For those in their fifties and beyond

chris_m

BBH123 wrote: »

Did you ever feel ready for retirement and why did you retire when you did?

I hadn't given any thought to retiring before 60, or later. until our pension scheme was rejigged in 2009 to make it more sustainable and they gave us so much info that I could work out roughly what I would get and when. I plugged it into my forecasting spreadsheet and ran the "what if?" scenarios to find that it would be possible at 55 or less, a very pleasant surprise.

Was work less enjoyable or they forced your hand?

No, I enjoyed the work - although not the constant office politics.
My boss actually had the best part of 2 years informal notice and 5 months formal notice in the end. If anyone had !!!!!! me off, they'd have had the contractual 1 month and had to lump it

Did you always have a life plan that included the age you were going to retire at. Did finances force your hand as the sole determinant of when you could retire ,

The latter really. Once I'd decided that I'd be going as soon as I felt I could afford to, it was a case of watching savings/investments, prices, etc. The plan was to be able to buy a house in Cumbria without needing to sell a flat in Southampton immediately, nor borrowing, so I needed to have sufficient money available at short notice to do that. I would then sell the flat to recover my savings.

Is retirement as good as you hoped ,

Oh yes :T

I will have been gone for exactly one year at the end of this week (30/09) and have managed to get all my plans completed - I found and bought my house, finished prepping the flat, put that on the market and sold it a month ago. The only outstanding thing is getting my overpayment to Scottish Power refunded - should be in my bank by the end of the week I was told.

Much of my time has been spent in sorting the garden - not what I had intended TBH. I had meant to just keep the lawns in check this year and see what else came up before deciding what to do with it. However, half the back lawn was 80% moss and the other half 40% - so the worse half got dug up as a veggie patch and the other half treated, scarified, seeded, etc. and that's now pretty well all grass at last. I've never had a garden before so the bug bit sooner than I'd anticipated

The only thing I haven't managed to fit in yet is walks on the fells with my camera - the reason for moving here in the first place. The way it's worked out is that I've been committed to other things when the weather's been conducive to going out, but had the time when it's been piddling down.
Never mind, I'll have plenty of time later, I hope.

Of one thing I am sure - I don't know how I had time to go to work
:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Wow thanks for taking the trouble to reply everyone, it seems there is no right way to do retirement it is entirely personal.

I could happily retire tommorrow and never be bored but other friends have said the fifties is too early for them so I think it depends what you have to look forward to.

I can't wait :j

Ainsley1

Some very interesting stories there!

I had hoped to retire at 55 after seeing friends and relatives suffer ill health or death earlier than wished so that we could enjoy life in a relaxed fashion.

In the end work did not plan out and I needed to change jobs a few times a d that hampered career progression so it was a financial non starter. Although I inherited some money and saved up some, paid off the mortgage I was determined to live off income (pensions etc.) and similarly pass on any good fortune to my family. In the meantime it could top up income and gain a little and some of those gains could pay for extras like home improvements.

I was asked to stay on working but was not enjoying it so also doing some calcs retired at 60. Aim was to do work for myself around the house (inside and out) and take some good (not expensive mind you!) holidays.

Unexpected responsibilities materialised so the latter is curtailed a lot but my time is full. I also wondered how I had time to work.

Owing to a mix of public and private and state pensions now ticking along financially on but far from luxurious lifestyle. Big cost savings doing improvements and refurb myself compared to just 'buying in' and with reasonable health am enjoying life.

Key I think is financial security, lack of loneliness/plenty of activities, a feeling of safety and most importantly the health to enjoy any possibilities. Many of our age group made sacrifices in early life to hope for some of those things, elements of luck (especially those being in public service for good pensions, planned or otherwise) and the ability/determination to make choices all help. Health we only partially control but doing what you can for health and fitness makes a big difference.

I suspect those in deprived or unsafe areas, without companions or a visibly happy future, struggling financially or suffering bad health (and combinations thereof) may well feel a lot different to many of the posters (including me) on this thread.

home_alone

When coming up to retirement a few years ago all my plans centred around lots of golf and lots of holidays, now in retirement neither of my plans worked out acute tennis elbow killed the golf and 2 grandchildren put paid to any holiday without them also the fact I hate airports with a passion.

cherie1122

I planned on retiring at 66 at the same time as my husband who was a year younger than me. I was made redundant at 63 and he had already been made redundant two years earlier.

My job had changed a lot and I no longer enjoyed it (worked for the local council) so I was pleased to no longer have to go to work every day. We paid off the rest of the mortgage, got new windows and a new boiler and then my husband was diagnosed with cancer and he died.

Life is different these days but I enjoy doing whatever I want and not to have to go to work. I don't have to worry about money. Sometimes I miss my job but then it's just the people I miss and not the actual work and red tape.

Davesnave

home_alone wrote: »

When coming up to retirement a few years ago all my plans centred around lots of golf and lots of holidays, now in retirement neither of my plans worked out acute tennis elbow killed the golf ......

You may recover from tennis elbow.

In my post earlier, I called it RSI, but whatever the label, it's much more debilitating than the name implies. Even hammering nails was too painful to contemplate, but once I gave up the repetitive heavy work that caused the injuries, the elbows began to recover.

Today, I'd never know I had that weakness.

Maybe you'll get to play a round or two yet.

pixiehelper

Retirement in my opinion will become a thing of the past as the cost of living increases, but how will people in their 70s be able to work at the same pace as someone in their 20s there needs to be an allowance for age discrimination

boliston

pixiehelper wrote: »

Retirement in my opinion will become a thing of the past as the cost of living increases, but how will people in their 70s be able to work at the same pace as someone in their 20s there needs to be an allowance for age discrimination

Older people have a lifetime of accumulated knowledge so if anything they should be able to offer MORE to an employer unless dementia has set in.

Pobby

I retired at 61 due to ill health. Well my contract was terminated by the company I self employed represented. After a pay off from them, that required legal representation, I was awarded dla and esa. I took my private pensions which although small, helped. At 65, my state pension and serps kicked in and esa lost, rightly. I was better and sort a review of my dla and lost that, rightly.

My wife was know retired with a similar income to me which is comfortable.

The problem is that we are both in limbo. My wife bought out her brother in law after divorce and 3 of us are owners of there ex marital home which we are intending all 3 of us to live in but due to tests and check ups in my home town hospital life is on hold. This is coming to an end so we move 200 miles to our shared house.

Life will be different there with baby sitting and family stuff. Planning on a small recording studio, some volley work and maybe a little paid work.