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I’m not sure who said it up thread, but I do agree with one point about retirement and that is the lack of mixing with younger people, this is probably a crass generalisation but by the time you retire you often have established a social circle that is very much your age, so your opportunity to mix with younger people fades.
Due to being virtually geriatric parents we still have a millennial and an Gen X around, and if they come away with us (always up for a cheap holiday of course) We tend to ask them if they want to bring a friend along – When I worked I had quite a few younger people who worked for me and I liked that aspect, it was just the stress and the killer commute on the tube every day I hated.
The 60+ card looks good https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/60-plus-oyster-photocard
Re: to retire or not and in what form: One of my very favourite Heinlein quotes: “Being privileged to work hard for long hours at something you think is worth doing is the best kind of play.”
It also appears as “Happiness lies in being privileged to work hard for long hours in doing whatever you think is worth doing.”Of course what is “worth doing” is a deeply personal decision. Effort spent accumulating then spending travel loyalty rewards could happily fall under this umbrella of course….
And of course, Thai retirement visas are from aged 50 onwards, Indonesia a little older!
Hi @Michael, it’s going to be the Anglesey coastal path for me, though they do call it the Cornwall of the North in some circles!
Longer term I’d like to spend the British winter somewhere warm, it’s just so miserable here between November and March. But come home for Xmas. I did my uni year abroad in Tenerife and there was an extraordinary community of British ex-pats who were all about 90 and running the English library and all sorts of other energetic activities. They swore by the warm climate!
Retirement doesn’t stop you mixing with the younger generation, most prams being pushed during weekdays are steered by the grey brigade!
Hi @Michael, it’s going to be the Anglesey coastal path for me, though they do call it the Cornwall of the North in some circles!
Longer term I’d like to spend the British winter somewhere warm, it’s just so miserable here between November and March. But come home for Xmas. I did my uni year abroad in Tenerife and there was an extraordinary community of British ex-pats who were all about 90 and running the English library and all sorts of other energetic activities. They swore by the warm climate!
A late Felices Reyes, Anna!
Were you at univ. La Laguna – I was SO close to going there?
My total pipedream would be a pied-à-terre in Nice. Except it would
probably cost more than our main residence, which rather defeats the purpose ;o)))Very interesting thread. I’ve just now fully retired at 58 having spent the last 12 years working as an interim manager so have been able to pick my contracts and have worked on average 6-8 months a year so full retirement is not such a big change. I got into interim management having been made redundant after 30 years commuting into The City – the one massive travel opportunity that gave me though was being able to take a 6 month sabbatical to do a RTW trip. With hindsight redundancy worked out to be the best thing ever as I’ve since worked for some great companies and met some very interesting and inspiring people. I’m now looking at voluntary work to keep some structure to my weeks – good point made previously about keeping in touch with younger people.
In terms of travel we have 2 BAPP cards (for the 241 vouchers), Amex Plat (for the opportunity to earn transferable points and for the benefits. I’ll only retain if I can still make cover the annual fee), Virgin free card for non-Amex spend, the voucher and Euro spend, Chase debit card for non-Euro overseas spend. I’ve never been a fan of churning so will probably keep these cards going forward.
We don’t earn enough Avios naturally to make full use of the 241 vouchers so I use the subscription option to keep our balance topped up to make the long-haul redemptions we want.
Retirement doesn’t stop you mixing with the younger generation, most prams being pushed during weekdays are steered by the grey brigade!
Ha, Ha so true. Also on the high street another way to meet the grey/parental generations is Greggs.
There always seems to be pushchairs, babies, random toddlers, mums, grans, or their male equivalents etc their diets seem to involve a lot of Greggs sausage rolls, bought in a four pack and immediately distributed.
Retirement doesn’t stop you mixing with the younger generation, most prams being pushed during weekdays are steered by the grey brigade!
Ha, Ha so true. Also on the high street another way to met the grey/parental generations is Greggs.
There always seems to be pushchairs, babies, random toddlers, mums, grans etc their diets seem to involve a lot of Greggs sausage rolls.
But are they collecting Greggs points on the app with their smartphone?
Retirement doesn’t stop you mixing with the younger generation, most prams being pushed during weekdays are steered by the grey brigade!
Ha, Ha so true. Also on the high street another way to met the grey/parental generations is Greggs.
There always seems to be pushchairs, babies, random toddlers, mums, grans etc their diets seem to involve a lot of Greggs sausage rolls.
But are they collecting Greggs points on the app with their smartphone?
Not sure although a lot of the toddlers seem to be clinging to various mobiles etc. They didn’t take my Amex last week for a non-sausage roll purchase. I think Amex are missing a trick there. I guess Greggs is just too downmarket for them.
@Michael, y a ti también!
Technically yes, though like most students back then we spent more time in bars than in lectures, spending our grants 😂. And working on our tans, of course!
Lol I think Nice is for people who can’t quite afford to live in Monaco!! The nearest we’ve had to a pied-à-terre on the Riviera was a week at Eurocamps a few years ago 🤣A few years ago, I did some serious house / apartment hunting along the Riviera / sorrento / South of Barcelona, but after coming to the realisation that anything worth owning was well over €1 million and wasn’t guaranteed to have a sea view or even a view I decided instead to keep my cash and worked out that I could spend a fraction of that staying for a couple of weeks in 5 star hotels in various locations and be waited on. Also consider the downside of owning a place elsewhere is that the first 2 days at least are spent doing minor repairs and maintenance unless you know someone local who you can rely on. Plus it means you are tied to the same location. I like variety.
