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Pitfalls of early retirement

bcklschaps

I am re-opening this older thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=84923343

I am being made redundant next Feb/Mar I will be 43yro. I have been working for about 22years. I will be getting a reasonable redundancy and I have some savings. In total I will be sitting on about 150k.
I will also be able to cash in my pension from 50yro onwards .. so will be inline for another 15K lump sum or there abouts.

I own my own house (Mortgage is fully paid) and I have about 20 acres of farmland as well.

I make a small income from the farmland about 1k per year

I am considering retiring Full Stop in March.

My reasoning.

1). I'm kinda burnt out from work and need a break from the rat race. I am not sure I am happy to work my whole life anyway and then roll over and die. There has got to be more than this ?

2). This break in my work career is coming at a nice time in my life, I am single, I am old enough to have a few quid saved up, but I'm still young enough to be able to have some 'real' fun.

3). I have old aged parents that need a bit more attention than I have been able to give them over the last few years due to my work commitments. Be nice to spend more time with them.

4). There's a few things I would like to do .. If I had the luxury.

Burn my Alarm clock, and sleep-in every morning till 10 or 11am
Enjoy a relaxed breakfast every day.
Do a bit more travelling (but with an open ended agenda, unconstrained by work holidays)
Learn the guitar
Go out drinking at noon on Monday or stay up all night on Wednesday .. and not have to ever worry about work.

But naturally I have a couple of genuine fears as well....

1). That if I took maybe a year off .. that I would not be able to get back into a decent job again and might even get stuck in long term unemployment.
2). I am not sure how my self esteem would hold up if I was long term unemployed. (Especially knowing that it was due to my own conscious decision)

3). Would I eventually get bored and depressed ? How would I spend my time? I couldn't very well spend my days in the pub or go travelling all the time as I would need to be watching the outgoings as I would be living on the dole and only using my savings for exceptionals. Hanging out in Pubs and travelling the world are both fairly expensive pastimes.

4). Speaking of the Pub, I like a drink, but would I become a complete Alcho seeing as I suddenly have plenty of time for it. Maybe end up spending all my loot and become a penniless bum.

Anybody any thoughts ?

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maudgonner

Aw deadly. Glad it's going so well, and fair play for posting the update

tomwaterford

Could you not pick up casual labour at farming for bitta extra cash

Like milking/work at silage time etc??
IME....not unheard of these to be paid cash....so long as ya don't take the pish...it'll should be ok!

Bigus

Buy the guitar and learn a few tunes from the free online lessons , Marty Swartz , Justin guitar etc , then maybe try jamming as a novice in some pub or club , beginners are nearly always welcome.

great idea flying Tuesday's keep the costs down by going against the trend.

Get some sort of plan for part time income or wheeler dealing for long term sustainability of never having an alarm again.

If you could even earn your beer money this is a lot more sustainable, both ecomonically and mentally.

Enjoy , enjoy

Esel

Underground bunker. Diesel generator. Hydroponics.

PARlance

bcklschaps wrote: »

Hi guys,

Just checking in, like I said I would. I am redundant/retired/superannuated now since start of Mar. Got all my redundancy sorted etc. Pension is a bit slower.

First week felt a bit strange, like when you have a few sick days .. you kind of feel guilty on the first sick day but by sick day no.3 you basically never want to go back to work again. By the second week I was starting to get into my new routine, by week 3 and week 4 (now) its become the norm.

I have actually been very busy getting Unemployment benefit sorted and have been doing lots of odd jobs at my own and at my parents house and some upkeep on my land...things that I put off for basically years.

My routine at present consists of Breakfast/Lunch/Brunch about 11am, read the papers for an hour or two (online obviously, can't be getting out of ones PJ's to go down the shops for the pulped timber version, don't you know !!!), then I line up my work for the day ....eg. tip into town, or else its housekeeping tasks (wash dishes, laundry, hoovering etc.) or head out on the land or over to parents house.

Every day I try to make time for some exercise eg. go for a power walk/run and at least 30 mins of quite reflection time. (redundancy advisor/councillor suggested this ..called it "mindfulness" or something)

Have had one short trip abroad so far and a few more are planned now for later in the summer. I am doing stuff like flying on Tuesdays etc. with the lowest cost airlines, to keep the costs down

Have been out on a few beer sessions too, one of which was a spur of the moment Tuesday night affair ...it was great not to have to worry about work the next day.

Anyway, all is going swimmingly well so far. Will check in again in a few Months time.

In the words of singer Brian Kennedy "Get on with your short life"

:-)

It's called Jobseekers Benefit (or Allowance) rather than Unemployment Benefit (or I'm going to retire at 43 benefit)

How are you feeling about your finances? Are you good at budgeting etc?

Wompa1

A man after me own heart. It sounds like you are living the kind of life that I'd like to live.

On my days off I'm just as busy as when I'm working. My job is also my hobby....when I do it for work, I hate it and it's stressful.

When I do it on my own time. I really enjoy it. If I had all the money in the world. I would still do that...just not for a boss or heartless company. No dealing with users or customers. Enjoy your break, sir! You've earned it.

Joshua J

Nice one OP, do what makes you happy.

monkeysnapper

I'd use an old cliche and pick my favorite hobby and try and get a small amount of money getting paid to do it .

My sister was made unemployed and started walking peoples dogs for small money, she's now training dogs with owners making a nice bit of money .

You should try doing something similar.

One More Toy

This should be renamed the lucky buggers thread

I hope to retire early, I started a pension aged 21 to help with that,

I have many passions in life and things i want to do and see; but in my current work environment it feels like a 24/7 job

Spanish Eyes

Nearly two years in now but at mid 50s. (very early by the normal rules)

Would never consider another working day ever in my life. Can't believe I was lucky enough to escape with good benefits.

TBH it's going to be all about the money as boring as that may seem. So a decent lifestyle, at least as good as what you had when working is essential.

All this talk about holliers and all the rest of it is fine, but that dissipates after a while, and life is just so good. Knowing you can do whatever you want or do feck all is the key.

There are no rules.

But being very young comparatively speaking of course is probably not the ideal time to leave the workforce forever.

Just my 2c.

Spanish Eyes

Oh and I would just like to throw this in.

If you are early or normally retired, just get out of that bed at the latest 9 in the morning.

Otherwise it's hell to go asleep at night. Keep a routine of sorts - whatever suits you.

No need to be precise.

We go walking twice, sometimes three times a week. Tough ones, easy ones, doesn't matter, hail rain or snow out we go!

And the reward is beautiful scenery, and exercise, and great lunch after as a reward. It's the little things. But it requires funds. Just to note.

I could go on, but retirement is fantastic, much better than I expected it to be TBH. But I had prepared somewhat too.

Best of luck to you all.

Ulysses Gaze

bcklschaps wrote: »

I am re-opening this older thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=84923343

I am being made redundant next Feb/Mar I will be 43yro. I have been working for about 22years. I will be getting a reasonable redundancy and I have some savings. In total I will be sitting on about 150k.
I will also be able to cash in my pension from 50yro onwards .. so will be inline for another 15K lump sum or there abouts.

I own my own house (Mortgage is fully paid) and I have about 20 acres of farmland as well.

I make a small income from the farmland about 1k per year

I am considering retiring Full Stop in March.

My reasoning.

1). I'm kinda burnt out from work and need a break from the rat race. I am not sure I am happy to work my whole life anyway and then roll over and die. There has got to be more than this ?

2). This break in my work career is coming at a nice time in my life, I am single, I am old enough to have a few quid saved up, but I'm still young enough to be able to have some 'real' fun.

3). I have old aged parents that need a bit more attention than I have been able to give them over the last few years due to my work commitments. Be nice to spend more time with them.

4). There's a few things I would like to do .. If I had the luxury.

Burn my Alarm clock, and sleep-in every morning till 10 or 11am
Enjoy a relaxed breakfast every day.
Do a bit more travelling (but with an open ended agenda, unconstrained by work holidays)
Learn the guitar
Go out drinking at noon on Monday or stay up all night on Wednesday .. and not have to ever worry about work.

But naturally I have a couple of genuine fears as well....

1). That if I took maybe a year off .. that I would not be able to get back into a decent job again and might even get stuck in long term unemployment.
2). I am not sure how my self esteem would hold up if I was long term unemployed. (Especially knowing that it was due to my own conscious decision)

3). Would I eventually get bored and depressed ? How would I spend my time? I couldn't very well spend my days in the pub or go travelling all the time as I would need to be watching the outgoings as I would be living on the dole and only using my savings for exceptionals. Hanging out in Pubs and travelling the world are both fairly expensive pastimes.

4). Speaking of the Pub, I like a drink, but would I become a complete Alcho seeing as I suddenly have plenty of time for it. Maybe end up spending all my loot and become a penniless bum.

Anybody any thoughts ?

Read this if you are interested.

http://earlyretirementextreme.com/frequently-asked-questions

CelticRambler

For different reasons (but no less "voluntary") I effectively retired at the age of 36, no mortgage, no outstanding loans, just four children (and two cats) to take care of. It seems like most people on here (and boards.ie/life in general) think the only work worth doing is paid work, but I was quite happy doing voluntary work for ten years while also keeping house and garden in good order, and doing a bit of travelling every few months.

As it happens, I accidentally got back into my previous line of business after those ten years, which I do now for about five months of the year to keep my professional accreditations up to date, to keep The Mammy off my back (she's one of those who doesn't believe in self-worth), but mostly as a cost-effective way of spending a few weeks in different parts of the country and checking out festivals that are more than a day's drive from home.

Any contract longer than two months, though, and I start getting the jitters and missing my free time. Which is where I'm at now. Two weeks and two days till I get back to real life! :cool:

dresden8

How decrepit are the parents?

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/carb.aspx