[Help] Retirement

[pearl]

I couldn't help but notice you said "Twice this year I've been on flights where WE've had flights where the WE've had half a dozen rows at the back of the plane all to OURSELVES "

Are you seriously suggesting you have a partner.....?...and if so my commiserations to her/him on having to cope with such a miserable s*** , such as yourself.

Bizarre post! And half dozen rows suggests a group to me ... so they have FRIENDS

 

[Hornblower]

I'm fast approaching 62 and I have no intention of retiring for at least another 7 years. As far as I'm concerned, there's only so much fishing and tinkering with old motorbikes you can do and I know I would get bored.

 

[pearl]

60 rolls up in November, in preparation I managed to negoicaite a four day week. (Thursdays off, TGIW.) Plan to keep on working for at least another couple of years. Enjoy what I do, though the corporate bull drives me nuts though I far Brexit may delay things.

Thanks for a very useful thread. Yes I am concerned about what to do in retirement, boredom, etc. Like a lot of people on here a number of friends have passed already, and the generation below that have moved to cheaper parts of the country.

Now starting to consider the next big plan, maybe two or three days a week volunteering or using my skill set to earn a modest income.

yes I'm a bit concerned about how Brexit will effect my plans, but who knows!? I love living in central Brighton, but admit I'm noticing younger friends/family are moving away (not out of choice either)

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

I retired last year (aged 59), frankly I had had enough of the stress and bull droppings, it was also impacting on my health. My father was only 2 years older than I am now when he passed away due to prostate cancer. Trouble with retirement, or deciding when you have had enough and want to go, is that nobody knows when their end-date is, if we did then things would be so much easier.

We have spent funds doing up the house, so the big expenses are out the way, and spent a month in Australia visiting family. My sleep vastly improved after retirement, you can feel the stress lift away. After a year of retirement, I’ve taken a 1 year part-time contract that keeps me entertained for 2 days per week, helps to keep the social interaction going and exercises the grey cells. On the other days it’s doing what I want, visiting family, walking the dog (it’s good for him and for me), checking the performance of my SIPP (Brexit is a slight worry), NSC, reading, and sometimes even get my bike out (but the hills here are a killer), basically whatever I feel like. I keep looking at U3A, but worry I might be one of the youngest there, and do not have the time to fit it in.

You are a long time dead, and I want to enjoy life a little after the years of hard work, before they put me in my box.

 

[Weststander]

I retired last year (aged 59), frankly I had had enough of the stress and bull droppings, it was also impacting on my health. My father was only 2 years older than I am now when he passed away due to prostate cancer. Trouble with retirement, or deciding when you have had enough and want to go, is that nobody knows when their end-date is, if we did then things would be so much easier.

We have spent funds doing up the house, so the big expenses are out the way, and spent a month in Australia visiting family. My sleep vastly improved after retirement, you can feel the stress lift away. After a year of retirement, I’ve taken a 1 year part-time contract that keeps me entertained for 2 days per week, helps to keep the social interaction going and exercises the grey cells. On the other days it’s doing what I want, visiting family, walking the dog (it’s good for him and for me), checking the performance of my SIPP (Brexit is a slight worry), NSC, reading, and sometimes even get my bike out (but the hills here are a killer), basically whatever I feel like. I keep looking at U3A, but worry I might be one of the youngest there, and do not have the time to fit it in.

You are a long time dead, and I want to enjoy life a little after the years of hard work, before they put me in my box.

SIPP - ironically, a weak pound drives up the desirability of UK equities from global investors. Borne out by the very significant increases in the value of SIPP's invested in equitiies in the last 30 months, despite the endless Brexit doom and gloom and pound devaluing.

So true about the hills!

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

Sorry forgot to add, whilst retired I have taken the time to sort out our wills and power of attorney's, an important part of retirement and financial planning as you get a little older.

 

[pearl]

Sorry forgot to add, whilst retired I have taken the time to sort out our wills and power of attorney's, an important part of retirement and financial planning as you get a little older.

yes, very important points

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Sorry forgot to add, whilst retired I have taken the time to sort out our wills and power of attorney's, an important part of retirement and financial planning as you get a little older.

And with perfect timing for anyone who's not yet made a will...

November is Will Aid month. Participating solicitors will write you a basic will and waive their normal fees in return for a charity donation. Details here, including a look-up by postcode of participating solicitors in your area:

https://www.willaid.org.uk

Well worth considering IMHO. Everybody wins

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

And with perfect timing for anyone who's not yet made a will...

