Did anyone join the great resignation in the last year and why? - Thinking i'll just retire in June

Yes, I did the "rage quit" last year, retired early.

I had enough of the corporate world.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out

A few things have happened in recent years which have made me question where I am in life. Illness and death of family members, being treated very poorly by my (public sector) employer, the reaction to Covid, discovering the true extent of the shambles that is health and social care in this country when attempting to access services.

I believe various social contracts are now broken. Previously I'd have been goodie two shoes type but now, if I could earn 2 grand a week "tax free" like the OP's cousin and get away with it, I would.

I probably wouldn't get away with it/don't have the balls and I don't have tradesman skills anyway.

What I absolutely will do is reject consumerism and corporate ladder climbing. F*ck the nonsense about being a "productive member of society". Live frugally and retire. Spend as little as possible. Withdraw. Avoid.

We are living in a bullsh*t world and the only way to win at this absurd game is not to play it. Retirement is a key part of that.

I'm coming at it from an angle where I'm in late 30s and have only five years left on my mortgage. The mortgage was meant to be 30 years but I'll have cut it down to 15 by the time I clear it. Would I be better stop the extra mortgage repayments now and start putting money into pension? My pension is little or nothing - only started five years ago at 50 a month. I do have an investment property too with six years mortgage left on it. My plan was to clear the two mortgages and then I'd start lumping into pension.

I am going to get full financial advice before the year end but I'm waiting to change jobs and doing my homework at the minute.

I cut my living expenses about 5 years, and I mean really cut.

Was saving 100% of salary between pension and bank savings.

Ended up with enough to leave the world of work for good.

I was in a job for the last six years where I'll earn funds that I won't earn again. My contract is now up this Summer so when I had the extra funds coming in, and knew that wouldn't last forever, I thought the best move was to clear the mortgage as much as possible.

My understanding is that I can always lump extra into the pension for a few back years if I wish to? I think I've seen Eoin McGee saying you can max out 3 or 4 years back.

was wondering how they are feeding themselves alright!

yup, this again! wheres the free consumables?

The pandemic actually left us mortgage free thanks to inheritance so I'm job searching now for a three day week with a short commute.

Herself loves her job but she too is talking about scaling it back to four days aswell. We've lived abroad for decades so we'd be extremely happy with a cheap low key retirement. Health is definitely our number priority now and a day of bliss is one not driving anywhere.

Well it tinged with a bit of sadness, but hey, it's been a shîte two years for everyone.

Coming up on 1 year anniversary of a switch and delighted that I made the move. Mid 30s here and only starting the mortgage journey so not retiring any time soon but I don't mind that as long as the job is ok, I'd get bored very easily if I retired now.

But I'd LOVE to be able to let my long suffering wife retire. Watching her slave away as a nurse during the last few years for pennies is ridiculous

funnily enough, its yourself that actually started the thread, attempting to ridicule your relative, claiming they paid no taxes, and pay no rent! yes they should be paying income taxes like the rest of us, but lets be factual if making claims about others!

Oh I'm leaving the investment mortgage alone. It's on a tracker as was bought in 2008. Six years left on it. 20 year mortgage.

How many years back can I go with pension payments?

I work in tech and have a nice office job (when we had offices) with all the perks that go with a modern multinational tech job. If something didn't go my way in work, I'd get an email from a project manager asking what my new deadline was. I'm on over 2.5x her salary and if something goes wrong on her job, people die. She works shifts that have on-call elements too and as a result has worked days that were 22 hours long with maybe 2 short breaks. She doesn't manage to work 3 day weeks, 4 minimum. She works night shifts. She's missed Christmas's and birthdays of our kids. She has to pay over 100 quid a year for a "pin" to be allowed earn a salary that's a fraction of mine. I know I'm luckier than most but I still think nurses are screwed.