• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Retirement , what is the end game.

D

duke

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Field, Ontario, Canada
Name
Scott
Wife has been retired for 20 years plus, I am 63 and tired of working to pay the bills. I love the work I do and we have talked many times about moving to Nova Scotia and marvelling at the sea. When I say retirement, I will still work for a living but under less stress. We have adequate equity in home ownership and property to make this happen. We would like to down size and move to the east coast. But her reservation is that kids are in Ontario and they would never visit. But they only visit maybe twice yearly. Which is a 4 hour to a 13 hour return trip depending where they live.
Would like to hear from members if they have delt with the same situation .
Thanks,
 
Sorry to expand this thread, my father beat 4th degree cancer at 87 years of age, he is now 90. I was with him through it all and he beat it.
I hope I have his genetic composition, time will tell. Old age is a concern.
 
Think very carefully,Scott, before you move in retirement. Loneliness in old people is a really common issue, and moving ordinarily takes you away from your circle of friends and acquaintances. You're not old yet, but you've got to start planning for when you are. You don't want to end up house-bound and isolated, with no friends. If you're confident you'll make new friends quickly, then move sooner rather than later, but it isn't easy generating a whole new bunch of friends in a strange place.

It's something we're thinking hard about ourselves, as my wife is retired, I am not taking on any new work, and our daughters both live abroad. It was scary to watch my MIL become infirm and die last year and seeing how much effort it took from my wife and her sister in supporting her...knowing that we've no-one who will be doing the same for us.
 
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Duke, like you I blessed that I love my job.

For me working to pay the bills is slavery to fiat. I had the company with employees, deadlines outgoing stress and then my wife got very ill and I became her care’er which gives you time to think……we sold up moved country, people thought we where mad as my wife was to weak to even walk on her own. We set up in our new life and the main aim was to keep overheads to a minimum.

Now 23 years later my wife is 99 percent better and my biggest overhead is fuel for the vehicles.

Retirement is great if you don’t like your work, I tried it for a year or so but I missed my work, I love meeting new clients, going through the design and then creating something beautiful for them so now I only work with who I want to and when I want to.

So I hopefully will never retire again. I’m 56 so hopefully got many more years of enjoyment and hopefully die at a very old age with my boots on making sawdust.

What ever you decide to do I wish you well.
 
This really is a problem of the times. A couple of generations ago it was rare for families to be so disparate.
I married a foreigner so we have ties to two countries. Two of my girls will have the opportunity and are likely to work and live away from “home”. The other could stay at home for many years to come, We are a few years off being able to make firm plans for retirement but it wont be in this house as garden to large and location to remote.
 
Mike makes a good point.

Four years ago one of our neighbours (who was also a good friend) died suddenly. He’d carried on working until he was in his late sixties and had big travel plans that he and his wife were about to embark on. It knocked me for six and I decided to retire as “there’s much more to life than work” even though I loved my job.

I told my boss who was understanding but also suggested I didn’t jump before I’d worked it out properly. Two years later I retired from full time work and now have what’s rather grandly called a “portfolio”. I do some work but very much pick and choose so it is on the whole only stuff that is enjoyable and take every opportunity for anything that takes our fancy and in particular doing family stuff. I’ve caught up with old friends, made new friends and am ticking off all those things that I thought I must do one day.

My advice is don’t let it drift so you lose years to work at the expense of things you want to do but (as you are obviously doing) don’t jump without a plan. What’s right and best will be different for everyone.
 
My take on this is it depends greatly on your personality type. Some people prefer a degree of solitude, others need people around them constantly. There is an argument, valid in my view, that retirement from all work hastens death. I retired twice from city life (the first time in my early 40s ) but have always been involved in business in some capacity so was inevitably drawn back in. Two years ago my wife and I started another business which was meant to be quite gentle, but has now got very busy. I also do piano teaching on the side - which I enjoy quite a lot. The point I am making is that the only purpose in life beyond procreation is having fun. To keep you young and lively it is important to do something that you enjoy and seems purposeful. Making some money may not be necessary financially but does create a sense of being purposeful and valuable.

