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Retirement


Wife retired at 50, I've just retired 52 needing to recover from a small health issue.

We are cushty with nee mortgages, small rental property and a Spain pad.

Philosophy of saving has paid off massively as I can recuperate at my own pace, with no financial pressure.

We are tight arses for sure but want to put lumpers into our kids future mortgages so they can get on the property ladder easily, hopefully at 2nd house stage...

Priorities have shifted to health and kids and we are cool with that.

Need to work out how to fill my time once better..I do a seasonal job PT for laughs, no it's not Santa.
 
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Derbla said:
Wife retired at 50, I've just retired 52 needing to recover from a small health issue.

We are cushty with nee mortgages, small rental property and a Spain pad.

Philosophy of saving has paid off massively as I can recuperate at my own pace, with no financial pressure.

We are tight arses for sure but want to put lumpers into our kids future mortgages so they can get on the property ladder easily, hopefully at 2nd house stage...

Priorities have shifted to health and kids and we are cool with that.

Need to work out how to fill my time once better..I do a seasonal job PT for laughs, no it's not Santa.
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Congratulations Mate and now a life for living.
HerdnMulhall said:
I loved that life too, once upon a time. Lived on adrenaline, the bigger the job, the more technically demanding the contract, the greater the buzz. Then l took on a site where we were doing around 16 mill build a month. That's not a mis-spelling. 3 years of it , completion and afterwards l was completely burnt out , had a heart attack, and retired soon afterwards. The best decision ever. The absence of all that stress, the time to take a leisurely breakfast, to take a long walk with the dogs is priceless. l honestly believe it's extended my life expectancy by at least the ten years since and hopefully more. Pressure, stress and the resultant adrenaline buzz are so seductive, probably clinically addictive. We are miles apart in our thinking, but perhaps you aren't actually immortal. Good to let go if an opportunity presents itself can I suggest.
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Cracking reasoned post that.
My post of the day and will read it a few times.
You can take the boy out of Harwell but not Harwell out of the boy 👍
 
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30k would do me. I've had a canny life earning wages nowhere near that, though had to beg borrow and steal and shift money around to get to matches etc, but reckon you could live comfortably on 30k a year, but the old saying the more you get the more you spend is real, that is why people become greedy and money corrupts. Some of the happiest people I know could probably get by on 10k a year.
 
gizmoganzee said:
Just dropped down to a 4 day week.

So do work Sat, Sun, off, Tues, off, Thurs, off.

Been to the gym 3 times this week, feel loads better.
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I'm on 'compressed hours', so do my allocated hours in 4 days instead of 5 and take every friday off. to be really honest it hasn't made much difference to me at all (work wise). i used to work a bit over each anyway and friday is generally a quieter day at work so i'm not missed or missing much.

just potter around on a friday now, do a bit of gardening/maintenance/errands and usually go to the driving range for an hour or so. best day of the week.
 
elder said:
I'm on 'compressed hours', so do my allocated hours in 4 days instead of 5 and take every friday off. to be really honest it hasn't made much difference to me at all (work wise). i used to work a bit over each anyway and friday is generally a quieter day at work so i'm not missed or missing much.

just potter around on a friday now, do a bit of gardening/maintenance/errands and usually go to the driving range for an hour or so. best day of the week.
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Maximum days I work together is two, so I quite like that at my age, I'll have to work more over Xmas and New year but hey that's more money!
 
elder said:
I'm on 'compressed hours', so do my allocated hours in 4 days instead of 5 and take every friday off. to be really honest it hasn't made much difference to me at all (work wise). i used to work a bit over each anyway and friday is generally a quieter day at work so i'm not missed or missing much.

just potter around on a friday now, do a bit of gardening/maintenance/errands and usually go to the driving range for an hour or so. best day of the week.
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I’ve worked that pattern for the past 16 or 17 years. When the kids were younger I’d find about an hour on the Friday for me to be ‘selfish’.

Now that the kids are older I have until 4pm to do something similar to yourself.

I’m aiming to retire at 60. Those who think that I’ll be bored are lacking an imagination.
 
Ned Land said:
I’ve worked that pattern for the past 16 or 17 years. When the kids were younger I’d find about an hour on the Friday for me to be ‘selfish’.

