I want to retire

Still stuck at home mostly but mobility improving.
I was quite serious in my last post btw. I don't get my state pension for another 4 years but saved and saved so I could quite literally buy my freedom at 60. Its worth it!

Thanks Jane10. How are you.?

Next step gretel- finish work at lunchtime on Thursday! You need time for yourself and your own interests not just to do chores. If you need to take the interest from savings then do so. Its your hard earned money. Let it buy you some freedom.

Hello Louizalass, thank you for your reply. Full time work at 67 must be very difficult. No wonder you are exhausted at the end of the week. I hope that when your mortgage is paid off that you will be able to cut down your hours.
I feel that if I retire before my husband when our pensions don't start until 65 and 66 then I won't have any income of my own ( apart from income from savings), which I would hate. I have started to finish work at lunchtime on a Friday which allows me to catch up on jobs around the home.

I feel your pain! I'm 67 next week and still work full-time. I enjoy my job but confess that by the end of the week I'm exhausted. I have a busy job which is all go with only 30 mins for lunch.

I have some crafting hobbies I can only do at the weekend but by the time I've caught up on the housework it doesn't leave much time for me. Himself is home all day, works a couple of hours in the evening but that's all.

We have a mortage which will be paid up next year. He has two small pensions which pay the mortgage and I pay all the other bills. I WANT to retire or at least cut down my hours, but can't afford to yet. Actually, we won't have much money at all once I've retired and it worries me.

But for you, I'd say if you want to retire why shouldn't you. Let him pay for his own hobby and you may find, once you retire, you have time for one of your own!

Good luck!

Thanks Jane10 that made me smile. Did your knee surgery take place on time and if so how is your recovery going.?
Charleygirl, that sounds like a good idea. The phones are usually quiet before 10am and after 4pm and we do have an answerphone.

Good idea Charleygirl. Gretel might have to get tough with her DH. Once my knee is better I could recall the battling Grans regiment and we could march down and 'discuss' it with him if that would help?

You are now taking Friday afternoon off, could your working day not be shortened- eg if you work 9-5pm now, for a month or two could that be 10-4pm and slowly shorten the days or take a whole day off mid week now and again.

Luckylegs9, sorry to read that your husband died at such a young age. It's so sad not to have any retirement time together.
Hopefully by the middle of next year we will be working two days a week.

Thank you Smileless2012.

Retire as soon as you can, together. All our plans for retirement gone with the click of the fingers when my husband died at 60. He had never been ill, could out walk me and it came as a bolt out of the blue. So as long as you can afford to retire I would, I would even downsize to achieve it. I used to ask my husband to give up work we could have managed, but no he wouldn't, just another two years he would say.

Good for you gretel, enjoy your Friday afternoons

Thanks vampirequeen. Everyone we meet who has retired loves being retired. I've started finishing at lunchtime on a Friday which is a start.

Thanks PERRIN, I'll have a look at that website.

Both my mam and dad worked. One day my mam said, "I've had enough of working. I've worked most of my life since I was 14 and when I wasn't working for money I was raising children. I've done my share." And that was it. She handed in her notice. I think that's how it is. Some people want to stay in work and others know when they've had enough. If, like my mam, you're in the financial position to retire then go for it. Life is too short and health too precarious to continue to do things that don't make you happy if you don't have to.

Perhaps when your husband realises how happy you are in retirement it might it seem more appealing to him.

Retirement is very much in the spotlight at the moment with the state pension age being raised to 66 for most ladies born in the 50's. If this is you may I refer you to the WASPI website, a campaign for fairer transition for women disadvantaged by the speed of the rise in spa.

Thanks Yorkshiregel, your holidays to Australia sound wonderful.
Helmsley444, sorry to hear about all your health problems. You would think that the hospital would have been more sympathetic about your FIL's funeral and tried to rearrange your appointment without you having to go to the back of the queue. It must have been especially difficult being ill from such a young age and having a young family to look after.
Thanks Lisalou, it is expensive but he doesn't drink or smoke or wear expensive clothes. He flies at weekends if he's not working. He knows at some point he will have to sell his share but I think he would then give up flying rather than renting on an hourly basis.