Like others here, our children live abroad. We still see them several times a year (visits both ways) and distance is not really a barrier. It would not drive my decision on where to live. Children need to be free, and that includes free from duty.
 
Some great advice from the other guys Duke though in the end only the pair of you can decide what's best for you. The overwhelming advice is think very carefully and take your time deciding as it's a huge step and I'd add never move to be closer to the kids as many times I've seen friends do that only for the kids to move somewhere else. They're only a car, train or plane journey away these days.

I worked until I was 68 and loved it, could easily have gone on but realised that there was so much more we could do so bit the bullet and packed up the business. Luckily while still working we made the decision to travel a bit and spent 10 years visiting a number of far flung countries which if we hadn't done would never have happened do to my wife's medical issues.

We haven't mived house and though we really should downsize, probably never will and don't miss the income either as apart from the usual unavoidable outgoings you tend to spend less as you get older. With the experience and interests you have I doubt you'll ever be bored in retirement but none of us know what's around the corner and certainly looking back I regret not retiring 10 years sooner than I did.

Whatever you decide I wish you good fortune and the health to enjoy it.
 
Speaking from the standpoint of moving away from where the children and grandchildren live because of work and then retiring full-time, I miss being able to visit them regularly or they to us. But we have WhatsApp to message and video call. We live on the edge of our town so have neighbours around. The town centre is close enough to walk to the shops, surgeries or hospital or even use the bus service.

But the biggest change I made was to take on a hobby completely unrelated to either of the careers that took up 50 years of my life. I work now with wood which I've always loved since school, I have had to learn new software and apply it to machines. If I hadn't had this workshop that I built post retirement and the desire to mangle wood within it, goodness only knows what would have happened to me during covid lockdown.

So I would suggest being within reasonable travelling distance from children and grandchildren, being within a community so that you are not isolated, and have things to occupy your time that keep the little grey cells active, and even wanting more.

Best of luck.
 
Mike G said:
Think very carefully, Duke, before you move in retirement. Loneliness in old people is a really common issue, and moving ordinarily takes you away from your circle of friends and acquaintances. You're not old yet, but you've got to start planning for when you are. You don't want to end up house-bound and isolated, with no friends. If you're confident you'll make new friends quickly, then move sooner rather than later, but it isn't easy generating a whole new bunch of friends in a strange place.
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I completely agree with this but another factor is the area you're moving to (which is hard to really know until you get there). My parents lived in the south east of England for most of their working lives. A few years after they retired they moved to Gloucestershire. They made loads of close friends there and they told me that they met more people in the first week of living there than they did in the ten years in their previous home. They've since moved back to the south east to be nearer the grandkids but they still have more friends in Gloucestershire than locally. Some places are just a lot friendlier than others!
 
Don't put off retirement and better to do something and regret doing it than regretting not doing it. If you can afford to retire then do it because for many they wish they had done it sooner. So if you fancy a change of scenery then go for it and if you can retire then you can visit family anytime and they might like to visit you to see another area like Novia Scotia.
 
Dr.Al said:
............. Some places are just a lot friendlier than others!
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Before we got hitched I visited my wife's parents who lived in Rottingdean (Brighton) at the time. They had a boxer dog which I walked down to the sea front every morning and would pass people who would say hello to the dog and completely ignore me, even the vicar did that one morning.

Coming from Northumberland that was completely alien to me but apparently normal doon sooth.
There are members on here who might say it was just me as I'm an unsociable sod so I'll refute that before the comments are made. :ROFLMAO: ;)
 
Malc2098 said:
Speaking from the standpoint of moving away from where the children and grandchildren live because of work and then retiring full-time, I miss being able to visit them regularly or they to us. But we have WhatsApp to message and video call. We live on the edge of our town so have neighbours around. The town centre is close enough to walk to the shops, surgeries or hospital or even use the bus service.

But the biggest change I made was to take on a hobby completely unrelated to either of the careers that took up 50 years of my life. I work now with wood which I've always loved since school, I have had to learn new software and apply it to machines. If I hadn't had this workshop that I built post retirement and the desire to mangle wood within it, goodness only knows what would have happened to me during covid lockdown.

