To give up working at 52?

[caniquitwork]

I am a teacher, but I've had enough.
I have a small teacher's pension- small because only paid in 15 years and even then mostly only part time. Have some other private pensions which will eventually pay out about £1000 a month, but not till I'm 60. Would not touch teacher's pension until then either.
So here's the aibu part - I have a house I own outright so no mortgage, but to live on until 60 I have about £250000 I inherited. Would obviously invest but don't think interest would be enough to live on, so would also just withdraw from the pot iyswim.
Would that work? Would it be selfish- should I keep this money safe for my children?
No dh in the picture. Keep
going round in circles. Wouldn't mind working in another job to supplement but worried if I could even find anything.

52 is very young to retire...how would you fill your time? You'd need something o do I think...otherwise days drift in to one another with no real focus I'd imagine.

If necessary, go on an Excel course in preparation for building budgeting spreadsheets. Factor in when all your pensions kick in at different times, household budget (budget for EVERYTHING! and save towards it), and RPI. Essentially, our budget for non-monthly expenses gets moved from the portfolio each month into the savings accounts (like easy access and Premium bonds).

Once your budget is complete then live it for a year or three to make sure it works. Pay any surplus into pension to give it a boost. Keep an eye on your State Pension forecast (gov.uk) and consider making voluntary contributions depending on your budget.

Don't put your money into BTL. It's madness. Buy the book "Permanent Portfolio" and investigate the Golden Butterfly portfolio in portfoliocharts.com. Rebalancing each year is the key. It forces you to buy low and sell high.

It's a personal choice but consider putting £50k into premium bonds. You'll likely get back less than the prize fund rate, but it's all tax free and you could be one of the big winners any month.

If necessary, learn to cook. You can't afford to eat out much and you want to eat well to maintain your health.

Make sure you have things to keep you occupied. I retired at 50 and I'm very gradually doing a degree on the OU. I'll probably never pay back the student loan as it doesn't kick in until I finish the degree (been on it 8 years so far and have 6 to go) and then only gets charged at something like 10% of income over £25K.

@caniquitwork I think you should remain optimistic OP, but I think you need to get some professional advice on how to manage the money you have now, to ensure it grows, and what you expect to have in the future. You say you will "obviously invest" your £250k, but how will you do that? I would urge you to find a good Independent Financial Adviser in your area to help in this regard - you can find one via the Govt-backed financial advice website, Money Helper: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/getting-help-and-advice/financial-advisers
DH and I got our first IFA less than four years ago (shortly before DH retired) and we wished we'd got one decades ago. We went to him with a basic plan of what we wanted to achieve over the next 10 years, and his advice and the work of his company's fund managers has seen our investments grow at a greater rate than if we had just done what we thought was best.
In the meantime, of course, do ensure you transfer £20k to your ISA before April and another £20k after - protecting your money from the tax man is a no brainer!
Good luck OP, I think your plan is achievable, but you need to get good advice to move forward.

Do you need to see your youngest through Uni?

Do you envisage wanting to give your Dc a boost, contribute towards a deposit / wedding costs etc?

52 is a lot of years in retirement. Factor in using savings for 2 more boilers during your lifetime, significant house maintenance. 3 or 4 replacement cars. And laptops. Etc.

I stopped work at 63 and felt quite young and fit and able (burnt out by work though) and don’t have a big pension at all. I think 10 years extra retirement without money to travel, have holidays etc, would have been too much.

In your shoes I would invest in yourself: find the time to maybe spend time with a life coach type person. Maybe even talk to some recruitment agencies, see what sort of role they think you could get. Do a week’s course in something you might enjoy but have never done over the summer holidays, just to show to yourself that you can learn new things, enjoy learning something and get good at something new.

Then give yourself some headspace time, and look for a new job. Maybe even a 4 day a week job.

Oh dear. If you’re an English teacher OP you could maybe supplement your income with a bit of tutoring remedial reading comprehension for adults…

Your pension situation sounds pretty good to me (but mine is admittedly dire) and you have great savings so I say go for it.

What will you do with your time? You could live another 50 years.

I'm 50 and have 'retired' from teaching but have a lovely 2 day a week job as a TA in ks1. It brings me enough for spending money which is all I need.

Could that be an option?

