Retirement-Your Experience

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by Freddy, Feb 14, 2019.

  1. Freddy

    Freddy Miserable git, well known for it

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    Hiya folks :)

    With retirement on the horizon, I was wondering what changes (enforced or otherwise) the retired amongst us have made/experienced? Have you taken up new hobbies/pastimes? Are you enjoying the extra time on your hands? Is it the best thing you’ve ever done? Downsides? These are just questions that you need not answer, I’m just interested in how it is for you.

    Cheers, Freddy.
     
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    • JWK

      JWK Gardener Staff Member

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      I retired last September and it's an old cliche but I just don't know how I had time to do all the things in the past along with a full time job. I have so many projects lined up and also promising to visit seldom seen cousins flung around the country has filled my extra time. Plus a few holidays, taking time to look after the little grandchildren and even watch school nativity plays etc that I couldn't do with my own children. I find I'm still getting up at the same time as when I went to work, around 6:30 and if I'm doing stuff outside I do a 7.5 hr day, maybe longer as the daylight is improving. It's great!
       
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      • JWK

        JWK Gardener Staff Member

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        I'm sure you will enjoy it Freddy - congratulations and welcome to the club !
         
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        • Doghouse Riley

          Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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          You need to start planning for retirement quite early. I paid the maximum into AVCs for about fifteen years or so. The total you can pay into any sort of pension is 15% of your salary. I knew I would be comfortably off at my target retirement age of 60. I actually retired shortly before my 58th birthday having paid off the mortgage and with no debts of any kind.. I then had the "bonus" of my endowment mortgage pay out, which was fortunate as I still got a sizeable "terminal bonus" (a thing of the past now, some endowments aren't suficient to clear the mortgage), altogether the payout was three times what the house cost to buy.

          Retiring is expensive, when you're working "you've no time to spend money," once you're retired you've all the time in the world.

          Although I worked long hours, I used to play a lot of squash until I was fifty and I had the garden, my leccy piano and my koi pool. After I retired I took up golf, got into vinyl jukeboxes and took up the saxophone. Those three extra hobbies cost quite a bit of money to either take up or sustain.

          The danger for some men is that they have no other interests than work and when they retire it's a case of sitting in a chair watching a lot of TV. Over the years I've seen several people I've known, do exactly that and have died within a few years.
          I susbscribe to the view, that when you retire "You wake up each morning with nothing to do and go to bed each night with only half of it done."
          Sometimes I feel there's not enough hours in the day.
           
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            Last edited: Feb 16, 2019
          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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            Can't argue with any of the above. You need to keep both mind and body active. :blue thumb:

            I've been retired 19 years. The mind is still working OK but the body sometimes argues! :heehee:

            I've not found any down side apart from physical. Although you gradually get to the stage where you find you're saying things such as 'it wasn't like that in my day' and 'I don't understand the kids of today' much more often. :whistle:

            If you don't have hobbies then certainly try to find things you would like to do. The local U3A is a good start. Volunteering can be rewarding but make sure you say to yourself 'I'll give it a try but won't commit'. Don't try to do too much too soon or you may end up like me, getting involved in too many things and then having to decide what to drop.

            Main things, home and family first followed very closely by friends. Gardening and holidays should be high on the list. Hobbies are a must - they don't have to be anything special but something that takes your interest. Helping people makes both of you feel good so keep an eye out for opportunities - but don't let people take advantage of you. It's your decision. :dbgrtmb:

            As Henry Ford said, you can do anything if you have enthusiasm. :)

            Have a great retirement and see you in May. :dbgrtmb:
             
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            • john558

              john558 Total Gardener

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              During my working I had run the sales side of Radio Caroline for nearly 40 years.

              I was always looking forward to retirement with Jen, sadly she passed.
              A few years later when I stopped work I met a lovely lady called Maureen, sadly after a few months she was diagnosed with the Big C, after a couple of holidays in Spain and after all the treatment she was told it had spread to her brain and she passed away after I had known her for four years.

