Is retirement all it's cracked up to be?

[madroid]

If you have actually retired, are you enjoying it?

All things being equal, without, for example, health problems are you actually enjoying your free time? What do you do? What does your day look like?

I imagine there's a 'honeymoon' period where you relish not having to get up to go to work, catch up with all sorts of things... but then what? What have you got into?

i have not looked back for one minute

I think a happy retirement depends on having good friends or family or both nearby, good health and enough money.
we are both retired but the first few years were blighted by various issues. Moved to a new area , had an adult child living with us with mental health issues. Then another adult child moved back home over lockdown . So basically our lives were not our own. Finally got to the point where we have the house to ourselves but now have a grandchild at the other end of the country. So feeling very cut off as i would love to be much more involved. So thinking of moving again to be closer to them.
I have an elderly mother who needs me and still have a child now living independently but who is vulnerable in the local area. So if we move we are leaving then unsupported. So caught between a rock and a hard place !
I don’t have any friends here and feel very lonely but OH has developed hobbies and interests and made friends. So he is happy and I’m not. Things have just not worked out the way I expected them to. I have also developed a host of health issues which have been limiting. I need to get out and do more but feel a huge lack of energy these days. Not sure what’s happened to me! Also much as I love OH being with him nearly all the time drives me mad.

Also have a very neurotic needy cat who we can’t leave too often! That’s a nuisance or I would want a camper van!!

I think it also depends how extrovert you are. I prefer a quiet life no drama no stress. I only need a small handful of carefully chosen friends to feel I have enough people in my life.

I’m hoping to retire at 60, however I don’t want a campervan or a caravan.
The thread indicates that my plans to not own a campervan are largely unfeasible so I may need to rethink

Feeling sorry for retirees is a fools games. It's only the wealthy who get to retire or people happy with a simple life.

I'd like to retire to work in a charity and take many nice holidays plus spend time pottering around a beautiful home but that's not realistic for me.

Lol!

The ones who get the type of retirement discussed here are the wealthy and HEALTHY

So yes if you can afford to retire at 55yo, you are very likely to have both wealth and health.
Retire at 67yo (my official retirement age), and you are much likely to have the health even if you have the wealth.

imo this idea that you get the retire and enjoy retirement blabla is what our parents have known. The babyboomers. For the majority of people my age, it will be all but a dream.

@WeAreBorg my Hs views match Jeremy Clarksons- if it's not at least as nice as home and got comfortable beds he isn't interested . No camping, no caravans, no camper vans

A campervan is not for me either!

Did you work and have your own pension, not just relying on dh's?

I can't afford to buy or run a camper van, although I would like one.
But I can make do with a smaller van and bog off with various friends in their vans or on my own. (DH wouldn't want to come with me anyway)

My retirement also doesn't include cruises or exotic foreign venues, which I don't mind. I’ve been to most of the places I wanted to go, when I was working.

But I am still deliriously happy at not having to give every minute of my time away. Far from a miserable existence, I feel that at last I've got my real life.

Did you work and have your own pension, not just relying on dh's?
I mostly rely on my DH’s pension and interest and profit from my own 6 figure investments.

Since you are not answering the question, I assume you were not in paid employment. That's fine. A lovely life, just not really a retirement.

I worked as care assistant, yes it is retirement.

I grew up in a council house, with 4 step siblings of which there were 5 kids to one bedroom. Wealthy? Are you fucking kidding me.

I worked my fucking arse off to pay off a mortgage early and put myself through uni in the evenings, whilst working in a full time job in construction to get a better job.

@ZenNudist You sound a tad unhappy.

How do you get a £200k a year pension?!

How do you get a £200k a year pension?!

The poster said that her DH worked IT in banking.

I dont think she said he had £200k pension, but that his final salary was £200k

Did she?

Yes. I'd asked the question about income, she said he'd retired on approx £200k. Another poster pointed out that wasn't a usual pension amount for most, she clarified that £200k wasn't his pension.

Oh I see. I was trying to work out how many tens of millions you'd need to have in your pot to draw £200k pa!

I am still confused..... easily done...😂

Is he on a final salary of £200k a year or he had £200k in his pot ?

We made a decision to put all our financial eggs in one basket and invested in DH's more generous pension offerings.

We have ended up with a final salary of £39,000 plus his state pension, I being a child bride... have another nine years to wait to draw mine.😂👰We are mortgage free and debt free.

In addition to the above, we have £160,000 to use on holidays etc in relatively easy access accounts and a further £175,000 (at last look) on deposit which will be used to ameliorate pension inflation erosion and possibly help out DS with a deposit.

Not gonna lie there were days in the winter when it was a bit dull, but we got into a routine of heading to a fabulous riverside pub to have lunch and sit by the fire.

We had planned a lot of city breaks this year, but our dog started his long goodbye, practically as soon as we retired. 🙄

He will be PTS at the end of the summer (so he doesn't have to do another winter) and indeed the vet says he will be surprised if he makes it to the end of the summer. We will miss him dreadfully, but the flip side is, let the travelling commence.

The house needs new fencing, already in train, new soffits, paint, paper and a few new sofas, when we do slow down the house will be in an acceptable state to hibernate in, in the winters.....

I have had two primaries in the space of five years and I will take slightly dull days, over definitely dead days any day.😂 So I guess it is horses for courses.

Enjoy your retirement @TheApplianceofScience - may it be long, healthy and happy.