Retirement-Your Experience

Tut, tut @Retired ....just picking up on a comment you made in an earlier post..... old ladies have nothing else to talk about in their lonely lives than illness!!! I live in a male dominant family and I can ensure you that you men do a cracking good job too!!

Also ...how do you know they're lonley?

 

Hi,

Thanks wiseowl; I'm a member of a vintage radio forum where spelling and grammar mistakes are jumped upon by moderators behaving like traffic wardens on speed; I like this forum because it's a place to chill and relax.

Many thanks Upsy; it's just that I noticed these old ladies in the post office queue always there just as the post office opened and their conversation never seemed to vary much; the names of people they were talking about would change a bit but the general theme was doom and gloom.

I must agree with you Upsy regarding men doing a cracking job of having a good natter but I find most men are obsessed with one sport or another often involving balls ether being kicked or knocked around; do men go on about their medication or ailments?

I think I must be an alien though; I can't stand sport; politics or religion; I don't touch alcohol; don't smoke or do drugs; mobile phones hold zero appeal to me and I never ever cheat in any way whatsoever on my wonderful wife Bron. The point you make though Upsy is very valid;when I'm with one of my chums we can talk machinery til the cows come home so yes you're right.

I'll be at Rufforth Auto Jumble (York) tomorrow morning and as I wander around I'm appalled by the guys around me; if they didn't swear at every other word they wouldn't be able to communicate; if only they could each stand back and listen to themself and I wonder what type of life some of these have living with their wife or partner the way they talk about them; is it a man thing and if it is I'll not be joining in.

Hugs and kisses from me Upsy have a great weekend.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

No problem JWK; thanks for your kind comments. I now spend lots more time on this forum than the other forums I'm a member of because everyone is so friendly and rub along well together.

Whilst working I had to attend a training course the subject being "Ambiguity" text alone can be very misleading and cause offence where no offence is ever intended; we on the course were handed a sheet of printed paper with a story about a person running into a supermarket and demanding money; having read this story questions then were asked and it was truly amazing how diverse the answers were and how wrong they were; the wording of the story was such that it looked like a robbery at the supermarket and although the story stated "person" it was wrongly assumed it was a man doing the robbery; it could have been a woman? The actual occurrence was a security company collecting the takings from the supermarket; the collector had dashed in to collect the money.

The course continued and we discussed all kinds of communication; one very important way of communicating is through "Body language" a document can be handed over with a smile or growl it being the same document but received in two totally different ways.

I hope I'm not preaching but I've been subjected to many training courses and seminars over the years and just like to share my experiences for a bit of interest; my machinery restorations are perhaps more suited to engineering forums but as they are allowed here on the forum I hope they are of interest and demonstrate there are lots of other hobbies many of us practice. It takes me a lot of time to post my projects because I want them to be accurate knowing what I state works for me having already done it;

I'm not a gardener even though we have plenty of garden; I'm getting more into gardening though with thanks to members help and welcome suggestions; our summers are so short and with our usually dire climate the workshop is the place for me most of the year hence I've completed many projects and I always take lots of digital images and keep records.

You do make a good point JWK and I can understand a member wanting answers to a specific question then the lot wanders off topic; it would in such an instance be frustrating and could be regarded as rude to have their thread hijacked but I think anyone who has an hobby at all has a story to share; I build up pictures of members by the way they discuss things on the forum.

I think it fair to say I'm more of a mechanical engineer than a gardener and I sure can ramble on.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

One of the joys of retirement is having the time to finish things well instead of a hurried bodge up which used to happen when everything was crammed into jobs to do at the weekend. More choices and the freedom to please yourself if you want to be busy or just relax and watch the world go by.

 

Our kids will get something from the sale of our house when we're gone. But not all of it as recently, we've taken equity release. We haven't gone mad, just a few thousand pounds. We've done it to set up the system so we can draw down more when we want it. Presently we don't really need it, but we will be using it for a bit of redecoration. Apart from the set-up costs which are quite expensive, the interest on what we have withdrawn is just over 3% compound.

Our kids are self sufficient with second homes etc., they encouraged us to do it.

So many people of my generation don't entertain the idea of equity release. They get obsessed about the interest charged against the sale of their house when they are gone.

I took some convincing, but as they say, "there's no pockets in shrouds."

At the moment the money is sitting in an ISA until my wife has made up her mind what she wants done. We've still got "a few bob" invested elsewhere.

We're also, all "willed and power of attourneyed up."

No way will the local authority will be getting their hands on any cash if the last survivor of the two of us has to go into care.

 

I thought you needed to release all the equity, then actually spend (not give to children, etc.) virtually all that money to get below the threshold where social care becomes free.

A friend's uncle did that so the Local Authority got nothing, and he was an ex-member of that Local Authority.

Theresa May proposed the 'dementia tax' to take most of the equitity from homeowners.

Now Labour's considering taxing 'unearned income'. It appears that not only all inheritances, but any money given to your children to assist with buying a car, helping with higher education costs, contributions to house deposits, wedding expenses, etc. would require tax to be paid on it.

Taking more money from old folks might initially appeal to younger voters, until they realise they'll never get an inheritance.

 

Hi,

Should anything untowards happen to me Bron is financially taken care of; one thing is certain; my family of vultures will never get another penny out of me; they did their best to prevent me marrying Bron 43 years ago and made Bron's life a misery for years until I finally said enough is enough and divorced the lot of them.

We're now well off and although we have plenty of funds there's nothing we need or even want; our Yeti 2.0L diesel SE L is just three years old and normally we would trade in now but all the modern cars look like clones of each other and we can't find a better car to suit us than the Yeti which we both love; we have a seperate car fund and always pay cash when we trade in; we are very old fashioned and know the value of money; our plastic cards aren't smoking through overuse.

There's going to be a great deal of real poverty around in future when people have lived for today and haven't given old age a thought regarding funding a pension. People spend their money as they like and it's not up to me to criticise their lifestyle but I see trouble ahead.

It costs a lot of money to keep up with the Joneses; do mothers need a big four wheel drive car just to show off on the school run then park the car unused because they can't afford to run it. Did a previous neighbour need his Porsche only to have it sitting on his driveway; he and his wife moved last August downsizing. When Bron and I moved here 33 years ago we had a one year old Citroen 2CV; our neighbours were running Mercs and BMW's; we didn't care and still don't we owe nothing and live well within our means.



The above might be regarded just as a movie but how true as to people following each other like sheep being greedy trying to keep up whilst going heavily into debt.

As I say I'm not criticising anyone but I'll just sit back and watch.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

Good question shiney; the Joneses keep up with the Wood's that's Bron and me.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

And you know the good part about off topic discussions? You can always start a new thread if you want to veer far off the topic

 

Maybe that's because they were there collecting pensions, all their spouses of similar ages died long ago, and now they are going through the same cycle.

Men of the same age are under represented because so many of them are dead.

 

Well, this is my last week at work! I must say it was lovely this morning knowing that this was the last time I'd have to get up for work on a Monday morning! I actually got up earlier than usual and wandered around the garden with a quiet cuppa at 5-30 this morning just savouring the moment.

My replacement at work started today - nice young lad, very keen of course and I spent some time showing him the ropes. There's still plenty to be done at work this week, which is just the way I like it, but I'm definitely winding down now.