I would be tempted to say yes straightaway but that is me in my situation. I don't know enough about you/your circumstances.
You'd need to work out your fixed and general monthly/annual spend. Once you know that you know what you'd need for maintaining your current lifestyle. However, being 52 you might find there are things you want to get out and do now that you won't in later retirement so balancing spending now with living later.
If you have money invested in the stock market they say 5 years is the minimum and it's for longer term investment. There are tools out there to forecast so I'd look at those for your specific situation- as well as considering the TPS options (there's a good FB group for that too).
I think where you live and the type of work you would be prepared to go for makes a difference in whether you'd get something. Hopefully, you look st the numbers and your local job market and make the best decision for you. Good luck!

I think we need to move away from the idea of sacrificing our happiness to leave an inheritance, we put ourselves on the back burner for enough years while we raise children - if the budget works for you, enjoy yourself

Do teaching online to top up if viable.

Just wanted to say that I have basically done this - retired early and worked part-time.

The big difference is that I had less than 2 years to go till retirement when I left full-time work (although I also have a much smaller pot of money to draw on). My advice would be to find a part-time job before you hand your notice in, or maybe consider going part-time in the job you have now, if possible? Do that for a couple of years to give you a clearer idea of how much money you really need in order to live reasonably comfortably.

I definitely think it's possible, especially as you don't have a mortgage; I've managed with a mixture of part-time work, a (very!) small private pension and drawing some money out of my savings pot. I haven't regretted it at all, and it has made a massive difference to my mental health ( this is something you definitely need to take into account op).

Best of luck - you can do this but sort out some part-time work ASAP (doesn't have to be permanent but it will cushion the transition from full-time and give you time to think and plan).

Rooting for you op 💐

No mortgage. Live partly off the interest and partly from a part time job. Part time supply teaching is very different to full time teaching. No prep or marking when you are just doing a day here and there. TA part time. I know it's a lot less money but you have the skills,, would get school holidays, can do it part time ...and most jobs you choose are likely to pay you less than teaching after 15 years. You could do all sorts of admin work. Dog walking is a great part time occupation. You probably don't fancy being in a school in any capacity at the moment but it's surprising how rewarding a different role with less responsibility can be. If you tried say TA and didnt like it you could leave and try something else. I would go for using the interest on your lump sum combined with part time work. The lump sum would still be there as back up.

You can teach English to students overseas but there will be different time zones.

I would visit a career coach and look to change your career to something you really enjoy, can make new friends, a new and rewarding life.

I think you have to look at worst case scenarios. And that if we are going to suffer rampant inflation - food inflation as we have less farmland (rewilding etc) to grow our own, energy as there is still no viable alternative to the coal/gas/outdated nuclear and we are overly reliant on imports, then you will likely find that in the 18 years or whatever it will be till state pension, that your cash will be running out as you're dipping into capital, you've had to start taking your teachers pension to eek out and that in turn will make your prospects should you live to 90 something look completely different.

Thus I think you need to work at least 10 more years so you can have a clearer idea of where your finances will be when you get state pension, and then be in a better position to calculate your exit from the working world to pensioner.

I was considering dipping out early as DH is supposedly retiring, but only if I take a supermarket part time job to take advantage of employees benefits of cheaper food (was totally shocked at the increase in supermarket prices in the past 6 weeks for run of the mill groceries eg washing powder, loo rolls, that kind of thing having done my first 'big shop' last week since 2 weeks before Christmas), and I've over 4 years to go (unless they change it yet again) to state pension

I retired at 42. 2 years ago. I sold my business and I'm just living off the proceeds, taking 1k per month. Its not going to last forever, but I'm hoping it gets me to 55/57 when I can claim my private pension.
I do have a husband who is still working, but we have no mortgage.
Loads of people said it won't last, you'll get bored blah blah blah! I absolutely have not got bored. I go to the gym 3 times per week, catch up with friends, and my house is always sorted, so when the kids (3) get in from school we can do homework, clubs, visit family and i don't have to rush back to do ironing or anything. Life is much slower paced as I'm not rushing to get anywhere. I can also help out with my parents and In Laws, shopping, appointments etc.
If you can, do it! There's always a little part time job if you feel you need to something.

My dc are 17, 21, 31 and 33 - the oldest two married with dc with good careers. I am about to inherit £200k and in an ideal world I'd love to share it with them but I'm 60, working a zero hours contract and I really feel I need it more than them. I have given everything for my dc and they will inherit from me when I die but hopefully they will understand my decision.

