Retirement: is it all it's cracked up to be?

I agree with everyone who thinks retirement is wonderful. Aren't we lucky! So, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow, or at least not too far off, we ....

In a word, yes

A lot probably depends on your circumstances. If health and money are fine and friends and/or family near I am sure most people will enjoy it. I also feel fairly certain the first 10 years or so will be good for most. For most people old age and retirement go together and, as they say, old age is not for wimps - certainly not for some.

It is really good that your pension drops into your bank regularly though, without you having to feel any anxiety about how secure your income is - even if it is not a lot that feels good.

So
Pension - good
Aging - debatable
Company - slowly disappearing

Enjoy the first years of your retirement - they may be as good as it gets!

Retirement is far better than I ever imagined it would be. It's the gift that keeps on giving. However, my OH is still working so we have enough to live on and I can see that a life of even comparative penury wouldn't be much fun so do your financial planning.

There is a forum on the Martin Lewis Moneyfacts website entitled 'Mortgage Free Wannabe' which has many people who planned for early retirement by overpaying their mortgages and learning to budget very efficiently. They live on shirt buttons and have all the benefits of retirement which, as others have pointed out are freedom, autonomy and choice. It's a useful site as the MFW thread and all of the other sections give brilliant advice on domestic economy. For instance, the energy thread has saved us £70 a month on dual-fuel and we had a PPI reclaim cheque recently for nearly £400.

Unless you are rich or have a more than adequate pension you will need to learn to live a non-materialistic life and enjoy the free stuff like reading, walking, volunteering, joining clubs and societies, nature, gardening and so on. Living frugally can often be fun. I now make the bread, cakes and preserves I used to buy.

Go for it.

Hate the loneliness

For me if its cracked up to be good then yes, it is. Forget all that stuff about boredom, not time for that.

Why is it good? Because:

we have enough money, carefully managed
we can do things on impulse
we have enough room to get away from each other
we are 'married for better or worse but not for lunch'
we can do our own thing if we wish or do things together if we wish, mostly we do things together
can live in jeans and no make up when I want
no more aspirations
no annual appraisals
only mix with people of our own choosing
live where the air is fresh
no commuting
can put things off if we don't feel like doing them today

I could go on and on ........................

i am really enjoying my retirement, bowling, exercising, looking after GD when needed, out with my daughter, shopping, cinema, gardening and greenhouse, coffee mornings with friends and my sister, visiting old friends and most of all no alarm clock!!! lol.
I also enjoy the challenge of working our state pension so that we live on that with out touching our savings. I have gone back to the old way of putting money in envelopes each month to pay for things like xmas, birthdays, window cleaner, petrol etc. The utility bills are paid DD, and what ever is left we have to make do. But as i say i dont mind as long as bills are paid we can cut down on food, we are not big eaters. Interest from savings pays for holidays and any unexpected surprises ie car repairs and service or new appliances for home. Life is what you make it and i love mine.

Retired last September and never looked back. It's brilliant!

There is of course a downside to the advice of saving all you can for retirement. The OP is 42 she should be having the time of her life not saving every penny for a retirement which let's face it may never come or be curtailed by illness or disability. A balance needs to be struck and this is why sensible financial planning should start as early as possible but enjoy your 40's and 50's. You will never get them back.

I echo Thingmajig's comment. This is the happiest time of my adult life. Much more content.
Having enough pension to cover our needs plus a bit over each month helps a lot, we have far more disposable income than when we were working.
We have almost enough time for our many interests and friends (an extra couple of days a week would help)
I have never regretted retiring.

campaspe I echo much that has already been said the most important thing is to get the finances in order. Long before we were due to retire I started a spreadsheet for what I estimated would be monthly income and expenditure (I run one all the time anyway) and we worked out that we could retire early if we did certain things and depending on what we wanted retirement to be. It gave me a good feeling of security and helped us achieve our plans early.

However on another note yes I do miss work colleagues terribly and as we moved far away from where we lived I don't see them although a few FB and Twitter. I had to try several things before I discovered the hobbies and interests I wanted to pursue and initially when something didn't work out or I didn't like it (WI, U3A being a school governor) I felt like a failure but I don't mind that now at least you don't have to carry on doing something you don't like when you're retired.

