Aibu Retiring at 55 - 30 years of idleness?

[Scotsknowbest]

So this is the thing: so many local friends have given up working in the last few years in their early to mid 50s, aibu to think what on earth are you going to do to stay interested and interesting?
I thought perhaps they would shut the house up and set off on a big trip but holidays have been more like 2 weeks in Greece instead of one.
I thought perhaps they would volunteer but that seems too restrictive for them.
I thought some might use their professional skills to join executive boards as NEDs or in advisory roles. But no.
Some have upped their golf or tennis, some are focusing on the garden (what, every day?) some walk the dog, read the paper.
I just think they will become so boring!
In contrast I caught up with 3 old school friends this evening who I see about once or twice a year. I asked them when they thought they would retire and each thought mid 60s.
Many of my friends have inherited recently and I think this has been the nudge. I have also inherited but I don't feel any different!
Just for context I am 57, work in 2 roles, one executive, board level, one professional but different area (social work) which takes me to about 4 days a week but I also run 4 properties as a landlord and have an aging dad who lives a mile away who I help with admin, appointments, organising stuff. I also have 2 grown kids the youngest at uni, 1st year. So, not as busy as when I worked and had little kids, but pretty busy in a good way. Personally I can't imagine stopping working so aibu, is 50to55 simply too young to be retiring even if the catalyst has been a windfall inheritance?

Each to their own, if they are happy let them at it.

You do you.

Who the hell can retire at 50-55 😩 I’d love to myself. I would do so many interesting things, volunteering would be a large part.

Yanbu. I just can't get excited about the idea of retirement, I'm currently trying to think of ways to carry on working beyond the age of 67 ...

My 80 year old MIL recently admitted to me that she deeply regrets retiring at 60. They don't have a lot of money and there's only so much gardening and walking they can do.

Exactly this. My mum died at 88, dad currently 87 both fully with it. I am likely to be alive another 30 years. How many coffees, lunches out and walks can I do!

Interested and interesting

Sod that performative middle-class twattery and fetch me the newspaper (with another coffee, if you don’t mind).

You can’t really predict how long you will live. My BIL has just died from cancer at 60

Idleness?

I’ll be too busy drawing/painting/making pottery/gardening/writing/in the gym to indulge in any idleness!

I personally cannot wait for retirement. I plan to study. I don't have a degree but I would quite like study through open university and study something of interest. I would like to get into fitness a little bit. Years of desk work is ruining my body. I might look in to volunteering which would be slightly related to in sector I work in now. I also want to spend time with my husband. I don't seem him much. At the end of the day you make retirement what you want.

Depends on what your job is surely? Plenty of people have really boring jobs or jobs they don’t particularly enjoy, that don’t make them particularly ‘interesting’ or ‘interested’ myself included.

I’m only part-time at the moment as my children are still fairly young but the thought of going back to spending 40+ hours a week plus the time spent travelling to and from work, and having to cram all other responsibilities into 2 days a week when you’re already knackered, and getting 4 weeks annual leave a year is pretty depressing, can 100% see why people would want to retire early.

If anything there’s a million more interesting things to do in the world then ‘working’, so if you can afford it why not.

This is something I think about a lot. My husband and I are both in senior professional roles. His requires a huge time commitment (often working until 10pm-midnight) and is very stressful. Mine slightly less stressful and better hours.

We're thinking a lot about retirement, which we could conceivably do in about 4 years- he’ll be mid 50s and I’ll be early-mid. I feel really split- one part of me thinks it would be great for him to stop his massively stressful job and have some more relaxed years (especially as his father had a heart attack late 50s and I’m worried there may be a genetic element). But for me retiring at 53 seems very early and I feel I’d be missing out on the bit of my career where I get to fully stretch my wings, especially as I also took a career break earlier on for childcare reasons.

So many things to think about. I can see myself starting a side business or charity. Can’t see myself volunteering for an existing charity as my experience is that volunteering is hugely inefficient and frustrating, which in turn makes me think I’m seeing it purely in efficiency terms rather than as a valuable activity for the volunteers , which in turn suggests I’m not there yet.

Sorry, op, not really what you asked 😂 But yes I think retiring early without things to keep you young can be very ageing. There are lots of ways to keep in touch with the world though, if that’s what you want.

I was told by my financial guy at 50 that I could retire…this was at our meeting after I was laid off(made redundant). That was about 6 months ago. I’m still figuring out my next steps. 🤷‍♀️ In the meantime I’m healing, going to university, and just today put in a volunteer application. Who knows what I’ll do next but I’m not in a hurry to figure it out.

ETA; I was always planning on a ‘soft’ retirement at about 55 but God laughed at my plans

My four grandparents died between the ages of 85 and 94 and I naively hoped I’d have my parents for that long. My dad died aged 62, a few weeks after his mum died and a year after retiring. You just never know.

Is all you talk about work? I've retired at your age. I'm my DD's childcare and a carer, I'd love to have every day to garden, you do know people make a living out of it? What type of job do you have to have before you are interesting? I've left gyms because we've had the teachers/sws in and they seem to have nothing else to talk about, or rather moan about.

