Retirement

[Darlo1973]

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This is similar to the one I did.......

Looks like fun. South America is one of the parts of the world which I haven't been to yet. I'm usually a solo independent traveller but it does look like that South America would be better done as part of a group.

 

[Ned Land]

I really wish I had been able to do a 6 month break between jobs. My old place had a few rounds of redundancy and I'd been there 15 years, with the offer of pretty much a month of pay for every year of service. I asked a few questions if there would be other rounds and was told nothing on the horizon. Found a new job, resigned and then within a few weeks a new round of redundancies were announced and I didn't qualify.

I have so much on at the minute outside of work, I could easily fill 6 months. I'm building a garden office which involved pulling down a shed where two large sheds were badly joined together. That means building a new end onto the now open shed. I'm looking out the window heading to a dinner break thinking if I have a quick sandwich then I can get out and do half an hour, then fit in another hour after work before I'm off out. I'm knackered. When I'm not at my desk working, I'm doing other stuff and just need to get rid of work really.

You work in HE?

Was it a ‘mutually agreed resignation scheme’?

It’s happening where I work.

 

[DaveH]

You work in HE?

Was it a ‘mutually agreed resignation scheme’?

It’s happening where I work.

Yes to HE. It was voluntary redundancy.

It had been going on since 2020 coming in various rounds. During the pandemic was the wrong time to move, but following that opened up a lot of opportunities for me with remote working. I waited a while hoping it would come back round and had not for a while. In the end I was faced with turning down an offer for a higher paid job and a way out (a place with 3 years of redundancy and merging multiple jobs together is not a happy place) or waiting to see if another redundancy round would come again. I handed in my notice then it came around again.

On the other hand, I was manager of what ended up a huge IT operations team where 3 jobs was merged into mine. Not everyone got redundancy and I can see why my old post would not have qualified. I was managing 15 people in the end, so they would have had to decide who all those people would report to if my old position was not replaced. As there had been a managerial cull in 2020 (mostly people retiring), there was not a lot of scope to not replace it.

Interestingly, my replacement quit after a year for a higher paid job without trying to do 3 jobs.

 

[Ned Land]

Yes to HE. It was voluntary redundancy.

It had been going on since 2020 coming in various rounds. During the pandemic was the wrong time to move, but following that opened up a lot of opportunities for me with remote working. I waited a while hoping it would come back round and had not for a while. In the end I was faced with turning down an offer for a higher paid job and a way out (a place with 3 years of redundancy and merging multiple jobs together is not a happy place) or waiting to see if another redundancy round would come again. I handed in my notice then it came around again.

On the other hand, I was manager of what ended up a huge IT operations team where 3 jobs was merged into mine. Not everyone got redundancy and I can see why my old post would not have qualified. I was managing 15 people in the end, so they would have had to decide who all those people would report to if my old position was not replaced. As there had been a managerial cull in 2020 (mostly people retiring), there was not a lot of scope to not replace it.

Interestingly, my replacement quit after a year for a higher paid job without trying to do 3 jobs.

An almost ideal scenario if planning to retire at 60 is an offer of redundancy aged 59 with a £30k lumper (max that’s tax free).

 

[humbug]

Anyone just think f it and walk away for a year late in life ?
That's my mindset at the mo
Like a soft retirement.
Have a long time away after 45 years working non stop and then reassess

i feel the same at times but i'm only 56. there's times i could quite happily jack in on the spot.
i left school on the friday and started working on the monday and apart from a month about 20 years ago between jobs where i was doing my hgv tests i've never been out of work.
the only thing is i quite enjoy my job but i'm increasingly thinking that time's running out.

 

[DaveH]

An almost ideal scenario if planning to retire at 60 is an offer of redundancy aged 59 with a £30k lumper (max that’s tax free).

That is why a lot of people took it.

I'm not sure if I'll ever get those redundancy levels again. I'm nearly 47, planning on going at 60 at the latest but might go at 58 and do a part time low skilled job.

