Retired - your plans.

[Smileyr8]

I am still 4-6 years away but counting the days, I hope to spend some time holidaying probably a month or maybe longer at a time specially during the winter months, I like the idea of joining a walking club, cycling and maybe going away for several days at a time and finding b&b's to spend the night & would love to grow my own veggies that & DIY projects, might even look at doing some charity work. I think that you have to keep yourself busy once you retire or you go downhill fast.

 

[Dutto]

I look forward to retirement but have a feeling i will be in the same boat i cannot imagine spending week after week in the house or pottering round killing time and i will not have the fiances to live the life of riley so i imagine i will choose semi retired if i am fit enough to carry on working.

Don't worry! Just like getting married and having kids, there's no right time to retire you just have to do it; if you can.

On a Management Course a very old man (who at the time was about fifteen years younger than I am now ) told me about retired people and said:

"If you have all day to write and post a letter then writing and posting a letter will take all day; and that's what happens to people who retire."

What a load of crap! What he should have said is:

"When you retire and get stuck into doing those things that you want to do, you will wonder how the hell you managed to find the time to go to work."

Since retiring, amongst many, many other activities, SWMBO and I have:

• Bought and sold houses.
• Bought and sold boats, motorhomes and cars.
• Lived:
  • On a boat cruising the canals of Europe for eight years.
  • In a motorhome for +/- two years.
  • In a caravan for +/- two years.
• Cycled an average of about 8,000 miles a year for 10 years.
• Been to the USA and Australia on holiday. (If you can actually have a holiday when you are retired.)
• Re-roofed a garage and built a conservatory and a shed.
• Been to the funerals of quite a number of friends and relatives. (That would have happened if I'd still been working.)
• Brewed oodles of beer.
• etc
• etc

The list is endless and I feel tired even typing it out.

I worked from when I was aged twelve with a paper round all year and seasonal work during the school "holidays" (strawberry picking in summer, tatty picking in autumn, digging over allotments in winter and singling up beets in the spring).

I retired when I was 60 years old and the only significant time I had off work was nine months back in 1967 after I tried to ride a motorbike up a lamp-post; so by the time I was 60 I had been working for 48 years.

I've now been retired for 15 years and I can honestly say "Retirement is better than work." so go for it when you have the chance. :thumb:

 

[Clint]

I'm sorry things haven't gone "to plan" for some...my brother in law is in a similar situation..lovely house,lovely family, financially sorted.gets diagnosed with MS at 54..can walk a bit but uses a scooter to go out for a beer and to town. Fiercely independent...it does make you think...

 

[peebee]

I'm sorry things haven't gone "to plan" for some ...

And with that you also get your original post edited lightly. Given my earlier comment ("careful what you wish for") could that be the result of "superstition by proxy"?

 

[Cwrw666]

I too am semi retired. I'm 63 but have had health issues. I was a wood turner and part time farmer but had to give up the woodturning after going down with asthma which took a year or so to settle down but really flares up badly with wood dust.
Then last Christmas I had a heart attack. So now even pottering around on the farm is a struggle at times.
Still - lots of spare time for beer making (and drinking).
Three more years and I get me pension!
Oh, and like Dutto, I've no idea how I'd find time to hold down a job...

 

[Dutto]

Maybe it's time everyone does two things ...

1. Recognise the phrase "Man proposes but God disposes."
2. Ask the same question that JFK asked.

... because both are very relevant to retirement.

I also know that the older a person gets they become more querulous about life and the future. I well remember an old Texan once telling me "I wish I was nineteen again. When I was nineteen I knew all the answers, but now I don't even know all the questions!"

Ditto me! :thumb:


References:

https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/god-disposes-man-proposes

 

[Leon103]

Don't worry! Just like getting married and having kids, there's no right time to retire you just have to do it; if you can.

On a Management Course a very old man (who at the time was about fifteen years younger than I am now ) told me about retired people and said:

"If you have all day to write and post a letter then writing and posting a letter will take all day; and that's what happens to people who retire."

What a load of crap! What he should have said is:

"When you retire and get stuck into doing those things that you want to do, you will wonder how the hell you managed to find the time to go to work."

Since retiring, amongst many, many other activities, SWMBO and I have:

• Bought and sold houses.
• Bought and sold boats, motorhomes and cars.
• Lived:
  • On a boat cruising the canals of Europe for eight years.
  • In a motorhome for +/- two years.
  • In a caravan for +/- two years.
• Cycled an average of about 8,000 miles a year for 10 years.
• Been to the USA and Australia on holiday. (If you can actually have a holiday when you are retired.)
• Re-roofed a garage and built a conservatory and a shed.
• Been to the funerals of quite a number of friends and relatives. (That would have happened if I'd still been working.)
• Brewed oodles of beer.
• etc
• etc

The list is endless and I feel tired even typing it out.

I worked from when I was aged twelve with a paper round all year and seasonal work during the school "holidays" (strawberry picking in summer, tatty picking in autumn, digging over allotments in winter and singling up beets in the spring).

I retired when I was 60 years old and the only significant time I had off work was nine months back in 1967 after I tried to ride a motorbike up a lamp-post; so by the time I was 60 I had been working for 48 years.

I've now been retired for 15 years and I can honestly say "Retirement is better than work." so go for it when you have the chance. :thumb:

That's some serious miles on the bike.

I don't know where you get the time to post here

 

[Dutto]

That's some serious miles on the bike.

I don't know where you get the time to post here

You obviously didn't notice that when we go over to France I sign off for the duration and cycle instead of brewing beer!

In the UK we have given up riding our bikes on the roads because of the number of potholes around Skegness make it too dangerous, so we just stick to the Cyclops Trainer in the garage! :thumb:

BTW, for anyone who likes cycling we can fully recommend the Bordeaux to Agde route alongside the Canal Lateral and the Canal du Midi. It's a brilliant run! You can paddle in the Atlantic and then paddle in the Mediterranean a few days later!

