Re: I can retire

Only boring people become bored, RC.

There is so much more to life than work - as I found when I retired.

Re: I can retire

I retired a few years ago. I still do a bit of technical consultancy. A few grand a year but, more importantly, keeps the brain cells ticking over.

Re: I can retire

I’m retiring in 2 years time at 60 if everything goes to plan but who knows

Re: I can retire

Just seen this in today’s paper

Holiday homes you get paid cash to stay in!
https://mol.im/a/6801511


Food for thought if retired /bored/extra income etc


Retirees are boosting their pensions by working as professional house-sitters
Pensioners can pocket £29 a day keeping a watchful eye on people's property
Homesitters Ltd says it saw a 14% increase in applicants between 2017 and 2018
Pensioners can pocket as much as £29 a day keeping a watchful eye on people's property and caring for their pets.
Clive Noble, 72, and wife Yolande, 67, have made hundreds of pounds a year staying in empty care homes, bungalows and even a Gothic property rumoured to have belonged to the Marquess of Queensbury.
On their first job they spent their silver wedding anniversary looking after a goldfish called Mary. Yolande applied to Homesitters Ltd about 15 years ago after a house-sitting stint for her sister.
The Nobles, who live in Shropshire, regularly return to a stately home in the Midlands where they look after a Bernese mountain dog. In the winter of 2017 they stayed for four-and-a-half months in a Liverpool care home.
Before their second career, the couple had run shops selling fishing tackle and outdoor clothing.
Yolande says nothing has gone dramatically wrong in their 15 years of house-sitting, but it is important to prepare for what might happen.
She says: 'We thoroughly enjoy house-sitting, it has taken us to places we never would have gone to before. It makes us feel useful and keeps us active. While we are retired we don't just want to sit around doing nothing.'
Clive says: 'It's not just about making savings on gas and electricity — house-sitting allows us to travel without expense.

Re: I can retire

I.m so envious, I really can't wait to retire and do things if and when I want to. I don't mind my job, well, one of them but i.d rather not work. I.d rather please myself what I do and when I do it.

One thing with me is for sure, I will never be bored when I retire, i.ve so much I want to do but don't have time to do because work gets in the way.

Re: I can retire

I do know a bit about home pet caring for dogs, after all that was my line of business for almost 25 years. What people do not know is that however it is dressed up it is home boarding which requires have a licence to do so if being paid when the dog stays in the cares home.

Staying in the owners home while they are on holiday doesn't require a licence
On thing that always catches people out is companies that find homes for dogs to stay in CLAIM the company licence covers the person doing the dog boarding, This is misinformation, only the home owner who does the boarding must have a licence to do so not any company advertise this

Re: I can retire

Having retired early myself I believe it’s down to finances, that possibly applies to the majority of us, but it also depends on your mindset. If you are a person who ‘lives to work’ then full retirement may be difficult, a person who ‘works to live’ may find it easier.

Personally my way to retirement at 70 (when it suited me) was firstly semi-retirement at 60 from a very stressful and demanding job. Semi-retirement was achieved with the help of a small personal pension I could take early and still semi-retired I lived alright until I could take the State Pension. This coincided with moving home so using various finances put in place previously, plus a lump sum from the personal pension, I finished my mortgage and moved to a rural village. Using technology and the internet, I continued working as self-employed but semi-retired.

It was only then that I realised just how stressful my life had been, it was like a heavy weight lifted from me! A year later though I had a heart attack so probably just as well I had semi-retired so lessening the stress. It was another nine years before I fully retired at 70. No regrets at all, after a 55-year working life it was time I had a well-earned rest and time to myself.

The only noticeable problems experienced financially is the extortionate £50 a week Council Tax, basically to empty my wheelie bin once a week (this never goes down either) plus the ever-increasing cost of repairs to items around the house. Items like a central heating system in need of replacement is also quite some outlay when retired.

All in all though and from my experience, I would say just plan as much as you can so as to either semi-retire or fully retire early. Often things don’t work out as planned but if you plan as much as possible then any obstacles, such as I experienced, are easier to overcome.

Above all, and this can apply to anyone, life can be short so why spend it working if you don’t really have to? We all get just the one life!

There is a lot of retirement advice out there too if you need it, see some of this on the links below:

https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice....rly-retirement

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.u...-of-redundancy

Re: I can retire

Good advice Mups. If you wish to leave property then not suitable IMO

Re: I can retire

You must make your own decision of course, but what I will say is that I don't know anyone who has retired, either at the official age or earlier and is now bored
Neither do I know anyone who retired early and regrets it

I was one of the last to get my bus pass at 60; and I could take a couple of private/occupational pensions
I then worked out that if I gave up my car and used the bus I could afford to retire early, which I did, at 61
I could still get around, and now & again I hired a car, though I bought one when my state pension kicked in at 65

I have no shortage of things to do -

Hiking & backpacking, either on my own or with the Backpackers Club
Making model planes, something I've done since I was a schoolboy
Visiting places - friends, relations, museums, blues festivals
I've started another hobby - knife making, I buy the blades then fit & make the handles & sheaths
So that means I've learned some leatherwork, and I've started to make belts
Something I call, for want of a better description, as "looking at England" - villages, stately homes, castles and so on. And not just the pretty places - I like industrial museums as well
I would start a Men's Shed if I could find anyone to help me

Friends who are retired, early or otherwise, have spent time on their hobbies, like backpacking, golf, fishing, long cycling tours, visiting art galleries; you get the idea
None of these things need cost a vast amount of money

I really don't see how anyone can be bored when they retire
But you do have to have some sort of a plan otherwise there is a tendency to drift
Or as a friend advised me - treat retirement like a job

Re: I can retire

You'll need a hobby Primus. I can highly recommend Flirting.