Enjoying Retirement
Discussion
GT3Manthey said:
I’m now wondering if I even bother taking the part time job once I retire from my current one given it’ll require a day in London and still answering to someone else on a Monday morning .
Did you consider teaching in higher education? A few of my colleagues moved into part-time teaching roles as visiting professors after selling their business. I do not know the field you are in but I was told if you enjoy your field it is a good way to be engaged and rewarding job as well. As long as its a good institutions though, 
ooid said:
Did you consider teaching in higher education? A few of my colleagues moved into part-time teaching roles as visiting professors after selling their business. I do not know the field you are in but I was told if you enjoy your field it is a good way to be engaged and rewarding job as well. As long as its a good institutions though,
My line of work won’t accommodate any form of teaching as such but I see your thinking. Also part of me thinks if i choose to retire why not do it properly or hang on for another year in the field im in.
We have some health considerations at home and being mid 50’s now and seeing so many health issues crop up with peers i might be better off ditching any form of stress altogether.
Obviously the numbers have to work in order of me to do this
There's a whole spectrum of part time jobs......
You can be at the RDMcG end of the spectrum - or a family business where you have a huge vested interest in the ultimate success of the enterprise. I can see how that could easily morph into something at least as stressful as a full time role.
At the other end of the spectrum, you could be an Uber driver where you work exactly when & where you want to & absolutely don't give it a second thought in between.
I plan 6-12 months not working before making a decision.
You can be at the RDMcG end of the spectrum - or a family business where you have a huge vested interest in the ultimate success of the enterprise. I can see how that could easily morph into something at least as stressful as a full time role.
At the other end of the spectrum, you could be an Uber driver where you work exactly when & where you want to & absolutely don't give it a second thought in between.
I plan 6-12 months not working before making a decision.
Carbon Sasquatch said:
There's a whole spectrum of part time jobs......
You can be at the RDMcG end of the spectrum - or a family business where you have a huge vested interest in the ultimate success of the enterprise. I can see how that could easily morph into something at least as stressful as a full time role.
At the other end of the spectrum, you could be an Uber driver where you work exactly when & where you want to & absolutely don't give it a second thought in between.
I plan 6-12 months not working before making a decision.
Makes sense . You can be at the RDMcG end of the spectrum - or a family business where you have a huge vested interest in the ultimate success of the enterprise. I can see how that could easily morph into something at least as stressful as a full time role.
At the other end of the spectrum, you could be an Uber driver where you work exactly when & where you want to & absolutely don't give it a second thought in between.
I plan 6-12 months not working before making a decision.
Do keep us posted
GT3Manthey said:
dingg said:
If you're retiring then taking up a paid part time job, then you ain't retiring, just saying lol.
I hear you GT3Manthey said:
I’m now wondering if I even bother taking the part time job once I retire from my current one given it’ll require a day in London and still answering to someone else on a Monday morning .
Many people are advising me to just cut down my hours to maybe 1-2 days/week to start with, instead of going full cold turkey into retirement. There is a financial argument as I plan to give up full-time work in 4 years' time at age 60, and would use savings to supplement my Swiss occupational DC pension until Swiss/UK state pensions kick in. Working at 2 days/week over that period (probably entirely remotely, perhaps one day a month in the office) would mean no digging into any reserves, and 1 day/week would go a long way to covering the difference.However, even burning through a sizeable sum over those five years will leave us plenty (IMO) of savings. I do have a long list of activities to keep me busy in retirement, principally yet more renovation of the house/garden in France (where we would live most of the time), more music (classical piano/organ), travel, cooking, cycling, hiking, etc. And the idea of no longer having to answer to anyone and/or check emails morning/noon/night, is extremely attractive
nickfrog said:
Yes I agree. I retired without much in the way of plans but they fell into place naturally. I basically replaced work with tennis. The beauty of it is I can choose who I play with and when, which wasn't quite the case before!
^^^^^THIS! I would also add squash, although at 57 I’m not sure how much longer my knees will hold up
Michael_B said:
eyebeebe said:
I'd take French or Italian food (just) and wine (clearly) over Spanish, but that's a high bar and I find Swiss restaurants generally mediocre and very expensive even compared to the salaries. Likewise the wine - at a given price point French, Italian and Spanish (in that order) wine is far better than Swiss. In any case I'm stocking up on en primeur now and for the next decade to get us well into our retirement!
