Bold leap into retirement

cfw1994

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

pterri said:

cfw1994 said:

pterri said:

One more week down, about five to go. Can. Not. Wait. Finding it surprisingly stressful even though I know I’m out of here soon. Beautiful day out side, I’d love to get on my bike and cycle somewhere….

Soon as I left, just as lockdown ended, I headed off on this little adventure: a great way to clear the head!

Highly recommended!
(sorry I couldn’t shrink the picture 😳)

Amazing! I’ve got a gravel bike with nice low gearing. Only just got into cycling, I’ve done a few gravel events (75-100km) so fairly fit. I do plan on some bike packing fun (using B&Bs , not camping. I’m not an animal) not sure I’m ready for this but will see how I go. 

I’m of the same mind. I did plenty of camping when I was young and skint.

I had a fabulous week walking the Snowdonia Slate Trail last summer with my youngest boy. He wanted to camp but a) I didn’t want to carry a tent and b) I like a comfortable bed after a full days walking.

I’m sure you’ll love the freedom to just get on your bike and go whenever the weather’s good. I cycle or walk somewhere pretty much every decent day.

I did a couple of nights camping in my middle leg, Leicester to Edinburgh, & tbh, they were the best nights of the trip!  Weather was kind, my gear was comfy (tent with space, decent mat, down bag) - a great nights sleep on a couple of nice sites.

Only done one overnighter with a pal since - we did a 2 day circular from Ludlow, camping in a pub which had a campsite linked….great fun 👍
I understand not doing that for walking - harder to carry the kit.  My bike & gear weighed about 35kg for that leg, but that didn’t feel too bad 🤷‍♂️

SouthCoastBoy said:

Sarahspangles said:

nicknameless said:

Well just had my vol redundancy confirmed.  Have 2 weeks to sign docs.  Will finish end of June.

Am literally in shock right now.  Not sure how I thought I would react and it has been absolute mental torture waiting for the outcome.  Now it's confirmed am a bit numb.

Is there a psychiatrist in the house?

I’m not, but a) Congratulations and b) I think I know what you mean. I said to OH yesterday that, as a life stage, retirement is as big a thing as leaving school. The same sense of going into the unknown, followed by anticlimax and trying to find some replacement structure.

I would say it is bigger than leaving school. When leaving school you have your whole life in front of you, with many possibilities, I found it all very exciting. With retirement you know the majority of your life is over and you are in the final phase of your life, hoping you have enough money to live and you stay healthy for as long as possible. The prospects aren't great,tbh the more I think about retirement the more I find it less appealing

Blimey, that sounds very negative 😱

I’m loving the freedom, and the sooner you can do it, the longer that ‘final phase’ will be 💪
I kind of view it like going back to school…..ask mates to come out to play, whether that is an impromptu pub crawl, organised event or a random bike ride 🤣

I’m fully aware the body won’t keep going forever, but this is the time when we have real freedom to try whatever we like 😎

We are now 5 days into a month in the Alps - just lovely being in the mountains!  We couldn’t do this when we we working, & a month doesn’t cost 4x a week - there are huge savings with lift passes & accomodation (two major parts of a ski trip 😳).  Plus we can ski just a few hours on the good days & not feel we are missing out!

nicknameless

Smudgeismydog said:

nicknameless said:

Well just had my vol redundancy confirmed.  Have 2 weeks to sign docs.  Will finish end of June.

Am literally in shock right now.  Not sure how I thought I would react and it has been absolute mental torture waiting for the outcome.  Now it's confirmed am a bit numb.

Is there a psychiatrist in the house?

I think your feelings are perfectly normal and natural, it will take time for it to sink in. There is no rush, you have over 3 months of starting to slowly adjust to your new life.

I had a 6 month notice period, and the work and expectations reduced over that time, so by the end I had in effect already started living my retirement life.

This does not mean you will never return to work either, I remain very open minded, although over the last 9 months, as I settle more into my new routines, that does look increasingly unlikely, but who knows.

Thankyou.  Once I had got away from the work environment this evening the excitement is actually back.  How you describe it is how I am trying to take things.  My partner is retiring whereas I am "ceasing paid employment with my current employer as I no longer need to be in paid employment .......  future to be determined."

SarahB16

SouthCoastBoy said:

Sarahspangles said:

nicknameless said:

Well just had my vol redundancy confirmed.  Have 2 weeks to sign docs.  Will finish end of June.

