After Retirement

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I'm a few years from retiring and I'm interested how others plan for time in retirement - assuming that pension/ family/ finances are in place. I was talking with someone recently retired who mentioned how it can be difficult to fill some hours in a day. Although I have plenty hobbies and interests I suspect that I probably focus too much at work at the minute. I didn't ever expect to ask this question but how do people plan for retirement?
 
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Standard Life have appointed an end of career guidance counsellor

If you've any policy with them you could contact your intermediary and ask to be inculded in any of the......
  • Customer webinars
  • Regular ezines and articles
  • Helpful videos intermediaries can share
.......that they will have access to.


Gerard

www.prsa.ie
 
I'm a few years from retiring and I'm interested how others plan for time in retirement - assuming that pension/ family/ finances are in place. I was talking with someone recently retired who mentioned how it can be difficult to fill some hours in a day. Although I have plenty hobbies and interests I suspect that I probably focus too much at work at the minute. I didn't ever expect to ask this question but how do people plan for retirement?
Here's advice from somebody who took all of ten minutes to settle into retirement:-
1. (a) Forget about work.(b) Forget about your former colleagues. (c) Concentrate on who you are and all those people you like and those who like you. The rat-race should be a distant memory each morning you wake.
2. If you have a hobby like golf, go out and play it and don't put the golf clubs into your car and spend the whole day in the golf club bar only.
3. Do not become a fulltime unpaid childminder for your grandchildren.
4. Clean up your garden and keep it clean. If you like gardening keep at it.
5. Allow time to your spouse on which she/he has got used to.
6. Take exercise e.g walking, jogging, weight training, swimming, cycling. Allow time each day for exercise.
7. Read daily quality newspaper even online.
8. Read what you enjoy and perhaps something that is taxing to your mind.
9. Your concentration can fail given time. So enjoy one or two quiz programmes on television and judge yourself against the contestants and the programme e.g. my general knowledge on Mastermind is about the same as contestants which I've built up over 3 years. I think I'd be pretty good on the Final Chase of The Chase too. [You've got to be honest with yourself and answer the questions before the choice is given or before the participants answer].
10. You have a car use it when the restrictions are lifted to travel around Ireland. Senior Deals are available in many hotels.
11. Get your Free Travel Card and get your Free Travel Card for Northern Ireland at the same time. Good hotel deals are more available in Belfast.
Leave the car at home and travel the length and breadth of the country North and Republic.
12. Do not sit around waiting for something to happen - Make it happen.
13. Spend 3/6 months in Spain, Portugal or Italy or Greece. It's cheaper than you think especially November to April and the cost of living is cheaper there too and you have nearly continuous sunshine. Learning a language is a good project too.
14. Don't spend your day in front of the television and when you watch television pick your programmes in advance. Don't get trapped into listening to Liveline every day either. I bet Joe Duffy will have difficulty settling into retirement, but I wish him only the best.
15. An Apprentice Retiree can fall into traps quite easily, but the veteran retiree is on his guard immediately when he hears "Hey Dad . . . "
16. And the classic . . . "You now have time to give something back . . . " If anybody says this to you lose him immediately; you heard it first from me.

I've spent five minutes posting the above without breaking sweat. If I think of something later I'll post that too.
 
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All good points, but crikey, only for option 13, I was wishing retirement a long way away..
 
I travelled abroad about 6 times a year. Lots of planning advice/research available on the forums of Tripadvisor. Had summer breaks in Ireland. Lots of gardening but always a sit down in the sun with a glass of something, come 4 p.m.

We download many TV shows/series for the long winter evenings. Take your time doing any DIY jobs.
 
All good points, but crikey, only for option 13, I was wishing retirement a long way away..
November to April you can rent a good 2 bedroom apartment in Spain/Portugal/Italy/Greece for less than €750 per month inclusive of utilities etc. You can get rentals for less also, but stick with good locations and resorts that suit you. Unlike Laramie above the time for a glass of something in Spain is 1.45pm just before siesta.
 
The retiree clients I have who seem to be enjoying themselves the most travel a lot. Not necessarily far away, but lots of trips to Europe. One couple go to the Canaries for February every year (except this year). They also have hobbies that take up lots of their time. Golf obviously takes up a lot of time to play but others are part of charity organisations, using the skills they've built up over the years and are not giving them back to others for free.

3. Do not become a fulltime unpaid childminder for your grandchildren.
One of my clients told his kids that they'll mind the grandkids on a Monday and that's it. Otherwise, they'd end up spending the week minding each of their children's kids. They take them all in one go and it works a charm.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
I have in my phone calendar, a daily calendar item at 2:30 to 3:00 for a nap, starting when I'm 65. I'd be gutted if I forgot about it and remembered when I'm 70.

Didn't you mention in another thread that you're currently 25? Your username doesn't do justice to your forward-planning skills. ;) P.S. - I made up the bit about another thread.
 
I just spent about an hour this morning looking at holiday rentals and hotels in Spain. Flights for late summer this year are reasonable. I am willing to pay a bit more for a nice sea view room in a nice hotel with a walk in shower plus balcony or rent a villa somewhere.
My bank statement says that I have plenty of money there. Happy to treat my family and rent a larger villa. If only.......
 
