Am I too young to retire?

[MillieMoo1731]

I am a female in her early 50's, who has always worked. I had my first part~time job at 15 and continued to work at this throughout college. I've never been out of work, made redundant or taken maternity leave and at one point, had 2 jobs to keep myself afloat. I took a promotion which helped my husband to make a career change which financially, has worked out well 5 years on. Both of my parents died unexpectedly last year, leaving us financially secure. I am yearning to give up work, I feel that I have had my fill of working and want to retire before I'm too old to do some of the things I want to do but also not run myself into the ground working. When I mention this, people look at me as if I'm bonkers, sighting that I have a good job, am in good health and would be bored. I'm not sure my husband takes me seriously either although says he will support me. I would love to have the time to properly sort our house out, maybe do some voluntary work or work part~time in a role with less responsibility. Am I being selfish to want this?

The OP says in her first post that both her parents died and left her financially secure.

No kids and an inheritance from the OP's case?

I think part-time for a while is a good option. I've done so since aged 55 (one day less), has worked out well for me.

If you can afford it then you can do it. It's no one else's business. I'd probably go part time in the less responsible job as you consider in your OP. personally I'd go mad not working/home caring for small kids I need fulfilment but people get that in all sorts of different ways

I don't get the people who assure you that you'll be bored and listless if you don't go out to work every day. I'm sure that there are plenty of people for whom their job istheir life/identity, and maybe also their social hub too - but there are loads of us (especially introverts) for whom that simply isn't true in the least.

I agree. I retired a week before my 64th birthday, and I'm loving it. I still do a little (very little) casual work, and next year I will look at joining in some acivities but I gave myself the rest of this year to just do nothing at all. The days just fly by (I do a lot of walking so I'm not sitting at home all day), and the last time I actually worked - which was only for 4.5 hours - I was bored senseless. I only ever worked to live, and while I used to think I would work past retirement age once I had a taste of freedom five years ago (voluntary redundancy) there is no way I was going to work in future if I didn't have to.

Go for it OP.

Having had two friends recently retire in their mid/late 60's only to be diagnosed with serious illness months later absolutely do it now if you can afford it. Life is short, none of us know what is around the corner so make the best of things while you can.

@MillieMoo1731 My advice is to phase yourself into retirement but make sure you are financially secure.

Phasing is about reducing hours but also working out what to do with the extra time. For example drop a day e.g. Wednesday and on that day do something new or do a hobby, don’t use it for housework, admin tasks etc. After a year/ 2 years drop to 3 days and again use the day to build your retirement life.

Financially, check your state pension forecast https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension, this will let you know how many more years for a full state pension. You can pay voluntary contributions to top up missing years.

Look at your work/personal pensions and what your pensions will be if you take them early (actuarily reduction) or at normal pension age.

Work out your living costs to make sure you know what level of income you need.

Look at blogs and online forums for FIRE ( Financial Independence Retire Early), it can be radical but there are also helpful tips.