Mechanics of giving up work: any gotchas?

[Gilgongo]

I'm glacially laying down my plans to give up work. I think I've got the "have I got enough?" question answered, but are there any practical, tax, etc. gotchas I should be thinking about?

For example, I've been on PAYE my whole career, so do I just write a letter to HRMC saying I've given up work? What if I wanted to pretend to my wife I was going freelance (ha ha, well maybe)? Is it worth timing my leaving with the end of the tax year?

That sort of thing...

[JohnB]

Think of a spiel to tell all your friends. Obviously straddling 2 tax years gives more allowances, but you don't need to tell anyone. What are you going to do with all that glorious free time?

[BullDog]

You don't need to tell anyone you've stopped working. Biggest problem I had was understanding how I ever found the time to work. All the best with the next chapter of your life.

[monabri]

State pension maxed? ( you don't mention age so you might be retiring early with less than a full state pension/ required years ).

[genou]

Try to retire into summer. Essentially you go on holiday, and just forget to go back to work. If you retire into the depth of winter, you may find yourself wondering what to do with yourself ( unless of course you treat yourself to a season skiing ).

[Dicky99]

I'm glacially laying down my plans to give up work. I think I've got the "have I got enough?" question answered, but are there any practical, tax, etc. gotchas I should be thinking about?

For example, I've been on PAYE my whole career, so do I just write a letter to HRMC saying I've given up work? What if I wanted to pretend to my wife I was going freelance (ha ha, well maybe)? Is it worth timing my leaving with the end of the tax year?

That sort of thing...

The mistake I made, which you could avoid if you won't be using up your £12570 tax free allowance, was that I didn't know until a couple of weeks into my third year that I should've been putting £2880 into a SIPP in each of the previous two years and getting it topped up to £3600 for almost no effort. That £700 in each of the first two years could've funded a couple of very nice adventures but I didn't know that there was something that I should've known

[Gilgongo]

What are you going to do with all that glorious free time?

Yes, well that's the really big question I'm hoping to ramp up the hobbies (I play in a band, so more bands I guess), but also work on meeting more friends and relatives (too many years of work getting in the way). The idea of just looking somebody up and asking if they'd like to go out to lunch whenever they're free - appealing! Maybe something more substantial might come out of that. But no solid plans at the moment.

One thing I might seriously do is buy a subscription to Netflix and start watching all the TV shows that my friends seem to talk about so much. Game of Thrones, True Detective, Parks And Recreation, Secession, Breaking Bad, and so on. Dunno if that's a bit shallow of me, but I'm curious as I've never been able to find the time to just sit and stare at a screen.

And when you say you don't need to tell anyone, that's a nice thought. So no big announcement, just sort of slipping out the door, as it were. My spiel to friends and family asking, "So what are you up to these days?" and expecting me to tell them about work... Well, I guess I'll just tell them about other things!

[DrFfybes]

One possibility is to retire enough into the new tax year so that your salary uses the personal allowance, then take TFLS to last the rest of the year?

[Lootman]

And when you say you don't need to tell anyone, that's a nice thought. So no big announcement, just sort of slipping out the door, as it were. My spiel to friends and family asking, "So what are you up to these days?" and expecting me to tell them about work... Well, I guess I'll just tell them about other things!

If it helps then my answer to a question like "So what are you up to these days?" is to simply state that I am passing time pleasurably.

Retired happily for well over 20 years.

[TUK020]

What are you going to do with all that glorious free time?

Yes, well that's the really big question I'm hoping to ramp up the hobbies (I play in a band, so more bands I guess), but also work on meeting more friends and relatives (too many years of work getting in the way). The idea of just looking somebody up and asking if they'd like to go out to lunch whenever they're free - appealing! Maybe something more substantial might come out of that. But no solid plans at the moment.

One thing I might seriously do is buy a subscription to Netflix and start watching all the TV shows that my friends seem to talk about so much. Game of Thrones, True Detective, Parks And Recreation, Secession, Breaking Bad, and so on. Dunno if that's a bit shallow of me, but I'm curious as I've never been able to find the time to just sit and stare at a screen.

And when you say you don't need to tell anyone, that's a nice thought. So no big announcement, just sort of slipping out the door, as it were. My spiel to friends and family asking, "So what are you up to these days?" and expecting me to tell them about work... Well, I guess I'll just tell them about other things!

More time for hobbies, catching up with old friends, and relaxation in front of the screen are all important.
But you may also need to do something that you consider to be worthwhile and contributing to those around you. Spend a little time thinking about what you might want to do for your community. Volunteering at your local Scout troop etc???

[Dod101]

Yes, well that's the really big question I'm hoping to ramp up the hobbies (I play in a band, so more bands I guess), but also work on meeting more friends and relatives (too many years of work getting in the way). The idea of just looking somebody up and asking if they'd like to go out to lunch whenever they're free - appealing! Maybe something more substantial might come out of that. But no solid plans at the moment.

One thing I might seriously do is buy a subscription to Netflix and start watching all the TV shows that my friends seem to talk about so much. Game of Thrones, True Detective, Parks And Recreation, Secession, Breaking Bad, and so on. Dunno if that's a bit shallow of me, but I'm curious as I've never been able to find the time to just sit and stare at a screen.

