Early Retirement at 57

bullpost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122144524#Comment_122144524

Yep and also you dont have to travel very far to find wonderful locations.

Northern Spain for example is fantastic and easily reached and you can use the train network in some european countries which is light years ahead of what we are used to here.

And the good thing is there are significant senior citizen discounts in a lot of european countries.

SeanieRetrofitter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122144888#Comment_122144888

It depends on how long you're going for, but faraway destinations may be more affordable than European destinations.

You also don't have to travel hard if you're not rushing to get back to work, you can take a few days instead of a couple of hours for the stopover city on longer journeys. Right now I'd cheerfully sign up to a 24 hour journey either side of a 2 or 3 week trip to somewhere far away that I've never been, but I probably won't have the same attitude at 60. And if I'm not travelling solo, it's less likely I'd do that to myself.

CelticRambler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122144524#Comment_122144524

I'm not saying that it's wrong for older people to travel! Rather that if "travel" - as opposed to à la carte short-term tourism - is a major objective, then waiting until you're into a period of your life when you naturally have less stamina and more risk of health problems is not really a great strategy.

 it's a lot harder to find the time to travel more if you're working full time regardless of income. It's also harder to take advantage of midweek airfares etc. The reason I'm dumping my spare cash into my pension is to hopefully ensure I don't end up time rich and cash poor.

This is the paradox I see all the time amongst my own non-retired peers (and lots of contributors to this thread): working away like demons to earn enough money to dump into a pension pot so as to be able to have the kind of lifestyle that I've been leading for the last 15 years on the back of a few months' work a year at most. Why? Why work full time when there's so much else to do in life? And why wait until you're 65, 60, 55, even 50 to do the cool stuff?

SeanieRetrofitter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122145251#Comment_122145251

You make some excellent points. When I say "travel" I'm talking more about the short-term (week or two mostly) tourism rather than wandering off to different countries for months at a time as I've done in the past.

There's no way I'll travel like that again before I retire, for the simple reason that parenthood doesn't permit it. That's not in any way a complaint: parenthood has given me more than travel ever could. There might be long trips during the summer holidays, but travelling as a family will always be different from travelling alone.

100% that there's a lot more to life than working full time, which is why I'll be basically be ditching it as soon as my mortgage is paid. I don't particularly work like a demon. I've always pitied the fools who are sending me emails at midnight on a Saturday; 9-5 and then off to fcuk is my philosophy. Nobody with a brain lives their job.

There is also to be fair cool stuff that can be done at the evenings and weekends.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122140405#Comment_122140405

Yep- the “non-financial” factors are equally if not more important.
I know one person who retired at about 56-57 on full pension after working just under 40 years - it was part of an early retirement deal.

She has spent the last 20 years out on a golf course and travelling as well as maintaining a wide circle of friends and of course extended family - retirement was made for her- she’s so focused and motivated to get the most out of life.

Then I know others who have floundered after retirement - they’re not sure how to fill their days - I remember reading the great chef Keith Floyd’s autobiography - he semi retired to southern Spain and essentially drank every day - just because you have money doesn’t mean you’ll have a happy retirement - it’s very personality based and some will need to work a lot harder at “enjoying” themselves than others.

Speaking personally I’d really have to plan out what I want to do if I retired tomorrow morning - I’m hopeful for an early retirement at 60 all going well but my days will need to be filled with constructive things like exercise, talking, reading and hopefully some travel - if I went to live in somewhere like Spain or Portugal I know I’d get the sun fresh air and exercise but you’d want to ensure you don’t fall into becoming a big cheap booze drinker like so many retirees do in those places.

Having a life partner helps enormously too but both need to agree on what a successful retirement looks like on a day to day basis - I can imagine life could get quite monotonous and mentally challenging for some - that’s why you often hear of people having heart attacks and dying within a few years and sometimes months after retiring - it can be a very stressful time

reggie3434

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122145564#Comment_122145564

I read that Keith Floyd book and it had a big affect on me in how not to live my life! He was entertaining as hell and a great chef but financial planning or looking after his health was not first and foremost, more by the seat of the pants style which in fairness gave him great stories/adventure.

