Things to do after early retirement?

EdSwippet · 19 November 2015 at 4:36PM

kremmen: Well, since our house is no more than a half mile or so from the canal, one option might be to move to the cut but keep the house and become a two-dwelling family! That way my wife can go back to the house for creature comforts, or if she ever needs to revisit her O-level notes for some odd reason...

missbiggles1: Yeah, I lack what you have termed a 'proper pension' :-) After the lump sum my defined contribution pension savings would net me around £12k/year if taken now as an index-linked annuity. That's not penury, but it is a far cry from riches beyond the dreams of avarice. In comparison a 4% 'safe' withdrawal rate would give me more than double that, much more comfortable. I don't see the dire annuity rate as screaming "don't retire!", but I do I see it as screaming "take drawdown and not an annuity!" No surprise there of course, but it is an indication of just how much more valuable 'proper' pensions are relative to the modern alternative.

plumduff55: Thanks for the response. At 55 I have 12 years between now and state pension age. And that assumes the government doesn't move the goalposts yet again, which of course they may well. It is a large-ish gap to paper over. I'm relatively confident I can do it, but the uncertainty of government rules is a sizable threat. Again though, if I wait for certainty I will never be able to step off the treadmill. I have my annual (summer!) holiday coming up. Three weeks away from work in which to mull the decision of, literally, a lifetime!

missbiggles1 · 19 November 2015 at 6:15PM

EdSwippet wrote: »

kremmen: Well, since our house is no more than a half mile or so from the canal, one option might be to move to the cut but keep the house and become a two-dwelling family! That way my wife can go back to the house for creature comforts, or if she ever needs to revisit her O-level notes for some odd reason...

missbiggles1: Yeah, I lack what you have termed a 'proper pension' :-) After the lump sum my defined contribution pension savings would net me around £12k/year if taken now as an index-linked annuity. That's not penury, but it is a far cry from riches beyond the dreams of avarice. In comparison a 4% 'safe' withdrawal rate would give me more than double that, much more comfortable. I don't see the dire annuity rate as screaming "don't retire!", but I do I see it as screaming "take drawdown and not an annuity!" No surprise there of course, but it is an indication of just how much more valuable 'proper' pensions are relative to the modern alternative.

plumduff55: Thanks for the response. At 55 I have 12 years between now and state pension age. And that assumes the government doesn't move the goalposts yet again, which of course they may well. It is a large-ish gap to paper over. I'm relatively confident I can do it, but the uncertainty of government rules is a sizable threat. Again though, if I wait for certainty I will never be able to step off the treadmill. I have my annual (summer!) holiday coming up. Three weeks away from work in which to mull the decision of, literally, a lifetime!

With your SRP on top, that would be a perfectly respectable retirement income.

EdSwippet · 19 November 2015 at 6:44PM

missbiggles1 wrote: »

With your SRP on top, that would be a perfectly respectable retirement income.

Maybe, but maybe not. My state pension won't kick in for another dozen years. And when (or perhaps if) it does it is also trimmed significantly. I spent more than a decade abroad and so am missing a lot of years of NI payments. Worse, for some of the years I didn't spend abroad I was 'contracted out', leading to a pretty swingeing (disproportionate?) further reduction. I have my state pension forecast already, and it is not pretty reading.

I should add that I'm not looking for sympathy here. I have some other savings (ISAs etc) that will help cover the gap to state pension age. Just noting that even a pretty healthy defined contribution pension pot doesn't buy much income these days if you're 55, and that from 55 to state pension age is a longish haul.

onlythebestinlife · 21 November 2015 at 6:36PM

We both took early retirement a year ago. We are mid 50's. We decided to sell our main home and buy 3 small rental properties to generate an income. We brought a motorhome and travel all over. We also do house and pet sitting which has been wonderful (staying in lovely houses and looking after animals free of charge).
We are loving life and have not missed work one bit. We have a lovely carefree life style and are enjoying every minute of it. We know we cannot do this forever and will look at an alternative when we stop travelling.
We have also had a narrow boat for 10 years and had a few spells of living on it when we were in different areas for work so that we did not have to rent. We have just sold it as we prefer the motorhome way of live... you get further alot quicker!
Good luck in your retirement, you will love it!

