The Retirement Newsletter: One year and counting
Issue Number: -52 — Time for a wobble?
Welcome
Welcome to issue -52.
If you’ve been following along, you will realise that I use a weird numbering system for the editions of The Retirement Newsletter. The numbers are negative and counting down to zero.
I am counting down the number of weeks until I retire, and as this is issue number -52, there are 52 weeks, that is, one year, until my planned retirement.
One year to go and some wobbles
It doesn’t seem possible. But it is. And I must admit, I have had a couple of wobbles over the last month about my retirement.
The wobbles
I regularly talk to some of my friends who have retired in the last couple of years, and most will admit to having some last-minute doubts and some early post-retirement jitters.
Last-minute doubts
Last-minute doubts seem to be about money, age, time, and identity:
Money — do I have enough money to retire, and will my money last?
Age — I am too young to retire?
Time — what will I do with my time when I am retired?
Identity — what will I be when I am retired?
Money
Money does seem to be the major wobble, and most of my friends, because they are nervous about running out of money, seem to cut back on their spending. They still do spend but seem to be much more careful.
One of my friends has adopted a rather novel approach. He continues spending and seems to be spending more than when he was working. He says he will make up any shortfall by dying earlier. Morbid, but it will work.
Age
Nearly everyone I know who has retired at my age said they thought they were too young to retire. They worried that retirement would make them feel old.
Most now seem to be saying they retired too late and should have retired years ago.
Time
Time seems to be another wobble factor — what will I do with all the spare time?
Again, once retired, my friends seem to have no trouble filling their spare time; most complain they are busier than ever and don’t know how they used to hold down a full-time job.
Several of my friends have taken on part-time work. But, I am unsure if this is to fill time or because they are still worried about money. I suspect a little of both.
Identity
I have commented on this before, but very few of my retired friends will admit to being retired. I think part of this is an age thing.
One of my friends loves telling people he is retired because he retired early and likes to brag about it.
Post-retirement jitters
Most of my friends’ last-minute doubts seemed to vanish within a few weeks of starting their retirement.
Some of them are worried about money and struggling with their identity as a retiree, but none of them (so far) have expressed any regret about retiring.
The one regret I have heard a few of them express is that they miss work banter and having a laugh with work colleagues.
My wobbles
When I look at the four last-minute doubts about retiring my friends have admitted to — money, age, time, and identity — I recently wobbled on one of them — money.
Money
The recent poor performance of the stock market, which has affected my savings, and the increased cost of living, have worried me — will I have enough to live on when I am retired?
I have run the numbers again and again, and I think I will have enough money in my various pension pots. But, the wobble has highlighted the importance of developing my side-hustles to bring in a little extra cash to act as a cushion and for some little luxuries.
Age
After running undergraduate labs for the last week, I know I am at an age when I should retire. Teaching labs is a young person’s game. I ached. Don’t get me wrong. I still enjoy the teaching but feel it in every joint and muscle the next day. And when labs are back-to-back over several days, there is no time to recover.
To me, age is not an issue. I would have retired a lot earlier if I could have afforded it.
Time
How to spend my time when I am retired has never been a concern, as I have plenty of hobbies and interests. Plus, due to my money concerns, I will need my side-hustles, and they will fill my time.
I think I will be like all my retired friends in that once I am retired, I will wonder how I ever held down a full-time job.
Identity
Identity as a retiree used to cause issues, but I now feel ready to embrace being retired. But that may be the aches in my body speaking from a week of labs.
My post-retirement jitters
I will be interested to see what, if any, post-retirement jitters I develop. Watch this space to find out!
The Future
A couple of weeks ago, in issue -54 — The Birthday Issue with Calvin and Hobbs and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — I commented that:
“When my grandmother was born, humans had not flown in a powered aircraft. By the time she died, humans had been to the moon. She had seen all of that in some 80 years.
When I was a child, humans set foot on the moon. There was talk of moon bases, robots, and advanced computers. Yet, I have lived around 75% of my grandmother's lifespan, and I don't feel I have seen the rate of advances she saw, or have we?”
And when I wrote that, I wondered if it was an observation caused by my frame of reference and if my grandmother had felt the same. Had she felt she hadn’t experienced the level of change and advance that her grandmother had seen?
Then, this week, this article caught my eye in the magazine Nature: ‘Disruptive’ science has declined — and no one knows why, and it made for an interesting read that confirmed my observation that things had slowed.
The article was a report on a paper in Nature that argued that since the 1940s, there has been a decline in what it described are ‘disruptive research’. The argument, supported by data, was that more and more scientific papers are being published, but what is happening is that advances are incremental instead of being a leap and a change in direction. The ‘disruptive research’ had gone. We no longer saw rapid changes.
I found the article to be an intriguing read, and it suggests my grandmother did see significant advances, and I’m only witnessing small changes.
Kind of depressing — it looks like I won’t be getting my zero-gravity boots any time soon.
Next week
Next week, in issue -51, I ask — Am I ready to retire?
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you have something you would like to contribute to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.
Very helpful post