i do 3 days now ( 61 ) & can’t see me passing another medical ( next year ) so i’d say i’ll pack up 2023 at 62 , amazes me how all these late 60,s / 70 yr old are still fit enough to work , i’m 61 and done , sounds like a lot of drivers have had a easy life unlike me
Money is freedom, not bling, bling, big houses and flashy motors.
I semi retired at 46, took to doing 74 days work a year.
I fully retired two years ago at 55 and last year I moved to Portugal and been here a year…Loving it, just bought the farm next door and a few acres of woodland for winter fuel and a place for the log cabin I shall build when I eventually sell up everything and go live there…I am in the mountains, so no people, off the tourist tracks so isolated from everything, just the way I like it…I do have satellite internet though, grow my food and generally keep myself occupied with motorbikes, food and wine…Got a couple of lakes as well for water and swimming.
Never cared what others thought of me, or what I had or didn`t have…I just knew I wanted to be away from people…Best thing I ever did to get out of it all.
It is not retirement, it is living as we were intended to live, fun, frolics, food and nature.
Kill wild boar, yet to take a deer…The time will come though and goat tastes just the best, the very best.
Fire cooks it, I eat it.
I have always been a bit feral, now I am living properly…My brother was a bit freaked out when I cooked the side of a goat, chucked it on the table and proceeded to chop it up with a proper sharp knife whilst feeding the dog the bits we didnt want...No plates, just dive in and hope you dont get yer fingers chopped off kinda thing.
Life is for living…No TV, no central heating and just got water in the house…Works well with the electricity 
You can keep the system, the brainwashing, the bull excrement they feed us, I am out and away from it all and better for it.
Peace & Love to all.
dozy:
Roymondo:
No, it’s already 67 years for anyone born after 1963. There are plans/proposals to increase it further to 68 years in the next few years.i just put my birth year in ( 1961) and it’s showing me as retiring at 67 ( 2028 )
My bad - it’s 67 years for anyone born on/after 6th March 1961
dozy:
i do 3 days now ( 61 ) & can’t see me passing another medical ( next year ) so i’d say i’ll pack up 2023 at 62 , amazes me how all these late 60,s / 70 yr old are still fit enough to work , i’m 61 and done , sounds like a lot of drivers have had a easy life unlike me
[ZB] me, you must’ve had a hard paper round 
I’m 63. Started work at 12 years old, part time, on a farm. Was a squaddy for 12 years and been driving commercials for over 30 years.
2 weeks ago I did The Edinburgh Kiltwalk Mighty Stride, only 21 miles this year, which took me 6hrs 6 minutes.
I had a stroke in July last year, so I’ve been ‘practising’ retirement since then 
To make sure I wasn’t going to make a fool of myself on the Kiltwalk, I did some training.
Just walking, but I signed up for a virtual walk of the North Coast 500, completed it during the kiltwalk as well 
A virtual walk, you walk your miles locally, then your miles are projected onto the route you’ve chosen to walk virtually.
I only used my training miles to do the NC500, using an app’ on my phone to map, measure and time the walks and then upload them to the virtual walk.
No cheating that way 
I’ll keep working till I’m 66 when I can start claiming state pension. I can’t quite afford to retire now, or I would.
No way am I working after 66. I’m not taking any chances that another stroke steals away my chances of DOING stuff.
I’ve been a part time/absentee dad/grandad, through working away a lot of the time.
Roymondo:
My bad - it’s 67 years for anyone born on/after 6th March 1961
Is it?? I know people a couple of weeks older than me who say they can’t retire until they’re 67.
I was born end of March 59.
ETS:
There should be like a fund where drivers pay in voluntarily so 65+ can be paid from it to stay off the roads
Brilliant idea, we could call it National Insurance.
As I speak will probably have to work until close to pension age which is 67 for me .
Only drive a rigid ( no tail lift happy days ) job is decent mainly rdc / industrial premises back door or off through the side ( curtain sider )hardly ever any handball . Am 58 but pretty fit very sporty still do gym /lots of walking etc and played decent standard of football until about 35 . Not got a great deal put away as dad died at a very young age 40 so I have had a good life great holidays with the kids growing up lots of of stag / football tours with the lads and great weekends away with wife .got a about £50,000 left on mortgage but thinking about going down the equity line to get it payed off ,gives me more disposable income . Kids all doing well with good pensions . We have pension of about £45,000 and our ongoing one with my current employer . To me it is what it is have had a decent life / time and will do my best to keep doing so , not much of a drinker any more like a couple but nothing heavy . If it comes to sat on the sofa sucking mints watching Corrie then so be it or sat inout garden listening to the birds that’s what we have to do . I know a fair few people who plough as much money as they can into there pensions but don’t get there or when they do there health or mobility holds them back . We are all different and will all take different paths to suit our own needs .