I think for me I didn't really start to enjoy my retirement until I put some sort of structure and routine into my day
I keep it simple and divide my day into three sections morning, afternoon and evening
I'm a early bird (normally can't sleep beyond 6am) but my wife is a night owl so I use the morning time for my hobbies
My main hobby is cycling and for all intents and purposes it has replaced the part of my life that used to be reserved for work
Afternoons are usually spent pottering around the house, planning our next adventure or off doing something with herself
and the evenings are spent in front of the TV or out socializing with family and friends

It's a very simple structure to my day but it made a huge difference to how I use and enjoy my retirement
The other things that helped me along the way were to remember to be flexible in my routines and to enjoy the silly little moments that life throws your way but above all there is no right or wrong way to spend your retirement and if it's not living up to your expectations or your not happy
well then it's up to you to change those expectations and make yourself happy
 
Great ideas from Leper and Cervelo. What I hear is that you get the time to experience things at a pace that suits you.

For example, I enjoy going for a swim in my local pool but I am always rushing, can I squeeze it in after work or before dinner? Actually during lockdown before level 5 when working from home I suddenly had more time to do this before work as I had no commute and I was able to go more consistently and enjoy the time more so I could see myself building this into my routine when retired at at slightly more reasonable later hour. I could then see myself meeting a friend for a coffee, that way I get to socialise more with my friends, get to see 5/6 a week rather than a rushed call once every few weeks. Then the afternoon doing household pottering and chores and opportunities to do early bird stuff in the evenings. I have raced from work to evening events more often then I wanted to and never had time to meet to enjoy a drink beforehand or spend time getting ready.

I enjoy some online games. I love reading and my bookclub. I want to do more cultural events, cinema, art, theatre and the opportunity to plan and attend with hubby who work shift is something I will enjoy.

The idea of spending a few weeks/months in Greece every winter appeals, it just never happens now as my holiday time is committed to family holidays in Ireland. Midweek breaks around Ireland and exploring the many parts of the country sounds fabulous. Having the time to research, book in advance and the time to go will be invaluable.

I see I have filled a post full of business so I won’t do everything together but I have seen retired people say they don’t know how they had time for work.
 
Some great replies in this thread, thanks for sharing, folks!

I only have one piece of advice....try not to time your retirement to coincide with a global pandemic! I took early retirement in Jan 2020, had lots of plans to upgrade the house I'd moved into 6 months previously, as well as a few trips here and there, both home and abroad.
January and February were spent on 2 short holidays and switching off from the routine of work.
No prizes for guessing what has happened since! I got one of the 3 main construction jobs done, little or no travel, and I've had a lot more time to myself than I ever imagined!
Looking forward to retirement for real when all this is over!
 
Like Cervelo, I am an early riser. My wife is the same. We have two breakfasts. One when we get up and another at about 10 a.m.

In between, we both sit on the Internet with the radio on in the background. I research lots of holidays, read the news, look at the FTSE, and other bits and pieces that interest me. During the summer we would both be out in the garden soon after our second breakfast. Working or pottering about.....for about two hours. We both like to have a project, this can be indoors or outdoors depending on the weather and time of the year. However, the project doesn't take over. Sometimes the job is scrapped at very short notice, for a day out, early lunch out, shopping spree. Family visit....in fact, the project is often scrapped. Probably why a job takes so long to complete....

Having worked in an office I absolutely hate paperwork, so shopping around for cheaper utility bills, cheaper car and house insurance, tax returns etc. seem to take forever.

We both have free travel. Just before Covid we were really beginning to enjoy this. We live close to the DART, so we were hopping on the DART on a regular basis. We also became familiar with many of our local bus routes. Often incorporating a trip with a lunch out.

The energy can begin to drain in the afternoon so during the summer we often just sit out in the garden, enjoying a glass or low grade pottering about. Maybe a drive to the supermarket or up to Woodies or garden centre.

The evening is usually TV or downloads...sometimes a walk in the local neighbourhood.
 
This thread is interesting and I'm glad to see those retirees contributing have had positive experience in retirement. I had two retirements one over 22 years ago where I was retired for two days Saturday and Sunday before I started working for the HSE from which I retired over 3 years ago. A work colleague of mine retired 22 years ago too, his wife died shortly after and while things didn't go further downhill for him he just existed, had his breakfast, lunch, dinner and washed up once a week which later became once a fortnight and worse. He never became visibly unkempt, but other than breathing he had little raison d'etre.

Recently, he asked that he compare his pension payslip with mine and as usual I had no problem with this. It is obvious that he is paying too much income tax and when I pointed out this he said all he wanted was enough to get by. He hadn't advised Revenue in 22 years of his pension income and never claimed medical/prescription expenses (hence my recent Tax query on AAM).

His P60's for years have been stored in a biscuit tin along with his GP receipts, Prescription Charges etc. He was reluctant to allow me to sift through his personal paperwork, but with his permission I've sent off his relevant information to Revenue neatly summarised year by year. I have no doubt he is entitled to rebates and I'm hoping Revenue will cast a friendly glance at his claims. (He has no IT skills whatsoever and doesn't even want to know how to use email).

Now I meet the guy a couple of times per week and I have got him to go for a morning walk each day and he is even cleaning up his house and becoming (dare I say it?) a little more careful of his personal hygiene etc. I'm not judging the guy, but I'm just pointing out a pitfall or two somebody could easily fall in to.
 
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