Would you retire At 50 if you came into money?

[Quarks69]

My Work colleague is not enjoying her job at the moment. Sadly her mum died and so she has come into an inheritance which has paid off her mortgage and leaves her and hubby with a clear million. They have no real work pension so this is it. He wants to retire early but he says it’s not enough. As someone who also dislikes her job, I think she should jump at it, life’s too short etc, but she’s not sure. Thought I’d see if you think this is enough to stop work with? Not that I’m jealous or anything 😊

@Ragwort we once did a days volunteering at a charity shop and I remember thinking that an assistant manager job would suit me well if I retired from main jon - actual manager role seemed like a lot of work for not much pay.

Rookie yes, it is a very demanding role ... much more so than any of the 'professional, senior roles' I've had in my career, for less than a quarter of what I used to earn . You have to really love what you do, the most challenging aspect is dealing with volunteers, you need lots of patience and "people skills"

Personally I love it, I can run the shop more or less as I want, I am passionate about the charity I work for and I am lucky in that I do have a great team of volunteers and really nice customers ... but it is hard, physical work needs at my stage in life, I am fortunate to not be doing it for the money.

My parents did!!

Both were "lucky" in that their parents had had well-paying jobs and looked after their money well. My mum was in her 30s when her parents died, and she invested her inheritance well. My dad's parents had both died by the time he was 50. He was a school teacher, and had had enough, so retired then.

It turned out to be the absolute best thing. They had 11 happy years of retirement and good health, and still young enough to do things. Then dad hit 61 and his health suddenly took a nose-dive, and he died not long before his 63rd birthday. The sad thing is, he could easily have still been working at 62!
We are very happy that they got to spend 11 very happy years of "retirement" together.

My mum is 65 now, and still happy and healthy and enjoying life.

I think if it's within your means to retire early, absolutely do it. We should all work to live, not live to work.

@ragwort i think I'd enjoy that
my favourite job was waitressing as a teenager. Would it be possible to get into retail in your 50s coming from an office job background...? Probably not after the pandemic

My DH parents died at 61 and 63 they had retired at 60, his mum had 1 year before become suddenly ill and quickly passing his dad had 2 more years getting sicker. So sad for them.
My DH is 53 he’s probably going to work for 5 years more at the most. I’m currently not working as we have moved abroad with my husbands work and it’s very difficult for me to find work, but we are really looking forward to retirement, we have lots of plans.