Am literally in shock right now.  Not sure how I thought I would react and it has been absolute mental torture waiting for the outcome.  Now it's confirmed am a bit numb.

Is there a psychiatrist in the house?

I’m not, but a) Congratulations and b) I think I know what you mean. I said to OH yesterday that, as a life stage, retirement is as big a thing as leaving school. The same sense of going into the unknown, followed by anticlimax and trying to find some replacement structure.

I would say it is bigger than leaving school. When leaving school you have your whole life in front of you, with many possibilities, I found it all very exciting. With retirement you know the majority of your life is over and you are in the final phase of your life, hoping you have enough money to live and you stay healthy for as long as possible. The prospects aren't great,tbh the more I think about retirement the more I find it less appealing

The more I think about retirement the more I find it hugely appealing...  

I've sadly lost friends in their late forties who passed away far too young due to different illnesses so to reach the age of retirement is also an achievement and for me retirement is finally having the time to do all the things you want to do in your life that you never quite get enough time to fit in due to that pesky thing called work.  To me, if I God willing, live to reach retirement I will not worry one bit about how I will spend my time and even though I'm not wanting to wish my life away in some ways I'm also looking forward to it.  

jimi_man

SouthCoastBoy said:

Sarahspangles said:

nicknameless said:

Well just had my vol redundancy confirmed.  Have 2 weeks to sign docs.  Will finish end of June.

Am literally in shock right now.  Not sure how I thought I would react and it has been absolute mental torture waiting for the outcome.  Now it's confirmed am a bit numb.

Is there a psychiatrist in the house?

I’m not, but a) Congratulations and b) I think I know what you mean. I said to OH yesterday that, as a life stage, retirement is as big a thing as leaving school. The same sense of going into the unknown, followed by anticlimax and trying to find some replacement structure.

I would say it is bigger than leaving school. When leaving school you have your whole life in front of you, with many possibilities, I found it all very exciting. With retirement you know the majority of your life is over and you are in the final phase of your life, hoping you have enough money to live and you stay healthy for as long as possible. The prospects aren't great,tbh the more I think about retirement the more I find it less appealing

Actually I disagree. When you leave school you are stepping into the big wide world from being cosseted at home/school with everything provided for you. You now need to find a job, get somewhere to live, get used to a wholly unfamiliar (work) environment and have to interact with loads of new people and different relationships. It’s a huge change. 

When you retire it’s nowhere near as much change. You’ll have somewhere to live, be used to providing for yourself, be set up with friends and a social circle which will won’t change much. The only thing that will no longer be a constant is work, which for most people of around retirement age, wont be as big part of their life as when they were starting work. Especially if they’ve gone part time over the last few years. 

You’re correct that the majority of your life is over. However that’s the case whether you retire or stay in work. Whether either strategy results in longer, healthier life is dependent on which study you read as the evidence appears to be mixed and a lot seems to be a state of mind thing. In your case it would seem that you’re not ready for retirement and to do so now would probably be a huge shock and would be akin to a bereavement. In which case you’d be better off working. However the other side of the coin is that there are some that will continue to work because they believe that retirement is the last stage before death and so by carrying on working they are fighting this and all the while they work then they’ll be fine. I’ve seen this a lot and I sense that you’re in this bracket. However the longer one works, the greater the ‘loss’ can be when one eventually does finish which can result in disastrous consequences. Not so bad if one is single or one’s partner is of a similar mindset but in my case, my wife was keen for us to do stuff together while we are healthy so it made sense to stop. 

Everyone is different though. And tbh we need some people to carry on working and paying NI. So don’t stop just yet.

bjorn_toby_wilde

cfw1994 said:

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

pterri said:

cfw1994 said:

pterri said:

One more week down, about five to go. Can. Not. Wait. Finding it surprisingly stressful even though I know I’m out of here soon. Beautiful day out side, I’d love to get on my bike and cycle somewhere….

Soon as I left, just as lockdown ended, I headed off on this little adventure: a great way to clear the head!

Highly recommended!
(sorry I couldn’t shrink the picture 😳)

Amazing! I’ve got a gravel bike with nice low gearing. Only just got into cycling, I’ve done a few gravel events (75-100km) so fairly fit. I do plan on some bike packing fun (using B&Bs , not camping. I’m not an animal) not sure I’m ready for this but will see how I go. 

I’m of the same mind. I did plenty of camping when I was young and skint.

I had a fabulous week walking the Snowdonia Slate Trail last summer with my youngest boy. He wanted to camp but a) I didn’t want to carry a tent and b) I like a comfortable bed after a full days walking.

