Things to do after early retirement?

monkeyspanner

EdSwippet wrote: »

I am mid-fifties and plan on taking early retirement, possibly in the first quarter of next year. I'm active and in good health, have decent pension arrangements, and have a list of things I want to do, but I'm interested to hear any reports from folk who have perhaps retired early in the past.

In particular, anything in your plan that worked well, perhaps unexpectedly so? Anything that didn't work out at all? Or if you haven't yet retired early but are thinking about it, how do you plan to spend time?

I know we all like to do different things, but nevertheless I'm on the lookout for possibilities I might not yet have thought of.

For my part... I will swim most days. I will go to the gym, and take regular yoga, pilates and other exercise classes. I will be a volunteer gardener at a local NT property. I will help disabled children learn to swim. I will learn to draw, and attend art appreciation classes. I will -- finally, and after multiple false starts earlier in life! -- learn to read music and play a musical instrument. I will cycle, hike, and canoe where possible. I will learn Spanish. I will go on yoga and meditation retreats. I will travel widely. I will not write a book.

There now, let's see how much of that plan survives its first encounter with reality!

Wow - I did wonder when you intended to sleep.
My advice, having taken early retirement myself:

Concentrate on the more energetic things now.
Learn to ski. You see some amazing scenery and its never too late.
Keep away from rambling groups.
Treat your home area as if you were visiting it for the first time.
Don't buy a dog if you intend to travel a lot.
Widen your friendship group.
Declutter (very liberating)
Give some money to your kids and spend the rest on yourself.

moneyistooshorttomention

Intrigued as to the note about "keep away from rambling groups".:rotfl:

Dare I ask why?

Re the "time for sleeping" On EdSwippet's life - there may be an element of where one lives in this. Some places just take more time to live in one way or another. A minor medical procedure that takes a doctor appointment, then 1-2 hours for a further appointment (including getting there and back) to deal with normally has been "costed out" by me as taking about 20 hours in total to do the exact same sort of procedure where I am living now (ie about 2 days worth of time "down the drain" not available for Having A Life in - because of all the various bits/time-wastes involved in sorting it out). If you're living somewhere where workmen are pretty unreliable too - then it takes extra time to get any work on the house done (and that detracts from time available for Having A Life).

Not too big a problem for me - but "nipping to the corner shop" for an item used to take 5 minutes and now takes 20 minutes. But some people live somewhere where "nipping to the corner shop" might even mean getting in a car and driving some miles.

I think I could probably fit in EdSwippet's "Life" where I lived before - but all the extra time spent on "day-to-day existence stuff" and waiting around for/travelling on buses here might make it quite a "challenge" to be able to do that much. It does rather depend where you live.

Marine_life

I've read the whole thread and those of you who have read my "early retirement wannabe" you'll know how I've wrestled these last few years with the should I or shouldn't I aspects of early retirement. I don't think I necessarily worry about being bored in retirement but rather I worry about making an irrevocable decision.

But that's for me to worry about over the next couple of months but what is clear is that at some point in 2016 I will pull the trigger. I'm 51.

So getting back to the original theme as to what we will do in retirement I think there is not a firm plan but....

I want to ski while I am still young enough to do so. Over the last few years I was only able to ski for a maximum of two weeks a year whereas I would like to ski a whole season. This year will be my first with a season pass and am aiming to ski at least 30 days as a warm up.

In addition to that there are all things sporting (cycling, running, hiking) again these are things i want to so while I am still able (I recently has a full medical checkup with a clean bill of health).

As a previous cancer sufferer I am very aware of the fragility of health.

I am also keen to cook, we've always cooked most meals from scratch but to be honest the pressure of work and lack of time means we have relied on a menu of around 15 or so dishes which rotate.

May not be everyone's cup of tea but I also enjoy playing poker online and over the years have been reasonably successful. If i can continue that success then I would like to graduate to playing live tournaments across Europe.

Then there is travel - we've seen a lot as a family and I have seen a lot more with work but there are still places I have not been (South America) and places I really want to go back to (New Zealand).

Then there is the apartment in our house in Austria which we intend to rent out for holidays.

and finally....I will grow a beard...I've never had a beard other than when I took my sabbatical last year and that was actually pretty good. So I will spend my days pruning and combing!

EdSwippet

Marine_life wrote: »

I don't think I necessarily worry about being bored in retirement but rather I worry about making an irrevocable decision.

One of my concerns too. I work in a fast moving technical field where experience more than a few years old can be pretty much irrelevant to current work. Once I have gone there may be a very limited window in which to return to similar work if I have to (or want to).

