What age do you plan to semi-retire?

[ChimpMaster]

I'll put this here because General would quickly go off track. There's been some talk here of monthly costs and people retiring etc. I've always found this to be an interesting topic because I firmly believe we're not born to just work and we need something beyond this to make life meaningful.

No matter what age you are now, do you have a plan for when you might want to call it a day with full-time work?

Assuming all other things are fine (health etc), you might need to consider 2 things:-

1. How much money do you need to live your chosen life each month. This should cover all costs, necessary and luxury and hobbies etc.
2. What age do you want to be free from the shackles of full time work.

When I was I 30, I thought I could survive off £1k/month and planned to semi-retire by 35. Then, getting married and having kids changed that to £5k/month and between 40 - 45 as my target age. Now I just don't know. I'm not sure what I would do if I wasn't working - sad isn't it. It isn't about the money any more. The middle class bracket is vast and I'm not going to be a multi-millionaire with a Ferrari and a mansion, but I don't need that and am not going to sacrifice the rest of my life to attain such things.

Technically I don't actually have to work any more. But if I wasn't working, I honestly don't know what else I would do. I've lost my childhood imagination, hopes and dreams. And that makes me a little sad.

[ladymuck]

I have no idea what I'd do if I stopped working - so don't feel bad about that, you're by no means alone there.

If I were to stop working, I'd want to travel, which costs money (current issues notwithstanding). So, I'd have to have enough stashed that I could travel where I wanted in the manner I wanted, when I wanted. That doesn't lend itself very much to an early retirement and it's not a practical thing to do all the time so I'd need to have something else to occupy me.

I am more for going part time rather than giving up entirely. Several years ago I dropped down to three days a week (as I was trying to convince the client they didn't need me) and, in April my client put all contractors on a three day week for a month. This, to me, is a perfect balance of work and life.

[jayn200]

I don't really plan to semi-retire. I am going to try and gear down in 5 years though. I am going to start a PhD around then I will switch into academia around 45 probably at some tulipty university where I can just coast for the rest of my working life.

I don't hold this delusional that I will be happy being an unemployed bum. Short periods of down time have been amazing but whenever I've been a year+ without working which has only been a couple times I've been pretty miserable by the end of it.

[jamesbrown]

I will switch into academia around 45 probably at some tulipty university where I can just coast for the rest of my working life.

Assuming you weren't having a laugh, you might want to rethink that one.

Having left academia (and with a partner still there), I can tell you that contracting is a lot less stressful.

Coasting, not so much. You've missed that boat by about 30 years.

Oh, and you probably won't get a job anyway, not even at a tulipty university.

[jamesbrown]

I could retire now (early 40s) with an averagely decent lifestyle, but I'd be bored to death. There's only so much travelling you can do. Anyway, I enjoy my work, so will probably stick at it, one way or another, even beyond retirement age - not for the money, though. Not sure how anyone continues work they hate with a view to retiring young - work is an important part of life, isn't it? By time spent, the most important.

[GhostofTarbera]

I could retire now (early 40s) with an averagely decent lifestyle, but I'd be bored to death. There's only so much travelling you can do. Anyway, I enjoy my work, so will probably stick at it, one way or another, even beyond retirement age - not for the money, though. Not sure how anyone continues work they hate with a view to retiring young - work is an important part of life, isn't it? By time spent, the most important.

More boring than your life now? Wow


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[sludgesurfer]

I'm not a great fan of much of the "FIRE movement" output but this blog post chimed with my experience:

5 Lessons From 3 Years of Early Retirement - Can I Retire Yet?

Basically, if you plan on doing something you are passionate about when you retire then you should be doing plenty of it right now - don't plan on retirement suddenly being the catalyst for it happening.

[jamesbrown]

More boring than your life now? Wow


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Go and shine your head, tarbie.

[malvolio]

I simply stopped chasing work when I got really bored of repeating the same old thing. Did a couple of short gigs when old clients called me for help, but nothing else and ow I'm probably too far out of date technically anyway (for example, cloud-based stuff has left me well behind).

Main driver was not having a mortgage, having a supportable consistent income outside work, plus realising that not working and no mortgage saves far more outgoings than you realise.

As for bored, barring this year (which has been boring since the boss has been shielding most of the year) I'm involved in amateur dramatics, a choir, National Trust volunteering, trips around in the motorhome and a long list of odd jobs and various small interests (got the Times crossword down to 30 minutes now) to fill in the gaps, none of which I could have done when working. So retiring is nothing to fear unless you are content to sit on the sofa and wait for the world to come to you.

[BigDataPro]

I am 50+ and I am already in a kind of semi-retirement. Meaning, I don't panic when the contract gets terminated or when I work only for 6-8 months a year. About 40k left on the Mortgage, I am sure I can pay it off.

But I am still not sure what my passion is or what I am good at (I'm being brutally honest!). Once I find that, I will jump into it. I guess that's when my retirement starts! (sounds like an oxymoron)