Retirement

[clubchamp98]

I miss some of the lads but not all of them.!

Miss work ? It’s a four letter word

 

[Crazyface]

The joy of taking your time to drive to Britanny (and back), 16 days, instead of racing down to the coast on day one, crossing and driving 5 hours on day two. Drving back 7 days later ALL THE WAY to give yourself a day to get ready for work.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

In January my handicap index was 25.5
I went semi retired 5 weeks ago, my index has now reduced to 22.7

With 5 of my counting 8 being since I went part time.

I’ve lost 4 shots off my playing handicap

Oh yes

 

[harpo_72]

From what I am reading a lot of those who have retired were ready..
I think this late age of retirement can only really occur if you enjoy your job and physically up to it. I could … but I really am not motivated to I do exciting stuff but there is more “boring “ stuff slipping in .. besides I want to play golf, I want to get better 35years of being the clock is taking its toll the reality is that’s a life spent for someone else’s benefit.

 

[clubchamp98]

The big thing to worry about is time.
You will start getting fed up with golf quicker than you think ,especially when having a bad spell.
You need other things to occupy you ! Grandkids ,diy stuff. Holidays etc.

I think I play less golf now than when I was working
Don’t know how I fitted work in

 

[SatchFan]

I left work 15 years ago. If the weather is nice I play golf, if not I play guitar. Still not fed up with either. Along with life's day to day chores and activities the time absolutely flies by.

 

[Billysboots]

The big thing to worry about is time.
You will start getting fed up with golf quicker than you think ,especially when having a bad spell.
You need other things to occupy you ! Grandkids ,diy stuff. Holidays etc.

I think I play less golf now than when I was working
Don’t know how I fitted work in

Very true. The reason I gave up golf as a teenager was because I got bored with it. During my last summer holiday before I started life as a working man, I played five days a week, 36 holes most days and occasionally 54. The weekend was reserved for cricket. By the end of that summer I was absolutely golfed out, and didn’t pick up a club for another fifteen years.

I left full time employment in 2021, the plan originally being golf, golf and more golf. The problem I had was two fold - the weather often didn’t allow it, and very few of my golf mates were retired themselves, so my plans changed very quickly. And as my wife is younger than me, and as I type still has another 5/6 years to work, I needed to fill my time in other ways.

So I opted for a self employed, part time pension top up. I work when I want, play golf when I want, and have time to do other things, primarily walking and photography.

Retirement is great, but retirement as a solo when most friends and contemporaries are still working can quickly become a little monotonous.

 

[Red devil]

Some solid advice Brian. I think pulling the trigger and when is a very personal and hard decision to make. I can access private pension from Aug and it is now in a good place so that has certainly eased the stress but i don't plan on retiring at 55. However, i am very much in the wind down to retirement phase and am letting bosses know that is my priority and saying 1 want to be able to retire at 60 and am saving like mad for it. I have been worried about redundancy over the years and it has caused a lot of stress, especially after an expensive divorce in 2018 putting me in a much more vulnerable position financially. I have been saving like mad for past 7 years to rectify. I have been made redundant twice and both times caused extreme anxiety and depression - 9 mongths looking for a job from start of 2008 in bad financial markets and then getting a job but having to commute to Dublin for 3.5 years - and it was a week before Lehman Brothers collapsed - and my role than in Marketing/ Finacial Communications was on fire! Hopefully the stress of this happening again is now significantly eased and tbh a good redundancy even this year or especially in 2-5y would be more than welcommed as should be a good payoff after 17 years service!! I wold never get another similar job as a fund manager but if i did go in next 5 years i would have to think if i wanted a less stressful complete career chaneg job, maybe part time

I've never been made redundant, been divorced though but thankfully she didn't take my pension, thank God.
It certainly is a balancing act in choosing when to go but when you do you'll know the time is right

 

[clubchamp98]

Very true. The reason I gave up golf as a teenager was because I got bored with it. During my last summer holiday before I started life as a working man, I played five days a week, 36 holes most days and occasionally 54. The weekend was reserved for cricket. By the end of that summer I was absolutely golfed out, and didn’t pick up a club for another fifteen years.

I left full time employment in 2021, the plan originally being golf, golf and more golf. The problem I had was two fold - the weather often didn’t allow it, and very few of my golf mates were retired themselves, so my plans changed very quickly. And as my wife is younger than me, and as I type still has another 5/6 years to work, I needed to fill my time in other ways.

