When Will or Did you Retire?

[gbb]

Official age for me is 66 i think, im now 63. Although osteo arthritis has quite severely affected me im still managing at work and did consider id work on a year or so, i love my core job and dont like having nothing to do, yet always struggled for self motivation if left to my own devices.
But, work has just got absolutely stupid, too much 'white noise', so much non core duties and demands, low levelsl of general staff experience and quality, constant pressure, cant attract new staff, new processes....its all an approaching perfect storm of aggravation. Engineering should be the last line of defence...we have become the first, everyone is looking to us to solve everything...i cant wait to get out of there and retirement will probably be at 66 then find a pottering job.

 

[cougie uk]

Cant you just use the Government website that shows you your forecast pension ? Ok its not precise as I believe it only gets updated annually but that would be close enough ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

 

[Ming the Merciless]

When the sex work dries up.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Cant you just use the Government website that shows you your forecast pension ? Ok its not precise as I believe it only gets updated annually but that would be close enough ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

If you log in you can get your exact pension contributions and forecast. Mine shows I need 7 more years to max out state pension or I can pay early if I want to retire earlier than that. I missed some contributions due to career breaks. So I can still pay extra to top those up. I think it’s 4 more actual work years to max it out.

My final salary pension is available as of a few days ago. But the longer I leave it the more it pays each year. I also have addition AVCs I can convert when the time is right.

I suspect I’ll still keep up with something part time but more in a hobby / passion area, as a transitional thing.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Cant you just use the Government website that shows you your forecast pension ? Ok its not precise as I believe it only gets updated annually but that would be close enough ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

And if you do have a Government Gateway a/c it's all there beautifully laid out for you - even shows you how much NI you have paid by the year too.

 

[Big John]

Packed in early at 63. Got the chance of redundancy and I'd been there for 35 years. Finished at the end of Feb 2020 just in time for the first lockdown. Planned to do a shedload of riding but DIY somewhat got in the way (as well as housework!). Manage three half decent rides a week and enjoy many an hour of fettling the bikes. Retirement takes a bit of getting used to after almost 46 years of uninterrupted work but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Never do today what can be put off till tomorrow 😉

 

[dodgy]

I retired at the start of July aged 55. Like I said in another thread, I think this will be the last generation in general terms, to be able to retire in the mid 50s due to a combination of inflation, poorer job choices, house prices and of course the pretty much wholesale expectation that ALL children must go to university (it seems). So I see myself as extremely fortunate.
First few weeks were up and down, I thought I was prepared well but I don't think I was. Now about a month in and it's mainly ups and the downs are brief and exist purely in my head. I now know I made the right decision despite fewer opportunities to really exploit retirement due to the pandemic.
About 20 years ago I really started shovelling cash into my pension, I was driving Skodas when they were deeply unfashionable, my BMW/Porsche driving peers laughing at my expense Most of those guys moved on, I have no idea if they managed to stay in the hamster wheel or not to fund the next expensive car 🤷‍♂️
Anyway, if you're lucky enough to retire in your 50s (and you are lucky), then do it after you have had a right good think about it. I have no regrets.

 

[kayakerles]

Prompted by a different thread, just wondering when most of you plan to (or did) retire, and how your post retirement days will be (or are being) spent.

My current intention is to retire from full time employment in 5 years time at the age of 60, but I'm not sure yet how I will spend my time. All I know is that I want good enough weather to spend most of my time on outdoor pursuits because I'm really not well suited to being an indoor person.

@JtB, did you get to pull off your plan? My response today would be identical to your then-current intention, but I’ll do it at 70. Hope life is treating you right. Whatcha riding these days?

 

[JtB]

@JtB, did you get to pull off your plan? My response today would be identical to your then-current intention, but I’ll do it at 70. Hope life is treating you right. Whatcha riding these days?

