To retire or not to retire?

Yes, Monday mornings - that special time when I open the curtains and see the long line of traffic in the distance, heading for the motorway. I sit down with my cup of tea, switch on my laptop, and have a look what's happening in the world from the comfort of my armchair. I especially do not miss having to scrape ice off the car windscreen before I set off to join that queue. It's worth retiring just for that!

When DH retired at 65, I decided to retire too, although I was only 58. DH had approx. £50 per week added to his state pension for me as a 'dependent', until I turned 60 and was able to claim my own state pension and very small private pension. Perhaps you can also claim for your DH as a dependent on your state pension?

I have never regretted the early retirement. It is amazing the amount of money you save when you no longer have work expenses eg travel, lunches, coffees, work clothes, contributions to presents and the never ending sponsorship requests on behalf of children, cousins, etc. We managed to fit in a cruise and a trip across Canada before the DGC arrived and our lives changed again. Seven years of retirement now and I still relish cold, wet Monday Mornings when I can simply close the curtains and slip back into bed - Bliss. (Or sunny Monday Mornings when we can be up with the lark and off to the hills or seaside!)

Absolutely no regrets about early retirement at 58.5. Had I still been working I'd have missed spending most days with Mum during her last 18 months and don't know how we'd have coped with DD1's 2 toddlers and her ongoing health problems. Add in meeting friends for leisurely lunches, doing what I choose to do instead of what I had to do, holidays being taken in term-time........you know doubt get my gist. I also agree that you can exist on far less cash. Would suggest it's well worth using part of any lump sum to clear the mortgage, just because it gives peace of mind and a sense of achievement! I'll follow this discussion with interest and I'll be very surprised if I read a post where someone says they regret retiring and wish to be back in full-time work!

It's a great thing that your husband has so many hobbies, tanith - he'll enjoy his retirement without a doubt! We got rid of our car last year, as we're on a really good bus route, and as our daughter and son-in-law were needing a newer car, it seemed the right time to get rid of ours - to them! We visit our sister-in-law regularly, who's more or less housebound, too. It takes a couple of buses, but we have all day to ourselves and there's no hurry any more. It costs nothing to use the bus!

I took early retirement on health grounds at age 49. My dh was made redundant with an enhanced pension at 50. This was at the same time. He died at age 59. We had had 9 years together( although we both worked part time )
He had had a kidney transplant and we knew I would outlive him . We spent those 9 years doing what he loved most, saint our Sadler 29 to France and back.
I don't regret a moment of it. This was 9years ago in April
I still miss him.

Yes, yes, yes!!! Retire early and discover the benefits of not having to:-
drive through the rush hour, attend endless meetings, humour miserable colleagues, shell out for someone's leaving present every week, run yourself into the ground so you're too tired to do anything when you get home, and find new contentment in:-
growing more of your own food, cooking from scratch, pursuing hobbies, meeting up with friends and family, getting a dog, reading and gardening when you feel like, taking off for a holiday when you feel like, instead of when work dictates, having an afternoon snooze.....I could go on and on.

When I was going to retire, at 61, having been dedicated to my job and socialising with work colleagues, people predicted I would be bored and want to return. None of that! I haven't looked back, don't identify myself in terms of my job any more, and 2 years on I still feel like it's the honeymoon period. It gets better all the time.

I took some of my pension lump sum and converted some AVCs I had saved to pay off my mortgage, so now my lower income is equivalent to what it would have been if I was working and paying the mortgage. I'm not well off, but I can do what I want and need to, and because I am at home, I can save on petrol, convenience foods, work clothes, lunches out in between meetings and so on. It's much cheaper to live in retirement for me, so I have no regrets at all. Glad I did it.

Thanks greenmossgiel, a nasty blow is what I am worrying about . One thing that does bother both of us as we have discussed him retiring early is that we wouldn't be able to afford to run two cars as we do at present and OH has several hobbies , golf, bowls etc that means he would need the car for whole days leaving me stuck without and I do need it for visiting a housebound friend quite frequently plus other family. Its going to be a balancing act and that's a fact..

tanith, you would manage! My husband retired at 65, and he was more than ready by that time! He'd had to get up really early for work for most of his life. He was a lorry driver and was finding that the stresses of driving in heavy traffic was bothering him a lot as he got older. I retired a couple of years ago at 60. We'd already paid off our small mortgage with my occupational pension's lump sum (I was able to take this while I was still working). We're both in receipt of the State Pension, and the small occupational pension that my husband receives more or less pays our bills.
I'm glad we're both retired now. Life can deal nasty blows sometimes, and it's amazing the money that you DON'T need to get by, if you're reasonably careful!