What do you want in Retirement?

[Retirementvisions]

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!

I retire this summer. I currently work with the elderly.

65-75; making the most of my health by volunteering, hobbies, travel. Grandchildren would be lovely. Minor glitch is DH is younger than me and will still be working for quite a lot of that. Downsize at some stage.

75-85: more of the same but with more DH time for as long as possible; recognising what I can and can’t do; prioritising; letting go of some activities; gracefully accepting help; not being a selfish pain

86, 90 at latest: dead. Depending on my functionality to a degree. But I dont meet many people older than 85 who are living lives I’d feel hard done by if I missed out on.

If I get there, you either live a longtime in my family or die young. So hopefully we are downsizing to a smaller more manageable place within walking distance of a variety places, beach, river, market town and main line / London train station. I travelled younger and continue to do so all whilst working so time constraints but when I finish full time work, last of my bucket list is to visit my Australian family for a couple of months, then I hope to get a part time job or volunteer to keep my mind active. Then I hope to visit places in England I’ve never been, pop up to London for shopping/ Theatre. Maybe I might get some grandkids to help out with.

I kind of want it to be like my life now, minus having to go to work.

I live rurally, garden, do some volunteer work, work in a very stressful job full time, do a long commute twice a week, meet friends for dinner maybe twice a month, spend a lot of time with my husband, watch some tv, do some crafts, walk the dog, enjoy holidays, have a good income, generally have a nice life.

Retirement would obviously mean dropping work and the commute, but I can’t see all that much else changing, hopefully. Would love to be able to be home home and get really good at gardening.

Modest thrifty everyday life. The first half of my retirement, doing all the things that I haven’t had time to do while working/ running a family.

Travel outside peak times and without regard for annual leave limits etc. Lots of walking, sea swimming and camping around the UK. Making the best of London and my free travel: galleries, museums, all the free culture that is on offer.
Local community voluntary work.

Later retirement, read, hopefully enjoy grandchildren and an easy restful life.

I agree with @Sunriseinwonderland. Hubby and I went on a ten-day cruise once and found ourselves closeted with some of the most boring and bigoted people you could wish not to meet. it felt like Daily Mail readers afloat. We had to share a table with some old fart who was still banging on about Harold Wilson.

I retired at 63 a couple of years after my school became an academy and, like everyone on UPS, I was 'helped off the bus'. Hubby, a chemist, retired at 65. We hoped to spend time in retirement together, doing those things for which had not had time previously. Unfortunately, within a year of retiring, Hubby was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and never lived to see 66.

The health and energy to walk on the beach every day, tend the greenhouse and finish the 6000 unread books. 😉

I spent 20 years “travelling” before my feet touched the ground - so thankfully did it all when I was young and able.

I don’t require much cash - which is ironic as I’ll be loaded.

To buy books and live a warm and comfortable life with the odd bit of travel/meal out when we are younger. Anything extra will be a bonus. We both have fairly senior public sector jobs so am happy we can achieve that.

But I won't squirrel everything away in the hope of a super luxurious retirement. Life is to be lived now. None of us are guaranteed a long life.

By the time I'm old enough to retire I expect the retirement age will be at least 70 so I'm not expecting a particularly long one! I don't earn much above minimum wage so my pension pot isnt good, but we will own our house outright by then so hopefully we will downsize to free up more money that way. I live in North Norfolk so am already close to the seaside so I envisage a simple retirement by the beach, hopefully close to family. Luckily I already travelled around the world in my 20s so I don't feel I will be missing out on cruises too much!

I have 2 months to go. I have loads of little things I want to do, lots of decluttering and getting the house sorted. Maybe downsizing. Lots of gardening, dog walking, swimming, yoga, painting, reading, DH has been retired for a year so all being well we will do lots of holidays and short breaks. Some volunteer work and maybe some local politics.

My parents were lucky and had a brilliant retirement together doing lots of the things above until my Dads death at 82. Just hope we’re as lucky.

Oh yes, I want to get involved in more volunteering. I am trustee of one charity at the moment but am looking forward to doing a lot more when I retire (it I live that long)

Before I married (I got married late, at 54) I fancied downsizing to a central London flat and being able to walk everywhere and do everything.
Now we live in Zone 3 and I'd quite like to stay here for the great public transport and amenities. Free Oyster Card at 60! I like cities and having many hospitals on our doorstep will be more useful as we get older.
I'd like to do some more travelling too, but that depends if we can afford it.

