Decision made

I'm 50 next month - quite difficult decision - but I'm going part-time in a couple of weeks. Same job, just part time wages. And I'm going to retire at 55. I've worked out the cash side - we can afford to live just on my pension even though there is a massive reduction due to retiring 10 years early. I want to spend more time with my family and more time in the garden. So no more new cars - am I raving bonkers?

 

Not if you've worked out the cash side.
And, if all else fails ... get a second job?

Well done and best of British

 

Not at all. It all comes down to what's important to you.

 

good on you , its what I wanted to do years ago but it not going to happen but come 60 I am not working anymore if I can help it

 

I have done this Clanless, reduced from full time to part time in the same job, you may find that you are expected to do full time work in part hours, so ensure there is a clear and reasonable expectation of what you can achieve in your working hours. They also try to coerse me to stay at short notice to fill I for sick colleagues and whilst now and then I oblige, I do have to gently remind them that part time does not mean you are waiting in the wings to be drafted in when they want you.
It took about 6 months to establish work boundaries in a non confrontational way and now I absolutely love it.
I have time to be me and do things for and with my family and friends.
Good luck to you, as M said you can always get a second job if need be.

 

I have known people stop working in their mid 50's and never regretted it . Also people who have retired early and wished they had kept working , as their reduced pension becomes not as attractive as they first thought. There is only you who can make the decision , but asking a question on here may mean you are not 100% decided ?

 

I'd like to do that. Just turned 60.
Good luck to you.
But I have to work another 6 yrs before I get a pension of any kind.

 

If you can afford it go for it and enjoy

 

Why not go the whole hog and retire at 50? I've never regretted it. There's loads of savings to be had when you've got the time to save money. I saw too many people never live long enough to enjoy retirement. Didn't stop us from getting new cars either, got our last new one 18 months ago, on special offer, with an extra discount, used an online downloadable £250 coupon and also got a few freebies.

My wife's working life was even less, 1 year before uni, then after uni 10 years full time (3 of those were with one day/week day release), then 3 years part time before packing it all in to join me in early retirement. I did have to study hard to get qualified (played even harder) and worked all sorts of hours to build up some savings to supplement my pension and enable her to become completely economically inactive.

 

Totally agree with this, I think you will have to wait and see. I did a similar thing, was working full time and then went part time, brilliant for a while but after the novelty wore off I missed the extra cash, not being able to treat ourselves to things etc., so I went back full time.

 

I have read through the responses on here and (in my humble opinion) I think @Adendoll has actually summed up what I would have said here. I think, if you can afford to, part time can be ideal, but there can be a tendency to try to make you fit in a lot more than you can. If you can overcome that by being assertive and clear re boundaries, I wish you good luck and say yeah, go for it!

 

Absolutely not bonkers clanless. I was lucky enough to get early retirement at 53 and though I do sometime miss the salary, and some of the people I worked with, I have honestly not regretted it one bit. I get to spend all my time with my dogs, in my garden and can live life at whatever pace I choose. Worth far more than the difference between my salary (and a high pressured job) and my pension. I do work part-time in the holiday season for a friend, but that's because I choose to.

 

I would say retire as soon as ever you can afford it. I retired when I was 60 and have had 11 brilliant years persuing my hobby's while still fit and healthy enough to enjoy them. Just getting out of bed when I am awake, rather than when the alarm clock tells me I should be, made a big difference right from the start.

 

Agree but it took me 3 years to stop waking up at 6am every morning though