It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

Nebulous2

GazzaBloom said:

Sea_Shell said:

When you're out for an early morning run, the sun's shining and you jog past the queue of commuters sitting in their cars...

Priceless 😇😎

I long for the day, and it is coming, but I has resolved to enjoy the journey to the destination rather than wishing the days, weeks, months and last few years away, which is all too easy to do when you can see the chequered flag in sight.

I work one day a week in health care, and am just about to do an 'extra' shift as they are short-staffed. When working full-time I always put a lot into it, but I usually managed to ring-fence some bits; holidays, weekends, family-time and hobbies. That separation helped make it worthwhile..... 

SarahB16

GazzaBloom said:

I long for the day, and it is coming, but I has resolved to enjoy the journey to the destination rather than wishing the days, weeks, months and last few years away, which is all too easy to do when you can see the chequered flag in sight.

I wonder when you say you can see the chequered flag?  I think that's personal as in different for everybody.  I enjoy reading the posts on here as the opinions that are shared are very helpful in terms of preparing for retirement but at c.13 years away for me I can't yet see the chequered flag but you know I wouldn't say I was looking for it just yet.     

GazzaBloom

SarahB16 said:

GazzaBloom said:

I long for the day, and it is coming, but I has resolved to enjoy the journey to the destination rather than wishing the days, weeks, months and last few years away, which is all too easy to do when you can see the chequered flag in sight.

I wonder when you say you can see the chequered flag?  I think that's personal as in different for everybody.  I enjoy reading the posts on here as the opinions that are shared are very helpful in terms of preparing for retirement but at c.13 years away for me I can't yet see the chequered flag but you know I wouldn't say I was looking for it just yet.     

I wasn't thinking about retirement 13 years ago but 3 years ago when I really started looking at possibilities and mapped out where my pension could be, how much I could pay into it, what our state pensions looked like, things came into focus quickly. 

Using software like FiCalc and Timeline has helped reinforce my own spreadsheet calculations and show what may be possible, even in a pessimistic scenario.

Becoming mortgage and debt free changed everything, having notable income that could be shovelled into salary sacrifice with it's tax benefits and seeing the potential growth, has really become the only reason left as my need to work.

I have a 20 years redundancy package cushion to fall back on if they want to let me go and it would see me OK as it's quite generous, if not I am looking at 2 or 3 years more and should have enough to go part time or stop completely.

@Sea_Shell sorry to derail your beautiful thread. I will go back into my box now...Mr Roy is calling...Boom Boom!

Kim1965

NedS said:

GazzaBloom said:

Sea_Shell said:

When you're out for an early morning run, the sun's shining and you jog past the queue of commuters sitting in their cars...

Priceless 😇😎

I long for the day, and it is coming, but I has resolved to enjoy the journey to the destination rather than wishing the days, weeks, months and last few years away, which is all too easy to do when you can see the chequered flag in sight.

That's a great attitude to have. Unfortunately I find myself becoming ever more disgruntled as the finishing line gets closer, so will try to take a leaf out of your book and look for the positives.

I am very much the same as NedS, the nearer it is the more effort it seems to take. 
Next may my youngest finishes uni. 2/3 days a week  work from then on, reckon i could fully retire 2 yrs later. Until then its 6 days a week plus finish future proof Ing the house (mainly myself). I am one exhausted fella!
 Its also demoralising to throw a wedge of money at my sipp each month and watch it fall. But i am not alone in that respect. 

Time4T_Accounts

Kim1965 said:

 Its also demoralising to throw a wedge of money at my sipp each month and watch it fall. But i am not alone in that respect. 

Don’t lose sight of the tax relief, which gives you an automatic lift (and by quite possibly more than the fall in value of the net contributions), and also that you are buying at a lower price in readiness for market recovery.

Audaxer

Steve_PL_too said:

Kim1965 said:

 Its also demoralising to throw a wedge of money at my sipp each month and watch it fall. But i am not alone in that respect. 

