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

Adventure is fine if travelling floats your boat.

But do consider your pension.

Being poor in older age is no fun and you will soon run out of savings.

Financial advisors suggest a pension income of min £25K pa (that can include occupational and state pensions.)

You can't ignore that you may live to 90 and need some money for care, medical ops etc.

We're recently retired in our 60s (I still work p/t self employed) and reckoned on spending £25k-£30k pa living comfortably without watching the pennies. (our joint pension is much higher than that) but that £25K doesn't include additional expenses like holidays overseas (we have a very good savings pot for things like that.)

This is the best thread I’ve read on here for a long time.

op, please take us on your adventures - I would absolutely love to hear about every step of the way, including all your adventures abroad.

I am in my early 30s and about to be saddled with a bigger mortgage than I currently have and going to try for another child (can’t wait!) but this is something I would like to work towards in my 60s- so gives me courage and I’m sure lots of others!

good luck and I can’t wait to hear about it.

This is my plan too once the kids / young adults have moved out.

I'm ready to do this now, at 35. I don't own, have about 7k in savings and growing and a few hundred in bonds.

I am SO DONE wasting away working when all I am going to do is die anyway with massive regrets about the lack of time I got to spend with my kids, grinding away for a "Charity" that whines about saving money as the reason to not give pay rises while raking in millions in profit each quarter, then bragging about it. Meanwhile people are out there raking it in sitting in front of a camera pulling idiot faces and stepping on food.

I am done. The wheels are already in motion and I have a plan. I refuse to live like this anymore only to "get" to retire when life is all but over and I am too old and unwell to enjoy it.

My DH and I retired at 52 and 55, I know it’s possibly to have a nice life with not much money but for us we absolutely need a lot of money as there are now 7 days to fill with activities. Luckily we have large pensions, I’d hate to do it on a budget.
OP I really don’t think you should sell and buy somewhere with your new partner. Downsizing is a good idea but buy something just in your own name.

Bravo 👏🏼

I’m 41 and ambitious me from my 30s is definitely shifting to what’s more important than work… I do like the money though. I think another 10 years I could see us downsizing and going part time. Dh and I recently had a random day off together in the week for a hospital appointment. We expected bad news but actually it was fine so we spent the day walking the dog and having a pub lunch. I decided that I’m ready to retire… sadly we have a big mortgage but I’m happy with how retirement looks. I used to think I’d never want to retire.

Sounds bloody awesome…good for you!

Eliminate the risk involving him and buy the property on your own outright. If he wants to do similar then he can.
As I said above, don't let him cocklodge.
I bought a small property outright and now work self-employed part time and basically do what I like, when I like, but when I first started out down this path I had a boyfriend who wanted to do similar, but he then turned out to be a cocklodger once he was living with me. Had no intention of doing any work whatsoever, did split bills and contribute towards food, but had spreadsheets of who had bought what to be levelled up at the end of the month and basically managed to always make sure everything benefited him. His idea was to sit around on the sofa all day playing computer games and maybe going out for a bike ride once a month and not do any work whatsoever. That led to extreme penny-pinching and him whining about not being able to afford to do anything, expecting me to pay for hotels and so on. It drove me absolutely fucking nuts. That's why I'm saying be careful - don't let some bloke ruin your great adventure plans.

And in a more helpful comment - if you want to climb mountains and wild camp I can really recommend some of the long-distance hiking trails in Norway where you can walk for weeks and feel completely free.

Also wondering about your pension OP. I'd hate to be really struggling or even just getting by when I'm old.

OP you are my hero… I want to be like you when I grow up

I did a very similar thing to you at 53. I bought a house with a holiday let business so I had a job.

The trouble I have is that I just can't be bothered to do the things I enjoy anymore because of the stupid menopause. I have such a lack of motivation these days despite HRT.

Most men want to get their feet under the table. They like a housekeeper as a partner as they cannot cope well on their own.

I do agree it is easier to have a part time partner than move in together.

Personally I am done with relationships but I totally relate to full time burn out and much prefer self employment at home.

Amazing OP! Good for you and I make you 100% right.

In fact this thread has inspired me to start a new investing plan to get ready for early job downsizing and retirement.

my kids are primary age so it’s a while off yet but it’s so good to see women doing what THEY want when the “slog” years are done

I'm doing the same at 48 in the next 12 months, but total 100% lifestyle change from city to smallholding

Amazing! I am hoping to do the same very soon! Now I just need to plan some things to do xx

@Zippedydoo123 My beautiful, amazing, independent and widowed cousin had a great saying for this, she said "I don't want to be a purse or a nurse!"

So much for the government wanting to lure those early retirements back to work 😂there are more of us who are aiming to do the same! Ha!

A great quote there! Good on your cousin lol.

Do it! We did something similar a few years ago. Was a bit terrifying as Covid bashed my remote earnings for the first couple of years but I’m earning properly again (part time) and would not have changed it for the world. Enjoy the adventure.

This is the absolute dream, when I'm 50 I plan to do the same (apart from selling the house as it's not that big anyway!)

Love this!

this sounds so nice, you are so right too...life is short, enjoy yourself!

This is brilliant.

Well done.

This is our plan too - retire when my husband is 55 and I am 54.5. Ideally we’d time it so we go just before the summer holidays, and we can take DC on a nice long family holiday before GCSEs.

You can do what you like, OP, so long as you've got your pensions sorted and you won't be expecting me and my kids and your kids and our grandchildren to be paying to support you in later life.