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Original poster

What do you want in Retirement?

207 replies

Retirementvisions · 27/01/2023 11:10

I have just been reading the thread on pension pots. Some people are saving big sums for their retirements. It has left me wondering what are your visions for retirement?
Do you plan on cruising the world full time?! Etc

My pension plan is a modest private pension to top up state pension. I will downsize the family home to a small manageable home and release the equity.

I want to live in a nice area within a vibrant community to dip in and out off. I want peace and nature. I'd like the NHS /care system to be running well. I'd like good healthy food at home and to eat out occasionally. I'd like to be able to go on walks and explore the UK. I will probably read more and do a few low key/cost hobbies. I don't foresee loads of world travel at that stage of life. I'd like enough money in the pot to pay for a decent care home should it come to it.

To those who are saving what are you saving for? 🤔 I'm a bit worried I'm missing something... or being totally boring and unimaginative!

OP posts:
LlynTegid · 27/01/2023 11:26

A long one.

Travel to certain places on my 'wishlist' where there is either a long journey or somewhere you don't just go to for a week.

Original poster
Retirementvisions · 27/01/2023 11:28

A long one. Good answer 😂

OP posts:
Hbh17 · 27/01/2023 11:31

No cruises, but travel and hobbies would be good. But if I am unfortunate enough to live into my 80s, then I'll need a good chunk of money to feed and house myself. That's the big problem with pensions - we can't know the time period we need to fund.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General money Retirement & pensions
Mushroo · 27/01/2023 11:32

Ideally living in a vibrant city / town. Somewhere like central London, bath, Edinburgh and near a park.

No need for a car and lots of nearby restaurants and events.

close to an airport for lots of holidays.

SheWoreYellow · 27/01/2023 11:32

I just want to be able to have a couple of holidays a year and not be tight for money. I think to have £30,000 a year I need £600k in my pension pot. (I am a long way off this right now.) So while that sounds like round the world cruise level, it’s really not.

xogossipgirlxo · 27/01/2023 11:39

Living in countryside (not in the UK). Growing my own fruit and veg, reading, baking, local trips and holidays twice a year, hopefully visiting children and grandchildren, maybe some volunteering in local community, swimming/pilates/yoga/walks or whatever. I must say I have big hunger for life and would like to be very active in my retirement, both physically and mentally.

Timeforabiscuit · 27/01/2023 11:43

I'm hoping I can work part time into my 70s mainly to keep my mind active, otherwise it will be low key chutney making, gardening, hopefully a dog and lots of windswept walking.

If there are grandkids, it would be lovely to support my kids with raising them - but there are no guarantees on how the future plays out.

SmileWithADimple · 27/01/2023 11:43

As pp says, you need a bigger pension pot than you may think as it might need to last for 20, 30 or even 40 years. Unless you use it to purchase an annuity, in which case the longevity risk is taken on by the provider.

I envisage a quiet retirement, I think DH has travel plans though!

PattyBladell · 27/01/2023 11:44

I have realised I would just like to be happy and healthy. My dad worked in the NHS for over 40 years, retired in January 2021 at 65, took his pension lump sum and then 1 month later had a massive stroke. He is now paralysed and has had to use most of the money to adapt their house and buy special equipment. Everything he had lived for and planned for in retirement hasn't been able to happen. It's certainly made me realise that life doesn't always go to plan

PattyBladell · 27/01/2023 11:45

I've just realised that sounds really morbid and negative sorryGrin I guess I just meant that you never know what life may throw at you

Penguinsista · 27/01/2023 11:47

We retired early. We have our horses at home so that takes up a fair bit of time. I like to garden, so spend about 3 -5 hours a week out there during the spring and summer. We eat out about once a week but only cheaply really. We holiday twice a year abroad.

Penguinsista · 27/01/2023 11:48

@PattyBladell similar to my dad. He was retired for a week before having a massive stroke and dying.

karamazing · 27/01/2023 11:50

I read that thread as well 😳. Based on what is written above, I don't really understand why people would be saving quality experiences for a time when they would find it physically harden to travel and may have poor eyesight and hearing, need medication and so on. They may be unable to achieve these goals and become bitter because of shattered expectations.