Oh and I’m still applying to jobs… everything from PT casual to full time stretch… but only jobs that interest me.

My mum gave up work at 41, my dad retired at 50, but then worked as and when someone wanted a kitchen / bathroom fitting or some decorating doing.

They are now 76 (mum) and 79 (dad). If my dad isn't doing DIY, he's watching TV, unless he goes food shopping. After some light cleaning, my mum sits on the sofa all day, day after day and watches TV.

It's infuriating, and such a waste. They are absolutely minted, but won't spend any money doing anything interesting. They will shop for food, and that's it. Tragic really.

If I was fortunate enough to retire now, I would reduce my hours, but not give up work completely. My job is sociable, challenging and rewarding, and I work with some really interesting people. I wouldn't want to lose those benefits.

I should have added that I'm going to be starting a Mexican cooking class. There's a few classes that interest me. I also feel as though I'm nurturing my body more.

@PhaseFour what's infuriating about a 75+ year old enjoying a sit down?

You come across as quite snobby and self satisfied.

Lots of people have done hard physical graft for 30 years. They're not sitting on executive boards or running their property portfolio rentals. For many people work is an absolute slog and exhausting - mentally and physically. By 50 you feel done. So if they come in to an inheritance and can afford to retire, then more power to them.

For those who have a job they love, every age is too young to retire. To those who don’t have a job they love, they’d retire tomorrow if they won the lotto.

Personally, I think anyone who has extra money and doesn’t retire isn’t thinking it through. If you love your job and have so much extra money, set up a nonprofit or volunteer and do your job for free three days a week; money needs to be spent. So much of it being trapped in banks and Cayman Island accounts has fucked a whole generation; it’s one thing to retire at 60 from a white collar job but quite another to be forced to work a thankless, hellish retail job until 70 because SO much fucking money has been removed from society and is being holed up. I could go off for a while about these supremely selfish billionaires who don’t do a thing. Never forget - Elon Musk told the UN Food Programme to present him a problem to solve world hunger for $6 billion, a tiny portion of his wealth. They did present a workable plan, and he didn’t give them a cent. So yes, multibillionaires have fucked us all. They’re just money hoarders at that point.

But yes, this is (a small part of, but still a part of) why we’re in the position we’re in - because the people who CAN afford to leave the job market don’t, and the people who can’t afford to can’t get jobs that are already taken. Need both hands and both feet to count how many times a friend was going to be promoted but it was shelved at the last moment because “Bob” decided not to retire, despite having the money. Sort of like how it’s really difficult to get on the property ladder when some people have no house to own and others take advantage of that situation by owning 3+ houses and squeezing people dry of private rent, which has risen at exponential rates in comparison to salaries.

Sorry, OP - just in an incredibly bad mood about inequality at the moment. I’m sure you’re a nice person, and I think it’s lovely you help your da. I’m just a bit frustrated, and in a lot of pain. I know none of this is your fault. We live in an incredibly unequal society and the people with the power to change it are… what? Giving their whole lives up to age 70 to corporations, when society desperately needs their brain power elsewhere? The best afternoons in hospital were when we had volunteers; most of them were OAPs and they would just get you tea and joke around with you. Those people made a horrible time bearable and I’m very, very grateful that’s how they choose to spend one day a week of their retirement.

What a very different world it would be if everyone retired at 60 with a VERY decent state pension and GOOD lifelong medical care in exchange for volunteering until 62. I recommend anyone interested (OP maybe?) do some readings about Blue Zones where a larger proportion of people live to 100. In none of these zones is it because they were forced by circumstances to keep working.

I only know people who have regretted retiring because their pension was too small, and that’s really not a great reason to regret it. I’ve NEVER heard a wealthy, intelligent person complain about retirement - the world is literally endless. Well-paid retirement means you could start learning Japanese or breeding Syrian hamsters tomorrow.

Some people are content to just be, pottering, hobbies, out for lunches with friends etc, others need to do more. Sounds OP that you may be the latter type of person but I think you may be surprised how easily you will fill your time.

My dad retired at 55, sold up from SE and moved cheaper to fund it. Within a couple few months he told me that he didn't know how he'd found time to work as was enjoying hobbies that he'd put off for years as had no time. He retired early because he was sad to see his friends start to pass away, and work colleagues not even enjoying a year of retirement before dying. It's food for thought though, dad died 74, had he waited until retirement age, he'd have had 9 years, as it was he had 19.

The ones who can’t cope become chairperson of the parish council or U3A. The rest of us just enjoy ourselves.

I’m 36 and I would love to retire.

My work / all-consuming career is the most boring thing about me.

Good luck to people who can afford to retire at 55!

I retired and drew my pension at 60. For me retirement didnt mean giving up work. It was more about not being responsible to an employer and being able to organize my own day and time as I saw fit. After having put my share into the community I enjoy not being responsible to anyone.

For the first 10 years of my "retirement" I continued to do academic consultancy with colleagues at the uni where I had worked. I also indulged my love of antiques and vintage by opening several online shops doing international business.

At 81 I now do private online tutoring and am still running the online shops, but gradually winding down.