Oh yes, I'd agree in general about Swiss restaurants, though there are some exceptions for certain Asian establishments and the odd traditional jewel you can find out in the countryside. We usually eat in or are invited to friend's places: as it's often better both in quality and value than anything around here.Wines? Last year's visit to Italy (our son is marrying a Florentine lady this summer) has converted me to all manner of Tuscan wine. For everyday stuff in Geneva I drink local Chasselas/Gamay from local vineyards. A bit expensive for what it is, but gotta keep the local economy going somehow.
For the French house I stock up on bi-annual trips to Chalon-sur-Saône, Auxey-Duresses, Volnay and Pommard (about 40 minutes away) for reds; for white I just buy whatever €~5 Mâcon-Villages and local Chardonnay is on special offer at the Leclerc supermarket.
Decent stuff laid down there is a ~200-bottle mixture of Burgundy, Bordeaux, Southern Rhône and now a few Tuscan reds; consume/replace 20-25 bottles/year.
Michael_B said:
and the annuity rate for workplace pensions when I retire will be 6% (currently 6.5%), and I can have some or all of the pot as capital which is taxed progressively but very lightly compared to other countries.
eyebeebe said:
Are you sure you can elect to take it all as capital. I thought that you had to take an annuity on the compulsory component (up to CHF 85k or so) and then the rest as capital. That's certainly how it works in my scheme. All irrelevant to us though, as we can withdraw it when we leave the country - we'll park it in a vested benefits foundation in Schwyz and pull it out at 4.5% tax, spend the remainder of the calendar year in the UK, as it isn't taxed there and then move to Spain, where it would be taxed as an income event at some hideous rate.
So Brexit wasn't all bad 
Every LPP/BVG scheme in Switzerland has its own rules within a fairly wide framework. Despite the annual statement always stating the compulsory and overpaid voluntary components separately, there is usually no legal obligation to take any amount as an annuity unless you activate the policy before the age of 65, where certain institutions insist upon a certain % of the equivalent AVS/AHV pension. But as you say, that won't really apply to your exit strategy, if you are emigrating to a non-EU country in the interim.
eyebeebe said:
My pension scheme has a survivors and orphans pension component, as well as a disability pension. I thought that was pretty standard?
Yes it is. A % of my gross salary goes in as savings, and a further smaller amount is an insurance premium for widows/orphan pension (though my kids are both >25 so the latter is no longer relevant), plus enhanced disability benefits. My employer pays all of these amounts, which is not a standard situation, applying to only me and two fellow company directors, as negotiated with the shareholders and tax authorities. I also tend to stick another 10-15% of annual salary in to further reduce my tax bill and build up a decent pot. It is, as you say, pretty much free money with no risk.For a few years now both our children have been financially independent and debt-free. We financed their university education to Masters level. With our help one has just exchanged contracts on a flat in NE London, and the other still rents in Geneva. But we are slinging the annual maximum into his 3rd pillar pension/savings (ISA) account over the next 5 years for an equivalent total amount. One element of relief in our retirement planning is that we no longer have to budget for further education or Bank of Mum & Dad property ladder subsidies.
eyebeebe said:
Boring Swiss interlude over!
Don't speak too soon! Restaurants
Agreed. There are the occasional gems. We have one locally which is exceptional and food prices are reasonable, but the mark up on wines still makes it a spendy visit.
Wines
We've visited Peissy near you a few times, due to a friend who has roots in the village. The white wines are very good and we normally buy plenty, but their pricing puts them up against some stiff competition from Burgundy.
As well as the Tuscans, I'd highly recommend the classics from the Alba region: Barolo, Barbera d'Asti and Barbaresco
Pension cash out
Actually not Brexit related. It was possible to do this before. I think there are a few hoops to jump through, but nothing major.
Risk contributions
Same here. My employer covers the risk premia for death and disability, but I know that the scheme is relatively generous.
