What would your ideal retirement look like?

[CommeIlFaut]

Assuming good health and a decent income, what would your ideal retirement be like?

DH and I are starting to think about this at the moment. It’s scary as it’s a very different life stage, but also exciting.

Where would you live?
Who would you live with?
What will holidays look like?
What interests do you hope to follow?

So far I’ve (not very imaginatively) managed:

Dropping to one day a week of freelance work at 55
Doing a degree in anthropology (DH hopes to do a creative writing MA.)
Visiting some amazing places around the world while we still can.
A bolthole in a village in France we love, and where we have family ties.)
Buying a three bedroom Victorian house in a market town near London with plenty going in.
Volunteering with a local charity supporting refugees.
Joining a walking group. Keeping up singing in a choir. Avoiding becoming involved in local politics.
Staying fit, swimming or Pilates most days.
Cooking lovely food, making a beautiful garden.
Keeping friendships going, visiting my BF in Oz every couple of years and my friends in Eswatini and Vermont, making new friends of all generations.
Helping out our kids practically and financially. Travelling with them if they like. Secretly yearning for grandchildren.

It sounds lovely written down. I’m sure life will get in the way!

No desire to go long haul anywhere. Doing a road trip to the US next year… Going to US is long haul 😁

I am loving the optimism that retirement happens when you/we/I are ready. DH has had health issues (obviously not fatal ones, but big frightening problems) for 20 years and is still trying to retire at 68. He has a small (successful) business, which is highly technical. So, sell it; it's the obvious advice, but actually selling it to a capable entity is surprisingly hard work.

We shall have money to retire with, not billionaire spondulicks, but getting out soon enough and well enough to enjoy it, is proving uphill work. Every sale wants to tie DH into a three to five year contract. Or we just close the doors, take the money and make our staff redundant, which would be better for us financially. It really is not a clear cut obvious decision. Opionions very welcome.

Lots of travel, pottering, good food and grandchildren hopefully

I retire on Friday at age 54. My first task is to de clutter our house! I have a whole list of things to do and planned. I'll be interested to see how I get on

We want to downsize to a cottage in Scotland where we normally holiday. I want to be able to wake up in the morning, look out of the window and say oh it's raining and spend the day baking and reading or look out and see the sun and go for a walk and a picnic in the woods or by a loch. Tend to my garden, orchard and my chickens. Neither of us are interested in travelling abroad and we will have to be frugal but already are. Just not having to go to work every day will be amazing.

My retirement plans are so dull! I'm looking forward to it, but it's not exciting or covetable.

Continue going to the gym
Reading books
Gardening
Lunches with friends
Trips with DH
Visiting with family while they're still here (everyone in my family is older than me).

For me retirement is about having the headspace to think my own thoughts and follow my nose, so it can't be too full or busy or my mind would still be churning as it does now!

34 working part time ATM nowhere even close to retirement but my hopes n dreams for then are holidays once or twice a year and taking care of my grandkids if my kids give me any..... If not more holidays 🤣 living in my home town.

My ideal - DH retiring with me to keep me company on my travels. Lots of city breaks, sometimes with our dcs, some activity-based, some tours. Lots of Eurostar trips as the station is nearby.
We'd continue living in central London, and use our time to visit all the exhibitions we never have time for these days. Theatre, cinema, some adult ed courses, public lectures. Swimming, pilates, dance. Learn an instrument or language and study a HE course.
Reading, drawing, painting, long walks, general exploring and sitting in big parks and gardens on sunny days.
More sex.
Looking after grandkids maybe?

I was going to do the volunteering thing when I retired, but TBH, I was so bloody exhausted when I got there, I couldn’t be arsed.

Gosh, some very privileged replies on here. Am 47 and DH is 50 and no idea when we will be able to afford to retire let alone have a "holiday every six weeks" .

I'm hoping to live in a large house with some good friends. We'd do day trips, dog walks, holidays, parties, garden, cook and watch movies together. I think having a house like that would keep most people alive and in better health for longer. Combine forces and conquer!

The post is about ideal retirement, not actual.

Very similar to @Notgivingup54 - I'll be retiring at the end of June, and one of the things I want to do first is to declutter the house - to allow more space and free up some ideas while I'm at it.

Due to a series of ill health issues recently, which have contributed to why I'm retiring, I've decided to give myself a period of time where my only focus is improving health, energy, wellbeing etc. This might be 3 months initially, could be more. So during my first 3 months, I won't be travelling or downsizing etc - but what I want to do for me, is a set of daily activities to benefit health including -
· Movement / exercise (gym, pool, yoga)
· Rest (meditation, rest in general, prioritise sleep)
· Nutrition (good meals, cook much more from scratch, experiment with eating when I'm hungry as opposed to eating when the timetable requires you to
· Music - some playing, listening, practice, daily
· Garden - to do some work in the garden, or just sit in it

Maybe more things to add to the list once I get going. Social bits of course too, but I don't think they will be daily.

We’ve taken early retirement.
we stayed in the same house and our days are very full. I have an elderly horse that I can't ride, but still have all the daily chores. We walk our dog twice a day.
We both do the gardening and lots of keep fit, my husband cycles, I do pilates twice a week.
My hobbies include reading, knitting, singing in a choir, dog training classes, meeting friends for coffee/lunch/afternoon tea. Pub quiz once a month.
We have had a few Uk holidays and are venturing abroad this year.
Sadly our plans had to change considerably as my husband has had lots of health issues since retiring so dreams of walking coast to coast and having adventurous holidays have been shelved but we’re still busy and enjoying life

I would say do all the things you can. My husbands parents worked hard then took retirement at 65, but sadly his mum got ill one year in and all their plans were over. If you can afford to then do whatever you want to do.

Retired 6 months ago, DH already retired.
As many holidays / short breaks as we can afford in UK and Europe to include longer holiday in Spain (or similar) in the winter and also visiting relatives in UK.

Doing Spanish classes and online history and exercise classes. A bit of art and craft. Read a lot. Walking dog. Meeting up with a friend/friends each week . Will start to do some more days out with DH in the week if it ever stops raining and also plan to start swimming and use the free gym stuff in the park .

No plans to move at the moment - will probably revisit in around 10 years time.

I would like to pay my bills and eat regularly.

Ideally?

We would stay in our current house (it’s in a good location for when we don’t have a car any more).

We would have good enough private pensions to be able to retire in the next couple of years rather than having to wait till 67.

Do more exercise, see friends more, travel (short haul) regularly, have the time to do Europe by train rather than fly.

Pop into London every week.

Eat out regularly.

Grandchildren are not on the horizon yet, it would be nice to have some while we have the energy to be properly involved.

All of the above very much idealistic & dependant on what our pensions will be. Mine is not great due to a gap when the children were young & never chasing a high salary.

had to delete as posted on the wrong thread for some reason. It’s too early zzz

Ideally - go part time in 50s and retire at 60. I love the idea of moving to central London but also having a house near DC. And planning regular holidays to go through our bucket list destinations every couple of months.

Realistically we will have to work full time until 60 and then should be able to afford to go part time until mid 60s. However my parents both had health problems in their sixties so im starting to think about building up additional savings now (40s)to go at 60 if possible. Would love to move to a flat in a large town where we can walk everywhere and just keep one car.

I'd spend every winter in a sunny country and hopefully rent my london house out to help pay for it or some of it.

That's as far as my thoughts go as so much depends on my health at the time, and with 30 yrs to go i might move out of London etc.