              I then decided to refurbish my house, sell and buy an apartment in Spain, my plans didn't work out as my other daughter Maria phoned me from Canada to say she was leaving her Canadian husband and asked to come home with my grandaughter Kat as she had no where else to go. So I get to see Kat grow up.
              The lesson life has taught me is not to plan as most of my plans have turned to:steamy:
               
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              • strongylodon

                strongylodon Old Member

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                I can't think of a downside but it all depends on your attitude to life. I have hobbies to fill my time and have done some volunteering and joined U3A (although I am probably one of the younger ones:heehee:). Now Mrs S has retired we can go to places out of season and do more together (and apart!:smile:). More time in the garden and not having to rush to get things done at the weekends.
                It takes time to get out of the work routine but being retired is not something to be frightened of as some are. Living within your means is vital.

                I'm sure you will enjoy it @Freddy.
                 
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                • pete

                  pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                  Well I've got a couple of years to go.
                  Given good health and a decent amount of money, I cant see a down side.
                   
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                  • Doghouse Riley

                    Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                    What you may experience in the first six months, is a sort of guilty feeing in the back of your mind, that whatever you're doing at that moment, "you should really be somewhere else."
                    But it will pass.
                     
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                    • pete

                      pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                      I can actually get that.
                      I only need to take a sick day and I dont feel right about it.
                       
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                      • shiney

                        shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                        I must say that I never felt guilty about any part of retirement. It was slightly different in my case as my staff took over the business and I had promised to give advice, and help sort out any problems, for the first five years. It was mainly dealing with bureaucracy, landlords, council, utilities, insurance etc. Something easy for me as I had been doing it for well over forty years.

                        The handy thing about retirement is knowing that you don't really have to get things done immediately - even if you do it. My morning problems are more likely to be, do I take my shower before or after breakfast! Do I go shopping now or do some gardening first. :) Shall we pop to the pub for lunch? All this, of course, has to be fitted around hobbies and off peak holidays.

                        Did you know that a lot of holidays booked over the Christmas period are cheaper? Especially if you want to go abroad. All you have to do is book flights that are not within four days before or after Christmas. One long distance holiday we booked to S. America was rather peculiar in the way of cost. We were going to do a two week cruise through Argentina and Brazil over Christmas and New Year. To fly out the day before and fly back the day after was £300 more than flying out five days before and back five days after and that was after having booked four star hotels for the ten days!!! £800 return flights for the day before (arriving on day of cruise) and flying home on day of finishing cruise. £500 return flights and ten days in four star hotels B&B.
                         
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                        • Jenny namaste

                          Jenny namaste Total Gardener

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                          Been retired 14 years now. It took a fair while to accept that watching the birds in the garden whilst still in a dressing gown at 9 am wasn't wrong and really enjoying it. None of us know where we are on the grim reaper's list and as it says (and always has at the bottom of my posts ) every day above ground is a bonus,
                          ENJOY

                          JENNY namaste
                           
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                          • Doghouse Riley

                            Doghouse Riley Head Gardener

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                            I do try to get a bit of discipline into my life.

                            I'm up at either 7.30am or 8.30am depending on tee times, three days a week to go to play golf, (weather permitting) Shopping day accounts for another 8.30am rise, as I like to go when the shops aren't too busy. I do all the household shopping because of my wife's disability. The rest of the week I'm up at around 9.00am, I'm not one of those people who can sleep in.
                            Neither of us are in bed each evening much before 1.00am. regardless of what I am going to do the following day. My wife spends a lot of time in her chair and has a lot of cat-naps during the day and evening. I never fall a sleep in a chair, though we both have very comfortable Stressless recliners.


                            It's sad, that because of her disabilities, foreign travel is out of the question for my wife, but we try to get away to Cornwall for a couple of weeks every year..well..untill recently. In the last few years we've spent a lot of money on stuff for the house. Our "disposable income" because we have no debts, mortgage, pension contributions or the boat load of N.I. I was paying, means that a lot of opportunities would otherwise be open to us.

