The beauty of nearing retirement is...

Diplodicus

I take on board the counter-arguments. 

Suppose it is a matter of temperament - are you ready for the rocking chair?

MalMonroe

Diplodicus said:

What about the structure your working pattern injects in your week?

What about the office interactions, the office flirtations (going off the rails, just the possibility, making your stable life more intense in the mirror)?

What about a sense of personal utility? I don't get that a good pension funds a sense of entitlement to a comfortable life for the next 30 years. 

What about growing rather than dissipating your fortune? Do you think Alan Sugar or Rupert Murdoch or Warren Buffet are in the "decumulation phase."?

It is better to chuse than be chosen and it is better to be an agent rather than an observer:

"San Fransisco? Great, go to Fisherman's Wharf" - was advice from a newly retired couple. Do you envy them? You should not. Retired are beholden to their children and citizens of nowhere. The sense of displacement was palpable.

Nonsense! I couldn't disagree more. The retired (I'm one of them) are free!  And fabulous. I have a daughter and I would do anything for her but I'm not beholden to her. Nor she to me. And we all have to leave work sometime, can't keep hanging on to the cracks in our foundation. . . . oh wait. . . those are song lyrics - but you get the meaning!  For me and all my friends, retirement is freedom. As Elvis said/sang - more lyrics - 'life is a carnival, live it for all you're worth, you are the star of the greatest show on earth'. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Diplodicus

MalMonroe said:

Diplodicus said:

What about the structure your working pattern injects in your week?

What about the office interactions, the office flirtations (going off the rails, just the possibility, making your stable life more intense in the mirror)?

What about a sense of personal utility? I don't get that a good pension funds a sense of entitlement to a comfortable life for the next 30 years. 

What about growing rather than dissipating your fortune? Do you think Alan Sugar or Rupert Murdoch or Warren Buffet are in the "decumulation phase."?

It is better to chuse than be chosen and it is better to be an agent rather than an observer:

"San Fransisco? Great, go to Fisherman's Wharf" - was advice from a newly retired couple. Do you envy them? You should not. Retired are beholden to their children and citizens of nowhere. The sense of displacement was palpable.

 - 'life is a carnival, live it for all you're worth, you are the star of the greatest show on earth'. Couldn't have put it better myself.

So people enter retirement thinking this their time to shine? 

Great. How are you planning to leave your mark?

LV_426

MalMonroe said:

ajfielden said:

You can laugh at all the recruitment agents approaching you offering a "fantastic role with excellent promotion prospects" 

Is that Tommy Lee Jones? It looks so much like him.

Retirement, in a word : FREEDOM!

I love it. I've been retired for a few years now and once I ran from my last job, never looked back. Have not missed it. Never, not once. Now I'm about to launch my own online business - crazy? Maybe but I do want to travel (again) and move house too so I must earn some cash. (My pension's rubbish) (My prospective boss is fab though, knows me inside out. And I don't even have to leave the house.)

Yes that is Tommy Lee Jones. It's from the film 'The Fugitive'.

When I do retire I'll change my LinkedIn profile and set my status to retired. Let's see how many recruitment agents continue to contact me about these perfect job roles they have

sheslookinhot

Diplodicus said:

What about the structure your working pattern injects in your week?

What about the office interactions, the office flirtations (going off the rails, just the possibility, making your stable life more intense in the mirror)?

What about a sense of personal utility? I don't get that a good pension funds a sense of entitlement to a comfortable life for the next 30 years. 

What about growing rather than dissipating your fortune? Do you think Alan Sugar or Rupert Murdoch or Warren Buffet are in the "decumulation phase."?

It is better to chuse than be chosen and it is better to be an agent rather than an observer:

"San Fransisco? Great, go to Fisherman's Wharf" - was advice from a newly retired couple. Do you envy them? You should not. Retired are beholden to their children and citizens of nowhere. The sense of displacement was palpable.

    !!!!!! ?

zagfles

hugheskevi said:

Diplodicus said:

What about the structure your working pattern injects in your week?

I don't think you need work to have structure. Personally I plan to probably engage in some voluntary work, and also have a regular fitness regime, which may well start with a regular early morning cycle or run.

What about the office interactions, the office flirtations (going off the rails, just the possibility, making your stable life more intense in the mirror)?

I look forward to spending a lot more time around people I have genuine shared interests with, rather than people who happen to do a similar job to me. Things like volunteering to work at an osprey centre. 

What about a sense of personal utility? I don't get that a good pension funds a sense of entitlement to a comfortable life for the next 30 years. 

I get far more utility from my non-work goals. When I list all the individual things which I am most proud of having achieved, not a single one is work related. The things that give me most satisfaction are also not work-related - I find simple stuff like leading a running group and getting the pacing spot on very rewarding. Far more so than pushing some words around on a Word doc or moving numbers around a spreadsheet.

What about growing rather than dissipating your fortune? Do you think Alan Sugar or Rupert Murdoch or Warren Buffet are in the "decumulation phase."?

