Moneymakeover Release Equity or cash investments to retire early?

[Brendan Burgess]

I am hoping to retire anywhere between the age of 51 or 55 and think I am in very good shape for that, to be honest lately i have gotten very attached to the 51 over the 55 as I just cannot deal with work and the stress anymore.

When I read that someone wants to retire at 50 because they hate their job or can't handle the stress and are wondering if they can afford to, the more important question to ask is if it's possible to switch job or even career.

You appear to be well paid. You presumably are competent and well educated. You should be able to find a job that you actually like doing. And if your job is so specialised that stress is an integral part of it, then you should consider switching career. You are only 47. You can comfortably afford to take two or three years off to retrain to do something different.

I would park the financial questions for the moment and go and see a good career counsellor. They will do psychometric tests and have a general discussion and will probably identify a few jobs or careers which you have not thought of. You could comfortably afford to halve your salary and get a job you get a lot of satisfaction out of doing.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

As I wrote that, it sounded familiar.

Key Post - "Have I enough to retire at 60?"

This question comes up a lot and while each case is different, I thought it would be useful to try to set out some general principles for people to consider before looking at the specifics. In a very few cases, the answer is clear If you are 60, single with no dependents and you own your...

www.askaboutmoney.com

Brendan

 

[vonsmi]

the more important question to ask is if it's possible to switch job or even career.

Thanks and a very valid observation, i have some other things I'd like to pursue that have the potential to generate income (and already are) but I don't want there to be any pressure on that having to sustain me and admittedly there is the fear of pivoting fully into that direction right now too. I am 18yrs in the same company and seem to have stockholm syndrome as well as lost trust in my skills outside of the current employer...all can of course be tackled if the mind were willing...'tis a process. I think my default mode is to focus on the figures instead of tackling that sort of rather obvious issues. Appreciate the advise looking in from the outside!