Don’t lose sight of the tax relief, which gives you an automatic lift (and by quite possibly more than the fall in value of the net contributions), and also that you are buying at a lower price in readiness for market recovery.

Absolutely, I was just about to say the same. It's better to be contributing when prices are falling than when they are rising.

Albermarle

Sea_Shell said:

When you're out for an early morning run, the sun's shining and you jog past the queue of commuters sitting in their cars...

Priceless 😇😎

I had a slightly different 'moment' yesterday. Having been retired just over a year, I realised that yesterday was the opening day of a massive industry exhibition in Germany that I had attended many times in the past, and hated it every time. So if I had not retired I would have been in an airport waiting for a flight to Germany, and three days of queues, jostling crowds, snatched stand up Bratwurst, traffic jams, late nights, nondescript overpriced hotels, and a semi permanent hangover from the hospitality events.
 Instead I was visiting a  National Trust property in the Autumn sunshine, which was extra enjoyable knowing what I was missing 
I even messaged my successor to say good luck, and they were at Charles De Gaulle airport waiting for a connecting flight to Germany, having got up at 3 am.....

L9XSS

Albermarle said:

Sea_Shell said:

When you're out for an early morning run, the sun's shining and you jog past the queue of commuters sitting in their cars...

Priceless 😇😎

I had a slightly different 'moment' yesterday. Having been retired just over a year, I realised that yesterday was the opening day of a massive industry exhibition in Germany that I had attended many times in the past, and hated it every time. So if I had not retired I would have been in an airport waiting for a flight to Germany, and three days of queues, jostling crowds, snatched stand up Bratwurst, traffic jams, late nights, nondescript overpriced hotels, and a semi permanent hangover from the hospitality events.
 Instead I was visiting a  National Trust property in the Autumn sunshine, which was extra enjoyable knowing what I was missing 
I even messaged my successor to say good luck, and they were at Charles De Gaulle airport waiting for a connecting flight to Germany, having got up at 3 am.....

Corporate world joy......dont miss it for 1 second. Used to think it was glamorous when I was a young man working hard at my career.....just another stage in work life.....

cfw1994

Sea_Shell said:

When you're out for an early morning run, the sun's shining and you jog past the queue of commuters sitting in their cars...

Priceless 😇😎

100% this!
Tuesday was clear and crisp…had a great 24m bike ride, met a pal from the other direction, another 20miles then far too many ales to wrap the day up!  He finished earlier this year: we spent half the time saying how much we preferred this life to our previous one 🤣

german_keeper

cfw1994 said:

Sea_Shell said:

When you're out for an early morning run, the sun's shining and you jog past the queue of commuters sitting in their cars...

Priceless 😇😎

100% this!
Tuesday was clear and crisp…had a great 24m bike ride, met a pal from the other direction, another 20miles then far too many ales to wrap the day up!  He finished earlier this year: we spent half the time saying how much we preferred this life to our previous one 🤣

Agreed, A good friend of mine is going to do the Yorkshire 3 Peaks to raise money for the British Heart Foundation, following the sudden death of one of his colleagues back in August. His aim is to do it on the anniversary. But he isn't the most active chap in the world to say the least. I am a keen walker (I have decided to do it with him but it will still be a real challenge for me) and a few weeks ago he asked me to help him prepare.

So we have gradually built things up from a 3 mile "stroll" on the first walk. We are now on twice a week, probably doing a walk if not a "power" walk. This week we did about seven miles in the beautiful Fylde countryside on Tuesday, weather absolutely glorious. Today it was about 6 miles, initially down the Lytham seafront, then through Witch Wood, Lowther Gardens and back down the seafront. A little bit of rain here and there but nothing much.

We then decided to treat ourselves to a bite to eat. A Phillysteak baguette with triple cooked chips apiece, large coke for him (he's a non drinker), pint of lager for me. £17 for the lot. Not sure we are food connoisseurs but we agreed it was very nice indeed. Maybe a bit counter productive though.

I still have this nagging doubt that at the age of 58 I really should be going to work instead.