Retirement Rebel: One woman, one motorhome, one great big adventure

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One thing I have done for the last few years is to give talks to community groups (mostly Women’s Institute branches) about positive change in the world. With all the bad news we see, it is easy to forget how much safer and healthier we are than in the past and that this trend is still improving. Camerados is a new social movement of people going through tough times who through mutual aid want people to get the two essentials: Connection and Purpose. The second myth is that in retirement, you’ll have enough money. This is also untrue. When you retire at 65, you could go on to live another 30 years. How will you fund retirement? And finally, probably the most important myth to bust is that retirement will make you happy and healthy. The statistics actually reveal a significant increase in depression, illness, loneliness and social disengagement in retirement. This book gave me a lot of ideas to help me get ready for my retirement. Things that I had not considered before.

If you’re looking for a deep intensive read with overly detailed instructions on what to do to make your retirement life work this book probably isn’t for you. But if you need a light read that can nudge you in the right direction to finding YOUR path, the one that you design around what lights your fire than grab a copy and enjoy a what feels more like a chat with a good friend. A truly great book, a story of not only drug addiction but also the strength of the human spirit, told with humour and honesty. - Dave My work meant that I spent quite a bit of time with very senior people who were still actively working in their 70s. They were still ambitious to succeed in what they were doing, but they had found things that they loved to do. Success was about working with people and getting stuff done. They inspired me to keep active and to aim never to retire. I only turned 50 in February 2019, and like most people, simple getting this far through the pandemic feels quite an achievement!Margaret approaches the subject of retirement from a completely different perspective than most books. Her focus is on you and how you're going to live a fulfilling happy retirement. She provides you with the common obstacles and then clearly outlines how you are going to overcome them. Thanks Margaret.

Like most of us, I’d been led to believe that it was the only option. I’d accepted it as the path I would take, and I didn’t question it. That all changed when I became semi-retired at the age of 52, after being diagnosed with a bone tumour. I spent years worrying what other people thought and now I just want to be loud and take up space and be totally myself,” she says. She sees a similar sentiment in many women in her age group, for whom the confidence of later life is combining with a desire to set boundaries around one’s time and efforts, whether that’s rejecting grandparental childcare or being the go-to event caterer out of a materfamilias sense of duty. “We’re exiting relationships that no longer serve us, we’re saying no to things we don’t want to do; we’re cutting people out of our lives who don’t make us feel good,” she adds. “There’s a new mood and that mood is about grabbing life by the wotsits.”A must read message of hope for those suffering with, or affected by, the pain of addiction. - Chris A retirement that’s more like winning a lottery?Three ways to help make that happen - September 16, 2019 Mental Health Nurse John-Barry Waldron is our guest on this week's Reach Out PodcastJohn-Barry works in a secure hospital, supporting people experiencing mental illness and helping them return home to their communities.He's also capturing the stories of staff and patients through the On The Ward Podcast which you can also get wherever you get your podcasts.Also in the conversation - We discuss access to mental health services, and how stigma still bring issues for patients and their families. But from her late 40s onwards, challenges – both personal and professional – began to emerge and Siobhan grew disillusioned. “As I was approaching 50, my daughter went off to university,” says Siobhan. “I’d been a single mum for years, and I started bragging to everyone that it was going to be ‘party time’! But it wasn’t that at all – I was quite miserable.” Digital Reads A Curse For True Love : the thrilling final book in the Once Upon a Broken Heart series

But above all, Siobhan’s experiences on the road have taught her new life lessons – and reminded her of some of the older ones. “I do miss catching up with friends, but I don’t get lonely,” she says. “I’ve learned to live in the moment again – taking time to listen to the birds and watch the clouds. That’s something we all do when we’re young, but I hadn’t done it for 40 years.” Today, she has nine children and stepkids, aged between from 18 and 31, she also has two grandchildren, aged seven and two, and a younger female partner. She is, for her part, very happy to be a punk grandma. But Cutter dislikes it when people tell her they “used to be” a punk. “It’s not about the hair colour and the piercings you once had, it’s about an attitude: thinking for yourself and not accepting authority.” It’s an inward rebellion, Cutter says, that surely applies at any age.

Maff’s best story though is setting up a homeless shelter in the World’s biggest building for Christmas, the millennium dome, for charity Crisis. The ‘honeymoon period’ lasted about a year. All that freedom! But then I felt like my life was starting to slow down. Time dragged, and I ceased to flourish, both mentally and physically. And that’s when I realised the idea that retirement is good for us might just be a myth. So, I decided to investigate further. Here's how, with your support, Age UK is supporting older people through the cost of living crisis.