Preparing for retirement
JoeEngland
Posts: 445 Forumite
Just out of curiosity, what preparations did early retirees make in the last year before freedom? We've been getting the house redecorated while I'm still earning, getting repairs done, updating some household furniture, building up the holiday fund to meet a target, and buying loads more books since I'm a bookworm.
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It's probably worth stockpiling Werther's Originals. As they're made by a German company, there's a risk you'll not have any buttery caramel sweets to offer your grandchildren in your retirement."Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance" - Confucius0
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Not the last year singular (needed to spread out the costs), more of a last 5 year plan, in order to support retirement as soon as the last of our kids completes their education. New kitchen, stone floors with under floor heating, new en-suite, new bathroom, solar panels, battery, EV, new HW tank and finally qualify for full SP.0
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JoeEngland wrote: »Just out of curiosity, what preparations did early retirees make in the last year before freedom? We've been getting the house redecorated while I'm still earning, getting repairs done, updating some household furniture, building up the holiday fund to meet a target, and buying loads more books since I'm a bookworm.
Personal curiosity - are you doing anything specific about wherever your retirement income will be coming from? Or has that all been done and, just tinkering left now? (Asking since I'm about 6 years out from where you are now.)Conjugating the verb 'to be":
-o I am humble -o You are attention seeking -o She is Nadine Dorries0 -
Paul_Herring wrote: »Personal curiosity - are you doing anything specific about wherever your retirement income will be coming from? Or has that all been done and, just tinkering left now? (Asking since I'm about 6 years out from where you are now.)
Retirement income will be a mix of drawing down on savings and unit trust ISA, plus DC pensions when I turn 55 in 2021. Later on both me and DW will get a small DB pension, and eventually full SP. So yeah, it's basically tinkering now. DC pensions we've been paying into for the last 3 years will be contingency or extra holiday funds further down the line.0 -
If you read e-books make sure you are signed up to BookBub for cheap or even free booksJoeEngland wrote: »Just out of curiosity, what preparations did early retirees make in the last year before freedom? We've been getting the house redecorated while I'm still earning, getting repairs done, updating some household furniture, building up the holiday fund to meet a target, and buying loads more books since I'm a bookworm.
https://www.bookbub.com/welcome
:money:"We act as though comfort and luxury are the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about” – Albert Einstein0 -
I did much the same before retirement. I put a new roof on the house and fixed lots of other stuff. However, my home is 100 years old so there's always something to fix...this year I spent $6k on new doors and rotten headers.
I also planned a couple of big trips and sorted out some volunteer work. I made sure I had enough in the bank to cover the gap years until my pension started and sorted out some state healthcare benefits for my years of very low taxable income.
I've ended up doing a lot of reading. I actually read The New Yorker and Private Eye from cover to cover now and I've read a lot of novels sitting in coffee shops. I have a year's pass to the local cinema and so see lots there and buy a season ticket to the local theater too. I ride my bikes a lot for exercise and do some part time work for an old colleague's startup company. Weekends revolve around bike rides and watching EPL games at a local bar with a few friends.“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”0 -
OH is 2/3 years away and a house move is planned before he retires so I am already decluttering. Ridding myself of clutter has been an unexpected impulse. We intend to buy somewhere low maintenance and that means new.
The financials have taken some serious organising but, after years of reviewing and researching, we are close to having the income plan completed. We just need to bolster our unwrapped cash (depleted courtesy of some unforeseen events over the last, few years) and we will be good to go.
My retirement was sudden so began without any preparation. It has taken time time to adjust but I now have a schedule of volunteer and leisure activities and I try something new each year. This year I have discovered the challenges of Bridge. The bucket list is constantly reviewed. Latest idea is a lifetime National Trust membership.
I have discovered that it's the small pleasures of retirement that matter most to me. I now have a newspaper delivery as, somehow, online and TV news don't compare to the delights of a morning hour with a cuppa and the paper. That novelty, like many others, has yet to wear-off.0 -
There's not just financial considerations though. You may already have them, but it's important to have a social infrastructure - hobbies, clubs etc - in place that you might not have had the chance to nurture when you were raising children, working full time etc.
A cliff-edge retirement, after the first fortnight when it feels like being on holiday, can be a bit of a shock after 40 years of work. However much it's wanted, it can still be a huge life change and take a bit of adjusting to.
Flexible retirement has worked really well for me, easing my way into full retirement. It's given me time to join things and do social activities on my non-working days and to prepare mentally for letting go completely.Save £12k in 2022 thread #7:
Save £10,000 Jan-May 2022 THEN RETIRE!!
Final total for (half) year: -£4,0000 -
Financially it really doesn't matter if you spend your money now, to do up the house etc, or save it to do it up later. Do the work when it is approriate to do so! The important thing a year or so out is that you start living off the amount of money that you are likely to have when you retire, so you can save the money left over AND judge if your retirement plans are realistic. This is harder to do than it sounds, but it's a real eye opener. I have had 2 iterations of this and very glad I did!
Agree about comments relating to social activities. Start looking out for things happening in your local area, or things further away that you have always wanted to do. Start making a list of things to try - and think about how they will help you meet new people, especially if you are naturally an introvert like me!!
..and read all the posts on this forum of course!!"For every complicated problem, there is always a simple, wrong answer"0
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