I'd much rather spend money on doing these things right now. If the opportunity does come around again in later life, that would be great but I would not be relying on it or regret having waited.

DanseAvecLesLoups · 27/01/2023 12:01

Ideally, I would like to be called out of retirement to do 'one last job' for my previous employers, a shadowy government intelligence agency. Given my fluency in Farsi and Russian and decades of experience in 'black ops' in and around Middle East and former Soviet satellite states I have a rare set of skills that the young guns at the agency simply don't posses anymore. I think my previous boss knows that such work is in my blood and that my new life as wine grower in France is not a replacement for my previous live on a knife edge career. I will take said job, ostentatiously for the money, but I will invariably get drawn into a multinational plot where my cynicism is challenged by a chance encounter with a group of freedom fighters and I end up doing the job, not for personal gain, but because I believe in their cause. I will probably give my life holding the last line of defence against overwhelming numbers of insurgents thus allowing my new found comrades to escape by helicopter.

BarrelOfOtters · 27/01/2023 12:01

We are in our mid 50s and have just spent most of our savings on refurbishing an old house that is too big for us but great location.

We are both looking to build up our savings again - have a plan to pay off the mortgage before we are 60 and then want to rent this house out and go and travel for a bit and also live somewhere else.

We've long discussed selling up and moving to a city....but I'm not sure we will actually do that. Or we might rent somewhere for a year...

Sunriseinwonderland · 27/01/2023 12:02

I can't imagine anything more tedious than cruising 😂

I'm 61, I have an NHS pension and I've saved up a pretty good lump sum for emergencies such as new boilers, work needed on the house and so on.
I retire in 6 years.

I've saved up the lump sum by doing a day of overtime everyweek. Its been pretty gruelling but retirement isn't going to be cheap.

I can't rely on inheritance, you just don't know how that will turn out.

I own my own home, couple more years to pay on the mortgage, it's modern so I can't foresee any major problems with it.

I live in a humble home in a wonderful place in the west country, village with all local amenities and close to Glastonbury and all my friends with loads to do in the way of clubs.

I travelled for years so have no interest in all that now. I'm happy at home. I have loads of hobbies and I'm doing an advanced bookbinding course because I may need an income of sorts to cover extras like xmas and birthdays. I have cornered a niche market already. I've always wanted to be a bookbinder.

The only thing I haven't sorted out is a car. I'm going to need some kind of vehicle so my get one the year before retirement, I lease one for work currently. It won't be new but I can get a good deal. Also a stairlift. I'm saving up for a small one as I already have painful arthritis so I need to be able to get up the stairs when I am older without the expense of moving.

I moved to the west country a few years ago as all my friends and hobbies are here and it is near great beaches and national parks so always something to do.

I've never been rich but I was a single mum and I've always been good with money so now I can retire without getting into a state about it.

Thereisnolight · 27/01/2023 12:07

DanseAvecLesLoups · 27/01/2023 12:01

Ideally, I would like to be called out of retirement to do 'one last job' for my previous employers, a shadowy government intelligence agency. Given my fluency in Farsi and Russian and decades of experience in 'black ops' in and around Middle East and former Soviet satellite states I have a rare set of skills that the young guns at the agency simply don't posses anymore. I think my previous boss knows that such work is in my blood and that my new life as wine grower in France is not a replacement for my previous live on a knife edge career. I will take said job, ostentatiously for the money, but I will invariably get drawn into a multinational plot where my cynicism is challenged by a chance encounter with a group of freedom fighters and I end up doing the job, not for personal gain, but because I believe in their cause. I will probably give my life holding the last line of defence against overwhelming numbers of insurgents thus allowing my new found comrades to escape by helicopter.

Sounds fab! You can only do this when the DC are grown. They will probably try to stop you and put you in a home but you should be able to get away all right.

xogossipgirlxo · 27/01/2023 12:07

Penguinsista · 27/01/2023 11:48

@PattyBladell similar to my dad. He was retired for a week before having a massive stroke and dying.