Edited by eyebeebe on Tuesday 12th April 09:48
I finish work 5 weeks today. I'll be 57 in December, but my wife is older and has recently started drawing her Govt pension and has some private pensions too. We've both lost parents in the last six months, so we will both have some inheritance to help clear off the last bit of the mortgage and to invest, so I decided I'd take the plunge. My various pensions are set to start at 60, so I'll manage on savings and a small ex-services 'war pension' I receive, but I'll be most un-PH like in my income for the next three years at least.
I'm pleased to see some others posting that they plan to manage on smaller amounts each month, in amongst some of those who will have bigger pensions than I've ever earned while in work. Pretty much 2/3 of my monthly income isn't spent at the moment, so I tend to live well within my means anyway and that's before the last of the mortgage is cleared. Happy to drop to one car between us as I'll lose my company car, but I don't get much enjoyment from driving due to the amount I've been doing for work and don't tend to go far when I'm not working. We will change it this summer for something a bit newer and big enough for the grandchildren (wife currently has an older SLK, so we tend to use my company car if we take them out).
I don't plan to vegetate at home and go nowhere: I've nearly finished a garden room project that is for my wife to do her art in, so that leaves me free to turn to the garage and get working on my RS2000 as I've barely managed to do much over the last 20+ years since I took it off the road. It is largely labor needed, though I've set aside funds to buy the parts it needs to get it back on the road (the cheaper/easier to get mechanical stuff thankfully). It will be good to drive it again, but the ultimate plan is to sell it once I've got it to a decent standard which will help finances too.
I play in a semi-pro band; we've only been gigging since last Novemeber, but starting to get occasional gigs where we get paid enough to cover our fuel and the costs of the rehearsal space, so this is slowly becoming 'cost neutral'. Maybe even get to the point where we're making money from it, but I treat it as a hobby and just enjoy playing live, especially when we get a good crowd enjoying themselves.
Kind of related to the band I plan to do some guitar repairs: I've built guitars and do all my own repairs and resprays etc, so I might see if I can do a few little jobs on the side for friends/family, though no danger of it becoming anything like a full time job. Perhaps some might say that I'm not retiring if I do this, but it really is just for a bit of pin money and wouldn't support me if it was my only income.
Got plenty of small trips/breaks lined up due to family weddings/anniversaries and a Navy reunion, so I hope this will help give some structure to the year and of course give us things to look forward to. We have a plan to visit family in Australia which I'd never consider if I had to go back to work after such a long flight, so we will be able to take our time getting there and back and not have to rush back within two weeks.
I think that beyond that point we will have other plans develop that will occupy us, but not necessarily cost much money to do. A lot of it will depend on health of course, which is also the driver behind why I want to retire now since my wife is still fit, able and willing to travel: If I wait until I reach 67 to retire, then she'll be well in her 70s by then and maybe not want to do all the things we hope to do over the next 3-5 years.
I'm going to the funeral of a friend and colleague this week; he was younger than me and had been ill for a while despite living a healthy lifestyle, so it has cemented my decision not to keep working another 10 years just to build up a bigger pension pot that I may not end up enjoying or at least enjoying with my wife.
I'm pleased to see some others posting that they plan to manage on smaller amounts each month, in amongst some of those who will have bigger pensions than I've ever earned while in work. Pretty much 2/3 of my monthly income isn't spent at the moment, so I tend to live well within my means anyway and that's before the last of the mortgage is cleared. Happy to drop to one car between us as I'll lose my company car, but I don't get much enjoyment from driving due to the amount I've been doing for work and don't tend to go far when I'm not working. We will change it this summer for something a bit newer and big enough for the grandchildren (wife currently has an older SLK, so we tend to use my company car if we take them out).
I don't plan to vegetate at home and go nowhere: I've nearly finished a garden room project that is for my wife to do her art in, so that leaves me free to turn to the garage and get working on my RS2000 as I've barely managed to do much over the last 20+ years since I took it off the road. It is largely labor needed, though I've set aside funds to buy the parts it needs to get it back on the road (the cheaper/easier to get mechanical stuff thankfully). It will be good to drive it again, but the ultimate plan is to sell it once I've got it to a decent standard which will help finances too.
