Retirement- Filling The Void
Discussion
Could have retired a while ago but actually like the whole working experience.
I’m in Mergers and Aquisitions including Automotive so really enjoy my work. However at some point I’ll have to stop.
What concerns me is what to do with the additional time available. Could easily spend all day in a pub but would rather not. Currently lift heavy and train MA 3-4 times a week, and used to be decent with a guitar decades ago so could start again.
Any thoughts on what you do or would like to do to fill the void?
I’m in Mergers and Aquisitions including Automotive so really enjoy my work. However at some point I’ll have to stop.
What concerns me is what to do with the additional time available. Could easily spend all day in a pub but would rather not. Currently lift heavy and train MA 3-4 times a week, and used to be decent with a guitar decades ago so could start again.
Any thoughts on what you do or would like to do to fill the void?
I stupidly left my job a year ago. I was pretty lost the first 3 months but now I can't see how I got things done whilst I was working.
No real social life as everyone else is married or partnered up but I just enjoy my own time.
2 to 3 hours in the gym 3 to 4 times a week, I look better and feel healthier than I was 30 years ago now. Plenty of time to buy food and spend time cooking a decent meal.
No rush about anything. Can plan trips away but be able to choose the cheapest options as I'm not tied to a schedule.
I have looked at other jobs and applied but I realise now that I now longer want someone else telling me when to get up, have lunch, when I can leave.
Bought a little convertible that I just drive for fun, no more driving into and around London.
Plus so much time for doctor and hospital appointments. No clashes with work
Admittedly winter wasn't great and I was stuck here with my drug addict son to look after but now he's gone I'll escape the winter to warmer pastures and save on heating bills.
No real social life as everyone else is married or partnered up but I just enjoy my own time.
2 to 3 hours in the gym 3 to 4 times a week, I look better and feel healthier than I was 30 years ago now. Plenty of time to buy food and spend time cooking a decent meal.
No rush about anything. Can plan trips away but be able to choose the cheapest options as I'm not tied to a schedule.
I have looked at other jobs and applied but I realise now that I now longer want someone else telling me when to get up, have lunch, when I can leave.
Bought a little convertible that I just drive for fun, no more driving into and around London.
Plus so much time for doctor and hospital appointments. No clashes with work
Admittedly winter wasn't great and I was stuck here with my drug addict son to look after but now he's gone I'll escape the winter to warmer pastures and save on heating bills.
My suggestion is to do some voluntary/charity work. Tomorrow I'm going to help tidy a local park but my main thing is to be a volunteer for one of the regional air ambulance charities. There are any number of things you could do for a charity like that whether it's office work, making fundraising presentations or helping at outdoor events. With another volunteer, I once emptied the collection boxes at 15 central London pubs in one day.
Randy Winkman said:
My suggestion is to do some voluntary/charity work. Tomorrow I'm going to help tidy a local park but my main thing is to be a volunteer for one of the regional air ambulance charities. There are any number of things you could do for a charity like that whether it's office work, making fundraising presentations or helping at outdoor events. With another volunteer, I once emptied the collection boxes at 15 central London pubs in one day.
Did you manage a pint in every one too? 
I retired around 3 months ago and have enjoyed the recent weather but have started to wonder what I’ll do in the winter months.
I worked from home before with very little to do so completed all the diy before retiring. Currently we’re travelling around on mini breaks and spending days out but a lot of it revolves around visiting various pubs and cafes spending way too much money.
If we had an endless pot of money and a mega pension, we’d probably carry on but a move may be on the cards next year closer to my old workplace and they’ve already said I can go back. If I can do part time I’ll probably return for a while.
I worked from home before with very little to do so completed all the diy before retiring. Currently we’re travelling around on mini breaks and spending days out but a lot of it revolves around visiting various pubs and cafes spending way too much money.
If we had an endless pot of money and a mega pension, we’d probably carry on but a move may be on the cards next year closer to my old workplace and they’ve already said I can go back. If I can do part time I’ll probably return for a while.
Join the Sporting Bears, you're in the right location and they love a Mustang.
https://www.sportingbears.co.uk/index.php
Take up golf. I'd be more inclined to retire if I was better at it but I don't think at my standard it'd be good for my physical or mental health.
https://www.sportingbears.co.uk/index.php
Take up golf. I'd be more inclined to retire if I was better at it but I don't think at my standard it'd be good for my physical or mental health.
Al Gorithum said:
Could have retired a while ago but actually like the whole working experience.
I m in Mergers and Aquisitions including Automotive so really enjoy my work. However at some point I ll have to stop.
What concerns me is what to do with the additional time available. Could easily spend all day in a pub but would rather not. Currently lift heavy and train MA 3-4 times a week, and used to be decent with a guitar decades ago so could start again.
Any thoughts on what you do or would like to do to fill the void?
Have a read of the 'Enjoying Retirement' thread, which is over in the finance section (despite it being very little to do with finance I m in Mergers and Aquisitions including Automotive so really enjoy my work. However at some point I ll have to stop.
What concerns me is what to do with the additional time available. Could easily spend all day in a pub but would rather not. Currently lift heavy and train MA 3-4 times a week, and used to be decent with a guitar decades ago so could start again.
