WEBVTT

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Hi everyone. Eric's retiring in June and we've

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talked a lot about retirement on the channel.

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Now it's actually happening. I said to Eric,

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I think we need a frank, honest discussion about

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what retirement is going to look like from June

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onwards. So Tracy's asked me to write down four

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questions I'm going to ask Gareth about retirement

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and you've done the same for me, I believe. I

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have, I've got four questions for you. I've no

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idea what's coming, but you sure you want to

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do this on camera without knowing what the questions

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are? Yes. Challenge accepted, are you fair? Go

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on. Okay, question one. Was it the right time

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for me to retire? 99 % yes. You've talked about

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retirement a lot recently. Over the last couple

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of years really. You know, I think you've slowed

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down in work, which has been a really, so you

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kind of haven't, I feel not slowed down, but

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you know, you've gone from being very like, I

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don't know, 100 hour weeks to like a more nine

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to five job. And I think you just don't gently

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going into retirement. I do worry a little bit

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because I'm not retiring yet. I've decided to

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carry on. I'm just not mentally ready yet. But

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I think for you, I think you'd be okay. Yeah,

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I mean, fair enough, I've been talking about

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the time at 55 since I was 35 and 55 is running

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out. You know, so I'm going in a few weeks, aren't

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I? Whilst I'm still 55. Not that it's just a

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number really, but you know, it's a psychological

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number that's important. Go on then, first question

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for me. My question follows quite nicely. So

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what are you going to do with your free time,

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Eric, whilst I'm still working? That's a load

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of questions in there. Well, I know you've talked

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a lot about Faustine decorating. Seriously, right,

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seriously. Okay, anyone who kind of decides that

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they want to retire without thinking a lot about

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this seriously is making a mistake. So my natural...

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behavior, if I hadn't thought about it, would

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be to spend all day sitting in front of a keyboard,

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either a musical keyboard or a computer keyboard.

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Because I'm very much an indoor type person,

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aren't I? But that doesn't fit with my priorities.

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So one of the things that the two things I'm

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really absolutely going to do is get more healthy,

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get fitter, and I'm going to have better friendship

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networks. I'm not going to do either of them

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sitting in front of a keyboard or sitting in

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the house. i've decided even though i do nothing

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about gardening i've never shown an interest

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in the garden i'm gonna do some gardening because

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i think that will keep me fit get me outdoors

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i've already started as you know you know i've

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got my breakfast club with friends and family

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which i do once every couple of weeks we have

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a gig club where we go and see gigs regularly

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we've got eight of us in that gang it's brilliant

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and i'm starting Amateur guitar club as well.

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All right, so, you know, that's my social network

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done Physically, we've always been good at walking

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the dog I'm going to do a bit more gardening

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to make sure I'm outside because my natural reaction

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is to stay in Yeah Okay I've got another one

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for you Are you confident in our numbers? Yes,

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yes, I I'm always a little bit nervous about

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anything anyway change or anything new so i think

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we've done the numbers over and over and over

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again for at least the last 18 months so and

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they don't change no so yes i think i am confident

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in our numbers on our ability to retire yeah

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you know i i am as well if curveballs come will

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curveballs come they do they do i hope um yeah

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If it's an expensive curve ball, we might be

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in trouble, but I think we'll be okay. Yeah.

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Good. Good. Number two. Okay. Do you ever see

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yourself doing paid work going forward? You know

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what I do? I think I've always said no to this.

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But there's certain elements to the job I do

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now and I've always done, which I really enjoy.

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But there's a lot of stuff that we just do because

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of the job. So if I could find a day or two a

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month, doing, focusing on the bits that I enjoy

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about my job. I don't know what I was doing then

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as long as I didn't have to do all the other

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stuff. You know, so I would never say no. And

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if I could find them kind of gig work where they

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could just do that kind of small amount of focused

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work, I'd do that. I'd have no problem with that

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at all. I actually think it's unhealthy. to go

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from working full -time to just doing nothing

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straight away. For me, I think it would be, cos

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I'm a nature. So, no, I think it'd be a positive

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thing, yeah. I'm not saying anyone would hire

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me to do that, but... Right, number three for

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you, Trace. Do you think I'll cope without working?

