u/ano61836555

43M, very healthy pension and income, low expenditure. School age kids.

I’ve been targeting a retirement age of 52, and well on track to achieve it. Although I feel like I’m having a bit of a midlife crisis as I see time slipping away from me. I don’t particularly want to wait a decade before doing certain things with my life.

So I’m now thinking about pushing that date back by two years and plan for an age 54 retirement. In exchange, I’ll take an extra full month (maybe six weeks) off work per year as unpaid parental leave. And at some point in the next five years take a full six month sabbatical.

All the extra time off will be spent travelling. Places I would like to enjoy whilst I’m still fit and active.

Anybody else here easing back on the “retire as early as possible” to find a more balanced approach?

I’m about to start a build on a 4x6m outbuilding which will primarily serve as a gym space. It will be brick cavity walls, insulated, pitched roof with vaulted ceiling (no trusses or joists getting in the way) and a couple of skylight windows for natural light.

Is there anything you would add or change if you were rebuilding your gym from scratch?

I’ve recently had symptoms of what I thought was low T. Trouble sleeping, low energy etc. Age 42. Was mentally planning for TRT.

Results just came back at 41 nmol/l which looks abnormally high.

I have no idea why it might be elevated. Any ideas?