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Ready to retire?
Western Mail
|February 16, 2026
You may be counting down the days, but we ask an expert how you truly know you're finally ready to leave the world of work behind. By CAMILLA FOSTER
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DECIDING when to retire is a huge decision that requires some careful planning and consideration.
Having all your finances in order obviously plays a big part in it, but there are subtle emotional and physical clues that might also indicate that you're ready to step into this next exciting phase of life.
Susie Masterson, psychotherapist and relationship coach at Ultraliving, outlines five key signs that might indicate that you are ready to retire.
"Burnout is when you get that lingering dread about work on a Sunday afternoon and don't feel recharged after a weekend," says Susie. "Another sign of burnout with work is when you are finding tasks that you used to find easy increasingly difficult to do and are counting the hours down during the working day.
"Burnout also often makes you feel quite fatigued, both physically and emotionally."
"When there's a big change in our life, we're always going to review things," says the psychotherapist.
This story is from the February 16, 2026 edition of Western Mail.
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