Simon:
Roymondo:
My bad - it’s 67 years for anyone born on/after 6th March 1961Is it?? I know people a couple of weeks older than me who say they can’t retire until they’re 67.
I was born end of March 59.
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dozy:
i do 3 days now ( 61 ) & can’t see me passing another medical ( next year ) so i’d say i’ll pack up 2023 at 62 , amazes me how all these late 60,s / 70 yr old are still fit enough to work , i’m 61 and done , sounds like a lot of drivers have had a easy life unlike me
I mean this in the nicest possible way doze, …but have a read back at some of your 6000+ posts on here, and if they are genuine and true, (jury still out btw ) there’s a few clues and explanations in there maybe, as to how and why you are in the state you say you are now, resulting in the effects that the the job has had on you,.I think ‘‘Burn Out’’ is the phrase you are looking for…just saying. 
I’m a similar age with a much varied experience in this job, and I geniinely feel the same as I did,.and been told look (ok the guy was on a galloping horse ) 10 to 15 years ago,…maybe there’s a message in there somewhere mate… 
The number of guys I have known personally in this job in the time I’ve been in it, both owner drivers and employed, who have spent their careers running with their arses on fire, not getting enough sleep, not eating properly,.and all the other negative aspects of their cluster ■■■■ of a carreer, then when they retire they are dead within 3 years.
Roymondo:
Socketset:
Deferring your pension is madness - just a con by the government.Think about it - pension is about 8k a year - defer it say for two years 16k.
Enhanced pension is what, say an extra £20 a week divide that into 16k…
You would have to live 'til you’re about 82 before you break even.
No, claim it and salt it away - savings account whatever.
If the worst happens and you die before you claim it then the government is laughing and your loved ones have nada.
Grab it while you can at least it’s there stashed even if you don’t need it to live on.
If only it was that simple. For example, if you are currently in a well-paid job (or have other income streams in addition to your job) it may well be that your £9600 (that’s a bit more than 8k…) State Pension would be taxed at 40% rather than 20%. That’s almost £75 a week in tax (£7700 over the two years mentioned). Also bear in mind that if you do defer it, the whole amount you get is subject to the “triple lock” annual increase, so the extra £21 a week you get by deferring for two years gets boosted every year for as long as you live. Also remember that savings you’ve stashed away can impact upon other Benefits you may become entitled to in later years, as well as being hoovered up should you need care (either at home or in a residential setting) in your dotage. Get some professional advice (even if you have to pay for it).
Absolutely, yes get professional advice but I just gave the bare bones of it.
Interesting reading this, genuinely. Some good points posted. I’m 35, no pension. No dependants. Honestly not something I think of much.
Agency guy at my workplace is 82! He does day/night trunks or 17t work around the doors. He is very good for his age / very Spritely, but still 82 & grafting…….
robroy:
dozy:
i do 3 days now ( 61 ) & can’t see me passing another medical ( next year ) so i’d say i’ll pack up 2023 at 62 , amazes me how all these late 60,s / 70 yr old are still fit enough to work , i’m 61 and done , sounds like a lot of drivers have had a easy life unlike meI mean this in the nicest possible way doze, …but have a read back at some of your 6000+ posts on here, and if they are genuine and true, (jury still out btw
I’m a similar age with a much varied experience in this job, and I geniinely feel the same as I did,.and been told look (ok the guy was on a galloping horseThe number of guys I have known personally in this job in the time I’ve been in it, both owner drivers and employed, who have spent their careers running with their arses on fire, not getting enough sleep, not eating properly,.and all the other negative aspects of their cluster [zb] of a carreer, then when they retire they are dead within 3 years.
Figured this out after a couple of years in the job.
Slightly related. One of the fitters I served my time with, Raymond. He had to retire at 58 cause he was knackered. Cantankerous old ■■■■ he was but funny.
