Retirement

I retired the weekend of the first lockdown, was supposed to finish the following week but as I worked in a hospital decided it wasn’t a good idea to go in for my last week (I was in an admin position) I really thought I would miss work, the routine, the company etc., I can honestly say I haven’t missed it one bit. Agree that everyday isn’t exciting but never get bored. Don’t get up particularly late in the mornings but can get up 10 minutes later or whatever rather than a set time like when I was at work. The days and years have flown by. It’s lovely being able to go away when we want and not having to check if it’s okay to take leave. Lovely not having to work over any of the Christmas period, I could go on about the pleasure it is not to have to go to work.

Love it! Retired early after 38 years teaching. 10 years ago now. Not regretted 1 day.

Took early retirement at 62 to help look after grand baby nearly 800 miles away for 3 years - DH already retired. One of the best things we ever did. Various illnesses have marred my retirement a bit but no regrets as we are back in our lovely island home which we rented out while we were away, and, anyway, my former profession has pretty much been killed off by lack of resources and various functions - which made the job so rewarding - being either farmed out to charities which are now struggling for funding or unavailable through lack time....and fellow social workers.....

Couldn’t wait to retire a few years ago. Away from the backstabbing that went on in the company I worked at, could never ever understand people that moaned day in day out their job and ten years later still there and still moaning ( I’ve been told by another person that’s just retired, just love being able to do what I want when I want go out see friends visit places etc etc.

I retired at 51 and then opened a small shop. I retired again at 68 and I love being properly retired. I think of things that I want to do on the following day so I’m never bored or feel lonely without colleagues. My DH couldn’t stand retirement so he got a part time job where he was on his feet all day and was coming home exhausted. He’s now taken another job without so much strenuous work. He’s happy and so am I.

Had to take early retirement due to bad health & could not stand the having nothing to do. So ended up volunteering in a Charity shop as I could choose within reason when I worked & when I need not to go to work if my disability forced me not to. So enjoyed my ‘retirement’ then!

I recommend retiring: I've done it three times at 50, 63 and 74, each successive time with a less demanding job. A good way of easing into full retirement which I enjoy.

Yes, I agree. I love it! Being able to get up when you want and do exactly what you want! Brilliant! I do a little volunteering at a local art centre but sometimes even find myself resenting this! I just love not being tied to certain times or routines!

I loved my job and would have stayed beyond 60 had it not been about to change in ways that didn’t suit me. I was lucky to get a voluntary redundancy package. To fill the work gap and still feel I was working professionally I volunteered to take minutes for various organisations. These gradually came to an end but the gap was filled by increasing u3a activities and grandchildren. I’ve also acquired the running of a lunch club and pilates group so organisational skills still required. I love retirement!

I retired yesterday at 70.. loved my job. I'm glad to read most seem positive about retirement. I fear the lack of structure at the moment and being bored!

I am like you. So while I still have the energy at 68, I chose to go back to work Bank and part time. It's been wonderful. I have the best of both worlds.

Retirement is a joy…….no regrets! I worked full time for 32 years and didn’t retire until I was 68 and, on the whole, felt thoroughly satisfied for the career I had……and then moved into retirement with the same mind set! Now in my fourteenth year of retirement it’s still feels like a lovely life!

No regrets from me or DH.

I think it might be harder for people who feel identified by their jobs. Maybe those who lived to work rather than worked to live.
Important to think about retiring well before you do . You need to have some idea of what you might like to do and build up other interests
Make sure you have a good idea of how your finances are placed and how much they will enable you to do.

Lots of discussions were had in our house including how household jobs should be shared. Actually that was the thing that caused most problems !

Dreaded retirement as I really liked my job but the day I left I never went back, not even for a leaving party. Not one day have I missed it or regretted leaving work. I'm far too busy to work now.

sassenach512

It depends on whether you liked your job and if you need people in your life. I was so glad to leave the tedium of doing the same thing every day and the gossip and back-biting behind. Some people miss the company and chatter of the work place,
I don't miss anyone I worked with and I feel no guilt about doing what I want, when I want to do it and not having to look at the clock all of the time. I've just taken my dogs out on a leisurely walk and I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon reading my book. Retirement is great

With you on that one for sure.

I loathed my last job with a passion. It's all a very long story as to why I had to stick to it until retirement. A large part of that story is the job pension (just as well in the event - as I'm a WASPI woman and couldnt have retired at my retirement age, ie 60, if the State Pension was the only component of it). I had to dig deep into my savings to supplement a job pension based on such low pay and I've no idea how much of my savings vanished to doing that (ie as I was also having to renovate the house I'd moved to).

There's a long list of what was wrong with that job and my employer certainly didn't want me there either - but it was Hobson's Choice and I had to stay. Basically one of the evening cleaners explained that that couple of hours wasn't the only work she had to do to earn money and proceeded to tell me how she did part-time job A here, job B there and I think she had a total of 4 part-time jobs in order to try and make up a full-time job worth and it must have taken her about 12 hours flitting to and fro between those joblets to earn about 8 hours worth of income!!!! She told me she was far from the only one in that position. I'd got visions of that sort of worklife (and no job pension) if I left my office job (and pension). So I clung on very firmly indeed to it.