It sounds like your confidence is at rock bottom and you're done with teaching which I completely get, but I wouldn't look on this as a time to retire but a time for change. Get out of the rat race and take a PT that doesn't require any headspace. In your shoes, I'd go and work in the local tea rooms or department store3 or 4 days a week and do some volunteering. Use your money to give yourself some breathing space, work on yourself but then come back into the working world with renewed energy and vigour don't retire yet It might be you're happy staying in a PT job that doesn't require headspace but I do agree that living alone and lacking in confidence isn't a great recipe for quitting work. Look at what other ex-teacher's are doing and start a new career: I work for a charity in a fairly low paid but highly rewarding & flexible job and there are quite a few burnt out ex-teachers loving the pace of life & lack of stress.

Good luck OP (& based on replies here you're clearly not alone!)

I think the money gives you a great safety net to leave teaching and look for something else if you are really done with it (or drop hours and TLR to see how that feels for a year first, if that is an option).

I definitely wouldn't quit working all together long-term though and use this money just to live until your pension kicks in. Financially as well as for many other reasons.

I know you've already mentioned that your adult children already have money from the same inheritance for a deposit etc. and without knowing how much that is it is hard to say whether or not it would feel selfish to spend your inheritance on not working. The gap between what we (I'm also 52) could do in terms of property purchasing (in mine and DH's case with no parental help) and what they can do is massive (all other things being equal).

Get your pension projections from your pension providers and go on to your government gateway account to know exactly how many years NI contributions you have.

Get some independent financial advice. They will model your potential income and help you make appropriate investments for your lump sum (ie ISAs rather than savings accounts so you don't pay tax). They will review annually with you to give you peace of mind that you're all on track. I am doing this right now as I'm retiring this year (age 58)

Have some other private pensions which will eventually pay out about £1000 a month, but not till I'm 60. Would not touch teacher's pension until then either.

So here's the aibu part - I have a house I own outright so no mortgage, but to live on until 60 I have about £250000 I inherited. Would obviously invest but don't think interest would be enough to live on, so would also just withdraw from the pot iyswim.

You can't afford not to work. It's that simple.

I'm not sure if you're working full time now but if you are, you're going to drop from earning close to £40K pa - to what?

Even if you 'only' live on £20K pa now (half your current income) for 10 years (until you take your pensions) that would be almost all your savings gone.

Would you want to be 60 with hardly any savings for a rainy day?

Presumably your youngest child aged 19 needs some of your income even if they are at uni?

Sorry to be critical but it sounds as if you've latched onto the idea without doing the most basic calculations - your annual expenditure now and what you'd need to live on without being 'in poverty; if you had no job.

I suspect your teacher's pension is closer to £5K if you only worked pt for 15 years.

That, plus the state pension at 67/68 - 70? would give you around £16K pa (current values.)

That is not a lot.

My great aunt in her 90s lives on £12K a year (state pension and half her H's occupational pension.) She doesn't have a car or go on holiday . She manages, but there is no room for waste.

I think you're going to have to look at pt other work.

There is so much to do!

Cycling with clubs twice a week, evening ring meetings monthly, book clubs, rambling groups once a week, gym daily, meeting friends, volunteering opportunities, classes at local college or day classes, wild swimming groups, helping with grandchildren stay and play groups with toddlers.

Then travelling, camping, Hostelling during the weeks and out of season, jumping on a flight to somewhere as its cheap and staying for 5 days. Planning holidays takes time

Actually taking things down a notch and realising that your sleep improves and your health

There is so much to do and enjoy taking part with if you want to but unlike work its not compulsory

Still don’t understand how people freed from work will be ‘sitting on their arse’. Likely the time when they won’t be sitting ‘on their ask’ in an office, at a desk or doing the same thing day after day!

I would! I take home £28k a year im comfortable (incl holidays and going out to events etc), so with no mortgage to pay that would be plenty

I would do it if you can afford it. I wouldn't live a miserable life just to leave something for my DC. It's your money and if you need it for your own life then you spend it.

A teacher friend of mine has left education and is working in the local GP office and they love it. Another ex teacher does a lot of exam vigilation. This is obviously seasonal work, but it would be extra income.

If you want to keep busy you could volunteer for a local charity in some role. or you could go into primary schools to listen to children read if you could bear to do that.