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Transitioning to Retirement: Make it Easy
Once upon a yesteryear, people would retire and expect very little time in retirement, with a life expectancy in 1950 of just 68.69 years. Today, average UK life expectancy is 81.65 years, meaning a good few years of retirement to look forward to for many.
Once there, retirement is a new phase in life, and with it come decisions:
1. Continue working?
Today, in the UK, there is no longer a default state retirement age. (The law was changed in 2011 to stop employers forcing people to retire at 65.)
Whether the decision to continue working is driven by habit, financial need or passion, as we age, we need to start sorting our affairs. We love the idea of ‘dostadning’, a Swedish concept that encourages us to look at our homes as if we were dead and someone was coming in to clear up and/or find things. It’s very like Marie Kondo’s ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying’ but looked at through a visitor's eyes rather than from your own sense of wellbeing. (For messy folk like me, it’s a fabulous incentive to get things done!)
This time of life can be a great time to get things in order, and simplify the way we live in order to enjoy it more.
For example, perhaps your children have been using your home as a dumping pit? Maybe they don’t want you to throw away their old toys. Retirement is the perfect excuse to tell them to come and collect!
Resources that could help:
· Age UK has fabulous advice about pensions and benefits, which can help with this decision: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/
2. Downsize
In early retirement, it’s lovely to have an amazing garden to while away the hours. When arthritis, lumbago and ‘gardener’s elbow’ start making all that work harder, it may be time to call in a gardener, or to downsize or move to somewhere with a smaller garden.
Similarly, you may want to downsize for cost reasons. For example, new research by Energy Saving Trust has found that energy bills could rise by £240 in 2022 for a typical three-bedroom, gas-heated home, with such a household projected to spend a total £1,360 on energy. That’s a lot of money from a pension.
It may just be the practicalities of looking after a large home that drive the decision to move some somewhere smaller. Time and energy are precious things.
Resources that could help:
• The (easyStorage) Reliable Guide to Downsizing for Retirement
3. Moving to somewhere you’ve always wanted to be
Retirement gives you a freedom that working life doesn’t. We often pick our place to live based on work.
You now have a lot of freedom to choose.
Perhaps you’d love to be in the wilds of Inverness. Maybe somewhere picturesque like Yorkshire or the Cotswolds appeals. Perhaps you want to be closer to children or grandchildren. Or maybe even abroad. Or cruising the canals of the UK on a narrowboat.
While you are still fit enough to do it and young enough to make new friends, now’s the time to do it. As age folds its arms around us, it becomes harder to make that move. Now’s the time to live that dream, but do it with eyes wide open – simply moving house to a similar area where you already know people is one thing. A complete lifestyle change requires much planning and thinking ahead to a time when we may not be as able bodied or may need people around to help us.
Don’t let the dream die, simply go in with your eyes open. Sometimes renting in a new place is a smart move before selling up and moving there. Moving can be stressful and expensive, doing it twice because the move wasn’t a good one for you is doubly so.
Resources that could help:
· The blogs at easyStorage and easyStorageBoxes are packed full of articles to help make moving easier.
· Packing materials delivered to your door: https://easystorageboxes.com/
4. Wintering Abroad
If you can afford it, you’ll now have the freedom to flee to a second home somewhere when the weather gets chilly.
For those who can’t, there’s always the chance to take up one of these amazing offers for pensioners to stay in hotels, full board, for several months, which look inviting when faced with huge heating bills.
Numerous companies exist that may be able to rent your own home while you’re away.
Resources that could help:
CoOp Travel long stay holidays
No obligation quotes for storage that collects and delivers your belongings back if renting out or away for a long time and wanting to keep things stored safely: easyStorage quotes.
5. Take that round the World Trip
If not now, then when?
Lonely Planet explains how to plan that trip: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/how-to-plan-a-round-the-world-trip
And a final note
Whatever those decisions look like, easyStorage is here to make life easier by collecting from, and returning your belongings to, the door. Our teams are flexible and helpful and can tailor their service to your needs (for storage, that is!)
However you choose to spend it, the team here wishes you a long, healthy and happy retirement. Enjoy every minute.
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