Enjoying Retirement

[Carbon Sasquatch]

GT3Manthey said:

GT03ROB said:

Can I introduce you to someone........ my wife....

This is the bit that slightly concerns me .

She is ‘live for today’ and I’m not so it’s going to take a while to drum in where we need to be

I've had about an 18 month run in from first floating the idea to actual retirement. My wife has calmed down significantly as we've got closer to R day - and in some ways is now more careful than I am now.
It still doesn't stop her from thinking £600 for a handbag is incredible value, but at least she didn't buy it (yet)

[xeny]

dmahon said:

I don’t think many people think a net worth of 1.2 million isn’t adequate to retire on!

Possibly not the right thread for it, but I'm not relaxed about that kind of number. Depending on what happens to interest rates, asset values could fall significantly. If interest rates don't rise, then it risks loss of value due to inflation.

[lrdisco]

To me it makes sense to retire soon and to somewhere warm.
We want to do it before grandchildren or having to look after older relatives.
Have 10 years in the Sun then return and sell the big house or take a risk on savings lasting then down sizing.

We have had the long haul holidays and feel no need for them and the weather in Spain seems very agreeable.

I want to relax. I feel tired. Worked constantly since I was 16. Bricklayer/Builder/Project manager/site manager.
I do not feel I owe the world of work any more of my time.

Just have to finish the 5 houses I am about to start!
Hope. I live to see my plan work out.

[lrdisco]

xeny said:

dmahon said:

I don’t think many people think a net worth of 1.2 million isn’t adequate to retire on!

Possibly not the right thread for it, but I'm not relaxed about that kind of number. Depending on what happens to interest rates, asset values could fall significantly. If interest rates don't rise, then it risks loss of value due to inflation.

I’m relaxed as the assets £800,000 are going to be holiday let’s in a very popular East Yorkshire costal town.
They should bring in £40k a year after costs.
Asset depreciation only matters if you sell.

[GT03ROB]

GT3Manthey said:

GT03ROB said:

Can I introduce you to someone........ my wife....

This is the bit that slightly concerns me .

She is ‘live for today’ and I’m not so it’s going to take a while to drum in where we need to be

If I can find a way to block certain clothes/shoe shopping websites, I'll be fine. Hundreds of pairs of shoes is not an exaggeration.

[GT3Manthey]

lrdisco said:

To me it makes sense to retire soon and to somewhere warm.
We want to do it before grandchildren or having to look after older relatives.
Have 10 years in the Sun then return and sell the big house or take a risk on savings lasting then down sizing.

We have had the long haul holidays and feel no need for them and the weather in Spain seems very agreeable.

I want to relax. I feel tired. Worked constantly since I was 16. Bricklayer/Builder/Project manager/site manager.
I do not feel I owe the world of work any more of my time.

Just have to finish the 5 houses I am about to start!
Hope. I live to see my plan work out.

I’m certainly with you on the long haul holidays and having a list of countries to tick off .

Spain , Portugal or the canaries is just fine and the UK for sight seeing.

I have zero interest in going to places like India, chine , Japan , Thailand .

I’ve been to Aus, been round the Caribbean twice and lots of places in the US.
I also have little interest in visiting major foreign cities .

Of course some want to travel lots , it’s just my ideal destinations aren’t far flung places looking at various cultures but each to their own

[lrdisco]

GT3Manthey said:

I’m certainly with you on the long haul holidays and having a list of countries to tick off .

Spain , Portugal or the canaries is just fine and the UK for sight seeing.

I have zero interest in going to places like India, chine , Japan , Thailand .

I’ve been to Aus, been round the Caribbean twice and lots of places in the US.
I also have little interest in visiting major foreign cities .

Of course some want to travel lots , it’s just my ideal destinations aren’t far flung places looking at various cultures but each to their own

There’s a whole lot of the UK I haven’t seen.
Then there’s Europe. Hardly scratched the surface.

[Shnozz]

lrdisco said:

To me it makes sense to retire soon and to somewhere warm.
We want to do it before grandchildren or having to look after older relatives.
Have 10 years in the Sun then return and sell the big house or take a risk on savings lasting then down sizing.

We have had the long haul holidays and feel no need for them and the weather in Spain seems very agreeable.

