To ask if you think you'll flourish or flounder in retirement

[The3rdMrsdeWinter]

Potentially 25+ years of setting your own agenda without the routine of work.

How do you think you (and your DH/DP if you have one) will cope?

It's interesting reading other people's views on retirement.

I am so worried about being like DM who was worried she wouldn't have enough money that she kept working and then by the time she retired she was ill with cancer and died not having enjoyed her free time.

I am planning on retiring age 52/53 and can't wait. I really want time to myself when I am healthy.

@Miasicarisatia

I've always found work to be an unwelcome intrusion and I'm very happy at being left to my hobbies and interests!

Same

I'm only 35 and currently don't work but do plan on going back once my youngest starts school, not for the money but because I want a purpose other than the children, so for me retirement as such will really come once my children are adults and I don't have to be around for them so much.

I'll be 53 once my youngest is 20 and plan on travelling the world and going wherever life takes me for as long as it's fun, I do hope my husband will join me....

My friends sold up & retired last year & moved to a warmer place in Europe permanently in their early 50s & are living their dream. Although, they have a small online job too

We love travelling, so our dream is to continue travelling around Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australasia, micronesia, New Zealand & small islands. We currently have a camper van for localish trips. We have lots of hobbies & enjoy sports too. We will not be bored !
Travel = after covid restrictions

The big question for us is WHEN to retire ?
Early 50s, seems too early for us
Still both working FT, but have finances in place to retire earlier than state pension age

If I ever retire and if I have enough money I think I will be okay. I wont be mortgage free for a long time.

I would like to retire like my DGPs and DF. Mortgage paid off, really good pensions, hobbies, friends and travel. My DGF struggled initially but then he discovered teletext and holidays abroad! My DGM always said that she didnt want to be young again but she would love to be 60 forever!

I had planned to work for another eighteen months and then ease myself out, I am 57 and have had two primary cancers in the last six years, it will give you some indication when I tell you that the treatment for breast cancer was almost a stroll in the park, so when I was made redundant my body said yay and my brain said nay.....anyway back to the question in hand.

DH is entitled to draw his final salary in August, he will then continue to work for another year to wait for the state pension, that will then leave us in the position we are in now (minus the ability to save every month) this is the bit I can't get my head around (born saver) we will have a pot of money that (we have saved) pensions aside will be more than enough. DH keeps saying I promise to make sure there is £100 left in there on pension day so you can save it and stay in your comfort zone.

We plan on heading off to Southern Spain for a couple of months at a time, and then coming back and then going again, we also have a notebook on the coffee table and if we see something on TV (Orient Express for example, or Christmas markets) that appeals to us, it goes in the book of happiness, we will be unlikely to manage it all but it is a nice plan.

Neither of us plan on cooking for about six months so will pick a different pub in a different county and strike out and enjoy.

DS is twenty and I can't realistically see him wanting to stay at home for much longer, we will help him with six months rent on the clear understanding that if it doesn't work out he is always welcome to come home, but that equally if we are heading off somewhere we do not want our house to be an extra drop in zone because we have a decent sized garden and house.

I retired a couple of years ago. I did worry about it a bit, about whether I would find a new identity, but I love being retired. I do a bit of voluntary work, the kind of thing I can set my own limits on, so I am not dancing to someone else's tune.
Of course the pandemic coming put a stop to a lot of the things I thought I would be doing but I still haven't been bored or fed up with my life, even so. There is always something to do, but at least now I can choose whether to do things or not.

A friend is headmaster at the local secondary so I have made enquiries with him about reading with Yr7's who have lost out due to the pandemic, my mothers health is failing and I need to be able to travel home to pull my weight whilst she undergoes cancer treatment so that takes precedence, but once that is sorted (either way ) then that would be a good antidote to any games of golf DH organises.

So the answer is hopefully flourish.

My DGM always said that she didnt want to be young again but she would love to be 60 forever!

That's lovely

I think I'll flourish and can't wait but I'm having a suprisingly (to me) difficult and anxious time as I imagine having the conversation with my Manager. A big part of my identity is tied up in my job and I've always worked in some form or another. However I won't miss work at all, even though my career has, on many levels, been good to me. I want to go at the end of this year and every time I feel at the tipping point of stress I tell myself that this time next year..........