EdSwippet · 21 November 2015 at 8:04PM

onlythebestinlife wrote: »

... We have just sold it as we prefer the motorhome way of live... you get further alot quicker!

And there was me thinking that one of the main joys of retirement was the ability to enjoy doing things slowly ;-)

Thanks for the further encouragement. My wife has muttered 'house sitting' on more than one occasion recently, so that's clearly something that I wouldn't need to persuade her into. I've not looked into it too much myself, but I'll treat your message as a mild kick in the pants that I should! Thank you for the suggestion.

It's really interesting to see the different takes folks here have on retirement as a way of life. Until very recently I viewed 'retirement' as an abstract concept. A future event to anticipate but not planned or considered in concrete terms. Now that it is starting to solidify I can really begin to see how I can turn it from abstraction into lifestyle. The more this conversation goes on, the more I look forward to making the move and getting started...

onlythebestinlife · 21 November 2015 at 9:18PM

Do it... house sitting is great. We always ask for expenses so you earn a little money. We look after some great animals (at moment looking after 3 dogs, 2 cats and 60 chickens) at a gorgeous thatched cottage in the middle of fields. You get to see some lovely parts of the world and you do not have the up keep or bills. We started on Trusted House sitters and now we could be house sitting every day of the year as there is a great demand. Another thing we do is house swaps...another great way to see the world without spending a fortune ... google over 50s holiday swap. Everyone is very like minded. We have travelled all over the world doing this.
We are travelling around Europe next year in our motorhome and have some house sits booked.
When we had the narrow boat it was 3 miles an hour... in the motor home we can now travel a little quicker

Also the narrow boat is hard work in the ice and snow.

Katiehound · 21 November 2015 at 9:42PM

Another vote here for retirement!
Why would I want to work when I can live off my pensions??

I got very early retirement and haven't looked back. Until the state pension kicked in I allowed myself 'treats' if they were kind of a bargain- things like 'all day breakfast,' 2 for 1 meals and Orange weds cinema (sadly gone)- so I would phone a friend and invite them for the bargain meal or whatever.

I went to art college- that was fulfilment of a dream- some of the tuition was free and some I paid (another thing that has changed) - so I got a ND in craft design and A level art & design.
Locally I went regularly to craft classes (sadly the shop closed) & started making cards which I sell as a hobby.
Went more regularly to my holiday home in Eire.
Got a dog (again) but this time really trained him , went to dog training classes, was in a display team at Crufts, took part in fun dog shows, got dog no2, started organising sponsorship for charity dog shows.
Became a volunteer for Blue Cross, worked on the stand with dog 2 at Crufts, spoke to over 11,000 local children with my beautiful hound over a 5 year period!
In the last 5 years I have discovered cruising- which I love: Crafts, quizzes, learned ballroom dancing, oh, and ports to visit!!

Just recently I have really increased my swimming to every weekday and taken advantage of leisure centre membership. So from now on I plan to do 3 pilates classes per week as well as swim- I need to get my money's worth!!

And I forgot, making pocket money! Having time to take advantage of all the special current account deals so that my rainy day money is working for me not sitting in a savings a/c earning peanuts

I do other charity work now (sadly lost my beautiful Katie 5 years ago) and sew doggy duvets like a mad thing.

Housework? From time to time when needs must........

Am I bored?? Would I want to work? No thank you!!

ps I'm another without a television! I am happy to hear the news on the hour... that does me fine. Most of the time it is Radio2 or classic FM

aardvaak · 22 November 2015 at 6:32PM

EdSwippet wrote: »

I am mid-fifties and plan on taking early retirement, possibly in the first quarter of next year. I'm active and in good health, have decent pension arrangements, and have a list of things I want to do, but I'm interested to hear any reports from folk who have perhaps retired early in the past.

