To want to retire aged 46?

[imprincesspearl]

I’m not going to before anybody comes at me … but jeez, the thought of another fourteen years working does depress me a bit.

I am a teacher (secondary) and I think I’ve just been doing it for far too long (started in 2002) - I’ve lost motivation and interest. I can’t even really look at different schools as they are all much of a muchness.

I honestly would retire tomorrow if it was possible.

Change careers?

I can’t, unfortunately. I have thought about it but it’s both time and money and I have neither.

I can definitely relate - and from the numbers of people dropping out of the workforce for early retirement - we're not alone.

I'm not sure I agree that now is a great time to change careers but you could try civil service or even social work (although I think that might be frying pan to fire)

Is it impossible? It's a good goal to work towards, life is made for living and being happy x

I actually did retire at 46 due to ill health. To keep busy and engaged you really need a healthy amount of disposable income ( yes, obviously you can do things that cost little or nothing).

Is going part time, tutoring, working in another role an option? Otherwise finding activities you can fit around your work might pep you up a bit.

Is life really made for being happy? I really don't think that is the history of humans and I think we might be expecting too much if that's what we're all aiming for.

For any species - life is about surviving long enough to reproduce so that the species doesn't end.

Social work is something I’m interested in actually @Ohfuckrucksack but the problem is it is two years training and I have young children, a husband who is away a lot and no one to help, so I’d realistically have to wait until both children could realistically be left unsupervised for a few hours and that’s a long way off.

Most people can't afford to work just 25 years and then support themselves another 40 years

I suspect retirement may be unrealistic and would be better to seek out a change of work direction

Erm, your state retirement age is 68 but I would assume you have a pretty decent teachers pension so can leave earlier than that??

YANBU

I turn 40 this year.
I'm planning to retire at 48. Life's too bloody short.

I don't hate my job, its basically fine. I'd be off like a shot if I was a teacher.

@imprincesspearl If you're teaching AND you have young children AND you have a partner that isn't always there - no wonder you're exhausted.

Is there any capacity to offload anything? Cleaner (although from threads here I'm not sure that lessens the workload)

If not, it might just be plugging on - and trying desperately not to wish away your own children's years because that would be quite sad for you.

Yes, at sixty, not forty six (hence fourteen more years!)

@Ohfuckrucksack in fairness I am part time - I don’t think I’d manage full time without a breakdown! But this year something has changed in me, I really am not enjoying it at all. Of course, there’s always been exasperating aspects, tough classes, difficult colleagues, but this year I’m not seeming to have any of the other, more uplifting aspects to the job and am just going through the motions and clock watching.

At 48 I'd just had enough of doing the job I'd done for nearly 30 years so I gave it up and started my own small business in a completely different field linked to my hobby. I ran that for 10 years and then retired.

Both changes involved a downsize, cutting back on spending and lots of other adjustments but honestly it was the best thing I could have done. I've loved every minute of it and the freedom and variety is wonderful.

I have ex colleague friends who are now about 45 years into the original career and still doing the same thing day in day out, year in year out, in the same building. They're undoubtedly much better off financially than I am but I wouldn't swap my last 15 years with theirs for any sum.

I'd say rack your brains for alternatives and make changes if you need to and can. Don't look back and regret not trying.

Love your bleakness 😂

I'm a little older than you and I would love to retire right now if I could afford too.

But I can't afford to and that's all there is to it.

I too am a little older than you. I had dreams of retiring at 50 as a teenager, but realistically had no spare money (and more debt) until I was 30 to start a pension.

I do have a healthy and growing pot, both private and one in my current role, but thanks to Two Tier (although was originally a Conservative plan), the age for accessing my private pension is changing from 55 to 57 either next year or the year after. 55 was intended to be my hard stop, certainly in a full time role.

I've had no choice but to resign myself to those extra two years, unless there's a hefty lottery win before then.

It is pants and I get where you are coming from, but as said above, it is what it is.

Maybe consider the social work route realistically and plan towards that, rather than retirement?

Well, you clearly are unreasonable to think that you could work for what, 25 years out of a life that could easily go on until your 80s. Retiring in your 40s in never going to realistic for most of us - who can afford to only work 1/3 of their life span?

You are not unreasonable to think that you don't want to teach for the next 20 years, though. And if you are part time, you probably have other options you can explore eventually, maybe working more hours in a less stressful job as your children get older.

But - working with young kids is always hard and if you are part time and get school holidays, you might just have to accept this is as good as it gets for now. And social work is certainly not an easier option, if you are a stressed teacher you would almost certainly be a stressed social worker.

Open University ? https://www.open.ac.uk/courses/social-work/degrees/ba-social-work-england-q32/

You sound fun.

I hear you! 49 and worked fulltime since i graduated, and I am completely and utterly done. Have very little enthusiasm for work, the office environment is unrecognisable thanks to flexible working, hot desking and mergers with other companies, most of the staff are half my age and irritate the hell out of me with their immaturity, I've had enough but it pays relatively well compared to other roles /sectors and I can't afford to take any sort of drastic pay cut.

If you could afford it why wouldn't you?

I felt like this about a week into my first graduate job and still feel the same 20 years later. YANBU

I had a few months between jobs recently and never been happier!

I have semi retired at 57. Run my own solo business and have a small private pension pot. I downsized last year to release equity (was always the plan- hard to do as loved my family home but as a single parent at that point I was sitting on equity and it just made sense to move. I adore my new, smaller home which is as a gamble, but I'm fairly confident when choosing houses. I could retire fully now, but I like my job and so I balance my life now, working when I want to, more than when the job dictates. The main reason for stepping back was entirely that I'd lost around 6 friends/acquaintances to cancer. They didn't reach my age and it's quite shocking there's so many. If I have to sit watching the TV from mid 70's because I'm skint, so be it. There are at least 150 channels to choose from and I want to spend all my spare time with my DC and my dogs while I'm (hopefully) healthy).

Totally agree OP! I'm 49, moved to the civil service 5 years ago and a big pull was the pension. Jobs fine but I have no desire to do anything extra, constant development conversations are really peeing me off! So, we are ploughing as much as we can into the mortgage and savings/investments with the aim to retire at 60. I'd love to go earlier but there's just not chance of that.

Hell, I’d retire now if I could and I’m in my 30s! Just let me live 😭