Early retirement has become a perilous gamble

After getting up at dawn to binge-watch the first three episodes of the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary for work, I thought I’d look up my state pension age on gov.uk. (Why, I hear you cry? Well, between this, Liz Truss’s government imploding and the death of our beloved Queen, it’s been a rather labour intensive year.)

When the numbers popped up I couldn’t quite believe it. I can’t retire until 2046, by which time I’ll be 68. That’s a quarter of a century away. I basically need to work my whole working life, all over again.

It’s a daunting prospect, but in truth, I cannot ever see myself jacking it all in. If inflation carries on at its current rate, a Kitkat will cost at least a fiver by 2050. And living in the South East as we do, it seems inevitable that at least one of our three children will still be living with us by then, unable to scrabble together the £250,000 deposit needed to buy a flat.

I’ve never quite understood those who retire at 50. How much money must they have to take such a risk; with recessions, financial crashes and other crises always lurking on the horizon of their Saga cruise?

Yet growing numbers of us are indeed making this gamble, especially since the pandemic. Working from home made many people reassess things; to want to travel and spend their lockdown savings rather than troop back to the office. Some are doubtless banking on the surging value of their property to sustain them, but this is also a risky bet, leaving personal finances at the mercy of a volatile housing market.

What goes up can come down. And few early retirees could have anticipated how inflation would eat into their savings.

I can’t think of anything worse than jumping the gun only to fall on hard times and be forced back into employment in your sixties, just as your mates are taking up golf and buying mono-slippers. Retirement? It’s surely a case of do – or die!