Still lost after losing my love of my life

duchy

It is very early days.
I'd not do anything for six months - give yourself time to grieve and recover a little from the strain your wife's illness had on you.

With time and perspective you will start to see a path forward and make sensible choices. The rawness will ease .

You may find you feel differently about retirement -either bringing it forward or putting it back - take your time deciding.

I am sorry for your loss my fiance lost his partner of fifteen years when he was fifty. It isn't easy you don't forget but you do with time start to build a different life and see a future again.

oldfella

dont do anything decisive, take a break, go on a tour, do something you have always fancied, go walking, whatever.

look after yourself and get to grips with your finance and career when you feel up to it

andru

Thank you all for your considerate input, you've all made some great points with some I hadn't even thought of yet. I had considered voluntary work at some point. I think you are right though, I need to grieve and let my life come back to some type of normality before I make any concrete decisions. I don't want to make any rash choices that I may look back on in a years time with regret.

Thanks all

Pobby

Just to say that I am sorry for your loss. Many years ago my uncle lost his wife at about the same age. Really nice lady and he was devastated, they had no children.

His life turned out well as I hope yours will, I pray.

atush

I agree, you need to take some time to grieve and heal. And yes, finding something you love to do that pays or volunteering will be good ideas long term.

In the medium term (apart from taking a holiday) I would save your extra that you dont need. Part in cash, and the rest in a S&S isa using a global tracker or lifestyle fund such as the Vanguard series.

Lakeuk

Have no idea on advise financially, but on your works pension side I'd recommend you look into and have a general understanding of the terms in your mind incase options like redundancy come up. Final salary pensions are getting rarer and rarer, some have very good terms, if your does for those aged 50+ then there maybe situations where if made redundant you maybe entitled to an enhance pension which otherwise you may of had to work a lot closer to your retirement date to get to the same point, plus you have redundancy payment to add as well.

inflationiscoming

My mother died of cancer a few years ago and my father is retired and doesn't do much outside of finances admin and is unhappy. Based on this experience I don't think stopping working at 55 would be the best idea, you will need to keep yourself busy. Life expectancy at 55 is 81, you will need something to do and enjoy for those years. As suggested look into alternatives: charity work, open university course? My friend's dad recently took an IT diploma at a local college and is considering starting a business. Given your situation you may find yourself getting too into the detail of investing, checking your portfolio everyday. I am recent convert to the monevator passive investing principles, this seems to be the logical way for people with relatively small amounts to invest for retirement. Buy-to-let is not easy.

http://monevator.com/psychology-and-investment-returns/

If you think you can avoid this then consider starting an ISA as mentioned above and maybe consider low risk strategy, but do some reading up first.

Bazofts_Revenge

It is nearly 4 years since I lost my Wife and I'm now 46 and looking to retire ASAP. Luckily I've played the stockmarket a little over the past 12 years or so losing some making some. I've invested in stocks producing 4%+ yield and where the profits cover the dividends by approximately 2 times. Reinvesting dividends and adding any extra I can from what is left over by pay day. Don't rush into anything though and drip feeding into any investments maybe something to consider. Good luck.

[Deleted User]

Andru, come and join us on the over 50s thread. I lost my husband of 45 years in february and we have an active support thread, warts and all, as we go through the grieving process through to acceptance. I managed my husbands pension for quite a few years and am stockmarket wise, also doing my own probate and sorting out the financial affairs etc. There are others on that thread who have different expertise
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5185428

You sound as though you are keeping yourself busy as I did but that is only part of the solution. It is a horrible journey but what is done is done and you do need to have aims for the future. Enough said for now but please join us