it seems possible to retire - do you do it?

Sounds possible. £130k is not going to get you something that nice, even oop norf (NE here). You could get a decent flat though, preferably a smaller block to avoid the mounting service charges.

You could take a chance on a slightly rougher area but I wouldn’t recommend it.

I would retire in your position, but I don’t need a lot of “things”, not bothered about holidays abroad, etc.
 
Chuk_Chuk said:
I think a flaw in your plan is the notion that you will have state pension to rely on at the age of 68.

I believe the joke is that they will keep raising the retirement age so that we will never retire.
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Its unfortunately probably not far off the truth
 
Begbie said:
Whack it on global equity, s&p. Take out 50-100k go live in the Philippines/anywhere else cheap live a king.

Damn id be tempted.
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This is a real possibility.
Great climate, cheap living.

Unless you're actually tied to the UK, I'm not really sure what UK has to offer with state pension going up and who knows what state the NHS will be in.

Really, if you don't have support (pension and healthcare) UK is not appealing especially with heating bills that will be more important in old age.
 
Stu999 said:
Sounds possible. £130k is not going to get you something that nice, even oop norf (NE here). You could get a decent flat though, preferably a smaller block to avoid the mounting service charges.

You could take a chance on a slightly rougher area but I wouldn’t recommend it.

I would retire in your position, but I don’t need a lot of “things”, not bothered about holidays abroad, etc.
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Yeah if you're happy with a quiet "at home" style environment it's entirely doable. But it would probably be very frugal.
 
Combat squirrel said:
Its probably worth looking up the % likelihood of reaching a certain age, everyone 100% expects or hopes they'll reach a grand old age, but it won't happen.

If there is a 50% chance of not making it from 55-65 years old on average, id be inclined to spend my money at an every increasing rate purely to get more out of life while I'm here.

A huge pile of money is no use to you dead - of course, this will be different if you have a family to leave money to.
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There is about an 80% chance that someone who is 38 will make it 68 years old.

Their estimated life expectancy is 85 years old (over 50% chance)

Life expectancy calculator - Office for National Statistics

Enter your age and sex in our calculator to find out your life expectancy, and the likelihood of you living to be 100 years old.
www.ons.gov.uk
 
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Chuk_Chuk said:
There is about an 80% chance that someone who is 38 will make it 68 years old.

Their estimated life expectancy is 85 years old (over 50% chance)

Life expectancy calculator - Office for National Statistics

Enter your age and sex in our calculator to find out your life expectancy, and the likelihood of you living to be 100 years old.
www.ons.gov.uk
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Handy calculator, does it account for literally everything?

Still, barely 15 years to retire when your body is failing and old is pointless - I spend now, live now, then if I have to work in B&Q at 81 years old, so be it, likely keep me active for longer, im taking mid life "retirement" and ill pick up the work again when I can't hike up mountains
 
Combat squirrel said:
Still, barely 15 years to retire when your body is failing and old is pointless - I spend now, live now, then if I have to work in B&Q at 81 years old, so be it, likely keep me active for longer, im taking mid life "retirement" and ill pick up the work again when I can't hike up mountains
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B&Q wont be around in 15 years if Jeff Bezos has anything to do with it :eek:
 
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throwaway4372 said:
No, 9 or 10 years left, but they can be bought.


I know a couple of potential areas, I'm from the north originally. I wouldn't call it rough, but sure it's basic.


No particular plans, just a simple stress-free life. I travelled a lot as a kid, so don't feel the need anymore. If I wanted to do something specific I would have already done it.
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I'd be genuinely worried about your mental state. Whilst having a nice "stress-free" life sounds appealing, most people probably don't have the mental capacity to do nothing for a long period of time.

I appreciate you've not really said what you want to do in your long retirement. But I hope you've genuinely given it a lot of thought. As doing nothing will end up going down the road of being a recluse, and your health will deteriorate.
 