I play in a semi-pro band; we've only been gigging since last Novemeber, but starting to get occasional gigs where we get paid enough to cover our fuel and the costs of the rehearsal space, so this is slowly becoming 'cost neutral'. Maybe even get to the point where we're making money from it, but I treat it as a hobby and just enjoy playing live, especially when we get a good crowd enjoying themselves.
Kind of related to the band I plan to do some guitar repairs: I've built guitars and do all my own repairs and resprays etc, so I might see if I can do a few little jobs on the side for friends/family, though no danger of it becoming anything like a full time job. Perhaps some might say that I'm not retiring if I do this, but it really is just for a bit of pin money and wouldn't support me if it was my only income.
Got plenty of small trips/breaks lined up due to family weddings/anniversaries and a Navy reunion, so I hope this will help give some structure to the year and of course give us things to look forward to. We have a plan to visit family in Australia which I'd never consider if I had to go back to work after such a long flight, so we will be able to take our time getting there and back and not have to rush back within two weeks.
I think that beyond that point we will have other plans develop that will occupy us, but not necessarily cost much money to do. A lot of it will depend on health of course, which is also the driver behind why I want to retire now since my wife is still fit, able and willing to travel: If I wait until I reach 67 to retire, then she'll be well in her 70s by then and maybe not want to do all the things we hope to do over the next 3-5 years.
I'm going to the funeral of a friend and colleague this week; he was younger than me and had been ill for a while despite living a healthy lifestyle, so it has cemented my decision not to keep working another 10 years just to build up a bigger pension pot that I may not end up enjoying or at least enjoying with my wife.
The beauty of starting this thread ( for me anyway ) is that all the input and actual retirement experiences are key.
Its helped me compile a genuine monthly cost base which includes anything from monthly food costs to having Spotify at £7.99 and month !
It all adds up and needs to be accounted for.
We will all be different in our wants and needs & it adds a sense of planning away from what our IFA or WA tells us .
Only we really know what’s important in our day to day lives .
Do I really need the full sky package at £130 a month or equally so I need a budget of £800 a month for food and wine & how can I Taylor that to make it all work .
There have been so many incidentals i would have never thought of if it wasn’t for this thread so personally I’ve found it enormously helpful .
Always good to hear from those that have actual experience of pulling the pin and retiring and sharing how it’s working out.
Personally I’ve found it reassuring and also an eye opener in equal measure and I think for those planning for future retirement it’s a good yard stick to come back to.
For those that have retired pls keep the updates coming and for those looking at future retirement pls keep the thread updated on how you are getting along .
Its helped me compile a genuine monthly cost base which includes anything from monthly food costs to having Spotify at £7.99 and month !
It all adds up and needs to be accounted for.
We will all be different in our wants and needs & it adds a sense of planning away from what our IFA or WA tells us .
Only we really know what’s important in our day to day lives .
Do I really need the full sky package at £130 a month or equally so I need a budget of £800 a month for food and wine & how can I Taylor that to make it all work .
There have been so many incidentals i would have never thought of if it wasn’t for this thread so personally I’ve found it enormously helpful .
Always good to hear from those that have actual experience of pulling the pin and retiring and sharing how it’s working out.
Personally I’ve found it reassuring and also an eye opener in equal measure and I think for those planning for future retirement it’s a good yard stick to come back to.
For those that have retired pls keep the updates coming and for those looking at future retirement pls keep the thread updated on how you are getting along .
GT3Manthey said:
What stage are you at with regards future retirement?
I’m now wondering if I even bother taking the part time job once I retire from my current one given it’ll require a day in London and still answering to someone else on a Monday morning .
What do you do work wise ?
Like you, I’m not too far off but trying to make the numbers add up. Turned 59 last month so sometime within the next 1-3 years ideally, although I do have fairly cost intensive late-teenage children knocking about! I’m now wondering if I even bother taking the part time job once I retire from my current one given it’ll require a day in London and still answering to someone else on a Monday morning .
What do you do work wise ?
The p/t job you describe does sound a little like more of the same and one of the attractions of finishing is surely not being beholden to The Man anymore. Not to mention the commute…
My work is for the Government in an area that’s in the news most days, never for anything good and which is heavily involved in world events at the moment.
