The Retirement Thread

[Dave7]

That is very good advice, even though as Dave7 & Mo essentially show, we are all different 👍
I’m an obsessive organiser, hence my approach. I know other happy retired pals who rally are nothing like me, but who are very happy.
An older retired pal of mine also suggested to me to get major stuff done in the house, & in those last 5-20 years, we essentially did that. Being a lover of tech/stuff, ours included adding batteries to our solar, & making one car change to electric. But yes, get those “capital projects” sorted (or at least, fully budgeted and planned - they could happen after retirement, but we find we are always loathe to spend a big chunk on anything except holidays. Maybe helps being married to a Scot 🤪. No offence, Mo 😉

I had a friend. Nice guy but just had to be working/fettling/sanding, painting etc. He died last year.
There's a moral in there somewhere

 

[Paulus]

Good morning all.
It was sunny but now it's clouded over.
The escape committee is meeting at the Railway Bell this afternoon. 🍺
Before then though I'll be out with the dog for a while and then some domestics before MrsP gets back from her arty trip to Suffolk.

 

[Mo1959]

but we find we are always loathe to spend a big chunk on anything except holidays. Maybe helps being married to a Scot 🤪. No offence, Mo 😉

I am obviously not the typical Scot as I enjoy spending money. Mind you, it's mostly on pretty trivial stuff. I have much more need to bite the bullet and spend some on the house if I want to see out my days here. It's badly needing a new bathroom and a bit of a kitchen refresh. Being so anti social and introverted I hate having anyone in the house doing work but I can't put it off much longer.

 

[PaulSB]

@PaulSB. A lot of truth in what you said but I do feel different** in some respects.
**I won't say 'disagree'..... just a different viewpoint.
I didnt plan ahead financially, it was what it was and I would make do with what I had. Fortunately my finances are fine.
We WERE going to spend our money and leave the house and an empty bank account. However a) we just couldn't spend/holiday etc just for the sake of it and b) Sue died and I got Long Covid which affected my desire for pleasure.
Apart from the severe pain of losing Sue I actually enjoy life without spending on myself.......I get lots of pleasure from being able to financially help my family out. They are nice people and I get a buzz out of helping them.
Bloody hell, I do go on dont I.

Yes, I understand this and do agree with your points and that we are all different. I planned financially because I was very worried we would run out of money, I couldn't retire until I was sure we had enough. In the first 12 - 18 months of retirement I continued to worry but as it became apparent things were OK I slowly reached today when I never consider it. The empty bank account is a bit of a joke, really I mean we enjoy ourselves, not let cost restrict what we do. We wouldn't spend for the sake of it. As you all know I happily dropped ££££££ on a new bike recently, far more than I would have dreamed of when working, so that's a good example. I've earned the treat.

Helping family financially, absolutely. My idea is my grandchildren are so very, very important to me. I want them to have the best childhood and start in life as they can. I well remember the financial pressures of a young family. I give my kids money in the hope this eases their finances which in turn helps to give my granddaughters as close to all they deserve as possible. If Mum and Dad are relaxed, the house is relaxed. They will get the cash one day, it's of more use today than in 20 years - I hope.

Enough philosophy!! I have a bike to ride.

 

[numbnuts]

Morning, nothing planned for today

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Its all 'well and good' having fish and chips delivered BUT.......is it wrapped in newspaper ?

I have not seen F&C in Newspaper since I were a kid!!

Even the stuff I remember was plain paper with newspaper round the outside

And these days the only place I see newspapers is when coming out of ASDA - and I never see anyone pick one up!
(I just use it to see what is on the front page of The Daily Mail on the way out!!!)

I would never have it delivered - the delay between it being cooked and arriving would make the batter all soggy!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I am obviously not the typical Scot as I enjoy spending money. Mind you, it's mostly on pretty trivial stuff. I have much more need to bite the bullet and spend some on the house if I want to see out my days here. It's badly needing a new bathroom and a bit of a kitchen refresh. Being so anti social and introverted I hate having anyone in the house doing work but I can't put it off much longer.

I Knew someone once who went on holiday for a few days when some people were fitting a new kitchen - she reckoned that she couldn;t cook while they were there unless they extended the time needed by clearing up and messing about with time order and stuff - which costs more - every evening
So they went away for a few days and came back in time to check everything was OK

I would panic about that as the little questions they often have in the middle would be more difficult to get an answer for if you are not there

but it is an option
The other one I have used at times is to treat like I was working and let them in first thing then bugger off somewhere for the rest of the day - then I can check everything when I get back
which might link in with you long walks - although you would have the risk of finding "people" on your walks!!! Maybe go to places further away??


or ignore me - that's fine, I talk rubbish at times!!

 

[tarric]

Its all 'well and good' having fish and chips delivered BUT.......is it wrapped in newspaper ?

