What Are You Hoping To Do In Retirement?

[lovestea]

Ok, there will be financial constraints, some really serious ones for some of us. But, what are you hoping for and what is realistic when you give up work?
A lot of people work well beyond retirement age now for a better lifestyle or for essentials. How do you see yours panning out? Off at 60? 65? Beyond?
Do you have a passion that you soooooo want to follow in retirement? Can you afford to do it?
Love to know what others think and want.

Planning to retire at 60. Pension is not fantastic, but enough but planning to to retrain and work at my own pace! No night shift, 12 hour days or travelling a distance to work! Planning on training in massage and possible sports therapy.

Hoping it’s in 2 years time. Am working overseas to earn as much as possible atm. Mortgage will be paid off and hopefully enough saved to travel, relax and have fun. I will get a pay-off when I leave and use that to do a gap year in style! Not sure I want to return to the U.K. either!

Similar plan to to you @Laska5772 I will convert a Mercedes sprinter MWB and go full time van life. My current van is small but I know exactly what I want from a bigger conversion. For 20K£ you can have an amazing van.

Rent out the flat in London as the mortgage should be paid off by 58 so that's another 8 years before I can realise this. Use the rent income and (very) small private pension to fund life on the road which is very cheap when you know the tricks. Tour Europe, maybe do a van swap and tour America's for a year or two.

State pension should supposedly kick in at 67 to top it up a bit. Any downtime in tenants I might come back to London and have that as a UK base for a while. Get a lodger to help with costs.

Resurrecting this thread with interest.

Every winter I long to retire and it seems to be getting worse!

I have 11 more years to go until I am 67.

I will just have the state pension and one more small pension to live on but it is better than working. I am just so tired of it now.

Though I had ds late in life too and I still have 3 more years of that until he is 18 and then God knows when he will move out lol.

I would just long to wake up every single day not having to rush about or plan things the whole time look at the clock etc.

I won't be rolling in it by any means but it is better than working. I will get rid of the car to reduce overheads as there are loads of buses and cook more meals from scratch as I will have time. Saving on the oven etc.

Basically it will just be bliss to relax way more and not have to think about earning money.

I don't want to get old but at the same time I long to stop working! I expect I would do one day volunteer work to branch out a bit. I feel like I am wishing my life away lol.

I’ve just left a demanding course because I’ve decided the job it would lead to isn’t what I want
Considering retiring now, but think I’ll get bored. I’ve worked out that financially, I could manage with lodgers.

I hope to never have to give up work. I'm 'away from the office' now until mid March. I bloody hate not being at work. Grrrr!!!

In my mid-60s, and in Australia. I've gone to 4 days as a teacher, 3 next year, with the intention to retire mid-year. Remote teaching has taught me so much about what I need and want to do.

I am in a fortunate position being able to access my UK teacher's pension at 60, though only getting my UK state this year. Mortgage paid off.

I'll miss the student contact, though will continue to tutor privately.

Mortgage paid off. Waiting for second kid to get grad job hopefully next year and then I want to go part time - 3 days sounds great

When I retire in about 8 years I will do some Maths tuition if I need additional income. Otherwise I have a bucket list of places to go in the UK which I have drawn up ...

It's been six and a half years since my OP. Then I was seriously looking retirement in the face and asked what you would like to do/could do/wanted to do with your retirements. Some great and interesting responses.
Here is what happened to me: I retired in May 2015 and took my smallish NHS pension. However, by then we didn't have a mortgage and DH also had a pension so we managed, but on much less. Grown up children gone.
Three months later another GP Practice asked me to join them on two mornings a week (practice nurse) and I agreed as it was less commitment and very local.
I am so glad I did because in December 2016 life threw us a curveball. My dear sister developed a grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumour. She was divorced with a son of just 29 years. The job kept me sane. From stressing and worrying all the time. My sisters care fell to me and her son and it was a terrible, terrible heartbreaking time. She died eleven months later.
We were so bereaved, she was just 64. It took me over a year to even begin to feel anything like normal. But that little job kept me going. In so many ways.
I 'properly' retired in August 2019. We now have two allotments that we tend, are dealing with coronavirus like everyone else and am doing my best to support my sister's son who is a fine young man.
When I think back to my OP I had no idea what path my retirement would take, but I never imagined it would be this.
I don't miss work. I did 44 years for the NHS. But without the care of my wonderful colleagues I think I would have been in a different place.
As we reach an older age you never know what is round the corner for you or your loved ones. Someone up thread mentioned health, but at that time I was 'Yay, we are all doing fine, lets talk about what we want to do/can do'. I eat my words.
Would love to know how others are doing or plan to do.

What a moving and thought-provoking update, Lovestea. Sorry for your loss.

I am 52 and have access to my occupational pension at 60, so hope to go then. Apart from that pension, and paying a mortgage which runs until I am 58, I have been very unsavvy with money. Hence I feel the pressure to rectify that during the working years I have left. In the next three years I am building savings to help my children get on the property ladder, then the five years after that I plan to create a cash buffer for my own retirement. But as you say, life can throw curveballs, so that's just the ideal I am hoping for. I am finding these goals are helping to motivate me to do my best at work.

When I retire I would love to do as many European city breaks as money allows and practise the languages I study for fun. I want to learn to cook better and have the time to make more friends at the gym through the classes I go to.

Best wishes to you and anyone else planning retirement.

Thank you @lovestea for your update - what a terrible shock for you and sorry for your loss.

I am 51, saving hard and hoping that I might be able to reduce hours from full time to part time by age 55. Then I think I could keep going for longer if I had more time each week for me.