So I would suggest being within reasonable travelling distance from children and grandchildren, being within a community so that you are not isolated, and have things to occupy your time that keep the little grey cells active, and even wanting more.

Best of luck.
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That's pretty much our situation as well Malc, except my retirement hobby is a continuation of something I've been doing since the early 70's. Making stuff which is complicated keeps 'the little grey cells' active so without the workshop and some activity I'd probably have been a drooling vegetable years ago. We also have a passion for travel, particularly to far away places, driven partially by SWIMBO who's mentioned more than once that her ideal job when she left school would have been to work in a travel agents. My son, partner and grandson currently live in Bromley but I now refuse to battle up the A303, M3 and M25 to see them so we take the train which for me is a lot less stressful. My daughter is in Carlisle so we see her only occasionally, generally at Christmas; again the M5 and M6 don't fill me with the deepest, unbounded joy - Rob
 
Lons said:
Before we got hitched I visited my wife's parents who lived in Rottingdean (Brighton) at the time. They had a boxer dog which I walked down to the sea front every morning and would pass people who would say hello to the dog and completely ignore me, even the vicar did that one morning.
Click to expand...
That doesn't surprise me - my parents live in Seaford now (not far from Brighton) and it's definitely a lot less friendlier there than it is here.
 
Lons said:
Before we got hitched I visited my wife's parents who lived in Rottingdean (Brighton) at the time. They had a boxer dog which I walked down to the sea front every morning and would pass people who would say hello to the dog and completely ignore me, even the vicar did that one morning.

Coming from Northumberland that was completely alien to me but apparently normal doon sooth.
There are members on here who might say it was just me as I'm an unsociable sod so I'll refute that before the comments are made. :ROFLMAO: ;)
Click to expand...

I can also confirm this to be true. My wife walks the dog more often than me and whenever I walk him people cheerily say hello to him and not me.
 
When my son lived at home we had a bit of an in joke that taking the dog for a walk was referred to as dogging.

Unfortunately my wife didn't make the connection with the strange activity that allegedly goes on in car parks after dark as she answered my mobile while I was out walking the dog and told the caller from the garage servicing my car that I was out dogging and would call back.😲 Half an hour later, when I got back, my daughters were still laughing.

For the avoidance of doubt, I prefer people to keep to themselves when out walking the dog and I always take my mobile with me now 😂
 
Thanks for all your replies, The missus and I have been talking about this for a few years now, the need for constant interaction with humans is not an issue. Dogs are good enough for us.
Son and his family are expected to visit us this weekend, I said to Jenny that I will probably get a call with a reason to bail. Guess what, got that call, we are starting to get a cold and don't want to spread it to you. They have busy lives and I understand this. So family interaction won't come into it. Sounds rather blunt but it is the norm.

I will never have to worry about keeping busy, dad retired at 52 with an indexed pension for life but his quality of life is slipping away.
 
I never really retired, but after doing a Masters degree in my 40s I found I was "overqualified". One of my friends couldn't get a job either, so left his MBA off his CV and got the first job he applied for after that. It really went against the grain for me to do that. So more than 1000 job applications later both in the UK and abroad, I gradually lost the will to live. Pretty much literally, actually. I lost my marriage (which, TBH, was crap from the word go - anyone else had a wife who asked to stop having sex after 16 days of marriage? No, thought not), my beautiful home, my workshop and someone who I thought was my best friend. I also got a very raw financial deal out of it. I did not cope well with all that. So "retirement" really meant living on my savings for several years.

When pensions finally kicked in, and with a new partner, we came on holiday to France and accidentally bought the house we visited. Best move ever moving to France, worst move ever buying this particular house. We paid probably 100K more than it was actually worth. If it were not for the issue of moving workshop again, I would definitely have considered relocating and taking the financial hit on the property, just for a more comfortable life.

So now I am spending money like water solving all its problems - ripping out the oil CH, new windows and front door, re-roofing part of the barn. I'm currently replacing the kitchen. It's years since I've done a kitchen and I'd forgotten how disruptive it is.

