Did anyone else have a "fuck it, I'm retiring" moment?

[MrsMoastyToasty]

I'm in my late 50s, mortgage paid off, have worked since the age of 18. I'm so close to jacking my job my job in .

Yup went at 54. Now studying psychotherapy and making craft gin on the side. Never looked back. Corporate life is draining and not for everyone. Freedom to plan your day, do things you want to do and take things at a slower pace is fantastic.

I left work at 56 having started at 14. Within a year I was helping to care for a friend's baby.

20 years later she is still here.

I didn’t know that, thank you for clarifying.

So people ever worry about being lonely?

Wake up late, get a cuppa and sit in my cosy bed with the radio on, listening to the rain lashing down: bliss!

about 3 years ago. I nearly died, in fact if my husband had not have insisted of taking me to the emerg room in Canada, I would not have made the night according to my amazing surgeon. 3 weeks in hospital, 10 of the days in ICU. got out and went back to running my restaurant , yes covid time. My a. dmit day was April 1. We finally travelled to our happy place in dominican republic in september for our anniversary.. went home to canada and oct, my husbands best friends wife called me, he was in hospital in dominican, and not expected to make it, he was on life support , we were on a flight about 12 hours later and the idiot pulled thru 10 days later while we stood and he was taken off lifesupport. He is still ill..but that was the day that we said FUCK IT. went home, put my restaurant for sale, put our house and cars for sale, and as soon as our home sold he put in his retirement notice at work... almost 2 years later with both our canadian standard poodles, this belfast girl and her canadian husband live here in punta cana at now 57 years old and do not regret a single minute. Life is short

I didn’t choose to retire but was forced to at 66 (sensitive subject and largely justified on my employer’s part.) Although it didn’t seem it at the time, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me but I am financially secure. I don’t miss work one bit and have a wonderful, rewarding life doing what I want (mostly.)
If income isn’t an issue and you’ve had enough, go for it.

Yes, a huge F**k it moment. I emailed my manager with three months notice for retirement and I have never looked back. I have been retired three years and have not regretted a minute of it.

We are 56 and this month was our last mortgage payment. We aren't quite at the no debt phase yet - another 6 months for us - but from January we are going through drastic changes. I am currently employed (22 hrs a week but do loads of overtime) - I currently have a Wednesday off but from January am taking Mondays too. DH is self employed and from January is taking a Friday off (we have a new dog so taking these 3 days off a week works well for him). Me having a Monday off means we can do weekends away easily.

By August next year we will have paid off our secured loan and will have no debt so at the start DH is going to take Mondays off as well so we will both work 3 days per week.

I dont want to jump into not working as we are both very busy at work but I'm looking forward to this softly, softly approach to cutting down on our hours. I am hoping by 2027,when we are both 58 we will just be working 2 days per week and working towards full retirement.

Pretty sure we can say Rushi Sunak.
Why didn't he wait until November?

Things would only have gotten better. Interest rates down.
Maybe he would have seen the first Rwanda flights. European countries taking increasing anti immigrant policies

But, he had increasing disruptive conservative challenges..
So I think he said to himself, WTF, if we're going to loose in November anyway, I'm leaving now.

I'm doing a bit of a compromise. Just accepted a job that pays less but will be lots of fun and 'gives back' to the community. Will keep me busy for a few more years. I feel I've earned the right to work with people I like and I no longer give a shit about climbing the career ladder. It's very liberating.

3 years ago when I was 56. Made decision on long drive home, discussed with husband and handed notice in the next day. 3 months later I was free and shortly after we moved to Portugal.
Feel 10 years younger than I did when I was working, sleep so much better as not fretting about work things at 2am. Love not waking up to an alarm and being able to sit in bed with a cup of tea and no immediate pressure.
Life is pretty busy with various things but not being tied down to a stressful job is priceless.

Interested in why you topped up his SIPP and not your pension?

Yes at 59. My department relocated to the city centre. Management planned that there would be many changes at the same time as the move. My favourite was no white boards.
I had a mother with dementia who I cared for and a daughter in six form on the other side of town.
Staying made no sense

Every damned day. I'm 62 worked full time NHS since I was 18. I'm sick to the back teeth of it. I'd financially planned to retire at 60 when my twat of a husband ran off with some woman.
Now I have to keep going until 67 or 68.
I'm knackered and worn out completely.

I loved my job & couldn't imagine anything worse than retiring.
Then a 6 months ago my boss changed my working environment & moved me into an office where I can no longer do my job effectively. I feel thoroughly fed up & plan to retire at Christmas. I will miss many of my colleagues but not the rudeness of some people I deal with & the lack of respect from my boss.

I don't have much of a pension pot but my dh is keen for me to retire. I am 62. Looking forward to losing the anxiety knot in my stomach.

What a wanker. You will get there and think how glorious your Monday mornings will be! X

Yes and I did .I was sick to death of bad management. Managers who had been in the industry 5 minutes telling us who had decades of experience how to do our jobs.
After one particularly unfair telling off I said that's it and retired. I didn't need the job. I had inherited some money from my father .My husband was retired on a good pension so I thought sod it I'm off.,

Yes I did at 61. I was mortgage free and both adult DC had left home. House too big for me and Dcat so decided to downsize. At the time I fully intended to carry on working. However once I had moved and found that the equity reIeassed from my house sale and my two small workplace pensions were enough to live on until I get my state pension I decided to pack in work.
I have several disabilities but am currently still able to enjoy life by getting out and about in small ways. I have no idea how long I will be able to do so. I am so glad I made the decision.

Money is nice but time is precious. I had my fuck it moment in the summer and decided I'd had enough of working.. One more month then I'm free. I'm 63.

I have a million things I want to do/join/see. Can't wait.

Okay, but what if people retire early, live a long time and run out of money? Is it really necessary to do zero paid work in order to have a holiday or enjoy life
? Many people could reduce hours instead of retiring completely.

I was feeling increasingly knackered by work about 18 months ago (love my job and colleagues, but it is full on!) Colleague and friends in same line of work had semi-retired, so I looked into doing the same.

I was able to take my workplace pension a bit early (aged 59) and have been working 3 days a week for coming up to a year, earning about the same in total as I was full-time!

This is 100% me at the age of 54. Had a lightbulb moment around 6 months ago and have quiet quit. Hoping for redundancy which would enable me to retire.

It suddenly dawned on me a few years ago that, with a bit of careful planning, I could retire in 9 years time. Don't know why it didn't occur to me, I think you just see work as something that you 'have to do' with no real end in sight. I've now got 6.5 years left and I'm really looking forward to hanging up my work boots

@GreenTeaLikesMe I reduced my hours to 80% and still have a full time workload. Employers take the piss and that's what many of us are utterly fed up with.