I'm conscious of the need to prioritise health as I approach retirement - for me that means time, so - time to make healthy meals; time to exercise; time to find projects or ideas for me. I feel that when working full time, plus various family demands at times, that there isn't much time left for me.

I'd also like to do something voluntary in retirement for part of the week, I think that going from all to nothing would be a shock!

When I was employed (librarianship then academia) I always had a dream of running my own business as an antiques dealer. I have been a collector all my life and have never taken easily to being "told" what to do.

I retired in 2005 and had a bit of money at my disposal so I took the plunge. Its fair to add that I had been dabbling in dealing since the late 1970s and knew a fair bit about some very specialized niche areas of the antiques trade. I had also been selling part time online since 2001.

I now run what I call a "lifestyle" business in the sense that it is my main interest in life. It brings me an income but I am not interested in employing other people or growing the business. I have 4 online shops (including my own ecommerce website)

I do have some other interests but they are very much subordinate to dealing in antiques.

Only just found this thread. I'm 63 and still have DCs at home after they bounced back after uni. Still working part time in an undemanding role that I intend to continue for some years to come so long as I remain well, which I hope to.

Live in a largish house, too big for one person, so feel I should consider downsizing when DC move out as I'd hope they would in the not too distant future. But where to go? Live in a very pleasant area. Nice neighbours but no friends or activities locally but I do love my garden which I'm eventually finding time to devote to. And perhaps there may be room for a little dog.

Have no desire to travel but would like a new hobby/side hussel to keep me occupied and add a little excitement to life.

Look forward to hearing what others have planned or how your plans turned out.

I'll retire from teaching at the end of 2021 at 67. DC out of home but could also bounce back to save for own property.

My house is big, but downsizing means paying estate agent's fees and stamp duty, and also getting far far less for much the same price. I'll park my Boomer arse right where I am, thank you very much.

I love my garden and am busy simplifying it against the day it all gets too much. I have a dog and will get a cat after I retire. I'm training to be a volunteer guide in a Sir John Soane-type museum, to keep my brain in gear.

I would love to travel, and the moment Japan opens up, I'll blow a shitload of money taking DD there. :o

Should have said, much the same price as my house is worth.

I'm going to be a snowbird and travel between new Zealand and the Pacific Islands, six months in NZ, six months in the islands. I don't plan to stop working until I'm in my 70s.

Just separated from DP of 20 years and still have a teenage son at home and potentially a mortgage for many years yet even though I could retire in two years. I didn’t fancy retirement with a DP who did not want to do anything but it’s quite daunting facing it alone. I hope to travel if I can afford it and will do some volunteer work .I also want to
lose some weight to give my health the best chance. My friends are all buying their retirement homes and planning holidays of a lifetime with their husbands and I can’t help being envious. I was in a meeting where we were discussing what our ideal job would be. I didn’t really know . The facilitator said maybe I would find something I really loved in retirement. I had never thought about it that way .

I'm 63 and already retired. DH is 74 and worked until 3 years ago, so I retired then too . I worked full time for 43 years with a little time off for the children , DH worked full time ( plus a second job at times ) for 51 years.

We had 9 overseas trips to all the "bucket list'" places over the first few retirement years , Europe, Asia, the US, Canada, the Pacific.

We both volunteer ( when covid isn't affecting us) at the local museum as guides, which we love - no we don't work together, always with others so we meet more people.

DH is chairman of our local parish council, I'm secretary of the local WI. I also cook meals for the local church's outreach service, delivering meals to local people in need. All of these things are affected by covid at times but we do the admin jobs remotely as needed.

We're both happy at home too . I'm a reader and a happy cook . DH is a train buff , and he spends hours designing 3-d model train layouts online, and is admin of an online group of enthusiasts.

We've also got our family - one son and his kids are local, and three sons and a daughter about 1,000km away . We're in contact with all of them to one degree or another, mainly Facetime these days. Closer in the future we hope.

We're not rich but life is good and I wouldn't be back working for quids.

I see that I commented on this thread in 2015!
So ... Now have retired( beginning of last year). The savings plan worked out and the fab campervan ( as it turned out to be) is on the drive..

Its not been the first year of retirement and travel planned for obvious reasons, but weve managed a few UK trips and another booked for September... Then hopefully if we can🤞🤞 shall start thinking about planning an extended time away later in the Autumn..

Dh and I are 53. I will get a small NHS pension when I’m 60 (I was part time for many years). Dh won’t get his until he’s 67 our mortgage wind be paid off for a few years yet.
When we eventually retire we will move house, get an allotment, get another dog. Have a couple of holidays abroad each year. I will volunteer in the community, and join clubs / activities.

Am certainly not one of those with massive pension and be able to not think carefully about what we do, but have enough to have a reasonable life if careful..And I do no miss working one iota !

Gardening, grow food, cooking
Dog
Volunteer on Boards
Write
Go to literature festivals
Visit places
Stay fit

My husband has decided that he’s reached the End with his career after 40 years and is planning to retire in the next 12 months. He has spreadsheets of financial scenarios showing that we can afford it. He suggested that we both retire (I’m 54), I have not given any thought to it and can’t imagine it at all - it’s like my brain doesn’t want to go there.
I think we will get him retired first and then I’ll consider my options, but the seed has been sown (and since I found out that my employer is part of the Stonewall situation, it has changed my opinion of them somewhat).

I’m hoping to retire in about 6 years which will be late 50s.

I’m not sure what I will do but am so looking forward to not working. I think I will need a plan as otherwise I might sit on MN all day and much as I love it, what a waste that would be.

So the financial planning to make it happen is done/underway. It’s too soon to really plan my retirement activities as I want to and need to live in the now and not wish life away.