Retirement....is it all it's cracked up to be ?

Penfold the Duke said:
A bloke I know is in this scenario, only about 61 or 62. Had his own business set up years ago by him and his Dad. Sadly the Dad had been ill in retirement and passed away, at the same time so did his father in law. Both reasonably well off so houses and estates gave him an his wife tidy inheritances. Immediately booked a nice holiday and on return his wife handed in her notice and told him she was retiring and he should too.
Discussions with his accountant about closing the business meant it was best to do it for the end of the financial year in March.
So it was all over and done with in about 3 months. he's also "got a list" he's been given - and he's the type will enjoy doing the work. BUT, he was rushed into it and when he told me the list, smiling and jokey, I know I could sense pain in his voice. I hate "odd jobs" and even for me it would be a few weeks - 2 months tops. What then? There was no plan, no discussions and you can't be on holiday all the time.
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"and you can't be on holiday all the time."

No, you can try!! :) :) :)


Seriously though Penfold, although I manage two holidays a year, every day is like a holiday.

I just enjoy pottering around on my own agenda.

I watched the racing from Newbury this morning, along with the IPL cricket in India and Shubman showing his class. That will finish shortly and hopefully a win for the Titans.

As it's a beautiful day today and rain forecast tomorrow, this afternoon I'll service the snow blowers and put them away for the summer and bring out the lawn tractor and mower and get them ready for when the grass grows.

Once that is out of the way I'll go for a four mile walk.

That will fill up my afternoon, then it's time to cook dinner, have a beer, catch up on what's been happening in the world and a bit of TV later on if I can find anything that looks interesting.

Tomorrow is another day and I've no idea what I'll be doing, apart from watching the racing from Newbury in the morning and whatever I feel like after that.
I could watch The Harriers if I had DAZN, but they should win regardless of whether I'm watching or not. :)

It's a tough life, but somebody has to do it. Life is good!!
 
Slipper One said:
"and you can't be on holiday all the time."

No, you can try!! :) :) :)


Seriously though Penfold, although I manage two holidays a year, every day is like a holiday.

I just enjoy pottering around on my own agenda.

I watched the racing from Newbury this morning, along with the IPL cricket in India and Shubman showing his class. That will finish shortly and hopefully a win for the Titans.

As it's a beautiful day today and rain forecast tomorrow, this afternoon I'll service the snow blowers and put them away for the summer and bring out the lawn tractor and mower and get them ready for when the grass grows.

Once that is out of the way I'll go for a four mile walk.

That will fill up my afternoon, then it's time to cook dinner, have a beer, catch up on what's been happening in the world and a bit of TV later on if I can find anything that looks interesting.

Tomorrow is another day and I've no idea what I'll be doing, apart from watching the racing from Newbury in the morning and whatever I feel like after that.
I could watch The Harriers if I had DAZN, but they should win regardless of whether I'm watching or not. :)

It's a tough life, but somebody has to do it. Life is good!!
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Great post.
I just think that he wasn’t really thinking about retirement and now he’s retired!
We sat down this week and started putting a few dates/milestones down along with some figures for our ‘road to retirement’. Probably going to do a gradual slowdown over the next 3 to 4 years.
Thankfully all looks good and loads of plans of things to do and places to go.
 
dickie davies said:
For the retirees who are on a drawdown from their pension
How do you cope mentally with the question of do you have enough money to last?
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Just do your numbers. Pot total, assumed growth, assumed inflation, life expectancy, funds needed for a comfortable lifestyle, drawdown amount. Create plan then flex/adjust according to real-life influences.
 
dickie davies said:
For the retirees who are on a drawdown from their pension
How do you cope mentally with the question of do you have enough money to last?
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I am set up so that when my old age pension kicks in later this year I don’t really need the drawdown will still take a small amount but fingers crossed growth will more than cover that.
 
denislawsbackheel said:
Just realised that Caribbean cruises in early retirement cost a fortune
Sitting in a chair drooling not knowing who you are will cost even more...
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The cost is only part of it, it's also what you do before that time arrives.
Apparently we only live once, so it's a balance between making sure you have enough to last (however long that might be), and doing things before you can't.

That's one of my biggest issues if you can call it that. Fortunately I'm not a big consumer, I don't need a flash new car, state of the art lawn tractor or biglyist, newist TV on the market, but as long as I can afford everything I NEED and be able to do my travelling, then I'm content.

I appreciate and concentrate on what I have, not what I don't have.
 
Penfold the Duke said:
Great post.
I just think that he wasn’t really thinking about retirement and now he’s retired!
We sat down this week and started putting a few dates/milestones down along with some figures for our ‘road to retirement’. Probably going to do a gradual slowdown over the next 3 to 4 years.
Thankfully all looks good and loads of plans of things to do and places to go.
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Just make sure you do them though, time goes really quickly.

When they are screwing down the lid, it's no good thinking, "I wish I'd done.......".

Trust me, it's too bloody late then!!
 
Slipper One said:
Just make sure you do them though, time goes really quickly.

When they are screwing down the lid, it's no good thinking, "I wish I'd done.......".

Trust me, it's too bloody late then!!
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Cheers mate, you’re right.
Last 5 years lost both parents, (sort of expected) father in law, (92) brother in law and a number of friends, and friends of friends around our age, so we’re raring to get stuff done.
Planning on main summer holidays as previous, a spring and autumn break, and planning a few long haul big holidays before we can’t.
Watching our older family members slow down, get poorly, and pass on has been a painful but valuable lesson.
 
Everybody’s different and some folk love doing nothing whilst others really struggle with it. I know a few folk who are in receipt of their old age pensions who still work and others who do nothing at all.
 
dickie davies said:
For the retirees who are on a drawdown from their pension
How do you cope mentally with the question of do you have enough money to last?
Click to expand...
Simple answer is unless you're absolutely loaded, you can't. What you can do is understand exactly how much you have, how much you need to spend for the standard of life you want, what the likely growth of your fund is, what the state pension income will be and what the likely inflation rate is. Throw it all in a spreadsheet, err on the conservative side and see how long you can live at that level.

This has helped me understand where I am financially, I did this about 7 or 8 years ago, refined it over the first couple of years, retired on my 58th birthday 3 years ago and despite the best efforts of shitgibbon, I'm ahead of where I thought I would be. The anxiety when the stock market wobbles doesn't go away completely, but the better informed you are, the better you will be able to cope.
 
This could have gone into numerous threads but i put it here. Great advice. I've seen too many people work linger than they had to for a retirement utopia they never lived to see. I also know of others with lots of miney hoarded who won't spend it, even one who's been told to do so by his financial advisor. Well worth a watch.

 
Spend your money buying life experiences as you go along, while you are still healthy enough to make the most of them. You’ll have longer to appreciate the memories than if you cram them into the last 5-10 healthy years. And of course, you might not make it that far.
 
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