(NON FINANCIAL) Retirement plans/ dreams/ discussion.

sheslookinhot

Hope to retire in two years, unless I get a golden cheerio. Thoughts at present alternating between, buying a small property in sunny climes, doing a long rental, maybe two x 3 months per year, or buying a motorhome (wife)/ camper (me) and touring Med countries.

We want to walk the Camino Santiago de Compestela, and other similar walks. Trip to Japan on horizon too. If I retire first, I will do a solo backpack tour of the Greek Islands.

MallyGirl

Our first winter holiday, once no longer constrained by school hols, will be back to New Zealand. We have been twice and love it - it will help that we have way more family there than here on both sides. Greek isles are fun - loved Santorini.
The big list includes polar bears (probably Canada), sled dogs & northern lights (probably Norway), sloths and lots of other creatures in Costa Rica, Hawaii (childhood memories of Magnum), Nepal, India (tigers in my dreams), whales in Baja, diving in Maldives, more safaris. Plus Scotland, Northumbria, Lakes, Dales, vineyards in France - all in the camper.

Techno

crv1963 wrote: »

Good idea bluenose1.
and take a garden design course.

Have you found any good garden design courses or are you looking on-line?

crv1963

Techno wrote: »

Have you found any good garden design courses or are you looking on-line?

No but I haven't really had a good look yet, leaving it to nearer the time, I love gardening and feel that I would like to know more about understanding and constructing the framework of a well laid out garden over the ad hoc approach I and I suspect the majority of people use to make a nice garden.

crv1963

MallyGirl wrote: »

Our first winter holiday, once no longer constrained by school hols, will be back to New Zealand. We have been twice and love it - it will help that we have way more family there than here on both sides. Greek isles are fun - loved Santorini.
The big list includes polar bears (probably Canada), sled dogs & northern lights (probably Norway), sloths and lots of other creatures in Costa Rica, Hawaii (childhood memories of Magnum), Nepal, India (tigers in my dreams), whales in Baja, diving in Maldives, more safaris. Plus Scotland, Northumbria, Lakes, Dales, vineyards in France - all in the camper.

We too have a big list- time spent wandering India, China, SE Asia, Canada, Europe and parts of Africa. I would recommend diving in the Maldives- we went and the reefs are brilliant!

Nebulous2

We've probably spent more time thinking about what we want to do than on how to fund it and when.

We bought a second home in a cheaper area last year and intend to renovate it to become a retirement home. Progress hasn't been fast - again plans are easier than timetabling.

Then we will sell our current main home. I have a DB pension which has been running for many years. It is slowly increasing and the reduction for taking it early will slowly decrease, so eventually there will come a point where the figure seems good enough. With the capital from our house, savings and the pension that will carry us through until state pension kicks in.

I cycle a lot and my wife has an electric bike. We've holidayed in France and latterly France and Spain for many years and intend touring most of the winter and touring in the UK in the summer.

I want something which can store the bikes inside and my wife wants a fixed bed, so it will either be a motorhome with a large garage and a fixed bed above it, or a van with storage for bikes in the back and a decent sized caravan.

crv1963

Nebulous2 wrote: »

We've probably spent more time thinking about what we want to do than on how to fund it and when.

We bought a second home in a cheaper area last year and intend to renovate it to become a retirement home. Progress hasn't been fast - again plans are easier than timetabling.

This is also where we are- making lots of plans, reality of having pets with health conditions means we have to also make additional allowances.

Mrs CRV moots on a regular basis buying a second home somewhere to "do up and retire too" or an apartment abroad to become "Swallows- summer here, winter there". I'm not sure which will pan out if either.

bugslett

AlanP wrote: »

Don't have a definite date in mind for retirement but will be within next 3 years we expect.

Like many we have worked through the big ticket items like new kitchen and conservatory whilst there is an income to fund it and are saving heavily for the end of that income.

My wife is likely to carry on working longer than me as she enjoys her work more, even if she cuts down on days / hours per week.

I'm starting a Gliding Course at the end of this month and I'm hoping that will be an activity that will occupy a day or so a week. I also fish and want to do more of that. I'm learning to play Bridge which should help to keep the brain active.

We've thought about camper vans and I've thought about a narrow-boat. Doubt if either will come to fruition but who knows.

Plan on holidays being a big feature when we have the time for longer trips, pets allowing. There is a dependency on health there obviously but at the moment all good on that front (touching wood).

Must be something in the air, I've mentioned on here before that I would like to take up gliding, my father got his licenses.

And I am juggling between a campervan and a narrowboat. I'm veering more to the latter, simply because I have three dogs and I think it would be a bit cosy in a camper.

Nebulous2

crv1963 wrote: »

This is also where we are- making lots of plans, reality of having pets with health conditions means we have to also make additional allowances.

Mrs CRV moots on a regular basis buying a second home somewhere to "do up and retire too" or an apartment abroad to become "Swallows- summer here, winter there". I'm not sure which will pan out if either.

Our favourite bit of France is probably the South-East coastal area, just a bit North of the Spanish border. You hear a lot about how cheap French property is, so we set off for 3 weeks to view property, expecting to buy. The whole experience was extremely disappointing. Everything we saw at our budget point was falling apart and would have been a real money pit. We came to the conclusion going cheaper at home was more sensible, allowing us to tour abroad, rather than be tied to one area.

BoxerfanUK

crv1963 wrote: »

This is also where we are- making lots of plans, reality of having pets with health conditions means we have to also make additional allowances.

Mrs CRV moots on a regular basis buying a second home somewhere to "do up and retire too" or an apartment abroad to become "Swallows- summer here, winter there". I'm not sure which will pan out if either.

I know the feeling regarding the reality of having pets. We have owned a property in Cyprus since 2006 and our long term retirement plan was/is to spend more time there. The idea being we would buy two single one way flights and stay there for however long and then if we get a bit bored or are missing the UK just get two single flights back home and repeat.

However, having pets does create a problem. We lost our last dog (can you guess the breed? :rotfl:) in 2014 and I put my foot down and said 'no more dogs' as I was trying to think ahead as they are such a tie. Then I had a nasty accident about 3 days after we had to have her put down and whilst off work and recuperating at home my wife and daughter caught me at a weak moment. Before I knew it we were in the car to Herefordshire to look at a puppy and came home with TWO!!!!