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I think you kind of answered... You touched on

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that in your answer to the last... No, I don't

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think you're going to cope very well with that,

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if I'm honest. You're really interested in your

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job. You do your job really well and you're really

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interested in it and it's mentally stimulating

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for you as well. Every day is a school day. You're

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always learning something new. I do worry about

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you a little bit in retirement as where you're

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going to get that mental stimulation from. You've

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already said you've got a guitar club, you've

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got your music, so you all put the things in

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place, but I think it's going to be a transition

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for you. Yeah, I'm not saying it's going to be

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easy. I have in the past classed myself as a

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workaholic, haven't I? Yeah. I have struggled

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when that hasn't been a lot of work to do just

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because of the nature of the way I am, but I

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think I'm much better prepared for it now that

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I'm older. Slow it down. Go on, that's number

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three for me. Yeah, it's number three for you.

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What is the thing that worries you most about

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retirement? What worries me most about retirement?

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I think it's this period where I'm retiring,

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you're not. I can see how it works completely

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when we both are ready to go. I'm not trying

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to rush you into it, by the way, because I know

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you've got to be mentally ready as well. But

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that period where you're working and I'm going

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to feel horribly guilty when you're getting up,

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logging in. I know we both work at home, but

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you'll still be getting up in the morning, going

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down, battling your daily battles that you do

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in your job. Maybe only a second cup of coffee.

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That's not going to sit well with me. Do you

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know what I mean? I'm going to find that really

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difficult, to be honest. But I know you're very

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supportive now. What you're like on the third

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Monday morning. Time will tell. That's my worry.

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I think once we both retire, fantastic. We've

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got plans. We're going east. We're going to do

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this country. I've got loads of plans, but being

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retired on my own for a little bit. is my biggest

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worry. Right, last question for you. Last question

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for you. Oh, similar to what you just said, actually.

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What is your number one concern about the future?

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Short -term future, I think you just covered

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it. I know, at any point in time, I can decide

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I'm going to retire. So I'm not really worried

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about that. I think, you know... Longer term,

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it is, you know, you get a lot, you know, how

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do we keep ourselves fit and healthy and stimulated,

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you know, mentally. You know, I've got friends

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and family, so then you and I will be doing things.

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And also health, you know. I don't want to retire

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and become ill. And this is why we've both decided

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we want to go a bit early. yeah just to because

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you'll be going at 55 and you're not in 55 yes

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no not 55 so yeah yeah it's quite tricky money

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wise because you can't even claim any of your

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pensions at home yeah no so um yeah so yeah that's

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my concerns okay yeah fair enough last one i've

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got last one for this okay do you promise go

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here on camera for the world to see yeah To decorate

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the house with some of your new fans for a time.

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Now I understand why you asked this. You know

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what, I've just covered off why I'm not going

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to feel as guilty when you're getting up and

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going to work and I want my second cup of coffee.

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Because once I've had my second cup of coffee,

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I'll do a bit of tidying. Second cup of coffee,

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you'll put a paintbrush in your hands and off

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your bottom. Yeah, it's a good opportunity, isn't

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it? Because one of our plans is to downsize,

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isn't it? Yeah. At some point, we can't downsize

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when the house is like it is. It needs a bit

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of TLC. Yeah. Okay. So thank you guys. You were

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the witness. You'll hold me to that. Yeah. And

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also, you know, if you do want to tune in to

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what it's like to retire and, you know, don't

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forget to subscribe to the channel because we

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do updates regularly, don't we? It's going to

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be a really interesting journey for us both.

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So if you're interested in this kind of stuff,

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hit that subscription button and stick with us.

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Yeah. Thanks for listening everyone. Bye.