I want to relax. I feel tired. Worked constantly since I was 16. Bricklayer/Builder/Project manager/site manager.
I do not feel I owe the world of work any more of my time.

Just have to finish the 5 houses I am about to start!
Hope. I live to see my plan work out.

I am a fair few years from retirement in my early 40's. However, I decided some time ago that I wanted to spend more time in the sun, and Spain in particular. A few scouting trips and seeing old retirees barely managing the steps to a restaurant convinced me to act sooner rather than later.

As such, I bought a house and split my time between there and the UK. If I was retired, I would be tempted to switch residency, although that brings with it a whole heap of complications and even more so since Brexit. I would like to always retain property in the UK, regardless.

These days I spend as close to 50% of my time as the post-Brexit rules allow in Spain. As I say, not at retirement age but the lifestyle is as close as I can get for now.

[GT3Manthey]

lrdisco said:

There’s a whole lot of the UK I haven’t seen.
Then there’s Europe. Hardly scratched the surface.

I’m exactly the same .

I’ll be picking mikes brain for train routes across the uk and Europe .

I’m already dressing like Michael portillo !

[Louis Balfour]

Shnozz said:

I am a fair few years from retirement in my early 40's. However, I decided some time ago that I wanted to spend more time in the sun, and Spain in particular. A few scouting trips and seeing old retirees barely managing the steps to a restaurant convinced me to act sooner rather than later.

As such, I bought a house and split my time between there and the UK. If I was retired, I would be tempted to switch residency, although that brings with it a whole heap of complications and even more so since Brexit. I would like to always retain property in the UK, regardless.

These days I spend as close to 50% of my time as the post-Brexit rules allow in Spain. As I say, not at retirement age but the lifestyle is as close as I can get for now.

Good for you.

You never know when the music is going to stop and there are no pockets in a shroud.

[Shnozz]

Louis Balfour said:

Good for you.

You never know when the music is going to stop and there are no pockets in a shroud.

Thank you. It was probably a very poor financial decision (coupled with many others) but the lifestyle choice, at least so far, has been priceless. I had previously devoutly followed a delayed gratification approach to my finances and lifestyle but a series of events in the last decade made me question my balance. The realisation I might not even reach retirement age made me re-jig a few things whilst still trying to maintain a semblance of sensibility.

I must say that reading the exploits of the retirees on this thread still makes me envious! Nice to see and hope all enjoy in good health.

[dmahon]

Shnozz said:

Thank you. It was probably a very poor financial decision (coupled with many others) but the lifestyle choice, at least so far, has been priceless. I had previously devoutly followed a delayed gratification approach to my finances and lifestyle but a series of events in the last decade made me question my balance. The realisation I might not even reach retirement age made me re-jig a few things whilst still trying to maintain a semblance of sensibility.

I must say that reading the exploits of the retirees on this thread still makes me envious! Nice to see and hope all enjoy in good health.

Your posts definitely influenced me to take some similar steps. I did 2 or 3 scouting trips to Spain, but didn't find anywhere before Covid.

I've since bought elsewhere, but want to set up a similar lifestyle if I can make it work.

I think it's the right call to do it early rather than defer gratification, and with WFH being a thing it's definetly a more viable lifestyle.

[Shnozz]

dmahon said:

Your posts definitely influenced me to take some similar steps. I did 2 or 3 scouting trips to Spain, but didn't find anywhere before Covid.

I've since bought elsewhere, but want to set up a similar lifestyle if I can make it work.

I think it's the right call to do it early rather than defer gratification, and with WFH being a thing it's definetly a more viable lifestyle.

I am pleased it was of use. If I can be of any further help, feel free to drop me an email, whether its on any part of the process or otherwise. I certainly learnt some lessons during the course of the experience. Likewise, if you find yourself in the South Costa Blanca on a further scouting mission, feel free to give me a shout for a beer or 2 if we are there at the time.

It is a shame in some ways that you didn't find anywhere pre-Covid. With enforced lockdowns and mandatory WFH, we spent a great deal of our time in the Spanish home. If we are subject to lockdowns and restrictions, it was a far nicer place to be homebound on a roof terrace. We got very fortunate in that regard also as workman were installing fibre optic broadband In May 2020, just as we needed it for Teams etc. Prior to that we had only a satellite BB which was fine for email etc but wouldn't have stood up to both myself and my partner attending Teams meetings in different rooms of the house simultaneously.

