Have you retired or left the workforce early or are you considering it? We’d like to hear about your experience

I retired 8 years ago at 59 from a job in education for the local authority. Long story short, I was moved back to my substantive role after a 4 year secondment and in the process lost several thousands a year in salary. My substantive role had changed significantly in the time I was away because of government legislation and the job no longer suited my long held principles. I took my pension a year early and supplemented my income through library work, election support and exam invigilation. I was lucky I didn't have a mortgage or dependents so I could get by on a much reduced income. I had enough and once I reached 60 there were some financial perks. Then I met my (now) husband and we shared expenses. That made a huge difference and now that I have my state pension I have more than enough money to live on, meet bills, run a car and have lovely holidays. I'm 67 now - what a lucky generation I was born into - I was even able to donate my winter fuel payment to AgeUK. The other thing I would say is if retiring early, make sure that you have plenty to occupy your time. Apart from my husband's 6 kids and 5 grandkids we play badminton, volunteer with 2 charities, act in local amdram, and are active in several U3A groups. It's a busy and rewarding life with a lot of new friends.

I was just about to add a comment but this thread is over 3 years old.

I was fortunate to retire in Sept age 63. I wouldn’t go back for all the tea in China. I didn’t realise how hard my job was when I was doing it. I’ve had two major operations since then so don’t feel like my retirement has really started yet.

I also took early retirement some years ago, at 54. The financial disadvantages were offset by the fact that we downsized to a house at half the value of our previous home and I have no regrets.
I am in the cohort of female pensioners who received their pension later than expected and I appreciate that for many people early retirement would not have been financially possible. However for me it was such a relief to leave my exhausting job that I would have done it anyway.

My experience is very out of date, but it may make an interesting comparison with what is happening today.

I worked for a big company that had a major downsize in the mid 1990s. I was in my early 50s. The redundncy terms were particularly good, especially if you were over 50, plus the threat that once the special redundancy scheme ended you could be out on your ear the following day with just statutory redundancy money. I did not want to go, but it was in my best interest, as the financial incentives were so good.

I went and, as I suspected, in the late 1990s, an unemployed professional woman in her 50s, was a drug on the market, nobody wanted you - then. I find myself comparing myself with DD, currently the age I was when I retired. She has changed her job 3 times in the past 8 years, each time gaining significant promotion and is still being head hunted. Like another respondent I volunteered with a charity, and stayed with it until I reached official retirement age. For 6 months I was a paid employee as I did maternity cover for my manager.

The most important thing to do if you take early retirement is to keep up paying voluntary National Insurance payments. I did this and it made a significant difference to my final state pension.

Reported.

MiniMoon

Hello people, this thread is from 2022.
They survey no longer exists.

Haha, so it is! That’ll teach me.

DH retired at 65, I asked him if we could afford for me to retire too, I did, at 62. We helped out unpaid in a small museum for a while we both enjoyed it until DH began to suffer with ill health.

Hello people, this thread is from 2022.
They survey no longer exists.

I retired at 60, five years earlier than planned, because my mother needed daily care. I had little choice in this. As a result my pension was less than I had hoped as was my lump sum. I divorced only 10yrs earlier and still had a mortgage so had to use a lot of that lump sum to pay that off. Financially I am much worse off as a result.
On the plus side I did manage to combine caring for my mother ( with the help of paid carers) with the school runs / after school care for my g’dtrs, which was an absolute bonus.
In the end my mother had a stroke and a major bowel operation and could no longer be cared for at home. She spent her last three years in a nursing home. We were lucky that it was an excellent place and she was happy and very well cared for, but it was very costly.
At the end of all that, having sold her house to pay for the nursing home and having gone though all her savings, there was just enough left to pay for her funeral.
I should say that for financial reasons I would have preferred to stay in my job but was not unhappy to leave. I was in a very pressured role, working with talented people in their twenties who seemed to assume I wasn’t as capable as they were, despite the fact that feedback from my management was always positive. I had to deal with a lot of blatant ageism. I don’t know if I would have been able to put up with that had I stayed.

I left my role as a mid-level manager at 58. It wasn't a planned early retirement; it was a "package" during a restructure, and I took it as a lifeline.

My reason for leaving was simple: burnout. The constant pressure, endless meetings that could have been emails, and the corporate politics just drained the joy out of me. The pandemic lockdown gave me a taste of a slower, quieter life, and I couldn't bear the thought of going back to the grind.