One reason I was getting burnt out in my last job, was because after 15 years I was emotionally invested in everything, and everything had baggage of bad decisions that really angered me. Then I moved.

There are some things going on here that are just crazy, I have recently had 3 projects shelved, and I feel pretty laid back about it. I said it would be a 2 year minimum job but filling up the rest of my career with 3 x 4 year jobs would not be bad. Been here 15 months now and I have made plenty of noise about the problems that exist. If senior management don't take heed then so bit it, I have done my bit and can prove that. The cancellations mean I have a quiet week this week (though next week is busy) and I feel quite chilled. Whatever happens, I know by early 2027 if not before, I will have moved on having made a number of things better, but perhaps not as much as I'd like. And then I'll forget about this job as I start the next.

The downside of this is that I'll never build up much of a redundancy payout again if that happens to fall at a convenient time.

 

[Paddy O'Dors]

A fews years back when we played celtic away in a pre season friendly, the branch I used to travel with stopped off in a rough Glasgow pub that had piss trough at the bar.

In Delhi they have them in the open-air in the street. One minute you'll be walking past the lovely aromatic smells of some street food sellers barrow, 10 seconds later you have the stench of stale piss wafting up your nose and the sight of some Indian fella with his knob out relieving himself.

 

[Johnny Alpha]

Looks like fun. South America is one of the parts of the world which I haven't been to yet. I'm usually a solo independent traveller but it does look like that South America would be better done as part of a group.

The wife and I are going to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina for our 30th wedding anniversary in September and we’re away for 5 weeks. I couldn’t do that if I was still working. I’m 61 and was given the redundancy boot two years ago and I jumped at the chance rather than fight it.
I do wonder whether I’d be working if I wasn’t pushed, but stopping work when I’m (relatively) young and healthy was one of the best things I’ve done.

 

[Swindon On Tour]

i feel the same at times but i'm only 56. there's times i could quite happily jack in on the spot.
i left school on the friday and started working on the monday and apart from a month about 20 years ago between jobs where i was doing my hgv tests i've never been out of work.
the only thing is i quite enjoy my job but i'm increasingly thinking that time's running out.

Only my opinion but when you hit 50 it is a time to reflect.
I think most of us are done at 50 in work and the years thereafter are a bonus with the chequered flag in sight.

In Delhi they have them in the open-air in the street. One minute you'll be walking past the lovely aromatic smells of some street food sellers barrow, 10 seconds later you have the stench of stale piss wafting up your nose and the sight of some Indian fella with his knob out relieving himself.

You’re getting confused with Swindon Mate.

 

[Paddy O'Dors]

You’re getting confused with Swindon Mate.

One is a place that reeks of poverty, has lots of undernourished street urchins, unkempt old women sticking out a begging hand on every corner, sewage overflowing from drains, rats overrunning open spaces and old men raking in refuse tips to salvage something recyclable to sell for buttons.

The other is Delhi.

 

[Swindon On Tour]

One is a place that reeks of poverty, has lots of undernourished street urchins, unkempt old women sticking out a begging hand on every corner, sewage overflowing from drains, rats overrunning open spaces and old men raking in refuse tips to salvage something recyclable to sell for buttons.

The other is Delhi.

The latter having the better football team

 

[Joe Baker]

That's my mindset at the mo
Sick as a chip at work
I have a mate doing a lot of travelling in retirement, pilgrim trail type stuff , cycling walking trips . Just need to break the circle for a bit

If you need time to think it over, pilgrim trail stuff is excellent. Before chucking my cards in for S. America, I walked Hadrians Wall solo and it gave me the time and space to make a decision.

 

[houghton cut head]

i feel the same at times but i'm only 56. there's times i could quite happily jack in on the spot.
i left school on the friday and started working on the monday and apart from a month about 20 years ago between jobs where i was doing my hgv tests i've never been out of work.
the only thing is i quite enjoy my job but i'm increasingly thinking that time's running out.