Whether retirement is everything it is cracked up to be depends entirely on the retiree. There are a people who have no interests, no get up and go and no imagination - people you are unlikely to find on gransnet and many of these are bored stiff.

I read a letter from someone like that in a newspaper a couple of years ago. He was complaining about the quality of day time television because 'once you were retired that was all there was for retired people to do.' DH worked with several people who were dreading retirement because they had no idea how they would occupy their time

One advantage of retirement is a secure regular income, whether it is just the state pension or topped up with an occupational or personal pension, that money comes in each month as regular as clockwork and is not dependent on you going to work, not taking sick leave etc etc.

The best you can do Campaspe is deal with your current work problem, and not use the promise of distant retirement as an excuse for inaction now. Then start saving and planning your life to maximise your income in retirement, adjust your life style if necessary so that you go into retirement as fit and as healthyly as possible and develop a range of interests and activities that will launch you into an active and sociable retirement life. And bear in mind the possibility, as ever in life, that totally unexpected events can blow you completely off course.

I'm semi retiring in July and I can't wait. I do two part time jobs which equate to full time work. The one two days in the NHS is highly stressful and I am literally counting down the weeks so I can finish. The other 3 days in an adolescent counselling service I really like and so to supplement my two small pensions (I can't get state pension until next year because of the pension changes) I am going to do a new role with them and work 4 days a month which means I can manage financially. Best of all I am relocating and will be very close to my daughters and will be able to see them and my grandchildren every day if I want to.

I am divorced so live alone and enjoy my freedom after an awful marriage. However I left my previous job and retrained as a therapist in my forties so it's not too late to start another career if you are unhappy . I even liked my NHS job previously( worked there 12 years it's only changes in the last 3 which have caused the stress and I've hung on because of the pension or would have left that too) Life is too short to be unhappy change whatever you can. Good luck.

I agree with Luckygirl-you just don't know what's round the corner. You must somehow enjoy what you're doing NOW while looking forward to retirement too.
If you have your health and are happy and have no money worries it's wonderful.
DH and I are both well (well, mustn't grumble!) and have enough money to live on. We're enjoying our interests and spending time with DDs and DGC too.
So many folks don't reach retirement so try to enjoy your life as it is-it may be all there is

I think that to really enjoy retirement you and your DH need to be thinking along the same lines. Will you want to do things together, or will you be happy having completely separate interests and perhaps just meeting up in the evenings? Will you be taking up new hobbies or will you be throwing yourselves into volunteering or fund raising?

If one of you wants to potter about at home and the other wants to be out doing things it can get difficult.

Absolutely, it's definitely the best time of our lives!!!

Don't want to. I enjoy working in my job. B----y MOJ ageism.

Retirement for me is definitely all it's cracked up. I agree with my mother (who died at 101) that it is getting old that isn't.

Brilliant. No don't miss work although sometimes the children and my colleagues ( I was a teacher) . Probably enjoying this stage more than any...we can please ourselves, see grandchildren, no longer have aged parents to care for etc. Best thing we did was to go away to a remote cottage at the start of retirement...naturally slows your pace down. We both do voluntary work including taking on a guide dog puppy. Obviously drop in income but we manage.

I love it!

But please please do not wish your life away - it will go quite fast enough! Don't make this your focus, as you do not know what is around the corner. We had no sooner retired than OH was diagnosed with PD and I had an accident that limited my mobility. You need to try and enjoy where you are now.

Agree with merlotgran born to retire! I always knew I would be happier when older.
retirement is freedom, it is having time both for hourself and others, not always feeling tired.
however, I did enjoy being your age as well .

Is retirement all its cracked up to be? Yes! A thousand times yes! Its really worth looking forward to. Plan for it asap and save any extra you can possibly afford. Look on it as buying your freedom! Good luck.

I was born to retire!

Hi Campapse
Not sure what your job or your DH job is, but to get state pension you have got a least 25yrs.
So is it that you are tied to your job at present by your work pension, that will allow you in turn to retire in fifteen years time?
So sad that you want to rush in to retirement when you have a life In front of you.
I hope that you are able to perhaps change track somehow and make the present count.
It has been said 'The number one killer of people is retirement' (Kill Bill vol 2)

Sorry annodomini