are there many retirees on here ?

i finish on monday after trying to decide for the last couple of years. i am 55 in may, and worried it may be too soon. can it be ?

had 2 new grandkids in the last year, so will have our hands full a couple of days a week babysitting. and we love pottering on the bikes home and abroad.

just a tad wary.

Wobbliscotte (sp?) made a great post about this on another thread.

Basically, 20 years from now you may well be drinking soup through a straw whilst repeatedly asking if it is soup.

In other words, you might live for decades but living is subjective. Enjoy being relatively young and being able to enjoy life in the true sense.

I retired at 50 but it was definitely “too soon” for me so I managed to find a whole new career – working with cyclists – through which I’ve many friends and had loads of great experiences. I retired again at 60 and feel it’s now a better time.

Wobbliscotte (sp?) made a great post about this on another thread.

I think it was on my thread here https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/retirement-whats-it-really-like/

215 posts, and quite a lot of them made sense. As for me, I’m now 5 months in and not regretting it yet.

🙋‍♂️

retired last yr 55 from fire service F/T work . its great.

Had planned lots of holidays/trips away etc etc but have just completed 1st yr of retirement in lockdown. Have a P/T job 15hrs a week which is fine, no responsibilities or worries turn up do job go home, without this I think the wife would’ve stabbed me at some point 😁. It gets me out of house been useful during lockdown rather than looking at the 4 walls. Not sure how I’ll feel about it once we can travel abroad again but I don’t think we will be away this yr.

Since retirement, my sleep is better (no more nights)Wife is a bit annoyed I’m home every night tho, she liked her 2 nights on own. I’ve lost weight (less crap food and takeaways) spending less money (lockdown may have helped)

I have just retired at 60. If I could have gone earlier I would have done. I have a tiny pension but I do not care.

the key thing IMO is to have stuff you want to do. I have 5 years worth of plans for adventuring on the cheap

55 is in no way too early. I go at 55 in 20 months.

I’ve watched too many folk work too long and then die with no life after work, not for me thanks.

Retired last autumn – mid 50s – had already been to one friend’s funeral and lost both parents. One of my colleagues pointed out I could always get a job if I changed my mind!

Despite lockdown putting the kibosh on a lot of things I’ve not regretted it. As much daylight as I want, only need an alarm a couple of times a week. Out every day, mostly with another (1) person so I do see people.
Slowly getting round to clearing up some of the detritus from all the previous decades. Bin/eBay/give away.

Have time to go to the market for fruit and veg, cook proper meals, will be growing veg. Shifted some weight.

Last week I vaguely missed work very slightly. That thing where they bring a problem to you and don’t know what’s going on and you have a good look, tell them what’s really up and how to sort it, and everyone is delighted. That feeling was fleeting though and I’m now planning a bit of long distance walking for when lockdown eases a bit ;D

Slung my hook at 58 but acted as a driver for my wife so a lot of hotels and opportunities to explore and do different stuff. Did a six month cover in a college. Very happy being retired and don’t miss the pettiness and limitations of the workplace.

I plan to stop full-time work in 2 years at 60. My pension from my first job will be bigger than my current wage by then and it will be affordable. I plan on some volunteering to get me out of the house but mainly I want to ride a bike for the first year or two until herself retires.

Retirement is such an individual and personal decision and have spent a lot of time thinking and talking about this at home especially because of the pandemic, early death of friends and a pretty rough year. I retired (took my pension) from the NHS last July age 55 (mainly to give me much more flexibility when the pandemic ends) but went back 2 days later to the same job to continue to help out in the pandemic (it really wasn’t a good time to walk away and leave my colleagues at that time) but working 4 days a week. I’m now leaving end of April as things are more sorted but it’s far too early to stop work and I am concerned that my children (two in the arts) may need quite a lot of support during and after the pandemic and my pension won’t be enough on it’s own in that respect. I’m actually going to move from Devon to London with Mrs Devbrix who is also in the NHS but has been right on the C19 front line for a year now and really needs a change and we want to be nearer to all our children who live there. After what we’ve been through and particularly her over the last year we want to see much more of them, be able to go to their exhibitions, plays etc which we can’t do easily now – we are quite a close family. Retirement has given me an opportunity to have a change of culture and experience and be a family again. I’m not going to work full-time for sure.

I’ve retired from normal full time/working for people work in the last 18 months. No intention of going back to it, aged 40. So 55 doesn’t seem too early to me! I will do some bits of consulting work part when I feel like it and it’s convenient and do some playing around upgrading and selling vans as well. Between that and various volunteer stuff in the MTB world I’m more than ok with it.