3 weeks today for me now before I hang the keyboard up at 55 yr 8 months.

I have never had more than a 3 week holiday off work since I started work in April 1986, and even before that I was a paper lad from 1980 so was getting up before 6 am as an 11 year old to earn my £2.50 per week .

My current job is really well paid and I could easily do next to fuck all for years to come earning more than an MP, but cannot wait to finish, and will be getting by on a hell of a lot less. I have always done a lot of travelling and that will continue - I just wish that we had the choice of flight in the NE that Stanstead and Luton have!

 

[peachy]

Looks like fun. South America is one of the parts of the world which I haven't been to yet. I'm usually a solo independent traveller but it does look like that South America would be better done as part of a group.

You can do both.

Travelled independently Lima to Santiago. Lots of buses and places to stay.
Did go on a truck (22 people) from Santiago for the sheer logistics of getting to Ushuaia and then the Patagonia sights.
The truck company used a mix of camping out in the wilds to staying in hostels.

Some truck companies are more upmarket and use hostels more and others camp more. Just check out what you fancy.

 

[DaveH]

It has been a year since this thread started. I probably said early on that I was close to turning 46, aiming to go at 60 so I had 14 years left.

In just the lifetime of this thread, that is 7% of my remaining career gone, and it doesn't feel that way. But I have also realised that I could potentially just drop to a low grade party time role at 58 for two years and have a stress free wind down. That means that I only have 11 of main career left and over 8% of my main career has gone in the lifetime of this thread.

Single digits will be the big milestone.

 

[Swindon On Tour]

It has been a year since this thread started. I probably said early on that I was close to turning 46, aiming to go at 60 so I had 14 years left.

In just the lifetime of this thread, that is 7% of my remaining career gone, and it doesn't feel that way. But I have also realised that I could potentially just drop to a low grade party time role at 58 for two years and have a stress free wind down. That means that I only have 11 of main career left and over 8% of my main career has gone in the lifetime of this thread.

Single digits will be the big milestone.

The problem is you are “clock watching” and that slows everything down.
Just don’t wish your life away mate. Funerals are now outstripping weddings in my life. It has suddenly and for the first time in my life made me very much aware.

 

[The King of Um]

It has been a year since this thread started. I probably said early on that I was close to turning 46, aiming to go at 60 so I had 14 years left.

In just the lifetime of this thread, that is 7% of my remaining career gone, and it doesn't feel that way. But I have also realised that I could potentially just drop to a low grade party time role at 58 for two years and have a stress free wind down. That means that I only have 11 of main career left and over 8% of my main career has gone in the lifetime of this thread.

Single digits will be the big milestone.

I'm 57 later this year, and am thinking similar - dropping down into something with a lot less stress than current role when I reach 58, and hold off on taking my pension until I'm 60, as it would make a real difference for the rest of retirement to leave it until then.

 

[DaveH]

The problem is you are “clock watching” and that slows everything down.
Just don’t wish your life away mate. Funerals are now outstripping weddings in my life. It has suddenly and for the first time in my life made me very much aware.

What does “wish your life away” mean?

Do you think I’m doing nowt but waiting?

 

[Swindon On Tour]

What does “wish your life away” mean?

Do you think I’m doing nowt but waiting?

That’s good then.
I found myself getting more and more obsessed the closer it became a possibility.

I'm 57 later this year, and am thinking similar - dropping down into something with a lot less stress than current role when I reach 58, and hold off on taking my pension until I'm 60, as it would make a real difference for the rest of retirement to leave it until then.

I did the same albeit made redundant at 58 and ended up in a shit show next job.
Got out at 60.

 

[Slatz63]

That's my mindset at the mo
Sick as a chip at work
I have a mate doing a lot of travelling in retirement, pilgrim trail type stuff , cycling walking trips . Just need to break the circle for a bit

I've booked my flight and first four nights of accomodation for the Camino Frances.

Six or so weeks walking to mark my full transition from working life to retired life.

Starting 7th September, wish me luck.