Early retirement.
Have just taken voluntary redundancy & now planning on retiring
Hi Posh
My experiences/tips
I was in a reasonably senior Civil Service post in my early 50s and hated the job, so much to the astonishment of my work colleague and friends, I decided to retire.
I was able to take my pension early, albeit at a seriously reduced amount.
We moved to Scilly, where we had holidayed for many years and set up a small scale craft business and managed a few holiday cottages.
After a few years this started to feel like a job, so we retired again - serial quitters ?
Luckily, our outgoings are minimal as there is really not much to spend money on here, most people are not materialistic, everyone dresses down, we dont' need a car and have no mortgage.
As long as your income is greater than outgoings and you have an emergency fund, financial stresses should not occur. I saved every possible penny for the 2 years before I retired - it was amazing how much I managed to accumulate.
I now play golf several times a week, tootle in my boat in the summer and volunteer for a variety of charity works etc. No two days are the same.
If you leave retirement too late, things you want to do now, you may not be able to do in your mid late 60s due to ill health, physical problems or just a lack of motivation !
Suffice to say I do not regret my decision to 'drop out' for a second.
Have fun
