Stick it out for 20mths til retirement or ***k It and leave now and live on my savings

[booboo57]

I have just had enough of my relatively well paid but stressful job.
Last couple of years have been so difficult with Covid, wfh etc but now we are back in the office pt it is no better. Don't get me wrong, my job is no where near as hellish as some who post on here but i have just had enough.

Can't motivate myself to get my arse in gear, things are slipping, I'm forgetting to do things. Feels more than the usual up and downs as i've had this feeling since June.
One of the reasons for taking this job on was the extra money i could save for my retirement, i manage to save nearly £1k most months (I know, I'm really lucky). Some of this has been spent on home improvments and v expensive holiday in a Cornish spa hotel this summer (so worth it but did nothing to improve my attitude to work).
DH rekons I'm mad to pass up the opportunity to save more money for the sake of a few months. Looked at going part-time or changing roles but the thought of starting again in a new role is so depressing.
My current plan is to give my 3 months notice next month. Have six months off over the summer and if i really hate it look at a temping or such in Sept. next year.

What do you think? I feel I'm being a bit chicken giving up and not "leaning in" but on the other hand I deserve some time to myself.

Are there other options?
Could you
(A) go part-time or
(B) work for 10 more months then retire?
(C) find some ways to fit exercise/healthy eating/friends & family around your current working schedule?

If you can afford it and don’t like your job though, I’d probably leave now in your shoes. Life can be very short.

No-one lays on their deathbed and says "I wish I'd worked more".

No - fuck it! Life is too short - hand in your notice ASAP and enjoy your life!

I would not like a retirement without the money for holidays, my own parents despite very limited mobility holidayed into their late 70s. I would not like a retirement without having the money for lunch at M&S and buying a present for the (so far, hypothetical) grandchildren.
It doesn't sound like the OP is in that sort of financial situation, but many many people can't just seize the day and quit their job without having a big implication on future finances.

BTW, youn actually spend a lot of money going to work. Think of all the things you need to go out to work ; dress presentably, get to work whether by public transport or car, insurance for car, second car, etc.
write down all of your household bills; write down the expenses to go to work. Calculate your income if you don't work. You need to do your sums before you decide. I retired early, and truthfully I am just as well off, although I do have my local government pension after working there forever. But do your sums before you decide.

You, not youn! Where did that come from!

@noctu

No-one lays on their deathbed and says "I wish I'd worked more".

People always say that… shall I retire now, aged 49 then? It’s a great sound bite, but isn’t the be and end all.

This isn’t about OP lying on her death bed and whether she’d regret an extra 20 months (or portion of it) still working.

This is about being 62 and thinking - if I’d hung on until 60 instead of going at 58, then today I’d have had £30K savings in the bank that I didn’t live off for nearly 2 years, plus £20K from 20 months of saving plus an extra £x per year in my pension.

In order for OP - or anybody - to make that decision, she needs to crunch the numbers. She needs to work out what she wants in retirement, how bad she’s feeling about work now, and what the other options could be.

If your dream is to buy a £50K motorhome at 60 and you don’t have enough money for that - stick a photo on your desk and plough on.

If you’ve got the moho money banked and the missing £50K was going to add a fancy holiday a year for the next 10 years - decide which you prefer, stopping now with a cheaper holiday, or keeping going.

If the £50K is going to add £1500 per annum to your pension income (I’m basing that on a 3% drawdown) and your other pension income is just state pension - stick it out. But if you already have £20K in pensions - decide whether the extra £1.5K makes that much of a difference for you.

A decision like this needs numbers, and a clear understanding of your goals for retirement.

I read recently that you should aim to retire in spring because you build good habits as you'll be outdoors more because of the weather whereas those who rented during autumn winter tended to mot move much or go out much.

Something along those lines. Maybe stick it out until spring 2022

@booboo57 if you do finish early, watch out for your state pension, and buy missed years if you have any, to make sure you’ve got full qualifying years.

@Tailendofsummer

I would not like a retirement without the money for holidays, my own parents despite very limited mobility holidayed into their late 70s. I would not like a retirement without having the money for lunch at M&S and buying a present for the (so far, hypothetical) grandchildren. It doesn't sound like the OP is in that sort of financial situation, but many many people can't just seize the day and quit their job without having a big implication on future finances.

👏🏻

@noctu

No-one lays on their deathbed and says "I wish I'd worked more".

Well they might if they were lying in a place they were too poor to heat.

leave!

I did this with an inheritance. Two and a half years ago now, and I haven't missed work for a minute.

I'd say retiring the end of next April just in time for late spring summer so hand in 3 month notice in January it is better to retire at 59 than 58 and 11 months so when is your birthday?
some expenses drop when you retire( commuting office clothes coffee/lunch) some will increase (heating entertainment hobbies )
just crunch the numbers I left NHS when I was 50 I have good pension which because of scheme I signed on for I can take 85% at 60 my DH will be 67 when I'm 60 so will retire together, I have a home based part time self employed business at present which pay bills; I left when I paid mortgage off

Check state pension entitlement, you may need to pay voluntary NI contributions if you finish work early in order to get your full state pension entitlement.

