Well its happened – I've (sort of retired).

blacklion1725 wrote:

I hope all my fellow pensioners on here will welcome me to their ranks

I bid you a hearty welcome to the next stage of your life!!??? You’ll find it a lot different.

I had two practise runs at it, first when I took early redundancy from BT and went to work with /for – I’m still not really sure – the wife. That was a complete transition from employee to part boss!!

The second time was when we stopped work when the wife got ill. That was also a complete change which included selling the house to ( theoretically  because that was caught up in the financial crash, Dec ’08) go mortgage free because we were both at home, not earning, moving out to the country ( cheaper properties ) and starting over.

You know yourself, ( be very honest ) so it’s a case of recognising what will work for you and whether the risk merits the reward. Best of luck.

I had to hit the ranks of the Gone But Not Forgotten in my late Fifties BL, when an old spinal injury almost made me a quadriplegic. I eventually became a self-employed designer/printer, after the worst workplace I ever knew: a County Council Disabled post: that’s even after some Army postings which had some real uniformed pigs. I eventually called it a day when I had made a decent retirement fund out of printing, with the back up of a small HMF pension which has been good for us.

At one point I considered a job at B&Q, but the 40 mile round trip to the Grimsby depot was economically silly, the small Louth store was always fully-staffed and I thought, why deprive someone of a job they need more than I do? Plus we like to get out to beaches and beauty spots whenever we feel like it, accompanied by any grandbrats going spare. Which brings me to a good point: do you have grandchildren? One of the joys of retirement we found when our 4 were young, was borrowing one or two on a School holiday and taking them to the beach for a picnic and a good play. Now even the youngest is too old and has her mates: I miss all that.

Today and in the last few weeks, my health has improved until I can get in the garden. In the last couple of days I have turned over much of it and planted 6 different roses, and I love roses! The real bonus of the garden is that SWMBO’s gardening skills are OK, but totally chaotic: she plants so much stuff in one small area. I have been busily annoying her by buggering rectifying her work. It has been an amusing pastime, ??. I have also found the tiny gap where the pesky rabbit gets in to chew our plants, and blocked it up. I had thought of borrowing next door’s daft Jack Russell bitch to catch the little barsteward, but the JR is 15 years old, half deaf and half blind.

Whatever you decide to take up your time BL, make it your own. One thing I remember my big bro saying some years ago: it costs you money to go to work. I never understood that until I stopped. You might also find, after a couple of years, that you do not have enough time to do everything you want and you may wonder  at the fact that you are busier than you were at work. Wives, I found, have a plan for when you are at home and able to carry out all those jobs that you didn’t know they had been planning.  in expectation of your presence at home. I have a mate who rings me a couple of times a month for some “help” that he does not really need. That’s my escape to an hour’s drive and a day out!

Good Luck and Good Health in your retirement.

BL, why not try a local Garden Centre? I know a local guy who retired last year and says he loves it. As he was an Estate Agency worker, he admits to struggling at first, but now loves working there and doubles the job up with driving the boss to various farms, market gardens and other suppliers, once or twice a week. Apparently the boss lost his licence to a breathalyser and he wants the guy to carry on driving him when he gets his licence back. The bonus is that the centre does meals and all the staff eat there free.

He is the source of two of my roses. Good chap!

You don’t have to worry about knowing nowt about plants BL: the bloke I spoke about was in the same boat at first. They put him on tills and garden furniture sales, with a couple of hours here and there in the huge plant areas. Now he has learned quite a bit from others and can talk plants with the best of horticulturists.

He loves the open air part, having been an office worker most of his life after being an Army Clerk. Don’t tell Steve, but he comes from the ‘pool and is an Evertonian!

I was made redundant at 60. Tbh I was completely burned out having spent the best part of the previous 15 years in airliners going from place to place over most of Africa, mainland Asia and the Middle East. Jet-setting is definitely a young persons job. As a result I vowed to pretty much eliminate air travel and turned down the consultancies I was offered. Instead I took the volunteer path and finished up being just as busy as I was in full time occupation – but without all the jet-lag!

One word of advice re-volunteering, avoid being Secretary or Treasurer for an organization, as you will finish up being almost solely responsible for getting anything done – 95% of the population just sit back on their nether ends and criticise. The Committee will welcome you with open arms as sometimes such jobs are thankless but very difficult to find anyone mug enough to step in to replace you.

Make the most of your retirement you and your wife have some golden years ahead. Just count your blessings you were not hit with it when you were 50, as that hits both with lack of prospects and lack of income but all the financial burdens. I have genuine sympathy for anyone in that position.

That is a good plan, flexible yet with a number of good outcomes. Returning briefly to my comment about job searching being a fast route to depression, clearly you would not be averse to a suitable offer at some point, that is good, pressing to get something ASAP is what I was thinking about. I left work at 56, the company was clearly failing and my main drive for a while had been to protect and build up my pension. It was a relief to leave and I saved a fortune in travel costs.