Any thoughts on what you do or would like to do to fill the void?
).Everyone is different, but there is a wide mix of people who take up/expand on hobbies, cars, some fitness/swimming, etc, holidays, walking, DIY, volunteering, even (somewhat stretching the idea of retirement IMHO) doing part time work. Probably more I've forgotten too.
I couldn't wait to leave work, so perhaps not in tune so much with your position, but I've keep very busy with all the projects I hadn't time to get on with. Some that needed more time than money (I went very early and had to wait to start taking some of my pensions). I already played guitar in a band, so I was able to spend more time doing that, plus setting up a proper music room to practice/record in. I also took on another band as their drummer.
My wife is older, so we wanted to get started taking some long distance holidays and not have to deal with going back to work with jet lag. Being flexible with travel times/dates has kept costs down, so we've gone away for up to 5 weeks sometimes, usually to avoid February/end of winter.
Hopefully you'll have a decent circle of friends outside of work because they seem to disappear once you leave. I kept in touch with a few, even met up a few times, but it soon fizzles out, same as for previous places I worked. (Or maybe it's just me
).I retired last year and would have done it much earlier if I had the funds, I was never a fan of working for a living
Never short of things to do but it's also nice to just do nothing sometimes. My week consits of making numerous cups of tea when summoned by my wife (she still works), mountain biking, attempting to learn to play golf plus looking after most of the house and car stuff. Today I had a drive to Cadwell Park to watch a test day, although that isn't something I do on a regular basis the opportunity is there now where it wasn't before
Basically I would highly recommend retiring ASAP if you can
Never short of things to do but it's also nice to just do nothing sometimes. My week consits of making numerous cups of tea when summoned by my wife (she still works), mountain biking, attempting to learn to play golf plus looking after most of the house and car stuff. Today I had a drive to Cadwell Park to watch a test day, although that isn't something I do on a regular basis the opportunity is there now where it wasn't before
Basically I would highly recommend retiring ASAP if you can
Johnnybee said:
I retired last year and would have done it much earlier if I had the funds, I was never a fan of working for a living
Never short of things to do but it's also nice to just do nothing sometimes. My week consits of making numerous cups of tea when summoned by my wife (she still works), mountain biking, attempting to learn to play golf plus looking after most of the house and car stuff. Today I had a drive to Cadwell Park to watch a test day, although that isn't something I do on a regular basis the opportunity is there now where it wasn't before
Basically I would highly recommend retiring ASAP if you can
Sometimes you don't need to fill your time with something, just sit and enjoy nothing.Never short of things to do but it's also nice to just do nothing sometimes. My week consits of making numerous cups of tea when summoned by my wife (she still works), mountain biking, attempting to learn to play golf plus looking after most of the house and car stuff. Today I had a drive to Cadwell Park to watch a test day, although that isn't something I do on a regular basis the opportunity is there now where it wasn't before
Basically I would highly recommend retiring ASAP if you can
But my time is spent, out on my bike most days, a bit of messing about making stuff, a bit of fixing stuff, a bit of maintaining stuff and driving across some Welsh mountains. I am now 7 years into retirement and yes sometimes I don't have something to do but that's not a problem. But the reality is I always find something. Some Days I have a big long list of stuff I don't have enough time to get done.
If I didn't maintain and fix stuff myself I am not sure I would cope as well though.
Kwackersaki said:
I retired around 3 months ago and have enjoyed the recent weather but have started to wonder what I ll do in the winter months.
I worked from home before with very little to do so completed all the diy before retiring. Currently we re travelling around on mini breaks and spending days out but a lot of it revolves around visiting various pubs and cafes spending way too much money.
If we had an endless pot of money and a mega pension, we d probably carry on but a move may be on the cards next year closer to my old workplace and they ve already said I can go back. If I can do part time I ll probably return for a while.
I can understand this, retirement filled me with dread, a long illness gave me a taste of it and while that was forced circumstances, the outcome is similar. I worked from home before with very little to do so completed all the diy before retiring. Currently we re travelling around on mini breaks and spending days out but a lot of it revolves around visiting various pubs and cafes spending way too much money.
If we had an endless pot of money and a mega pension, we d probably carry on but a move may be on the cards next year closer to my old workplace and they ve already said I can go back. If I can do part time I ll probably return for a while.
Divorce, and that illness, has taken it out of my hands, and it feels really good tbh. Work till I drop ain't scary. If anything it feels liberating. Never had all my eggs in one basket, in a fantastic relationship with a younger woman who knows the score and is active in making sure we live just fine.
Both adaptable to different things, which I can understand makes things more difficult for those with one carreer all their working lives.
Being active and adaptable actually makes me feel good about the future, and they cant take everything for the care home lol.
Best laid plans and all that, does life ever work out exactly as you plan and have spent years planning for and worrying about. ?
Any of us could keel over at anytime.
Al, it seems like your job is also your hobby. If that's what drives you, you may as well stick with it.
I would love to have more free time. The weekends go by in a flash and I feel like all I do is work. After staring at a screen all day and dealing with people and never having enough time to get things done thoroughly, I feel totally drained of a weekday evening and don't do anything.
