Pension stuff, how's it all looking ? HAve you prepared ?

[Count Steer]

I'm still struggling with what i'll actually be doing day to day though. If i have my way, it won't be in the UK though, it'll be in Burgundy... but i don't know how plausible that is at the moment.

Until you can imagine what you'll do (and you've a few years left to think about it) I'd say a) don't retire and b) then retire here first for a while before going to Burgundy - if you can't occupy yourself happily here, in France, unless you buy and restore a ruin, you'll be twiddling your thumbs - in French

When the time comes it's also worth seeing if you can taper by going, say, 3 days/week and see how it goes.

PS You could train as a bicycle mechanic, there's a few locally doing it from home and you've probably got as much experience as some of them.

[weeksy]

PS You could train as a bicycle mechanic, there's a few locally doing it from home and you've probably got as much experience as some of them.

Indeedy, although i'm not sure i'd bother 'training' as such, but yeah, doing mechanic stuff to pass some time would actually be quite nice in some ways. The only downside to that being i'd be quite selective on what i spanner on £200 shitters ain't coming into my garage that's for sure

[Count Steer]

PS You could train as a bicycle mechanic, there's a few locally doing it from home and you've probably got as much experience as some of them.

Indeedy, although i'm not sure i'd bother 'training' as such, but yeah, doing mechanic stuff to pass some time would actually be quite nice in some ways. The only downside to that being i'd be quite selective on what i spanner on £200 shitters ain't coming into my garage that's for sure

Yeah, some of the earlier technical courses look a bit noddy but I like doing courses.

The Cytech Tech 3 and e-Tech courses look useful and they run them in Oxford (Tech 3 includes wheel building).

[Mr. Dazzle]

Just to make it really boring like..you'd probably need the quals to help with getting insurance? You'd need insurance to cover a) people's stuff getting nicked while it's in your care and b) people getting hurt as an alleged result of your work?

Sounds like a job to me.

Life is never straightforward

[weeksy]

Just to make it really boring like..you'd probably need the quals to help with getting insurance? You'd need insurance to cover a) people's stuff getting nicked while it's in your care and b) people getting hurt as an alleged result of your work?

Sounds like a job to me.

Life is never straightforward

You're likely correct on all of the above matey... which is why it'll arguably not happen lol.

[Mussels]

I've had liability insurance in the past, they were interested in the line of work but not any qualifications.
It is a good point though, doing business involves some regular costs so you need to do x amount of work to cover those costs plus time spent on paperwork. It makes odd jobs a bit less attractive even if it's just filling in a self assessesment tax return.

[Docca]

I don’t know squat about money. I do know that we’ve always spent what we’ve got. Yes, I have ‘some’ savings- but it’s negligible.

My kids currently: 17, 15, 12 x2 and 10. Off the top of my head, current kids costs include:

- driving lessons @ £36/ lesson (2 a week)

- horse riding @£65 per lesson per week

- drama club @£50 per week

- trumpet lessons @£60 per week

- art lessons @£40 per week

- school trip stuff. Currently £800 this month ( for 2 trips). Usually 5 trips a year.

That’s before you get in to clothes, commuting, furniture, other hobbies, food etc.

For grown ups: I now commute to London once a week. Once you get your train fare, lunch, parking - that’s £80 a week.

Then the mortgage is £2.5k /month

My pension is going to be ok, but the kids need to move out to give me a fighting chance

[Yambo]

I'm still struggling with what i'll actually be doing day to day though. If i have my way, it won't be in the UK though, it'll be in Burgundy... but i don't know how plausible that is at the moment.

Until you can imagine what you'll do . . .

I'm not so sure you can do that. The fact is, once retired you can do what you want to do - at that time - and what you think about now may not be what you think about later. What you will have of course is time to do what you want and when you want.

I have a couple of hobbies; I make model boats but it's not a business, not work so I don't spend all day every day butchering small bits of wood. It's very much a wet winter day pastime now as good days are going to be different, mainly outdoor days. A few years ago I made some boats and paddleboards. Right now I'm repairing/refurbing the paddleboards after 5 years of abuse. I made them so it seems to be my responsibility to remake them. Making the boats was a bit of therapy for me but the work now is more like work and I'm finding it hard to motivate myself. I don't watch the telly so evenings are spent reading, popping into here and other forums and if the skies are clear trying to take photos of stuff you can't see. The reading and forum stuff is usually part of the learning curve for that. If I'm up late, I have the time to sleep late.

The simple fact is, when you have time to play with, you can do what you want. Maybe just sit and watch football or soaps on t'box, drink tea with friends, walk in the hills, ride your bike, whatever.

Planning that sort of shit is impossible because you know full well the plan goes out the window with first contact with the enemy. At best, you'll make up your mind in the evening what you might do tomorrow. Next week? Who the fuck knows what's going to go down!

[Count Steer]

When i look at what we spend, "discretionary" items are actually quite a way down the list! Mortgage, school, food, utilities, various insurances and the like.....they're easily rhe majority of my spending.