For me a balance is important and the freedom, off tomorrow now with extended leave and I value that more than the money.

CelticRambler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122145448#Comment_122145448

wandering off to different countries for months at a time as I've done in the past.

There's no way I'll travel like that again before I retire, for the simple reason that parenthood doesn't permit it.

Well, now: in my case, that was the very reason my wife and I opted out of being slaves to the work-till-you-drop system. We felt it was more important for our children to grow up as travellers (no, not that kind of traaaavlur :g ) than for either of us to be thinking of maxxing out our pension contributions and tax allowances.

We'd already run into trouble for taking them out of school for a few days at a time (when they were still in primary) so we eventually said fekkit and took them out completely while we changed our own adult lifestyle for something more sustainable. Even when we put them back into mainstream education (mainly so they'd learn to speak a new language like natives), it was on condition that we could take them out/away again when we felt that the educational value of the trip outweighed any benefit of being in a classroom for the period in question.

Of course this is/was a lifestyle choice, and many people don't want to take that road; but there was - for us - also the economic argument, i.e.: if we were going to be living in a "no-income" fashion, then it was essential to take advantage of mid-week/off-season trips. Mind you, our interpretation of going on holiday/going travelling with children was very different to what you see described on the holiday forum here - none of this "all mod cons holiday camp" carry-on or theme-park wastefulness! Why bother with a Disney fake castle when you can poke around in the dungeons of a real one?

The natural consequence of doing things that way was that when the children were grown up and gone (or heading that way), it made more sense for both of us to "unretire" and rejoin the workforce on our own terms, not at all burnt out or weary, and to be happy selling our services for a fair wage - on and off - until we're mentally and/or physically unable to do so.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122146957#Comment_122146957

An in-demand skill is key for that sort of approach to life - a nurse, an architect a solicitor - something that you can just jump back into and pick up work relatively quickly is great to have

SeanieRetrofitter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122146957#Comment_122146957

"We'd already run into trouble for taking them out of school for a few days at a time (when they were still in primary)"

Are you based in the Republic?

I know the school has to make a referral to Tusla if the kid is out for any reason for more than (I think) 20 days, but the Constitution clearly states that the parent is the primary educator of the child so the appropriate response which I will in the fullness of time be making to any enquiries from Tusla will be along the lines of "Here are the zoo/museum/whatever tickets, please refer to Article 42 of Bunreacht na hEireann".

That's also the response I'll be making to any well intentioned but misguided attempt to prosecute me for taking the little person on educational trips during term time. It'd be a very expensive mistake for Tusla to treat my actively ensuring my child has a broader education as being equivalent to someone who simply lets their child go feral.

I'm not knocking Disneyland etc, but they'll never be top of my list. As far as I'm concerned a beach holiday definitely has to have something more stimulating than sand regardless of the time of year!

CelticRambler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122148229#Comment_122148229

At the time, we were in England where we'd been told that we could take the children out of class for "up to 20 days in a year" with any request subject to approval by the school governers. We treated that like annual leave as an employee, so tried to make the best use of public holidays and weekends. Eventually, our latest request was rejected on the ground that the 20 days was "for the family holiday" - i.e. a one and only holiday in the year, not several trips. They tried to guilt us into compliance, telling us how damaging it would be for our children's education if they missed a whole week of school.

That was the last straw for us (well, for me … my wife would have given up at that point). I asked them to provide details of exactly what learning outcomes were planned for my then six-year-old daughter and was given the example of how they'd be teaching the letter S; to which I remarked that my daughter had already spent three months learning Italian with me as preparation for the trip, and she was well used to recognising and using the letter S in Italian (and English and French).

We never did get permission for that absence, but took the children out anyway and nothing came of it. We had the last laugh, too, as a little Italian girl turned up in the school the following term and the only person amongst all the teachers and pupils who could talk to her in her own language was my daughter.