Are you going to retire at 66

Funnily enough I don't really have those stereotypes of older people, as my aunts and uncles who are well into their 80s are able to use technology very well. It's anecdotal but it's what I hear in the media nearly daily.

I think using the free travel pass would be me admitting to myself that I'm of an age for the free travel! I don't look or feel sixty something and I have no health issues at all. I just don't want to be old but the alternative is not good 😀

Having gone through the drama of taking the keys off of older relatives with dementia car dependency is certainly something we plan on avoiding if possible in old age. As is if we were fully retired nearly everything we'd need is an easy walk away.

Good for you Kalimah - my sentiments exactly - your as old as you feel is really a thing. But I did take the free travel pass as being a stingy old git - anything free you just gotta get it.

In Ireland at least, people retiring now or heading for retirement are the first generation to have social freedoms that the former generations didn't have, easier access to third-level education, sexual freedoms, divorce, careers outside the home for women, and the chance to live a more interesting life, the chance to form your own life instead of doing what former generations did.

That might be one of the reasons they find it more challenging to see themselves as getting older.

Plus a lot of people who have retired in the past decade or two have had much more more than they ever thought they would. Take a Garda retiring for example - even back as far as 2009, seventeen years ago, a Garda pension was worth 1.1 million.

That was in 2009, it has of course increased since. I know a Garda (family member) who retired 17 years ago who bought an apartment with the tax free lump sum, and the rent from that has supplented the pension, plus the value of the apartment has trebled. If you can retire in your early fifties, a whole new world opens up if you have the health to enjoy it.

That's been done in this thread thread a million times at this stage.

Have seen this in a while on a thread ...posters trying to shoe whatever their hobbyhorse is on to a thread.

the young or younger!

I guess that we should have all joined the guards. :)

I don't think the state pension will ever be means tested for those paying PRSI, whether it stays at the same rate is another issue. It is no harm to make/encourage people to plan for the future or be a bit sensible with their finances.

A bit in last weekend Irish times about personal debt, some individuals can't seem to be able to sort themselves out financially without help.

Mid fifties so about 10 to go. Wife is a couple of years behind so I might wait so we can both retire together and figure it out. We'll have a modest private pension to supplement the state one but we won't be living like millionaires.

When I turned fifty I had a minor panic thinking about retirement and funding it. I'd been in a scheme for 20 years at that stage but never added to the AVCs in a meaningful way due to financial constraints. I upped the AVCs at fifty but not sure it'll make a huge difference. I've calmed down about the whole situation now. There's no point stressing about it and we'll be in a better position than a lot who've struggled financially the last couple of decades.

As for retirement itself. I tinker (or mess about as my wife calls it) with loads of different things. Gardening, electronics, woodworking, beer brewing. I think if I have a blend of things that interest me that don't all need the strength and fitness I have now, I'll have a better chance of enjoying the free time. I've started a fund to finance these hobbies so if something piques my interest I won't have to worry about "wasting" money on trying it out. Trying to increase my fitness now and wondering about things like Pilates or yoga that I can continue as I get older.

I see my parents and parents in law as they progress through retirement and its been strange seeing their lives get smaller as they grow older. Still happy, still enjoying. But it's smaller. Fewer friends. Less travel. Even their diet has simplified. And it's been harder on the men than the women in some ways as they lived a lot of their lives outside the home and that's all gone now. The women have to deal with a partner who's finding his changed lifestyle difficult and it's difficult supporting someone like that. Its the way of the world. We inevitably decline physically and mentally at some stage so I think its best to give some time to prepare emotionally for that time in our lives and how we're going to live in it and through it.

highly recommend starting Pilates and yoga asap, started experimenting with both in my 30's, ive only kept on the yoga into my 40's, my body and mind thanks me