How we made the decision to retire early

Making the decision to retire is never easy, after all, our jobs and careers all too often tend to define us. When we meet new people, we tend to ask or answer the question “what do you do?”. If we then consider the question of retiring early, at say 50, our sense of identity, or lack of said identity is further compounded. So how have we come to the decision to make early retirement a reality for us? After all, we are a happily married couple, just turned 50 years of age, living a comfortable life and having jobs that we like…

Life up to 2021

As a couple we are so very grateful for our life to date. We are both from very humble backgrounds, having worked hard for what we have achieved. We have been fortunate to have been supported throughout our lives by very loving and caring parents who always wanted the best for us. We first met at University where we were studying to become teachers. After graduating, we went straight into our chosen careers, keen to finally earn some money and get on with life. The concept of taking time out, or travelling at this time was out of the question, we had no money, loads of student debt and the societal pressure to jump on the career treadmill as soon as possible.

After graduation came marriage, kids and responsibilities. These were fantastic times and we wouldn’t change it for the world. We spent these years chasing after the kids and affording them as many opportunities as possible to find their “thing” in life.

Fast forward 25 years and our two wonderful children have now graduated and are making their own way in life. Three years ago, we made the impulse decision to buy our VW campervan “Nelson”. Nelson has opened our eyes to the world around us and afforded us a sample of what the world has to offer. To date we have spent more than 400 nights in the van, getting away most weekends and taking advantage of the 13 weeks annual holiday we get as teachers.

2021- a point of change

Not to put too finer point on it, 2021 was an unbelievably traumatic year of multiple life changing losses for us both as a couple. We experienced many personal losses, both within our direct family and amongst our friends and colleagues. Too many of these losses were of people that were just too young.

Life is not fair, and we accept that, but the relentless losses of 2021 compounded into a force for change that we could not ignore. For the first time ever, we began to question what we were really doing with our lives…..

Our reasons for Early Retirement

We had always planned to retire early at 55 anyway, so what difference would retiring at 50 really make?

Life is far too short and unpredictable, we experienced first hand how quickly and unpredictably life can come to an end. Too many people spend their working lives looking to the future, living for the weekend, the next holiday, the next big trip. All too often dreams are put off until retirement. Why should we wait until retirement to start doing the suff that we like? Now is the time for us to build meaningful and memorable experiences. We realised that we had fallen into this trap of hoping for the guarantee of longevity- there are no guarantees in life apart from the present moment.

Death bed mentality- a philosophy of life that incorporates living each day as if it was your last. Would you really choose to clear the email inbox if today was your last day on this planet? Although this initially sounds a rather morbid philosophy, it absolutely focuses the mind. On our deathbeds, we hope not to be worrying about the stuff or the wealth that we have accumulated, but enjoying the memories of the rich experiences we have made.

We have to see the loss of our loved ones as a gift of life. Their loss has made us acutely aware of the preciousness of life and the stark reminder that we should take full advantage of the gift of each and every day.

Lockdown keeps- there were so many aspects of lockdown that were so upsetting, however we found that there were a number of lockdown keeps that have surprisingly enhanced our lives and inspired us towards retirement and a richer life.

Living in relative isolation as a close family unit was actually a really lovely experience. Having time to learn to live a simple life, valuing the things that really count- time with family, time to slow down, not to mention the financial savings to be made by simplifying our existence was a revelation.

Finding what we love- in the years preceding the lockdowns, we had rekindled our love of travel, exploration and the great outdoors in our campervan. Having those things restricted for so long simply magnified our urges to get out and see the world. Nights of planning and plotting in the lockdown months helped pass the time but did nothing to subdue our urge to roam…AKA wanderlust.

Over the past few years, we have maximised our opportunities to invest in our interests and passions- travel, a more simple life, exploring the great outdoors and photography. We are now greedy for more, and to do that we need more time.

Focusing on the important things- one of the things that we have realised through our trauma is the need to focus on the essential things in life and eradicating the non-essential. We need to find the discipline and the will to discard what does not fit- in essence learning to say no more often.

In reality, we have come to the conclusion that we are ready to say no to our current careers to make more space in our lives for the things that we truly love and value.

Continue to grow in a more creative way- by focusing on the things that we enjoy, but following a different, more creative pathway in life.

Throughout our careers, we have loved the curiosity of learning. Over the years we have nurtured that passion in the children we have taught. We are now ready to apply our curiosity to the next chapter of our own lives. Where this will take us, we don’t really know, but the unknown is a pretty exciting thing.

Our vision for Early Retirement

Value experiences over stuff. We have become increasingly content with our worldly possessions and have come to realised that we now want to minimise those possessions by living a more simple life. Less is more. At the same time we want to maximise our experiences that a retired life has to offer.

How much money is enough? We have examined our plans, expenses and incomes and realised that with a little careful planning, retiring now is a very real proposition. We know how much money we need to live a simple life and we are happy with our calculations and the choices we have made.

The value of relationships. We want more time together as a couple and as a family. We have spent our careers building to this point in time. We now need to be brave enough in this present moment to make the change happen.

The value of time. We want to be rich in time to do the things that we love and that bring us joy.

Having a safety net. If it all goes wrong, what is the worst that can happen? We know that we always have the option to restart work until we can access the ultimate safety net- our teachers pensions at 55.

Don’t wait for perfect- do it now.

Next steps

We have so much to do in the next few months before we finally pack in teaching in September. Questions that we need to tackle include:

• Can we afford early retirement at 50?

• How much money will we need to live until we can access our pension?

• What will our pension be worth at 55?

• What will our annual/monthly/weekly income/expenditure be?

• What additional income streams can we access if things get tough?

• What contingency plans do we need if it all goes wrong?

We plan to take you through all of these decisions in our future blogs as we attempt to tackle them for ourselves. We sincerely hope that you have found our thoughts on this topic of use. If you have any comments or feedback, please get in touch as we would love to hear from you.

Many thanks,

Richard & Jackie