To fund my lifestyle, I'm relying on a combination of my workplace pension (which I can now access), a small inheritance, and my savings. It's a careful balancing act. I've significantly downsized my spending – no more expensive commute, work clothes, or costly lunches out.

Would I return to work? Only under very specific conditions: part-time, fully remote, and in a role with zero management responsibility. I'd consider a consultancy or project-based contract where my experience is valued, but my time is my own. The key is autonomy.

My biggest concern is inflation eroding my savings much faster than I anticipated. I also worry about the social isolation and sometimes feel a loss of purpose, but for now, that's still preferable to the stress I left behind.

Those who were able to retire with redundancy and good conditions are very lucky. As si123 says, the cost of retiring early unless you can get the above, is massive. So is continuing to pay contributions if you are on very low wage.

It cost me massively as it was a personal choice, and I was not prepared to go the 'sickness' route as I witnessed with several coleagues. I am VERY lucky we do not have to live on my meagre pension.

I’d love to be able to retire, unfortunately I can’t even think of dropping a day at work. As a single woman my pension pot is tiny and I haven’t got savings

One thing I wuld say, if you do retire early, make sure you continue to pay voluntary contributions towards your State Pension.

I do not know how it works now, but it was quite low when I did it and it made a very significant difference to my state pension.

I posted on Mumsnet yesterday on this topic, using the same user name as here, you can make use of it if you'd like to.

I left the workplace at 57. I had been paying into the local government pension for decades and my job as a nursery nurse was causing me back problems. I paid off the mortgage with my lump sum and together with my husbands private pension, (who also retired at the same time at 58) we manage reasonably well. My husbands State Pension will kick in in 2 years and mine in 3. I know how lucky I am to have been able to do this and feel desperately sorry for those women and men, who have no choice but to work in stressful or heavy manual jobs until they are 66/67.

M0nica

MadeinYorkshire Those who us who have made a good transition, often in health, do tend to be the first to respond to threads like this.

It is too easy to forget those who retired for health reasons and whose continuing and, often, declining health, negates any benefits of starting life without work younger than normal.

Reading you post, I think you do yourself a disservice, as it lists all the things you do, within your restricted life to help others in your condition and elsewhere.

I try, online etc, but do feel that I no longer have much of a purpose .... I could do with some friends here but am not reliable, so don't want to set anything up in case I can't manage - but thank you MOnica x

MadeinYorkshire Those who us who have made a good transition, often in health, do tend to be the first to respond to threads like this.

It is too easy to forget those who retired for health reasons and whose continuing and, often, declining health, negates any benefits of starting life without work younger than normal.

Reading you post, I think you do yourself a disservice, as it lists all the things you do, within your restricted life to help others in your condition and elsewhere.

I retired at 54 by means of taking voluntary redundancy I got a large lump sum and a pension as if I had retired at 62. I went as the firm I worked for had been taken over and I would have had to change my much loved job. We still live in the area where our children grew up and we have lots of friends, my husband retired 3 years later and neither of us have ever regretted going.

Now in retirement mode having been made redundant at the end of July and as an LGPS employee automatically entitled to my pension. Not sure I'm ready to be put out to pasture yet but in the meantime am looking after various grandchildren. Will see how things go for now.

Barmeyoldbat

So sorry MadeinYorkshire, I don’t know what to say, I just didn’t want to ignore your post. Take care

Thank you ..... x

Sometime ago now, but I was made 'voluntarily redundant' into early retirement in my early 50s. I didn't want to go, but sometimes it is not what you want to do that matters, but what is in your best interests and with the cmpany needing to lose 75,000 staff redundancy terms were very generous and if you were over 50 you needed to be very confident of a new job, in the new company that would effectively be left, and I easn't, so I went. I had an immediate pension to cushion leaving and, as DH was working with a reasonable salary, I was not under pressure to go find a new job.

I tried to find another job, but had no luck, it was some time ago and women in their 50s were a drug on the market the way they are not now. It came at a key moment. Like others elderly relatives were begining to make demands on us.

Instead I took my professional skills to a charity and worked for them as a volunteer for 10 years. Including 6 months working for them in a paid job doing maternity cover for my manager.

Yes, I retired early as got the approval from occupational health due to stress of the job I did. But not a lot coming in from on my works pension but I manage with benefits I get on top. So I have no complaints.

I retired three years ago at 62. My DH is 20 years older and I'm so glad I did. He is pretty much housebound through mobility issues .. although otherwise in good health. but I have to shop, garden, arrange everything .. which I would struggle with if still working. Plus my job drained me physically and mentally. Apart from worries about money, I have no regrets.