How did you feel when you committed to retirement?

Ibrahim5

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82092787#Comment_82092787

I retired at 50 and went to my first monthly U3A meeting. When the lecturer started someone shouted could he speak up and they all started playing with their hearing aids. I looked around at all the walking sticks. Meanwhile the 20 year olds on my WhatsApp football groups were asking if I was playing footy tonight.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82093937#Comment_82093937

It has been mentioned on the forum before that U3A groups seem to be predominately the over 70's, and female.

Intoodeep

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82091940#Comment_82091940

I still invariably wake up about 6am unless I have had a late one.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82094247#Comment_82094247

You do realise that the older you get the less sleep you need (so they tell me). Soon you will be up at 5am.

nicknameless

OP I feel you. Just 13 months into retirement - now 54. Has taken me that time to ease into things and after an initial honeymoon (literally as I married my partner of 34 years a week after we retired) it was a strange feeling which continued for months. Have taken up an old hobby again and trained for an endurance event etc - these helped massively. Today I have pottered quite pleasantly and not had a second thought about it not being a productive (in inverted commas) day. I think you'll ease into it but it may take some time. As per the consensus here I would not go back if you paid me lol.

MacMickster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82094354#Comment_82094354

So the thing to do is start going to bed much later. No point being up at stupid o'clock when you're not workingl.

retiringin26

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

I was both relieved and sad. For complex reasons I had to very carefully time telling my manager , with care and respect for a range of matters. That despite knowing for a long time when it was going to happen.

Knowing I'd no longer have team-level chats, playful banter and the like was really hard. On occasions on the lead-up I'd have a quiet cry.

But no regrets at all.

The last few weeks before the big day just flew by.

katejo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82093952#Comment_82093952

I had a chance conversation with a lady in her early 70s. I asked her whether she had tried the local U3A. She was horrified and replied that they were old!

RAS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82091280#Comment_82091280

I've often work towards something and then felt "flat" when it happened. It may be because it'd been the subject of focus and now what? Takes time to shift focus.

I'd originally planned a second career, when I'd worked enough to leave with a decent DB pension after a small gap. The plans changed when the rules were changed.

I didn't want to work to state pension age, then a few things happened:

I discovered the changes had been modified, in my favour.

My salary had increased enough to make the pension liveable at the earliest leaving date.

I dithered a lot, then facing a planning review decided I had to tell my boss if I was leaving. Six month's notice to hand over and asked for as little fuss as possible.

I'd a number of hobbies which I now had more time to pursue and decided not to take on anything new for a year. More than ignoring the alarm clock what I enjoyed most was not having to commute in bad weather.

My waking hour still fluctuates with the seasons, so winter is easier.

Covid has changed things more as there are fewer face to face activities happening, which I regret.

But I'm rarely bored.

John_of_Denbigh

I made a spur of the moment decision to retire for the second time in February this year. I finished at the end of March. This time the reasons for the decision were primarily income tax related but also some changes taking place in work that I was deeply troubled by. The first couple of months felt like a holiday however I have started volunteering with the CAB. Overall it was the right decision. Not having the stress and pressures of work is liberating.

I retired first time in 2020 from full time work, at the beginning of lockdown. I had had enough of full time work and responsibility/stress/pressure that comes with it. After 6 months, having been effectively confined to barracks due to COVID restrictions I was becoming bored. Then I had a call from work, asking if I would go back and help out on a part-time basis. I snapped their hand off!

I would stress that retiring without a plan is not a good idea. It doesn't matter what that is as long as you gain something from it and don't end up frittering your time away aimlessly!