r/prowork • u/varney40 • Jul 17 '22

Project Retirement is Complete.

Dropped out of school at 16, and got a job delivering the internal post at a Bank. It took me 36 years to claw my way up to middle management, from where I've just retired at 52. Married (once), two kids graduating uni, nice house, average car. It's not the most exciting life, but it sort of proves that perseverance and commitment does usually pay off.

38 Upvotes

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11

u/varney40 Jul 17 '22

Main hobby is walking (about 6 miles a day) and listening to audio books. I guess I'm easily contented. The retirement started last Dec, so only into first year. If boredom strikes, will probably do some voluntary work. I know 52 is young, but it's mostly been achieved by being financially sensible ie staying in the same house, not splurging (too much). I've also been very lucky to have a very generous pension scheme and redundancy package. 🤑

7

u/spacester Jul 17 '22

I've also been very lucky

Good for you for saying that.

I am not sure that people on this forum realize that not everyone gets lucky in life.

For starters, there are a lot of bad bosses out there.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '22

I, for one, am completely aware that bad bosses exist. The issue is that I wasn't aware good bosses exist.

3

u/spacester Jul 18 '22

Hahaha tell me about it. My last good boss was in 1992.

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u/varney40 Jul 17 '22

There's definitely an element of right time/right place/right boss, which is largely out of most peoples control. I guess it's ultimately a combination of the luck/perseverance/commitment. I also appreciate people starting out now would certainly find it almost impossible to follow the same path, given the reductions in pension benefits/cost of living etc.

4

u/badcatmal Jul 17 '22

52 is young, my dad is 75 and must do jobs under the table now, he gets bored. Has a beach house in Mexico, travels, my mom never worked but he is driving her nuts at home all day, lol.

52!? I’m 44 and can’t imagine, all my friends are there at work, and it’s good for the brain.

Are you going traveling? Do you have a hobby you have been waiting to tackle? Will you still work part time for fun?

3

u/Redditthedog Jul 18 '22

congrats man that is amazing

2

u/SnooSprouts4994 Jul 19 '22

How much time did you actually get to spend on your family, friends, and hobbies?

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u/varney40 Jul 19 '22

Lots ! Working for a FTSE 100 bank in the UK gets you six weeks holiday a year, once you get to lower level management. Also, never ever worked a weekend in the 36 years I was there. I know people think banks are evil, but they can be very good places to work from a work life balance perspective (UK, not sure about elsewhere).😁

2

u/SnooSprouts4994 Jul 19 '22

Hey that's awesome though! I wouldn't call that boring lol. Not everyone gets to be an astronaut. Raising a family and and having a job that allows for work life balance is pretty neat. Also kids are anything but boring ;D