Post-retirement struggles?

JoeEngland

cfw1994 wrote: »

I know a lot of us are figuring out the figures for our retirement plans/hopes/aspirations: plenty of very helpful threads here!

As I ‘secretly’ plan my withdrawal from a fairly busy career (in IT, in my case)....I’m curious: those who have taken that step: I’m sure there are some initial challenges and joys.....but with hindsight, are there any things you seriously miss, or perhaps wish you had done a bit differently?
Not necessarily financial....maybe things you miss....

The only thing I will miss is the monthly salary. In some jobs I've occasionally worked with people I still keep in touch with, but haven't any colleagues like that in my current job that I finish in a couple of months. There's far better things to do with your time when retired than while at work, unless you have a job like medicine, police etc.

Eros1000

One year ago, I unexpectedly had the opportunity to take early retirement from publishing. Few regrets but as other posters have mentioned Ive missed working with a great team of creative people. I havent missed the daily 100 mile round trip thru central Scotland.
My wife retired at the same time and we have both enjoyed a more relaxing way of life. We are involved with several voluntary activities, church, lots of exercise and more time to visit grandchildren in the south of England.

Money wise we have always budgeted carefully and this has helped in adapting to retirement.

cfw1994

Thanks for all the replies!
Yes, I can easily imagine the lack of a wage hitting the account being missed :rotfl:, & certainly I can imagine missing some people: once or twice a year (for over 20 years!) I have been lucky enough to travel to nice parts of the world and catch up with people I 'work' with on teleconference and emails, & I suspect the key there is to connect socially outside of work in order to continue what have (in many cases!) become good friendships.

bugslett wrote: »

I used to be 'someone' in my niche part of the world, lot of knowledge, one of only four people that do what I did, built up my own business, so I think my ego may miss that bit, being 'someone'.

& I get this too: I've not build my own business up, but the company I have been with for over 20 years went from 'pretty small' when I started to multi-billion-dollar value, & as an old lag, I have a wide network that I also take some pride in using!

ex-pat_scot wrote: »

from what I can gather, the key is not retiring "from" but retiring "to".
i am a few years from that fateful day yet.
i have a long list (I am not going to call it a bucket list) of things I plan on doing. Some don't need to be retired to achieve, but that's more a function of the family life cycle and stages of the children (when they are grown older, then there will be fewer activities, lessons and dad-taxi commitments).


My father has been retired 25 years, and his favourite time in the week is Monday 7am, when he wakes, turns over and goes back to sleep.
When I asked him what he missed most about work, his response was "it's the little things - pencils and staplers mostly".


(it was his own company at least).

Excellent! Yes, retiring "to" something is great advice. I have a lot of things I want to do, probably starting with the mundane around the house & leisure-wise, but growing to some interesting travel.
I also do some volunteering (in limited chunks!) currently, & I think that will continue.

cheers all!

Sea_Shell

I don't think i'll miss work at all. I don't really have that much in common with the people I work with, and doubt i'll keep in touch afterwards.

I think going part-time for a period before full retirement is the way to go, if possible, rather than the cliff edge of Full time to 0 hours in one go!! - That could be a culture shock.

I've heard it said that you shouldn't make any big decisions about your lifestyle, spending, housing etc within the first year of retirement. Give yourself a chance to settle into it first....then start making your Big Plan!!

Browntoa

I don't miss work at all. As our job ended we all went at the same time and meet up from time to time for lunch.

I've given myself some sort or purpose by doing part time invigilator work ( sparodic so gives me periods when I can choose to do nothing ) a regular volunteer slot so I meet other people and socialise .

I think the biggest mistake is just stopping work and doing nothing

Lincoln_Imp

I retired nearly 2 years ago aged 56 (Very good pension)
Worked at the same company for nearly 38 years working all manner of hours and shifts and thought i would struggle filling my day but let me tell you i don`t have enough hours in the day to do what i can do now lol

I could never do anything in the evening as was either at work on nights or afters or if on days i had to get up at 04.30

My wife still works so now i am a house husband and do everything around the home
I am out and about somewhere every day and loving it

I had every intention of getting a part time job to fill my hours in but have no desire to whatsoever

The only thing i miss are my work mates some of whom i have been friends with since 1980 but a few of them retired at the same time as me and we meet up once a month for a liquid lunch which is great

dwsjarcmcd

For me, it’s a much, much longer list of things I don’t miss!

Sea_Shell

dwsjarcmcd wrote: »

For me, it’s a much, much longer list of things I don’t miss!

Oh, god yes, Office Politics, arguments over the Air Con, or who used the last of the milk/coffee/toilet roll....the list goes on!!!

shinytop

Sea_Shell wrote: »

I don't think i'll miss work at all. I don't really have that much in common with the people I work with, and doubt i'll keep in touch afterwards.

I think going part-time for a period before full retirement is the way to go, if possible, rather than the cliff edge of Full time to 0 hours in one go!! - That could be a culture shock.

I've heard it said that you shouldn't make any big decisions about your lifestyle, spending, housing etc within the first year of retirement. Give yourself a chance to settle into it first....then start making your Big Plan!!

I like the people I work with but I work a long way (60 miles) from where I live so to keep in touch would require a bit of effort. I've never socialised outside work with them while working so I don't see that happening when I leave. I will miss the contact with other people but hope to find something to replace it with. We're retiring, selling up and moving (don't know where) all at once. Yes it's a cliff edge and a sudden leap over for us but we have good parachutes and will be able to choose where we land.

OldMusicGuy

I retired 18 months ago from a high pressure, full on IT job. The only thing I missed was regular paycheques, the lack of those does take some getting used to it but I can cope with it now.

I don't miss anything about the job. I achieved a lot while working but the one thing I realised was that as soon as you leave you are replaced by someone else and that world carries on quite happily without you.

Nothing I miss at all, I hated the long hours, excessive travel, deadlines and silly objectives I had to meet. The only thing I wish is that I had made better investment decisions in my 30s and 40s so that I could have retired even earlier.

Like shinytop we are moving. That was always our plan in retirement as we need to realise equity from our current house. So we have been planning for that prior to retirement and we are now putting our plans into action. It's a new phase of our lives and we are really excited.