My DGM always said that she didn't want to be young again but she would love to be 60 forever!

Here is hoping that the 60's deliver.

I would love to retire eventually but who know when/if I'll be able to. I'm early 30s and saving extra into pension (fairly decent one in current job). I'm guessing state pension age will be 70+ by the time I get there but maybe I can go part-time when I get older. 3-4 days a week would be perfect. I don't understand when people say they'd be bored, I can think of a million things I'd rather do than go to work

Well I won’t be retiring because I have no pension! Basically I’ll have to work till I drop dead.

I've come to the conclusion that I won't retire unless I'm no longer able to work.
Even if retiring was going to be OK financially, I would do voluntary work.

Flounder. I love working. Hated being at home with the kids.

Here is hoping that the 60's deliver.

I'm there now and while working, have come to realise that it's the last chance saloon for me with regards good nutrition snd gentle exercise.

Sigh. I'm really quite enjoying it

Hopefully I'll flourish but we certainly won't be wealthy pensioners.
My OH is 72 and I'm 63, he's retired and I'm still in full time work. I can't go part time because my pension is a final salary scheme so I would lose too much pension if I did. We pay the mortgage off the same time I retire, 2.5 years, we met later in life so didn't take a mortgage out until later than most people.
I find working out pensions so difficult, I am not really sure what I'm entitled to and probably won't know until I retire and see what comes in my bank account!
I know I'll have no trouble filling my time and am looking forward to doing things I currently don't have time for.
We always planned to get a motor home and travel but the reality is my OH is feeling his age and plans we made in our 40s and 50s might not happen in our 60s and 70s. We will do what we can and certainly won't be miserable!

I'll be ok, I won't flourish, I won't have much of a pension. And I don't own my own home. So there won't be any travel or luxuries. I think the bit im most worried about is my children leaving home. I've been a parent for a long time ( big age gap between youngest and eldest) and I've never lived by myself.

I’m somewhere in between; retired from secondary teaching at 65
And the hardest thing was getting used to DH around all the time. He travelled a lot and worked long hours prior to retiring. Like many men he doesn’t have a big network of friends close by to while away the time with.
I took up ballet and do some tutoring a couple of days after school. We moved house so I now have a big garden and a greenhouse. I have gardening friends; we take trips out to visit gardens. I have ballet friends and going for coffee friends. We visit the adult dc and help with diy.
DH has now found some hobbies and has a shed ! It’s good most of the time.

We planned to flourish but didn’t factor in my elderly parents. My dad was diagnosed with dementia nine years ago and now my mother is becoming increasingly frail and needy.

I had more freedom in my forties with older children than I currently have retired and approaching 60.

And no end in sight.

We should be fine, health permitting, and we do all we can to keep in good nick. Our current joint and separate hobbies are all things we can continue, and we're open to new ideas, travel etc. A couple of interests may lead to a small business too. Financially comfortable, mortgage free, private medical insurance and pensions in place. Hope that doesn't sound smug, we don't take anything for granted. Both work in areas which make us really aware of the issues that can arise in retirement so have planned and worked towards making the best of things as we get older.

I am in my early 50s and I am already planning financially and practically. I have a voluntary role which could easily take up more time and I will probably look to pick up at least one more. I am starting a part time qualification in a creative field this year which may lead to opportunities in the future and will give me another thing to do.
The DC will have finished Uni by the time I am 60 and the mortgage should be gone.
I am a consultant in Financial Services so I could always pick up 3-6 months here and there if I wanted.
I am not planning to stop when I retire simply become master (mistress!) of my own time. DH is self employed so already manages his own time.

WE got the figures through the other day, £3k more annually than we were expecting so that was nice little buzz.

We weren't sure how we would feel seeing it there in black and white, we are giddy, like two kids.

We have taken some things out of the book of happiness , Route 66 no longer appeals, but following on from a travel programme on Budapest the other night it has gone to the top of list for the Christmas markets.

Just have to wait for travel to be more clearly defined.