So I opted for a self employed, part time pension top up. I work when I want, play golf when I want, and have time to do other things, primarily walking and photography.

Retirement is great, but retirement as a solo when most friends and contemporaries are still working can quickly become a little monotonous.

Yes me to.
I went part time for a sports turf maintenance company owned by my mate.
I really enjoyed that and learned a lot.

 

[bobmac]

Retirement is brilliant, it's the only thing I've ever been any good at.
But you must have a hobby to keep yourself busy when the weather doesn't permit golf.

I built a car port which encorporated a wee workshop (9'x12'') which keeps me busy.
1. ''don't rush''....nothing has to be finished by Monday.
If you think a job will take 3 days, tell HID 7-10 days then finish it in 6 days. Smarty points.
2. Don't wear a watch (too many people obsessed by time). If you're awake, get up, if you're hungry, eat and if you're tired, go to bed.
3. YOU'VE EARNED THE RIGHT TO CHOSE.

4. If you can retire and be your own boss, do it, don't hesitate.....you may not have good health for ever

 

[Deleted member 21784]

If you can retire and be your own boss, do it, don't hesitate.....you may not have good health for ever

Sorry to trim your excellent post but this with bells on

My (great) uncle and grandad passed within 6 months of each other. They retired in the 90s and had long enjoyable retirements. When COVID hit both their bodies started to fight back. But at least they had that enjoyable retirement before hand

 

[PNWokingham]

Had a great run on the investments in past few weeks and hit the next one of my milestones. Most markets are now hitting fresh new highs/ close to recent peaks, and even gold and equities are doing it in tandem, which is quite unusual. With the multitude of risks on the horizon and no idea of which ones may strike and at what time, i am getting edgy about being fully invested here and considering scaling back and going more into cash/ short-term bonds. A hard decision to make when things have gone so well. We are living in very strange, volatile and unpredictable times which makes investing a tricky job - and that is day job as well as looking after the pension!

 

[Fade and Die]

Had a great run on the investments in past few weeks and hit the next one of my milestones. Most markets are now hitting fresh new highs/ close to recent peaks, and even gold and equities are doing it in tandem, which is quite unusual. With the multitude of risks on the horizon and no idea of which ones may strike and at what time, i am getting edgy about being fully invested here and considering scaling back and going more into cash/ short-term bonds. A hard decision to make when things have gone so well. We are living in very strange, volatile and unpredictable times which makes investing a tricky job - and that is day job as well as looking after the pension!

I’ve got a two year fixed ISA maturing in a few weeks, I feel like I am already exposed enough to the stock market and the Crypto markets so I intend to just build up a cash pot. Probably in some National Savings product. Doesn’t earn much but risk free.

 

[PNWokingham]

I’ve got a two year fixed ISA maturing in a few weeks, I feel like I am already exposed enough to the stock market and the Crypto markets so I intend to just build up a cash pot. Probably in some National Savings product. Doesn’t earn much but risk free.

i have 2 very volatile and quite big bets that i am waiting to sell - both are around 5% each of total assets. One is a 3x leveraged ETF on Emerging Markets that has had a nice run over the last month but i am still significantly under water and emerging market equities are far off highs and have been a real dog for 5 years. Today i trimmed it by 20% and may do more over coming days as hopefully the US-China thawing in trade talks today may give some momentum. I want the whole thing gone but the thing has the capacity to double over the next year of EM comes back in favour. The other "dog" is JP Morgan Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa Trust - this was renamed from JPM Russia that i held before the invasion! To say it has been a dog is an under stateent as all the Russian holdings, which are most of the fund, have been written down to zero. The fund dropped to less than 50p. It is now 230 and hit 300 a couple of months ago in the hope of an end to the war and unfreezing of Russian assts etc. I trimmed a bit last month but i am way down on th investment (circa 70%). Hard to know when to sell as an end to the war could see this thing rally to maybe 700 to 1000 (hard to tell) but having quadrupled or more from the lows it is a hard decision knowing if i should sell here or wait for glory if it comes! Can't wait to see the back of both of these as i have lost a massive amount on them and look forward to reinvesting in high yielding bond trusts or bond-proxy infrastructure funds

 

