When Will or Did you Retire?

[Dirk]

I'm still in bed.........
Going to get up in a bit and have a ride into Barnstaple, do a bit of shopping, lunch at Wetherspoons, come back and take dog for a walk on the beach, then clean the bikes.
Couldn't do that on a Tuesday when I was at work..........

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I wonder if working today for some sectors is harder than it used to be, and why some sectors seem to burn out before the retirement age. Clearly, not the case for the mining industry, and maybe construction (although mechanisation has made that easier I suggest).

I'm thinking that the pace has picked up enormously and that has lead to some people in certain sectors literally running out of energy. My dad retired (as a civil engineer) at 62, but only because the opportunity was there - not because he was stressed out, or worked out. Me, however, after 40 years of traveling in a world-wide engineering consultancy, working away, increasingly stupid project deadlines driven by accountants, OTT HnS, procedures, brain-dead young entrants into the profession who can't think for themselves without having a procedure to hand, politicking, and project budgets squeezed to the point that you simply cannot do the job properly, I just find I've no longer got what it takes. I just do not have the energy any more.

Do others find that, or is it just me?

Nope you are not alone.

Work can be tough at whatever level you operate although wherever you sit in the corporate hierarchy you think everyone else's position is easier - well, at least I did until I got a bit older and wiser.

I've never had a traditional 9-5 standard hours job and tbh I think that must be tough - the sheer repetition must be hard to handle. I've never had a poorly paid job and the thought of going to work just to struggle to make ends meet (or even worse - not) must be gruelling. And I've never had a job that demands high levels of physical effort - that must take it's toll over the years too. Nor have I had a job eg a neurosurgeon who daily deals with 'life my hands situations' - the sheer stress of that must be tremendous. So, irrespective of what you do, I guess it all grinds you down.

Coupled to this is the inevitability of the loss of ambition, the diminishing need to win and an ever growing feeling of ke sera sera that seems to be a common denominator of those of us who are entering the later stages of life.

So yes, I guess most people have less to give to work as their career chugs on - they've been used, abused, chewed up and in some cases spit out of the workplace.

For me the novelties of corporate life wore thin, I remember my first company car being a big moment, the first time I stayed in a hotel on expenses, my first expense account, my first big job, travelling first class on planes & trains, getting my own office, my own PA, being responsible for a whole business not just a part, getting stock options etc - of course it was much more than that over the years but these were the retrospectively shallow things that fired me up along the way and helped keep the grinding down at bay.

And then, one day, you look around and think **** (insert expletive of choice) and wonder where your life went. For me the last few years of my career was an incessant round of Board / Planning / Budgeting / Review / Governance yada yada yada meetings, 60000 miles a year at the helm of a car, umpteen train & plane trips and virtually seven days a week working. This is the stark reality of running a business despite the rewards that go with it.

Notwithstanding the above once I 'got away' I realised that some components of my working life were vital for my well-being - I quite like the challenge of running an enterprise and I really love meeting/talking to people. So, whilst I understand why some people don't understand why it is possible to not want to be completely retired, for me, and many others, there is something satisfying about being able to fulfil certain needs and potter along doing something on your own terms and at your own pace.

Last year I worked a whopping 800 hours. Got fairly well paid for it too but, more importantly, it fills a couple of otherwise blank pages in this chapter of my life.

 

[Dirk]

I'm getting up now, missus refuses to have three cups of tea in bed......

 

[Drago]

I've just this second hauled my arse out the sack too.

 

[midliferider]

It all depends on how many more relationships I go through during next 10 years. Every time a relationship breaks down, it extends my retirement age by few more years.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I'm still in bed.........
Going to get up in a bit and have a ride into Barnstaple, do a bit of shopping, lunch at Wetherspoons, come back and take dog for a walk on the beach, then clean the bikes.
Couldn't do that on a Tuesday when I was at work..........

I can . I tend to work when my brain is working. I'm very fortunate to have such lovely clients

 

[Drago]

Thank heavens ex wife doesn't etc any of my pension. I told her to take what was on offer, ie, everything else, or is bugger off abroad again, sell the lot and take the cash with me.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Nope you are not alone.

Work can be tough at whatever level you operate although wherever you sit in the corporate hierarchy you think everyone else's position is easier - well, at least I did until I got a bit older and wiser.