I wonder how many millions any individual really needs and how many they can put to good effect. It is astonishing just how many celebrities and very wealthy suffer from depression and other mental illnesses. Money doesn't buy happiness, although not having enough can certainly cause misery.

My best memories come from spending a couple of years travelling across remote regions, spending most nights in a tent. I particularly recall the last day my paid leave ran out before moving to unpaid leave on one trip - I woke up in the Sahara next to a huge sand dune. Nothing for hundreds of miles to spend anything on.

The meal I recall most fondly was not the private dining clubs of London, but a simple beef stew with ugali in northern Kenya, after 6 weeks in Ethiopia eating injera for almost every meal (injera is great food, but not for every meal!).

 "San Fransisco? Great, go to Fisherman's Wharf" - was advice from a newly retired couple. Do you envy them? You should not. Retired are beholden to their children and citizens of nowhere. The sense of displacement was palpable.

I very much look forward to being a citizen of nowhere, as I return to spending life on the road for a year or two or three, travelling with only what my wife and I can carry, plenty of money in the bank to avoid any money concerns and a travel plan consisting of 'south-ish'

Retirement is whatever you make it, whilst perfection will vary widely across individuals, it is only a very small lucky few who can honestly answer that the best thing they can think of doing in the world is what they will be doing on Monday at 9am.

I've always been a citizen of nowhere, or maybe a citizen of everywhere!

Work never gave me any structure, because I've always worked shifts in one form or another. Now I'm semi retired my work is all over the place, I work as and when suits both me and the company.  So it's definitely not structure I'd miss when retired!

The work I still enjoy, so I'll carry on while that's the case and it doesn't get in the way of other stuff I want to do.

cfw1994

Diplodicus said:

MalMonroe said:

Diplodicus said:

What about the structure your working pattern injects in your week?

What about the office interactions, the office flirtations (going off the rails, just the possibility, making your stable life more intense in the mirror)?

What about a sense of personal utility? I don't get that a good pension funds a sense of entitlement to a comfortable life for the next 30 years. 

What about growing rather than dissipating your fortune? Do you think Alan Sugar or Rupert Murdoch or Warren Buffet are in the "decumulation phase."?

It is better to chuse than be chosen and it is better to be an agent rather than an observer:

"San Fransisco? Great, go to Fisherman's Wharf" - was advice from a newly retired couple. Do you envy them? You should not. Retired are beholden to their children and citizens of nowhere. The sense of displacement was palpable.

 - 'life is a carnival, live it for all you're worth, you are the star of the greatest show on earth'. Couldn't have put it better myself.

So people enter retirement thinking this their time to shine? 

Great. How are you planning to leave your mark?

Well, in my case I don’t think I was ever a destined to be a Alan Sugar or Rupert Murdoch or Warren Buffet, as you put it!  Are you?  🤣

I do have a great global group of friends, relatives, and most of all family.  My goal is to nurture those: any “mark” I may leave will be on them (perhaps mostly the latter).  If the only “mark” I left was on work, my soul will be sorely disappointed!

To the original question on the beauty of nearing retirement…..for me was more an excitement for planning “the next phase”, & being able to wind down.    We have a lot of things we hope to do over the coming years…..being “unshackled” by work brings flexibility, allows new structures to be built. 

Personal utility? Having a firm volunteering background is one way to perhaps alleviate that “fear”.  

That said, it is rare to read an obituary that says “he wished he had spent longer at the office” 🤪

bostonerimus

The best sort of retirement is one that isn't that different from when you were working. Work is important as that's how most of us initially get our income and hopefully it's fulfilling, but we should have other things in our lives so that when work stops we don't have to make major adjustments.

triplea35

I was first pensioned off/retired in my early 50's and to be quite honest after the initial honeymoon period was quite frankly bored and not to looking forward to the future. We could have managed financially by decumulating but instead chose to retrain and take on a new line of self employed work. As with my previous role I feel I am giving service to the community, enjoy it immensely and get a great deal of personal satisfaction from it. 
I am now approaching SP age next year and although I always planned to retire then, I am considering continuing  albeit with much reduced hours.
Reading many of these similar post the underlying reason for retirement seems that the posters no longer enjoy their current role. Consider something else! 

Bravepants

Diplodicus said:

What about the structure your working pattern injects in your week?

What about the office interactions, the office flirtations (going off the rails, just the possibility, making your stable life more intense in the mirror)?

What about a sense of personal utility? I don't get that a good pension funds a sense of entitlement to a comfortable life for the next 30 years. 

What about growing rather than dissipating your fortune? Do you think Alan Sugar or Rupert Murdoch or Warren Buffet are in the "decumulation phase."?

It is better to chuse than be chosen and it is better to be an agent rather than an observer:

"San Fransisco? Great, go to Fisherman's Wharf" - was advice from a newly retired couple. Do you envy them? You should not. Retired are beholden to their children and citizens of nowhere. The sense of displacement was palpable.

Happiness and contentment is subjective. Very much in the eye of the beholder.