It’s the same with a swimming pool or a yacht – the best ones are owned by friends who you can visit occasionally and take advantage of while enjoying their hospitality. 😀
@AJA, totally agree. With a couple of bargain timeshare purchases we now have access to inventory all over the world for under £100 per night. For example, I just booked 2 weeks in a nice beach-front apartment in Nuevo Vallarta for just over £1000 next December, no property issues, cleaning, etc to worry about. I can see us booking 6-8 weeks somewhere in the depths of winter in years to come and inviting family and friends to join us for shorter blocks of time.
Incidentally, the same property is available on booking.com for £4,300 per week!
A few years ago, I did some serious house / apartment hunting along the Riviera / sorrento / South of Barcelona, but after coming to the realisation that anything worth owning was well over €1 million and wasn’t guaranteed to have a sea view or even a view I decided instead to keep my cash and worked out that I could spend a fraction of that staying for a couple of weeks in 5 star hotels in various locations and be waited on. Also consider the downside of owning a place elsewhere is that the first 2 days at least are spent doing minor repairs and maintenance unless you know someone local who you can rely on. Plus it means you are tied to the same location. I like variety.
It’s the same with a swimming pool or a yacht – the best ones are owned by friends who you can visit occasionally and take advantage of while enjoying their hospitality. 😀
Quite right, @Aja – came to the same conclusion with the whole Dorset/Cornwall cottage palaver in a burst of over-enthusiasm when we moved to the UK to live!
Not sure although a lot of the toddlers seem to be clinging to various mobiles etc. They didn’t take my Amex last week for a non-sausage roll purchase. I think Amex are missing a trick there. I guess Greggs is just too downmarket for them.
It was definitely a decision by Greggs not to take Amex. I’m sure Amex would be more than happy to sign them up.
Not sure although a lot of the toddlers seem to be clinging to various mobiles etc. They didn’t take my Amex last week for a non-sausage roll purchase. I think Amex are missing a trick there. I guess Greggs is just too downmarket for them.
It was definitely a decision by Greggs not to take Amex. I’m sure Amex would be more than happy to sign them up.
I don’t think anyone is off limits at the ‘bottom’ end of the scale now after the fanfare they gave to signing up B&M last year!
You used to be able to top up the Greggs App using Amex, sadly this was removed. But the app is still my go to way of paying, buy 10 get one free on each category, 10% cashback, they can have all the data they want at that rate. It was particularly useful today on our way to the CP Gerrards Cross where the Greggs at the services stated cash only, lo and behold, the app still worked.
The 60+ card looks good https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/60-plus-oyster-photocard
More than a little annoying when your local station is within zone 6, but you live a mile outside the London boundary and so aren’t eligible.
Not sure although a lot of the toddlers seem to be clinging to various mobiles etc. They didn’t take my Amex last week for a non-sausage roll purchase. I think Amex are missing a trick there. I guess Greggs is just too downmarket for them.
It was definitely a decision by Greggs not to take Amex. I’m sure Amex would be more than happy to sign them up.
For some reason this has really tickled me, the idea of Greggs giving the bums rush (hope that’s the correct expression) to AmEx.
The 60+ card looks good https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/60-plus-oyster-photocard
More than a little annoying when your local station is within zone 6, but you live a mile outside the London boundary and so aren’t eligible.
Sounds like there should be exceptions in your situation.
Back on topic….
I have never really bothered with a pension, decided to pay off debts (ie mortgage) early and own a business with a steady income (and when I say “owning” a business, I mean no leasing. We own the land and equipment).
But I did have £200,000 in a pension plan due to opting-out of SERPS when I was a journalist.
Towards the end of Covid, having been “banned” from the USA for a couple of years and so not seen the youngest grandson, we decided to hand over the day-to-day half of the business to someone else, to free me from the daily grind and allow us to spend a month or so in the USA three or four times a year. Of course, just after we did that, the son then said: We are coming back to live in Scotland!
Oops, I thought. But then I looked at the £200k, and my age (60/1) and thought: let’s spend £20k a year on travel – so we will be good until 71 for trips. And still able to do things. When we are 75-ish, we will probably be quite happy with little trips to Europe, and if we ever make 85-ish then we’ll be quite happy with a bus tour round the UK!
And when we are 66, we’ll get a further £20k a year between us from the government in a pension. Yet, because we own the land etc from the business, we’ll still be “earning” the same after “state retirement date”.
We’ve now gone one further. We’ve just sold two paintings by one of the Scottish colourists, cash to go in the travel fund. We just couldn’t justify £80,000-worth of paintings hanging on the wall when our favourite painting only cost £100 – and with charges in excess of 50% in total for fees, VAT and auctioneer’s commission from buyer and seller, you could never describe art as an investment!
My mum passed away last year age 91. If I had been waiting that long for an inheritance to pay off a mortgage etc when I was 61, then I would not have been doing things right with my life. So the kids shouldn’t be hanging on hoping for a massive inheritance. So I no fears about blowing their cash.
Finally, look up “healthy life expectancy”. Fewer than half the UK population will regard themselves as healthy or very healthy by the age of 63. (60 in Scotland!)
In summary, don’t leave that trip to Machu Picchu too long.
@Colin, that sounds like you’ve got things very well sorted!
But don’t assume you won’t be healthy – I was chatting to my mum’s cousin and her husband at a party last summer. They used to live in Singapore and still have family out there. They were jetting off there in November, as they do every year, to celebrate the husband’s 80th birthday and then moving on to Thailand and Bali! They do this sort of thing most years to avoid a chunk of the English winter. The rest of the family are quite unadventurous so I think we must share a recessive gene, lol.
On the wider subject of health in retirement, there are some great resources on nutrition and fitness, such as the Zoe project, run by Professor Tim Spector. He and his colleagues seem pretty convinced that lifestyle changes can add decades to your life, even if you start relatively late.
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