Really great thread you’ve got going here.
GT3Manthey said:
The beauty of starting this thread ( for me anyway ) is that all the input and actual retirement experiences are key.
Its helped me compile a genuine monthly cost base which includes anything from monthly food costs to having Spotify at £7.99 and month !
It all adds up and needs to be accounted for.
We will all be different in our wants and needs & it adds a sense of planning away from what our IFA or WA tells us .
Only we really know what’s important in our day to day lives .
Do I really need the full sky package at £130 a month or equally so I need a budget of £800 a month for food and wine & how can I Taylor that to make it all work .
There have been so many incidentals i would have never thought of if it wasn’t for this thread so personally I’ve found it enormously helpful .
Always good to hear from those that have actual experience of pulling the pin and retiring and sharing how it’s working out.
Personally I’ve found it reassuring and also an eye opener in equal measure and I think for those planning for future retirement it’s a good yard stick to come back to.
For those that have retired pls keep the updates coming and for those looking at future retirement pls keep the thread updated on how you are getting along .
Thanks for starting this thread GT3; I've also found it very interesting seeing how other people have planned for retiring early and those who have been retired for a while already. After all it's not something I've (we've) done before and it's good to know of things to watch out for in advance and things I might not have thought about too.Its helped me compile a genuine monthly cost base which includes anything from monthly food costs to having Spotify at £7.99 and month !
It all adds up and needs to be accounted for.
We will all be different in our wants and needs & it adds a sense of planning away from what our IFA or WA tells us .
Only we really know what’s important in our day to day lives .
Do I really need the full sky package at £130 a month or equally so I need a budget of £800 a month for food and wine & how can I Taylor that to make it all work .
There have been so many incidentals i would have never thought of if it wasn’t for this thread so personally I’ve found it enormously helpful .
Always good to hear from those that have actual experience of pulling the pin and retiring and sharing how it’s working out.
Personally I’ve found it reassuring and also an eye opener in equal measure and I think for those planning for future retirement it’s a good yard stick to come back to.
For those that have retired pls keep the updates coming and for those looking at future retirement pls keep the thread updated on how you are getting along .
I did similar cost exercises about my disc rental deal and whether we need that and Netflix. We don't have Sky, so I've never had that expense, but many other areas have come under scrutiny too. While it might seem penny pinching to some, I think it's important not to blindly pay for things I'm not getting the use out of, especially if it then means I can do more of the things that I want to, like trips, meals out, etc. For the first three years I will have to curtail my expenses beyond the things I've already set aside funds for. If things go pear shaped I can dip into savings, though I'm hoping it won't come to that. I'd still do that in preference to going back to work though.
Maybe I'll make a complete mess of it and find I have to work again, but if I do I'll try to swallow my pride and post back to explain what happened. I will post back either way though.
Our band got another paid gig booked today, so that's another month of rehearsal space paid for and the fuel to get there..just need another 11 booking now.
loafer123 said:
I’m five years behind you, and hope I have my plans as well worked out by then…it sounds like you have a great plan for lots of fun.
Cheers Loafer, good luck with your plans.Edited by OldSkoolRS on Monday 11th April 22:52
radovich said:
Like you, I’m not too far off but trying to make the numbers add up. Turned 59 last month so sometime within the next 1-3 years ideally, although I do have fairly cost intensive late-teenage children knocking about!
The p/t job you describe does sound a little like more of the same and one of the attractions of finishing is surely not being beholden to The Man anymore. Not to mention the commute…
My work is for the Government in an area that’s in the news most days, never for anything good and which is heavily involved in world events at the moment.
Really great thread you’ve got going here.
The P/T job would be totally different and far more outdoors apart from the one day a week in the office so not all bad . The p/t job you describe does sound a little like more of the same and one of the attractions of finishing is surely not being beholden to The Man anymore. Not to mention the commute…
My work is for the Government in an area that’s in the news most days, never for anything good and which is heavily involved in world events at the moment.
Really great thread you’ve got going here.
The rest of the time might be an hour or two a day on the PC at home & some occasional travel but very little.
