Retirement, would you if you could?

[Slick]

Hopefully this doesn't get merged with the retirement thread here https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-retirement-thread.216598/ as this is not to discuss how amazing your life is now you have retired, it's for people who may have the opportunity to retire in the fairly near future.

The reason I thought I would post a new thread was a comment from @steveindenmark on another thread by @Zipp2001 and I didn't want to derail it further but I did want to hear more.

My brother is planning on retiring at the earliest opportunity at the age of 53 in 18 months time which I think is far too young and he has no plans to take on any part time work, which is all fair enough as is his right. He does fully expect me to follow suit though to allow us to complete all sorts of cycling related challenges.

Whilst financially this is possible, I've always struggled on a couple of different levels during long winters although I've worked in poor weather most of my working life and actually enjoy commuting by bike in the wettest of days as I feel it concentrates the mind and always produces a sense of achievement, which is a feeling I don't get on leisure rides for whatever reason. Every other thing I enjoy doing is outside and subject to the same restrictions during winter and I wondered if I'm alone in that or is that a very short sighted view?

I do have a few other concerns as well as a few ideas on how to mitigate issues that could arise but I would like to hear others plans or even people who had the same concerns and their experience of how those concerns balanced out with the reality of retirement?

 

[byegad]

I can't speak for someone else, but..........

I retired at 55, I'm not fabulously wealthy, but I had enough in pensions, savings and investments to get us by for the ten years to my old age pension.
My timing was bad, I retired not long before the 2008 banking crisis, so our savings have earned SFA in interest since, although the investments, while they go up and down, have consistently paid us a modest monthly top-up to our income.
It was the second best thing I've done, marrying Lady Byegad being the very best.
If I'd carried on working I'd have had more cash, better holidays and bigger cars, at the cost of spending less time with my wife, riding my trikes much less, and not taking up Bird Watching, Photography or having time to build my model railway layout.
Was I right to do it? Certainly. But we saved and invested wisely to do it.
Would I do it again? Yes.
Should somebody else do it? It depends, it suited us.

 

[Colin Grigson]

I suppose it depends how fulfilling your work is ... mine is a drudge even though for many it would be a dream job (in terms of workload/reward). I would retire tomorrow if my employer made it financially attractive enough. I won’t choose to, off my own back, because of the workload/reward mentioned previously.

 

[MontyVeda]

I'd love to retire early but that's never going to happen unless i win the lottery, which is unlikely since I don't enter it.

 

[Slick]

I suppose it depends how fulfilling your work is ... mine is a drudge even though for many it would be a dream job (in terms of workload/reward). I would retire tomorrow if my employer made it financially attractive enough. I won’t choose to, off my own back, because of the workload/reward mentioned previously.

I changed direction in work coming on 7 years now but I've always been committed to work regardless of what sector I happen to be in at the time. This stood me in good stead when I was younger but looking back it may have created a glass ceiling at one point and could be the biggest stumbling block to enjoying a life that @byegad describes above.

 

[RichardB]

I always thought I would retire as soon as I could, and start doing what I want to do with my life for a change. However, I was very mindful of horror stories about people retiring and dying in short order. A valued colleague retired and was dead within 18 months - from doing everything to doing nothing pretty much overnight. You need a strong sense of self and purpose to survive that. I was determined to pack my retirement with worthwhile activity.

I turned 65 in 2018 and worked until the end of the planned rota period (New Year) to save disrupting work routines. Now, I go back in and do holiday/illness cover, averaging about 4-5 days a month and it's working well. I have done a lot in the garden, and spent a bit of time building a nice lightweight bike up from a bare frame. We got another dog just before I retired and the need to exercise him has been good for both of us. One thing I have noticed - your relationship with your significant other will change, and not always for the better. You may need to put some work into that as well.

Overall, glad I did it when I did. But 53, way too soon in my opinion, unless you have a massive and overwhelming plan like cycling round the world or rowing the Pacific that needs that kind of commitment. You could easily be looking at 30-40 years without a job to define you, and that would turn a lot of us into fat alcoholics.

You don't have to join him.

 

[DCLane]

I could but have made the decision to go retire at 60, although working a couple of days a week from then. It'll mean I'm financially much more stable than retiring now at 50.

My parents were made redundant / retired through ill health at 50 and they stagnated for a year. They needed something to do and in the end bought a B&B in the Dales.

 

[pawl]

I retired at 63.not because I particularly wanted to.As a social worker within a hospital assisting older patients discharge Assessing needs and arranging services for a safe discharge The powers that be decided to move us out to area offices which removed us from the wards multi disciplinary team.which more or less removed us from the discharge planning process I felt this was detrimental to the patients family support members Not what I signed up for.

 

[byegad]

I changed direction in work coming on 7 years now but I've always been committed to work regardless of what sector I happen to be in at the time. This stood me in good stead when I was younger but looking back it may have created a glass ceiling at one point and could be the biggest stumbling block to enjoying a life that @byegad describes above.