SUCH a relief to be free of it ...free of the office bullies....free of having to get up to so early of a morning to go to it and no more worries about the security (or otherwise) of my income.

Another thing about retirement that I think many of us find is one's body seems to take a lot longer to maintain than it used to - with time spent trying to keep fit, more time spent getting rid of Illness A, then more time spent getting rid of Illness B and so on and getting rid of an increasing number of illnesses takes up leisuretime one wants for oneself and I can see it would be difficult to do a full-time job, lead one's own life and deal with those extra illnesses and somewhere along the line a "ball would be dropped" and it would probably be one's own life. So retirement does mean that there's just the two things to do - a. Lead one's own life b. Deal with any extra illnesses that come up.

Retired 18 years ago and haven't missed work at all. Found plenty to fill my days. I was so glad to be away from dealing with members of the public in sensitive areas in their lives. Even back tgen local authorities were struggling financially affecting service I was involved in. The stress also affected colleagues who at times were difficult to deal with. Goodness knows what it's like now with even less funds and all the so called "improvements" eg amalgamation with Health and social care, basically to reduce personnel. Reurement for me.

I retired at the age of 72. I worked in a school part time so got the school holidays off. I only retired as we moved to be nearer my daughter. I do miss working but not getting up early in the mornings . I have had to go to the hospital recently for a number of things, which would have been difficult to do if I was still working. I miss the companionship of work and I get bored, although I belong to a number of groups. I do go into a school one morning a week to hear children read.

I absolutely LOVE being retired! Stopped working two and a half years ago. Don’t get my state pension until April next year so it’s been tight financially. But I couldn’t cope with the responsibility and stress any more and decided to put my health first. I haven’t regretted it for a second.

Although I love reading your messages every day, this is the first time I have been brave enough to post. I retired 2 months ago and don't miss going to work at all. But I have become very lazy. Sleeping in until 8am (which I never did, even on my days off) and not doing any of the things I was so sure I would do. But even though I was getting stressed about it at first I have now stopped feeling guilty and I am taking each day as it comes and enjoying the rest. We have started going for coffee some days when we walk the dogs and I have started to sort through my sewing fabric ready to start sewing again. I took early retirement, so was worried about the loss of wages at first, but we decided that time together was more important.

Love being retired! I was a primary schoolteacher, don’t miss work at all, or any of my colleagues. Still get a thrill of waking up with no need to rush out of the house, love my leisurely mornings. Never get bored, never short of things to do.

Love retirement, play bridge, bowls, gym, walks with friends, the week is full and full of enjoyment.

I just love being retired. I had very few office jobs that I actually enjoyed. Back in the day I had many jobs as I was easily bored. My parents refused to let me go to medical school even though it was free back then. So I became a shorthand touch typist. I still type on a proper keyboard most days as I have several blogs and wrote newspaper columns which I did enjoy. When my son was born aged 37. Me not him, LOL. I needed an income and started an international dating agency, a bit before it became mainstream. Unfortunately a few months after giving birth my husband was sacked by the embassy where he worked due to a Middle East conflict. He was a medical interpreter and had to sign on, meaning the government took all my income so I had to close down. Running your own business isn’t working. It’s doing what you love and getting paid for it and when a couple got married at Gretna Green that was the icing on the cake. I then owned a cattery and set up a baby equipment hire company which was the most lucrative in Spain with people requiring cots and car seats. I’m talking hotels and apartment blocks. I couldn’t get help to put the cots together so had to give up on that one. I have reasonable health in my seventies but a few health issues and just appreciate days when I can just watch daytime tv. Good days I’m on eBay selling stuff we’ve accumulated over the years. I did try volunteering in a local charity shop as I only wanted to sell clothes but was quickly moved to the office and then offered more than I have ever earned to be the Managing Director so the owners could enjoy their retirement. I left immediately.

Sweetness1

I retired yesterday at 70.. loved my job. I'm glad to read most seem positive about retirement. I fear the lack of structure at the moment and being bored!

Congratulations sweetness1; I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I do.
I do volunteer gardening one day a week and have enjoyed being with new friends there as well as learning a lot about my favourite hobby. I really enjoy having time to spend looking after my own garden properly.
That amazing feeling of ‘It’s cold and dark and I don’t have to get up just yet’ is to be treasured!
I did enjoy my job (most of the time!) but have not missed it for even one second.

I’m almost 73 and semi retired, we run our small family business from home, DH works full time as does youngest DS, other DS’ partner works part time as do I - unless covering for holidays (or paternity leave earlier this year). My main concession is that I don’t get up early, I’ve always hated that. It’s hard to work out how we will ease ourselves out of it, not that DH wants to yet, although DS takes a lot of the main responsibilities on these day, there’s quite a lot of hands on practical work.

Yes I love being retired too, I was a coach driver, stressful, early mornings, very late nights, all sorts of hours, nice people, grumpy moany people! I do miss using my driving skills and driving a coach but not the job. Happy walking my dog, tia chi, ceilidh dancing playing my accordion, meeting friends for lunch, taking off in the motorhome, helping out at community fundraising events, occasional baby sitting/child minding. What's not to love about retirement, although feels strange being regarded as an oldie!! Mentally 45 & young!