                            I've offered to buy my wife a mobility scooter, enough time,s to make her more mobile as she has MS. She's always refused, she says she'd rather manage with her crutches... and a wheel chair is out of the question, she says she wouldn't be seen dead in one. She insists that making the effort is the best way to cope with the disability. That's why she spends hours on her decoupage card and costume jewellery making.

                            However, I have noticed that climbing the stairs in our house is getting more difficult for her.
                            Yesterday, I suggested I got a stairlift for her. Her response was that she'd rather carry on for a bit as she is. "Maybe in a few years."
                            I like to be on top of situations, so I looked up the prices. A reconditioned "straight" stairlift comes in around a thousand quid, less or more, depending on the number of stairs. However one with a curve is bespoke and prices start at around £3,000. Not a problem for me.
                            Our house has "ten straight" stairs to 3ft square landing, then three more at a right angle to the top floor.

                            I said I looked them up and just out of curiosity she asked me what I'd found, I told her and she replied.
                            "We'd only need a straight one, I can manage the last three stairs."

                            Now both my wife and I like to wind each other up a bit occasionally. We always end up laughing about it.
                            Last night we were going to bed and I stood at the top of the stairs, as she slowly followed me up.

                            When she got to the landing, she had a moment's pause, then climbed the last three steps.

                            So I said to her, "Look it's just those last three steps which are the problem for you. Tell you what, I'll just get a short stairlift for those three, It'll save me a fortune!"

                            I heard her telling her sister about it on the phone this afternoon and they were both laughing.
                             
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                              Last edited: Feb 16, 2019
                            • Freddy

                              Freddy Miserable git, well known for it

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                              Thanks all for the replies. I’ve worked (pretty much) for the same company for the last 43 years, apart from a six year break, ‘92-‘98. When I left in ‘92, it’s strange but I actually felt homesick, which came as a surprise. As it is, I can’t wait to get out as I’m finding the same routine, day in day out, quite stressful. I’ve had enough of it. The thought though that I might miss the place is in the back of my mind, but I can’t see it.
                              I thought this was quite interesting....
                              Once the wife receives her state pension, we will actually be better off than now, all things considered, but you make a good point. I too play golf, and intend to play a lot more. That said, I’ve been suffering with a foot injury for several months (Plantar Fasciitis), which has meant I haven’t been able to play (I like to walk the course).

                              More generally, we plan to do a lot more traveling, particularly with the caravan. This can be done quite cheaply, paying around £12-15 a night. We just need to resist the dreaded retail therapy :whistle: Did you hear that Mrs? :biggrin: We’d like to tour this country more extensively, lots and lots of regions we’ve not seen, particularly the south east and east coast. Then there’s the continent, would be nice to take maybe 3 months touring as we please, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany, that kinda thing. A few cruises are also on the cards. We just need to eak out the lump sum without going mad.
                              The charity thing might well be an option, as the wife is set to retire after me, so I’ll have some time on my hands in the meantime. That said, things are fairly fluid and could change, we’ll see.
                              Cheers...Freddy
                               
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                              • Jiffy

                                Jiffy The Match is on Fire

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                                I retired about 10 years ago, not by choose but because we had a nasty neighbour which done more in our garden an theirs ;) so we look at the money coming in which ment that i should pack up my job and look after the house and Miss Jiff be the bread maker (more money)
                                The nasty neighbour is no more ;) :hapfeet:
                                Four years ago Miss jiff then retired and we haven't look back, yes you need things to do

                                The worst bit for me is that from the very nasty stuff that went on i can't relax like i thought i would :sad: any problem get me worked up, so this is one problem i have to sort out but it's going to take a long time

                                So make the most of your retirement Freddy and have fun :dbgrtmb:
                                 
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