Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Being paid to breathe

Unless your wife catches you

13 years ago I took a retirement/redundancy package from Gallaher Tobacco. A no-brainer due to the package and many used to hope for similar!
As part of it I was sent on a pre retirement course at a Cardiff consultancy. It was to get your mental attitude fired up for your plans. The format was to stimulate your brain into a lateral thinking style to get your aims, options, desires in focus.
Do you want to work again? If so doing what? Similar role, different type of work?
Hobbies? Expand and develop including turning into a business/ money maker? One person I knew took up flying and got his PPL.
Education? Open Uni, re-skilling at colleges etc.
Travel?
A major thing to embrace was not to just sit back and vegetate. The sudden “shock” of not having a work routine and creating a void was the main content of the course. Do what you are happy with be it family, work, hobbies....
My plan was find a new job in a different field and invest the cash to retire when finances developed. Did some part time work for Mori whilst waiting to start in our Police Ops room on call taking/incident management. A REAL eye opener! Enjoyed it in the main.
Finances sorted and retired fully 5 years ago.
In the few years running up to retirement some prep work was done on spending before retirement on bigger value spends. Bought the first Morgan for one! This meant less spending on retirement income.
The biggest mistake I have seen over the years is people not forward planning with goals to reach. They work, retire, nothing set up and are lost.
DON’T settle down on the couch to watch daytime crap TV!

Hi all
I retired 3 years ago. At first I found it a very difficult place to be. I had planned for retirement - and taken all the excellent advice out there about not just stopping and entering into a void. But not working was not easy. I Was a self confessed workaholic. And have always found self indulgence difficult. I do need counselling! I missed ( and still do) the thrill of being in business.

Anyway the transition was gradually and successfully made over the first two years.

I have done some simple things. Now I have a Dog. And walk a lot which I find very very enjoyable indeed. Plus the bonus of health benefits. I have enjoyed training her ...very challenging at times!
I have learnt to play the Ukulele and the Banjolele. The former has led me into a local Uke Band which I love. And I have made very many new (Uke) friends. Two months ago I led an 18 song social concert something which seemed impossible two years ago when I started playing. So achieving things is still there within me - just different and probably much more enjoyable.

The guilt over not working is still there but gets less and less over time. I blame my taskmaster Father for this.

I have enjoyed writing over 13500 words of childhood memories. And researching my family background.

So,overall it’s been a good time.

We none of us know what’s around the corner ( see posts about my Prostate Cancer). So what we must all do is to simply have a ball doing whatever floats your boat. For as long as we can. I am 71 and have set myself that target for the next 10 years and then hopefully the 10 years after that.

Cheers.

Thanks guys. So far so good & lots to mull over.

John V6, beast wishes for your long and happy retirement.

Sospan`s employers would seem to have been considerate in terms of providing a worthwhile pre-retirement education relative to how best to adapt to the likely changes that lie ahead and the variety of ways a retiree might face.

I suspect that it may be a natural human instinct to require a sense of place and a sense of purpose in order to sustain a feeling of self worth..?

I worked for 50 years and could have retired 5 years before I actually did, and during those 5 years I gave more thought to retirement and quite how I might pass my time in retirement. Fortunately I did not operate in a dog eat dog environment thus I had a good working relationship with the folk around me on a day to day basis, and I seem to miss them more than I imagined. Also the problem solving aspect of my employment was ever that which provided a sense of worth.

I suspect ever being a hands on type, working on m/cycles, cars, boats, as well as home extensions and landscaping around the home, with an interest in photography, and now having built even larger garage than I had before, and grass to cut as well as general property maintenance on an ever larger home..... I have plenty of things to pass my time with... however.. it seems to me that I spend more time wearing the cushions on this chair out than much else, more so in Winter.. As our American cousins might say... Go figure..?

I suspect retirement as a process of change can affect each of us in different ways dependant on our makeup. I have friends who like many here have taken on responsible positions in society in their retirement as well as a variety of hobbies, but to ME it all just seems like just WORK, and I feel I have worked more than enough... Each to their own..?

Don't think this is too much of a thread drift...

Assuming one is mortgage free, what annual ££ income do peeps think would provide a 'reasonable' standard of living in retirement?

Obviously there will be many differences in what people think is 'reasonable'! I would like to be able to run my home and pay those bills, eat and drink reasonably well, have the occasional night out, perhaps have 2 'cheapie' European holidays a year, run a newish economical car and of course, also run and enjoy the Morgan!...

A completely impossible question to answer, I'm afraid - but a lot less than you might think if you are modest in your requirements.

Always remember that happiness and contentment is not about being able to have whatever you want, but in wanting whatever it is you have.

Yes, impossible I know!

And absolutely agree with happiness and contentment is as you say... :>)

Pension advisers normally say 2/3rd of your prior income.

Our FA at work says in simple terms, decide what you need per year - say £35k multiply by x25, equals = what your 'pot' needs in it - in this case £875,000