I worked in the space industry for 45 years. Good times, bad times etc, but never lost “the love”. Gave up in 2020 (when I reached SPA) due to “being mentally and physically knackered”. A few of my like minded colleagues worked a good number of years after their “retirement age” - we still meet up.
Since then, I’ve been bored sh1tless.
Not sure if my experience is useful, but… Back in 2014 (which is 10 years ago now - so I was 54), my services were terminated by my employer. At the time I was part way through a divorce, so it suited me to spot working. I deliberately tapped by company pension, early, right or wrong - but it gave me an income, albeit limited.
10 years on, I have managed to live on my company pension, while still being able to go some interesting things. Later this year, my UK State Pension is due to kick in, so my income will get a boost.
Work wise - I don’t. Simple. I do volunteer on the Great Central Railway, several time a month - but that doesn’t really count…!!!
I would re-iterate what was said above. Start doing those things you always put off. Do find ways to have fun.
There is more to Life than Work,.
Retired early at 55 from IT Level 3 support.
There seems to be two camps here - Retire slowly and carefully, or Retire with immediate freedom. I’m in the latter camp.
Coming up to leaving, I did struggle with the idea that all the information and know-how I had learnt would never be used, and felt like a waste. At work I did leave a Knowledgeable and lots of well documented scripts, so I suppose a piece of me there lives on. However after a few months, that feeling was mostly gone. My IT work now is stuff I do for my own pleasure, and that is amazing, because it doesn’t matter to anyone if what I do works or not - a great freedom.
I’m not a big fan of reducing your number of working days, or just doing a few hours to keep you hand in. That to me just seems like keeping all that pressure. When I think back to my last day at all my jobs, there has always been a big relief that I can just drop all local knowledge and all the problems that were currently in progress, or the ones that you know were bubbling under the surface…
I see that some people view retirement as a time when you go on lots of holidays, world cruise, etc. To me, that seems like putting a lot of pressure on yourself to keep the adrenaline running high. My hope was that retirement would be just an extension of those weekends when you dont seem to do a lot, but have fun pottering around doing nothing important, or catching up on paperwork. DIY can also be fun as you haven’t the pressure of having to get to all done over the weekend. Retirement for me has been pretty much this, which may sound boring to some.
Missing people from work. Well yes, this may happen, but remember the people that are forced on you at work may not be the people that you would normally mix with in home life. The advantage of retirement is that you can join things that will have people with similar mind set to yourself.
Status can be a big thing for people. They have risen to the top during their career, then retirement puts them back on the same level as people that may not have been achievers for whatever reason. Without meaning to sound rude, it’s a matter of getting-over-yourself.
What I also feel very grateful for is not all that wasted traveling time - especially appreciated in winter.
My father-in-law did a factory job, and all his life, him and his best friend would discuss what they would do when they retired at 65. They then both retired, but his friend died within a view months, never having enjoyed retirement. To me that was so sad, so I’m a big advocate of retiring early (possibly with a simpler life) but enjoying time with your partner while you are both still active.
I would suggest writing down a few thoughts on what you would like to do if you have time, but dont beat yourself up if you dont achieve them - remember this is time for freedom, not pressure. Look for things that you both do together (e.g. dancing), along with a few separate hobbies. You will also find that once you retire, activities will be more visible now that your have the time for contemplation.
Yes, there is a spike in mortality associated with retirement, my Dad passed away at 52, it was a factor in me wanting to get out very early.
AVCs are superb…
Sorry to hear about your dad passing so soon.
I’ve heard that increased mortality associated iwth retirement several times over the years too, but have more recently been told it’s an actuarial oddity/artefact.
I seriously wondered about early retirement a few years ago, and still do.
I appreciate the financial side may not be a factor, but there may be other comments worthy of appraisal.
Ah, there are two spikes, one is for young people and is associated with motorbikes and the other is for 60 plus members . was associated with retirement.
I look back on my career and saw it several times.
I started my AVC in my mid thirties, I am always slightly unsure that the actuary got his figures wrong, as the return was staggeringly good.
I didn’t query it.
Yes, you mention that in my link.
I was told of the relatively sudden post-retirement blip maybe 10-15 years ago at a conference with a financial ‘interlude’ between lectures.
I’ve also seen examples of a few colleagues passing on pretty suddenly or within months of retirement myself.
Regarding increased mortality. In the late 70s early 80s there was a story (no evidence given) that only one in three of the Army who served 22 years would live to draw their old age pension. Be interesting to see if it was true and what was the basis of the story. Perhaps it was the lifestyle of the time?
Not that I want to give financial advice as such, but it is worth noting that annuities have been pretty good for the last year, so I would certainly recommend putting your private pension fund total into an annuity calculator to get an idea on what the top annuity companies such as Canada Life, Aviva and Legal and General would payout until you die. You might be surprised how much more it is than the estimates the pension companies give you in your annual statements. I’ve had two recently that were around 50% more than on the pension statements
That is interesting, simply because of something which surprised me with annual comparisons from my pension scheme (public sector with several changes since 2008).
In essence on my latest ‘statement’ it basically says that to buy an equivalent private pension annuity I’d need to ‘pay’ maybe 45% of what I’d have paid for a marginally lower pension annuity in the previous year - bizarre and completely confusing from an LTA perspective.
My assumption was that annuities were much more affordable at that point as the private pension cost was considerably cheaper.
Yes, it is now that life is put to the test, I would suppose. Did you make the right life choice or did you not? Have you lived to work or have you worked to live? Now there is time for reflection, perhaps for the first time in life? Something new always comes out of it in any case, so good luck 
I have been both….
We retired first when we sold our business (micro biologists diagnostic veterinary lab). Decided I was too young (45) to stop working completely, so we made a pact that if someone offered us some money to do something we’d take it so we could extend the pension pot as far as possible.