I just totted up a typical month of debits for the two of us inc house bills, petrol, food, car(s) parking etc etc (didn't include stuff like coffees, clothes or other non-essentials and there were no car taxes or insurances that month, also have no mortgage) - £1300

(The for the month besides that was an unexpected £1800 bill for car repair/service/MOT...I expected it to be about £360 )

I could squeeze quite a bit out of that ie run one car, buy cheaper food, use less energy etc but that's where the 'comfy' bit comes in.

[weeksy]

I reckon you know when it’s time to retire and if you don’t feel the pull of it then it’s not time.

Nah, i could happily agree with the idea today.... the bank account disagrees.... if i never went to work when i was 30-40-50 i'd have been fine with it

[Bustaspoke]

I just totted up a typical month of debits for the two of us inc house bills, petrol, food, car(s) parking etc etc (didn't include stuff like coffees, clothes or other non-essentials and there were no car taxes or insurances that month, also have no mortgage) - £1300

(The for the month besides that was an unexpected £1800 bill for car repair/service/MOT...I expected it to be about £360 )

I could squeeze quite a bit out of that ie run one car, buy cheaper food, use less energy etc but that's where the 'comfy' bit comes in.

Because I had been planning to retire/go part time for a few years I had been keeping an eye on the monthly outgoings & for me it's £1000 a month plus any holidays.When I was asking ex workmates & a few friends who'd retired they all commented that you don't need a lot of money for everyday expenses.

[Dodgy69]

I'm gonna get some retirement practice in soon. Finish work on the 21st and having the summer off.

I'll find a bit of a job after that. ☹

[Horse]

Until you can imagine what you'll do . . .

I'm not so sure you can do that. The fact is, once retired you can do what you want to do - at that time - and what you think about now may not be what you think about later. What you will have of course is time to do what you want and when you want.

Planning that sort of shit is impossible because you know full well the plan goes out the window with first contact with the enemy. At best, you'll make up your mind in the evening what you might do tomorrow. Next week? Who the fuck knows what's going to go down!

There was another WWII general who said something like 'planning is essential, plans are worthless'.

I posted a list earlier. How much of it happens, well, as you eloquently phrase it, "Who the fuck knows". That list is a starting point. Actually, the latest starting point, as a couple of other ideas haven't persevered.

But what I don't want to do is wake up every morning thinking 'now what?'

My dad lived to 91, my mum is 95. That could be a lot of long boring days.

[Count Steer]

One more snippet, as a rule of thumb, because of 'fixed' costs two don't live as cheaply as one. Apparently one needs 75% of what two need.

Given the rough £1k+ per month figure that seems typical, my suggestion would be aim for
a minimum of double what your fixed costs are going to be. Then work out how often you can do stuff like holidays, new cars, clothes, house projects, meal out etc etc and keep an emergency fund for unforeseen expenses like roof (car ) repairs. If you can top that up a bit from the monthly incoming then so much the better, that way it doesn't just dwindle and disappear.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

My retirement plan is to do feck all, I'm going to sit round, drink cups of tea and bore anyone daft enough to talk to me with tall tales of how fast I was, so not much different to now really apart from not having to go to work, I might have an easy to ride motorcycle to potter round on when the weather is nice. I've done foreign travel, I've raced motorcycles, I've had adventures, I could die this afternoon and be happy that I've lived a full life, don't wait for retirement to do things, you might not get there.

[Horse]

don't wait for retirement to do things, you might not get there.

Good point.

Everything on my list is stuff I do now or have done before. The difference is that I'll have more time to do more of them, if I want to.

[Cousin Jack]

After retirement, if you get bored, volunteer!

Lots of things can be interesting, I have done Citizens Advice, Coastwatch, and Trustee of a local Multi Academy Trust, but that is just my choice. Huge range of stuff you can do, ranging from the odd hour every few weeks to pretty well full time, and to suit just about every interest.

[JackyJoll]

I'm not a religious man but I feel like the right door will open when it's time, as Mr Jagger said, you don't always get what you want, but if you try real hard...

When one door shuts, another one closes.

[Yorick]

After retirement, if you get bored, volunteer!

Lots of things can be interesting, I have done Citizens Advice, Coastwatch, and Trustee of a local Multi Academy Trust, but that is just my choice. Huge range of stuff you can do, ranging from the odd hour every few weeks to pretty well full time, and to suit just about every interest.

I volunteered to all the charity shops in Thame. Offering mainly my computer skills. Didn't get 1 answer.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

After retirement, if you get bored, volunteer!

Lots of things can be interesting, I have done Citizens Advice, Coastwatch, and Trustee of a local Multi Academy Trust, but that is just my choice. Huge range of stuff you can do, ranging from the odd hour every few weeks to pretty well full time, and to suit just about every interest.

I volunteered to all the charity shops in Thame. Offering mainly my computer skills. Didn't get 1 answer.

You should have offered to help the old bideys behind the counter with a good stuffing