Non financial - how to prepare for retirement

Anonymous101

Albermarle said:

Genuine question. Is there evidence the wider public doesn't enjoy retirement?

Not that I am aware of but there is plenty of evidence that the majority of regular posters on this site ( including me probably) are not generally  representative of the wider public . There are a lot who have purposefully planned ahead for retirement so I guess are more likely to enjoy it and have the money to do so .

Absolutely get that, I was just interested if you were aware of any retirement happiness studies.
I'm well aware that I'm at the extreme end of the scale when it comes to thinking about investments and retirement planning.

Albermarle said:

Unless you do not like hobbies or volunteering .   

I suppose equally it could be said volunteering is working for free and hobbies are paying to work! LOL 

Albermarle

By the way, I am retiring in a few weeks time and my only current plan is to sit in the garden/walk the dog /paint the fence and get used to being cut off from work , customers etc after > 35 years . Partly I will be a bit restricted what I can do due to family issues / covid/ difficulty in booking holidays but also because I genuinely do not know how I will react to the 'next chapter' . Rather than rushing off doing things I just want a few weeks to get my head around the idea . In one way it will be easy as I mainly work from home anyway ( even more so in the last 15 months ) but I am sure it will still feel a bit weird .

kuratowski

It doesn't properly answer your question Anonymous101, but one of my workplace pensions is provided by Standard Life and in a recent newsletter they sent out the following research, based on a survey of recent retirees:
https://www.standardlifeaberdeen.com/media-centre/media-centre-news-article/uk-retirees-at-risk-of-running-pension-pots-dry

Edit: As the link from the press release to the report itself seems to be broken, here is a link to the full report
https://staged.standardlife.co.uk/-/media/standardlife/documents/class-of-2021-report.pdf

Sea_Shell

Even in retirement, you can still fall into a new daily routine, which if not shaken up enough, can be like you've swapped one Groundhog Day for another.

Finishing in July 19 and then running headlong into the pandemic has not enabled us to fully appreciate our retirement yet.   We'll get there!!  But the weeks do seem to be rushing past!

barnstar2077

It is definitely just as important to think about the non financial side of retirement.  When a good friend of mine retired about seven or eight years ago he told me that he was having tests because of worrying episodes first thing in the morning (difficulty breathing, heart palpitations etc.)  When I asked if he thought it might be linked to his retirement, and such a massive change to his routine, he dismissed the idea right away.  A few weeks later he was right as rain and all the tests had come back clear.

I am glad to say that he is having a great retirement, and has been fit as a fiddle since.

Fabtasia

kuratowski said:

It doesn't properly answer your question Anonymous101, but one of my workplace pensions is provided by Standard Life and in a recent newsletter they sent out the following research, based on a survey of recent retirees:
https://www.standardlifeaberdeen.com/media-centre/media-centre-news-article/uk-retirees-at-risk-of-running-pension-pots-dry

Edit: As the link from the press release to the report itself seems to be broken, here is a link to the full report
https://staged.standardlife.co.uk/-/media/standardlife/documents/class-of-2021-report.pdf

Interestingly, alot of the past 2020 retirees seemed to do some type of work. I need to take up baking, fishing and gardening !!
Really interesting survey

CloesUnc

Sea_Shell said:

Even in retirement, you can still fall into a new daily routine, which if not shaken up enough, can be like you've swapped one Groundhog Day for another.

Finishing in July 19 and then running headlong into the pandemic has not enabled us to fully appreciate our retirement yet.   We'll get there!!  But the weeks do seem to be rushing past!

I was discussing retirement with a friend the other day. He spoke about establishing habits, and one of his is walking every day...the same 3-mile route. Reading your mention of Groundhog Day had me thinking about the usefulness of establishing habits, but yes definitely mixing it up. My friend walks at different times each day. Same habit, just less Groundhog! I have another retired friend who plays piano at 9am, for an hour, each morning.

sheslookinhot

Neasy said:

This is such a useful discussion! I'm trying to map out what non-financial benefits I get from work (social network, status, intellectual challenge etc.) and plan how I'm going to get these things once I retire. I quite like the "vitamin" model proposed by Warr, e.g. here https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.727449!/file/Vitamin_chapter_2017_Handbook.pdf 

Why do you believe “status” is a non-financial benefit in work and particularly in retirement, why do you feel you need to get “status” ?

 

barnstar2077

kuratowski said:

It doesn't properly answer your question Anonymous101, but one of my workplace pensions is provided by Standard Life and in a recent newsletter they sent out the following research, based on a survey of recent retirees:
https://www.standardlifeaberdeen.com/media-centre/media-centre-news-article/uk-retirees-at-risk-of-running-pension-pots-dry

Edit: As the link from the press release to the report itself seems to be broken, here is a link to the full report
https://staged.standardlife.co.uk/-/media/standardlife/documents/class-of-2021-report.pdf

An interesting read (interspersed with veiled marketing.)

It also talks about "planing to retire."  Not sure if that is a spelling mistake, or if a lot of people are making furniture to secure their financial future these days! :  )

Neasy

sheslookinhot said:

Why do you believe “status” is a non-financial benefit in work and particularly in retirement, why do you feel you need to get “status” ?

 

Good question, no idea; I just do.