This is horrible. So sorry for your loss. My mum's work colleague died to heart attack 2 weeks after he retired. It's all very depressing. This is why I'm all about moderation. We should enjoy life while we're still alive. No guarantee that if we deprive ourselves of small and bigger joys to put money into pension pot, we will make it until retirement age 😥

Thereisnolight · 27/01/2023 12:09

Sunriseinwonderland · 27/01/2023 12:02

I can't imagine anything more tedious than cruising 😂

I'm 61, I have an NHS pension and I've saved up a pretty good lump sum for emergencies such as new boilers, work needed on the house and so on.
I retire in 6 years.

I've saved up the lump sum by doing a day of overtime everyweek. Its been pretty gruelling but retirement isn't going to be cheap.

I can't rely on inheritance, you just don't know how that will turn out.

I own my own home, couple more years to pay on the mortgage, it's modern so I can't foresee any major problems with it.

I live in a humble home in a wonderful place in the west country, village with all local amenities and close to Glastonbury and all my friends with loads to do in the way of clubs.

I travelled for years so have no interest in all that now. I'm happy at home. I have loads of hobbies and I'm doing an advanced bookbinding course because I may need an income of sorts to cover extras like xmas and birthdays. I have cornered a niche market already. I've always wanted to be a bookbinder.

The only thing I haven't sorted out is a car. I'm going to need some kind of vehicle so my get one the year before retirement, I lease one for work currently. It won't be new but I can get a good deal. Also a stairlift. I'm saving up for a small one as I already have painful arthritis so I need to be able to get up the stairs when I am older without the expense of moving.

I moved to the west country a few years ago as all my friends and hobbies are here and it is near great beaches and national parks so always something to do.

I've never been rich but I was a single mum and I've always been good with money so now I can retire without getting into a state about it.

You sound so organised and content.
I love the bookbinding angle!

DoorstoManual · 27/01/2023 12:27

We had so many plans…..but DH who retired in August is basically hibernating, and I have to admit that I am not much better. We have a final salary income, of £49k pre tax, long story but it has taken until now for HMRC to listen and get the tax code right, so we haven’t actually felt the fluidity to just up and go. One month we were taxed into oblivion, the following month, they were flinging incorrect tax codes at us that were wrong and overly generous. They just don’t listen.💁

We have twenty years of savings invested in Royal London, due to Fidelity dragging their heels on our request for transfer it landed at Royal London 10% down and just in time for Kwasi Carcrashes budget.🙈🙈🙈

I am also due six figure sum inheritance in the next few months.

Having always had a budget of sorts, we find it counter intuitive to just spend.

Hopefully that will ease in the spring when everything settles down tax code wise.

So in essence, money is not the issue changing our mindset is.

Thank you for starting this thread as I have managed to crystallise my thought processes whilst typing.

Mischance · 27/01/2023 12:32

I have retired and realised, after several unfortunate happenings, that above all else what you need is health!

A big chunk of savings has gone on surgery: hip replacement, disc removal, cataract surgery etc.

Absolutely everything that you want to do in retirement is dependent on your health, and with the NHS petering out private care becomes very important - if you are 60 you do not want to waste the time you have left sitting on a waiting list for say knee surgery to get to the top of the list, by which time the condition and your mobility will have deteriorated.

So if you are currently healthy I would invest in private health insurance. It is truly awful to be in this situation with the NHS being run down and on principle I would not use private health care, but what the hell can we do?

PauliesWalnuts · 27/01/2023 12:32

I’d like to get to retirement - I’m 50. Not trying to be morbid but we don’t have a good family history of longevity - mum died at 53, dad at 64 and sibling at 47. It’s taught me that life is far too short and can be taken away in an instant. So, I’m doing all my long haul travelling now. Retirement will be short haul, allotment and walking.

WrendaleCountryDogs · 27/01/2023 12:35

To be alive. I'm living for today, not for 30 years time when I might not even get there.

KStockHERO · 27/01/2023 12:39

I plan on early retirement, about 50-ish.

I want a long retirement where every day is full of exercise, crafting, reading, creating, gardening, walking. I want to go on a couple of holidays a year, and days out every month or so.
I might try volunteering.

MavisFlump · 27/01/2023 12:44

I retired at 63, four years ago, because I had a premonition that I wouldn’t live long enough if I waited until my state pension kicked in.
Two months later I had viral myocarditis, complete heart block and complete LVF.
So any plans I had disappeared overnight.
Now I can potter around but am badly limited in comparison to 5 years ago.
Health is everything.