One of my jobs as a kid was working in a fish and chip shop, and one of my Saturday jobs was to go to the local newspaper to collect the end of rolls that they used to print the paper and cut it up for wrapping.

 

[Dave7]

The foxes were busy this morning

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The foxes were busy this morning
View attachment 808300

Probably get scared off when Hollywood arrives!!


Btw - the film crew and all sounds great - well done for everyone getting involved and doing things for the local community/area

including you!!!

 

[Dave7]

Probably get scared off when Hollywood arrives!!


Btw - the film crew and all sounds great - well done for everyone getting involved and doing things for the local community/area

including you!!!

Thank you.
Its a BBC film crewe.
It was interesting. There were 7 in the film crewe doing different things eg lighting, camera, interviewing etc.
They have been in the house for maybe 2 hours and are now moving into the park.
Assuming it actually makes it onto tv it might get 2 minutes.

 

[Dave7]

BTW I was sat on the patio earlier, enjoying a coffee and watching the birdies.
It was lovely.

 

[Stevo 666]

I find a huge number of folk worry about the money side of retiring, when it is really all about how you want to spend your days 🤷‍♂️

For me, I never felt wholly defined by work, despite being moderately good at it (hey: no one else here will big me up 🤣).
Always had plenty of outside interests (volleyball, cycling, walking….had run an Explorer unit for 10 years and helped facilitate around 50 DofE expeditions at various levels, & only one involved a helicopter rescue…. 🫣). A good family I wanted to spend more time with 🙏
It was a tough decision to “step away”, but around 8 years earlier I went to 4 funerals: two good friends my age, one being my roommate buddy from Uni days back in the mid 80s 😔
That year kind of focussed me on figuring out how to “move on”, with strong support from SWMBO….& coming out of the pandemic, I set off on my Pandemic Pedal.

In the (pandemic) year leading up to it, I wrote spreadsheet (I *love* a good spreadsheet 😜). On the left column, various high level topics: family, garden, holiday, diy, culture, books, cycling, camping, festivals, shows, volunteering, etc etc. About 30 topics, by the time I left 🤪
Along each row I popped activities or things to do in cells under that subheading.
It served as an ideas board for me to tick off over my first year - I literally filled cells in green when things were done.
Didn’t aim to finish all - it wasn’t a race, but it gave me personal satisfaction to see how busy I was without work.
From there on, we got into a nice groove of activities, & it has only accelerated.

I also know many who have no plans, & that is absolutely fine too…it’s all about you

Good luck figuring it out: none of us get out alive, be sure to live your best life!

Here it is, suitably redacted!

View attachment 808289

Thanks - that's really useful stuff, will take on board in my planning. The setting of targets and goals is something I subscribe to, especially when the only pressure to achieve them comes from myself.

PS: I confess to liking a good spreadsheet too 😊

 

[Stevo 666]

Good morning. Clear skies and chilly again. This chilly business is beginning to irritate!! It's going to be a busyish sort of day. #1 on the list is an "on the road" FTP. We have a local, flat seven mile loop with just two left turns, later this morning I'm heading out to blitz that. All the bike stuff I ordered earlier in the week is due for delivery today, play time!! This afternoon I've got a PT session, she's just back from holiday. This means it will be a stats week, this means getting on the scales.......☹️☹️

Mrs P asked where the step ladders are. I told her and asked why? She replied the gutters need cleaning out.........even by my wife's standards that's clever. 🤣

@Stevo 666 you've already received much sound advice all of which I fully agree with. My comments would be:

• Do it, as soon as you possibly can. Life is too short
• While still in work carry out all capital projects on your house. We did this over five years, roof, windows, doors etc
• Understand your full annual costs. Everything. As you're still working run a spreadsheet for 12 months, record and analyse ALL spending. This will give a real understanding of the income you need
• Keep in mind inflation for pensioners is generally higher than those in work
• I've told my kids my retirement plan is to leave them the house and an empty bank account
• Have a reasonable idea, not exhaustive, of how you will fill your time. Retirement really does become very busy, very quickly
• I only know two people who returned to work after retiring. They got bored. Why? Well the truth is they'd never done anything outside of work so why would they suddenly have plenty to do in retirement??

None of us know what's round the corner, people in here understand this. Mrs P and I have been retired ten years. We never discussed being alone, I never conceived of it. Mrs P has terminal cancer, we don't know how much longer, she keeps smashing every prognosis!!!!! So my number one piece of advice to you and your wife is go for it and don't waste a single day......be busy when you wish, be idle when you wish.

I learned yesterday a lovely young woman I know, not yet 40, has terminal cancer. Life can be sh1t, grab every good bit you can.

Thanks - that all makes sense. Am there or getting there on a lot of those points, but still have some stuff to do before I'm properly ready.

 

[Dirk]

Just back from a very nice 72 mile blast over Exmoor on my MZ.
Impressed with the mid range pulling power and the brakes.