Would anyone like to share their pitfalls of early retirement

[LetterOfTheLawFella]

Dh and I are both early 50s and looking to retire within the next 5 years. Other than not having enough money to live on (!) what other factors have negatively impacted your early retirement? Just want to be able to balance the positives.

Boredom and all your friends still working. I retired 2006 you could pull your works pension in at 50 then. I started working part and retired properly at the end of 2022, I'm enjoying it now.

Sorry missed a bit out, the house was paid off years ago and I'm the type of person who lives within their means and makes adjustments.

I’d love to share, but I haven’t found any yet.

I only retired 3 years early but most of my friends are younger than me so still working.
I found volunteering bridged the gap - Cub Leader, Charity shop, School Governor - plus some casual work, Invigilating etc. Joined the Ramblers and a local walking group for company on walks if I wanted it.
I found the worse thing was going out with friends and the whole conversation was about work!

Retired two years ago at 55. I have to make an effort to plan things each week as life just drifts by...which isn't bad (I am not bored or lonely) but feels a bit of a waste.
Winter needs a bit more effort than summer.
No real pitfalls though as long as you can fund what you want to do.

For me, the only thing has been not really using my brain in the same way. I miss the intellectual stimulation of research, which was only a relatively small part of my job and not the part I thought I would miss.

Unexpected caring responsibilities. (I was expecting DM to need me but she died and then one of DC became very unwell)

Haven't come across any pitfalls yet! 😆

Retired earlier this year at 57 and apart from a tendency to not do things with the sense of urgency there used to be, it has been fine.
I think the dogs love it the most, they got used to me WFH during lockdown and now it is even better as I don't have to go into the office at all.

I am not in that position, but my mum retired early due to ill health. She found that her friends were still working and so she made friends with people who were older than her. By the time she reached normal retirement age many of those new friends had died or were very elderly. Her newly retired friends though then had more time.

Aside from money I don't think there are too many downsides so long as you can be social, get exercise, have sufficient interests to keep entertained and live healthily, it is all good. You do have to be positive and be happy to make adjustments if you need to find more or less to do.

I thought I had retired in lockdown at 55 , didn't see me wanting to work again . Then it all changed . Everyone around me still worked and I had pets so became unable to fulfil my days , couldn't go off travelling and winter was approaching so very hard to spend it outdoors in this country . Out the blue my old employer rang me offering a hybrid role , 2 days office , 3 days home and it's perfect .
Retirement needs to be planned funnily enough . If you don't it can feel like falling off a cliff having no structure to your day . A lot more people I know will do a phased retirement going from full time to part time before leaving work completely.

As others have said you do need to plan some structure to your week or it is very easy to just drift.
i have the grandchildren some days, volunteer for various things including Citizens Advice which keeps my brain ticking over ok and really enjoy life.
I do agree though that to begin with (I was 58 when I retired) that a lot of people I socialised with were older than me but that wasn’t really a problem, now a lot of my old friends have retired which is nice, but it’s easy to spend a lot of the week in coffee shops and out for lunch!!
Money is obviously the main factor I think in deciding whether to take earlier retirement but if you can afford it I would say go for it.
My Father retired at 65 many years ago, had a massive stroke and had died by 66. It was such a shame he never got a chance to enjoy his retirement plans.

I'm early retired due to circumstances rather than a plan. So far no real issues although I do regularly have one DC to stay. This does enable DD to pick up extra shifts so they can have treats.

That's the only slight drawback as babysitting is expected.

On the positive we have two more holidays this year, the earliest is a UK city break , then a weekend away with DD before a Carribbean break in November.

According to the couple next door who have retired in their late forties (her) and early fifties (him) it's the boredom (for him). She spends her days pottering and doing her hobby which seems a bit limited at her young age (although she seems happy), but he is climbing the walls and will probably look for work again. Their retirement came about through an inheritance, I'm not sure if it makes a difference if you retire so young esp when your kids are still at school and your friends are still working.

Retired early 50s. No downsides here.

There are so many options out there to study, explore, meet new people, volunteer, do much loved hobbies and find new ones, get fitter, learn new skills. You get the time to do the things you've always rushed only more thoughtfully and properly. You have to make the effort to make sure you are fulfilled otherwise you will be bored/lonely.

I agree you probably need a plan if you are used to being 'busy' - but that is relevant whatever age you retire (assuming good health). My DPs had a wonderful retirement, they moved to the country, bought a 'project' property with land for growing veg, cultivating a new garden, joined everything in the local community, got involved in volunteering, had some wonderful adventurous holidays, made lots of new friends ... but they are (were) very confident, outgoing characters with bags of energy and - crucially - a good pension.
My own DH retired last year and again, has lots of plans and projects on the go ... long distance walking, plenty of hobbies plus took up some new ones ... some didn't work out but at least it's good to try something different. Personally I don't think it matters if your friends are retired or not, I've always made friends from a broad spectrum... some retired, some not.

My in laws retired in their early 50s, though he kept on with a couple of directorships. Now, 25 years later, they are bored as they feel they've 'done' their retirement already.

I'm looking to go at 58, 3 years time, and plan to start dropping a day then 2 days a week as I go. I want to do some travelling while I'm fit and well for it as my family aint great at being long lived!

