Early Retirement

Best thing I ever did.
Big drop in earnings although I'd planned for it and had enough savings to cover the shortfall.
I vividly remember the first morning I awoke after retiring and lying thinking how great it was not to have to get up.
Never bored.

Best thing I ever did.
Enjoy life while you still can.

Seriously thinking about it, 2 bereavements to close friends have made me take stock

too late for me wd be nice but keep busy i should imagine the key

You get round to all the things you keep putting off.
rarely make plans for anything.
Wake up and it's a nice day me and the missus go somewhere, wherever we fancy.
plenty of walking which I enjoy as does our dog. Everybody happy.

Still not enough hours in the day. The difference is no stress and no deadlines, just doing the things I want to do.
You have to have interests outside of your work and if you are thinking of early retirement you probably have.
I've seen people cling to their job well past retirement age and have to be levered off with a crowbar. These are usually people with no other interests. They become miserable and bored and often die soon afterwards.

lifes too short to be working to make someone else rich....

How old are you f1sh? I'm 51 and considering packing up at 57, unless circumstances change.

im 66 packed up work in 1981

I packed in work at 55 but have recently gone back after 5 years to doing a couple of nights a week for a bit of extra money.I know for sure I'll never make it betting.

At the moment I'm quite enjoying it but if I was richer or better at this betting lark I wouldn't have gone back.

I'm lucky enough to have retired when 38. I'd seen enough peeps work their bollóxs off and never get to enjoy retirement..

your right there

38 !!!!
well done guinness nice one

I wanna retire about 3 oclock.  And thinking about it those last 10 minutes would still be hell.

7 years ago when aged 45

If you work hard until the age of 40 you will never have to work again.

stopped at 49.

Best thing I ever did, too. Had the chance of redundancy at 47 and took it. However it would have been a grave mistake if Betfair hadn't come along a few years later. I would probably have been selling the Big Issue. Make sure you can afford it. I really couldn't but got lucky.

well done Kenny Mann, I had to leave before getting redundancy unfortunately...would have stopped 5 years earlier but kept hoping for payoffs and finally just left

49.5 finish (June 2003); add me to the 'best thing I ever did' list

I beat you by 2 years LFC.

Actually one drawback if you can call it that, is that I still have to work earn money on Betfair, although I don't see it as work of course, as my work's pension is fairly meagre, having drawn it at 50.

Just about to look into whether I can take my works pension with the new regulations, 55 now, its a final salary scheme so not sure.

My 'works' pension with AVC would be lump sum plus £200/month.. riches.. NOT!
Think it thru carefully f1sh!
(This thread has been done before if anyone can diggit out the archives)

Iam inclined to take the pension now if the sums add, when younger I was very good at planning long term ..not so now.

I reckon there are fewer people who retired early, are poor and regret it than people who…….

died before they got to retirement age.

61 Stow, so not that long really, thinking of doing something a bit less stressful about 2/3 days a week, all this new malarkey with pensions I could have done at 55 the way my private ones are written up, anyone done the figures, but I suppose everyone's circumstances are different

61 Stow, so not that long really, thinking of doing something a bit less stressful about 2/3 days a week, all this new malarkey with pensions I could have done at 55 the way my private ones are written up, anyone done the figures, but I suppose everyone's circumstances are different

Costs nowt to ask for a figure fish.