"Big Up Retirement Massive"

[WatsonJohnG]

I took early retirement from teaching 20 years ago at age 50 because of good health and wanting to keep it

I have never regretted it once and the loss of income in no way equates to greater value in memories etc that we have benefitted from in that time

My wife suffers from Parkinsons and now needs a hip replacement as well

Quality of life is diminishing but they can't take what you have had and I would have regretted that time having been missed at work

We both love the caravanning and have managed to spend 100 days most years in the van with a regular holiday in Brittany every year

Early retirement was the best career move ever

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Hi Jennifer

Comments

You are in very much the same situation as us but probably richer !!!!!--well you pay double the council tax

We have been here 30 years and also don't want to move as my toys and garage would be sorely missed as would neighbours

A couple of years ago I started a gardener to cut the grass while we were away and now he does it all the time and its not my fault if the grass is too long anymore!

All our windows and gutters etc are UPVC and need no painting (LOL)

 

[alunhve]

I had planned an early retirement at 55 but after I had committed to it it was announced that RPI increases to pensions where I worked were ceasing because of a deficiency in the pension scheme. I therefore spent the first 4 months of my retirement seeking a job in order to build up additional pension. Having gone back to a full time job albeit at around half the money that I used to earn things when combined with the pension things were sufficiently easy that I acceded to my son's suggestion that I borrow back the money that I used to pay off part of the mortgage to help him get his first foothold on the property ladder and my daughter was successful in moving on from completing her degree course to go to medical school I was grateful that I was not just on my pension at that point in time.

So 6 years on with repayment of the mortgage hopefully being only 2 years away I am now planning my second attempt at retirement. Whilst I do not regret the decisions I made (in my previous career my wife used to get fed up with me frantically doing e-mails and letters almost right up to the point of departure on holiday and on occasions even needing to draft items whilst away in the caravan) I am looking forward to finishing the rising at 4:15 5 mornings a week and only getting 9 Saturdays off a year. First major trip after retirement is planned to be a couple of months of winter sun on the Algarve and then there is a wide range of UK and European destinations (my dear wife has been patiently waiting for the tour of Europe that was part of the planning of the first retirement) that await in between assisting in looking after the grandchildren that have arrived in the meantime.

Alun

 

[Gumbo]

" We have considered moving to Aberdeenshire (I am from Aberdeen) where it is still possible to find a steading to convert, or to Ayrshire where I grew up and houses are half the price of here. But with both our children in Glasgow, we think we really want to stay around here."

Aberdeenshire is really very nice, but living here I would opt for Ayrshire why ??

When you are retired I believe you may want to travel, and it is a long drag from Aberdeenshire to anywere you may want to go (except Banff maybe ). I thought we had it bad at

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

Hi John.

I think you made a wise move! Teaching is a tough profession these days.

My husband did unfortunately have to work on to 65 as we had a daughter to educate, but we are trying to make up for lost time now.

Good point that about the windows etc, certainly when ours need replaced it is the way to go.

We don't have grass these days, one less thing to worry about, but seem to get a lot of weeds!

If only we were rich, that would be another problem solved too! The Council Tax here does include the water, but it is still a huge amount. Even for our daughter's small flat it is over

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

Gumbo, you are right, it would make more sense to move south rather than north. Warmer too maybe!

Yes the CT is the killer, we were hoping for a local income tax to be brought in instead, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

 

[Gumbo]

We voted SNP on the hope C Tax would become Income tax lol.

Just had a great day with Grandaughter, Duthie Park this morning. Hazlehead this afternoon. Tomorrow morning swimming. Do that when your working lol

 

[Auvergne]

Ok Gumbo, rub it in why don't you??

Jennifer, if you want to try the South East, be my guest - you'd soon have your running shoes on I can tell you. Perhaps we can arrange a house swap for a while like they do on the telly? M25, far too many people per square inch and worst of all no decent campsites!!!

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

I think we will stick to Scotland Val, certainly for houses, I could not get along with these "chains" etc you get down there wnen buying/selling!

England is nice to visit, but we do let out a sigh of relief when we get far enough north to leave the busy roads behind. And it is, as you said, nice to stay in a less crowded area.

Now, a house swap as a holiday could be worth considering!

 

[Guest]

My wife has mentioned the idea of 'house swop' as well to get a cheaper holiday, but she also feels it would take so long to tidy everything up to the point where she would be comfortable with another woman in her house, I doubt we will ever do it. We did consider swopping with the relatives in Oz but as one of the families would have to take a winter break it did not seem feasible, plus as they are the wife's relatives, would I trust them???

However, having had the discussion on 'downsizing' and moving with a good number of people the main issue seems to be that you must move to somewhere where there is good transport facilites for when you cannot drive and also have local shops for when you cannot walk so well. That usually knocks the idea of a cottage in the country on the head and of course measn looking at larger conurbation areas and therefore high'ish costs. We kive in Edinburgh so high Council Tax, but then again good facilties.