And when you say you don't need to tell anyone, that's a nice thought. So no big announcement, just sort of slipping out the door, as it were. My spiel to friends and family asking, "So what are you up to these days?" and expecting me to tell them about work... Well, I guess I'll just tell them about other things!

More time for hobbies, catching up with old friends, and relaxation in front of the screen are all important.
But you may also need to do something that you consider to be worthwhile and contributing to those around you. Spend a little time thinking about what you might want to do for your community. Volunteering at your local Scout troop etc???

Once I had got my personal affairs sorted out, I did quite a bit of volunteering mostly as treasurer for charities and so on, plus hospital driving and stuff like that. O and kind of looking after my in laws. Watching stuff on the tele has never appealed to me but if that is your thing, OK, but you must keep active. Leave time though just 'to stand and stare' as some wise poet said.

Dod

[TUK020]

More time for hobbies, catching up with old friends, and relaxation in front of the screen are all important.
But you may also need to do something that you consider to be worthwhile and contributing to those around you. Spend a little time thinking about what you might want to do for your community. Volunteering at your local Scout troop etc???

Once I had got my personal affairs sorted out, I did quite a bit of volunteering mostly as treasurer for charities and so on, plus hospital driving and stuff like that. O and kind of looking after my in laws. Watching stuff on the tele has never appealed to me but if that is your thing, OK, but you must keep active. Leave time though just 'to stand and stare' as some wise poet said.

Dod

Was it from Huckleberry Finn? "Sometimes I sits and thinks, sometimes I just sits"

[bungeejumper]

WH Davies:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=100

BJ

[SalvorHardin]

Try this thread from February 2017, covering the topic of what to tell people when you're taking very early retirement.

In my case it was that my close family knew, but for everyone else say as little as possible. If questioned, which rarely happens, I say that I'm working from home as a self-employed consultant doing some very boring work on an irregular basis.

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3214

As to what to do with your spare time, a few ideas:

Open University degree, studying at full time pace (that's what I did). Maybe a course at a local further education institution.

Read those classic books that you couldn't get around to

Take up hobbies and/or expand upon your existing hobbies

Develop a self-employed sideline out of these hobbies / interests

Lots of day trips to interesting local venues. It's surprising what you can find not too far away from where you live. Maybe take that long overseas holiday that you promised yourself. Get your travelling in whilst relatively young; in my experience age tends to slow you down and dull the incentive to take that InterRail journey around Scandinavia and the Baltics.

Watching sports (I'm usually glued to the TV in July watching the Tour de France). There's plenty of mileage in a season ticket to your local county cricket, rugby, football, horse racing, etc. The value obtained from those Sky Sports and BT Sports subscriptions increases substantially when you spend much more time at home.

Getting a part-time job (I know lots of people who do stewarding at sports events (mostly cricket and racing; they won't touch football as the crowds tend to be much harder to deal with)

Spend more time researching companies in which to invest

[scotview]

Was it from Huckleberry Finn? "Sometimes I sits and thinks, sometimes I just sits"

That's me that is.


You need to know that you want to give up working. Some of my colleagues had to return to work because the couldn't handle retirement.

I have lots of interests, the are important. As you get older you will holiday less abroad, travel insurance may become very restrictive depending on your health. Do your travelling early in retirement.

You need to have stuff to do in the winter, very important, not just watch TV. I do watercolour painting, silversmithing, photo and video editing, reviewing my summer nature photos catalogue, fly tying for next season......stuff like that.

[Gilgongo]

Try this thread from February 2017, covering the topic of what to tell people when you're taking very early retirement.

Interesting thread! Also intereting that noting the ages people said they retired (or planned to) gives an average age of 50. Also get the impression it's almost all men, as far as I tell.

[Dod101]

WH Davies:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=100

BJ

Indeed. Thanks. I could not remember the author but I have tried to follow that advice in retirement. Don't know how I had time for work? Bah Humbug!

Dod

[Dicky99]

WH Davies:

https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=100

BJ

Don't know how I had time for work? Bah Humbug!

Dod

Such a groanworthy trope often from people who can commit half a day to buying a replacement sink plug

[Tedx]

I remember many years ago a question on the Motley Fool about removing ice from your car window when there was a hard frost.

One respondent said 'I'm retired ...has it been frosty in the mornings'? Smiley face smiley face smiley face etc

The good thing is that hes probably dead now.

Smiley Face, smiley face, smiley face.

[bungeejumper]

Don't know how I had time for work? Bah Humbug!

Such a groanworthy trope often from people who can commit half a day to buying a replacement sink plug

You were lucky, you with your fancy Amazon next-day delivery and your throwaway society. Some of us had to kill the family pig so that we could have the fat and the leather to make a new plug for the sink, you know. It were eco friendly, but not very vegan.

Actually, one of the quiet pleasures of retirement has been that I can spend whole afternoons patching up the rotted metal in the wheelbarrow or the barbecue, or just fixing the fence - not just to save a bit of money, but also to revive the other old trope about make do and mend. And nobody finds it the least bit irritating, as long as I'm not bunking off from the housework. (Yes dear, I'll do it soon.)

My own retirement option was to enrol in local authority art classes, and later to exhibit paintings with a weekly group of like-minded old buzzards. Next plan is to pick up my old cello and have another go at the Bach suites. Yes, it beats working.

BJ