I finally did it - retirement is happening

[BG2015]

Teaching since 1996. Loved my job.

Breast cancer in 2021, now in remission but my job isn't bringing me any enjoyment anymore.

Downsized and paid off my mortgage this year, first time in my life I've had no debt and have actual substantial savings!

Decided to retire next summer, I'll be 56 and 6 months. Told my head teacher today, gave him the heads up early as our budget is tight and losing me will help him out somewhat. Plus now it's real.

Felt little emotion other than relief.

Congratulations. New beginnings. I retired a month ago and it's fabulous

Luckily I worked in local government (social services) before I became a teacher so I was able to move that pension over to my TP which gave it a slight boost. It's not great but it will be enough to live on.

I've been living off what will be my pension amount for a few months now and saving the rest so I know I can do it. It's just the extras holidays, weekends away, theatre, gigs etc that I need a bit of extra money for.

I also changed my mindset a bit too and have stopped buying 'stuff' randomly and really think about things before I buy them.

Oh would love to do this. Didn't factor in the costs of kids at uni so won't be able to retire until at least 62 and then most likely be supporting them for a bit longer if friends are anything to go by.

Oh my goodness OP your story literally mirrors mine! Early retirement from teaching after breast cancer and downsizing.
I’ve been enjoying my TP for 2 years now and a separate pension from a former job.
edit to say I was 55 when I retired.
I spent the first year on holidays and started some volunteer work while deciding what I wanted to pursue.
I now work three mornings in a community hub (so more holiday spends) and I tutor and run a small charity too! So not exactly retirement 😅 but doing things I love. Honestly it’s the best feeling!
We spent a big chunk of my lump sum on some incredible holidays and treated our adult children which has been an absolute joy.
Congratulations on your big life change. Enjoy every second!

Congrataulations - Voluntaray severance was on offer at my firm, did some financial calcs to make sure I could live (make sure you can do the same !!)
Not regretted it one bit. Enjoy...

If retiring and having to be more careful financially, have you thought of house swapping for holidays? We do it and it’s great.

Interesting! Are you registered with a website or something - please recommend!

We are registered with Guardian Home Exchange and have some lovely swaps in the UK. We have received enquiries from people wanting to swap in Europe and Australia so may look at Europe next year.

We love it so worth taking a look.

Congratulations! I hope you love it!

I’ve recently ‘unofficially’ retired too. I made my mind up recently whilst going for an interview and realising I just don’t want to do this anymore. I had to fill out a section of the form on why I’d be good for the job and I couldn’t muster up any enthusiasm for selling myself. I went back home and started activating a couple of work pensions I was eligible for. I have no mortgage and my outgoings are very low (around £350 a month not including food). It’s another few years before I get state pension.

I’m not going to be looking for PT work or volunteering for at least a year as I don’t want any commitments at all for a while. Since being in the workplace since 1979 and bringing up children alone and caring for an elderly parent I’m giving myself 100% of my time to myself for a change.

@BG2015 Many congrats to you! A sparkly new chapter of your life.

You've definitely done your time, well done.

I retired from teaching in a school in December 2019 at the age of 50, after 27 years of practice.

I now have a home tutoring business which I love. I get to teach without all the BS.
And because it's for school-aged children, I get my days free.

As another poster mentioned, I might have to get another job when our 2 younger DCs are at Uni....that or live off beans on toast for a few years!

Also @BG2015 thanks for the info on Read Easy, I'd like to get involved with something like that.

I'm so envious I could explode! Good luck.

Congratulations! I hope you have a wonderful retirement.

Congrats. I finished in July and at the moment feel as those I have been bunking. I booked a September break and we really enjoyed it. I have been approached about working in school on a part time basis but I don’t think I could go back to all the form tutor / report writing / marking class sets of homework again. I feel a lot happier and a lot less stressed than I have in years, teaching does drain you as terms are so full on.

Just enjoy the countdown to last set of parents evenings, last Christmas concert, last exam etc. You will feel the stress easing away.

Congratulations. I've decided this is going to be my last year full time teaching. I am a SENCO and completely overwhelmed atm. I will ask for three days. I am 60 so have withdrawn from tps final salary and shoved the lump sum in premium bonds. If the head doesn't agree to me going part time then I think I may stop and do exam invigilation and cover.

Congratulations BG2015 - I’m on a countdown to retirement myself! I’ve been in teaching since 1986. Currently a HT. I could have retired at 55 back in 2019 as MF on our home and we have investments in rental properties that pay for themselves and give us top up on our monthly income but I love the job and I certainly wasn’t mentally prepared to retire though. I’ve recently taken over a new school at the request of the new academy trust CEO having been in my last school for 21 years! I’ve told them that I’m doing the job to transform the school for 2 years and then I’ll retire in August or December 2026 when I’ll be 61/62.

Selling the house we’ve been in since 1991 - just waiting for the legalities to go through and we’re buying what we plan to be our forever home… a doer upper bungalow!! Decided to do this now so we have an income whilst we do it as we will have to move into one of our rental properties for a temp basis!! Luckily one of our tenants have decided to move on so we don’t need to pay a landlord….. just cover the mortgage ourselves which brings cost down!

Plan to travel and spend time with family. May get a part time job though after a couple years off!

Congratulations on your decision. I feel so grateful to have been able to retire 12 months ago at 59 from a very pressured job. It's given me the headspace to finally make some inroads to improving health and fitness (lost a lot of weight slowly and sensibly, widened my cooking repertoire & joined the gym) and have been more proactive about my hobby before I'm too old to do it. In theory I could have done all this whilst working but work just sapped me. Looking back I wonder why I allowed it to dominate life so much. Like others have said, I wouldn't worry too much about finding new things straight away and creating structure etc. Take your time to discover who the ex-teacher you is. Good luck!

Well done you! Have a lovely, well- earned retirement 😀

Thank you everyone.

It's definitely the right decision.

I semi-retired last year and have just started my second year 2 days a week at the same school. It's a perfect balance for me.
However, I'm wondering how many teachers there are who don't realise that you can take your fs pension at (or around) 60 and still carry on working if you want to. There are a couple of rules to follow but it's very do-able.

I think there are probably many, many 60 year old teachers working away not realising they could take their pension (not lose anything) and still continue working. I do believe however that any 60+ teacher that applies for their pension would get it backdated.

My motivation to leaving teaching is because I've lost all love for the job. I don't want to work in education anymore.

I need to do something entirely different.

@BG2015 Where have you got that information from? I'm interested because it could apply to a friend of mine.

I'm on the Facebook Teacher Pensions- Teachers to Teachers UK!

Loads of teachers happily working away into their 60's paying into their PENSION not realising that they could be taking their NPA 60 teachers pension (which is now frozen) until they join the group.

I'm also a member of that group and the information on there is invaluable. But I must have missed the bit about being able to back-date fs payments. I will investigate further.