Thoughts on retirement.

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

I’ve been retired for 11 weeks after volunteering for redundancy, and I’ll be 64 this month. I’m single and renting but I’ve got a decent pension and my employee shares should buy me a house away from the south-east. I tell myself I would have had two years to plan for retirement in the normal course of events but I’m not sure I’d have done that in reality, and anyway, here I am.

Observations so far are;

I haven’t missed work at all!
it’s been a brilliant summer despite trying to avoid spending too much money because my pension isn’t sorted yet
pensions are baffling. I have a financial advisor and he’s taking quite a fee but it’s probably worthwhile
I’m not missing daily personal interactions (I’m that type) although I worry that I should
I fear I’ll get cabin fever come the winter
the daytime, mid-week drivers and trolley-wielding shoppers seem to be operating in a slower time dimension while I still have a “gotta be somewhere!” mindset (even though I don’t)
my small suburban garden is teeming with wildlife; mostly birds but also frogs and hedgehogs
after a lifetime of work this does feel a bit wrong, and there are days when I think I’m wasting my life. I haven’t ruled out finding some work later, possibly volunteering though I don’t know what
I’ve been surprised how many people aren’t working, by which I mean (for example) the work vans that clutter the main road round the estate don’t move for days. It confirms my suspicion that some tradesmen can bill two jobs a week and afford to be mostly at home; also confirming my suspicion that a career in pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D was a mugs game financially.

Any thoughts or advice on retirement?

[thx1138]

I am a “pensioner” now, aged 55 and work part time, start work at 10:30 finish at 13:30 miss the school runs and commute on my motorbike in daylight all year. ?

There seems to be a fair few like me too, with one foot in retirement.

[stinkwheel]

You got a local mens shed? Can give you something to do or just work on your own projects using someone elses tools and keeping the mess out of your house. Also stops you disappearing up your own arse in terms of social interaction.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Easy-X]

Since Covid, our company switched to work from home. I also don't write code any more as the AIs can do that for me - effectively I'm a semi-retired AI wrangler. Compared to what I used to do, I probably only "work" one day a week and the rest is cracking a digital whip to get my silicon minions moving.

I've really enjoyed this past summer
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter