What age do you plan to semi-retire?

[oilboil]

My wife works in academia. She’s a lecture/assistant professor.
‘Coast’ is not a thing they do...I work less hard and have billed 300 days to two clients in 2020.

Working hard is a bad way to compare jobs. He might just be much better at the job than your wife and therefore find it really easy. He may have lower standards and not care about reputation thereby getting along doing the bare minimum.

Just because someone finds a job hardwork does not mean the job itself is hard work

[Lance]

Working hard is a bad way to compare jobs. He might just be much better at the job than your wife and therefore find it really easy. He may have lower standards and not care about reputation thereby getting along doing the bare minimum.

Just because someone finds a job hardwork does not mean the job itself is hard work

when your time is utilised at over 120% with just teaching and tutorials it's hard work. No matter what trite management speak you try and put on it.

[jamesbrown]

My wife works in academia. She’s a lecture/assistant professor.
‘Coast’ is not a thing they do...I work less hard and have billed 300 days to two clients in 2020.

Agree. The idea that you can coast in academia today is fantasy. It’s only spouted by people that have zero direct or indirect experience of it. Consultancy/contracting is cake in comparison. You can coast through a Ph.D. to some degree (if you’re in a quantitative subject and extremely bright), perhaps even a postdoc, but any level of seniority is now mired in endless teaching, admin, solicitation of funding, curriculum changes, reviews and petty office politics that makes a regular office look a Swiss finishing school (and that’s before any research). Expect 70+ hours a week, more during term time.

[edison]

When I was in my early 20s I thought I would retire at 50.

When I was 30 I thought I would retire at 55

When I had kids I thought I would retire at 60.

Now my kids are in secondary school I will be 59 when the youngest one finishes and 62 if he goes to uni.

I've decided to keep on working full time till around 58-59 then wind down but can see myself working till my late 60s. I want to move out of IT in 5-6 years and into executive coaching, combined with living abroad somewhere warmer for 4-5 months a year during our autumn/winter. If I can progress a bit further in the next few years then I might be able to go for some non-executive director roles too.

I have a couple of clients that I can do some part time or ad hoc consulting work for so just trying to keep as many options as possible open.

[lecyclist]

IMO the most important subject there is.

In my case? I can't imagine working in corporate I.T full-time for more than another few years (when I am 50). But I'm not going to beat myself up if I stay for longer.

From computer related work, I'll probably never retire, as I've accepted that the time I have spent working with technology provides unique gifts that can be used for non-profit also. The acceptance part was hard - for many years I imagined a day would come where I would say "that's me done with I.T, onto the next chapter". There are so many areas outside technology that interest me, which I enjoy, but I accept that to have greatest utility to others, which gives me a sense of satisfaction, I can provide greatest service using these skills.

e.g. I've become involved in voluntary work providing data analysis supporting independent journalists who are investigating crimes that involve multiple tax jurisdictions, financial crimes, cross referencing open-source databases. Ironically, independent journalists need technological support more than ever.
- A good place to learn about this space would be here: Centre for Investigative Journalism
- Another place to look would be here: https://opencorporates.com/info/our-purpose/

It's interesting trying to make plans that make your future self happy. Considering your future self is a "work in progress", if it could provide any advice from the future, it would probably say: worry less, live more, be kind.

The mistake we make (and this is not my original idea) is that we use our experiences from the past, and reflect them into the future, and use this as a canvas to paint a picture that will make our future self happy. The past is dead, the future has yet to be written. The future does not need to be a reflection or continuation of the past, limited by our perceptions based on past experience; just habit, and a lack of imagination or courage makes it likely that things will continue the way they always have.

The difference between a person in their 20s/30s travelling the world and making friends, and someone in their 50s, is one of visibility and capability.

The harsh truth is: when you are old, you become gradually more invisible. Your peers are often life-worn or damaged. Your energy levels are often different, as is your appetite for risk or novelty. If you are 70, you are almost a ghost. You will not be climbing the mountains of Peru.

The idea that retirement when you are old is "good" as it allows you to live the life you always wanted, is fundamentally wrong.

A better approach IMO would be to look at your life as a series of mini-retirements, with significant time-outs for periods of reflection, growth and experimentation. Years out to do something completely different.

The "you" that lives this way, will produce a dramatically different future-self, that will look back in satisfaction in the twilight years of life and think.... "what a blast that was".

[fiisch]

I'd retire tomorrow if the opportunity presented itself.

34 now, read up on the various FIRE blogs, but I'm equally a bit materialistic, so the idea of retiring at a young age and then extreme budgeting for the remainder of my days doesn't seem a good price to pay for freedom. I do like my cars, so any retirement has to have an abundance of different and expensive motors - FATFIRE is much more palatable.

I'm minded that a post-tax income of £10k per month for a typical family affords a "very good" standard of living - flashy car, holidays, discretionary spending without having to mind the budget. Going by the 4% drawdown rule, that makes my retirement figure £3m.

I have invested relatively early in ISAs/pensions, but even so £3m seems a bit out of reach. I've finished having kids, they'll both be 18 by my 51st birthday, so that's my target to enjoy an early retirement, but then no doubt by then I'll have additional costs e.g.: university fees to help the kids with, and the inflation-adjusted equivalent of £10k monthly income will no longer seem comfortable, and I'll be working another 20 years.

[SussexSeagull]

Part-time is difficult when the industry is beginning to demand more from you even if you work a five day week.

(And for those who sniffily say that contractors don’t need to do that sort of thing, good luck getting that extension when the client is looking Eastward to off-shore replacements...).

But I would bite their hand off if I was offered 3 days a week.

I have a three day week WFH contract at the moment. If I had no mortgage it would be ideal.

[SussexSeagull]

I suspect at some point the industry will retire me. I don't mean in terms of technology but there will be some legislative change that will eventually kill Contracting or off shoring will improve to a point Software Development isn't economically feasible in this country. Plus IT goes through cycles of trying to eliminate everyone who isn't a developer or business related as they think they can do away with dedicated analysts and testers (which never seems to work but that is for another thread).

I am 47 with 5 years left on the mortgage. Would love to pay that off then find something local to wind down with.

[ChimpMaster]

I suspect at some point the industry will retire me. I don't mean in terms of technology but there will be some legislative change that will eventually kill Contracting or off shoring will improve to a point Software Development isn't economically feasible in this country. Plus IT goes through cycles of trying to eliminate everyone who isn't a developer or business related as they think they can do away with dedicated analysts and testers (which never seems to work but that is for another thread).

I am 47 with 5 years left on the mortgage. Would love to pay that off then find something local to wind down with.

Pretty much my situation.

Though the mortgage was paid off some time ago, we then chose to release a significant sum to re-invest elsewhere.

I'm retiring from my technical work and moving more into a BA role. Fortunately not working out of necessity, but it will be a good move should I choose to remain in IT and move more into management in the future. Tech roles are being dumbed down in terms of pay and offshored faster than ever (at least from what I see).

[sira]

The FIRE movement is just another modern day label for people wanting to achieve financial freedom tbh. Wanting financial freedom is naturally a very common occurrence. I'm aiming to be mortgage free by 35 at the latest. After which I'd like to start a business and maybe contract on the side.

The problem with todays society is that nobody lives within their means. Everyone's car is on finance, and everyone wants the new iphone etc etc.

I have many colleagues in the industry who show off their highly leveraged expensive properties, but in the end they will be the ones worse off.