1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Best Place (world) To Live +50 / Not Working - Opinion, Advice And Discussion

Discussion in 'Lounge' started by AirCon, Mar 1, 2018.

  1. I'm retired too.......did it early at 62 but got State Pension at 65.

    Am I glad to be out of it.

    Suffolk is a bit slow** and was not really through choice but it seems better than the Colchester area now and it is usually warmer this side of the country.

    **They don't bury people here, they just leave them propped up against bus-stops.
     
    • Funny Funny x 2
    • Like Like x 1
  2. Retiring is dangerous, I know plenty who retire and either get fat and immobile or just die of boredom.
    Riding will keep you sane and give you a sense of belonging, lose that and you are heading for the exit.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. You never know what's around the corner, a mate of mine retired in July last year at 65, very fit lad, cycled most days and covered fair distances, never smoked and enjoyed a casual drink, had a massive heart attack last week and died, my brother retired at 60, died at 64.
     
    • Thanks Thanks x 1
  4. Cheery soul you are!
     
  5. Well bollox......I'm still here.....but who is going to tell you when I'm not (F Knows)...............Sod It, who really cares anyway?
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  6. Oh shaddup - I lost three stone since I retired doing sod all.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  7. Yeah but you was a Greggs product tester
     
  8. Fair enough. It only goes to show, what’s right for one person isn’t right for another.
    On that point though, what the hell are the two of you going to do with 5 or 6 bedrooms?
    Or do I take it your snoring is getting seriously worse :joy:

    Hope you’re not planning on selling your present place in this market. IF...they ever get Brexit sorted the market will probably come back though. I certainly hope so or my retirement plans will be shot to bits.

    I’m at the point now that I don’t care what happens on March 29th as long as that is definitely the final date. Then we can all get on again.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  9. I said I'd stick my musings, and tuppence worth, up here for you @AirCon at some stage so here it is......Warning, get a cup of coffee/tea/beer/wine/whiskey/whatever before reading, it ran on a bit :confused:

    What's 'retirement' anyway? It used to be you worked until you were 65 then stopped. BANG, one day you’re busy the next day you’re not. My Mum & Dad did that (in their 80s now) as did their parents. That wasn't for me - isn't for me. Or for SWMBO.

    For 25 years or so we lived and worked in London, commuted into the City/Canary Wharf and then commuted home to SW London again; sardines in a can; hamsters on a wheel. Spent the nights under the flight path to LHR with the sounds of the S.Circular mixed in. Pretty much every weekend we’d load the kids and dogs into the Land Rover and head out into the shires for some fresh air, natural noises and a more natural environment. Every Sunday we’d trudge back home, hit the queue of traffic on the M4 around Heston comprised of every other like minded soul who’d escaped for the weekend and now had to return and we’d ask ourselves ‘why are we doing this?’, ‘why do we live in London?’, ‘why are we queuing to go back to an environment we’re not happy in?’.

    Sure we lived in a “nice” part of London, Barnes SW13. Sure we had a “nice” house both in London and France and the girls attended “nice” schools and we had “nice” cars and a “nice” lifestyle but “nice” costs money and that’s why we remained so long. One gets caught in the trap. “Nice” requires a couple of big incomes to pay for the humungous mortgage(s) associated with the “nice” house(s); the expensive fees associated with the “nice” schools; the pricey insurance and running costs associated with the “nice” cars (the bikes are cheap by comparison).

    Then some things happened in our lives that made us take stock. We both were rapidly approaching 50 and SWMBO’s mother passed away unexpectedly (her father died when she was 13). We began to take stock of things and look at things differently. ‘What are we doing?’. ‘Why are we doing it?’. ‘Are we enjoying our lives?’. We only have the one life and we wanted to start enjoying our lives before it was too late. Before that unexpected event struck one of us as it had SWMBO’s mother. Before we were too old to do the things we wanted to do, to go the places we wanted to go to and to live the life we wanted to live not the life we had to live.