So life is hard work at the mo. But once it is all done, we will have a Home again, rather than just a house.

We have had the added complication of having to learn a new language. It's hard at our age, but we are both well-motivated and are improving all the time. You won't have that problem.

As regards friends, I have few left in the UK, at least few that I can easily go and see, or invite over for a pint. Those friends I still have are largely a phone call away, and that is as easy from France as it is from Kirkby. Our neighbours have been very welcoming and we now call some of them our friends.

Stuff is expensive here, but actually, there is not much to spend our money on. Any restaurant is a car journey away, cinemas and theatres are a very rare treat. We haven't had a holiday yet. We are not interested in skiing or cruises, but there are so many places in France we should explore, we really need to start exploring. We are both in our autumn years.

I wish I'd made this move to France when I first got divorced. I was younger, fitter and had more energy then. I didn't have as many health problems then. Now everythings takes a LOT longer than it used to. It's not helped by France's lunchtime culture. EVERYTHING closes at noon and doesn't re-open until 2pm, sometimes later. It's a pain if you want to get anything done. And the paperwork has to be experienced to be believed.

But the quality of life... Ahh, yes please. The roads are in good condition (except in Limoges itself), there is very little traffic (except in Limoges itself), people are polite and kind (except in Limoges itself). The only real hostility has come from a fellow ex-pat Brit, who likes to think she is French and doesn't want any more Brits coming over and polluting the place.

So my advice would be to take the plunge if it really is what you want to do, but take much more care than we did about which actual property you buy. You don't want to be doing it twice.

Bon courage!
S
 
I retired at 55. The plan (pre-Brexit) was to retire to the south-east of France, between the Bay of Biscay (surf in summer) and the Pyrenees (snow in winter). Post-Brexit that turned into a plan to live on the west coast of Wales. Rain in winter, rain in summer. At 60 (three years ago) I was diagnosed with stage four cancer, now I'm sort of tied to the local hospital, which is excellent - I wouldn't want to move away from it. I think such illness drives home the reality of certain platitudes, such as not putting things off, seizing the day and so on - they become more real and more important. If you have the health and the means, I'd say go to NS - I'd imagine the worst that could happen (all things being equal) is you decide after a year or two that it's not for you and you move back. Not doing something like that, when it sounds like it holds much promise for you, would seem to me to be a mistake.

I've not been to NS but my oldest friend lives there, near Halifax, he loves it - a place on a lake and another lot that he's developing as a cottage. If the snow hangs around, my lad's off to stay with him for a while soon. TBH, I'd encourage him to stay if he can!

Good luck in your decision.
 
Retirement is what you make it; the worst thing to do is to do nothing.

Being retired means you can spend more time doing what you like most. It also allows you time to go and visit family and spend more time with them rather than them coming to you. It gives you time to go out and about and widen your horizons. However, it’s when you get much older that it gets more problematic. What happens if it’s difficult to drive? How close are shopping facilities and local health services? From what I know of Canada, it’s full of wide empty spaces; driving miles to get groceries or health care then gets difficult. Then there will come a time when one or other of you is no longer around which is when loneliness really kicks in unless you’ve built up a support network.

However, that should be well into the future so, maybe, go for it. My father was thinking about retiring at age 60 and, despite being a “home bird”, would talk about the things he and my mother could do when he retired that they hadn’t been able to do previously. In the event, he had to go on working to age 65 before he finally retired. He died 2 weeks’ later!
 
Sorry to hear that about your dad Scott.

I know it's not my place so offer my heartfelt apologies for saying this... Having lost my father the day after his 68th birthday in 1992 I'd be hinting to your offspring about making some effort to spend time with you both. My mother passed away just over a week after her 80th - on my father's birthday date... 12 years later. Both were born in the same year; 1924.