I got made redundant at 53vfrom a ‘corporate’ job and decided to set up my own web ‘lifestyle’ business in 2018 plus was doing some part-time spannering at my LBS so been pretty well semi-retired since. Review of my pensions/finances last year was the final decider to sell-up and move from Hampshire to Scotland – we are nearing our new house being finished in Tobermory, meanwhile we’ve been stuck in a grotty rental in the middle of nowhere in Moray. We’ll reopen the web business, hopefully find some part-time work – 2 days /week will be ideal and maybe some volunteering – means the pensions can sit tight until past 65. We’re also go for far more self-sufficency, growing more of our food, bees, chickens etc. Plus hopefully a more active/healthy lifestyle. The house is configured such that it should see us out with minimum modification, plus impressed about how much more health service support / screening we get in Scotland having had nothing in England. Given the state of the job market from discussion with friends, very glad we’ve made the move.

Guess it depends on 2 things plans and money. You seem to have the prior in that grandchildren and family are something you want to do a few times a week, I guess they’ll be other things like biking you want to do. So you need to be realistic about the cash, is it there? Lots of companies want part time workers from mega Corps to small businesses requiring a reliable van driver now and agsin.

I’m 67, I spent today preparing some of my windsurfing gear ready for when the lakes reopen in a week’s time; getting my road bike ready for tomorrow; cutting some boards to make a stool for one if my 4 grandkids; practising guitar (Peter Green – Oh Well) making a brilliant Fillet steak dinner with wild mushroom and red wine sauce, yet feeling mildly guilty that I should really have been finishing off some cabinets for a customer.
If I didn’t still have work obligations I’m sure I wouldn’t enjoy my “time off” half as much.
I don’t ever want to stop working.

This is not a dilemma future generations will have the privilege of – if you can afford it enjoy it I say.

If you’ve retired and then worked at a different job, then you’ve not retired, you’ve just changed jobs.

And by the same token, if you don’t draw a pension (of some sort) you’re not retired either, just unemployed (or independently wealthy) 😉

If you’ve retired and then worked at a different job, then you’ve not retired, you’ve just changed jobs.

I think if someone has worked for 40 years in an office and retires to be a potter or something, that counts. 🙂

Ton,if work gets you out of bed in a morning then carry on working, however if you have other things to do & can afford to leave then retire.
In my industry,Supermarket trucking,there’s a big shortage of drivers & a ageing workforce.It’s surprising to see people’s reactions when they get to retirement age,one of them is 70,his shift starts at 02.30 & he’s there every week doing upto 12 hour shifts.He told me that his accountant has told him to stop working as he’s getting hammered in tax but if he stopped work he would have nothing to do.We had a good chat a few months ago & he said his problem is that all he’s done all his life is work & he’s got no hobbies.When I watch him in the depot you can see it’s also his social life.Work gets him out of bed.
Lots of the drivers are now part time & I asked one of them why he went P/T & he said that he couldn’t live with his wife 7 days a week & work gets him away from her..
I’m 60 this summer & I’m out of it,retiring in Sept,can’t wait.I took a 13 week sabatical in 2017,never missed the place for a minute.I’ve got all my hobbies to occupy my time,I just wish I could have retired earlier.

This makes depressing read for a 49yo with perhaps 11yrs to go, I’m jealous of you all. 3yrs until the mortgage is paid off and 9yrs until my youngest is 18 and work is starting to feel harder every day even at my age.

Ha. 44 with 22yrs left on the mortgage.

I think the concept of retirement will be looked back on as a quaint phase during the late 1900’s, early 2000’s.

This makes depressing read for a 49yo with perhaps 11yrs to go,

Remember though that not only is life expectancy higher, we’re generally fitter and more active than our parents and grandparents. 60 isn’t what it used to be.

Without a doubt, it’s also easier to retire early if financial commitments have been sensible/restrained. I’m lucky in that I’ve never really done the expensive foreign holiday thing (most of my trips were motorbike or car to Europe) and even cars aren’t a big deal for me as I always went for “practical”. If I’d been into those things then trying to balance the fun of the here and now with longer term financial stability would have been harder.

My dad retired at 58. 60 (8 years time) may work for me if youngest has finished uni.

Done a 4 day week for a few years to fit round kids, now needing it to help aging parents. Kind of semi retired already, without the income.

Best advice I’ve seen was from a retirement seminar a friend went on. Teach your partner how to do the things round the house that you do that they can’t. Because they may have to do them sooner than you hope.

Without a doubt, it’s also easier to retire early if financial commitments have been sensible/restrained. I’m lucky in that I’ve never really done the expensive foreign holiday thing (most of my trips were motorbike or car to Europe) and even cars aren’t a big deal for me as I always went for “practical”. If I’d been into those things then trying to balance the fun of the here and now with longer term financial stability would have been harder.

^^^ THIS ^^^^

47 here on target for a 57 retirement. No way too early, I have plans already involving camper, canoe and bike that will take a couple of years. Wife has separate plans involving a place in the sun! We will find a compromise 🤣

Remember though that not only is life expectancy higher, we’re generally fitter and more active than our parents and grandparents. 60 isn’t what it used to be.