I've never had a traditional 9-5 standard hours job and tbh I think that must be tough - the sheer repetition must be hard to handle. I've never had a poorly paid job and the thought of going to work just to struggle to make ends meet (or even worse - not) must be gruelling. And I've never had a job that demands high levels of physical effort - that must take it's toll over the years too. Nor have I had a job eg a neurosurgeon who daily deals with 'life my hands situations' - the sheer stress of that must be tremendous. So, irrespective of what you do, I guess it all grinds you down.

Coupled to this is the inevitability of the loss of ambition, the diminishing need to win and an ever growing feeling of ke sera sera that seems to be a common denominator of those of us who are entering the later stages of life.

So yes, I guess most people have less to give to work as their career chugs on - they've been used, abused, chewed up and in some cases spit out of the workplace.

For me the novelties of corporate life wore thin, I remember my first company car being a big moment, the first time I stayed in a hotel on expenses, my first expense account, my first big job, travelling first class on planes & trains, getting my own office, my own PA, being responsible for a whole business not just a part, getting stock options etc - of course it was much more than that over the years but these were the retrospectively shallow things that fired me up along the way and helped keep the grinding down at bay.

And then, one day, you look around and think **** (insert expletive of choice) and wonder where your life went. For me the last few years of my career was an incessant round of Board / Planning / Budgeting / Review / Governance yada yada yada meetings, 60000 miles a year at the helm of a car, umpteen train & plane trips and virtually seven days a week working. This is the stark reality of running a business despite the rewards that go with it.

Notwithstanding the above once I 'got away' I realised that some components of my working life were vital for my well-being - I quite like the challenge of running an enterprise and I really love meeting/talking to people. So, whilst I understand why some people don't understand why it is possible to not want to be completely retired, for me, and many others, there is something satisfying about being able to fulfil certain needs and potter along doing something on your own terms and at your own pace.

Last year I worked a whopping 800 hours. Got fairly well paid for it too but, more importantly, it fills a couple of otherwise blank pages in this chapter of my life.

You and I have a lot in common. I love getting new businesses up and running, I'm just about to do it again for a product I really believe in. One of the downsides of working at home is its a bit too quiet. I love meeting and chatting to people.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

You and I have a lot in common. I love getting new businesses up and running, I'm just about to do it again for a product I really believe in. One of the downsides of working at home is its a bit too quiet. I love meeting and chatting to people.

Are you a handsome sex god too?

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Are you a handsome sex god too?

Oh very much so. I've been known to stop traffic.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I have 33 years to go, I've got an NHS pension and wealthy parents, and wealthy parents-in-law. With that information in mind, I don't really want to work past 55 unless I manage to land a job that I really like.

 

[Incontinentia Buttocks]

Probably March or April next year, depending on the exact date I'll be either 47 or 48. I'll bum around for a bit, then decide whether to go home to Shetland, or stay doon sooth and maybe do something part time for Guinness money. With the injuries I've accumulated while doing my jobs in the service of the Queen (broken foot in the Army, which gives me minor grief, and a broken elbow patched together with Ti acquired in the Dibble, which causes me considerable grief) it'd be difficult to carry on, and I don't intend to wait to be dumped on the street with no compensation or recourse if/when Winsor gets his way.

I'll spend a bit more time on SAR work I think.

I'd double check your figures before you pull the pin, if you brought army pension over you will at best get 2/3rd conversation thus not giving you full pension at 48, and you can't take half pension until 50.
Don't believe the pension department!

 

[Drago]

It's be an ill health job. It'll be bumped up to full, and I'll have a lower-rate injury award on top of that. It works out much cheaper for them than me suing them for the loss of my career (and limited work opportunities after that) as a result of their negligence. The Fed solicitors were talking compo in the order of 3/4 a Mill, and they suddenly saw sense.

 

[Dirk]

........and wealthy parents, and wealthy parents-in-law. With that information in mind, I don't really want to work past 55 unless I manage to land a job that I really like.

I wouldn't bank on it, especially in that time frame. My brother thought along those lines until my Dad wrote him out of the majority of his will. When my Dad died all he got was two grand. This prevented him from contesting the will, as he was a legal beneficiary of it. I got the rest.

 

[JtB]

Nearly 6 years ago I started this topic indicating that "My current intention is to retire from full time employment in 5 years time at the age of 60".

Just this moment (at the age of 60) I have finished my last day of work after working for 39 years at the same company.

I AM NOW RETIRED