I was tied up with work and didn't phone him to wish him a good birthday so the next day he phoned me in the morning while I was at work to chastise me for not phoning him. At 16:30 I got the call to say he'd had a heart attack. It still 'bothers' me to this day... I was working in Radstock, my parents where in Weston-super-Mare... Just over an hour away. I'd no vehicle as it was at their place being repaired. I was in bits... never been the same since.
 
Shame to hear, but not unique, that Brexit has had an influence on others. When we moved here in 2007 Brexit had not been thought off. Although not the only reason Brexit has certainly mudded the waters as far as retirement planning is concerned.
 
Steve Maskery said:
I never really retired, but after doing a Masters degree in my 40s I found I was "overqualified". One of my friends couldn't get a job either, so left his MBA off his CV and got the first job he applied for after that. It really went against the grain for me to do that. So more than 1000 job applications later both in the UK and abroad, I gradually lost the will to live. Pretty much literally, actually. I lost my marriage (which, TBH, was crap from the word go - anyone else had a wife who asked to stop having sex after 16 days of marriage? No, thought not), my beautiful home, my workshop and someone who I thought was my best friend. I also got a very raw financial deal out of it. I did not cope well with all that. So "retirement" really meant living on my savings for several years.

When pensions finally kicked in, and with a new partner, we came on holiday to France and accidentally bought the house we visited. Best move ever moving to France, worst move ever buying this particular house. We paid probably 100K more than it was actually worth. If it were not for the issue of moving workshop again, I would definitely have considered relocating and taking the financial hit on the property, just for a more comfortable life.

So now I am spending money like water solving all its problems - ripping out the oil CH, new windows and front door, re-roofing part of the barn. I'm currently replacing the kitchen. It's years since I've done a kitchen and I'd forgotten how disruptive it is.

So life is hard work at the mo. But once it is all done, we will have a Home again, rather than just a house.

We have had the added complication of having to learn a new language. It's hard at our age, but we are both well-motivated and are improving all the time. You won't have that problem.

As regards friends, I have few left in the UK, at least few that I can easily go and see, or invite over for a pint. Those friends I still have are largely a phone call away, and that is as easy from France as it is from Kirkby. Our neighbours have been very welcoming and we now call some of them our friends.

Stuff is expensive here, but actually, there is not much to spend our money on. Any restaurant is a car journey away, cinemas and theatres are a very rare treat. We haven't had a holiday yet. We are not interested in skiing or cruises, but there are so many places in France we should explore, we really need to start exploring. We are both in our autumn years.

I wish I'd made this move to France when I first got divorced. I was younger, fitter and had more energy then. I didn't have as many health problems then. Now everythings takes a LOT longer than it used to. It's not helped by France's lunchtime culture. EVERYTHING closes at noon and doesn't re-open until 2pm, sometimes later. It's a pain if you want to get anything done. And the paperwork has to be experienced to be believed.

But the quality of life... Ahh, yes please. The roads are in good condition (except in Limoges itself), there is very little traffic (except in Limoges itself), people are polite and kind (except in Limoges itself). The only real hostility has come from a fellow ex-pat Brit, who likes to think she is French and doesn't want any more Brits coming over and polluting the place.

So my advice would be to take the plunge if it really is what you want to do, but take much more care than we did about which actual property you buy. You don't want to be doing it twice.

Bon courage!
S
Click to expand...
I'm thinking when we move there will be work to be done with the new place. A shop is a must, of course she says do you really need one, yes dear it keeps our marriage alive.
 
MartinF said:
Retirement is what you make it; the worst thing to do is to do nothing.

Being retired means you can spend more time doing what you like most. It also allows you time to go and visit family and spend more time with them rather than them coming to you. It gives you time to go out and about and widen your horizons. However, it’s when you get much older that it gets more problematic. What happens if it’s difficult to drive? How close are shopping facilities and local health services? From what I know of Canada, it’s full of wide empty spaces; driving miles to get groceries or health care then gets difficult. Then there will come a time when one or other of you is no longer around which is when loneliness really kicks in unless you’ve built up a support network.