You cannot win.

 

[bernard_374463527]

People ask us 'what do retired people do all day? So,for example, the other day my wife and I went into town and went into M & S. We were only in the shop about 5 minutes. When we came out, there was a traffic warden writing out a parking ticket. We went up to him and said'come on mate, how about giving a pensioner a break? He just ignored us and continued writing the ticket. So I called him a b...std. He glared at me and started writing another for worn tires. So my wife called him a s..t head. So he wrote another ticket and put it on the windscreen. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Personally, we didn't care. We went into town on the bus using our free pass. We try to have a little fun each day.It's important at our age!

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all.

intresting thread, it's took me ages to decide to respond still I am here now so this is it,

I had no intention of retiring early and was quite content to carry on for a few years as my 2 job related pensions were frozen, and the life pension policy that I had been paying into since I was 21 had the same time to run.

then during one particular knock about with my old sparring parner LB, up untill 2am glued to a computer screen writing some devious clever and hopefully humorous post I thought sod it, time for a change I have got better things to do than this when I have to be up at 6am.

that set the seeds in my mind and I started to take stock of what life is all about, we lost the wife,s sister my best friend (who was bestman at our wedding) and of course rob-jacks none of whom had reached 60 yet. the wife was in poor health suffering from arthritis in her hands shoulders and knees and after a victory over the DWP to get her on disability allowance it raised our income to a level where if careful we could live on it.

we also had a small house that was left to me by my mother that was rented out for a small sum the trouble was the rent was taxable so I decided to sell it. luckily the tenent wanted it so the sale was easy but quite expensive as the house market had just crashed and cost me dear.

so that was it I handed in my notice packed up the van and headed southwest for 3 months we got back just over 3 weeks ago we may have stayed a bit longer but our daughter rang to say some hospital letters had arrived that needed to be attended to.

so the big question is, what is the best thing about being retired well a 3 month holiday for starters and not having to get up 5 days a week at 6am. But seriously the biggest effect to me is TIME I had forgot how long a day or week was and has chris said why do something today there is allways tommorow, next week, next month, ect.

what the future holds for us "I don't know and for now don't care"

ok so we don't have the income we had, just the allowance and a bit of intrest from the bank, but as long as the house money lasts untill the pensions are due we are more than happy if not I may have to get a part time job somewhere but one thing is for sure no more 6am starts thats gone forever.

ps. as a footnote to my old mate LB if you read this "thankyou" without those seeds of doubt I would probably still be getting ready for work tomorrow and the for the next 4 years.

colin

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

First of all you're welcome ya old tyke :O) but secondly I'd like to correct a statement in your post. You say, quote ....

"then during one particular knock about with my old sparring parner LB, up untill 2am glued to a computer screen writing some devious clever and hopefully humorous post I thought sod it, time for a change"

What you failed to say was that I was in beddybyes by 11pm having already partook of my Viagra and Horlicks. It wasn't my fault that it took you 3 hours to think of a reply ... heh! heh! heh!

Retirement is about no more clock watching, that is replaced by penny watching :O)

Whatever happens, even if I snuff it tomorrow, at least I will have had a retirement, something I can't say for my grandfather, father-in-law and many ex work colleagues who managed to get just two years.

Keep taking the tablets ya ol' tyke and you'll be alright, besides, I've not met many poor Yorkshiremen .. LMAO.

Enjoy your retirement Colin and I hope your wifes health improves so you can continue with the caravan ;O)

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

One point I failed to mention is those who have no wish to retire because "I'd be bored".

Now I find that particularly sad. I had two ex work colleagues who retired but went back part time although due to overtime they were more or less back fulltime. Both of these had no financial hardships but because they said they would be bored they carried on. Again, both of their wives had retired, what does that say about their relationship with their wives? Personally I feel for them in having no interests because we are a long time dead, then again I'd rather be bored than go back to my old job with the new management that had just taken over. They might have had qualifications as long as your arm but none were in experience or common sense :O)

 

[Gumbo]

The internet is a god send for retired people.

If you don't want to go to the supermarket you just shop on line buying only what you need. You can spend your time looking for cheaper deals etc cheaper Insurance or what ever else you have to Purchase.

We had two cars before retirement, now it will be one albeit a largish one. So we get rid of

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Oops, wrong thread

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi all.

