Need a post retirement top up, how does £1000 per hour sound, or 7k a shoot? (May be behind a pay wall). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/retirement-pensioner-career-older-male-modelling-agencies/
I’m lucky that my current employer, if you retire as a good leaver, you can buy the existing private cover and it includes pre existing and is of same amount it is when employed.
The company I worked at for my last 15 years used to provide free BUPA, until out of the blue they decided it was too expensive. I wouldn't rely on it indefinitely.
I've just had another job come in, bit pissed off to be honest, I was in retirement training, sleeping in a bit later, a snooze after lunch, going to the pub on a school night, whatever next. The good news is over the last few weeks of training, I think I'm going to be alright, only a couple of months to go.
18 months since my last post on this topic, and I think there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Mind you, it got a lot darker between then and now ... hence me not being on here much at all whilst it has all been going on. Aside from marital problems, the last year has been focussed a lot on my kids' challenges ... one has been struggling through University and the other has been in rehab for ketamin addiction. On the bright side, it all helped bring me and the Mrs back a bit closer to each other, so though we both still have our ups and downs (me particularly) we are still together. The kids now seem to be moving into a better place ... the eldest is out of rehab and has found some direction in life, studying to be a chef in London which she really enjoys and is really good at. The youngest came out with a great result from Uni despite her difficulties with ADHD (both girls and the Mrs have all been diagnosed this year!) and is off travelling to New Zealand in a few weeks. Me, I've dragged my DesertX and my CRF1000 out of the shed only when they needed to be serviced and MOT'd this year ... so no big bike riding for me at all. My accident on the big Globebusters Alaska to Argentina trip in 2022 really knocked me for six both physically and mentally. I have managed however to do some small bike adventuring this year on a 250 dirt bike in Guatamala, and India, coast-to-coast on a 500 classic Enfield Bullet . We are also hoping to exchange and complete on a downsizing house move at the end of November, and if the stars align on dates for that then I'll be shooting off to the wild West of Nepal for a few weeks on a 411 Himalayan in December. Hopefully in a new house and with the kids ploughing their own furrows, next year can be a bit of a fresh start. The Mrs has started an OU degree on top of her piano and Spanish lessons, and she'll be spending more time with her folks who won't be far away at all. I'm starting to think that maybe I'll be able to pick up on my retirement biking plans from 2022 after all, and maybe I need to. A Globebusters buddy who I rode Nairobi to Cape Town with in 2020, and who completed the Alaska to Argentina trip in 2022 when I was taken out by the moose, has been battling Cancer the last two years and is now sadly immobile. My oldest and dearest friend meanwhile found out earlier this year that he has aggressive multiple sclerosis, he has had to give up work and will be wheelchair-bound before long. All this shit has really brought it home to me that you just don't know what could be around the corner ... so ... The London to Beijing Silk Road ride I had planned in my retirement for last year was cancelled because crossing into Azerbaijan by land or sea is still, to this day, not allowed after the borders were closed because of COVID. I was relieved in a way because I really wouldn't have been physically or mentally fit enough to do it, and the cancellation meant I didn't have to agonise over whether to give it a go or not. Since then however, Kevin and Julia (the owners of Globebusters) have also realised that their retirement wasn't all it is was cracked-up to be, and they have also realised that a cunning plan B for the Silk Road trip was actually staring them in the face. Travelling in the opposite direction, East to West, it is possible to fly into Azerbaijan from Kazakhstan while the bike is shipped across the Black Sea. You can then ride out of Azerbaijan into Georgia and continue Eastwards through Europe. Thus the idea of Bangkok to Blighty 2026 was born. If the house move happens then we'll release some equity and I'll be seriously looking at doing this trip. I think I'm close to being up to it physically and mentally, and in my head I definitely have unfinished big-bike-trip business. Once that's done, then perhaps I'll be able to ease into the life that I imagined retirement could be.
Good luck and I'd say just make it happen. There are no guarantees if you keep putting it off. You deserve it by the sound of things. I'm 63 and as soon as my mortgage is done at 65 that's me and work finished. Can't wait, just got to make sure my arse keeps facing the floor until then. My biggest fear is pegging it before I get there.
Another option is state pension deferral….. https://www.gov.uk/deferring-state-pension/what-you-get Your State Pension will increase every week you defer, as long as you defer for at least 9 weeks. Your State Pension increases by the equivalent of 1% for every 9 weeks you defer. This works out as just under 5.8% for every 52 weeks. By deferring for 52 weeks, you’ll get an extra £13.35 a week (5.8% of £230.25). You can get a one-off lump sum payment if you defer claiming your State Pension for at least 12 months in a row. This will include interest of 2% above the Bank of England base rate. After you claim your State Pension, the extra amount you get because you deferred will usually increase each year based on the Consumer Price Index.
If you defer your state pension because you are working and paying tax, be aware you may get a hefty tax bill if you take a lump sum.
I got to state retirement age at the end of September. I had thought i would be done with work by now. But 3 years ago we got the opportunity to build a house way above what we might otherwise have been able to afford. Lucked into a piece of land at a price that would have been stupid to ignore. So i have ploughed the sale of our modest semi and some private pension into the build. I will now have to work for one or two more years i think to replace that lost pension income. And if we decide or need to downsize we will have generated about £500k in equity to go and play with.
Pegging your arse? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegging_(sexual_practice) It’s good to hear that OAPs are still sexually active, although that wouldn’t be my first choice of kink.
thoughts off retirement have been creeping in. but i have no private pension. state pension is near 10 years away. assuming those fu........ leave it fin. in two years i will be mortgage free. which aint that expensive. the camper is costing us more. but that will be paid off in two years also. it's new enough to see me out. i dont have expensive tastes and i'm giving serious consideration to giving up on the larger capacity bikes. but i do have a younger wife. so maybe she can pay the bills. fug it, I'm doing it. suck it up ...ch. bet i don't. i don't even have the balls to go part time and just leave the lads to it.
Which is all well and good providing you don't peg it before you get it. A pension advisor I once saw advocated taking your pension as soon as you can as it's better in your pocket rather than the governments.