Question is do I want full retirement or does this make the transition easier whilst bringing in extra cash .
Ideally I’d just jack it all in and never work again but an extra income might be hard to turn down as you never quite know what’s round the corner and how much extra help the kids might need with housing etc.
Still have some time to see if the P/T job is or me
GT3Manthey said:
The P/T job would be totally different and far more outdoors apart from the one day a week in the office so not all bad .
The rest of the time might be an hour or two a day on the PC at home & some occasional travel but very little.
Question is do I want full retirement or does this make the transition easier whilst bringing in extra cash .
Ideally I’d just jack it all in and never work again but an extra income might be hard to turn down as you never quite know what’s round the corner and how much extra help the kids might need with housing etc.
Still have some time to see if the P/T job is or me
The stats are in on your posting frequency, & the conclusion is that you are already retired and beholden to PH for news The rest of the time might be an hour or two a day on the PC at home & some occasional travel but very little.
Question is do I want full retirement or does this make the transition easier whilst bringing in extra cash .
Ideally I’d just jack it all in and never work again but an extra income might be hard to turn down as you never quite know what’s round the corner and how much extra help the kids might need with housing etc.
Still have some time to see if the P/T job is or me
Does your boss know If you don’t have a list of things as long as your arm to do, I think a p/t job could make sense.
I feel it would only serve as a drag on opportunity, and that Monday morning feeling would never fully disappear, even if it is a different field, perhaps literally.
On the flip side, outdoor jobs could be good for your health. I’d only be interested in days with decent weather: I could quite easily mow a few lawns for a ‘job’, provided my tiny number of customers didn’t care which day it happened, and were happy to pay over the odds for my aging skills to make me feel good about earning from them. Sadly I ruled myself out of that job by getting a robotic mower
Yesterday I completed constructing the worlds smallest and most complicated “wall greenhouse”. Truly a thing of beauty: bought last year for MrsMikeIOW’s b’day, delivery delays meant it arrived when the weather was turning in autumn, & is only now complete in time for this year’s b’day. Assembly instructions truly dreadful. Sadly she hasn’t forgotten it was for last year….
Today I will mostly be taking my winter wheels to Brum (40 minute drive) to be refurbed and sprayed gunmetal, ready for storage and use next winter.
The excitement never ends!
On a moderately more serious note: you mention “you never quite know what’s round the corner and how much extra help the kids might need with housing”. I’ve had the salutary lesson of knowing several pals who had passed before their time….& my kids (mid-20s, finding their feet, both with decent jobs/careers ahead of them) are, I feel, encouraged by seeing me still healthy, stepping away from the day job. One has said as much - her goal is to retire younger than me!
Both have decent social circles, but both also very aware of the value of money, & stoozing what they can into LISAs (max’s last years), as well as trickling savings to ISAs and pensions. Obviously at some point we may want to help them out where we can (neither settled in a location to want a house just yet), but neither expect us to “pay the deposit” etc.
Edited by mikeiow on Tuesday 12th April 08:32
Hahah no the boss ( hopefully) has no idea !
Always better to hide behind a PH name .
Good points re the PT job .
My leaning is to let it pass and have the beauty of free Monday mornings a a full week where I decide ( well the wife really) what the plan is .
I’m not pushing for the PT job and I can see it’ll end up me throwing myself into it so might defeat the whole idea of retiring.
Always better to hide behind a PH name .
Good points re the PT job .
My leaning is to let it pass and have the beauty of free Monday mornings a a full week where I decide ( well the wife really) what the plan is .
I’m not pushing for the PT job and I can see it’ll end up me throwing myself into it so might defeat the whole idea of retiring.
GT3Manthey said:
I’m not pushing for the PT job and I can see it’ll end up me throwing myself into it so might defeat the whole idea of retiring.
If you can manage without then I agree and same reason I keep steering myself away from 'a nice little PT job to fill in'. There was talk of me doing an occasional local job for my current firm, but I know it would soon become every week, then creep up to full time as there is always some rush job/emergency. Shame because I reckon 3-4 days a month would be perfect for me just to top up my income (since I know what our externals get paid daily rate).Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff