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 .

I've successfully dropped a day and managed to reduce my workload. I'm a primary teacher and now have no class responsibilities but cover 3 different classes so I just plan those lessons.

I don't have to do parents evenings, write reports, don't deal with parents much.

I leave school as soon as I possibly can and don't offer to do anything extra anymore.

My mind set has changed and I'm just constantly counting down the days until I can go....which will be soon.

Yes-retired from teaching at 57. I’d been part time for a lot of my career so my pension is only £650 pm. But added to the p/t job I now have which isn’t well paid but is very flexible, I can make it work. We’re v fortunate to have paid off our mortgage and to have some rental income and my husbands pension and salary coming in though. Leaving a stressful job was the best decision ever.

I was the teaching headteacher of a very small Welsh school. I taught all the juniors in my class, four days a week, I did dinner duty, playground duty, answered the phone in the afternoons when I couldn't afford a secretary and dealt with the infant teacher who was useless and a completely manipulative b*h!

My F* you moment was when government decided that I also had to offer a before and after school club, including breakfast. I took early retirement at the end of the next term, giving up a quarter of my pension to do so. I never regretted it as my health was suffering from the workload and stress already, and I had those extra five years to travel and enjoy life with my husband, who I lost two years ago.

My sister is retired and on every committee in her village, community council, goes to 3 choirs etc etc and is always asking me what I do with my time. I fill my days very nicely with meeting friends for coffees and lunches, reading and walking .

I second the PP who said she makes a cup of tea and takes it back to bed. That's me too. The feeling of being liberated from having to do stuff is well worth it.

My pension is enough for us to live on (OH still working) and I haven't touched my lump sum payment in 2 years. I've got all the material stuff and clothes I will ever need and having less money far outweighs going to work.

My mother was lucky enough to retire from teaching at 60, get her teaching pension, Old Age pension and a small pension from my dad's work. I couldn't face the thought (nor would I have been physically able) of still teaching at 67.

Absolutely yes!

I was running my own business - franchise - but my earnings had halved during the latter few years due to internet sales.

DH retired at 59 - he is 5 years older than me - and kept pestering me to do the same but of course I was nervous about losing my earnings and no SP until I was 66. (Thankfully I have 2 private pensions which would keep me going.)

The parent company was wanting franchisees to use social media more and more which definitely wasn't my thing and then one evening I was sat up until midnight as one of our suppliers was on the verge of going bust unless they received their new license before midnight. (Many of my clients would have been affected.) It finally arrived at 1135pm and after heaving a massive sight of relief I decided I was no longer earning enough to warrant this level of stress.

Retired 3 months later and have never looked back! 👍

I had it this year. That’s why I am retiring next year. I’m 50. I just don’t enjoy it any more. I’ll have four years before I can draw on a pension but we will be able to manage until then.

My husband had his a couple of years ago at the end of covid and retired six months later. He got covid very badly right at the start and because his work was piling up he went back against his doctor’s wishes, then worked his arse off all the way through. At the end of it all he just had had enough.

Yep! Had it my fuck it moment last month. Absolutely sick and tired of the corporate bullshit and more and more work being piled on causing more and more stress. Had a meeting with the FA who said "What are you waiting for?" so gave my notice and retiring at Christmas at 55. Can. Not. Wait.

Posters saying why not just reduce your hours - depends why you are feeling like thi sin teh first place. If I reduced my hours Im pretty sure my workload would stay the same, I’m still “tied” , I still have to do all the ridiculous corporate bullshit, I still have to sit near Farting Man etc.

It’s those sort of things that grind you down and take all the sunshine out of your soul.

Exactly that. I work 4 days and I still want out.

I’ve had people suggest I reduce my hours.

same for me I’d do same for me but for less money.
I’d still have all the annoying people.

It would just be prolonging the pain. In 2 years I’ll have full pension contributions although I won’t be able to access it for another 2,years after that, in 2 years I’ll re evaluate

I still have to sit near Farting Man etc.

OMG @Sidebeforeself, how long have you had to endure that?

I couldn't cope with that for a single day. How on earth do you get that addressed at work? That's absolutely horrific.

That is true actually! I compressed and slightly reduced my hours to get an extra day off each week but did the same amount of work for a bit less money!

I’m not able to retire yet but I am leaving for a hopefully less stressful post, back up to full time but don’t think that will make a difference.

This is a really interesting thread, it’s made me even more determined to keep saving so I can give up work if I choose to in a few years time.

I have reached this point at 59. I told my manager last week that I wanted to resign and she asked me to take till Monday to think about it. I just don't want the stress anymore. Work has got to the point where it is taking all of my energy. I have always been so committed sometimes to the detriment of my family but that has just gone. I've seen some colleagues be treated appallingly and that has just made it seem like I have wasted my loyalty. I want my life back. So I will be saying yep I meant it. Some of these posts have resonated so much. My friend has dementia, I noticed it when she was 58. At 63 she is in care. As a pp said enjoy life while you can.

Yes, I retired at the age of 55. 20 months on and I don’t know how I ever had time to work. Best decision ever made.

I feel the same. Workload relentless, colleagues don't pull their weight ( possibly because they are ready to go too ? I've seen 3 ( albeit facebook friends ) die from cancer within 3 months this year all in their early sixties. I just wish I could quit now but really don't have enough savings behind me to do it. The thought of facing another week of it is ruining my weekend already !

Yes every day, but alas I'm only 39. My boss and his wife just retired both early 50s, I'm super jealous as il never be in that position. If you can afford it do it. My mum counted down to her retirement for two years, ended up getting diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year and died 11 days before she was due her retirement. Life is for living so if you are able to, go for it!

Some of us can reduce our hours. In my job there was no such thing as a flexible contract - you worked for a set number of days and nobody could change that. Obviously others are not so fortunate.

I saw colleagues reduce their hours from full time down to part time by dropping a day and all that happened was their remaining hours just got spread over five days all sorts of different starting times . They were better off just staying full time. There was nothing they could do because their contracts were flexible. I saw some of my colleagues in tears as they thought they would be working a three day week, management played along for a few weeks then changed their hours to suit the needs of the business. Companies are ruthless.

Several people suggested that my husband eased himself into retirement by switching to a four or three day week. It sounds like a good idea but his job had no set working hours so he knew he would just end up doing the same amount of work for less pay. He’d seen it happen to colleagues in the past.

@User1836484645R I am sorry to be the one to tell you but the age you can take workplace pensions is rising from 55 to 57 from 2028. You need to factor this in to your plans urgently.

@TidydeskTidymind He has no shame. Luckily I only need to go in two days a week and I had already decided to leave before he joined.

He needs to just quietly quit .

Thanks for the warning but it doesn’t apply if you have a protected pension age. Luckily I have.

This might not apply to @User1836484645R but I'm guessing some people who are planning retirement soon are reading this thread! If you're in the TPS in both NPA60 Final Salary and NPA67 Career Average, the regulations are currently unclear how the change to early retirement age will affect the latter. (I might possibly have been looking into all this lately...)

Interesting thread.

I quit my frontline NHS job 15 months ago, aged 60. My team in 6 years went from 100% western trained to 100% 3rd world trained, & every day was firefighting their incompetence, abetted by a 'nothing to see here!' attitude. I tried to quiet quit but I just couldn't stand by and watch them screwing up and potentially harming patients.

The final straw was my 8C manager siding with a fraudulently qualified middle manager who I'd actually just saved from making the biggest mistake of his career. He openly lied. She knew it. So I quit.

This seems to be quite a common theme, 'Enough of this shite!'

From the day I handed my notice in, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I hadn't realised how angry I was at how a great team of competent, dedicated individuals had been decimated by wilfully incompetent management, professionally undermining me. They're under independent 'cultural review' right now, the 8C desperately looking for another job 🤭

DH and I did the maths so we were able to stop; he quit at 62. He plays ukulele, goes to the gym 3x a week, reads and walks. I, however, started a bank HCP job, wanting 1 day a week but it's getting towards 3 days, now, they are a bit dependent on me 😬, but it pays well and I can quit whenever I want.

I do worry that I'm not good at structuring my days, and my get up and go got up and went when I hit menopause, sadly; both DCs live at home, 25/23, eldest in a good job, youngest facing some MH difficulties so I think our current situation will continue for a while yet.

But knowing I can walk away from work is a good feeling.