As I say, if I can be any help, feel free to drop me a message.

[The Leaper]

GT3Manthey said:

lrdisco said:

There’s a whole lot of the UK I haven’t seen.
Then there’s Europe. Hardly scratched the surface.

I’m exactly the same .

I’ll be picking mikes brain for train routes across the uk and Europe .

I’m already dressing like Michael portillo !

Wife and I are in/have been in, a similar situation.

• retired in 2004
• before retirement had many years of long haul holidays...North America, Caribbean, Middle East, Far East, Australia etc..but not Europe
• since retiring we have holidayed 2-4 times a year for maybe 7-10 days each time in Europe.
• we have become BIG fans of Italy: been maybe 20 times, stayed in many cities and villages and visited many more. Off to Verona again later this year.

Made good use of all the BA Airmiles/Avios I collected whilst travelling when working! Still got loads to use up.

R.

[GT3Manthey]

The Leaper said:

Wife and I are in/have been in, a similar situation.

• retired in 2004
• before retirement had many years of long haul holidays...North America, Caribbean, Middle East, Far East, Australia etc..but not Europe
• since retiring we have holidayed 2-4 times a year for maybe 7-10 days each time in Europe.
• we have become BIG fans of Italy: been maybe 20 times, stayed in many cities and villages and visited many more. Off to Verona again later this year.

Made good use of all the BA Airmiles/Avios I collected whilst travelling when working! Still got loads to use up.

R.

Oddly enough I looked at my BA account last week .

I appear to have 350k points but assumed that might get me a bottle of wine and a bag of crisps

[Louis Balfour]

The Leaper said:

GT3Manthey said:

lrdisco said:

There’s a whole lot of the UK I haven’t seen.
Then there’s Europe. Hardly scratched the surface.

I’m exactly the same .

I’ll be picking mikes brain for train routes across the uk and Europe .

I’m already dressing like Michael portillo !

Wife and I are in/have been in, a similar situation.

• retired in 2004
• before retirement had many years of long haul holidays...North America, Caribbean, Middle East, Far East, Australia etc..but not Europe
• since retiring we have holidayed 2-4 times a year for maybe 7-10 days each time in Europe.
• we have become BIG fans of Italy: been maybe 20 times, stayed in many cities and villages and visited many more. Off to Verona again later this year.

Made good use of all the BA Airmiles/Avios I collected whilst travelling when working! Still got loads to use up.

R.

Have you been since Brexit?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

12TS said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Anyone living in the London area got plans to explore Crossrail, which opened today? Think I might do it on Thursday, go from Paddington to canary Wharf, check out all the new stations.

It's great, this retirement lark.

Well worth it. I had a few rides yesterday and there was a bit of an Olympics happy vibe to the whole thing.

Yes, it's very impressive, went from Paddington to Canary Wharf and wandered around the stations in between. Saw Sadiq Khan at Tottenham Court Rd, he was going down the escalator as I was coming up.

[AllyM]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Saw Sadiq Khan

Unlucky

[JeffreyD]

Louis Balfour said:

Have you been since Brexit?

We do the same.

Always think of trying somewhere new and end up in Italy having a great time.

Just got back from a week in Venice with a day trip to Padua.
All as fabulous as ever.

[The Leaper]

Louis Balfour said:

The Leaper said:

GT3Manthey said:

lrdisco said:

There’s a whole lot of the UK I haven’t seen.
Then there’s Europe. Hardly scratched the surface.

I’m exactly the same .

I’ll be picking mikes brain for train routes across the uk and Europe .

I’m already dressing like Michael portillo !

Wife and I are in/have been in, a similar situation.

• retired in 2004
• before retirement had many years of long haul holidays...North America, Caribbean, Middle East, Far East, Australia etc..but not Europe
• since retiring we have holidayed 2-4 times a year for maybe 7-10 days each time in Europe.
• we have become BIG fans of Italy: been maybe 20 times, stayed in many cities and villages and visited many more. Off to Verona again later this year.

Made good use of all the BA Airmiles/Avios I collected whilst travelling when working! Still got loads to use up.

R.

Have you been since Brexit?

No, due to Covid, so when we go to Verona later this year it'll be our first trip overseas since Brexit. Why do you ask?

R.