54, had enough of the daily slog so I'm not going to do it anymore....

[erikbloodaxe]

Well I have plan at least.

1. Sell this house
2. Buy little house
3. Give notice at current job.
4. Find remote PT job
5. Earn enough to cover outgoings (no mortgage thankfully)
6. Spend my time doing what makes me happy.

I'm not spending what time I have left bloody working full time. The time between now and retirement will just be wasted years.

Wish me luck! Adventures here I come

Me neither.

Really, the best way to keep people in the workplace is for jobs to fit better with their lives. People over 55 who have stopped or cut down on work are often doing so because of their own health or caring responsibilities. If they're to work again, it's going to have to be flexible and dare I say it, often remote. The exact sort of setup the Telegraph likes to complain about!

Precisely. At least Amazon are now offering family friendly school hours only jobs. Though it is a very arduous job.

Very true!
And an unintended consequence of the government's housing policy. They facilitated the growth of the housing bubble in order to make themselves and their friends wealthy not realizing it would lead to a labour shortage because lots of us in our 50s now have enough money that we don't need to work ever again after inheriting the housing wealth accrued by our parents.
Nicely nicely 🤠

It is, although the age group most likely want that working pattern are presumably in the younger half of the workforce. So it's a very canny move by Amazon. You have a job that's physically hard work, you probably want younger people even if you don't come out and say that, so you offer working hours that will appeal to parents of primary school aged children. Can't say they aren't clever.

@Thesharkradar very true. Also QE inflated equities and my parents benefited from that and are now transferring their wealth to us us. We're using it to pay off mortgage and max out pensions. Although that was BofE rather than government decision I suppose. All contributes to earlier retirement.

Yes, and the panic that some of the peasants have got in on a bit of the action too is tangible.

@StormShadow yes, they can't handle the fact that we're no longer their wage slaves, working our fingers to the bone to make our overlords richer while they throw us a few crumbs. And to be grateful that we've got a job.

Two fingers up to all of them!

The deliberate policy of inflating housing costs over the last couple of decades has had mostly awful effects, don't get me wrong. But as someone who's in one of the sacrificial generations, it is still quite funny watching the response to people who weren't ever supposed to benefit suddenly having an inconvenient amount of autonomy.

Where are you at with your plan op?

I'm about 2 weeks away from putting the house on the market. I've had it valued and I'm in the process of decluttering (skip delivered this morning)

With intention to buy somewhere or go travelling?

have you gone part time?

commanding us to get off the golf course and get back to work, as if we are naughty children who've stayed out past our curfew!
(whilst they live the high life with helicopter rides and leisure complexes in the grounds of their palatial residences)
Fuck you Jeremy *unt

I will buy a small house, then go travelling and go part time when I get back.

So you have loads of holiday to use up or can you take a sabbatical?

with or without your partner?

Once I have moved, give my notice then go travelling. With my partner.

Oh I see l… get a part time job after you return!

good luck and hope that all works out with the partner

OP - I did what you did and do not regret it one bit
My adult kids are happy that we are happy
We cut our cloth and have ‘considered purchases’

The freedom is amazing - no more alarm clock, no more commute, no more sitting through meetings where people talk utter tripe, no more listening to the excuses of people who can’t be bothered to do their jobs properly ( no more listening to the union rep explain why said wastrel should still have a job)
Joined the university of the third age - met new people and started new hobbies

If I had one down side - some days I have to check what day of the week it is

Life is very much for living and it passes much quicker than any of us expect

Wishing you all the very best and hope you update us in 6 months as to how fab things are

@Thesharkradar exactly! Nobody's listening Jeremy! I'm not even retired yet but I'm cheering on everybody who has. Enjoy, you have earned it!

@Restinggoddess sounds amazing! It's so nice to see, obviously not literally as I don't know you, people who are so happy and content. Counters all the constant doom and gloom in the news.

Yes - my husband did this three years ago. We have one outstanding expense which will be clear next April and then I plan to go too. I have a small work place pension .

I think it would be great to find some work which you could do as and when you wish. I work PT now and do enjoy my job - but my hours are set and worked over a week so there is no freedom to choose what I do each day, and very much constrained by AL allowances.

Go for it! I'm planning similar. Working while I'm committed to the kids' rigid school times. All set for retirement at 55. Have spent the last year doing the sums and getting everything in place.

Good luck to you ❤️

I'm 54 and have now decided to wfh fulltime 34 hours a week as I said to thrown up kids life is short I've done my bit for king and country sadly my mum has just passed away which means we will have aimee inheritance to come which makes things easier going to pay off the remainder of our mortgage and the credit card etc .Put some of it away and the rest put in two savings accounts one for holidays and one for diy house etc which we should hopefully be able to add to those as no longer paying mortgage etc life is short my mum was diagnosed with alzheimers two years later after diagnosis she passed away. I dont need to downsize as only have a small 3 bedroom bungalow and my son still lives with us the other room is my home office but I would def downsize if I had a big house who wants to spend all their time cleaning it all
FWIW I def think life is short and what great ideas there are on this thread

Just back from 5 days away on the East Yorshire coast our tiny micro caravan. We bought it a year ago as part of our retirement plan. We love to travel but can't afford the kind of trips we used to go on if we want to retire at 56, which is our plan (both 53 this year). It's a big learning curve but it's been a different type of adventure. It was a big initial outlay but now we have it we can travel cheaply and enjoy nature at the same time. Last summer we did a big 3 week trip of the UK in July/August and spent £1000 in total on campsites, petrol, food and spending money for the 2 of us. We could well have spent the cost of the caravan in 3 years just on holidays, so it was worth it, we can enjoy it now and have the flexibility to use it more when we retire.

People cannot help when they are born though and the policies introduced in that time. Arguably you could say a better government should of been voted in but lets face it no matter who is voted in there are winners and losers and decades upon decades of various governments show that.

You might feel like the sacrificial generation but those boomers who retired might think you have it much better than they did what with technology and now flexible working.

@StormShadow

I am not a boomer - we all have choices in life and your belief that you are the sacrificial generation is ludicrous

Every single generation has had its challenges - my parents were the generation in single parent houses because of a war ( not a choice anyone would want)

I watched younger colleagues gain better pay and conditions and improved mat leave - after I went through what was frankly laughable pay for women in work

And yes we had 14% interest on the house - we went through some tough times ( and don’t start a thread on houses were cheap when interest rates were 14% etc etc - it was tough)

As I say, we all have choices to make and this is a choice I have made - but it’s not at your expense

‘Sudden amount of autonomy’ do you mean the decision to live our lives according to our means? - life is short and we all have choices