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I have an amusing schedule on days that I am not walking: I lie in bed listening to Radio 4 until 9am and tell myself that I shouldn't eat until after I have gone for a jog (which doesn't come easy to me!). It's a case of my laziness v my hunger and I tend to put off the jog until around 11am but do jobs around the house until then. Reluctantly, I eventually schlepp my less than lithe figure around the very large park behind my house in order to allow myself to partake of comestibles.
I decided to retire early and am leaving my company at the end of April aged 58. Just reached a stage where the hassle of my job is making me so miserable. Life is too short. I have reasonable pensions and my wife is nine years younger so will carry on working. We will have enough for a reasonable lifestyle. .
In retirement I walk the dog every day and also do a 5k run each day. I will do the household chores and cook the evening meal. That’s enough to keep me going.
This is a really useful thread - as was the previous one.
I've agonised for years over retiring and was adamant that last winter (my busy period) was going to be my last and I couldn't go through another one as it was affecting my health both mentally and physically.
But the summer came, things got easier, the work days shorter and I had exactly the same thoughts as posted earlier - I have a fear that on the outside I'm a driven, organised, respected, self employed (with two sub contractors) business owner of 25 years but inside I'm a lazy slob that would go to seed and argue with the Mrs, who I generally get on with as it is. I bottled it and ended up sliding into the winter, but did tweak the business a bit and gave more of my work away to one subby but still not sure it's enough.
I think ideally I could do with a 3 month career break but also think that could wreck my business.
Work to live, not live to work is the old adage and it is very true. For every person that I know that has gone downhill after retiring, there are a number more who have carried on and basically finished themselves off. As you get into your sixties and seventies your body and mind naturally ages, slows down and becomes unable to deal fully with the stresses and strains of normal working life. Whats the point of carrying on working if you don't need to ? Enjoy yourself more and find something else to do with your time. As my old mother used to say - you are a long time dead.
its not easy at first
I retired in December 2019 aged 59. My last working day was the very same day that news broke that a worrying new virus had been identified in China.....
I had very much taken to heart the advice that you should 'retire to' something than 'retire from'. For 2020 I had planned a 'trip of a lifetime' to Costa Rica, a month at language school in Hamburg, a job flying legal docs to Gibraltar every fortnight, organising a charity beer festival, Euro2020. I saw myself as having little spare time on my hands.
Then COVID struck, and all but the first two of my list just disappeared. The one constant is that I had also taken on an allotment and discovered that I really enjoyed growing things. (I know this isn't for everyone!).
I think I lost a lot of momentum as a result, and a certain lethargy has started to set in. Although I have had a couple of part-time jobs, just recently I have started missing the sense of some status which the job I retired from gave me. I've re-booked my language school for 2022 (who knows how travel to Germany will look next April!), and am looking into a OU course, but I still feel frustrated at times.
On balance though I'd say I made the right choice. I was reflecting on this yesterday as not working gave me the flexibility on a Monday just to take myself off in the late autumn sun and do a 6 mile walk on the South Downs. I need to remind myself sometimes as well just how much the corporate bullshit was starting to get me down. I don't miss that.
It can be. I went for a coastal walk yesterday and the sun was shining on the sea where I stopped for a picnic. There was hardly anyone about and I thought about the poor souls chained to their desks in offices or to various types of equipment in workshops and factories etc. I always take some bubbly to share with the lady I walk with on Mondays and I think I am just about coping.Originally Posted by poc
Three different language classes take care of some of my evenings and I enjoy the occasional quiet day when my diary is empty.
There was no lady or bubbly on my walk. Maybe I'm doing it wrong
I never really used to walk in the countryside until about 5 years ago when I joined a walking group on Meetup. Got addicted to it, joined a swathe of other Meetup walking groups (spread throughout Somerset, Devon and Dorset) and started leading walks for many of them. The women hugely outnumber the men (most of the latter being social misfits) and, apart from the group walks (and I'm not usually a group person), I am informally contracted to walk with several ladies (individually) every week. It's a hard life but someone's got to do it.There was no lady or bubbly on my walk. Maybe I'm doing it wrong
Can you direct me to one locally
Mind you from what you are saying I might doss at yours ?
Few days with the ladies , few days fishing on the Somerset levels
Everyone's a winner
You would fit nicely into the 'social misfits' category, which leaves the swathe of ladies to the few of us normal chaps.
One particular lady persuaded me to swim in the sea last week. Bloody freezing.
Walking , metal gigs , volunteering for MIND , loads of loads of fishing , visiting as many curry houses as possible , listening to metal day in day out
She's clearly odd
Get rid of her
Actually, she's the most dynamic woman I know. She has wing-walked, partaken of motorbike and sidecar racing, trekked in Nepal and a multitude of other activities. I feel like a couch potato in comparison!
I retired from one job 11 years ago and now work part time, doing health and safety, fire safety 2 to 3 days a week. I have a good pension from my first job so it allows me a fair amount of flexibility. My wife can’t retire for at least 15 years so I carry on to keep the mind active. On my days off, I walk the dog, do bits and pieces around the house, go out on my push bike or motor bike and try and keep healthy until the weekends. Before Covid, we would try to go abroad once a year with family and friends and also have a break in the UK and take the dog.
Gawd help the neighbours.
We are, of course, all different but I had no trouble at all adjusting. Have never found time heavy on my hands, the only problem is knowing what day of the week it is - there are no weekends and Bank Holidays once you’ve retired.
As I overheard someone say last year, the problem with retirement is you never get a day off!
Police Officers
Retire at 50
They then get jobs as security consultants etc
Good number
Couldn't agree more. Retired early at 60 (15 yrs ago). Filled my time with as much travelling as possible including life time dream of taking a camper van trip around N.Z. for 3 months. Kept fit by using Gym (at whatever time I wanted). I am still relatively fit but have had a couple of serious health issues in the last few years ( recovered ) which made me realise life is too short to realise all of ones dreams and aspirations. In short give yourself as much time as possible to fill and complete your bucket list
Too much time on her hands, she should find a job!
She has two. In property development and in finance. Try again
Not any more
people joining up now and in recent years ( and under a certain age / time in the job ) are now expected to work to 60 ( they can have a reduced pension at 55 if they have been in long enough )
Have you got any photos?She has two. In property development and in finance. Try again
Seems to be my gag on here .....
Friend of mine retired out of the Fire Service at 50 on final salary pension.
He is working harder now than he ever did doing fire safety for a housing company .
He doesn't need the money , he isn't enjoying it , I don't get it.
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