Now that the kids are older I have until 4pm to do something similar to yourself.

I’m aiming to retire at 60. Those who think that I’ll be bored are lacking an imagination.
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I keep reading so many seeing 60 as the milestone and definitely has a status about the number. 3 months time and seriously contemplating it.👍
How long for you?
 
Swindon On Tour said:
I keep reading so many seeing 60 as the milestone and definitely has a status about the number. 3 months time and seriously contemplating it.👍
How long for you?
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About 9 years!

It’s a local government pension, with a scaled reduction for early retirement. Plus there’s less of a reduction if you’re 60+.

Even if I get a part time job it will give me more freedom from a permanent job with responsibilities. I would like to have choices in retirement, backed up with a comfortable regular income.
 
Swindon On Tour said:
I keep reading so many seeing 60 as the milestone and definitely has a status about the number. 3 months time and seriously contemplating it.👍
How long for you?
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I think its great so many lads now not grafting till just before death.

Ive a relative who got offered a great package at about 54 n took the fucker. Never looked back.

Im 46 in december. Really dont want to be going at this rate in ten years time. Some sort of consultancy/design role where you can do 2 days at week, when you choose, from anywhere in the world would be ideal.
 
Ned Land said:
About 9 years!

It’s a local government pension, with a scaled reduction for early retirement. Plus there’s less of a reduction if you’re 60+.

Even if I get a part time job it will give me more freedom from a permanent job with responsibilities. I would like to have choices in retirement, backed up with a comfortable regular income.
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Check out the details of that early retirement reduction. Does it apply to when you stop working or when you draw your pension? I think it classes retirement as when you draw.

I have a similar university pension. If I leave the industry, that stops. They don't know when I actually retire. One future decision for me will be draw at 60 on less, or draw at 62 for more, having lived on savings for 2 years.
 
I have a mate, joined the police at 18 1/2, retired at 48 1/2, canny pension too. Never worked a day since. I believe there are now more retired cops than there are working cops what with the cuts in numbers.

Not many pensions left like that now.

Conservatives, the party of law and order.
 
SPUFF said:
I think its great so many lads now not grafting till just before death.

Ive a relative who got offered a great package at about 54 n took the fucker. Never looked back.

Im 46 in december. Really dont want to be going at this rate in ten years time. Some sort of consultancy/design role where you can do 2 days at week, when you choose, from anywhere in the world would be ideal.
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Good luck to you Mate.
Hit 50 and without doubt feels like the summit. I have never stopped, not a sick day in over 30 years but now feeling my time.
Scared of course probably because I have that work and providing mentality. Had to do it on my own with no financial help.
If I knew it would be ok I would do it today.
Ned Land said:
About 9 years!

It’s a local government pension, with a scaled reduction for early retirement. Plus there’s less of a reduction if you’re 60+.

Even if I get a part time job it will give me more freedom from a permanent job with responsibilities. I would like to have choices in retirement, backed up with a comfortable regular income.
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Good luck Mate. Time flys as they say.
I will look to do something, maybe gardening would do me well to have a break for a few months, paint the house etc.
 
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NorbertColon said:
Me and my wife retired a few weeks after our 55th birthday in December ( we are 61 now), we wanted a normal Christmas like most people seem to get, I had always worked jobs where you worked much or all of Christmas. Our 3 combined pensions are only about a grand a month, but we do have considerable savings to draw from.

We live fairly well, walk our dogs which were a retirement present to ourselves, I make all our wine and most of our bread, got loads of hobbies that keep me busy, as does my wife. We can help out with the grandkids anytime we are needed.

Love it, happiest time of my life.

Single car family now which saves a fortune.

I only go out for a drink 2 or 3 times a year, used to be that a day.

Our retirement won't be cruises or jetting off, at least until our state pension kicks in.

We are beholden to no man or company, our time is our own. Nearly 7 years of retirement already, I have a good mate who died at 59, no retirement at all.

I know someone who refused to join the NHS pension ( back when it was fantastic), the money she saved was spent on weekends away with her mates, Blackpool and Benidorm mainly.

She is looking at working and extra 12 years while the rest of us live it up.
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That's my plan, same as what you have done. By 55 assuming I'm still in the same job I'll have around 30 years public sector pension. couldn't think of anything worse than going to work in my 60s
 
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