Planning retirement

dont_use_vistaprint

Not the  boring financial stuff, but how much effort do you put into planning what you will do in your retirement? And maintaining that plan when you're in retirement? 

For those retiring or thinking about retiring in the next year or two what are your big plans/adventures, because I find that if you don't have any people tend to just carry on working into their late 50s and 60s .... And how are you ensuring you don't get tempted back into work/consultancy when you do stop  ? Because ayour working colleagues will be constantly trying to link you in with  people, What about that? Sat on boards or fractional C  level roles I've known people be tempted back.

I was fortunate to retire age 52, People are finally starting to accept I'm not going back to work or interested in opportunities, I deleted LinkedIn  & signed up to do a full-time Arts degree  , I spend a good 4 to 5 months travelling each year and when I'm in the UK, I get very hands-on with physical work like gardening / major DIY after 2 decades sat behind a screen 

indiasign

My wife and I are retiring next year, and over the last two years I have dropped firstly to 4 and then 3 days a week to “ease” into retirement rather than facing a cliff edge.

Ive used that time so far to, like you, spend more time in the garden, improve my photography and, since my better half also dropped a day last year, join the local health club.

The intention is to have a big blow out holiday to the Maldives as a retirement present to ourselves, then do more UK based travelling, going to all of the places we’ve always said we’d like to visit, but never got around to.

That covers the first year, but where it takes us after that, who knows 😀

dont_use_vistaprint

indiasign said:

My wife and I are retiring next year, and over the last two years I have dropped firstly to 4 and then 3 days a week to “ease” into retirement rather than facing a cliff edge.

Ive used that time so far to, like you, spend more time in the garden, improve my photography and, since my better half also dropped a day last year, join the local health club.

The intention is to have a big blow out holiday to the Maldives as a retirement present to ourselves, then do more UK based travelling, going to all of the places we’ve always said we’d like to visit, but never got around to.

That covers the first year, but where it takes us after that, who knows 😀

Photography is great for retirement  I have quite a few friends who retired into it , the new pace allows time  to see very differently, reflective, ethical framing, no longer flattening people and places into content, I just did three weeks street photography in Vietnam and I've already booked to go back for two months in the spring,

eastcorkram

I retired a year ago. I made no plans before retiring, and haven't made any since. My guitar playing has definitely improved beyond all recognition, and I'm currently learning Italian. Neither of which were planned

BridgetTheCat

I’m semi-retiring in April with the aim of retiring fully in a couple of years. I already have several long-term interests outside work and now that I can access my occupational pensions instead of having to earn a living I want to devote more time and energy to them. My friendships tend to centre around my interests rather than work, so I can’t see myself being tempted back.

cfw1994

Everyone is different.

I’m an organiser.  

I spent far too much of my final year or so thinking about things we would do 🫣
Essentially wrote a spreadsheet with broad topics (friends, DIY, garden, holiday, culture, sport, etc) down column 1 & various things related to do in the rest of the row 🤓
Plus I planned a 19-day LEJoG ride to complete when I finished 💪
The big bike ride cleared my head (& had a dozen pals joint me at various points along the way!).  Had a few cycle adventures since, but nothing quite so crazy 🤣
The list got looked at & I changed the complete items to green - made me feel I had achieved something 👀
Now, heading towards 5 years in, we are in a nice groove of things, & I don’t feel the need to check how we are doing 🤷‍♂️

Saw a lot of comedy this year.  Seann Walsh opened a WIP act up with thanking half the audience.  The half that actually book the tickets. He’s right: in every partnership, there is someone who books things, & someone who goes along. I’m the booker….& we have a busy 2026 ahead 🙏

Merry Christmas everyone 🎅

katejo

indiasign said:

My wife and I are retiring next year, and over the last two years I have dropped firstly to 4 and then 3 days a week to “ease” into retirement rather than facing a cliff edge.

Ive used that time so far to, like you, spend more time in the garden, improve my photography and, since my better half also dropped a day last year, join the local health club.

The intention is to have a big blow out holiday to the Maldives as a retirement present to ourselves, then do more UK based travelling, going to all of the places we’ve always said we’d like to visit, but never got around to.

That covers the first year, but where it takes us after that, who knows 😀

I decided during lockdown that, when I retired, I would definitely book a special holiday to go on fairly soon after finishing work. I have kept this in my mind ever since. I haven't quite decided where but Sri Lanka is a possibility. I also want to do a bit of photography. 

dont_use_vistaprint

cfw1994 said:

Everyone is different.

I’m an organiser.  

I spent far too much of my final year or so thinking about things we would do 🫣
Essentially wrote a spreadsheet with broad topics (friends, DIY, garden, holiday, culture, sport, etc) down column 1 & various things related to do in the rest of the row 🤓
Plus I planned a 19-day LEJoG ride to complete when I finished 💪
The big bike ride cleared my head (& had a dozen pals joint me at various points along the way!).  Had a few cycle adventures since, but nothing quite so crazy 🤣
The list got looked at & I changed the complete items to green - made me feel I had achieved something 👀
Now, heading towards 5 years in, we are in a nice groove of things, & I don’t feel the need to check how we are doing 🤷‍♂️

Saw a lot of comedy this year.  Seann Walsh opened a WIP act up with thanking half the audience.  The half that actually book the tickets. He’s right: in every partnership, there is someone who books things, & someone who goes along. I’m the booker….& we have a busy 2026 ahead 🙏

Merry Christmas everyone 🎅

I did similar to this a big spreadsheet of big house renovation projects on mine and my kids properties, marking them off as complete in the first year or so made me feel good. Although I've not done any paid work for a few years value added to 3 properties is significant! And the skills and experience gained will be useful later on in retirement, even if I don't do all the jobs myself I have a much better grasp of what's involved different types of work. 

Same with Photography I've got no goals about making any income from it but I've already had requests from companies to do features for travel documentary style pieces. Being able to properly immerse yourself in rural areas like Mekong Delta for several weeks , is something I could never find the time or headspace to do while working. 

I do need to start doing a little bit of thinking or planning about what retirement looks like when I'm much older and maybe don't have the energy or health to renovate houses and travel the world...

happy Christmas! 🤶 

jim8888

I've lost the urge for the "big holiday" to far flung places and am thankful that we did that sort of travel when we were younger. I now feel that a four or five night break is the preferred amount, something that Bill Bryson recommended on a podcast I heard during the year. And, unless I am prepared to splash out on business class, a four hour flight is about as much as I want to do. (They've made flying a near misery, whereas once it was something I really looked forward to.)

dont_use_vistaprint

jim8888 said:

I've lost the urge for the "big holiday" to far flung places and am thankful that we did that sort of travel when we were younger. I now feel that a four or five night break is the preferred amount, something that Bill Bryson recommended on a podcast I heard during the year. And, unless I am prepared to splash out on business class, a four hour flight is about as much as I want to do. (They've made flying a near misery, whereas once it was something I really looked forward to.)

I totally get that I travelled a lot for work always business class and flipping back to economy or premium economy for long haul it's hard. I can't justify the cost of business class anymore but what really helps it's getting a lounge pass with your credit card so at least when you have layovers you can enjoy some comfort, even have a sleep a good meal a massage.

also airlines like KLM, Air India, even economy it's nothing like Ryan Air experiences. I always manage to have a good sleep

but yes there are many beautiful places within four hours of flights and even within the UK, the Northeast coast , Scotland etc &  no longer having to travel in school holidays opens up a whole new kind of adventure