Semple said:
I'd be genuinely worried about your mental state. Whilst having a nice "stress-free" life sounds appealing, most people probably don't have the mental capacity to do nothing for a long period of time.

I appreciate you've not really said what you want to do in your long retirement. But I hope you've genuinely given it a lot of thought. As doing nothing will end up going down the road of being a recluse, and your health will deteriorate.
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This is what I really wanted to say but didn't want come across as rude.

"If I retire now then I be happy with my life"......No, that's not the solution.

There is something else going on in their life they really need to address first, retiring early wont fix that. :)
 
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I think you need to work another ten years at least unfortunately. You need to take into account the rapidly rising cost of living. Also you want a decent standard of living. You still need to enjoy life.

I feel your pain with job hunting though. Currently going through the same after redundancy and it's not much fun.

Thankfully I have a decent wedge of cash and no mortgage. Also the Mrs is earning. So no rush, but I do need to get something.
 
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Combat squirrel said:
Handy calculator, does it account for literally everything?

Still, barely 15 years to retire when your body is failing and old is pointless - I spend now, live now, then if I have to work in B&Q at 81 years old, so be it, likely keep me active for longer, im taking mid life "retirement" and ill pick up the work again when I can't hike up mountains
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I'm not entirely sure how life expectancy is calculated but it does take into account disease I believe. it might just be a large scale study of the population tracking when people end up dying.

Regarding your closing statement. If you are fit enough to work in B&Q at 81, then you would be fit enough to relax and enjoy life at 81. Then again finding a job at 81 will be challenge.
 
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Chuk_Chuk said:
I'm not entirely sure how life expectancy is calculated but it does take into account disease I believe. it might just be a large scale study of the population tracking when people end up dying.

Regarding your closing statement. If you are fit enough to work in B&Q at 81, then you would be fit enough to relax and enjoy life at 81. Then again finding a job at 81 will be challenge.
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Welllll, not really, more to the point, it's not THAT physically taxing working in a general shop (well, it can be, but they'd put an old timer on tills or customer service! lol) - there will be supermarkets around, things like that.

But being physically able as I am now to do what I love? (walking up mountains, drive for days on end in my campervan, etc) - much much harder in your 60-70-80's depending on fitness.

Live now my friend, it'll only be harder when you're old - and if I must do something when old, it may as well be less interesting than now, of course there will be books and gaming at my old age as well, after a day chatting to folks in the shop, sounds ideal! Old folks want community more than anything.
 
Combat squirrel said:
Welllll, not really, more to the point, it's not THAT physically taxing working in a general shop (well, it can be, but they'd put an old timer on tills or customer service! lol) - there will be supermarkets around, things like that.
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Their aren't many "easy" jobs in a general store, and they often come with some sort of performance target. Those jobs can still have less obvious physical requirements. Take your till example, when someone turns up with a 6x2L pack of water (12Kg) you're going to need to move it. But your biggest issue is competition. They will hire someone younger fitter and more versatile than an old person.

Combat squirrel said:
But being physically able as I am now to do what I love? (walking up mountains, drive for days on end in my campervan, etc) - much much harder in your 60-70-80's depending on fitness.
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You could easily do that well into 80s maybe even 90s. Driving maybe not so much. Like you said it depends on your fitness which YOU control. I've mentioned it before there was an old dude who ran marathons in his 70s. His marathon pace was in the region of 7 mins per mile (Most people can't even sustain that pace for a single mile let alone 26). There is a village of people who regularly live to be over 100 and they walk a lot (miles per day everyday) . So you 100% could be doing that well into retirement.

Edit: Unless you mean literal, you could die due to cold or lack of oxygen type, mountains, then yeah it would pretty hard to do at old age.
 
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Semple said:
I'd be genuinely worried about your mental state. Whilst having a nice "stress-free" life sounds appealing, most people probably don't have the mental capacity to do nothing for a long period of time.