I was a teacher and burned out and retired at 56. I'd say the first 6 months I did all the little jobs I used to never have time for before. Eg cleaning put cupboards in the kitchen. Decluttering my house. I had a lot of redecorating and painting done. I had a couple of mid week breaks with my older sister who was also a teacher who had just retired at 60. That was nice as we are close. We went for a couple of city breaks in Europe. So nice to get cheap holidays in school time. The next couple of years I got into doing my garden. I bought new plants and also fruit buses, rhubarb and apple trees and planted them. I enjoyed harvesting the fruit crop. I do more baking now and always cook from scratch. I sometimes cook my son a lasagne at the same time I'm making mine to save him from having to cook for a couple of days. I also went to stay with DD for a week when she went into hospital to have have DGS2. I cooked her lots of freezer meals like shepherds pies, quiches and spaghetti Bolognese for when I left for home. When I reached 59 a couple of my teacher friends from school retired and we met up once a month for lunch. I really enjoy our meet ups because I do have a couple of other friends but they still work and so are usually busy. I've tried to get a bit fitter and join a private gym and go 2-3 times a week even if I only go to swim or lie in the jacuzzi. I've made a couple of new friends at the gym and we have coffee together after a class. I did volunteer to look after my 2 DGS's when they had chicken pox so my DD could carry on at work. Occasionally I get a bit bored but I can always drive down to see my sister and stay overnight and have lunch out before coming back. I read more now than I did as I have time. I cook and bake more and my garden looks pretty now so DH and I sit out in the garden in the evening with a glass of wine. DH still works as he loves his job but is considering retiring at 60. He is 58 now. I am hopeful he will retire at 60 because then we can go on more nice holidays together. The main thing is to make sure you can afford to retire. I have my teachers pension I've started drawing from 60 and a lump sum, a second pension I got when I divorced exh and was awarded some of his pension also I added to this every month for 20 years and bought an annuity with it when annuity rates went up high. I also had money saved in ISA's to tide me over from 56 when I retired until 60 when I could draw teachers pension. I inherited some money from my Mum so paid our very small mortgage off, gave my 3 DC a share each and saved the rest. At 67 I will get a full state pension. DH's pension is far better than mine once he retires. If he worked until he was 67 it would be huge. He will also get a full state pension too once he is 67.

There aren't any!

It's wonderful.

I retired three years ago, and I'm still loving it!

The only word of caution I'd give is to make sure you're not just thinking about the money you'll need to live on, but also money you will need to make any repairs/improvements you need to make on your home, or car. Especially thinking about if/when you need to buy a new car.

We've had some fairly big expenses recently which were to be expected, but suddenly that amount of money coming out of investment/pension income seems a lot - as opposed to knowing that your salary is coming in every month, which can replenish your savings!

So have a good look at your home now and consider what you might need to spend money on, and try and do this before you retire. (Obviously understanding that some things might need to be done again during the time of your retirement).

One of the best things for us is being able to have endless short mid-week breaks in our motorhome when the places we want to visit are quieter than they would be at the weekend. We spend weekends at home now and can go away as often as we like mid-week without having to worry about using up annual leave which was always a consideration before.

I’d say currently, be careful of the impact of CoL on value of your pension income
im 60, retired for around 4 years. My personal pensions have risen an average of just under2% over those 4 years (7.2% increase in total). But the rate of inflation has meant that goods/ services have risen by. % in sam3 time frame . A lot of people seems to think that if you’ve retired you’re getting the triple lock applied to your pension- nope- only state pension if you’re eligible for it . It’ll be another7 years before that kicks in. I do have savings I can draw down on , but I’m anticipating my “comfortable” income at 56 isn’t going to cover my expenses by 66 before my state pension kicks in.

its the risk of retiring early - so ensure you have funds available to draw down on to top up your normal pension if needed

other than that no. I knew I wanted to continue to learn and teach in my retirement, it was what kept me motivated during working life. I do this, found a whole new world focusing on my interests which are a million miles from my work life. I have made loads of friends and acquaintances by joining things like the U3A , in a way I haven’t since school and university. I’m suddenly a lady who lunches, sits gossiping in pubs in the evening and has an active social life. I m an introvert so it didn’t come naturally, but as I live on my own it is vital for social interaction and a solid support network. That’s a universal desire amongst all the people I’ve met in U3A and other groups.

Sorry, missed the vital figure of compound COL rise- google says 20% more.

Thank you for all the posts - this has been so interesting to read. Luckily (!) dh and I don't really socialise with others much (we've always been quite insular) so not likely to have friends still working.

I think the main issue for us will be that I quite like to travel and he's more of a homebody and pottering around the house kind of person so we'll probably end up doing some trips together and I'll do my own thing at other times. In fact I'm quite looking forward to doing some solo trips 😁. Another 3 years to go then it's all systems go I hope!

She spends her days pottering and doing her hobby which seems a bit limited at her young age (although she seems happy) I think this type of judgement is really unhealthy - if a person is happy, their life is not limited. Many people living busy lives are actually miserable (as every GP well knows).

Yes, I'd agree, retired 3 and a half years, Covid happened and also had health issue resulting in hospital admissions but have never regretted retiring. Was 65 at the time.

All my friends wo are retired feel exactly the same, we all love it.