and now, at 52, I've settled in to it. I've taken up running during lockdown and have more time to bake, read, sew and go dancing! I still have a high school age son at home, which helps keep me in some sort of routine.

I look back now and am so happy the stresses of running my own business are behind me.

I planned on retiring at 55 but I see that the government have just moved the goalposts again meaning that I can’t access my pension until 57 now

What’s that coogee had a quick google and couldn’t find anything about a legislative change.

dina10

Stuff you have sadly missed, cheaper housing and defined benefits pension schemes.

All you can attempt is have a well paying career and a well paid long term partner.

We also had investments that did well but bit volatile these days.

@Onandoff I get virtually the same income from working 2 days + my pension as I did before I retired

It’s a no-brainer really. But I am very lucky.

dina

You are young enough that small changes can make a longer term difference.

If you go on a mortgage overpayment calculator you can see how relatively small overpayments early on in your mortgage have a significant impact on the term over time.
Similarly, pensions and investments can build up substantially with small investments over the longer term.
My biggest piece of advice is to beware lifestyle creep, the pressure to get the bigger house and the newer car. If you get a pay rise do you need to spend it all or can some of the money be put to good use.
We could have a bigger house but we've decided to favour investments instead. Now that we are in our 50s those decisions feel like good ones. The mortgage will be gone in the next 5 years instead of running past my 65 birthday and we have investments and reasonable pensions that make retiring earlier possible.

@LucentBlade Depending on your age it may not affect you.

The Government has closed a loophole in its plans to raise the minimum pension age from 55 to 57, to avoid confusion and the risk of fraudsters exploiting savers.

The age when you can start tapping your private retirement savings is due to move to 57 from April 2028.

But under the initial plans, people affected by the change who transferred to a scheme with a 'protected' pension age' by April 2023 could gain access to their money at the old lower age.

A barrage of industry criticism and calls for a rethink prompted the Treasury to announce that unless you are currently in the middle of doing a pension transfer, the option of doing this to still benefit from an age 55 threshold was removed as of last night.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-10165143/Government-u-turn-rules-pension-age-rise-55-57-2028.html

I retired 7 years ago, aged 55. At first I felt a bit at sea, as my professional being was a big part of my identity. After a few months, I started to work a couple of days a week freelance and found that a nice balance. That is slowly winding down now, but I’m ready for that and having no time when I have to do anything. I enjoy the freedom from work. I am a member of a good health club and have time to make the most of that, have dogs so get out and about with them to lovely walking places, bought a new bike which I love, really enjoy books and most of the year, enjoy gardening. My Husband retired 5 years before me. We have been together 13 years, married for 6. We were with the wrong people for 30 years and have a lot of time to catch up on. So we enjoy doing a lot of stuff together.