The first time we did it aged 65 and staying in hotels it took us five days. The second time we did it aged 70 and returning to the motorhome every night (so that we did twice the distance) took us 19 days!

I'm still trying to persuade SWMBO that at 75 we should do it again and use a better class of hotel ... :thumb:

... and although time is running out I live in hope! :UKflag:

 

[Leon103]

Still it a 600 miles plus a month, more than I can fit in

 

[Dutto]

Still it a 600 miles plus a month, more than I can fit in

Sorry, that should have been kilometres! i.e. about 5,000 miles.

It only comes in at about an hour a day on the trainer when we're home. An activity that may be safe, but one that is so boring that I have a rest on my handle-bars for my Kindle, so that I can read a book whilst I'm "riding along"!

BTW, the last canal trip we did was on the Nantes > Brest. A five day trip with four overnight stops and back home by train.

Unlike the Bordeaux > Agde track, which is tarmac for well over 70% of the way, the one on the Nantes > Brest canal is mainly gravel. Some of it is grim.

e.g. At the end of a section where I had changed out a puncture there was a sign advertising new inner-tubes.

The photographs show one of the many canal side stopping points ...

Note who has the carriers on her bike! I have the rucksack though!

The chateau at Josselin. The hotel we stayed in is just opposite and just as nice,

This is an old motorbike that just took my fancy! Probably older than I am and in better nick!

Happy Days! :thumb:

BTW, if you want to find some decent runs in France for a bike then go to this site ...

https://www.visorando.com/itineraires-randonnees.html

... where you can search for routes and set the difficulty you require. It's available as an App as well.

Here's a cycle route near where we stay in France:

https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-circuit-des-grandes-iles/

A 40 kilometre trundle with only 8 metres up and down, but beware of mosquitoes in summer 'cos it's round a swamp! :thumb:

 

[GerritT]

25 more years, I hope to have a bit of health then. My dad passed away 2 years before retiring.
I hope to do better.

 

[Boomerangbender]

I retired 2 years ago and joined a local men's shed, the idea came from Australia and is a place where you can go to do DIY for yourself and make things for the local community. There is no requirement to have any specific skills you can just go along for a chat if you want to. You go when you want with no pressure or bosses. We have lots of good laughs they have all of the best tools and machinery. If you have one in your area go and visit it .
I hope you join or start a shed in your area,

 

[Dutto]

25 more years, I hope to have a bit of health then. My dad passed away 2 years before retiring.
I hope to do better.

Spot on! The aim of retiring is to live a long time AFTER you have taken the plunge. :thumb:

 

[dad_of_jon]

Another book? Do we have a published author in our midst? Details please

silicon hell. It's a red cover with a circuit board photo of my old pc on the front! A quick google gets a link to amazon and I have about 30 books of the separate batch I had printed left.. Shame the brewing also gets in the way!

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Timely topic, as the subject has been on my mind for a few months.
Sorry to all of you who had retirement forced upon them.

I'm 56 and lately I've been telling my other half I plan to retire at 62.
She's 3 years younger and has been rolling her eyes every time I mention it.

However hopefully I'm on track and plans will work out. What will I do.
There's books to read, beaches to walk on. And of course do the "Grey Nomads" tour around Australia.
I was even reading of someone who went to Europe and bought a camper van. Him and his wife
travel around Europe in the summer and come back here for our summer.

Loads of things to do. Looking forward to it.

 

[Dutto]

............

I'm 56 and lately I've been telling my other half I plan to retire at 62.

She's 3 years younger and has been rolling her eyes every time I mention it.

..........

I was even reading of someone who went to Europe and bought a camper van. Him and his wife
travel around Europe ............

.........

1. They always think you are going to work forever to keep them in the manner to which they have grown accustomed since roping you in! So when SWMBO retired at aged 60 I decided to join her and live off her pension until I got one of my own five years later. "Rolled eyes?" They were only a starter, but I did it anyway!
2. If I'm still alive and I can still remember who I am, you are welcome to come and visit us when you get to the UK! :thumb:

BTW, no-one has ever laid on their deathbed and thought "I wish I had spent more time at the office!" so my advice is to call it a day whenever you think it's possible.

If you're wrong you can always send SWMBO back to work!

 

[Nicks90]

I am fortunate and really like my chosen profession. And I don't see myself ever fully retiring. Part time - hell yes- but fully retired? No.

At least working a couple of days a week will let me indulge in all night astronomy sessions without the pain of sleep deprivation at work the next day. I can carry on building kit cars, brew more beer and wine, take more time to walk on the Moors and generally be more of a pest to my local council!!!

But a lot can change in the next 15 years, so never say never and all that

 

[GerritT]

As a teacher I see myself working 1 or 2 days a week, just to keep track of the day of the week

 

[Dutto]

I thoroughly enjoyed my job. :thumb:

Over the last thirty-five years of work, I met dozens of very interesting people, worked in many locations around the world and commissioned and/or operated many facilities in the oil and gas industry, both onshore and offshore ...

... BUT ...

... in what was a fast developing industry I suddenly realised that although I was lecturing on many aspects of the industry I hadn't actually operated or commissioned anything for over TEN years!

I decided to retire before I became "That boring old fart!" who stood at the front of a lecture room telling people how to do something that he hadn't done since before some of his listeners were in nappies. abigt

I've never regretted retiring! :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Druncan]

I have my pension, so wtf,,,, FFS , I get my bosh for nowt,,, :hat:
Er, no,,,, My partner expects additional performance opportunities are now available,,,
(Goes back to the sink to scrub glasses) One foot in front of the other!