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 am. Doing yoga, weights and a bit of high impact. Also taking vitamin d and calcium in an attempt to not become my mother, who through laziness and unwillingness to do physio directed exercises for the last 20 years, is now almost housebound at age 73.

All these people stating good health - are you prioritising Heath, mobility, activity during your 40s and beyond? I know it’s not a guarantee but surely it makes sense to put in ground work and not just ‘hope’ you are strong and mobile at 70…
My DM has always been incredibly physically fit, looked after her mental health, always doing things like sudoku, making new friends, having new challenges (she hiked the Inca trail in her late 50’s) fit, slim, looks a good 10 years younger than her age. Unfortunately she developed Alzheimer’s mid 60’s and now can do hardly anything for herself and is moving to a care home in a few days. She is early 70’s.

I can't quite decide.

There are days when I'm all set to sell up and buy a property in beautiful west Cork.

Or spend a year travelling the world.

Or rent an apartment in a foreign city (Paris maybe) for a few months.

At other times I think I should stay put and help DD with her DC (she's only 18 and may never have children ).

Should I do some volunteer work? Or take a well earned break from the world of work and just enjoy some time to myself?

Probably best to see how I feel when the time comes. As pps have mentioned, my health may dictate how I spend my retirement. As well as finances.

Yes. I do 3-4 bootcamps and yoga every week, as well as several hill walks a week. I eat fresh food and more that 5 a day. DH eats healthily but he refuses to exercise and i see the physical decline. It worries me. He is so slow getting up a hill now if we go for walks. If he'd kept up his fitness, he'd be in better shape but he just refuses.

Glad to hear these positive tales!

It was once described to me as investing in our physical pension which mates so much sense. DH and I seem to be among the outliers who actively prioritise this, though (we are early - mid forties), many don’t care (or say they do but don’t back it up with action)

I like the sound of a physical pension. When we talk about pensions we should most definitely be prioritising our physical pension.

Even during our working lives it's very easy to sacrifice health for money and we shouldn't. However, we are bombarded with marketing messages selling usaspirations we just don't need to be happy. In fact chasing them makes us miserable. That's another thread though.

A lot of things people have mentioned on this thread aren't expensive.

while working FT, I am already doing as much hillwalking, socialising, self-improvement, volunteering, dog-bonding, eating out, hobbies, gardening, exploring, travel.. as I want to.

Ideally don't want to have to wait for "retirement" to get to do those things.

In our mid 40s, we've just turned down an opportunity which may have made us alot wealthier in retirement years, but would have meant alot less time to exercise,more stress,less time with the children now. Love the concept of physical pension,this really needs to be pushed, would save the NHS much too.

I agree. You shouldn't be 'saving up' nice things do do apart from sedentary craft hobbies you may have time to develop right now. Travel, fitness, meals out must be more fun right now then forty years down the line?

Yes

Well said. I feel blessed to be still working and that my skills are valued. The bonus in ‘retirement’ is I don’t have to assume the same level of responsibility nor work with the same intensity. Lunching out and galleries has its own shelf life. Working part-time with a team who value you and you value them and having time to sustain the activities that enable a continued dynamic lifestyle is the blessing.

You shouldn't be 'saving up' nice things do do apart from sedentary craft hobbies you may have time to develop right now. Travel, fitness, meals out must be more fun right now then forty years down the line?

Well of course but when working full time the amount of holidays available makes the travel element a little difficult, for longer long haul trips at least. Thankfully I don't need to really sacrifice anything today for my retirement due to my pension, so I agree with the sentiment of not sacrificing too much today for tomorrow as it's not guaranteed, but equally can understand why somethings are easier to do in retirement.

I agree @user8545
Some of the places I'd like to travel to, I'd like to go to for a month or 6 weeks at a time. That doesn't really fit in with working lives. Nor with responsibilities as a parent for many of the poster on the thread, I'd have thought.

We've traveled in every decade
In 20's did backpacking and 18-30's then moved on to city breaks
Late 30's - 40's we did all the holidays with dc.
Since they grew up we've done loads of long haul, adult only spa type holidays.
Now we're in our 50's we're looking forward to the kind of holidays that need a lot of time hence retiring this year- long road trips, world or long cruises, interailing, going off on motorcycles or in a campervan for weeks on end, multi center, round the world flights, exploring in one country for possibly months etc.
So it's not like we've done nothing and saving everything until retirement, we're just doing the next phase of travel

Do those of you who want to live in two locations or do extended trips have pets?

@NameChangedForThissss Yes, I've two cats but when the inevitable happens, I won't be replacing them for exactly this reason. I'm very fond of them but you're very tied when you've a pet. It's expensive to put them in a cattery just for a week in the sun. And rules out any spontaneous trips.

I mainly just want to live to get to my retirement in one piece, unlike my mum who died at 62 and my nana who developed Alzheimer’s at 64. I’m saving for my pension, taking my vitamins, doing exercise and working on my mind.

Quit the rat race in our mid 40s and lived abroad for a decade. Returned for various reasons and been back for a decade but still get away for a third to half the year. When we returned from abroad bought a smaller, easy to care for home(no mortgage) in a nice location that will hopefully mean we don't have to move again.
We both exercise regularly and are fortunate that neither of us take any regular medication but aware that could change in the blink of an eye. If I drop dead tomorrow then at least I've had a great time for most of the last 20 years.

I retired last year at 66. Have reasonable pensions but not stellar and my state pension. My DH also retired but he can't access his pensions yet as he is 6 yrs younger than me

As people have said it's the early years of retirement that you can do the stuff you've always wanted to do and we wanted to do this together

So for the last 10 yrs of our working lives we saved enough to future proof our house and fund the gap until he can claim his pensions. We also have a substantial travel fund

We have a Motorhome and spend 6 weeks in Spring and another 6 weeks in Autumn in Europe. As we get older this will probably change to travel in the UK

We are so lucky to have our health and know this can change in an instant. I lived the PP that said early retirement is when "to go hard"

Just saw the question re pets. We have a dog and she comes on our trips with us

It really isn't a guarantee, didn't help me. I was fit, slim, healthy and active in my 40s and 50s but struck out of the blue with Rheumatoid arthritis at 58 and breast cancer at 60. That's why I say don't put anything on hold until you retire, if you want to do it do it now.

@Apollonia1 DH was 47 when we had DC he worked long hours while they were little and he retired at 58. It was great for him to be at home as DC moved up to secondary school. We live in the sticks and he was free to help with homework /take them to activities / friends and generally be around for them.

To live by the sea with a nice dog.

I have a chronic illness. I've had it all my life. I stay as healthy as I can within the limitations of the health which is available to me. And actually 40 seemed like a bit of a pipe dreams in my teens. So, yeah, I'm hoping.

I agree @snowsilver I was very slim and fit and healthy all my life, sheer bad luck led to me developing a rare neurological condition in my mid 30s. Now I am on a bucket load of medicines and very limited in what I can do.

Another similarly fit and healthy friend died unexpectedly last year, out of the blue.

Two of my friends died in their early twenties (car accident and the tsunami)

Of course stay fit and healthy, but make the most of the life you have. None of us are guaranteed an old age, it's about striking a sensible balance between enjoying the present and saving for the future we hope we will have.

Travel loads and maybe live part time in the Canaries