I appreciate you've not really said what you want to do in your long retirement. But I hope you've genuinely given it a lot of thought. As doing nothing will end up going down the road of being a recluse, and your health will deteriorate.
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Kind of agree.
Its a tad scary retirement.

I actually don't know how I'll manage it mentally. Right now I work obviously and really value my weekends.

Fast forward and you're not working, life is harder, things hurt.

So many people I know (family mainly) just waste away all that time as there's nothing to do. The time doesn't seem valuable.
And then before you know it.. Gone.

I fear the same for me. That if I have all the time and need to watch money ill just not bother. This is definitely my biggest concern about retiring. Just wasting it.

I don't want to retire early basically as I fear I won't value my time as much.
 
If everyone did this the country would go to tip. You can't be a tax dependent from 0-18, work for 25 years, ok you likely won't need support until you're 65+ but you'll then become a tax dependent again needing a lot of NHS care etc. Being dependent on the state for 50 years and only contributing for 25 years is never going to work.

Also being blunt, what on earth would you do with your time? Even if you don't have a job, you must do some work in some form otherwise you will die. You need objectives, responsibilities and purpose in life or mentally and physically you will waste away.

For me, I will work until I die. In a job for as long as possible, and after I'm forced to retire I will find some form of work. Whether that's volunteering or something community based, fine.

The idea of 'retiring' to me just fills me with dread. What on earth do you do with yourself?
 
Chuk_Chuk said:
Their aren't many "easy" jobs in a general store, and they often come with some sort of performance target. Those jobs can still have less obvious physical requirements. Take your till example, when someone turns up with a 6x2L pack of water (12Kg) you're going to need to move it. But your biggest issue is competition. They will hire someone younger fitter and more versatile than an old person.


You could easily do that well into 80s maybe even 90s. Driving maybe not so much. Like you said it depends on your fitness which YOU control. I've mentioned it before there was an old dude who ran marathons in his 70s. His marathon pace was in the region of 7 mins per mile (Most people can't even sustain that pace for a single mile let alone 26). There is a village of people who regularly live to be over 100 and they walk a lot (miles per day everyday) . So you 100% could be doing that well into retirement.

Edit: Unless you mean literal, you could die due to cold or lack of oxygen type, mountains, then yeah it would pretty hard to do at old age.
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Whats strange about this reply is, you're trying to make a point about extremely rare old people, the 1% of the 1% that can still run a marathon. Fact is, the vast majority of people on this forum will struggle to be any form of fit after 60 something.

Also the other guy above here was saying 'many on here are being setup for an extremely miserable existence' by "not preparing for retirement properly"

I think its just a lot of guys on this forum are very money driven, career driven, etc - as if retirement is some amazing goal to aim for - it is not, you're old by then, and this imaginary golden years image of a happy lovely existence where you dont have to go to work & you're free to go out and do what you want is indeed amazing - but the reality of it is, from simply observing old people - tiredness, age, disease, health conditions, for the vast majority - sure one or 2 will be running a marathon in his 70s...........but lets just look at the vast majority shall we?

Like, don't get me wrong, if you want to slave away with your best relatively fit and youthful years setting yourself up for an older version of you that isn't guaranteed to happen & doing that brings you a level of emotional security, I do totally get it.

Me? I'll Deal with it when I get to it, I don't mind being old and poor, because I won't have THAT long left to live anyway, realistically, I'll take 50-60 years of high quality life with 10 years of not much money on the end - because by that age I'm not materialistic & I can look back on doing life correctly, when I can physically do less.

There seems to be a great avoidance of the statistical inevitability - the amount of times I've seen someone work their **** off and then die 10 or less years later - what a waste, absolutely every single genuinely old person always says 'I wish I worked less'

As it is, in the past year I've spent a month in the EU, about 1.5 months in Scotland, a couple of months in Wales, as well as other trips thrown in between my work, LOVED IT, no regrets! My office bound mates are somewhat annoyed by me :D
 
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