November is Will Aid month. Participating solicitors will write you a basic will and waive their normal fees in return for a charity donation. Details here, including a look-up by postcode of participating solicitors in your area:

https://www.willaid.org.uk

Well worth considering IMHO. Everybody wins

Indeed, that's the way we did it with our donation going to the Martlets

 

[happypig]

Why completely retire, keep at least some part time work. Eg a magistrate, chose your works days and not many each year

My cousin, after nearly 40 years in the army, applied and was surprised when they told him his demographic (retired officer) was over-represented.

Personally, unless you have a burning desire, I wouldn't bother these days; magistrates are treated more like staff by HMCTS and more and more independence is being removed in favour of over-prescriptive sentencing.

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

I retired 7 years ago at the age of 56. One of the things that was said to me is that your retirement is your time and be careful of others encroaching into it. That was very true, I accepted positions and became a company director, treasurer and helper at a charity and worked part time for a firm of solicitors. Of course as you age you become slower, tire more easily and are prone to illness.

In retrospect together with my own diy, diy for my daughters and golf I took too much on. Being diagnosed with heart issues earlier this year brought a reality check and things are now far more steady. I enjoy retirement but it does need to be managed properly.

 

[Napier's Knee]

I took "voluntary severance" at 55 and was lucky that I could start claining my pension pretty much immediately - I was a university academic so the pension was final salary and I"d been topping it up for years. We'd also paid off the mortgage - we'd kept it low by never moving since 1992. This is the first important thing about taking retirement - do the sums work? If they do (and you'd be surprised how much money you spend just on going to work - you need less money when you retire), then you need to ask yourself the question: "can I afford psychologically and as a human NOT to retire?". The other thing you need to do is get all the legal side in order - wills, powers of attorney. Make sure you get a good solicitor to do this - it costs but is worth it. Our solicitor severed the joint ownership of the ouse that me and Mrs Knee had - we now legally own only 50% of the house each so if one of us needs to go into care at any point, the assessment can only take into account 50% of the value of our property. If I die first my half of the house is inherited by my daughter. A solicitor will talk you through this.

As for day to day life, the isolation was bad at first but I started doing voluntary work, I now read a lot and reckon I actually know stuff about football tactics now (although my remarks at the Amex and on here maybe disprove this). The Albion became really important to me because the football season gives a structure to the year that it wouldn;t otherwise have - football kind of gives a narrative to time, if that makes sense.

but most importantly, my stress levels have gone down, i'm healthier (although still a fat sod), my wife actually enjoys spending time with me again and we go on more holidays.

If the sums work for you, retire and look ahead to the best time of your life since you were about 20.

 

[pearl]

And with perfect timing for anyone who's not yet made a will...

November is Will Aid month. Participating solicitors will write you a basic will and waive their normal fees in return for a charity donation. Details here, including a look-up by postcode of participating solicitors in your area:

https://www.willaid.org.uk

Well worth considering IMHO. Everybody wins

thank you for the reminder .... very timely

 

[pearl]

I retired 7 years ago at the age of 56. One of the things that was said to me is that your retirement is your time and be careful of others encroaching into it. That was very true, I accepted positions and became a company director, treasurer and helper at a charity and worked part time for a firm of solicitors. Of course as you age you become slower, tire more easily and are prone to illness.

In retrospect together with my own diy, diy for my daughters and golf I took too much on. Being diagnosed with heart issues earlier this year brought a reality check and things are now far more steady. I enjoy retirement but it does need to be managed properly.

yes, very true. I am looking forward to rediscovering the 'hippie' in me, being laid back and chilling out (man)

Hope the heart issues have been dealt with

 

[pearl]

I took "voluntary severance" at 55 and was lucky that I could start claining my pension pretty much immediately - I was a university academic so the pension was final salary and I"d been topping it up for years. We'd also paid off the mortgage - we'd kept it low by never moving since 1992. This is the first important thing about taking retirement - do the sums work? If they do (and you'd be surprised how much money you spend just on going to work - you need less money when you retire), then you need to ask yourself the question: "can I afford psychologically and as a human NOT to retire?". The other thing you need to do is get all the legal side in order - wills, powers of attorney. Make sure you get a good solicitor to do this - it costs but is worth it. Our solicitor severed the joint ownership of the ouse that me and Mrs Knee had - we now legally own only 50% of the house each so if one of us needs to go into care at any point, the assessment can only take into account 50% of the value of our property. If I die first my half of the house is inherited by my daughter. A solicitor will talk you through this.