However, that should be well into the future so, maybe, go for it. My father was thinking about retiring at age 60 and, despite being a “home bird”, would talk about the things he and my mother could do when he retired that they hadn’t been able to do previously. In the event, he had to go on working to age 65 before he finally retired. He died 2 weeks’ later!
Click to expand...
Sorry for your loss, I know of many who have retired and passed soon after.
A one hour or less drive to a hospital would be ok for us.
 
Accipiter said:
Sorry to hear that about your dad Scott.

I know it's not my place so offer my heartfelt apologies for saying this... Having lost my father the day after his 68th birthday in 1992 I'd be hinting to your offspring about making some effort to spend time with you both. My mother passed away just over a week after her 80th - on my father's birthday date... 12 years later. Both were born in the same year; 1924.

I was tied up with work and didn't phone him to wish him a good birthday so the next day he phoned me in the morning while I was at work to chastise me for not phoning him. At 16:30 I got the call to say he'd had a heart attack. It still 'bothers' me to this day... I was working in Radstock, my parents where in Weston-super-Mare... Just over an hour away. I'd no vehicle as it was at their place being repaired. I was in bits... never been the same since.
Click to expand...
We really don't know how our health will be in the future.
 
I am 8 years into my retirement and I love it!! It gives you the chance to spend more time doing what you want. I would advise anyone to do it when they can, but I admit I took a few weeks checking out the financial side of it. I created a budget based on how we spent money while working, and it actually convinced me to go for it early.
I was out with several former colleagues a week ago, and they all agreed retirement was great.
One benefit of retiring early , is hopefully you will be rewarded with more opportunities to travel while in relatively good health - if that's what you want to do.
As for relocating, I did it 25 years ago, but we have still have a small social circle compared to before relocating. That can vary a lot between areas and individuals I would think. I think I would want to move closer to family rather than move further away.
I wish you good fortune in what ever you decide, and as they say remember - there are no dress rehearsals in life! If in doubt I would favour going for retiring than staying in work.
 
I retired nearly ten years ago to look after my terminally ill wife. We lived in Belfast, all our friends were there, but 15 months later, we moved 300miles to the British mainland, north-east coast, as our three (no longer) dependants all had careers and lives "across the water" and it made commuting to see their mother easier.
I am on my own now, in more senses than one, as our elder lad, once 10 minutes walk away, is now just outside Kendal, a 'commute' of 150 miles, each way. That leaves me 90 minutes from No1, 2.5 hours from No2 and 5 hours (without stops) from No3. So, I put it to you, I'm on your path, just a bit further on.
What would I tell you Scott? I was very lucky in that our new neighbours have hearts of gold. Three families here have ensured we integrated thoroughly. That process was accelerated as No2 had connections we were able to tap into. Will you have the same ease of transition where you intend to go? Do you have an "in" that will help you?
Yes, as a singleton, I did, and still can, feel lonely. We found initially, that, as a couple, settling into a new-to-us home, with hidden glitches and bodges, our initial time here was taken up by putting it right. Covid brought total, absolute, isolation as LOML had no immune system. We felt achingly alone; with almost no respite, as we lived at the the end of a cul-de-sac off a quiet street. If you or your partner similarly got ill, would your new domicle's placement create similar isolation? It's wearisome on the psyche.
As to "chillun" visiting, MikeG's wise words above warrant re-reading, followed by careful pondering. I'm 70 in 6 weeks and have 8 pills per diem to take for three heavy duty medical issues. I am debating very seriously, a move to the west coast where my paramedic son will be close enough, and experienced enough, to be a life-belt for me should - what my G.P. warned me about - come to pass. But, is it right to possibly burden him and his new family with a grotty, crabbit oul' geezer? I'm not at all sure it's fair, but neither is expecting him/them to come racing 150 miles across country if condition A, B, or C renders me incapacitated.
Do I love my life here? Yes! No dog walking, no baby-sitting, no tools drawn by mysterious forces to his car boot.. I'm selfish enough to count those as advantages, and, I have been fortunate enough to discover a small circle of loons equally as daft and driven as I am. Do you see an opportunity where you are going to integrate into an existing community there? Does that hold for both you and your partner?
They say death, divorce, and moving house are the three top stressors in the "average" life. Having experienced 2 deaths, one divorce (at one remove) and two big-distance house moves in two years among our little family circle of 7, I'm reluctant to revisit that level of trauma by relocating. Yes, I'm fence-sitting; good luck with your decisions.
Sam
 
