Retirement life

[BG2015]

So I retired in the summer from my teaching job after 29 years. I'm nearly 57 so I've retired, early but my love for the job just wasn't there anymore and after recovering from a cancer diagnosis in 2021 I just decided life was too short.

Im waiting to start my very flexible part time freelance job delivering speed awareness courses which I plan on doing for about 12 hours a week.

But I am loving having a slower pace each day. I can't say I've been bored at all.

I've enjoyed swimming three times a week, walking with a local Nordic walking group, meeting a couple of friends for coffee, reading, cooking new things from scratch for our evening meal ( I live with my DP, adult son and his gf), watching TV and just pleasing myself.

Anyone else newly retired? How are you finding it?

I retired from my TA job in July, I’m 60. I’m absolutely loving the freedom. My husband is younger than me so is still working. We’ve got a few trips planned and it’s so lovely not having to fit around school holidays. Loving this thread!

I wondered that! I think when it comes to early retirement people are either likely to be high earners who have a good private pension or savings, or be from a public sector background. Especially if you started work in the 1980s, public sector pensions were very good. My background is local government.

That is one of the reasons my DH wanted me to retire as we have so much more holiday freedom in terms of choice and cost. We have had three fantastic term time holidays this year and we have enjoyed them so much more. They included a couple of bucket list holidays.

I have already planned and booked an African safari holiday for June next year and am now looking at a European holiday for March/April.

My pension isn't great. I started teaching in 1996 and have paid into my teachers pension since then but it's certainly not brilliant, it's under £20k. I'm doing supply cover now for 2-3 days a week to give it a boost.

We downsized last year in order for me to retire and there was a bit of equity left that paid for a new kitchen and the garden to be sorted.

I've stopped buying 'stuff' and whilst not being totally frugal I'm certainly not spending freely like when I was working fulltime. I reckon I have enough pairs of knickers to last me until I die. 😂

I’m going to do some invigilating to earn a little extra money. My pension isn’t great either but our outgoings are low and DH still works.

No @LornaDuh

I did start work in the 1980s in the NHS mainly.
All of my pension contributions were NHS.

I have had a building job start on my house just before I retired. It is still ongoing.
My MIL died so we had 2 houses to look after. Then 3 months after my MIL’s house was sold, my mother died suddenly.
I could not have coped with working too.

I certainly wasn’t a high earner (less than £30,000) and I don’t have a great pension as I was a school office manager so not eligible for the teacher’s pension. My pension will plug the gap until I get my state pension.

Hi
I am contemplating early retirement at 55 in the next few months . I have worked for the NHS since 1992 and I am done in. I have made a list as long as my arm detailing my dissatisfaction and disbelief in what I am now expected to do as an experienced clinician and I really don’t think I can go on. My DH is incredibly supportive and not ready to retire himself yet so financially, with my reduced pension, we will be ok.
But - why do I feel incredibly guilty?
I have plans to volunteer with a couple of local things and would like to do some bank seasonal immunisation work. I want to spend time with my aging parents. I am not worried about filling my time. But how do I get over the guilt?? Tell me I am being silly.

I know what you mean because I took early retirement and feel vaguely guilty - I think I'll feel better about it when I hit 60 as that used to be the retirement age for women, free prescriptions, etc.

I think it helps to have a plan so you have an answer when people ask you what you are doing with your time. It's a bit of a rude question the way some people phrase it. So for me it helps to do a little voluntary work (or a little paid work would have the same effect).

In your case it would be easy to just say you are doing some bank work and volunteering. No one would know how little or much. You probably won't feel much guilt yourself having lots of free time as long as no one makes you feel guilty. You soon get used to a slower pace of life.

Though I have a friend who retired at the same time as me (58) and I admire the way she answers that question with a flat "I'm not "doing" anything - just enjoying having loads of free time".

Whizz air does an offer for €600 a year where you can take as many flights as you like. The restriction is you can only book 72h or less before the flight.

