How to semi retire before 60?

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Hi all I am approaching 30 very shortly. Do not have much savings but no debt at the moment except a mortgage which is quite high. My dream is to semi retire before 60. Ideally 55 if not then at 60 the latest. What ways have you ensured that you can semi retire/retire before 60? Do you think you will hit your goals? At the moment, I am thinking of investing in the S&P500 for at least 25 years to help my money grow. I do not mind working but by 55-60 I would like more free time and working 3 days maximum instead of 5 currently.

You need a really good pension, ideally final salary.

Good pension and no mortgage.
Would you consider downsizing at that point, to reduce your outgoings ?

We already did, planned well ahead.

You need to be mortgage free, and to have accumulated enough skillsets, cash or other assets to bridge the gap years between leaving paid employment, and pensions kicking in. Saleable skillsets; design, webskills, hospitality, well-being, coaching, writing, upcycling, handcrafts.

From my experience

• Plan a pension
• In later years, if possible, be in a job where there is the likelihood of being able to reduce your hours as you head towards retirement.
• Don't buy a more expensive house, taking on a bigger mortgage in the latter 5-10 years. We considered it, with the thought that we would downsize at or heading towards retirement. The time has flown by and I'm glad we didn't. Financially the cost of buying/selling/moving wouldn't have been worth it and the financial pressure of a large mortgage would significantly reduce our options now.
• Savings

An excellent pension, where you can pay more for extra years, or AVCs.
Very small mortgage or, ideally, no mortgage - so don't look to upgrade to a bigger house every few years.
Don't have children, as they will be your biggest financial commitment - seriously, think about whether early retirement us your top priority, because you have to find ways to keep your expenditure low.

I think it's great that you are planning this so early OP well done.

I'm planning for a retirement at 60 but thinking it might be closer to 63 now the markets have fallen and decimated my pension savings.

You are correct that at 55 you don't have the energy to keep going how you do in your forties. It has surprised me how tired I get and how little patience for corporate bullshit I have.

Put money in your pension, pay off your mortgage but don't forget to live along the way

And check when you can take your pension, as I think it’s 57 now ? Maybe have savings to get you to pension age.

We've just early retired in our midish 50's.
We paid off chunks of our mortgage with any bonuses/gifts etc and downsized to get rid of the last bit of mortgage and for lower maintenance and bills.
We have work pensions but also private pensions, Isa's, premium bonds and have rental properties.
My advice is to decide how much you want to save so that you don't compromise on living your life now and spread the money out between several different things but definitely invest at least some of it don't just save.

There are lots of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) bloggers and podcasters around to give you good guidance on this. Barney White is UK-based, and blogs as The Escape Artist. If you go to his blog, he also lists a lot of podcasts on which he appears, if you like that medium.

The four pillars of his approach are:

• increase your income (go for promotions, etc to maximise your income while you can)
• reduce your living costs (lots of frugality involved)
• save and invest a large percentage of your income (to build funds to live off to supplement your pension - most UK FIRE adherents advocate using ISA wrappers for low-cost, global index funds like Vanguard. )
• know when you have enough - there are rules like building a fund that is 25 times your annual expenses - and be willing to step back.

Everyone says the earlier you start, the better. I left the workforce at 50, by which time I was zonked and ready to do other things. The previous 15 years had included time off for overseas adventures with DS, nice holidays and plenty of treats, though, which I would have regretted not doing. So as other posters have said, make sure you live along the way!

I was happily working towards it. I'd bought three doer-upper houses in turn, done most of the work myself, made 100% on each, was working on number 4, and planning to retire at 55.

Then DS popped up on the ultrasound when I was 44 and that was that. 😂 Now I'm aiming for 63.

Oh @MintJulia !

As above - pay off mortgage as early as you can; save whatever you can into your pension.

Paying off mortgage early might mean buying a less expensive house. Eg XDH and I split in 2007 with equal decent equity. I took on a 100K mortgage for a sensible house; he took on £375k for a much bigger lusher house. I paid mine off when 9 years ago and saved enough to go part time at 60 and retire fully at 65 with a very stable future; XDH had to sell up when he retired.

I’m going half time at 55 and fully retired at 60 , have been saving since Covid and just hit £100k including some inheritance - I have a few pensions dotted about that I will start to draw down at 60 but mortgage will be paid off when 55 and have enough salary on half pay to see me through to 60. Civil service pension I will continue to pay into on half time hours and again will use that from 60 to 69 til state pension kicks in

I feel it’s a bit hard to predict what life will be like too far ahead. I possibly could have retired young but would still be married to an arsehole. My friend just died in her 50s and if she’d spent too much attention paying off her mortgage we wouldn’t have gone for lunch together last month.

My advice is to build a life you enjoy which includes paid work that you enjoy and regular holidays/breaks/things you enjoy. Retirement is not the be all and end all.

@CrapBucket I agree.

You should still enjoy and appreciate life on the way to retirement.