"What you failed to say was that I was in beddybyes by 11pm having already partook of my Viagra and Horlicks. It wasn't my fault that it took you 3 hours to think of a reply ... heh! heh! heh!"

absolutly brilliant I love your style, although in my defence I didn't have all day to think about it, and usually had a poker tournament running in the back ground, that kept interfering with my train of thought. O;

you are of course 100% correct retirment is about time and money, in a way it allways was but for very different reasons.

before, no time in which to do anything but with money to do it.

after, plenty of time to do anything but no money to do it with.

what we have has to last for the next 4 years as I have no longer any personal income at all but the benifits of early retirement are too great to contemplate going back to work, besides what is there to go back to, kids in short trousers telling you how to do something you have been doing before they were an itch in their grandads pants.

colin

 

[Guest]

Colin,

Welcome to the wonderful world of 'retirees'. As you correctly mention you have escaped the biggest drain on all our lives, namely time. Now you can look at each day and if you only achieve 1 objective, or even none at all, then it does not matter. You will also find your costs have reduced significantly if you no longer have to support a working lifestyle, but just remember you will in all probability not be able to fulfill all the dreams you had when you were working. Even I have had to accept that Pamela Anderson is not likely to put me on her list of partners, but then again she does not know what she is missing???? My wife always smiles and shakes her head when I mention that. Cannot think why. Filling the day is not difficult as there are many things to do, and not all of them necessarily attributable to the house. Retiring and spending all your time decorating is not my idea of fun. I now have time to actually browse places like B&Q and not buy paint, instead of rushing in and getting what I want. OK, I do not often buy much, but it can be interesting doodling. As I take the bus using my bus pass, it costs nothing to get there and back but yes, it takes an hour each way. So what? I alos have a concession Leisure Card for all the city facilities and use the swimming pool a lot more. It is also cruel I know, to look out of the window and watch others rushing to work on a wet morning, but it is fun??

I am sure you have calculated your budget but be careful as prices are rising faster than the powers that be let on. Money can soon drain away, but then if necessary, get the wife to go out to work??? OK, maybe not such a good idea. However, I see fuel prices are up again tomorrow and again in 6 months time. My wife tells me meat has risen 50% in a year, so no more fillet steak for us. I have yet to try to ask for a 'pensioner concession' meal, but you never know.

Anyway, enjoy life to the full, but do not sit infront of a computer all day, it will rot your brain.

Cheers

SL

 

[emmerson2]

Herself says that reirement is twice the husband on half the money!

Having been finished now for almost 7 years, I must say that it is the second best thing I've ever done.(The best was marrying my good lady!)But beware that if you do it properly it becomes a full-time job.

As you're probably well aware, we spend a lot of time away in the caravan.(20 weeks last year, proposed 22 this year.) this could possibly be longer, but Herself doesn't like to be away for more than six weeks at a time.

I do genuinely find that there is now less time than when I worked, but that is simply because there's always tomorrow!

Work used to take up to 10 hours out of 24, sleep accounted for around eight, leaving only 6 for leisure. This meant that any job tackled had to be finished as quickly as possible. Now it doesn't, cos there'll be time to finish it another day.

Another thing of course is that whatever it is you're doing, you're generally doing cos you want to , whereas at work, you did it because you had to, therefore what you do in retirement is generally pleasure.Alright, not always,(I didn't like cleaning the drains), but generally. As for the drains, when we were working, we'd have paid someone to do it!

That brings us to MONEY. This is frequently the reason why people put off retiring.Well, yes, we are fortunate enough to have decent pensions between us, but it is surprising what you can manage without.Our car and caravan are both very old, but well maintained and I expect them to see out our caravanning days if we continue to look after them. Our house would have been paid for but for ST*****d ****, but the mortgage is managable. Other costs are probably pretty much the same as everyone else in our position.

I do quite a bit of charity work ( I'm chair of the Board of Trustees of a local charity)which fits in around our caravanning life,and gives me an interest outside the home. It is also very rewarding, in a way that paid employment never was.

All in all, life is pretty good for us, except perhaps that Herself's health could be a lot better, but we've slowed life down to cope with that.She has a super-duper electric scooter, so we can still walk the dogs together every day, but most of all, we have each other as soul-mates and companions, so we can cope with whatever life throws at us. We are also very lucky to have a lovely daughter and son-in-law, and just down the road our son and duaughter-in-law, who look after us very well.

We live in a small village, where everyone is friendly and has a good community spirit.

Life is pretty good just now. I'd just like it to continue like this indefinately!!!!

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Emmo says ..."We live in a small village, where everyone is friendly and has a good community spirit".

Well I can do better than that, I live in a small road where we even share sewage :O)

 

[Guest]

Save water. Have a bath with a friend. Was that not the motto a while back? I offered to share with the young blond across the road but was overruled. Rats!

 

[NickinFrance]

I retired or rather closed my 2 person company at 55, my wife from Teaching at 57, we decided to move to France & buy an old farmhouse, that was 3 years ago.

I have never worked so hard in my life & we are taking our first holiday since we moved here next week.

 

[Guest]

Best advice I ever had was to invest for retirement as soon as I started work.

These threads should be a warning to younger people to put something aside for later life, in the current ecomomic climate I'm sure it will be a struggle if people have any spare cash.

 

[xtrailman]

Valerie

The first thing i noticed when i retired at 52 years old, was i was only