I meant that I can’t wait to retire and be away from the daily grind.

Without a doubt, it’s also easier to retire early if financial commitments have been sensible/restrained

Thats the route I’ve taken. Have turned the materialist corner, nearly every time I have some money and discuss something I want to buy, if its not repairing the house or something appropriate for the kids it gets saved/invested. How much I’ve saved surprises me, hopefully it’ll be enough to support a mediocre but fruitful lifestyle in 11 years time.

Not a retiree Ton, but at 58 I am in a position where I can stop working. Don’t need to work financially and I certainly could do well mentally without it. Something is holding me back however, I think its guilt – Grum said above that the next and future generations wont have this luxury, and I would feel like i’m (sort of) freeloading on their future efforts – don’t know if that makes sense. Son is in first year at college so a wee bit more financial stability would be a help, and partner is not ready to retire yet, so more nudge towards staying on….. and the work related worry has diminished considerably since the IFA said I could basically stop now though, and that also makes staying a wee bit longer easier.
Decisions, decisions….

and the work related worry has diminished considerably since the IFA said I could basically stop now though, and that also makes staying a wee bit longer easier.

I think the above is key, and also explains why the following isn’t really as cut nbdried as it could be…

If you’ve retired and then worked at a different job, then you’ve not retired, you’ve just changed jobs.

Getting to the stage where you don’t need to work (financially) must be amazing.
Knowing that if the boss is being a dick you could just walk out, with no issues.

Without a doubt, it’s also easier to retire early if financial commitments have been sensible/restrained

Yup. My pension will be small but I don’t care. No 5 star hotels for me it will be backpackers hostels. Mortgages paid off and no debt

My biggest feeling was relief, that I no longer have to take the responsibility, that I no longer have to have the same arguments about how to do stuff as i have been for decades, that I no longer have to put up with management bullshine

I don’t have to work again but I will probably do some bits and pieces to pay for some luxuries

The risk of dying in a single year aged 55 male is approximately 1 in 120.

I retired 2 years ago at 65. Despite last year limiting social opportunities and making some of my usual pastimes unavailable I’m not bored yet.

My Dad retired at 55 after leaving school at 15 he felt 40 years was enough. Helped that BT were having a restructure and if he’d stayed his workload would have increased massively.
My sis lives in Spain so they went over there 3-4 times a year for extended periods to see the grandkids.

He died at 69 so he had a decent retirement albeit to short.

Teach your partner how to do the things round the house that you do that they can’t

+1 to this – it’s been a bit of a shock for Mum to deal with a lot of this. Fortunately I’m just a few miles away so can help when there’s any issues.

I retired a few years ago aged 52. Mrs Kenny went shortly after aged 49. Easily the best thing we’ve ever done. Haven’t regretted it or been bored for even a millisecond. Both happier now than we’ve been in our entire lives.

I know loads of folk who’ve gone early and they all say pretty much the same thing. In fact I can only think of one or two folk who have gone the full distance to 60.

I recommend it 100%.

44 with 23 years left on the mortgage..

Retirement..!? 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

The things you do now are built around work. Endless biking or surfing once retired and it’d lose its zing. Develop new interests or wildly indulge current ones. I spent 60 hours listening to one book during the summer, laughing my socks off, you couldn’t do that whilst working plus studied one painting for 3.5 years, a complete joy. Money can be made to go further since you’re not forking out to ‘alleviate the stresses of work in a social environment’. Being free to move house discussed above is a lovely adventure and better if you’re a younger retiree. We’re looking. I’ve really valued the extra time with her-indoors.

60 this year but no plans to retire yet. I run my own business, so sometimes work hard and sometimes don’t, but mostly have the flexibility to do what I want, when I want.

The thought of just doing hobbies fills me with horror! But I realize I’m lucky.

Or not.

I can’t imagine anything worse.

Went part time at 60, boss was happy for me to stand down from my official role and mentor my successor, share some of his workload while he mentored his successor, and unload 35 years experience to people who could use it, then retired fully at 62. The wind down helped me and the company. I was worried that having spent most of my life learning about a very complex industry, and still learning, I would be in a position where suddenly none of that knowledge was any use to me.

thegeneralist

Getting to the stage where you don’t need to work (financially) must be amazing.
Knowing that if the boss is being a dick you could just walk out, with no issues.

It is 🙂
My direct boss is a total flute, my next boss up is a top chap MTB’er as well.
I resigned (rescinded) nearly 2 years ago and the scrabbling round to keep me was hilarious,
I know poo/fan interface will happen if I leave!
But they know its only a stay of execution till I go on my terms.
I’m only staying as I feel sorry for my staff who are good people & I don’t want them to suffer.