Well I for one can’t wait to find out , I hate work with a passion , work is a waste of life . Unfortunately I’m only 46 and as it stands I can’t retire till I’m 67, I’m sure that’ll soon rise to 70 or more . I reckon I can do ten more years work tops , I yearn to get up and do what I want when I want. Currently researching livinging in Bulgaria , not them ski resort or coast resort rip off illegal builds but village life . Decent house with massive garden easily had for £30k . Beer 50p a pint, wine a good one £2 , grow my own veg , keep chickens etc , brew raki like everyone else . A teacher out there earns about £170 a month , obviously they’ll know how to do things cheaper , and a Brit would probably get charged different prices to the locals , but it’s cheap as chips . Can’t wait.
Just don t forget put rest in tacho card 
Fulham FC…thats a great idea, and you could survive easily on your uk pension, yes its very cheap here at the moment, Beer 50p, ciggies £2.50, Rakia to buy ( if you know where ) 7p a litre, all veg from the market stall a fraction of the uk cost and more tastier. I am on the coast, but not Sunny beach where the larger louts frequent, or package tourist frequent, but a nice quiet town called Pomorie, where the bulgarians also holiday , and i am 5 minutes from the town centre/bus station, the same distance to the beach and only 15 minutes to the airport, I only cook a breakfast and eat out most nights with a couple of rakias and about 3 beers on average and it costs around £12.
We did have a view at one time of buying a house in the country, but my wife who is bulgarian said no, as we were not going to live there full time and its not a good idea to leave a property empty for such a long time so opted for a brand new apartment instead, more so for the security aspect.
Once again i would say to fellow retirees to plan for your future and to think what you are doing, i am a bg citizen now but still dont get what the locals do, its only a registration, no cheap bus fares, or special treatments, so i live some of the time in the uk whereby i have the security of healthcare etc. I have been here for 5 weeks this time, but from next year when my wife retires we will spend 3 months at a time, and sadly i fly back on monday evening and start saving for next years shennanigans…ha ha
money must be the main factor in how good it is to retire
I have no pension worth mentioning. Have been meaning to look in to a private pension but I don’t think they are worth too much unless you’re putting serious money in to them.
I wonder what kind of money you’d need to have saved to retire comfortably just now
Since retiring three years ago after 50yrs in the saddle, I truly wonder how I had time to fit going to work into my days, too much to do, as for money them SERP’s we paid into certainly help, it does take some getting used to someone giving you money with out having to go to work to earn it but I’m slowly getting used to that.
Ossie
Had retired last xmas but the solicitor dealing with mum’s estate seriously screwed up and HMRC are being unhelpful to say the least, so I’m back behind the wheel for a while yet, hopefully have things under control by the early in the new year. Plenty of ‘projects’ to work on long into retirement, dad is still playing round one of the toughest links courses in the UK and will be 81 this year, if I’m as fit and active as him at that age I’ll be happy. To me retirement is having the time to do the things you didn’t have time for earlier in life. Have raised my kids and set them up as best I can, so now its MY time.
Driving is a funny thing, right now and facing another week of night trunking I could happily pack it in right now. I came to it very late in life as an ‘oh ■■■■ what do I do for money now’ thing about 5yrs ago so resurrected the C1 ticket I passed back in the 70’s but I now find myself getting twitchy after a couple of weeks out of the cab 
so may carry on doing the odd shift, I just don’t know.
Hi OssieD
You are right with what you say about retiring
I retired almost two years ago and I did some holiday relief work for a couple of months before finally calling it a day. I am sure that this helped me tail off from full time work before finishing completely.
I was fortunate to work for some decent firms and built up a reasonable pension to boost the state pension. So we have no money worries. It also helped that with retirement came a request for redundancy so finishing then was a no_brainer
Like you Ossie I wonder how we fitted in what we did at home and do a full time job. I always,s believed that when you retire you must have something to get out of bed for and not necessarily work.
Our days are full enough, hobbies enjoyed as and when you want, life is OK as long as our health remains as it is.
Would I go back on the road? Not with the all the legislation that is out there today. If we could wind the clock back thirty years,yes I would go back for a dabble.
Forty five years on the road, mostly enjoyed, is enough for me, it,s my time now.
Cheers. Bassman
truckyboy:
Fulham FC…thats a great idea, and you could survive easily on your uk pension, yes its very cheap here at the moment, Beer 50p, ciggies £2.50, Rakia to buy ( if you know where ) 7p a litre, all veg from the market stall a fraction of the uk cost and more tastier. I am on the coast, but not Sunny beach where the larger louts frequent, or package tourist frequent, but a nice quiet town called Pomorie, where the bulgarians also holiday , and i am 5 minutes from the town centre/bus station, the same distance to the beach and only 15 minutes to the airport, I only cook a breakfast and eat out most nights with a couple of rakias and about 3 beers on average and it costs around £12.
We did have a view at one time of buying a house in the country, but my wife who is bulgarian said no, as we were not going to live there full time and its not a good idea to leave a property empty for such a long time so opted for a brand new apartment instead, more so for the security aspect.
Once again i would say to fellow retirees to plan for your future and to think what you are doing, i am a bg citizen now but still dont get what the locals do, its only a registration, no cheap bus fares, or special treatments, so i live some of the time in the uk whereby i have the security of healthcare etc. I have been here for 5 weeks this time, but from next year when my wife retires we will spend 3 months at a time, and sadly i fly back on monday evening and start saving for next years shennanigans…ha ha
thanks Trucky boy , I’ll no doubt be tapping you up for more info , the closet I get to retiring.
rigsby:
retired through heart trouble at 62 , got the problem stabilised and started to enjoy life . i did all the outstanding jobs in the house and garden,helped our son with his jobs . we go on holiday for 8 weeks each summer and generally relax and make the most of life . anything before 7 30 am is regarded as night . if you have hobbies , plenty of time to indulge in them .
