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Location Location Location — 10 Comments

  1. My father retired after his second heart attack at 58. The third one got him at 61.

    I retired at 52 and I’ve outlived him. Had a big house in an expensive part of England. Sold it and downsized to a less expensive area. Never regretted it.

    The only advise I’d give someone retiring is retire and don’t make any major decisions for at least 18 months. Give yourself a chance to settle into it. 

    Oh! And don’t join any committees because once people know you’ve just retired, all the clubs will descend on you like ticks on a turd…

    • Mine retired at 65.  His life’s ambition was to build and own his own house.  He bought this place and between the two of us, we built it.  As soon as it was finished, he died.  I still feel his presence around the place, in a very nice way.

      Completely agree about making decisions.  I was lucky to do it gradually, by starting my business and then winding it down slowly over the years, so I sort of eased into retirement.  Retirement is a huge change in lifestyle but a great one.  Very highly recommended!

  2. I retired at 60, and I’ve never regretted  it. I worked for 43 years as a marine engineer and spent a vast amount of time away from my family. Now i have grandkids and have the time to see them on a regular basis. They are the family that I never saw. 

    Although I was obviously much missed by my outfit that I retired from:

    *Ring Ring*

    ME: Hello?

    Company servant: Hello Nick. Just ringing to ask you to send us your ID card and your anti gas respirator.

    ME: OK

    *Click*

    Bearing in mind that I was the longest serving person for the company in it’s entire history of just over 100 years. 

     

    • Heh!  I have a slightly different distinction – every company I ever worked for [bar the last one] closed down within a year of my leaving.  I suppose technically the department I worked for in the last job disappeared, as the whole thing was “outsourced”.  I am quite proud of that little record.

  3. I have relatives in South Island NZ. Been there twice and it really is a lot like the UK, though I’d hardly describe it as especially sunny. They made many cock-ups with one twit bringing over sparrows – hateful creatures that have thrived in massive swarms. And gorse bushes, there they grow to huge heights. Medical facilities in NZ are very good indeed with excellent facilities in Christchurch as pretty good in Dunedin.

    The further south you go the colder it gets and as my cousin, who lives in Invercargill, pointed out their southerly wind comes straight off the South Pole.

    Dunedin is of course an alternate name for Edinburgh, so many street names are identical. Otherwise I thought it a shit hole and was well happy to get out and away.

    Looked at settling there myself but didn’t enjoy being so isolated, they really do have a distinctly insular attitude – and their television was awful. Plus the cost of a flight to Europe was very brutal (I anticipated doing a return every year or so).

    You’ll know of course that the east coast of South Island can be hit by earthquakes and Christchurch got nailed a couple of years back. Bear that tidbit in mind.

    Where I really felt fantastic was the west coast. Greymouth isn’t that wonderful to look at but the folks were grand. There’s a very good hospital there and the original flora and fauna is the norm. (They call it “bush”). Loads of native wildlife and those pesky parrots that enjoy tires as well as tire valves, plastic trim and wipers.

    Instead chose to spend most of the year in Cyprus. TV is not much use unless you speak Greek, so most expats have satellite dishes or mobile internet to watch the UK bumph. Property is currently cheap as chips (darn nuisance). Best of all is UK pensioners get free access to local hospitals, where 95% of the staff speak fluent English and the pension goes up each year same as in the UK (they don’t do that for people who have retired to NZ by the way). https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad/rates-of-state-pension

    Oh that and the fact they tax pensioners at 5% after a personal allowance that’s about Euro 11 grand. married couples get double of course, so quite a few Brits here do not pay tax. Unfortunately they also tax deposit interest at a whopping 30%. And dividends at 15%.

    The big problem with relocating isn’t about finding expats, they’re numerous. It’s finding good tradesmen. But that applies anywhere I’d imagine.

    • I very nearly ended up in New Zealand many many years ago.  My sister emigrated to Aukland in the late 60s and strongly suggested I follow.  At the time I was in college and the temptation was very strong as according to the Sister, the opportunities were great.  I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had taken her up on that suggestion…..

  4. French folk are by and large insular or at the other extreme give them an inch and they take a yard!  We’d invite neighbours who knock on the door in for a cuppa but they don’t reciprocate but will happily help themselves to the tools in your garage if you are foolish enough to leave the gate unlocked!  As for finding good tradesmen its the same in France as everywhere else.  Initially when you eventually find one they do a good job but if you want a follow up you get asked if its part of the one they’ve just done.  If you answer “no, its another one” then they say they’ll ring you when they’re free.  For that you will need an answering machine because they ring once, if they ring at all, and if you are not in to receive their call then that’s it, tough!  We spent a couple of thousand euros having new windows installed by a local firm.  All seemed very nice and friendly and were efficient, turned up when they said and did a good job.  However, when one of the locks broke on one of the doors which we inherited we thought we’d go back to that nice company who did the windows to see if they would help.  We got there and told the chap the problem to which he told us “Non!”  and shut the door in our faces.  It happens all the time and its not just us 😀  So much for customer services!  On the plus side there’s the weather.  We intend to move on from France, hopefully in the near future before we enter our dotage. 😀

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