One great thing about retirement – afternoon naps 🙂

i looked after the grand daughter this morning. took her for a long walk in the pram. 10 minutes after her mum picked her up i was asleep on the sofa………. ;o)

Well it looks like TJ and ton have the hang of retirement already……afternoon naps! Ya luck bar stewards.

Question for the retired.

When you’ve retired do you worry that you haven’t got enough money, or that something might happen that results in not enough money?

Or is worrying about money (keeping a job, getting a job, as it is when working etc) a thing of the past?

it’s probably also worth considering that state pension may be means tested at some point in the future.

Unlikely as pensioners and those close to retirement vote, no-one over 40 would vote for that type of change and it would scupper all the work on getting people to make additional provision

hang of retirement already……afternoon naps!

I’m going to miss this when we return to the office after lockdown.

When you’ve retired do you worry that you haven’t got enough money, or that something might happen that results in not enough money?

I’ve always been a money worrier. That’s one of the reasons I was able to retire quite early – I’d avoided spending too much.

Yes, I still worry

When you’ve retired do you worry that you haven’t got enough money, or that something might happen that results in not enough money?

Ive never worried about money. Mrs TJ on the other hand needs to have enough to feel secure. We have to compromise over this hence we both worked a couple of years more than I wanted to and I have kept my registration so I can do part time work if needed ( it won’t be)

Mortgage is paid and we simply have to live a lifestyle withing what we have. Neither of us care for material things / consumerism which helps and if it ever does get too tight we will take equity out of the flats

some of what we want to do might be difficult without taking equity tho

Having recently entered my fifties these retirement posts are increasingly relevant and really interesting with lots of great advice. I’m always a bit disappointed however that there isn’t more on what people do and will do in retirement. People say never going to be an issue filling their days but then don’t seem to expand much beyond coffee cycling and pottering. I’ll retire in my sixties and really not sure how much cycling in practice I’ll do. I def want to go holidays but will massively depend on finances. I get pottering but am scared that in practice I’ll lack motivation and just watch lots of tv. Are people confident they will fully enjoy their retirement and be great to hear more fully what people intend to do with their time.

‘Worried about money…’

Up until just over 12 months ago, I wasn’t worried as such, just knew that there is a finite amount month by month…enough to do pretty much what I want to do, the odd long haul holiday etc. The last 12 months has really shown me how little I need for a comfortable enough life and that whilst a nice thing to do, there are far better things for me and my mrs to do in the years to come than save for months to have a £6 or £7k fortnight somewhere exotic.

My retirement will involve 2 years sailing around Europe – complicated by the need for visas post Brexit, but still do-able.

As mentioned by others this thread is interesting to those like me who have just turned 50 and thinking about retirement.
I hope to retire fairly young while I am still able to walk, bike etc. Now paying more in to my pension each month than I take home!

People say never going to be an issue filling their days but then don’t seem to expand much beyond coffee cycling and pottering

I’ve been retired since the end of October. I do some meditation, stretching and strength exercises every weekday morning. I ride three days a week and try to walk a decent distance on the other days, listening to a podcast or two if I’m on my own. I’ve done a fair few DIY jobs around the house. I haven’t really watched much TV. When lockdown ends I hope to do some of the adventures I had planned – walking the GR5 from Geneva to Nice, C2C, Welsh C2C, that sort of thing. And I’ll go back to the volunteering with the local wildlife trust that I had just started before it became impossible. I’ve also got a Moto Guzzi Le Mans II that needs a bit of work to get it back on the road. So I’m definitely one of those who wonders how they had time to work – not that I ever worked very hard, as people seem very keen to point out to me.

Are people confident they will fully enjoy their retirement and be great to hear more fully what people intend to do with their time.

my 2 main aims when i decided to finish were to spend time with my grandkids whilst healthy enough to do things. and to spend more time pottering on my bike with my wife.

my 1st day of retirement was tuesday. and my week as been,
tuesday, short bike ride and long walk with my wife
wednesday, 70 mile bike ride
thursday, long walk with 2 grandkids in strollers
friday, short bike ride and long walk with my wife.

so to me this is gonna go just as i planned.

Sounds like you’re loving it Ton.
I’ve been off work for almost a year now.( furloughed and now unemployed)
I have no burning desire to go back, though I’ll have to at some point.

Its not difficult to fill your time without spending much money as far as I’m concerned.
We have a garage full of bikes/spares and no mortgage.
That does us fine.

I think the nice thing about the last year as mentioned above is how little you can get by on. As long as friends and family are around I don’t reckon I’ll need much.

I feel I’ve done quite a lot of the travelling I’d would like to. For me it is becoming financially free as soon as possible. Therefore, I’m putting as much as I can away now until the scales tip in my favour and then I’m gone.

When lockdown is lifted my aim is to not allow my spending to creep up to pre-COVID levels. See how it goes without living like a hermit of course.

As mentioned previously some have taken a risk of not spending much now for an earlier retirement. Hopefully I can strike a balance.