Good question and thread Scott, Pam and I got married just over a year ago and after some deliberation we have moved 7 hrs North mainly to be near granddaughters. We are settling in reasonably well, we have luckily got very friendly neighbours on both sides and we intend to join things to meet new friends. We were very sorry to leave some very good friends back home but blood is thicker than water. Also you can’t rely on friends to look out for you as you get older. Our old friends have and will continue to visit as we have that sort of friendship and a large house, the move to be near Grandchildren has certainly improved the contact time so Pam is a happy bunny.
We are both 70 now and luckily in good health, but obviously that could change at anytime.
Only you can decide Scott. Perhaps make a couple of trips to acclimatise yourselves?
And yes you must have a workshop, I’m getting feelings of withdrawal as I don’t really have one at the moment till it’s finished, haven’t planed a piece of wood in 8 months!
Best of luck Ian
 
I took early retirement at 56, then did contract work for nearly 11 years. We had a large property 2000m2 which was lawn, trees and lots of work. 366m2 of buildings half of which wife had to manage. A couple of attempted break-ins. We decided to downscale and looked at retirement villages. Wife wanted to live in a hot place (hell did not go down well).
A big factor in location is medical facilities not too far away - GP, dentist, specialists, day hospitals and large hospitals. (man did we need that with all the kidney stones!) Shops and malls not a big issue.
All of the above within 8km.
The village is a secure estate, security gate, electric fences. It has lots of facilities to entertain the 'old' people, keep you busy. Looks like a holiday resort driving into the estate. We also have medical care on site. The unit is 194m2, just large enough for all the clutter.

The short of all this - healthcare as you get older. Just one fall and bang goes a hip, shoulder, arm leg.
We cannot rely on the public health facilities (think fifth world).
Kids are 25km away, we see them maybe every 2 months (he phones his mother every Sunday).

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Just to add, I have now been retired 20years and 4 months. Never looked back. Doing the contract work was very rewarding and your relationship with the company is totally different - each party can give a finger up if they don't like the attitude :cool:. Also money wise.
 
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I'd not intended to retire when I did - or planned for it. My retirement was going to be in 2019 when I got to 68. Instead I 'retired' at 65yrs 10mth... near enough... in Jan 2017 - now 9 years ago and I don't know where the time has gone! I'm approaching 75 next month... my wife won't retire until June 2029...

I'd like to say that I do what *I* want when *I* want but it wouldn't be true. Family members now seem to take me for granted - as work used to - to do what they want/need doing...

Although lovely to be so near to them (family) - should/when a/the need arise/s to help their mother - there are times when *I* would appreciate longer than 2~4 hours to myself... maybe they are the reasons my workshop resurrection/reclamation is taking so long 😎

If you're both of the age and accord for moving I'd say do it... maybe a months 'holiday' to get a better impression before making the decision. Wishing you well for the future. *Time waits for no one* .
 
@Accipiter “Although lovely to be so near to them (family) - should/when a/the need arise/s to help their mother - there are times when *I* would appreciate longer than 2~4 hours to myself... maybe they are the reasons my workshop resurrection/reclamation is taking so long 😎”
I know exactly what you mean! It’s precisely this that is dragging out my build. But overall Pam is keen for me to get it done- if only to start building stuff we need lol.
 
@Cabinetman ... my wife, Anne, is also 'keen' for me to get on with mine - especially the back area 'dumping ground' - to bring it in line with the workshop area itself. But... there's *other things* on the (her) list also 😎.
 
Accipiter said:
@Cabinetman ... my wife, Anne, is also 'keen' for me to get on with mine - especially the back area 'dumping ground' - to bring it in line with the workshop area itself. But... there's *other things* on the (her) list also 😎.
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Sometimes her honey do list has to wait , so that you can finish what you need to do.;)
 
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