How did you feel when you committed to retirement?

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82091512#Comment_82091512

Sounds a familiar scenario.🙂

I had planned it financially and told them at work well in advance, trained up my replacement there. I think my timing was good and I don't miss it.

I gave 12 months notice and trained a replacement. Although by the time it was all sorted it was more like 14 months. I was 62, which seemed a good age to go.

. Being retired at home vs working from home a lot of the time doesn't feel so different.

I normally spent 60% of my time at home, and 40% away ( UK and other Western European countries) .

I resigned during the first Covid lockdown, so travelling had stopped and business was quiet. So apart from a few joint customer visits with the replacement just before I left, I effectively spent around 15 months working from home before leaving. So an easy slipway into retirement.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82091646#Comment_82091646

The first thing is NO alarm clock at stupid o'clock.

Personally I take great pleasure in switching the alarm off and going back to sleep.

eastcorkram

I'm 18 months into retirement but never sleep beyond 5am.

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82092053#Comment_82092053

I'm about 15 months in and rarely go to bed before 2AM.

Weird thought, perhaps night owls find it easier to retire than larks?!

eastcorkram

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82092418#Comment_82092418

Might be true alright.

49 years of work is probably a hard lifestyle to change. Even back in school days, I was always up pretty early.

leosayer

I feel numb. I don’t feel relief, I don’t feel trepidation, I don’t feel happy, I don’t feel sad. I just don’t seem to feel anything and that seems really odd.

How did you feel when you first made that commitment to retire?

Similar to me when my wife and I retired almost 2 years ago. I put that down to it not being a surprise because of years of planning and quite a long notice period for me - over 6 months. Also, we tend not to look back at where we came from and instead look forward.

When people ask me what it feels like to not work, I say that it's one less draw on my time and one less thing to stress about. But there is a quiet satisfaction from realising that I was doing the right things (saving / investing etc.) for the past 10+ years. This has given me a new confidence in life.

Like others I'm still a 5am riser. I thought was due to stress about work but clearly I'm just built that way.

jimi_man

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82090802#Comment_82090802

This is an interesting one. I was lucky enough to have a public sector DB pension (actually two) which gave me pretty close to my salary so this was never an issue. We still save money every month and will continue to do so, despite retiring with a savings pile to fall back on.

Some people I've spoken to are afraid of retirement simply because it represents the third stage (education, working life, retirement) and thus is the last stage before death, so they delay retirement. Slightly morbid and generally I didn't feel that way but it's an understandable concern although there is little that one can do to avoid it!

I did miss my (career) job for a few months. More the people and being part of an organisation that I knew inside out for 30 years but that soon wore off. Afterwards I worked as a contract worker, then permanent and then temp (Still public sector work) so it was slightly different and I had time to get used to it. When I eventually stopped it was because the temp work stopped which took the decision out of my hands. Don't regret it or miss it. But it's understandable to have different (or no) feelings for the OP so I wouldn't worry.

mrklaw

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82090802#Comment_82090802

I’m not there yet but today I was looking at how I’d structure things. My current thinking is a staging account holding 2-3 months of income that the pensions and ISAs pay into (all at different times, state pension every 4 weeks grr). and then once a month it auto transfers my ‘salary’ so its ready on the first of the next month. Fully spendable, we’ll continue to zero budget like we do now, and hopefully that will help me transition because it’ll feel like a salary. Automate the pension as much as possible - so FAD paying a little each month, I’ll look for an ISA that can take the TFC from the initial crystallisation. As hands off as possible once a year in April and then I get my familiar salary.

in theory of course..

Baldytyke88

I was thinking about retirement for a couple of years. I then realised that I needed to give 3 months notice. I was counting down, as I wanted to finish in July, I chickened out and gave notice to finish in December.

That was easier, as it meant I will also have more money. I am still pondering, will I do odd jobs or work a few days per week. I do feel better having decided to hand in my notice.

Like the OP, some days I feel that I will have plenty of money, but in reality, I could spend double on my vehicle and it would affect my finances. I always need money in the bank to feel comfortable spending money. My SIPP is doing well at the moment, but I don't really want to cash in my shares, I enjoy trading.

FIREDreamer

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6678615/how-did-you-feel-when-you-committed-to-retirement

How did I feel?

Absolutely elated.