Here in Spain I have seen so many newly retired people, pre brexit I have to stress, arrive, buy a nice house, car, throw a load of money at house renovation, garden etc, then 2 years later sell up losing any extra they ve spent. A 250k house is always a 250k house even if you spend 100k on it.

There s a house near me that must be blighted as it must have had about 5 owners, each one does exactly the above.

The ones who stay are actually quite predictable, they typically have enough money to keep their old life ticking on in their home country, keep a smaller house there, spending maybe summers back in uk.

Any new arrival who says they are living the dream and couldn’t wait to get out of their home country, I d give them 2 years they will be back.

I’m retiring either late this year or early next. Here’s what I’m planning to do:

– Go for walks with my wife & dog in the countryside

– Drink coffee with my wife/visit Cafe’s and just talk

– Continue to be a loving, supportive Dad to my 3 kids

– Ride my bike regularly – with friends

– Spend a season or two (probably in a CamperVan) following the Pro road cycling season: starting with Flanders/Paris Roubaix, then onto the Giro, le Tour, la Vuelta and culminating at the Giro di Lombardia (not slavishly following every stage of every tour, but coming and going as we please, to the stages/places that interest us)

– Spend 1-2 months each summer hiking around the Alps/Pyrenees with a knapsack on my back

– Ski more, until such time as we’re unable to

– Laugh more

– Contribute more to our local Community (my wife has run the Cubs/Scouts for the past 12 years, I’ve volunteered at camps, village fetes etc… but I want to have more of an impact. I want to make a bigger contribution).

– Do more Yoga. I love it and always feel better.

– Vitality/Health/Fitness/Mobility/Wellbeing: walk, run, yoga, cycle, maybe take up some calisthenics, reading.

I’m always a bit disappointed however that there isn’t more on what people do and will do in retirement

My plans ( a bit fecked by covid)
this year may – july – a long trek in Scotland wild camping
sept – jan – south america to do some trekking including the aim ( 50 /50 chance) of summitting a 20 000″ mountain
Next year summer – long bike tour in europe ( 4-5 months), winter antipodes ( 6 – 9 months)

Other traveling things to do in future years – another long european bike tour, Indian subcontinent including going to a big cricket match, Canada to go to the Yukon with a vague idea of canoeing the Yukon river

also lots and lots of shorter trips in Scotland – more canoeing and walking and cycling. thinking about doing some work with the rights of way society

We don’t really have enough money for this so it will have to be backpackers hostels and camping not 5 star hotels and hope to raise money for the next years adventuring by holiday letting our flat

Then sell up and move to the country south of Edinburgh whicgh will free a big chunk of capital, take up gardening, I am considering local politics or doing some campaigning on topics of interest like dignity in dying and better provision for people living with dementia

that lot should keep me going for a few years

Similar position to Kryton, 49 and really starting to think seriously about retirement for the first time.

Mortgage will be paid off and youngest finished uni when I’m 55. Downside is I will only have been paying into a pension for 1 years at that stage. I think my wife will retire at that stage as she has been paying into her pension since her early 20s.

I think 60 would be the earliest I could go. I do ponder on how I would fill the days.

I’m always a bit disappointed however that there isn’t more on what people do and will do in retirement

I’m retiring in September age 60.
I was going to finish in June but Covid spannered my traveling plans.
My retirement plans are;
Late June / early July go on 4 – 6 week motorcycle tour up to the Nordkapp.
Annual trip to the Isle of Man for the Classic TT for a couple of weeks
6 weeks back in Nepal & do the Annapurna circuit trek Oct/Nov.
Spectate at Paris Roubaix.
Spectate at a few stages of TDF
Ride Alpe D’houez,ride Ventoux
Go on a motorcycle trip to Cape Wrath & North Scotland.
Everything apart from the motorcycle trip to Scotland has been postponed until 2022.
I have plenty of stuff going on to keep me occupied all week.Cycling,walking,gardening, messing about with old motorcycles,DIY,photography,just calling around friends & family for a social visit.Last year I bought a GO PRO,mainly to use as a dashcam on the motorbike but now I’ve got into making video’s.It takes me all day to do a video edit.
I’m a big Rugby League fan,as well as watching my team St Helens,I also watch the Australian games,but I can’t find the time to watch them all due to having to go to work..

How’s this for a perfect retirement? This is what I’m gonna do. If I ever get there 🙂

@bustaspoke Brilliant! enjoy.

It’s good to have plans for how you would fill your time but leisure pursuits are often in response to work. When you retire you’re likely to get stuck into flowy flanneur activities you hadn’t thought of and less need for other events you might have planned. That walking stick is likely to open the door to all sorts of possibilities.

When you’ve retired do you worry that you haven’t got enough money, or that something might happen that results in not enough money?

A bit, but more worrying about general civilization downfall type of thing, post-soviet pensioners living off €5 a week etc and NO I don’t think this is at all a rational or likely concern, but …. same sort of thing as worrying about the better half being killed in a RTC while popping out to get dog food. The same part of the brain which made us save, and enabled us to retire, is still beavering away trying to get all possibilities covered!