[Fade and Die]

i have 2 very volatile and quite big bets that i am waiting to sell - both are around 5% each of total assets. One is a 3x leveraged ETF on Emerging Markets that has had a nice run over the last month but i am still significantly under water and emerging market equities are far off highs and have been a real dog for 5 years. Today i trimmed it by 20% and may do more over coming days as hopefully the US-China thawing in trade talks today may give some momentum. I want the whole thing gone but the thing has the capacity to double over the next year of EM comes back in favour. The other "dog" is JP Morgan Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa Trust - this was renamed from JPM Russia that i held before the invasion! To say it has been a dog is an under stateent as all the Russian holdings, which are most of the fund, have been written down to zero. The fund dropped to less than 50p. It is now 230 and hit 300 a couple of months ago in the hope of an end to the war and unfreezing of Russian assts etc. I trimmed a bit last month but i am way down on th investment (circa 70%). Hard to know when to sell as an end to the war could see this thing rally to maybe 700 to 1000 (hard to tell) but having quadrupled or more from the lows it is a hard decision knowing if i should sell here or wait for glory if it comes! Can't wait to see the back of both of these as i have lost a massive amount on them and look forward to reinvesting in high yielding bond trusts or bond-proxy infrastructure funds

Yup FOMO is a real problem. And managing your emotions is half the battle with investing. You have to go with your gut and hope it’s the right call. At least you fully understand what you are into… I don’t understand the stock market so I have my money in a Quilter product. It does well for me but I have no idea on the mechanics of it.

I “understand” (if that’s possible) a bit more of the vagaries of the Crypto market and have made good money in the past. I now need a few things to have a last hurrah and I will take my money out and walk away.

 

[PNWokingham]

My SIPP/ ISAs keep on hitting new highs over the past month in one of the best periods i have experienced. I have sold out of my risky (and still heavily in the red) tripple-leveraged WT Emerging Markets ETF (3EML) - a bit gutted it is up another 7% or so since i sold (!!) - but happy to have have recovered a chunk of losses. Also sold 70% of JP Morgan Emerging Europe and Middle East (JEMA), the other big loser i have had. I feel better for limiting potential volatilty but will kick myself if the frozen Russian holdings start trading (although on the other side it will mean the Ukraine war should be over so will be happy). I have been ploughing money into higher-quality Fixed Income ETFs/ Investment Trusts (ERNS, IS15 etc) and buying straight Government Gilts - have bought all higher coupon coupon (mainly 4% to 4.625%) bonds issued between 2028 and 2046 - 18 in total, and will continuing adding to these as i trim other holdings and/or reinvest dividends. Firnly moving into limiting the downside mode rather than chasing bigger gains.

 

[Crazyface]

Very true. The reason I gave up golf as a teenager was because I got bored with it. During my last summer holiday before I started life as a working man, I played five days a week, 36 holes most days and occasionally 54. The weekend was reserved for cricket. By the end of that summer I was absolutely golfed out, and didn’t pick up a club for another fifteen years.

I left full time employment in 2021, the plan originally being golf, golf and more golf. The problem I had was two fold - the weather often didn’t allow it, and very few of my golf mates were retired themselves, so my plans changed very quickly. And as my wife is younger than me, and as I type still has another 5/6 years to work, I needed to fill my time in other ways.

So I opted for a self employed, part time pension top up. I work when I want, play golf when I want, and have time to do other things, primarily walking and photography.

Retirement is great, but retirement as a solo when most friends and contemporaries are still working can quickly become a little monotonous.

LOl, yeah right........

 

[Billysboots]

LOl, yeah right........

Are you retired?

Because I know I’m far from being alone in having found going from my time being fully occupied whilst working to completely the opposite a very difficult adjustment.

 

[Deleted member 21784]

Are you retired?

Because I know I’m far from being alone in having found going from my time being fully occupied whilst working to completely the opposite a very difficult adjustment.

Your spot on bill. My dad went bit crazy when he retired , when the twins came along they literally brought him back to normal as became his focus being grandad now he has 4 grandkids and he's just fun grandad which beats having ago at MPs on twitter lol

 

[Golfmmad]

Are you retired?

Because I know I’m far from being alone in having found going from my time being fully occupied whilst working to completely the opposite a very difficult adjustment.

Each to their own. When I retired 3- 4 years ago I had no problems whatsoever about adjusting to retired life.
I'm now 75 and started work when I was 15 and worked hard all my working life.
It's now time to enjoy life with whatever it throws at me.
I also have quite a large family and have 5 beautiful grandchildren.