Of course, not every skill degrades this fast. I might be able to retrain or reinvent myself into a different role. Perhaps something more people-focused rather than technical. But I'm also aware that age will count against me. Even though my current employer insists that it does not discriminate on age, it does in some ways. And I suspect most do, albeit subtly, and that's just a fact of life.

Thanks for the thoughts. And good luck with the beard (my wife has consistently vetoed my plans in that direction).

monkeyspanner wrote:

Wow - I did wonder when you intended to sleep.

Heh. I suppose I should have added 'sleep' as one more retirement activity!

For the record, I don't intend to start all of these at once. Nor for that matter do them all concurrently. Rather, it's a list of stuff I want to pick and choose from as and when desire and opportunity show themselves.

moneyistooshorttomention's note about simple life chores taking a lot of time is also a good one.

I'm currently finding I spend a lot of time faffing about to optimise pension payments, get tax returns right -- for assorted sad reasons I have to do multiple complex tax returns each year -- and generally organising stuff around finances. After retiring I very much hope a chunk of these chores will evaporate due to my simpler lifestyle (there will be more time in which to do them, but that is emphatically not how I want to spend my retirement!).

In terms of transport, I'm lucky to live within easy walking/cycling distance of the sort of places I'll need to get to for my planned activities. Some of this is pure luck, but some is because I have tried to select activities for retirement that are in walking/cycling distance in the first place. And well worth bearing this in mind if I decide to move house at some point.

savingpennies

I've read through this thread with great interest. I had intended to retire in July 2016 after over 30 years as a teacher but ill health has brought that forward by a few months. Whilst being off ill it's given me a taste of what retirement will be like and I am busy looking at what I want to do and what I can do. My OH retired last year when he was 60.
So far on our list: travelling to far off places; going to the gym regularly; gardening, especially growing more fruit & veg; walking; reading the pile of books I have and revisiting some old favourites; going to the theatre/cinema (when it's cheaper); and I intend to do an MA, something I have always wanted to do but work, children and the OH working away from home stopped me.
I'm really looking forward to this time and realise we are both lucky to be able to retire relatively early and whilst still in good health.
In the meantime, we are adjusting to life on less money and setting ourselves challenges like, going to the supermarket and only buying the one thing on the list (something OH finds rather difficult!!), or going out for the day and not spending any money.

DevilsAdvocate1

I've really enjoyed reading this thread, though I'm not in a position to retire myself and won't be for some considerable time, as my youngest son is 10.

However, I just wanted to suggest something that hasn't been mentioned. Elderly relatives of mine retired to remote area as they loved the solitude. However, it became very difficult when one of them died, especially as the other one was no longer able to drive. Even visiting the doctor was difficult as the nearest surgery was 3 miles away.

Having see this, I would retire to somewhere where all the amenities are close at hand. So if one of you is left on their own and can no longer drive, at least everything is near. This way some sort of independence can be retained.

pollypenny

I'd second devilsAdvocate's post.

I have a number of friends through U3A who have found themselves isolated and dependent on rare rural buses.

Ensure everything you need will be accessible.

MrsCD

I retired two months ago due to an ongoing health problem and haven't looked back. I was advised to make a clean break so I have done although I have seen ex-work colleagues around when I've been out and about.
Since I retired, I've made a list of all the household jobs I want done and made a start with having a new bathroom fitted and painting the living room. The hall is next then the garden.
Once all the house is up to date, we will look at holidays. We're already booked up for a week in the summer so we can take our time looking around for any bargains.
I want to wait to claim my pension as I'm not yet 'retiring age', so we will have to manage on two thirds of our previous income for now.
I don't want to have to get another job, but if we find we can't manage, I'll have to find something, just not as manual as my last job.
Considering that hundreds, if not thousands retire every week, and they manage, I reckon that we should be able to, too.
I find that we naturally have a weekly routine, but it's not set in stone, and we can change things as and when we want.

redmalc

All the comments are very interesting,I am 60 shortly and working to many hours in a specialist services business which I have done for 38 years.
I think I can afford to get out shortly with no debts and a nice house we can sell to fund the retirement with other savings as well in the markets.
We are contemplating the purchase of a small villa in Spain to live in the Winters and rent out in the summer.

Savvy_Sue

redmalc wrote: »

We are contemplating the purchase of a small villa in Spain to live in the Winters and rent out in the summer.

May I commend our 'Living Abroad' thread to you. It's not a very active thread, but several of our informants either do or have lived in Spain. The main thing I picked up is that some parts of Spain are not very warm in winter ... so choose well!