Here I am, on day 4 of my retirement. I am very fortunate - I've been able to retire early at age 61 thanks to a variety of factors (some good, some bad). Nevertheless, the process of transitioning from working to not working has been difficult. Here are a few thoughts.
The journey to retirement first started over 10 years ago. My wife had just died after a three year illness, and I was sitting with a financial advisor. I received a "death in service" benefit from my wife's employer, along with a sum specifically to spend on financial advice, so I wisely took it. This was not a life-changing sum, but it potentially knocked 3 years off my retirement date. At that time, my expectations were fairly low, and I was surprised when the financial advisor suggested I could retire at 55 (which was then the minimum age at which one could start drawing ones pension). In reality, the last 10 years have been the most financially rewarding of my career, and had I retired at 55 I think the long term outcome would have been quite different. However, those words from the financial advisor did have a profound effect...
I only had to work for a few more years and I was free! After that, if I wanted to tell my employers where to stick their stupid job, I was in a position where I was financially able to. This made the worst days at work bearable. I was no longer working because I had to; it was my choice and I was in control.
As the years went by, I was lucky enough to remarry. My new wife is slightly older than me (not by much) but time marches on. As I approached 60, despite mostly enjoying my work and being financially well rewarded, I started to think there must be more to life. However, the fear of throwing away something good held sway. What if retirement was boring? What if there was a sudden change of circumstances that meant my decision was a big mistake? I just wasn't brave enough to pull the retirement trigger.
A compromise was required, to ease me into the process. From April 2025 I reduced my working time to 4 days per week, with a commensurate reduction in wages. I didn't really notice the drop in salary, but I did notice the permanent 3-day weekends. Suddenly I had much more time. Previously, Saturday was a recovery day and Sunday had the prospect of Monday looming in the headlights. I now didn't feel obliged to leap out of bed on Friday mornings and do stuff, and Saturdays were great. Sunday evenings still weren't great, but overall it was much better.
However, I was still conscious that eventually I had to stop working. Could I continue for another 7 years until state retirement age? In practical terms the answer was yes, but did I want to? Could I afford to stop now, despite the financial advisor 10 years ago suggesting I could? The excellent Guiide website (https://guiide.co.uk) indicated that I could retire, as did much cruder cash flow modelling with a pen and paper, but I still needed more reassurance. Another trip to a financial advisor was required, and the answer came back that I could. I pulled the trigger!
The first 4 days have been great! I've pottered around the house and garden, got loads of exercise on the wonderful Malvern Hills, read a book... and yet I still feel traumatised. Making that decision to completely change your lifestyle is traumatic. I have friends at work, and it all felt "comfortable". It's much to early to make an assessment as to whether this was the right thing to do, but it seems unlikely that it wasn't. It will inevitably take months to adjust. I'm very lucky, and if you are in a similar position, I recommend you give it some serious thought. It is a big decision, so you're allowed to worry about it!