I’m sure you’ll love the freedom to just get on your bike and go whenever the weather’s good. I cycle or walk somewhere pretty much every decent day.

I did a couple of nights camping in my middle leg, Leicester to Edinburgh, & tbh, they were the best nights of the trip!  Weather was kind, my gear was comfy (tent with space, decent mat, down bag) - a great nights sleep on a couple of nice sites.

Only done one overnighter with a pal since - we did a 2 day circular from Ludlow, camping in a pub which had a campsite linked….great fun 👍
I understand not doing that for walking - harder to carry the kit.  My bike & gear weighed about 35kg for that leg, but that didn’t feel too bad 🤷‍♂️

You’re right, camping can be great but I just didn’t fancy it for that trip. The weight of the kit was one factor - without tents etc I got the rucksack down to 13kg and that’s a nice weight that I can carry all day. The other factor was Snowdonia! We had fabulous weather really with just a couple of light showers but  when the weather’s bad it’s not fun packing away your wet tent and getting into wet gear again!

The Alps sounds fabulous. Enjoy 😁

katejo

I have taken the next step this week. It was my 62nd birthday on Tuesday and, on the same day, I got approval from the boss to drop down to 3 days a week from September. I have been on 4 days a week for 18 months. I will see how that goes and may stop completely about a year from now. My SAUL pension doesn't have a flexi option at  all. I can't take my pension until I hand my notice in on my current job. I can, after a month go back and do casual hours if I want to.

bjorn_toby_wilde

katejo said:

I have taken the next step this week. It was my 62nd birthday on Tuesday and, on the same day, I got approval from the boss to drop down to 3 days a week from September. I have been on 4 days a week for 18 months. I will see how that goes and may stop completely about a year from now. My SAUL pension doesn't have a flexi option at  all. I can't take my pension until I hand my notice in on my current job. I can, after a month go back and do casual hours if I want to.

That’s a good way to do it IMO. I went down to four days and found that I really enjoyed the long weekends. It reinforced my feeling that early retirement was the way to go.

katejo

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

katejo said:

I have taken the next step this week. It was my 62nd birthday on Tuesday and, on the same day, I got approval from the boss to drop down to 3 days a week from September. I have been on 4 days a week for 18 months. I will see how that goes and may stop completely about a year from now. My SAUL pension doesn't have a flexi option at  all. I can't take my pension until I hand my notice in on my current job. I can, after a month go back and do casual hours if I want to.

That’s a good way to do it IMO. I went down to four days and found that I really enjoyed the long weekends. It reinforced my feeling that early retirement was the way to go.

I will be working Wed to Friday from September so will be trying this out. 

Sarahspangles

katejo said:

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

katejo said:

I have taken the next step this week. It was my 62nd birthday on Tuesday and, on the same day, I got approval from the boss to drop down to 3 days a week from September. I have been on 4 days a week for 18 months. I will see how that goes and may stop completely about a year from now. My SAUL pension doesn't have a flexi option at  all. I can't take my pension until I hand my notice in on my current job. I can, after a month go back and do casual hours if I want to.

That’s a good way to do it IMO. I went down to four days and found that I really enjoyed the long weekends. It reinforced my feeling that early retirement was the way to go.

I will be working Wed to Friday from September so will be trying this out. 

Having Tuesdays off is a good call, I haven’t worked Mondays this year and it’s surprising how many places are closed. Even then, some major galleries in Manchester are Wednesday to Sunday.

katejo

Sarahspangles said:

katejo said:

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

katejo said:

I have taken the next step this week. It was my 62nd birthday on Tuesday and, on the same day, I got approval from the boss to drop down to 3 days a week from September. I have been on 4 days a week for 18 months. I will see how that goes and may stop completely about a year from now. My SAUL pension doesn't have a flexi option at  all. I can't take my pension until I hand my notice in on my current job. I can, after a month go back and do casual hours if I want to.

That’s a good way to do it IMO. I went down to four days and found that I really enjoyed the long weekends. It reinforced my feeling that early retirement was the way to go.

I will be working Wed to Friday from September so will be trying this out. 

Having Tuesdays off is a good call, I haven’t worked Mondays this year and it’s surprising how many places are closed. Even then, some major galleries in Manchester are Wednesday to Sunday.

I already have Tuesdays. I chose Monday simply so that I don't have hours deducted from my statutory bank holidays. I already only have 80% of those hours which affect my moveable leave.