Will the neighbours take the bins in for you though?

We're mid 50's on the cusp of early retirement.
See the GC a lot more.
One round the world cruise at least. Plus loads of holidays and travel for the first 15 years. We do loads of long haul now can't see us bothering with long flights when we're pushing 70.
Help more at the local dog rescue home.
Write a bestseller.
Do some volunteering for wildlife.
Keep fit.
Possibly buy a new campervan at some point.
Spend as much as possible in our active years and give lots away/treat our kids to avoid inheritance tax and care home fees.
That will take care of 55-70 after that who knows if we're happy doing jigsaw puzzles and rescuing old overlooked dogs or still cruising around the world.

@karamazing how true that is. We did one trip from our bucket list when I retired using my 'lump sum' and then, waiting just around the corner, out of sight, were increasing mobility problems which mean I am now virtually housebound. So the best thing you can hope for is good heaalth!

I would like to die just before my money runs out and a day after the last of my cats die.
In reality, (not got longevity in the family gene pool) I will be content with staying of the radar of the entire gamut of the nhs, care homes and social services.

Oh no don't die! You must turn in the final frame to the camera, and wink at us while declaring to someone off camera that your espionage days are finally done.

Yes, I agree. If I had to choose between doing things now and having a somewhat impoverished retirement, or putting my dreams off till retirement and then having money but being too incapacitated to enjoy it, I'd seize the day now.

Peace.

A campervan and a working set of lungs. 🤞 If I achieve pensionable age with the latter I'd be amazed.

I would like to live in a city (not London) and take advantage of all it has to offer, gigs, theatre, restaurants, bars - everything I don’t have the time or energy for when the alarm goes off at 6am every morning!

I do have my eye on a round the world cruise, but I am terrible at meeting new people so am not worried about getting stuck with bigots, I guarantee I’ll get off after three months without having made a single friend!

Dh and I 40 live in a modest 3 bed semi with 1dc. We love the house and area so doubt we will be moving or downsizing. We're already mortgage free so are saving extra into pensions.

My parents lived abroad for 7 years in their late 50's/ early 60's before coming home (they still had a house here). They loved it. I wouldn't like to move away but I'd love to rent a house out in Spain for 3 months of the year. Tbh I can't see me retiring that young as my job is very flexible and I'd just work 1 day a week/ fortnight (consultancy/ locum work).

I'd like to volunteer more and if I'm lucky enough to be a grandparent I'd want to take an active role in their lives. I also wouldn't mind cuddling premature babies in hospitals.

I agree. My mother went back to work part time for a few years to escape my retired father. Worked a few years until she was 67, dropped dead at 69.

I have no intention of working working working until I am 67, and unfortunately for me I have good reason to believe I too shall be stood up one minute gone the next (hereditary condition).

In retirement I want to be left alone. No twiddling, no fussing, no frills, or thrills, no fancy pants plans. I just want peace and quiet, my dog, my chair, my books and radio 4. I might grow digitalis in some pots on the patio if it all gets to be too much and I haven't dropped before I go demented

I used to think I'd go grab a toy boy, go to the south of France and take copious amounts of whizz.......I'm only 50 now and just thinking about this is too much effort!

My dream is to have a really beautiful house with a gorgeous view. I want to have the space and funds to build my ideal art studio. I don’t want to have to worry about scrimping on buying art supplies once I finally have time to create uninterrupted

I would like to have my health and be in a position to optimise that health, either through private medical insurance or one off operations, warm home, good diet and plenty of exercise. I hope to help out my DCs with time / resources and hope to volunteer in the local community, at least for a few years. Have modest hobbies and the ability to fund them (plants, equipment, club subs etc.). Take trips abroad and in the UK around my interests once the DC have left. Downsize to reduce overheads and a smaller car. Later, have it all end suddenly and painlessly.

I am saving for my retirement so that I will be free of financial worry. Pretty sure I have inherited longevity genes.

This is such an interesting thread to read. We’re both 60 and can’t afford to retire yet-but we are saving as much as we can so we can retire in three or four years. I work part time so pension won’t be massive-but most of the things we like doing don’t cost a lot. Walking, cooking and visiting friends. Pre Brexit, we had plans to move to a European city for a year, rent a flat and use it as a base to explore. What I’m really looking forward to is having my own time to do as little or as much as I please with no need to exchange my time for money. At the moment we have our health but it is something I think of as my parents died young.