In particular, anything in your plan that worked well, perhaps unexpectedly so? Anything that didn't work out at all? Or if you haven't yet retired early but are thinking about it, how do you plan to spend time?

I know we all like to do different things, but nevertheless I'm on the lookout for possibilities I might not yet have thought of.

For my part... I will swim most days. I will go to the gym, and take regular yoga, pilates and other exercise classes. I will be a volunteer gardener at a local NT property. I will help disabled children learn to swim. I will learn to draw, and attend art appreciation classes. I will -- finally, and after multiple false starts earlier in life! -- learn to read music and play a musical instrument. I will cycle, hike, and canoe where possible. I will learn Spanish. I will go on yoga and meditation retreats. I will travel widely. I will not write a book.

There now, let's see how much of that plan survives its first encounter with reality!

You could go out taking photos of scenery etc., and upload to https://www.geograph.org.uk

EdSwippet · 22 November 2015 at 9:36PM

Katiehound wrote: »

Just recently I have really increased my swimming to every weekday and taken advantage of leisure centre membership. So from now on I plan to do 3 pilates classes per week as well as swim...

That's my keep-active plan too. I spent all of today trying to 'practise' retirement. Went swimming in the morning, walk downtown in the afternoon, a bit of housework and then watched a 2hr movie in the evening. I've consciously tried to think as if retired all day. No thoughts of work, and I've attempted to fool myself into believing that I don't have to go back to being a corporate drone again tomorrow morning!

I think I broadly succeeded. The swimming pool was astonishingly empty given that it's a weekend, giving me a solid and pleasant hour of front crawl with no disturbance. Pleasant chat with a lane colleague. Toasty warm feeling with pleasant muscle tiredness from the swim.

I did try to get into a pilates class today but no chance with the ultra-short notice. Stuck my nose up against the studio glass though to check out that the class looked similar to the ones I take elsewhere. It did. After a while though, staring straight into a gym class started to feel a bit creepy so I left! Looked ideal anyway. Hopefully weekday daytime classes are easier to book into.

For a real practice retirement I should probably try a run of at least week or so, but unfortunately I don't have enough vacation time to do that. Seems like it would be a good way to find out for real if I've picked a suitable set of retirement activities.

aardvaak wrote:

You could go out taking photos of scenery etc., and upload to https://www.geograph.org.uk

Oh, that's an interesting site. And of course, once you sent it I was compelled to go there and find existing photos of my area -- someone close by here with a camera seems attracted by the sight of wheelie bins! Beside these though there are some quite lovely pictures here of my town. I'm sure I could add to them.

Thanks for the link. I'm going to subscribe. I may also attempt photo-a-day such as this one.

Katiehound · 22 November 2015 at 10:51PM

EdSwippet wrote: »

I did try to get into a pilates class today but no chance with the ultra-short notice. Stuck my nose up against the studio glass though to check out that the class looked similar to the ones I take elsewhere. It did. After a while though, staring straight into a gym class started to feel a bit creepy so I left! Looked ideal anyway. Hopefully weekday daytime classes are easier to book into.

At our leisure centre you can only book classes 7 days in advance.
The classes I attend take place around midday and get fully booked so I book when I am swimming at 8.30am for the following week, it doesn't seem to be a problem then! It is a problem if you attend the class, come out and try to book for the following week- fully booked. It is worth going on the waiting list as sometimes there are cancellations.

I did not need to practise retirement as I had months of sick leave beforehand... that certainly got me in the right frame of mind!!

I think you should look on this as the opportunity to do all those things you have always wanted to do- you only get one life- so go out there and enjoy whatever comes your way. Keeping healthy and being happy are really important..... so have fun.

Things to do after early retirement?

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