(NON FINANCIAL) Retirement plans/ dreams/ discussion.

Anonymous101

cfw1994 said:

On the subject of French....well, my son spent a University year in Lyon, & was pretty fluent.   Just asked him: his view is that the likes of Duolingo or Rosetta Stone are mostly a waste of time (although everyone is different) - you need to meet people (not easy this year, eh!).
Maybe take an extended break somewhere & get out & about!   Actually, Lyon was a surprisingly lovely City.   Only previously driven past, where it looks very industrial: the centre is fabulous!

Yes, the "Corporate BS" is high in many IT (& perhaps non-IT) companies, although I have thoroughly enjoyed most of my time overall, & managed mostly to hover below the radar.
Love your ideas, @Anonymous101 - hankered after doing a self-build 15-20 years ago (went to trade shows a few times!), but never found a plot (or looked hard enough, perhaps!).  We have done a couple of extensions, one being a major remodelling of our place, so that itch was suitably scratched for us.  Key is finding a builder you trust and work well with - we were much luckier second time, but all went well overall.

Walking will be a major thing when we can move again.   Some lovely areas within an hour or two of where we live, & of course with a tent, places further afield could be explored!

Some interesting hobbies there, @BananaRepublic !    We did a bit of kick-boxing some years back....probably a bit past that now, & we found yoga actually left us with some pain, but might revisit that.  Restoring furniture must be interesting: wife is very handy with soft furnishings, I'm more your pallet-quality builder than fine crafting....& we watched Coventry Blades with some pals a few times over the past couple of years, a fun evening out....we are skiers more than ice skaters, and that will form part of next winter, I hope!

I can confirm the corporate BS is rife within all major organisations I've worked with, none of which have been strictly IT related.

I didn't previously mention my other interests but it seems we have quite a bit in common. Exchange your French for Spanish and I'm fully in line with that. Perhaps a few extended breaks in Europe would help that heading more than time spent online? Although I'm aware of a large rise in the amount of language teaching taking place over Video Call recently. I suppose that's another barrier that technology can remove, although not a real substitute for speaking in the flesh its certainly more interactive than Duolingo et al.

Walking and the outdoors is another passion of mine. I've always wanted to do one of the epic walks inspired by stories of the Pacific Crest Trail. Perhaps I should start with smaller multiday hikes in this country so something like the Coast to Coast or West Highland way etc would be a good place to start.

We have a campervan currently and are comfortable being a little off grid when required so much longer holidays in the Highlands etc are certainly on the cards too when time allows.

Finally I'm really into my fishing and although I've spent a lot of time fishing in some pretty wild places I'd love to get lost getting to know some of the more off the beaten track highland or Irish large waters. Chasing big fish can become a very time consuming hobby if you're not careful!

trevjl

New to this thread as it only popped up this morning at the top of the list. Just the read I need as I am contemplating retiring sometime in the next year or so. The OH will continue to work. I was 58 in November and have always said I was going at 60, but the corporate Head office BS and 'elf n safety brigade have got the better of me. I have been off work since 22nd December due to a minor op and now have been offered furlough as I am classed as CEV, even though the quack says I'm not. Needless to say, I have bitten their hands off. So, I intend to treat it as a trial retirement , albeit not an ideal time. 
I have plenty of hobbies in normal times, I do a fair bit of DIY, am chairman and general maintenance dogs body at a local cricket club, go to local football every Saturday and have two Springer Spaniels which keep me very active. 
Already picked up another idea on here. My rusty Italian "o" level would be good to get back as I go there every year (for the last 33 years, same hotel !!) sadly this year looking unlikely. Online learning look interesting way of doing that.
I have crunched the figures a million times and am 99% certain I can go (the finance details are for another thread). It is just the mindset change I have to get sorted.

ouraggie

Fascinating thread. 
I'm a partly retired language teacher and have been doing a lot of teaching via Zoom during lockdown. I seem to be taking on more adults these days. I also teach my U3A Latin class on Zoom. Please do PM me if you wish to learn or revive French, German or Latin. 

