Retirement at 50?

[Otins]

Would you retire aged 50 if you could?

I am currently working it through with an IFA and I think I can afford to do it.

I have no children. I am in a relationship but financially independent and not married.

I had always planned to retire at 60 when my mortgage was paid off, but a recent inheritance means i am mortgage free now.

Would you retire this early if you could?

i have joked in the past that retirement is wasted on the old, and I could have 10 years now having fun, and I felt funds were getting a bit tight , i could go back to work aged 60.

My monthly 'retirement' income would
be around the same as my average monthly jncome over the last 10 years (self employed so it fluctuates) This wouldn't allow for luxury world cruises but a couple of holidays a year, plenty of eating out and culture, and some leeway for the occasional splurge seems plenty.

I could keep earning and have 'more' but it seems wasteful if I don't need more, and time is our most precious commodity.

I stopped working shortly after turning 50 at the end of last year. It wasn't planned but I became very unhappy at work due to staff changes in my department. I had previously thought I would work until my youngest finishes school in a few years time.

So far, I have loved it and haven't been bored. The dog has had more walks, I've joined the gym, cooked more and done some small projects around the house. I've also caught up with some friends I haven't seen for ages. I may also look into volunteering in the near future.

Give it a go. If finances are fine I don't think you will regret it.

This 👆

I would have loved to have retired at 50

Amazing to be able to retire with less than 30 years of work

I started full time work at 17, and started paying into a pension then. That has made a huge difference to me being able to retire early (it also helped that I didn't have to sell a kidney to buy my first home)

I would go part time

I'm newly single and started to draw down on my pension at age 55 and work very part time (10 hrs per week). I made this decision as I lost my best friend to cancer age 51, and 3 other less close friends - all between 40/50. If I were to retire at 67, I'm scared I won't have my health, so I'm taking some pension money now, to enjoy with my adult children-no grandchildren yet.
I'm not bothered about holidays abroad etc... I just want to be able to afford my pets - my dog is my main hobby, along with meals out, home renovation and day trips. I took financial advice to double check I could afford it, and it's a perfect solution for me. If I end up ill when I'm 70, I won't mind hunkering down in front of the TV and reading books or going online all day.
Lots of my friends are still working, but I'm very capable of amusing myself and am never bored, or lonely. I just want to wind down while I'm healthy.

I would have to work PT! To keep money coming in, to keep my brain and body active.

By 50 I'd been working for 36 years and I've always lived well within my means. Saved 50% of everything I earned as a Saturday girl, more than that when I was first working FT and living at home, less when I had young DC, but always something.

I could have had fancier cars, homes and holidays, utni never really felt the need and now I'm reaping the benefit. Also no debt, ever (except a mortgage, which was paid off ASAP).

So basically saving and investing.

Do it now. Health often deteriorates after 60. I have all the time but not the fitness.

It's very interesting to read that people wouldn't consider retiring early because they would feel their life lacked purpose or they would be bored.

I had an interesting and challenging career but I was still more bored at work than I have every been since retiring. Long, dull meetings, the inevitable repetition, having to spend lots of time with people I wouldn't have chosen to spend time with and mind numbing commutes all drove me up the wall come the end.

My career never defined me and I'd had enough come the end. I was desperate to have more time to spend on the projects and hobbies I'd been burning to do but had no time for because of work. I'm more stimulated now, learn more, challenge myself more and am more satisfied then I ever was by work.

An eye opener about retiring and studying in later life is how interesting other early retirees are. All different backgrounds and all now marching to the beat of their own drum.

No problem at all.

Our only outgoings are our utility bills £160 per month, water we pay half yearly - around £135 - food £460 Inc a few bottles of wine per month, insurance for house £250 per annum, paid TV £15 per month, phone/internet £36 per month inc. all calls, mobiles are PAYG so no monthly bills are we generally just WhatsApp, council tax 250 per month. The car is covered by Motability mostly although we pay £4000 every 3 years for a better model, fuel £60 per month, personal spends about £50 per month each on average.
We don't eat out - prefer to eat at home as I'm a "Fussy eater" - and our only real luxuries are our holidays. Our joint income - what we choose to withdraw - is around £35 k per annum nett but we really don't spend much at all. We have considerable savings and investments but again rarely touch those.

As you can see we spend - including hair cuts, clothes, bits and pieces around £1200-£1300 per month but have almost £3k per month coming in after tax so plenty leftover for savings and there are still 2 pensions which we leave invested and don't touch.

You honestly do not need much at all once you are retired and if you have no mortgage or pets and don't have huge Sky bills.

HTH 👍

Sorry the above post was in reply to @50yearsfreedom.

52 here and planning on 55 , saw IFA yesterday infact and the numbers stack up to do it , I’ve had bad health but worked full time for long enough

Many people can only dream about this much money in retirement.

Yes 100%.
I have much bettee things to do with my time than work.
Financially we could have retired about 5 years ago, im 54, but with dds in college i didnt want to and neither did dh. We wanted to keep the momentum of work going but thats done in 2 years now.
We have enough to sort them out with money for a house deposit if they want.
One or 2 properties abroad is the next stage and that shld keep us busy.
But 54 or 55, im swimming, snoozing, yoga, and whatever else takes my fancy..

