Surprising things about my retirement so far

Perhaps the happiest time in my life

I was 56 in July 2018 and walked out of the blummin Council for the last time and I will never forget that momentous day.

My thoughts of simply entering the next phase of life were fairly pragmatic and yet it has been happier than I imagined.

Perhaps I never fully understood how stressed I was at work and had been for years; so much so it became second nature.  I suspect I am not alone with this?

My handwriting has deteriorated

I didn’t expect this!  This possibly annoys my mother each time I send something to her in the post – she is always amazed the poor postman can read such appalling handwriting.

I depend more on the auto spell check

This is probably through a little laziness creeping in, though sometimes I do make the effort and do without the predictive text.

There is a serious side to this.  I know how important it is to keep my mind buzzing with things.  I easily forget things if I don’t write them down, I take longer to get my brain around some things – it’s probably more conceptual things which I am now slower with the most.

Also I generally take Rachel to my hospital appointments as I depend more on her recollection of things.  I tend to remember the bits I want to remember (the positive things) whereas Rachel takes notes and captures everything.

I have become more outspoken

This is something which has really surprised me.  It probably stems from years of having to toe-the-line and being conditioned not to question things too much – at work, church etc.

Other people’s reaction to me being retired

Many people were quite surprised when I retired.  Some tactfully and sympathetically enquired if I had been made redundant, or perhaps I was too ill to work.  Neither of those applied.

I simply quit and retired because I could, the time had come.  Also, quite honestly, I was not enjoying my work.  I think it was through having a reasonably good salary that made me stick it out for as long as I did.

People don’t seem to plan for retirement

Quite a few people, around my age, have asked how I managed to retire so young – I’m just an ordinary bloke.  My standard reply is along the lines of “we had planned for this over the years, we also have a very good advisor who has helped a lot”.

Often this is followed by people in their 50s saying they’re now starting to plan for their retirement and could they have details of our advisors?  If we are talking about the financial side of retirement, this is rather late but not impossible at all, depending on your circumstances.  Always better to start planning and taking steps towards retirement decades before.

The flow of money has been different

After a couple of little hiccups, we are on track with money.  Firstly I had worried we were spending too much.

In the early days we had made a mistake on a spreadsheet indicating we were £10k short every year, also we had double counted some money being ‘recycled’ through different accounts.  We got that sorted but I was worried at the time, thinking we had made a terrible fundamental mistake.  So thankful we hadn’t.

So our expenditure is broadly on track and in line with what we can afford.  We live comfortably and have the occasional treat but we are still quite thrifty.  I like being thrifty!

Our financial advisors keep a close eye on things and ensure we don’t pay any income tax – a combination of living off savings, a little earning here and there for pocket money and keeping pension payments modest.  Even though I’m not working, I still pay a little money into a pension to benefit from the tax relief – every little bit helps!  This all changes when I’m 60 and we start shifting our income; more to follow on that.

Sometimes I get so tired and cold

This is more health related than “retirement” as such.  We don’t fully understand the reason for the fatigue and tiredness.  I go through little phases when I am so tired and I just don’t know why.

Right now I am sleeping 10 hours each night.  I fall asleep within seconds of closing my eyes and wake up still feeling sleepy.  Next week I’ll probably be okay.

I have mentioned this at the hospital and a few ideas have been floated, such as being a little low on Vitamin D and/or iron.  There’s nothing certain about that as I think my blood samples indicate I’m only a little low on those things, not by much at all.

We haven’t been very adventurous so far

This is about travelling and the look of our house.  Instead we have found my mother-in-law is becoming increasingly needy and dependent on us.  This won’t last for ever but for now it is the right thing to do.