What are your retirement plans?

[ladymuck]

Retirement === whatever you want it to be, doing whatever your heart desires on that day.

Or, as my parents say, every day feels like Sunday.

[DealorNoDeal]

Retirement for me.

Pursue some other business plans (not IT contractor related), side hustles as they say in the US.
Exercise!, lots of time for running, cycling, walking and gym
Hobbies such as landscape gardening, improving my French and piano skills
Continue and put more time into investing and crypto crap trading, passive income growth
Actually have time to tidy up and clean the house properly! DIY jobs list that gets ever longer
Travel around the UK, loads of it I hardly know
Cooking, lots of time for more adventurous cooking and eating
Learning, there a tonnes of technical areas I would like to learn, but my current IT career doesn't cover. AI, machine learning for example
Volunteer for outside work related to climate change, pollution, wildlife preservation
Sleep! More time for good quality sleep!

And that's just the start. So excited to not wast 8+ hrs per day doing dull, big client, IT work


FREEDOM!

If it's warm and sunny, go out all day! If it's cold and raining, work on my indoor hobbies. TOTAL FREEDOM!

Do you do much of that currently in your free time (evenings, weekends, bank holidays, days off)?

The trouble is, many of us don't do much in our spare time other than chores or kicking back. Free time is just break time between going to work.

If you're not careful, it can become a problem when every day is just like the weekend.

[SueEllen]

Or, as my parents say, every day feels like Sunday.

Saturdays are much more fun.

I will pass on retirement if it's like a Sunday.

[jamesbrown]

Retirement === whatever you want it to be, doing whatever your heart desires on that day.

Imagine spending 30 years of your life doing something you hate. What a waste.

[AtW]

Saturdays are much more fun.

I will pass on retirement if it's like a Sunday.

Friday evening better!

[NotAllThere]

If you are near retirement age (55+), and don't have a fully paid off house and £1.5 million from investments, WTF have you been doing over the last 30 years with your earnings from contracting!

I spent most of it one wine, women and song. The rest I just frittered away.

[courtg9000]

Do you do much of that currently in your free time (evenings, weekends, bank holidays, days off)?

The trouble is, many of us don't do much in our spare time other than chores or kicking back. Free time is just break time between going to work.

If you're not careful, it can become a problem when every day is just like the weekend.

Trust me on this as I am going through it right now, you need stuff to fill up the time. Not vague stuff like the odd bit of DIY or a fortnight here or there in Benidorm.

[OwlHoot]

I'll start first.

BR14 isn't entirely wrong in telling me to go back home again and again. No offence taken here, I am thicker than that.

But this question has been present in conversations for some time. Most of the people that I know have considered or are considering leaving in the next few years.

Some of the complaints, rent is high and can't potentially imagine owning a place that is not in a forgotten part of the world surrounded by people that you find difficult to associate with.
London is nice, not that much community wise but more interesting people around. Always something to do. (or as it was before covid)

Food is getting worse, takeaway is expensive and finding anything organic is difficult. You have to stay in an affluent area, surrounded by rich people to have access to it. Processed food has been on the increase in all countries especially in this era of stagnant wages and masked inflation. People have to tighten the belt... but in the long term can't see how that is not creating more health problems.

Weather has not been great and I think has been challenging my mental health for the previous weeks.

Permanent salaries are a joke, 65k/year is 4.1k net, you'd be lucky to put anything aside for rainy days or for medical emergencies like dental. How can you even save out of that? It might be good up north but in SE... you'd have to go into a shared house.

I've tried Sweden for a 6m gig, weather is worse, food is nice but people are empty. At least around here people are a bit more down to earth, witty.
Everything is expensive and you have to live really frugal. They are just deceptively wealthy, in terms of purchasing power, I can't see how they can to put food on the table on the generic 3k salaries that you see.

Eastern Europe is deserted, most of the good workers are in the West slaving away with the hope of a better life but probably plenty of them get through the same deception. Stories that I hear is that you can't find good plumbers, construction workers. Salaries have gone up significantly but a lot of people have migrated.

I am trying to find some hope at least but it seems that my generation without inheritance is doomed to slave away in the modern politically correct establisment. Drinking their sorrows and looking for meaningless relations on tinder.

Am I not seeing the full side of the glass?

Over the last 200 years or so, Stradivarius violins have gradually been tuned ever higher, to give them a more cheerful sound, and of course this involves tightening all the strings. Unfortunately, the downside is that every now and then a Stradivarius can't take the extra tension it was never designed for, and it literally implodes in a cloud of sawdust!

Much the same has been happening with tax: Every time some politician or well-meaning do gooder campaigns for more spending, that ultimately means more tax to pay for it, and in the long run that weighs us all down in just the way you summarised. For example, look how much council tax has risen over the last several years. It has nearly doubled.

If tax rises any more, however noble the motive, I reckon the whole economy will implode much like one of those Stradivarius violins!

[Whorty]

I could retire today on a modest net spend each year of £30k with my cash running out when (if) I get to 95 .... but I struggle to fill the 5 days I have off now (I only work 2 days a week) so the thought of having 7 days off and no work to distract me is not a great thought. If you have someone to share the time/experiences with then it would be different, but having all that time free alone can be lonely.

I cycle most days, which covers about 2 hours, I read for an hour or 2, I'm starting to go hiking again this weekend, but at age 51, retirement is a long, long time! Ironically, even though I can stop work, I'm actually asking the company for more days. Not for the money, but for the interaction with others and to keep me busy until I work out what I want to do with my life.

I do enjoy driving my new car though .... that is a 'hobby' I'm getting in to

[DealorNoDeal]

Trust me on this as I am going through it right now, you need stuff to fill up the time. Not vague stuff like the odd bit of DIY or a fortnight here or there in Benidorm.

I know exactly where you're coming from. I took early retirement 9 years ago. The first couple of years or so were fine, I was just glad to be free of the shackles and all the BS. There have been times when I've missed my old life, even though I was sick of it at the time. (The grass always seems greener whichever side you're on. )

In my case, it was a choice to bin it. For you, it sounds like health issues may have partly forced it upon you. And maybe your options for an alternative to work are more limited?

I reckon it's probably easier if you already have a burning passion before you retire. Something you already spend most of your free time doing. I didn't, and that's made it harder.

One other thing I've learned. Don't just have outside hobbies if you retire in this country!