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

I had reached the point where I spent most days at work thinking "Why am I still doing this?" by the time I was 56. I had worked full-time all my adult life and I had just had enough.
When I researched it, I found that in order to receive a works pension I had to work until I was 58 and the state pension kicked in when I turned 60. I don't know how I managed to stick the last couple of years at work. The two years before the state pension kicked in were tough too. Was it worth it YES!!!

That’s so lovely to hear hilz. I think people tend to worry (quite naturally) whether they will be able to afford to retire, having only relatively small pensions and possibly some savings, but if you do the research beforehand, and perhaps try living on the amount the pension would be + a little extra for associated getting to work costs, and put aside the rest of your wages for 6 -12 months, it might be a surprise to see how well you manage.

There are also the costs associated with going to work - travel costs, work wear costs, food and drink costs (especially if you don’t pack up your own lunch), wear and tear on the car if you use it to go to work, contributing to colleagues gifts, eating out, Christmas meals etc. A lot of these costs disappear or reduce considerably once you retire, although heating costs might go up if you stay in a lot, and of course there are still all the utility bills to pay, and I realise some may still have a mortgage or have to pay rent.

As you say, there are some things that money can’t buy such as time - time to just be, time to relax, time to visit places at quieter times of the year, time to be with loved ones. There are many simple pleasures to be had that need not cost vast amounts of money.

I know I worried about how we’d manage if I retired early, but we have done, my health is so much better and I’m sure I’m a better person to be around as I’m no longer getting het up about work issues and generally being a misery 😅.

Haha. Yes. Got fed up of doing all that needed doing while others sat back. Tried allsorts to get them to step up to the mark. I too waited one cold wet winter morning for the bus and thought nah can't do this anymore. Spoke to retirement team and left after 6 weeks. Best decision ever. Decided my lump sum would supplement my small work pension. Financially worse off but do you know what? There is no money in the world that can give me what I have gained during retirement. Time with family and friends. Time to just 'be.. ' I too am a WASPI woman and when I hit 66 and got my DWP pension it was a welcome addition but I have to budget carefully and the lump sum has long gone but have enjoyed life, made some new friends, and ticked some things off my simple bucket list. All in all I'm a happy and very content.

Yes, perhaps in some of my early jobs there were instances where I wondered “what the hell is this sh!+” You always blame it on management, right? Never yourself. 🙃

Sometimes you persevere and sometimes you move along. I was fortunate to have my very last job of 20 years in healthcare that I loved so much I worked full time till I retired at 73 (four yrs ago).
Not everyone is that lucky.
Have a g’day!

It wasn't really a Fuck It moment, but I was 60 and only working 16 hours a week and planning to retire at 65. Then DD started looking at nurseries for her 6 month old son. As the quotes for the nursery fees got higher and higher I just thought "This is stupid, why don't I have him?" So I left at 60 and my manager fell about laughing, saying "I knew that was going to happen!"

Indigo8

Perhaps I should explain to younger GNs that Sir Vivian Fuchs was a famous explorer back in the 1950s. My father never did explain it to us and we puzzled over it for years.

I'm old, I do remember him 😀

As a footnote, the plant known as fuchsia is named after a botanist named Leonhart Fuchs.

😂😂

Perhaps I should explain to younger GNs that Sir Vivian Fuchs was a famous explorer back in the 1950s. My father never did explain it to us and we puzzled over it for years.

biglouis

When I was 10 going on 11 I had no idea what f***ed off meant. I picked it up from a friend and assumed it meant "ran off" or something similar. I had just learned that the spies Burgess and McLean had defected and remarked that they had f***ed off to Russia. My mother was shocked and told me never to say that word again or my father would give me a whalloping. Despite his background on the Liverpool docks I never heard my father use worse than "bl***y" or "bu**ar."

My father never swore in front of us but one day he couldn't stop laughing at a front page headlines in the morning paper.
When we asked what was so funny he said he would explain it to us when we were a bit older. The headlines appeared below:-

SIR VIVIAN
FUCHS OFF
TO ANTARCTICA

I had cancer and was off work for about 6 months. When I was better I returned determined not to get so stressed but nothing had changed. I was still stressing out about running a small department and I had a member of my staff who was very difficult. One day I just thought, life is too short! I gave three months notice then left, I was 58 and not able to action my pension yet. My mother was aged so I cared for her and lived off savings for two years. At 60 I could access my pensions and I have never regretting having those 2 years where financially I struggled. I may have been money-poor then but in terms of happiness I was a winner! I am now 75 and have never regretted retiring early.

When I was 10 going on 11 I had no idea what f***ed off meant. I picked it up from a friend and assumed it meant "ran off" or something similar. I had just learned that the spies Burgess and McLean had defected and remarked that they had f***ed off to Russia. My mother was shocked and told me never to say that word again or my father would give me a whalloping. Despite his background on the Liverpool docks I never heard my father use worse than "bl***y" or "bu**ar."

I retired because I was tired of being micromanaged. It was great to retire. Health and seeing loved ones in ill health was a major factor. Sounds crazy but money isn’t everything. Many religions believe the Lord provides. That is very true and not a substitute for laziness. It just takes time find the right job or vocation. Incompetent people being promoted was also a concern and finding out one was right was also disappointing. But hey very happy in retirement.

I had a F###it moment, wound down to three days and retired at 60. It was definitely a good choice.
Feck is Mr P's go to sweary word as in fecking genius shouted at drivers who annoy him.

Yes .I had been having a bad time at work and was quite stressed . I had a chat with the doctor and he asked me if I needed to go back financially. I hadn't looked at it in this way and decided I could afford to leave.

