"Retire" early...?

[DodgyAgent]

I may be mistaken but it seems the IT burnout rate is higher than most other industries I've come across. I imagine a job where the fruits of your labour are visible, such as a carpenter, you'd be not near as glum.

You have to be joking !

[vetran]

Also, taking yourself out of the workforce in your peak, is somehow morally wrong given the social debt you owe due to your excessive take. But I can't put my finger on it.

As we almost certainly paid for many other people's lifestyles during our career I see nothing wrong with leaving the rat race and living off the money we earnt.

[Fronttoback]

There is a reason councillors, charity organisers, etc are healthy people in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

Are you saying that retirement into a spiritually rewarding field keeps you going?

Or are you saying that these jobs attract older healthy people?

Or something else?

[d000hg]

There is a reason councillors, charity organisers, etc are healthy people in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

Actually that's not a bad call. I don't know if anyone suggested it already but doing volunteer work for a cause you are passionate about (if there is one) or getting into local politics are both potentially rewarding options for a person of independent means.

Of course they could also be incredibly frustrating and depressing, very much down to personal taste. I don't think that would float my boat.

[RajaStyle]

So who on this thread actually retired ? :-)

Or found something that worked for them ?

[cojak]

There is at least one previous poster who is now dead*, so their retirement ran its course.

*Which is what happens when you resurrect an 8-year old thread…

[BigDataPro]

Be happy that OP didn't start a new thread, forcing NLUK to point to this thread along with a long lecture!

[northernladuk]

Be happy that OP didn't start a new thread, forcing NLUK to point to this thread along with a long lecture!

I know right. What a spoilsport.

[malvolio]

So who on this thread actually retired ? :-)

Or found something that worked for them ?

I stopped looking for work years ago, when we didn't need the income, and relaxed into lazy indolence shortly after. My time is filled with gardening for exercise as much as anything (the other half is the gardener), walking the dog, taking the motor home to some new corner of the world, amateur dramatics (currently appearing in one panto and rehearsing for a part in Sister Act), volunteering as a guide with the National Trust and toying with the idea of joining a local committee. Plus the usual socials such as pub quizzes and the like and sedentary stuff like the Times crossword (10-25 minutes a time these days) and a lot of reading.

Quite glad I don't have a job now, since I doubt I'd have time to do one...

[ChimpMaster]

I stopped looking for work years ago, when we didn't need the income, and relaxed into lazy indolence shortly after. My time is filled with gardening for exercise as much as anything (the other half is the gardener), walking the dog, taking the motor home to some new corner of the world, amateur dramatics (currently appearing in one panto and rehearsing for a part in Sister Act), volunteering as a guide with the National Trust and toying with the idea of joining a local committee. Plus the usual socials such as pub quizzes and the like and sedentary stuff like the Times crossword (10-25 minutes a time these days) and a lot of reading.

Quite glad I don't have a job now, since I doubt I'd have time to do one...

Sounds like being stuck in a recurring nightmare. Apart from the volunteering.

But an interesting thread this is. OP must be 48 now and I do wonder what he did and where he is now. He hasn't been on CUK since May last year.

I wanted to retire at 40 but some bad money decisions meant I had to stretch to 45. Still didn't retire - just took a not-so-stressed permie job, for now anyway. I'm already very bored of this job. I'd almost much rather do nothing than continue working in a completely unfulfilling (albeit well paid) permie job.

Retiring at 60+ is not a flex. Having the option to at <50 is saying something, but having the guts to is another matter.