Gretel, I feel for you, and can see the difficulties involved in retiring if you have such large expenditures for his flying. I think the solution might be found by looking for middle ground. Maybe look at ways he could fly less, but continue to fly, if that makes sense. I would ask the following:

How often does he fly? If he sold his stake in the plane (expensive to own and pay for maintenance, etc) how much cash would that free up for renting a plane to go flying? Could he sell his stake and fly less often?
Although I see what people are saying about his hobby being selfish as it is so expensive, but can also see Gretel's point about him loving it so much. I think some hobbies could be better described as passions, it seems flying, horse riding, motorcycle riding, all come under the latter - more about a way of life than a part time fun thing to do. If he gave it up, he might come to resent his wife and his retirement, which would hardly make for a happy life, would it?

Do it life is too short .I had to retire at 44. Id just found a grt job, and after rearing my two sons, was getting more money then the little jobs i had to take, to fit in with my sons child care ( by me. ) I had to leave after nearly killing myself for 4 years.( Carrying on with the stresses of the job) was dignosed with m/e I already had hashimotis Now ive five other serious auto immune diseases.I found out that i have hughes sydrome.Causes blood clots , yesterday, i went to the hospital, to get the results from a mri scan.That id been fighting for them to give me for over 7 years. Ive serveral blood clots and lesions on the brain. My husband was in essex buring his father who was 89 yrs old .I couldnt go because id waited over 6 mths for this app , and was told that if i cancelled it.Would be put back down to the end of the queue.We have no savings , and live in the same house which was a first time buyers property we moved in wen we got married in 1982.My hubby us 10 years older than me .He also had to retire 4 yrs ago to help run the house and take care of me.I havent told him abt the blood clots yet.Im 55 now been chronally ill since 36 yrs old Exuse the rant.My point is you av both been lucky with your health.It wont last for ever.Enjoy life whilst you can.We are stuck here with no savings in a littke house we cant sell because all the other houses are owned by private landlords.

Well if husband is adamant and you are hesitant you are at a crossroads aren't you. Maybe you could take on an assistant so that you could train him/her up as to what your work is, then gradually allow them to do more and more as you take more and more time off. Your husband could carry on working but you could eventually retire knowing that you had done your best to make sure the business carried on without you.

My OH and I went on a trip to Australia when we retired to visit our son and his new wife. We went to the sea side with them for a week and went away in to the bush for a week on our own near Pont Anne. We had a wonderful adventure. A few years later we went again and took a trip to Sydney with them to see my nephew and his wife. We went in to the opera house and watched the world rugby in Sydney harbour sitting drinking wine and watching the firework display. It was magical. You can still can enjoy life even when you are old....unless of course arthritis catches you up as it is now. Had one knee operation, need another one. Life is too short to hang around. I hope you work something out to suit you both.

Hello Jane10, I hope your knee surgery goes well.
Yes I'm finishing at midday today. Friday is usually a quiet day with just a few phone calls.

Its Friday gretel - taking a half day? I hope so. Look on it as phased retirement. I was lucky enough to be offered this and it was a brilliant way to transition to freedom. Or it was freedom until my arthritis kicked in. Knee op soon so hope I'm on my way to freedom. Again!

Thanks Aslemma for your reply. What a wonderful trip.
I was reading yesterday that people are living longer but suffering a lot more health problems as they age.
It seems silly not to use the savings we have to retire especially when interest rates on savings are so low.

Many years ago I was made redundant and, as the children no longer needed their noses wiped and the job had given me up rather than the other way round, I took a 3.5 month trip out to Australia, with stop-overs in Bangkok and Singapore on the way out and HongKong on the way back

My cousin in Queensland is married to a vicar and he told me the number of funerals he had conducted of people who had just retired, had their Winniebago on the drive and were looking forward to the trip of a lifetime which they wouldn't have the chance to enjoy.

Forget death, think of ill health, including things such as arthritis. Seize the day and do it now gretel. Tomorrow may be too late.

Hello Yorkshiregel, I am pleased to read your comments.
Your retirement sounds busy. I hope your piano playing is going well.
I think closing down or selling your own business to retire is different to leaving employment with an employer.
He knows I want to retire but I haven't actually said that I would retire without him. We also have friends who retired early and found they couldn't manage and had to return to paid employment this year so I think he is wary of being in the situation of watching every penny and seeing our savings disappear. I don't think of his hobby as selfish because he loves it and has been doing it for a long time.