“The Irish system is good. Fecking is apparently perfectly respectable.” FluttERBY123

We Welsh speakers use Mwnci Nel (Nell’s Monkey 🐵) also deemed respectable…😇

Definitely. Was coming up to what should have been retirement age, hating the way ny job bad changed. Had been working part time as also an unpaid carer so not a huge salary. Id deckdednto hold out until my ds left school. Then the heavens were on my side and there was a voluntary redundancy situation which I grabbed with both hands. Not a huge settlement but being paid to leave was great! That plus my small work pension and carers allowance helped the coffers until state pension age.

I wanted to retire at 60 because my husband is older and I wanted to spend time with him. I was also tired of the long commute.

The nature of my work has changed so much due to cost cutting exercise. People who were retired were not being replaced and younger staff who were promoted did not have the same level of experience.

So, the work that used to be simple became so complicated, so chaotic and stressful.

During covid, I had to work from home. During this time, I was focussed on clearing my credit card debt (which was quite a bit). With no debt and eventually no mortgage to pay, I did the sums and hand in my retirement letter.

Yes driving home from a meeting and decided. Bye bye work. I retired. I was bored so started working in another direction then five years later retired again. More boring times. I returned again to yet another type of work. I still work if I feel like it.
I’m pleased I have the option!
Hurrah that I’m fit and healthy and not being on cruises where others make the decisions for me.
I work if and when I have the notion
Xx

At 58 and very well respected in my job as a Uni Lecturer, I negotiated a year's "sabbatical" to spend time with my mum who had severe dementia but was still very fond of me and able to get out and about if properly supervised. I gave them plenty of notice and gave the woman taking over from me lots of info and support before I went off.

Sadly, my mum died suddenly after only a month, so I contacted the Uni to discuss my situation. I was told be the (new) manager that I could only be taken back on a part-time basis until my year off was over and there was no guarantee that I would have the same role that I had previously had even after the year was up. The previous manager had "promised" me that I would return to my old role, which included responsibility for the management of programmes that I loved, had been involved with all my working life, and with helpful and reliable contacts worldwide.

I tried it all for about two months and decided I could not stand it for the next few years and handed in my notice.

After 3 months it felt like a terrible mistake. I felt disjointed, worthless, and missed my colleagues tremendously. It took me two years to realise that I was, in fact, depressed.

I could have had drugs and/or therapy, but instead I joined my local u3a. Almost at once I volunteered to be the Treasurer (I am an Accountant) and within a few months I had a new purpose in life. I'm also Treasurer of two other local organisations and Auditor to a fourth. All unpaid of course, but I also mark exam papers for a Professional Training body which brings in some extra cash.

I took a reduced work pension when I left the Uni cos we needed the money till our state pensions kicked in, and DH retired very shortly after I did. I am 13 years on from my retirement and have been able also to see my two grandchildren much more than I would have done had I carried on working - and been on two World Cruises as well.

NonGrannyMoll

Well, let's not use fiddlesticks, eh? Because fiddlesticks is an alliterative word used by many good people in order to avoid sounding as though they're using an unpleasant expletive (which, albeit indirectly, they are). Same thing with saying Jeepers instead of Jesus and golly instead of God - the blasphemy is implied, if not said outright. Now everyone's thinking of all the other acceptable nouns and adjectives we hear every day without wincing... Flipping heck....

The Irish system is good. Fecking is apparently perfectly respectable.

New line manager decided to ride roughshod over the team changing job descriptions without consultation with team or the academic staff we supported, during the pandemic (I was recognised as being extremely clinically vulnerable) she asked to do my annual review, I asked that this be held in a room with natural ventilation (ie with a window) which she agreed was not a problem for her, at the time of the review she booked a room with no windows and recycled air conditioning, I asked her to change this offering several alternative rooms with windows available at the same time on the same floor and the same building, which she refused. End story she said they weren’t suitable, I was made to go through an official reconciliation process and she apparently had done nothing wrong I handed my notice in at the start of the Xmas shutdown and never went back - Not the way I wanted to end my 21yr career there but it was untenable so effectively I retired 6 months early

Unfortunately due to choices in life and retirement age , 67, I'm unable to retire as I will always have rent to pay.

I was lucky I could retire in my mid 50’s, it felt great. I chose to care for my first grandchild which was enjoyable. I’m sure many people would retire early if they could.

Love this thread! So interesting to hear everyone's stories. I thought I was fairly alone in retiring earlier than planned due to being sidelined by a new manipulative micro manager, clearly not! It took me 2 years to finally settle into my retirement but now I'm content with life. No stress, migraines have disappeared. Yes I'm managing on a much reduced income, but I have enough and you can't put a price on good health and peace of mind.

I took voluntary redundancy 8 years ago in my mid 50’s after a stressful period at work where I’d been covering my bosses job for 12 months with no extra money and no extra help, during a big restructuring at work . My husband had also had a heart scare, and so we decided to reassess our life and ‘go for it’. He sold his small business, we let out our house, and then went off around Europe in a campervan for a year. Best decision ever. We got back our sanity and health and had an adventure. Came back and downsized our life by moving to a cheaper area so we could work part time 1-2 days per week and live off that smaller income and my husbands (modest) pension. Decided life’s too short to spend working so hard. More recently we’ve stopped work all together and I’ve also started drawing my small work based pension (both too young for state pension at 61 & 63). We live reasonably comfortably on a lot less than we had before, by prioritising experiences (love live music) and travel, rather than possessions.