Mrs_Z

Well, here is one early retiree. I'm now 5 months to my retirement and loving it.  I'm not officially retired but on a 1 year personal leave from work (unpaid), so there's a safety harness still attached (I like to play it cautiously).  I didn't think I would miss work and I haven't. Some people say you need to have something to 'retire to' but this has not been a problem for me.  I like being at home, I'm not a particularly extrovert 'people person' - I'm very happy with my own company, pottering about.  OH is still working (from home and for himself), we have no dependent children - just 2 cats.
Since me 'retiring' we've decorated 3 rooms (more to be done come spring), i'm keeping the garden going, I have an allotment, I've volunteered to the Allotment Committee, gym has been closed but i've been jogging or walking outside (which i prefer anyway) anything from 3-5 times a week at the time that suits me and lost a couple of kilos in the process.  We've reduced the cleaner from weekly to fortnightly so i've picked up the slack and do the house cleaning every other week (half a day).  I had a pile of 5 books that I wanted to read - currently on no 3.  
Like already mentioned: "Might not be everyone’s dream retirement and especially exciting but after working since 16 just being able to wake up and do what you like when you like sounds good to me." - I totally second this.  
I had planned to go at 55 but Brexit threw a curve ball and the work relocated to the EU - I was travelling back and forth almost weekly before Covid hit and then worked from home from March til the end of August. I'm now 52, but looking at the finances - thanks to lifetime of MSE mindset, the plan seems to hold. In summary - no regrets whatsoever. 

smutput

Hubby and I retired in July aged 55 and 54. Our original plans had us finishing at 60 but the stresses of work, and the precious time lost to it, convinced us to go as soon as we could once the finances were in place. We've relished getting up when we're ready, enjoying a leisurely breakfast and then spending a few hours walking in the local countryside. All our plans for travel seem less urgent now as we don't feel the need to escape, or have something to look forward to, any more.  I thought I'd have more time to get through the mountain of books I had collected in advance but they're still waiting for my attention.  Maybe we'll start feeling more ambitious when the days get longer and things opens up post-covid, or maybe we'll just continue to appreciate the simple life. Perhaps a kitchen extension instead of our expensive holiday ideas. Perhaps not.
I've enjoyed not having to plan out all my spare time to squeeze everything in and am content having a very flexible itinerary for now. 

MallyGirl

sounds like heaven to me.

drummersdale

I haven’t been in the office since the 17th March 2020 and am unlikely to be in before March of this year.  I know some of my peers are chomping at the bit to get back in but having this break has convinced me that my target of partial retirement in April 2022 is do-able and I don’t expect to be bored as I like to potter around, reads, listen to music, etc and am sure my wife will find enough to keep me gainfully employed on my “non working days”. She is 5 years younger so not really in a position to retire as yet plus she likes her job (to be fair it is more interesting than mine) and has been going into the office a couple of days a week during the pandemic. I expect she will be happy to return for longer when the opportunity presents itself. If I take partial retirement in April 22 I will have completed 41 and a half years and I expect - following the outcome of the McCloud consultation - at least 40 of those years will be in the CS Classic Pension - I am going on a partial retirement webinar run by MyCSP to get a bit more insight but if I can work 3 days (or whatever is best to avoid abatement) and perhaps be broadly on the same monthly income - pension plus salary then I would be content to work a few more years until my wife feels ready to go - when she can take her lump sum too (she is also a CS with 30 plus years service).  Hopefully Covid will be under control in a year or so, so we can celebrate my partial retirement with a nice holiday.  Obviously all this assumes my organisation will allow it but from the conversations I have had - and the fact there are others will similar arrangements - I am confident they will.

tiddles

I'm enjoying this thread. Husband and I have been retired for nine months now. We have had to postpone our retirement travel plans for the time being, but are enjoying planning for the future! We are hoping to take an interrail trip around Europe towards the end of the year - we'll see how things go.

For those of you interested in learning a language, I can recommend FutureLearn; there are currently several free courses available: https://www.futurelearn.com/subjects/language-courses

Dansmam

I'm another who took the leap based on realising in the first lockdown that a) time is too precious to give more of it to a job I'd stopped enjoying and b) I can live happily and very well on less than the collective 'wisdom' had convinced me I needed. So I resigned. Living on savings this year to minimise reduction on pension for early payment before 60 (lgps). Putting the rainy day fund to good use. Reading, walking, training/entertaining the dog and educating myself online on all the things I never had time for. Not enough hours in the day still and I'm not missing work one bit. Finally feel I've decompressed after a few months without the insane demands of work. Looks as though a lot of us are rethinking priorities.

gambleruk

Looks like there are quite a few of us with the same mindset, took voluntary redundancy last Summer at age 50, will I be able to stretch our finances to bridge the gap to 67, who knows but so far not one single regret, as others have stated there is so much to catch up on in life, reading, listening to music, walking the dogs, exercising, reading through forums like this to help with future finances, I have a set routine every day throughout the week and then enjoy the weekends. One thing I will mention is that I do not switch the tv until the evening except at weekends (for sports mainly) so that keeps me focused on doing more active things. I have never been happier or healthier for that matter. Also thought these Winter months would be a lot tougher than they have been so far and that includes lockdown and all the snow and ice we currently have but still loving it.