Mrs VV has always enjoyed gardening so started doing a neighbours garden for 3 hours a week and finished up earlier this year having been recommended to others in the village working 25 hours a week gardening, and still works part time for our old company online.
I started dry stone walling (profile picture is one of mine) as a hobby around 2000ish so that was a natural move to part time self employment which morphed into can you build fences? Lay patios? build decks etc.
I am now on my last major project before retiring for the second time (60).
All this on top of owning, looking after competing and now judging dressage horses.
It took us about 3-6 months to realise that we didn’t have to go to work today unless we wanted to.
Would we do it again? Retire that is yes absolutely.
Did we have a plan? No not really apart from doing something non horsey 1 day a week - still to manage that 
Active or sedentary retirement? Definitely advise an active retirement if health good, know of or heard of too many people stopping work and then becoming life extinct without getting time to enjoy retirement.
Many great suggestions in the thread above, now is the time to do those things on your bucket list hopefully as you say in 12 months time you will wonder how you had time to work.
Best wishes
Great post, ala the old Monty Python Oscar Wilde sketch - I wish I had said that!
.sjb
I stopped work, which I loved, at the end of 2023. Great so far, feeling very relaxed and slightly surprisingly not missing work at all. I’ve got plenty of things I might well take on (and some great suggestions above) later but I’m not one to rush into things, and I’m not. Well, apart from getting much more exercise that is, really enjoying that and the resulting improvement in fitness and energy. My strategy was / is to have plenty to keep me occupied for a few months (for example sorting out things round the house that I’d been deliberately putting off, reading, watching snooker, playing table tennis, listening to more music) whilst I consider longer term projects / interests and make plans. Seems to be working so far, but it is early days of course.
One piece of advice I had from a doctor was that with not working you will have more time to think about things outside of your control and you can end up worring about them. A solution to that could be to take on things to keep yourself busy so as to not have that time to think.
I retired just before turning 54, from a busy, demanding and responsible job… a few months before COVID. Not ideal, but it made the transition bed in. Retiring was a positive choice though (for a number of reasons), and I finished work with pride and satisfaction.
My experience, and of people I know, makes me suggest you finish work with some plan, but not for every hour of every day. I took on a significant volunteering role that importantly is totally different to my job and is a new challenge, has responsibility and complexity and is also alongside new and interesting people. It takes up maybe 2 days a week, but it is flexible. I think it has been important that it makes me feel useful and relevant. I also became a charity trustee and various other bits and pieces as well as enjoying days of exercise, cooking and sometimes doing very little without any guilt. I spend quality time with my wife, not just when we are both knackered.
As for my old colleagues, well I do miss the feeling of being part of that team but you keep in touch with the ones that are really your friends
So value the skills you have and if you want to their are ways of giving back that can be richly rewarding, but aren’t work. Keep the brain busy as well as the body. Retirement can be the start of good things, new things, not just an end.
Bruce (retd GP)
by the way there is a vast thread on this in the Forum from '21
I retired at 55 and have only ever been glad that Monday mornings are my own. I don’t get up till 8 or 9am because there’s no rush. The work stress is gone and I wasn’t able to choose the peope I worked with, so they weren’t friends, just acquaintanes.
You may find that it is really nice now to be able to do what you want, when you want. Preparing meals is enjoyable now instead of a quick chore. I have a few hobbies: playing/practicing guitar, some piano, audio, wine collecting, writing, and a few others, so you may find that you will fill the time easily and enjoy some great meals.
I’m generally quite content, but as you’ve read, some people just aren’t. Some of that is just knowing that you really like yourself and feel good about just being. There was a quote in Cod Philosophy a while back that basically said that, people spend so much effort running around trying to be amazing and its just not necessary. You aren’t defined by what you do, or did, for a living to pay the bills. Now is your time for you finally, and hopefully you’ll come to relax into it.
Just some thoughts, hope this helps.
Dave
I took early retirement at 58 and it was one of the best things that I’ve done.
Work was a an Assessor for an UKAS Accredited Certification Body, travelling around the UK and the world undertaking management system audits.
I certainly do not miss driving 45k miles per year, flying, working 60 hours plus every week.
Now I enjoy doing the things I want to, but more importantly, when I want to; listening to Jazz, shopping when I want to go, meeting friends for lunch or coffee, partaking in other personal hobbies, e-Biking, (doing about 400 miles per month), Freemasonry, holidays, bit of DIY, going to concerts, changing the Hi-Fi, etc.
Although we have TVs, I never watch daytime TV, in fact stopped watching live TV many years ago. Only things we watch now are either films or series on ITV X or Amazon Prime, when we want to.
One of the things I did do was to set up a small management system consultancy. Mainly to keep up to date with management system standards, H&S and Environmental law. Working about two days a month, it is enough to keep me buttoned to the real world. With this, it is my choice when I work, where I work and with whom I work, so it never feels like a chore. It’s more like visiting working friends, chatting with them, drinking their coffee and charging them money for the privilege of doing so.
I must admit, that I’ve never thought what am I going to do with all this free time. More the case of, how did I find time to work.
Mrs DG is a number of years younger than me and is still working full time, so I have a bit of me time when she does so. Also, because she works shift work, when she has her days off, we treat these as “Date Days”and always try and do something special.
One of the main things that I enjoy is the freedom to choose to do what I want, when I want, with whom I want.
I am pleased to state that my Work - Life balance has never been better and am certainly enjoying life to the full.
I know that the change of taking retirement can be a big and daunting step, but approach it with an open mind and as a new chapter in your life, not as an end to something.
Embrace it and enjoy it, after all, you’ve now got more time to enjoy our hobbies of Hi-Fi and listening to music.
DG…