I have started walking a national trail in chunks and do lots of local exploring on the bike or with the OH & dog. But it is also nice being able to chill and read (or nap!) if that’s how you feel;)

I am semi-retired and have been working on and off for a few years.

I find I need external structure after a while so if I’m not doing paid work, I do voluntary stuff, not a huge amount – 2 or 3 half days a week.

I finished my most recent, paid, contract at end of 2020, but really struggled for motivation under lockdown. I think it’s an extrovert thing – taking energy from other people group activities. Things picking up again now with bigger groups mountain biking and climbing.

Normally I split time MTB, climbing, surfing, painting (pictures not walls!), learning guitar, learning German – and sitting around in cafes drinking coffee and eating cake.

but really struggled for motivation under lockdown. I think it’s an extrovert thing – taking energy from other people group activities.

Yes, us introverts have been in our element for the last year 😉

🙂

Going back to the question of how to drawdown your pension, I’m trying to model some scenarios.

If I understand the 4% rule, you set an annual drawdown income at retirement, adjusting up for inflation in subsequent years. As has been mentioned though, most expect to want more money in the early years of retirement and less as we age, so could be more interesting to taper your drawdown in some way.

Just some basic excel stuff atm, taking out a larger percentage (let’s say 7% annually), but applying this to the value of the remaining pension fund each year, ie. -previous years drawdown and +any investment gains, seems to achieve that tapered income and still spins out the pot to give a potentially adequate income in 40+ years (assuming a state pension also kicks in at some point).

Anyone else come up with alternate ways of drawing down?

Have a look at the Tideaway website and try the tools they have on it.

The problem with most freely available calculators is they’re very basic, all assume you either want a fixed income or to rise with inflation, haven’t found one yet that has a tapering option, yet most folk agree they’d be happy with less disposable income as they get older.

Tideaway one has multiple age points to taper to a degree

I need to have a look at these calculators. The likliehood for me may be retiral in 5 yrs, aged 60, if I can. A fund of pension pot and inheritance/savings, each about 350k, so something in the region of 700k total. I have no idea what that could mean in equivalent annual income ??

I havent ever given it much consideration, till this thread !

I have no idea what that could mean in equivalent annual income ??

Other than an initial 25% tax free, take out what you need for a year, take of the tax and thats what you get… until your funds run out.

So at £700k ignoring the initial withdrawal that isn’t mandatory £70k a year gross for 10 years, £35k gross for 20 years etc assuming you don’t withdraw extra for cars hols etc is pretty simple maths.

Its gets more complex if you leave it in stocks, shares or bonds as the remainder continues to (hopefully) grow until the point of withdrawal and in theory the older you get the less you need to spend annually.

I retired at the end of last year at 56. I recommend it if you have a good enough pension to live on. I am finding you don’t need much money to live comfortably if your not wasteful and you don’t have the urge to have the very latest consumer products.

I haven’t done that much with my extra time so far due to lockdown but it has opened up many options/possibilities.

Regarding the queries about money worries I’d recommend having a rainy day fund set aside for unexpected emergencies.

My kids are still at primary school so I wouldn’t let kids expenses get in the way of your retirement plans.

Boredom isn’t an issue for me. There are lots of things on my to do list that I haven’t had the time for so far. I also have a mountain leaders course booked for later in the year for which I have to do 20 quality mountain days for. It’s going to be tough fitting that all in. My guitar playing has also improved.

I don’t miss working at all and really love it that no one is telling me what to do or trying to man manage (manipulate) me.

They were against the 4% rule idea as people say above, it doesn’t account for swings in the market.

The 4% rule is designed to do just that.

Partying

https://images2.imgbox.com/a4/29/kMs26qpS_o.jpg

Retire and maybe pick a some consulting work
https://news.sky.com/story/greensill-david-cameron-investigated-by-lobbying-watchdog-he-set-up-himself-12256118

FIRE

For anybody wanting some calculators, google Which pension calculator. The Which site has a few you can play around with.

I’m fortunate to have a mix of a FS RAF pension from 60 and a decent company contribution to my SIPP (15%). Our mortgage will be paid off by 58.

My policy is to take max tax free pension cash, then self manage a drawdown. If more cash is needed in the early years I will supplement my income from the tax free lump sum.

When the state pension kicks in at 68(?) then that will effectively inflation proof my salary.

My wife has a similar SIPP to mine too, but no FS pension to fall back on.

If we completely burn our SIPP drawdown pots, we will end up on an index linked 15k FS pension plus 2xstate pensions and be mortgage free.

Tick Tock – 14 years to 60!!!

Slightly O/T but when I retire in the next couple of years or so I would like to spend more time abroad (likely Spain) no aspirations to own a place abroad or emigrate (if that’s even possible) but to spend say 8 weeks or so a couple of times a year somewhere warm. Not a holiday so not extravagant just enjoying some sunshine. Anyone any experience of doing that and tips?? Places to look for multi month let’s etc…