Anyone here had a “F*** IT” moment that led to retirement?

Yes- I decided that my life wasn’t my work and I was sick of the exploitation so I announced my retirement. Of course they begged and pleaded with me to stay but that made me even more determined. Never regretted it for one nanosecond! Retire whilst you are still fit and healthy and you will never look back.

Yes, I took extended, unpaid leave from my job to take care of my mum, then my dad, when they were ill. After the inevitable happened, I had a 'F* it!' moment, and decided that I'd had enough of working and being answerable to other people. I wanted time for ME! I decided not to return to work, and retired at the age of 52. It was the best thing I've ever done!

Poor DH is ten years behind me having his 'F* it!' moment, but he's finally decided he's had enough, and he's about to retire in the next few months, at the age of 62 ... HOORAH!

Never use that word

I left full-time work at 57, if that counts? I still work part-time for half the year (not salaried - consultancy) so I’m still economically active, but my time is largely my own.

The decision to leave wasn’t a momentary one - financially it has been costly, so it had to be thought through - but the final straw was when a colleague rang in long-term sick again (she did it every couple of years, so stayed within the system and regularly got 6 months off on full pay with stress) and I knew I would have to pick up her work as well as my own again. It was unsustainable really. My own health was suffering and I had to take charge of things or risk going under.

I don’t regret it, and realise that I was lucky to be able to make that choice. My husband had already retired and if I had stayed at work until 66 we would have had far less time together.

I worked at a university very close to home and had planned to stay to 65. However, our unit was taken over by another and the whole culture, as well as my role , changed. 6 weeks before my 60th birthday I stood in the office and realised I was done. Had our unit not changed I am sure I would have continued to work and I did however continue working from home for 5 years for the OU. Retiring gave me more time to spend with out grandchildren and to take up new hobbies which led to new friends.

My sister-in-law is 80 next year and she still gets up very early in the morning to go to her job cleaning in a GP surgery. Every time I see her she complains about her knees and I ask if she is going to give it up but she says she likes it.

I used to love my job working in a bank, but by the time I retired the job had changed so much I was glad to get out.

I would probably still be there if I had continued to enjoy the work.

Yes, I loved my job for years, too. The colleague sick leave issue, plus the changes in the way universities’ policies shifted towards being service providers rather than places of learning changed that though.

I can’t help thinking that if a job is so stressful that you have to take regular sick leave, you should recognise that you aren’t up to it and get a different one. Expecting colleagues to do your work whilst you get paid sick leave is not fair at all. I’m getting stressed all over again just thinking about it 😂

I agree Doodledog.

The times we were short staffed, covering for Mary or Jane who was off with something or other.

If everyone had been like that, we would never have opened the doors to the customers. It made those remaining stressed too!

Yes I did, I’d loved my job for 20yrs but due to a surgery I’d had 3 mths off went back with a change to my working conditions and managed for a year but I was constantly asked to tackle things that they’d agreed I wasn’t fit for and one day I’d just had it and just said that’s it I’m done I won’t be back. Never regretted it.

Yes! I was 57 and burnt out. A request to work part time was flatly refused so I said “I’m off then”. Never a moment of regret, although I loved my colleagues and enjoyed my job until it got too much. I did bits of work for a couple of years then retired (self-funded) completely at 60.

Yes! After my long-time career came to a juddering halt thanks to Covid, I got a job which I loved working for a local charity supporting children and families, but my boss turned out to be an absolute nightmare. She micromanaged every aspect of my role and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do anything right as far as she was concerned. The final straw came when she berated me over the phone for something which I hadn't even done. I put the phone down, wrote a letter of resignation and left it on her desk. I miss working with the children, the families and the rest of the staff - but I couldn't work with her any longer. I haven't worked since.

I worked until I was sixty-five, which is what I planned to do and never had any intention of doing otherwise. I also had a mortgage to pay, which was an incentive. What I found perturbing were the number of women, friends and acquaintances, who were well-qualified and competent, who returned to work sometime after having children and never worked more than two days a week. Of twenty women I knew well only two of us worked full time, the rest two days a week, although to hear them talk it appeared they were the only ones running their particular department.

We were all fortunate to be educated and trained in the 1960s/70s, all for free, with opportunities opening up for female promotion and responsibilities due to the fight for equality in the workplace and women's lib. No one forced us to go to college or university. All that money wasted.

What concerns me more is the pressure young mothers are under to return to the workplace immediately while their babies are brought up by others at extortionate cost. I heard a suggestion recently that regulations on nurseries should be relaxed so they could take more babies at less cost to get more mothers back to work.

Better if older working women used their expertise and worked longer, particularly the more experienced ones and those with older children, instead of hanging on to their carefully negotiated two days a week following maternity leave.
I doubt if Starmer will get many of those 'economically inactive' back to work; the workshy will continue to avoid work and if in work continue with the dishonest quiet quitting, which won't help productivity.

Anniebach

Never use that word

What word?

I know a (now ex) senior civil servant who had around 45 years worth of pension built up.

She looked out of her office window, saw a man going past on his bicycle, and realised she was jealous of him.

So, she just left.

Not sure of your point Annie

I was bullied (didn't realise it at the time) was off sick for 6 months, left set up my own cleaning business, loved being my own boss, now only work part time, on average 10 hours a week. Life is too short to be miserable at work. I'm 63 and really feel for women who are financially forced to work full time until 67/68, I don't know how they do it

Nice story MissA!

I retired at 60y. I loved my job in our local district general hospital. I worked there for 35y and used to walk to work through the park. But then I got to thinking “we hardly use our little apartment in Málaga”. That was the seed that germinated. We both used our pension lump sums - divided them up to see us through the 7 years till our SPs kicked in. Best thing we ever did.

The first thing miss ex civil servant did was to buy herself a bicycle, fgt

I'd gone down to 3 days a week at 62 as a gentle run down to retirement and would have been happy doing that for another couple of years. Then they got rid of our very specialised computer system for a bolt on to another larger system. It was like going from a Rolls Royce to a rusty 3 wheeler. It drove me bonkers for 6 months before I left. Life's too short.

When my first grandchild was born I was 60 and I retired I wanted to spend more time with her , my daughter and SIL both worked so I helped look after her and watch her grow, I wouldn’t have missed those lovely years. Taking her out to the park instead of working was the best thing , then when grandchild number 2 came I was available to help look after her too, Those years you never get back. It was the best decision I made ,

I’d been ill and I did go back for a short time, but I decided I’d had enough. We had a new HT who was causing huge amounts of stress throughout the school, and going back after being ill make me realise just how unpleasant it was, and that at nearly 59 I didn’t really have to wait until 60. So I gave in my notice for the end of that term. I was just 59 when I retired. I was able to claim my professional pension but as a WASPI woman, had to wait for my state pension.

Can’t say I ever really did, but a friend of ours used to say he was saving F* Off money, so if and when he got really fed up with work, he could stick two fingers up.

I had a 15 minute walk from the car park into work and one January morning when it was cold and pouring with sleet I decided I was not going to work through another winter. I left in September aged 66 and have never regretted it.