@TeacupDrama why is it better to retire at 59 than 58 years 11 months?

Goodness thanks for all the message and I'll let you have more information.

Can you tell I'm not that engaged with work doing MN whilst I'm supposed to be working from home!
I'm 64, so two more years to state pension and private pension payouts.
I do have two old pensions that should have paid out at 60 and amount to £6k per year, when I deferred, so could be a bit more now, will be checking.
DH is younger than me and does not want to retire until he has to as he's worried he'd be bored. I'll be 70 when he is old enough for his pensions. As I had always enjoyed work I had thought I'd see if I could hang on 'til then but have been re-thinking things a lot lately.
When DH retires we plan to downsize and release about £250k equity in our home to add to our pension pot as his is quite small.

As a side note we tend to keep our finances seperate, my second marriage, so learnt my lesson.
Have done some sums and rekcon I could manage comfortably on £21k after deductions. That way I would have enough to cover bills , spend some on myself and add to savings for one-offs like car, (caravan) holidays, Christmas etc. So hanging on for a year gives me an extra year of income, more or less.
Work are pretty useless and if I just slacked for the next year, they probably wouldn't do anything. I'm surounded by quite a few useless people they do nothing about. But I would feel bad. If I'm not givng 100%+ I'd feel I have let myself and my team down. I'm trying to think of shades of grey, reducing hours, trying not to care too much when I forget things and the like, but I don't think I'd be very good at that.

@Cocomarine Good advice

(Oooh just worked out how to do this!)

Do it.

At 64, I would give different advice. You have more than paid your dues, if there's enough money I would pick a date and do it.

@booboo57 I’m also on my second husband and we’re making entirely independent decisions about when we can afford to retire.

I won’t ever include his contribution to our household in such a far reaching decision, due to experience of death (him - widowed) and divorce (me). Not that we plan to divorce!

But as it’s a second marriage, we both want all our assets to go to our adult children. So - in cold hearted practical terms, if he dies or we split up - there’s no money.

So we’ll both retire when we want to and can afford to, which means for all the time we are still together (most of it I hope! 🤣) we’ll have a financially enhanced time - newer motorhome, basically!

I would not use savings on this to be honest. It's a very short time really, they aren't going to fire you, no one else works hard from the sounds of it. If you're working from home, put the TV on in the background and just do what you need to do. Doubt anyone will care, you keep your savings and get more too. Then you can enjoy your retirement with even more money.

I actually assumed you were late 50s (the username!) so deciding between say 58 and 60.
I stand by my view that it’s about crunching numbers and understanding what you want from retirement… but at 64 I have to say I mean towards “fuck this shit” if you’re not enjoying your job!

Are you in a defined benefit contribution scheme currently? That might persuade me to stay.

How close are you to your £21K after deductions? £9K state + £6K old pensions + ??? current pension

That would be fucking mental. For the sake of 20 months you would give up your pension and spend all your savings. Sorry but that makes no financial sense.

I retired early, managed on my small NHS pension for 3 years until state one started. It’s the best thing I have ever done! It took me 2 years to slow down and actually enjoy my days - lockdown really helped me there!
I genuinely thought that if I carried on working I wouldn’t live long enough to see my state pension, I was that stressed and burnt out.
Life’s lovely now.

OP, I was in a similar-ish position. My mother died unexpectedly at 70, an age which I am rapidly hurtling towards myself. DH and I planned to travel during retirement, while our money and health lasted. (We hadn't reckoned on Covid!).

Once I had realised I was never going to get promoted, I did 2 things: I threw the maximum money into my work and personal pension, and I stopped trying so hard at work. It was subtle and frankly, no-one noticed. This was all in preparation for retirement which was originally going to be around 18-24 months time from when I started doing it (and would align with DH's planned retirement date). Thanks to a hands-off manager and the fact that the people who picked these things up were all in different teams, nobody joined the dots! I found it surprisingly easy to make a case that X was no longer part of my core role/ it aligned better with their team / it would provide a useful development role for a junior person etc. It was incredibly liberating. I had originally planned to give around 6 months notice of retirement but events got in the way - Covid, WFH, several deaths in the wider family, and, crucially, DH deciding to bring his own retirement forward. Putting so much money into our pension pots (DH was doing the same) meant we had some practice in living on less money.
I had considered cutting down to 4 or 3 days but knew nobody would pick up my work so I didn't bother (why do 5 days work and get paid for 3??).
I had bought the maximum extra holidays, then was unable to make good use of them (Covid/lockdown). In the end I gave them 2 months notice, 1 of which wasall my untaken holidays. I still spent my last 2 days doing an intense hand over to someone who didn't want to know . DH retired at the same time. That was about 15 months ago and we don't regret it.

I have 3 different work pensions which I can live on. I will have to make up some NI contributions to get my full state pension (in about 4 years). DH has already done that bit.
Do your sums so that you can make an informed decision. Good luck whatever you decide.