Do you look forward to retirement?

[JustJam4Tea]

I can't wait to give up work. I'm 52 and have been planning what to do with retirement since I started work really. I don't hate what I do, and have had some great jobs.

But...there's so much more of the world I want to see than can be managed in annual leave, I want to garden, read books, do more exercise. I'm well paid, in a secure interesting job.

My husband on the other hand can't even imagine what he'll do when he retires, his identity was for years tied up in his job, not so much now in a new job, but working is still integral to his sense of self.

I took early retirement at 60.

My DH is wavering on the edge. Covid, not being able to travel plus wfh have seen him work on despite his original intent to retire at 60 as well. His current job is a far cry from his high stress, international travelling corporate days and feels a little like a rest cure in comparison. It is also very lucrative, and so giving it up will be hard, but when borders open and covid recedes he will retire and hopefully we will once again be able to travel the world

Going down to 4 days a week 2024 will use two pensions to make up that loss. I will be 57. I think and going to use a lump sum pot to pay a chunk off mortgage. Then aiming to decrease further at 60 until stop altogether at 62. Mortgage will be paid off at 60. I really love my job but hubby is wanting to teach abroad in his last few years of work so want to go with him and travel. That's the plan anyway!

Dh retired last year age 60. He had previously loved his job and would have carried on until the end of a major project in 2023 but he hated wfh and with no prospect of returning to the office we made the decision that it was better for his mental health to leave. He was able to take a slightly reduced pension and our mortageg had been paid off 3 years earlier so we'd been saving hard.

It was the right decision for him but he's still settling into what life looks like. It's great in the warmer months when we can go away in our campervan, or when he can go hill walking or cycling with friends. But it's the cold wet Wednesday in November...

He'd deliberatley taking time to get used to this. We have a friend who retired and immediately threw themselves into voluntary work which now takes up almost as much time as their work did, plus he's got many meetings on evenings and weekends. His wife says that pre-returement was better - he was more in control of his time and not at the beck and call of the urgent and unpredictable needs of his favoured volunteer causes. Their opportunities to go on holiday feel more restricted too. dh has learnt from this and so far has been turning down requests to serve on committees or get over-involved in community projects.

I've been self-employed for many years in work which I can scale back on (have been planning for this for a while with less investment in marketing etc). During the covid lockdowns my work almost stopped and I noticed how much I missed the interaction with people - my world became instantly smaller without the opportunity to work with people in a different age demographic or in different social circumstance. It really opend my eyes to the narrow view I might have on life if I stopped working completely.

At the moment I'm working about 50% of previous levels, in 3 years time (major project will complete) it will drop to about 10 - 20% I can't imagine reducing to 0% for a very long time (theoretically I could do my work until I'm frail).

I've got a small pension that kicked in at 60, and a SIPP from my self employment - which I've not touched yet. We're financially OK for the next 3 years (until the project ends, then will use SIPP to cover the gap until our state pensions kick in).

Long self-indulgent post -sorry. For us retirment is a balance of choosing the right time to reduce or stop work, finding the right things to fill the time with (which keep us stimulated and involved), having modest goals and plans for things we want to do together, and have plans for how the money works over the years.

@oldestmumaintheworld

No way! I could retire in the next couple of years if I wanted to but won't. Ive never not worked apart from two six month maternity leaves and love what I do. My Dad still works and he's in his 80s. I aim to be like him.

Well done your dad! Totally in tune and aim to do the same. Work is super interesting and some of my work folds into a laptop so getting away is no problem.

I bought some racking on eBay last year; the seller was in his 80s and still working as an electronics consultant and a part time lecturer. Sharp as a pin. His big worry was that he did not have enough time left to train more kids. Loved chatting with him.