Thanks @kayakerles - Yes I did exactly 2 weeks ago today.
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/when-will-or-did-you-retire.191959/post-6486811

Right now I’m not riding due to ongoing lower back / leg pain which the physiotherapist believes is ITB Syndrome. I’m still walking and using the elliptical cross trainer which seem not to aggravate the IT Band (which runs down the side of the leg) and I’m planning a gentle off road ride in the New Forest (Hampshire, UK) for next week to try and ease myself back into the saddle.

The feeling of not having to get up first thing in the morning to go to work is wonderful and I’m enjoying taking my time doing jobs around the house that I used to have to squeeze into the weekends.

I wish you well with your retirement plan.

 

[kayakerles]

Thanks @kayakerles - Yes I did exactly 2 weeks ago today.
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/when-will-or-did-you-retire.191959/post-6486811

Right now I’m not riding due to ongoing lower back / leg pain which the physiotherapist believes is ITB Syndrome. I’m still walking and using the elliptical cross trainer which seem not to aggravate the IT Band (which runs down the side of the leg) and I’m planning a gentle off road ride in the New Forest (Hampshire, UK) for next week to try and ease myself back into the saddle.

The feeling of not having to get up first thing in the morning to go to work is wonderful and I’m enjoying taking my time doing jobs around the house that I used to have to squeeze into the weekends.

I wish you well with your retirement plan.

Thanks, @JtB, looking forward to following your example. Glad to hear the elliptical is working for you, and look forward to hearing of your gentle easing back onto bikes when your body tells you that you are ready. And you can take it easy, this is not a mini vacation, where you have to rush to do the things you want to do and then get back to work! I look forward to telling similar stories in the not too distant future. Perhaps share a picture out and about in the New Forest, when that time comes.

 

[byegad]

I retired 6 years ago aged 55
People said I`d hate it, I`d get bored, I couldn`t afford it!

Ha ha! I love it, never get bored and although less cash I don`t have to pay to get to work, expensive and unhealthy lunches!
Retirement has been a complete joy. How do you get bored when you can do the things YOU want to do when YOU want to do it?

I did it 15 yrs ago, at 55. A gibberment job for 25 yrs, which I grew to detest, pays me a decent-ish sum/month, plus pouring serious cash for the next 10yrs into share save schemes in my 'new' job gave me cash and investments enough to carry me through to my OAP. We don't have vast sums but despite the de-facto zero returns on deposited cash after the banking crash, we have enough.
Some of my ex-colleagues have nearly double my income in retirement and holiday far more often than us, but what I did suited and still suits me. We have a nice, new car every three years or so, live in a nice house and are comfortably off rather than rolling in it, plus, we've had15 yrs of doing what we want when we want.
That is something not many people ever get, let alone for15 years, and counting.

 

[gbb]

Today...and this week, is a perfect example, and a rather sad one, of why I dont look forward to retirement. I dont have any real hobbies, cant even cycle much anymore, always was easily motivated at work, I love my core job, its demanding in a good way, satisfying, gets me out etc etc etc.
On holiday this week with no plans (for obvious reasons). So it's just relax with an odd trip out here and there.....and its driving me nuts, it's so....arghhhhh, I need something to do, I actually feel agitated when I get like this, my heart rate goes up, dont sleep well.
Sad innit .

 

[ColinJ]

I wouldn't call it SAD; I would call it completely BAFFLING!

Why people find what other people tell them to do more interesting than what they tell themselves to do I will never understand!

If I lived for 10,000 years I wouldn't have time to do everything that I'd like to do...

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I gave up work a little over two years ago, aged 55. For years I had thought that it would be the answer to everything, a promised land, free of all the anxieties that made my work so impossible to bear. But when it came it was a huge disappointment, it simply replaced one set of anxieties with a different set. Eight months on, February last year, I was just starting to make progress on dealing with these when covid arrived and that was the end of that, everything has been on hold since then. I still don’t know what ‘retirement’ feels like.

 

[Gunk]

Lots seemed to have retired at 55. I wonder how many worked in the public sector? Those of us that worked in the private sector would be unlikely to call it a day at 55.