Other lad who taught me was younger, first time I worked with him was taking a radiator out, said… now the idea here is not to get ■■■■ wet through. Ray would happily crawl around on coolant soaked cardboard instead of running a brush over the floor. Just to get the job done quicker.
Mark500:
Agency guy at my workplace is 82! He does day/night trunks or 17t work around the doors. He is very good for his age / very Spritely, but still 82 & grafting…….
He must still be doing a bit of shagging at 82 then.
Immigrant:
Im 65 now but I don’t accept the 128.- the Pension Office will pay.
Nor does my Landlord
I would suggest that you contact Citizens Advice as if that is your only Pension, I think you may be entitled to other Gov. Benefits … including Council Tax Benefit etc.
Not sure, but isn’t there supposed to be some sort of Min. Guarantee for Pensioners ■■
The Rustler:
Not sure, but isn’t there supposed to be some sort of Min. Guarantee for Pensioners ■■
Pension Credit - it tops up your income to £187 pw (or £278 for a couple). It acts as a “gateway benefit”, because if you get it you are also entitled to Housing Benefit, Warm Homes Discount and a few other bits & bobs.
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Mark500:
Agency guy at my workplace is 82! He does day/night trunks or 17t work around the doors. He is very good for his age / very Spritely, but still 82 & grafting…….
82■■
Now that is just taking the ■■■■.
Seriously though he can’t have the same faculties it’s physically impossible,.and what about his reactions?
My Dad is 84 and .he’s still.as fit as .
Ex Navy,.ex trucker, and fully mentally sharp, but I’m not sure I’d be fully comfortable going down the motorway at speed with him in a car nowadays, let alone an artic.
Surely there should be a maximum age to hold a Class 1.
robroy:
Mark500:
Agency guy at my workplace is 82! He does day/night trunks or 17t work around the doors. He is very good for his age / very Spritely, but still 82 & grafting…….82■■
Now that is just taking the ■■■■.
Seriously though he can’t have the same faculties it’s physically impossible,.and what about his reactions?
My Dad is 84 and .he’s still.as fit as .
Ex Navy,.ex trucker, and fully mentally sharp, but I’m not sure I’d be fully comfortable going down the motorway at speed with him in a car nowadays, let alone an artic.
Surely there should be a maximum age to hold a Class 1.
Some people are unfit at 21…
.
Maybe there should be a maximum age, but there will be always be an exception to that rule.
Just as there are speed limits; and some drivers always tell us about when there should be exceptions to them…midnight…empty roads…ring any bells?
Big Truck:
lolipop:
Old John:
I’m 69, and still out 5 days on flats. My DCPC expires in Sept 2024, and, if i live that long, that will do for me. I’m self employed, OD, in a nice part of Scotland, and seldom go more than 200 miles from base. I keep away from the madness, South of say, Preston.
There’s a bit of running in my old Scania yet, so I’d like to carry on for a bit. To be honest, I’ll miss it. Ive got a decent amount in a pension fund, and reasonable ISAs and other savings, plus assets in land, so i can go whenever i fancy. Its a handy position to be in, but one wee bit of advice I’ll give you, from a man who was much wiser than I.
“If you want to make God smile, tell him your long term plans”Life is to short to be “plodding” down the road at 69, retire and enjoy what you have earned, there are no pockets in shrouds you can
t take it with you to spend. You never know whats around the corner,spend and enjoy. Forget about "leaving something" for the kids. As my kids say you have earned it spend it and enjoy yourself,as they know the home is theirs when we are gone, so they dont need our money as well100% correct!!!
I fully intend to cut WAY back in another 3yrs time when I reach 60yrs,
maybe work 2/3 days/week over Winter.
Have good pensions to draw from and fully intend to enjoy the Summers maybe head back over to USA do another harvest run or two,
quite fancy similar in OZ/NZ too!!!Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk
I’m getting a bit of a hard time on this one. So, just to show that I don’t take it too seriously, I am, as I write this relaxing in a very pleasant resort in the Barossa valley area of South Australia, where i am spending a month, before it gets too hot, sipping delicious wines, eating splendid food, and spending precious time with two of my three children and my grandchildren.
Back to the graft in ten days to pay for the next extravaganza.
No pleasure without pain.
^^^^^^^
Nice one John,.can’t fault ya for that…making the funds and spending them on mega enjoyment,.whilst maintaining the savings.
A means to an end…