As for day to day life, the isolation was bad at first but I started doing voluntary work, I now read a lot and reckon I actually know stuff about football tactics now (although my remarks at the Amex and on here maybe disprove this). The Albion became really important to me because the football season gives a structure to the year that it wouldn;t otherwise have - football kind of gives a narrative to time, if that makes sense.

but most importantly, my stress levels have gone down, i'm healthier (although still a fat sod), my wife actually enjoys spending time with me again and we go on more holidays.

If the sums work for you, retire and look ahead to the best time of your life since you were about 20.

Excellent post!

So true about spending more just going to work .... buying lunch as too busy to make it, work clothes, commute, shopping in expensive shops out of convenience and so on

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

If the sums work for you, retire and look ahead to the best time of your life since you were about 20.

This to me is the wisest post of all. As the cliche goes, nobody ever went to their deathbed wishing they'd spent more hours in the office. Less morbidly, and letting aside any workplace stresses, simply opting out of the Brighton-London commute will save you the best part of £5k a year and more stress than most people would ever get from their job. That commute is disgusting, and the best decision you'll ever make is opting out of it, either via retirement or by taking control of your work/life balance and taking a more local job and accompanying drop in pay. That commute is the hidden killer. Do it long enough and you WILL suffer, either physically or mentally and probably both. It's no way to live your life. And I speak as one who's been there, done it, loathed it.

 

[dazzer6666]

Excellent post!

So true about spending more just going to work .... buying lunch as too busy to make it, work clothes, commute, shopping in expensive shops out of convenience and so on

This to me is the wisest post of all. As the cliche goes, nobody ever went to their deathbed wishing they'd spent more hours in the office. Less morbidly, and letting aside any workplace stresses, simply opting out of the Brighton-London commute will save you the best part of £5k a year and more stress than most people would ever get from their job. That commute is disgusting, and the best decision you'll ever make is opting out of it, either via retirement or by taking control of your work/life balance and taking a more local job and accompanying drop in pay. That commute is the hidden killer. Do it long enough and you WILL suffer, either physically or mentally and probably both. It's no way to live your life. And I speak as one who's been there, done it, loathed it.

Agree.....the commute for me is far more depressing than the actual job. I get to work from home quite a bit but actually dread the journey these days - barely a day goes by without some kind of problem.

Real nub for me is the balance of affordability vs maintenance of some kind of lifestyle similar to what we have now plus the gaping hole not working would leave to fill. Had some personal things going on recently though which have moved me so far as to really start thinking about it and to start actually doing the sums.......

As well as not being sure how much is ‘enough’ (and it’s not just day to day living and holidays, it’s also wanting to properly support the kids etc), there is also quite a lot about the job I enjoy so I’m not sure I’m ready to stop. Starting to think about whether, in the next couple of years, I step down to contract or part time work as a halfway house perhaps. I dunno, it’s difficult. I’m hoping when ‘that time’ arrives it’s more obvious than it appears now.

I overpaid on the mortgage for years and cleared that a few years ago, have some savings and a couple of SIPP funds but there will be no pension income, so the savings and SIPPs will have to cover everything (forever). Apart from fairly expensive holidays and eating out we live pretty modestly and based on the sums I’ve done so far it could work I guess, although like others I’m very nervous investment returns as this would have a massive impact on the income the SIPPs could generate.

 

[Two Professors]

Till I got used to not having to get up for work,I planned a trip out to somewhere in the Midlands once a week.Researching your destination (sometimes a pin in the map job) can be fun if you find a good pub for lunch you haven't been in before.Even better when your free bus pass kicks in!(pass here covers bus,train and tram through whole West Midlands).Can take grandchildren as well for small amounts.

 

[pearl]

Till I got used to not having to get up for work,I planned a trip out to somewhere in the Midlands once a week.Researching your destination (sometimes a pin in the map job) can be fun if you find a good pub for lunch you haven't been in before.Even better when your free bus pass kicks in!(pass here covers bus,train and tram through whole West Midlands).Can take grandchildren as well for small amounts.

I already have a form for my SENIOR railcard

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I already have a form for my SENIOR railcard

Don't forget your National Express COACHCARD for those red-eye Gatwick flights at Easyjet o'clock. Journey will cost you about a tenth of what a cab would cost.