If I had more time free I would love to spend it restoring old stuff to working order. Toys such as vintage RC cars and model railway engines, vintage steel bicycles, furniture etc. I had a taste of this when I was on furlough during Covid, and it was wonderful. I have a TR7 in my garage. I would love to get it running again, make some enhancements, alcantara trim the dashboard maybe. It's too long and big a project so it just sits there.
I would love to have more free time. The weekends go by in a flash and I feel like all I do is work. After staring at a screen all day and dealing with people and never having enough time to get things done thoroughly, I feel totally drained of a weekday evening and don't do anything.
If I had more time free I would love to spend it restoring old stuff to working order. Toys such as vintage RC cars and model railway engines, vintage steel bicycles, furniture etc. I had a taste of this when I was on furlough during Covid, and it was wonderful. I have a TR7 in my garage. I would love to get it running again, make some enhancements, alcantara trim the dashboard maybe. It's too long and big a project so it just sits there.
I'm approaching retirement but I genuinely enjoy my job and the social life that comes with it - I'll genuinely miss that. I've had various periods of gardening leave. The first two months are amazing but I always begin to get a bit bored after three months
I'll have to do some sort of part time work and/or volunteering. Plus loads of exercise/travel. Plus plus plus.
I'll have to do some sort of part time work and/or volunteering. Plus loads of exercise/travel. Plus plus plus.
DIY DIY DIY
Not just decorating but upgrading the whole house inside and out.
I am enjoying buying up every DeWalt and Parkside tool that takes my fancy.
Now I am retired I have the budget for what I want to do and the time to give attention to detail and actually finish all the jobs that I start.
Not just decorating but upgrading the whole house inside and out.
I am enjoying buying up every DeWalt and Parkside tool that takes my fancy.
Now I am retired I have the budget for what I want to do and the time to give attention to detail and actually finish all the jobs that I start.
AlexC1981 said:
Al, it seems like your job is also your hobby. If that's what drives you, you may as well stick with it.
I would love to have more free time. The weekends go by in a flash and I feel like all I do is work. After staring at a screen all day and dealing with people and never having enough time to get things done thoroughly, I feel totally drained of a weekday evening and don't do anything.
If I had more time free I would love to spend it restoring old stuff to working order. Toys such as vintage RC cars and model railway engines, vintage steel bicycles, furniture etc. I had a taste of this when I was on furlough during Covid, and it was wonderful. I have a TR7 in my garage. I would love to get it running again, make some enhancements, alcantara trim the dashboard maybe. It's too long and big a project so it just sits there.
I do enjoy the job I am doing but that isn't what drives me, survival does lol, but also realising I can't change the past, life is too short and there has to be a work life balance. I would love to have more free time. The weekends go by in a flash and I feel like all I do is work. After staring at a screen all day and dealing with people and never having enough time to get things done thoroughly, I feel totally drained of a weekday evening and don't do anything.
If I had more time free I would love to spend it restoring old stuff to working order. Toys such as vintage RC cars and model railway engines, vintage steel bicycles, furniture etc. I had a taste of this when I was on furlough during Covid, and it was wonderful. I have a TR7 in my garage. I would love to get it running again, make some enhancements, alcantara trim the dashboard maybe. It's too long and big a project so it just sits there.
I trained as an accountant after school, left it behind at 23, I was so bored of being in offices with the same miserable faces day in day out. Never looked back.
The main things for me
Travel, the planning takes time too.
Gym - 3 mornings a week.
Cooking. 3 proper meals a day.
Trading the US stock market as a hobby.
Shooting - couple of times a month.
DIY and spending time in the garden.
We both have bikes and go out a couple of times a month.
I also do all the admin for the house, excel sheets for finances etc which can actually take a couple of hours a week at least.
What I refuse to do - golf, washing the car 3 times a week and drinking each night.
Each to their own of course.
If I get super bored then I just book myself a couple of days away somewhere - usually on my own and just go.
Some of the best times are just at the drop of a hat with little planning.
Travel, the planning takes time too.
Gym - 3 mornings a week.
Cooking. 3 proper meals a day.
Trading the US stock market as a hobby.
Shooting - couple of times a month.
DIY and spending time in the garden.
We both have bikes and go out a couple of times a month.
I also do all the admin for the house, excel sheets for finances etc which can actually take a couple of hours a week at least.
What I refuse to do - golf, washing the car 3 times a week and drinking each night.
Each to their own of course.
If I get super bored then I just book myself a couple of days away somewhere - usually on my own and just go.
Some of the best times are just at the drop of a hat with little planning.
Lots of schools need good non-parent school governors. They even provide training.
Ditto charities.
There are some great youth mentoring schemes about - can be quite eye opening (helping a 16 year old learn to read a bus timetable, how to act in an interview, that yes they should wash and shave that day), etc
Travel - there are some great train passes in Europe. Low stress travel.
Loads of courses - cooking, carpentry, etc
Learn another language?
Consider fostering?
Etc.
Open up ChatGPT and use your microphone instead of typing; no doubt it will spring up some other ideas…
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