Yes, I had an enforced change in career at 46. The stressful job I had been doing took its toll and I had a breakdown. My 'new job' paid 50% of my old one, but I really enjoyed it, and if offered a share save scheme! I stuck every penny I could into the scheme, and invested 60% of those profits into investments.
Having learned from this enforced change in circumstances I knew it was possible to take a cut in income and be happy, so at 55 I did it again, retiring.

 

[vickster]

I’ve already dropped back to 4 days a week. I either take a whole day or two half days off which gives me time to do other chores. As a contractor/freelancer I can work as little or as much as I like, and be flexible depending on workload.

At the moment, I have lots of work and clearly cannot do anything else much, so may as well carry on earning the dosh (paid by the day, although that is likely to change in April with IR35 reforms anticipated to be finally implemented)
Occasionally I do 5 day weeks when super busy, but try not to!

In future, I might drop back to 3 days a week or just have more breaks. I didn’t really have any time off between Sept 2019 and December 2020, my holiday having been cancelled. I do need to be more self disciplined and take proper rests, although this year looks like it’ll be relentless too with a massive programme to implement and deliver!

I quite enjoy what I do (despite the occasional stress), I enjoy working with colleagues (wherever I have been), it pays well and I don’t really have many other things that would fill retirement. So I expect I will continue for at least the next 10 years (health etc etc permitting), albeit I might take a ‘sabbatical’ to travel (if such a thing becomes possible again)

 

[Jenkins]

I was given the option to take redundancy with my pension paid early, but severely reduced, five years ago and couldn't afford it even with an enhanced lump sum.

However, with the mortgage paid off, no plans to move house, no major bills and no dependants to look after, I now have plans to go at the end of February 2022 when I'll be 57. The pension will be spending money, while the lump sum will be used to pay the routine bills (electricity, gas, council tax, etc) for the 10 years until I get the state pension. There's also a back-up fund of savings to fall back on in case of emergencies. I'll have done 37.5 years and somewhere around 30 years of that counts to a final salary scheme.

This is all depending on what happens over the next 6 or 7 months before I have to put in my notice - if the economy tanks for whatever reason I may have to reconsider my position, but there's also the (faint) possibility that there may be another round of enhanced redundancies which could see me go earlier.

 

[Venod]

I had planned to retire at 63 but an opportunity came up and I went at 59 I had no plans but figured we could get by untill we were both 65, the wife had packed in a few years earlier, well I say packed in but she was working harder than ever on grandchidren duties and still is.
I always regarded work as a means to an end and the job I was in at retirement was stressing me a little, so I jumped at the chance, we don't have as much spare money as we used to have but we live comfortably, its not for everyone it depends on your attitude and how much you enjoy work, for me I couldn't see the point in working when we could live without it. I have to say its the best thing I have done.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I could but have made the decision to go retire at 60, although working a couple of days a week from then. It'll mean I'm financially much more stable than retiring now at 50.

My parents were made redundant / retired through ill health at 50 and they stagnated for a year. They needed something to do and in the end bought a B&B in the Dales.

I retired in 2015 at 64, a year early, I was initially worried about what I was going to do with the time, but cycling, gardening and Yoga plus the local pensioners club filled most of the time up, I'm only on a state pension plus pension credit so moneys tight, but we can still afford occasional outings. But it didn't all go to plan, I had a heart attack end of 2016, and my Good ladies health has deteriorated of late so I'm increasingly occupied with a caring role. If you get the chance to go early take it, you don't know whats round the corner, I've seen people keep working as long as they can then develope health problems or pass away within a year of retiring

 

[Slick]

I always thought I would retire as soon as I could, and start doing what I want to do with my life for a change. However, I was very mindful of horror stories about people retiring and dying in short order. A valued colleague retired and was dead within 18 months - from doing everything to doing nothing pretty much overnight. You need a strong sense of self and purpose to survive that. I was determined to pack my retirement with worthwhile activity.

I turned 65 in 2018 and worked until the end of the planned rota period (New Year) to save disrupting work routines. Now, I go back in and do holiday/illness cover, averaging about 4-5 days a month and it's working well. I have done a lot in the garden, and spent a bit of time building a nice lightweight bike up from a bare frame. We got another dog just before I retired and the need to exercise him has been good for both of us. One thing I have noticed - your relationship with your significant other will change, and not always for the better. You may need to put some work into that as well.

Overall, glad I did it when I did. But 53, way too soon in my opinion, unless you have a massive and overwhelming plan like cycling round the world or rowing the Pacific that needs that kind of commitment. You could easily be looking at 30-40 years without a job to define you, and that would turn a lot of us into fat alcoholics.

You don't have to join him.

You could easily be looking at 30-40 years without a job to define you,

This was another difference highlighted between the both of us. I have pretty much judged my own self worth by what I do but it has been suggested that is a mistake.

 

[Deleted User]

I'm 55 and looking at going by 58, earlier if a package comes along, my missus retired 2019 aged 55 and hasn't looked back.
She has an allotment so keeps her busy.

I recently had a spell off following a knee replacement and that highlighted the fact I would cope easily with not 'needing' to work mentally, I also work outdoors.