Join me in a 2026 retirement countdown

[loveawineloveacrisp]

Next year is the year I'm going to hang up my corporate boots and retire and I can't wait. I'll be 57 and I want to finish just before Christmas, none of that arguing over who's going to cover the Christmas period nonsense.

Not really sure when I should let my boss know. I'm on 3 months notice so I guess that's plenty of time.

Anyone care to join me in a countdown?

I've found that return to work dread has got worse as retirement is closer to hand, good luck managing that!

@dudsville the saving grace is I'm only back for just over 3 weeks before I'm away on holiday again.

We've just come back from my first proper holiday since retiring. It was so strange knowing I was coming back to not having to go to work.

I’ve never wished away the days so much as I have these last few weeks. Just over 2 months to go (can’t leave any earlier or I don’t get the voluntary redundancy package that’ll see me through to SP)

Im a bit worried that I’m so psychologically invested in looking forward to retirement that it might inevitably be a bit of a let down when I finally get there!

@damekindness it is not a let down once you get there! There maybe a slight wtf moment, but it’s easily dealt with by having a cuppa and a ten minute sit down.

If retirement is in anyway disappointing, then you aren’t going it right. (Caveat: there is no ‘one’ right way, it’s whatever brings you peace and happiness!)

Edited to say I follow this thread as I love reading about peoples retirwment plans.

I unfortunately still have 2 years to go but have been investing/saving/prepping for years.

I downloaded a widget today on my phones home page which counts down the days.....I have 762 days.....i

I'm late to the party, but will definitely join you. Timings are the same, leaving at Christmas this year. I will have a week or so holidays remaining, so probably last day on 18th Dec! OH leaving at the same time. I'm slightly nervous already about handing in my notice, 3 month needed, but i'll let them know mid August to give them a bit of time to sort out a replacement.
I'm really looking forward to getting fat over Christmas and then hibernating till spring!

I don’t want to bring down the mood on this lovely optimistic thread but is anyone else going to be reliant on Capita for their pension?

Yes @rockstarshoes
I notified them in January that I wanted to claim my pension from the start of June and still no response. 'Luckily', in my case, it isn't going to be a large pension and we're not dependent on it, but some people obviously will be caused real hardship.

I’ve been in the NHS over 30 years and considering retirement next year (55) alternative would be dropping a day (3 days to 2 days). Has anyone done this? Not sure if it is a financially sensible idea or if I should stay on 3 days until retirement day. I might be tempted to work a few more years if only 2 days.

No, why?

I finished at 54, currently on a 6.5 month holiday. I’ll decide what to do about work when I’m back in the UK late summer. I absolutely don’t need to work, so also considering some easy PT work with a company that I’d like discount from. E.g. M&S Waitrose, or a hotel chain like Marriott.

I had a countdown for years! I loved it. I think I started at 10 or 9 years. Somehow, watching the countdiwn made the time go quicker, I was no longer just looking at this date in the distant future.

Even though my retirement is still several months away, I'm just now starting to feel a little boost from the decision. Maybe it won't last, but I didn't wake up with dread this morning if how I'm going to last in my time until my last day. There's so much crap that I just won't have to deal with soon. Also leaving around the holidays is brilliant for those of us wanting to evade a leaving do. The work christmas party, Christmas and New Year will all take up most of everyone's reserve cash and social diary, fabulous excuse not to burden with another thing!

Just catching up on the thread, congrats to the most recent retirees. I’m two weeks in now and it’s great so far. No Sunday scaries! I am slightly overwhelming myself with thinking about plans so my latest plan is to stop planning and just ‘be’ for a bit!

I’ve also downloaded a countdown app - 353 days to go! Currently on the first day of a two week holiday in the Canaries and considering that this time next year I could maybe be here for a much longer holiday!

Also, like others, am finding that I feel so much better in myself having made the decision and having a date to aim for.

My desktop countdown is now down to 380 days, but I am trying to work out if I can reduce it even further. I am so far beyond checked out it isn't funny! I do the bare minimum and spend far too much time on MN.

I posted upthread about asking them to rebenchmark my salary. They have decided to overhaul the entire job architecture and I will be being moved off a scientific path onto a management one, after 17+ years working towards where I am at, which has monumentally pissed me off. I am still trying to unpick the line between it just being a title change and a fundamental role change. If the latter, I will push for redundancy.

Spoke with our financial planner a couple of weeks back. He is onboard with the plans we have made and said it was viable for me to leave any time I want. Aim is next April earliest, to get one more bonus, one more share vesting...

This time last year I was on the homeward stretch in my countdown to the end of the school year. My last working day was 17th July but officially it was 31st August (last day of the school holidays). Those last few weeks were torturous- I didn't want to be there at all. I was so bored.

But it did fly by.

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this weird phenomenon. I know I want to retire, and I really know my reasons for this. The reasons are good, valid, adn this hasn't been an impulsive decision by any stretch of the imagination. However, it is a good job in many respects, coveted, there will be a lot of competition for it when I go... and this is making me see it as the shiny thing that it is, even though I don't want it. It's like I've managed to acquire a gucci handbag or something when I really don't like gucci, but giving it away is feeling a little weird. Anyone else have moments like this?

I made a list of pros and cons for retiring. I told myself I didn't have to stop working, I just needed to change HOW I worked. I needed to make my work choices my own and not dictated by a boss. Next week I've been offered 3 days supply at a tough school, in a tough class that I've taught in before. Yes the extra money would be nice but I refused, I don't want the stress.

My choice.

Yes, 100%. My job is fully remote apart from occasional travel. I have nice colleagues and a nice boss. I was thrilled when I got this job just over a year ago and past me would have killed for a job like this. It's well paid. Am I mad to give it up?!

@loveawineloveacrisp I think if you're thinking like that, then no.

I couldn't WAIT to leave my job and retire, it was all I thought about for months. I hated being there. I had great colleagues, 13 weeks holiday a year but I couldn't have worked there another day longer.

I think if you're questioning about retiring then you aren't really ready.

Interesting @loveawineloveacrisp !@loveawineloveacrisp ! And it's hard to explain, but for me it isn't doubt @BG2015 . I have a highly prized thing but I don't want it. I'm having a hard time finding another equivalent like the Gucci handbag. It's like I've come to have Balmoral, or a Tesla, but I have zero wish to have these things.

The holiday allowance is a bit of a bugbear to be honest. I don't get as much as I'd like because I'm quite new. I'm just TIRED all of the time! I don't sleep well a lot of the time and it would be so nice to roll over and go back to sleep some mornings. And I'm finding it increasingly difficult to care about any of it.

2 months to go…I’m currently finding work a bit like having a partner you’ve grown apart from, not sure you even like anymore and you’ve agreed to a divorce but you have to carry on till you sell the house