Hello neighbour. 
(Donāt sweat the language mate , learn enough to get by , and in really tricky situation you can always resort to the translation apps on your phone. 
not to put my nose in too far the postā¦butā¦ how did it all go?
also, not that itll help the budget, but volunteer work is meant to be extremely rewarding
im a few decades behind you and thankfully really enjoy work, i dont think ill ever truely āretireā in the sense that i have nothing to doā¦
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Give it time.
The language issue is compounded by the fact that all my reports are in English and the global language for the sector is Englishā¦ Kids are picking it up and my wife already had a pretty good grasp of itā¦
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Didnāt know this thread existed until now.
I did something impulsive in October, quit my job with nothing to replace it.
Initially for family reasons, but the longer Iām not working, the less inclined I am to want to start again.
I know Iāll have to, but fuck me Iām enjoying all this time off.
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Got to 55ā¦there were more n more redundancies on the horizonā¦Local Government had a rule to allow people to leave at 55 and take your pensionā¦I didā¦mester wilkored08 took his a month laterā¦the mortgage had been paid offā¦we manageā¦working for the local council for 36 yearsā¦we had a bit of savingsā¦canāt wait now till Iām 66ā¦Government pension, bus passā¦but would do it againā¦
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Iāve currently got my Army pension, no mortgage, no debt, and am eligable for my bus pass, have been for a year.
Never got round to applying, maybe I should
My wife was so lucky. She was head of an Infants school. Took retirement at 59 on final salary pension (one of the last to qualify) and then qualified for state pension at 60 by just 2 weeks. So one of the last againā¦
I have really enjoyed my first 3 months of full retirement. Hill walks and time in France with my grandchildrenā¦ so far so good.
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Think u can have a rail pass as wellā¦not too sureā¦but these are the things Iām now looking intoā¦
I was one of the unlucky onesā¦have to wait till Iām 66ā¦
I have had free travel on Merseyrail and merseyside buses since 60 and then at 65 I got free travel on all local buses in England. I can get to Ormskirk and Chester by rail but nowhere by rail outside Merseyrail areaā¦ unless I am missing something.
Working and saving hard for a good number of years to be able to slow down at 55.Everything going great till recently when a longterm illness finally forced me to finish a bit earlier than Iād wanted.The wife is being made redundant shortly so we may decide to both take it easy for a bit and see how that fits.
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Yeahā¦you have to weigh up the pros n consā¦we managedā¦but weāre not extravagant with moniesā¦thatās how we got our bolthole in North Yorkshireā¦but everyone is differentā¦so take your time deciding.
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My plan was to work until 60 in August but as things panned out it was taken out of my handsā¦the company I worked for went into terminal decline last year due to gross mismanagement and resulted in a slow, painful death. We were all made redundant between Christmas and New Year.
Iāve not worked since and donāt intend to. My wife and I both receive company pensions we took at 55 and we are fortunate in having good savings. The combined pensions are nowhere near enough to live on so we are going to have to hammer our savings until state pension age which is 7 years away for me and 9 for the Mrs. I also got a redundancy package that equates to about 7 months wages so we should be ok, we have no debt and donāt lead a lavish lifestyle.
The thing Iāve noticed most, and has really surprised me, is Iām full of aches and pains and fall asleep constantly despite getting far more sleep now than when I was working. Tbf Iāve sat around the house now for over 3 months and really need to get the old legs going again, lack of activity is taking itās toll.
The weather has been shite which doesnāt help but once it starts getting warmer I intend to get out and about more, start walking again and be far more active in general. The one thing I know for sure is work is not the answer, I havenāt missed it one fucking jot and the thought of having to crawl out of bed again at 5.30 in the morning to work a 12 hour shift doing a job that was killing me mentally and physically is horrendous.
If as you say you really enjoy work then thatās half the battle, some people are lucky to have jobs they enjoy doing so good luck to them. The flip-side is working 'til 67 while being mentally and physically exhausted and then being too fucked to enjoy whatever time you have left.
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The tiredness lasts for a few months.
I remember falling asleep in a shopping centre after retiring, and not understanding why.
Its a mental and physical withdrawal from work, and it needs to happen.
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Never claimed benefits of any description, bar one 2 month period post Army.
Just did a quick Google search on what I might be entitled to, being that I havenāt worked since October.
Fuck me, what a minefield.
My brother in law has never had a job in the 34 years Iāve known him, and they were literally queuing up at the door to give him benefits.
It makes me feel sick to the stomach thinking about the amount of contributions Iāve made in that time, and even a Google search makes you feel like a fucking scrounger.
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Donāt set me offā¦you want to live next door to my neighboursā¦we always know when they are having a Winter Payment or some kind of Social extra paymentā¦new tvās, new fridges, and absolute tat in the back gardenā¦
This thread could be so useful as the run up to retirement is a proper minefield
Iām of an age where it certainly is part of my thinking now for the future. Early retirement would be nice but the mortgage is an issue.
Iāve worked straight out of uni so a pension pot is there and Iāve actively maxed out my contributions at a level where my employer contributions are also at their peak. Iām also thinking of a private pension for tax purposes and to increase that pot a teeny bit more.
I think in the next 2-3 years Iāll probably need to have a look if early retirement is feasible.
My life manager might not give me permission however if it means Iām home during the day.
This is the hardest part.
After more than 25 years of being apart 6 months a year, being at home all the time is fucking difficult, for both of us
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My wife is still working, so I am building my activity to ensure we have seperate time as well as shared time when she retires.
Its easy to fall into a routine that ends up annoying both of you though. And its a recipe for unhappiness.
Find something!
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