"Retire" early...?

[milanbenes]

I would have awarded a longer ban

Milan.

[milanbenes]

when our friend gets back from his holiday

shall we see who can be the fastest to help him earn another holiday

[Mods.... asking for a friend]

Milan.

[JJUXI]

This place never changes.

I stopped seeking work a couple of years ago in my late 40s having been an IT contractor from my early 20s. It was driven by an estimation that we had 'enough' coupled with a compelling desire to stop wasting time, as I saw it, doing a pointless job.

If you can cut out expensive crap and can be creative enough to exploit your new found free time, it's a winner. If all else fails, find some paid work. But accept that after probably a year or so, there's no way back to your old job and the life that went with it.

[milanbenes]

This place never changes.

I stopped seeking work a couple of years ago in my late 40s having been an IT contractor from my early 20s. It was driven by an estimation that we had 'enough' coupled with a compelling desire to stop wasting time, as I saw it, doing a pointless job.

If you can cut out expensive crap and can be creative enough to exploit your new found free time, it's a winner. If all else fails, find some paid work. But accept that after probably a year or so, there's no way back to your old job and the life that went with it.

that is a very useful insight

Milan.

[Snooky]

This place never changes.

I stopped seeking work a couple of years ago in my late 40s having been an IT contractor from my early 20s. It was driven by an estimation that we had 'enough' coupled with a compelling desire to stop wasting time, as I saw it, doing a pointless job.

If you can cut out expensive crap and can be creative enough to exploit your new found free time, it's a winner. If all else fails, find some paid work. But accept that after probably a year or so, there's no way back to your old job and the life that went with it.

What do you do now?

[mattster]

This place never changes.

I stopped seeking work a couple of years ago in my late 40s having been an IT contractor from my early 20s. It was driven by an estimation that we had 'enough' coupled with a compelling desire to stop wasting time, as I saw it, doing a pointless job.

If you can cut out expensive crap and can be creative enough to exploit your new found free time, it's a winner. If all else fails, find some paid work. But accept that after probably a year or so, there's no way back to your old job and the life that went with it.

I "dropped out" for just over 10 years, staying at home with the family but admittedly keeping somewhat "with it" by developing and selling my own software. As income from that faded a bit (and also my enthusiasm for sitting alone in a garden office), I ventured back into contracting when the market was booming a few years back and didn't actually find it that hard - I am now nearly two years into a city banking role. So anyway, I'd say you probably *can* get back into it but you probably also need to time it right - I think I would find it next to impossible in the current market to do what I did a couple of years back.

[I just need to test it]

Right. My turn.

I'm 60 and contemplating retirement. I've been permie for five years. Over the course of a 20+ year contracting life I was almost always away from home. My contractor mates became my mates; my hobbies were beer, eating out, going to random midweek football matches. Weekends at home were for family. And chores. I really did not invest in hobbies, or a close-to-home friendship group.

As a result of this, plus moving around a lot in my twenties, my retirement is likely to be spent in a city where to all intents and purposes I'm a comparative stranger. I'm not, despite what my wife says on a nightly basis, a total idiot, but I've certainly been daft enough to see how bleak retirement might look yet do nothing about it.

Currently I'm reading a book purporting to be a practical guide to planning and enjoying the retirement you've earned and according to the decision matrix I've just done I should "carry on working because I've eff all to live for". Naturally, as self help books go, this message has come as a bit of a blow.

I've a few chapters still to read. Presumably at some point I'll find one entitled "What's the point of living?" Or "The practical guide to ending it all without soiling the carpets". Ahh, you gorra laff.

[DoctorStrangelove]

By the time you've reached the stage of watching tv in the afternoons it probably is time to go.

After all there's only so many Randolph Scott films, NZ, Canadian & Oz customs shows to keep one going.

I can't decide whether the existential angst is a cause or an effect.

[Snooky]

Right. My turn.

I'm 60 and contemplating retirement. I've been permie for five years. Over the course of a 20+ year contracting life I was almost always away from home. My contractor mates became my mates; my hobbies were beer, eating out, going to random midweek football matches. Weekends at home were for family. And chores. I really did not invest in hobbies, or a close-to-home friendship group.

As a result of this, plus moving around a lot in my twenties, my retirement is likely to be spent in a city where to all intents and purposes I'm a comparative stranger. I'm not, despite what my wife says on a nightly basis, a total idiot, but I've certainly been daft enough to see how bleak retirement might look yet do nothing about it.

Currently I'm reading a book purporting to be a practical guide to planning and enjoying the retirement you've earned and according to the decision matrix I've just done I should "carry on working because I've eff all to live for". Naturally, as self help books go, this message has come as a bit of a blow.

I've a few chapters still to read. Presumably at some point I'll find one entitled "What's the point of living?" Or "The practical guide to ending it all without soiling the carpets". Ahh, you gorra laff.

Why not join some groups for things that interest you, or get involved in some volunteering? If you like pubs, start spending a few hours a week in the pub of your choice with the kinds of people you're comfortable around - you'll soon get chatting to the regulars.

When/if I retire, hopefully within the next 6-10 years, I have no plans to sit on my @rse watching daytime TV and moping all day - I'll do stuff I wasn't able to fit in when I was working 50-60 hours a week. Day trips out, travelling, volunteering with local or national charities, hobbies, going to music festivals, fixing all those things around the house I never had time for before. Plus a reasonable amount of sitting on my @rse at home reading or listening to music etc.

[cojak]

This holds true for me.

It sounds like you need a new direction in life.

If you can survive on a reduced income give retraining a go. Look at what you used to enjoy and that will bring in money, even if it's not as much as you've had in the past.

Something outdoors maybe, or craft/arts based.

There's more to life and work than IT.

I took up walking when I retired, got into it and took a qualification as a walking guide and now am training to walk across Scotland next year and possibly Spain the year after.

The worst bit of advice I have ever read said that if you don’t do something before you retire, you won’t do it after which is absolute b0llacks in my opinion. Retirement is the perfect time to try out new interests (if you have your health). Walking isn’t expensive when you start out, you just have to avoid becoming a gear-head.