I met up with former colleagues who are still teaching as one was leaving at half term (an indie school that was going to make redundancies so colleague wanted to leave as her 60th birthday present so it was given the thumbs up by HT). Lots had the half term weariness look but not surprising given the role and I always found the autumn term the longest and toughest. I was asked what are the three best things about not working aside from term time holidays so I said

• being able to stay in bed with a cup of tea at 8.30
• being able to meet friends whenever I wanted which includes going out on a school night and being able to enjoy a weekend away without worrying about getting back early enough on Sunday to do prep
• freedom to try new things

the joy of being able to do stuff when you want cant be underestimated

LGPS is a good pension scheme though but would depend on how long you were enrolled in it.

i worked for an independent SEN school which was part of a children’s charity for LAC children. No LGPS unfortunately.

Ah OK. Shame they didn’t take on board the same conditions as LA schools for their admin staff.

Sorry to read what you’ve gone through, a serious health issue definitely puts everything into perspective.

I am retiring in August 2026 when I’ll be 62 so taking retirement too and I’m looking forward to it! Education has changed so much over the last 20 years that it’s more of a tick box rather doing the core role of teaching. Got a holiday booked for the first two weeks in September and apart from that, I plan to take live much easier - more trips per year and do so more property development what I enjoy!

I may do some exam invigilation if I want to - get to catch up with my colleagues whilst working part time hours.

@MrsPatrickDempsey Indeed why feel guilty.

We are born at a time not of our choosing and we have skills that may not be of our choosing. We just all need to manage through life as best we can.

We are on our first holiday out of school time. So exciting to explore Krakow.

How lovely @BG2015 It adds extra enjoyment knowing you are on holiday in term time. Enjoy!

Inflation was 3.8% in September an important figure for those already taking pensions.

People keep asking me where am i going on hols now i am retired but I dont feel the need to travel. Because i taught all my life I realise I was never really able to do the basic things that other workers took for granted. i.e. lazing about on the weekend, going out in an evening, not having the stressful ups and downs of a school year timetable. Its taken me a year to feel normal and enjoy the smaller things in life, like a long lunch out chatting with friends. I wonder if its maybe not the same for non teachers? (or i am just really boring😂)

@LornaDuh no I'm consultancy /tech.

Still loving retirement 😀

I've been retired/semi retired now for 2 months and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. My finances are fine. We have been away for 4 days on a city break to Krakow which was lovely and spending money was paid out of my supply money. I've not needed to dip into my savings at all and have actually increased my savings because of interest and been able to save a bit too.

I've done 5 days supply work over a three week period which has given me some nice additional spending money. If I can do 6-8 days supply a month that will give me a decent bit of additional money.

Im still waiting to hear about the volunteer role I'm interested in. It's with a charity called Read Easy and I initially showed an interest in it 18 months ago but I'm still waiting to have my training so that I can be paired with a client. The organisation of it is very haphazard and not at all efficient which I find very bizarre, but I'm used to education where everyone works at 100 miles an hour. No idea how the charity sector works but it's certainly not fast.

Life is good.

So pleased to hear you are really enjoying your new found freedom @BG2015 Krakow is on our list of city breaks as have heard many friends say it is lovely.

I’m still enjoying my retirement although I’ve suddenly felt a bit, I’m not sure how to explain it, discombobulated!

I started at the cat rescue, which is something I’ve always wanted to do , but after reassuring everyone that I was resilient and wouldn’t want to bring them all home, I found I was fretting about some of the cats. I took a particular shine to one cat and although I knew we couldn’t afford another one (we currently have 3) I was becoming too emotionally involved so decided to stop volunteering. It’s made me feel a bit rubbish and I hate letting the cat rescue down. I feel as though everyone is now expecting me to come up with my next plan, but I don’t have one!

I think I might look for a part-time job (no more than 2 days a week) even if it’s a Xmas temp job, just to bring a bit of structure back into my life.

@Icequeen01 sorry to hear about the cat rescue place. It does take time to feel settled doesn't it.