    We asked a lot of questions of ourselves (and others, just like this thread) and decided to take the plunge and start a change of life. I won’t say retirement, because it’s not really, we just now live a different life, one we enjoy. When we made the decision to do it Daughter no.1 (who has a different mother to daughter no.2) had finished school and was at university, daughter no.2 was about to start her GCSE courses, we could either move at that time or would have to stay put and wait 4-7 years until daughter no.2 had finished school and uni, and no-one wanted to do that.

    We’d sold the house in France a few years previously and had subsequently bought a house in Ireland, always with the view that’s where we were going ‘retire’ to. SWMBO comes from a farming family in the west of Ireland and my mother’s side of the family were Irish.

    When I told my friends what we were doing they all laughed at me. ‘Who will you find to talk to? They’re all local yokels there’. ‘What will you do all day? You’ll go mad sitting in a rocking chair by the fire all day’. ‘Where will you get a decent cappuccino?’. ‘Where will you go to eat?’, were questions that were genuinely asked. But do you know what? We have a busier social life here than we did in London, and whole lot more fulfilling, and we can get a decent coffee and have a 2 x Michelin starred restaurants on our doorstep.

    When we made the move I started a small food business, which kept me occupied (too much so) for the last 6 years, but which I backed out of last year. SWMBO struck a deal with her employer whereby she worked from home on Mon & Fri and then travelled to the UK or wherever else in the world she was needed Tue-Thurs. This she did for the first 3 years we were here then she finished completely, a sort of gradual segue out of her full on job.

    Sure our lives have changed, but for the better. On the whole we now do what we want to do, not what someone else wants us to do. We have significantly less financial demands upon us than before and thus have less need of big incomes. We know how much we needed to live off in London and once servicing of the mortgages and school fees were deducted we knew how much we’d need to maintain the same lifestyle here and that’s how we calculated it. We then made sure (and still do so) that our sources of income are as inflation proofed as possible. It’s not about capital growth for us anymore it’s about income. Some things are more expensive here than London but then others are considerably cheaper and you just have to live with it or cut your cloth accordingly.

    In summary I’d advise anyone who wants to, and can get themselves into a position to do so, to ‘retire’ early. Do what you want to in life, for yourself (and loved ones), not what others want you to do for them.
     
    • Like Like x 10
    • Love You Love You x 1
  10.  
  11. sounds great
     
    • Thanks Thanks x 1
  12. Thanks for all the input everyone...

    It's really helping.:upyeah:
    Not selling up here until around 2022-2025; may even keep a small presence here (Garage/office/small warehouse) that's on separate deeds to the main house.:cool:
    Prices are still increasing here, even with Brexit (according to the various websites :bucktooth:).
    Getting very close to 7 figures now and is over that with the other deeds, together with savings we should go now:thinkingface:.
    ... but ... but ..... I'm still enjoying working, does that sort of make sense?:eyes:
     
    #492 AirCon, Jan 16, 2019
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 16, 2019
    • Face Palm Face Palm x 1
  13. nope.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  14. Big jump to make, probably the last one before the gods waiting room of a retirement home so yeah, patience and it feeling right is understandable
     
  15. It does to me. I'm of the Birdie school of retirement. :upyeah:
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  16. I can't believe after all this discussion, you aren't even bothering for another 5/6 years, does this mean we've got all this to come again as you get older. :astonished:
    Steve
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  17. Exactly. Thread closed...........or at least postponed
     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Lock Thread Lock Thread x 1
  18. Copy and paste it somewhere then bring it back years later, fin does it all the time :p
     
  19. Sorry Birdie, you can always put me on ignore and you won't see me.
    We like to plan ahead, it's done me quite well over the last 52 years...
    I'm dropping hours to half from Easter 2020... does that help?
    We are starting to look at the areas suggested this year, with 4 or 5 short trips to investigate towns and districts to see what we like.
    Our my mindset may change after my hours reduce.

    We are starting to look at Salisbury.... any comments?
    https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66838264.html
    We like this, but probably because it's very similar to ours now.
    screenshot-www.rightmove.co.uk-2019.01.16-14-01-53.png
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Like Like x 1
Do Not Sell My Personal Information