Valjane that is a very good point and I totally agree but I am constantly reading in the media and on Mumsnet that people have pensions of £50k, £100k per annum so by comparison ours is chicken feed. It certainly feels small by comparison as the £35k is between us and not each 😁. Must be lovely but I don't know what we would do with £50k a year plus.

Also, we live in the North Midlands where the COL is much less.

We don't spend much on hobbies as a great deal of our time is taken up by visiting our DD who has severe disabilities. I do self study - languages - to keep my brain active and also love gardening in the summer months. DH is a bit of a gamer 🤣 so we are never bored plus I love keeping our home immaculate and being a bit of a 50's housewife 😁. DH does a lot of batch cooking for himself - things I couldn't eat - we have two huge chest freezers in our garage - and I always bake on Friday afternoons.

I don't know where we found the time to work before retirement 😂.

Well IF you are happy to manage on this level of outgoings 2 x full state pensions WILL more than cover this lifestyle. If you can save into a private pension or ISA, that can cover the gap between stopping work and SP kicking in.

Really interesting thread. I definitely would if I could and have it in my mind.

@Otins did the IFA hve useful advice, I've never used one.

I see a lot of people have actually done it. Does anyone have a guideline of how much they wanted in the bank or in savings etc before they would consider this? It's only me to consider in my case.

people mentioning losing loved ones in 40s and 50s, that really resonates.

As well as a couple of colleagues who were so excited to retire in their 60s and then had ill-health and died shortly after. That's very thought-provoking.

I think how much you need will vary quite a lot from situation to situation. First of all I would start with seeing what you spend month by month and work out what you are spending now. Remember to include longer term things like work on house, selling fees if might sell house, if you drive car, also health / nursing home can be a longer term one to plan for. Then consider inflation and interest rates in future and life expectancy makes a big difference - I worked on average life expectancy as that is what the females in my family generally have but since I've had cancer so that its likely to be shorter than average. I worked out an essentials figure which is basically similar to current spending with inflation adjustments taking out costs you wouldn't have if retired like work travel but also add in activities. Then I added in holidays and work on house and worked out a plan for health. Also read round estimates of what is said is needed from Which etc and consider that. And also consider how your money is invested and regularly review savings accounts. I use an Excel file for all my planning and did it for several years before I went for it. Consider also where you live for later in life if health goes or partner dies if that applies and also consider if in a couple impact of if you weren't as one died. And if you have children things like uni fees are high. Its worth getting pension forecasts as well.

I'm 54 and have planned for years to allow me to take my pension early at 55. I semi retired 2 years ago and have at last found 'me' again after many years of stressful full time work with three children. They are all adults now and our mortgage is paid off so this is our time to enjoy time with our friends and family and we are embracing it in the knowledge that (from experience) you never know what is around the corner!

I find IFAs are interested in investing your ££ but not so good at working out how much money you need.

The key to working out how much is enough for YOU is to know your outgoings and know how they might change. You can make a spreadsheet of annual outgoings and incomings and work out how you might ‘drip’ your savings/ pension pot back to meet your outgoings. It’s different for everyone but the method is the same.

I think semi retirement might be the answer. As you are self employed could you do say 3 months on 3 months off for then next year or so and see how you find it?

I'm mid 50's and so bored if I'm honest. Dh still working.. we go away a fair bit. Was volunteering part time but not enjoying it.. can't wait till he retires.

Thankfully i have been putting every single piece of expenditure into budgeting software for 10+ years so i know exactly how much I spend and on what, and I can pull off many many different reports and play with the figures.

I know what is essential spending, what is living costs, how much spent larger but one off costs eg house improvements, what is car purchase V car running costs, food, leisure, holidays, health, personal, etc etc etc

I’m probably a bit too nerdy about it - but I love having the knowledge , and if I have an expensive month I rein it in for a few weeks.

I spent an hour or so a week entering all the info in and tracking everything.

My IFA is getting a bit bored of me saying “…and what if I need £x a month from now til 70, and £y a month from 75-80 and £z a month from 80 onwards….how long will my money last - but I keep changing the £ and ages to see how it affects the bottom line. Eg running out at 78 or still having 6 figures left at aged 100. Thankfully she’s got a good programme her end to do just this allowing for investment growth / inflation etc.

I have a meeting tomorrow to go through the last set of figures which look highly possible to me.

I was sort of doing this for the last couple of years, and then last year I took a salaried p/t role (3 days a week) in a similar field, thinking that would probably be my last job. But I hate the job.

@Chewbecca "I find IFAs are interested in investing your ££ but not so good at working out how much money you need"

This is why I've never seen one! To be honest, once the mortgage is gone, my investments would - at current interest rates - more than cover my expenses and leave some left over. I don't spend much socialising either.

I think a lot of us approaching 50 don't see casual dining as a norm, for example.

There was a very good thread in the money section with a guy saying that paying for things like coffee to take to work absolutely horrified him. I'm very much the same.

so I can't really see any extra expenses being incurred after retirement. And I might finally finish writing my novel! In theory, I'd be interested in doing a Masters, but in practice it is just far too expensive. Easier to get the reading list for the course and go through it at leisure and for the pleasure of reading.

so I've already priced things up. But one of the big fears is if I leave the workplace at 50 and need to go back, will I be able to or is rampant ageism going to be a problem there?

But I am often curious about the amount of money that people have for retirement pre-pension. The media articles that you get are often based on things like holidays, gift buying and they generally assume that you are a couple with children.