07.30 that early,are the streets aired ■■? hahaha
No Problems Fulham, just dont talk to me about football…ha ha here is a good site for everything you want to know about bulgaria, its called My Bulgaria and is run by mostly ex pats if its any help, but failing that be glad to help.
corij:
that last day ,when you climb out the cab and know thats it?im just wondering how it feels when you go home how do you adjust ,is it easy ?
It is easy for some and hard for others.It all depends on your outlook and your plans for retirement.
I have been retired for over 2 years now and have just turned 60 and I have loved every minute of it spending time on holidays and my many hobbies.
Obviously finance can make a big difference to retirement but having worked with the MOD I have an excellent pension backed up by a house I let out.
I have a friend who had his own business and has more money than he knows what to do with but he is miserable.Will not get off his backside and do anything so he only has himself to blame.
I think back on my early driving days and think how wonderful and enjoyable it was but to drive for a living now would fill me with dread.I am lucky because I have a friend with his own truck so I can still have a wee go whenever I like.
The way I look at it is life is short so why work any longer than you have to.Finish as early as possible and enjoy every minute!
Although iam a long way off retiring I have no pension so buying some more houses or some business premises to rent out seams a good idea ,I’ve Seen drivers retire at 65 then do sod all and just go down hill big style ,my dad and uncles are still very active at 68 ,69 & 73 driving daily although I think they’ve forgotten most of what they knew !i think it keeps them better to be doing a bit ,they are certainly cheap labour anyway !
and now for the other side of the coin … I have been ‘retired’ since May but not through choice.
Back in the middle of May, I had a very bad RTA which was caused by me blacking out behind the wheel. Not a clever thing to do when fully loaded at 44tn. Despite the unit being a complete write off, I managed to escape with just very bad bruising to the chest area and legs (had to be cut out) and a cut elbow. I went to my GP and obviously answered her questions truthfully. Next thing I am on the list to visit a cardiologist and been told not to drive. After a session with the cardiologist, I now have a heart monitor fitted. A very unpleasant experience … size of a memory stick just under the skin of my chest and have to carry a ‘little black box’ everywhere with me. He also insisted I went for an Obstructive Sleep Apoenea examination. Then to cap it all, he told me he would ensure I never get my HGV back.
Just ten days before my session with the cardio man, my youngest sister dropped dead most unexpectedly. The stress of this untimely death (only 50) and the accident seemed to kickstart some sleeping dogs into action. Less than two weeks later, whilst visiting my other sister just after the funeral, I collapsed again, only this time, I was spewing blood from my mouth every time I coughed, which was continually. Was like the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Nine days spent in Lincoln hospital. Went down a bomb with the missus as I never told her lol. Nothing she could have done seeing as she was 200 miles away. She thought I was still at my sisters and being a miserable git.
Upon release, they transferred my treatment down here to my local hospital and I have also just done the sleepy test there. The upshot of it all is apart from the heart problems, I also have badly damaged lungs and emphysema. I was on the list for a few weeks as a lung cancer suspect until this was discounted.
I have had the letter from DVLA officially revoking ALL my licences although I can reapply for my car one in 12 months time.
So unless someone has a nice cushy office job and provides me with transport, I am now retired. I can barely walk 10 yards without being out of breath, take more drugs than a Colombian would know what to do with, and to cap it all, I live out in the boonies so it is a mile walk across the fields just to get a newspaper. Needless to say, I haven’t seen a daily paper since May.
I receive the princely sum of £72 a week so my saving have deteriorated rapidly, I am stuck in the house day after sodding day. I have a car sat on the drive I am not supposed to drive but it still had to be taxed and insured etc.
The strain of it all has severely damaged my relationship with my partner and there are days when I could slit my bloody wrists!!
Retirement?? No thanks
Oh and in case you’re wondering, I am only 58 on Sunday, have worked since I was 15, never claimed a penny in my life and always been employed. Thirty three years as a truck driver down the drain.
My grandad retired and sat in the armchair, 2 yrs later he was dead.
My dad retired and does not stop!!
He’s always doing something, mainly mechanical, he’s just bought a 1958 ford consul he’s restoring and also works when needed in his friends repair garage.
He also has a fantastic train set and buys trains from ebay and restores them, model trains!
When you retire, you must keep busy.
Life is what you make it. Work is what you make it: you can meet a man who punches fridges up the M2 every day and hates it, and another who loves it. Retirement, likewise, is what you make of it.
I’ve just retired - back in June - and I love it. I’m not bored. I find plenty to interest me. An old friend of mine once reflected that we don’t need goals in life to keep us going, but we do need a sense of purpose. And it is this sense of purpose that I focus on before I go to bed at night. That way, I wake in the morning knowing what I need to do. It’s nice to let go of all those little thing you once thought so important to you as a working man - those things don’t matter any more: it’s OK to let them go.
I retired promptly so that I can travel while I am still ‘young’ enough and fit enough to do so, and while I am still insurable enough to travel. This is really important to me: what is the use of having money to travel if you are too tired, too old, too knackered, too ill - because you decided to do that extra five years. Sod all that! You worked to live, not lived to work.
Robert