What are you going to do in retirement?

[Tonkin]

Let's assume you do manage to retire from work, how do you hope to spend your time?

Or how do you think you'll end up spending your time?

Not having to work one day is my dream and I'd love to just spend my time going for walks, sitting in coffee shops reading, and watching interesting stuff on TV.

If that gets boring, hopefully you can still get £1.50 pints in 'spoons so I could take up drinking on my state pension with all the other old farts.

Anyone given retirement much thought?

[biscuits]

It would be nice to volunteer to keep a little bit busy and to have some sort of social contact.

Go to little classes based on my interests.

I actually love BINGO.

I think I will dye my hair all sorts of different colours.

Dance a lot - hips permitting, of course.

Start up and tend to a vegetable patch.

Just make use of the free time to busily get on with the things I enjoy.

[Dougella]

I have no idea, but I do look forward to shaking my walking stick disapprovingly at people and calling people "young man" and "young lady" when complaining to them about something. Essentially I think I am going to be cantankerous

[Percy]

^I already call people young man or young lady, old age is not a requirement.

[Jen.]

I already sort of feel retired since I decided to take a break from working a few months ago. It depresses me sometimes when I think "Is this it?" and picture myself 40 years in the future when nothing at all has changed except I'm older, but other times I think that doesn't sound so bad. I guess there's no point changing something for the sake of it or looking forward to doing what I'm already able to do now. I imagine I'll have become even more annoying when I'm old.

[Tonkin]

I'm sure you won't have

I'd love to retire now, though.

[Jen.]

^ Haha! I guess I can dream.

I suppose the good thing about your campervan idea is that there's still plenty for you to see and do in the UK in those months where you would have to be out of the rest of Europe, and it wouldn't be too difficult to drive back if you planned your routes with that inconvenience in mind.

"Retirement age" is still far enough away for me that I can delude myself into thinking that maybe things might be different by then, in 2050 or whenever it is. I know there's some kind of allowance for people to retire to EU countries now that means they aren't required to leave every few months, but it's not financially available to everyone since it's related to how much your pension is and the value or the house you buy there. It would no doubt be infuriating to those who were only getting through decades in a job they hated by looking forward to a permanent move abroad, only to find the option has been taken away from them.

I have been considering moving to Spain in the last couple of years, but wanted to wait since the rules were developing. I think the best lifestyle I ever had was when I lived in Valencia for the year abroad element of my degree. I kind of felt like a retired person then too. Getting up late, having a coffee and breakfast in one of the cafes near my apartment, going for a walk or shopping or reading on the beach until I got hungry then going to a seafood restaurant or having a picnic, sleeping for a bit until I had to do a couple of hours of work in the evening, then sitting outside drinking good wine that cost less than €3 a bottle. Most days were more or less the same, but it was very relaxing and felt like it would have been a nice way to wait for death.

[Mr. Nobody]

I've looked ahead to see what the state pension is likely to be, and that worried me,
realistically, I think I'll probably need to keep working into retirement to keep paying the bills.

I've often heard people advise that it's really important to keep active when you retire,
I know retired people who have had a great time in retirement and they were seriously busy, out and about, meeting people, travelling etc.

I would seriously love to retire just now, but couldn't afford it.

I know a few policeman who have retired lately and their pensions were more than what I get paid working full-time

[Sisyphus]

^ And they get to retire at 50, or at least they used to. Then they went out and got another job, which is where I met them.

I have heard that retirement is a significant factor in early death. Keeping busy is very important.

My plan is to start living. With the rate of progress of the restoration of my sanity I should just be at the right age to retire.

[Toxic]

Where I live is like a quiet street of ex coppers.

I think the plan seems to be get to their 50's..retire..buy a Jaaaaaaag and a caravan or motorhome..type thing. They are all following suit! (Although they seem to be moving onto small electric cars now, the Jags have probably broke)

What am I going to do? I'm never convinced I'll actually make it.

Probably not a lot, maybe I'll go to the shops and make disgruntled noises at the youth of today. I'd retire tomorrow If I could afford it - theres plenty of things I'd happily do instead of work..especially while I'm physically able to - maybe not so easy in my 70's!

[Mo34]

I'll probably be too poor to be able to do anything

[Orwell20]

...drugs!

Actually, a lot of retired people are heavy drugs users, they just don’t see it way. I remember my grandparents popping Valium, benzos, sleeping pills and opioids/painkillers. They were often high as kites (and loving it). But because the drugs were legal they would claim it was medicine. Yeah, right!! Still, it was better than turning to alcohol.

Actually, retirement is going to be pretty goddam lonely. I never wanted kids and am relieved I don’t have any. Still, it’s gonna be tough to grow old in a little flat with no daughter or grandkids popping to check I’m ok. And if I get ill (which I inevitably will) I’m going to have to book a taxi to take me to the hospital, and pick me up. Not a happy thought.

[Dougella]

^ What about friends, or neighbours, or other relatives?

[Orwell20]

Originally Posted by indignant misanthrope

I doubt I will get a retirement, the way things are going I will die working or be given increasingly smaller scraps to live on, and i'll die in a freezing cold flat surrounded by strangers I can't stand

.

I live in the same town in which I was born, so there’s a good chance someone who bullied me will be in the same retirement home. It’s a sort of recurring nightmare that when I’m old I end up living in a filthy, council-run home surrounded by the as*holes I grew up with. I’ve avoided them since I left school, but obviously we’re the same age, so I guess there’s a chance I’ll walk into such a place at 85 to be confronted by some wan*er who made my life a misery when we were 14. Mind you, since I’d be old and nothing would matter, I could go on a killing spree - get my revenge!!

but if you want the hopeful (I don't have much left) version then maybe a log cabin with a small farm miles away from civilisation, that is just my dream in general irrespective of what age.

I have also thought of this. But by the time I retire I doubt there will even BE any countryside. And if you want a farm miles from anywhere...well, you’ll have to move to Siberia. In thirty or forty years England will be one giant housing estate.

[anxiouslondoner]

Retirement? Given the state of my pension, I'll probably still be working for at least twenty years after I die.

[Pine]

The time I spent as a neet was my retirement in advance.

[choirgirl]

Yes, I think I might have had my retirement in advance too!

[Mr. Nobody]

some amazing examples HERE of people doing incredibly well in retirment,
still going strong, some well into their 80's..

kind of makes you think,

[T]

Well if i get to retirement age i'd like to move over to Anglesey and get a little place over there, i like the slow pace over there compared to where i am at the mo, i'd take up walking and take my camera with me as there is a few beautiful places over there to photograph..Anglesey is my happy place!