WEBVTT - Moving from Full-Time Work to Retirement 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:08.850 Hello, I'm Shirley Ballas and welcome to Rewirement, the retirement 0:00:08.850 --> 0:00:13.510 podcast from Legal & General. This is the series that explores 0:00:13.510 --> 0:00:17.570 how to reset, re- invent and rewire for the retirement 0:00:17.570 --> 0:00:22.049 you want. Each episode I'm joined by straight talking, honest 0:00:22.050 --> 0:00:27.260 retirees and would- be retirees with different experiences, hopes, and 0:00:27.260 --> 0:00:31.430 expectations for retirement. My expert panel will be here to 0:00:31.430 --> 0:00:35.219 help too, with ideas to help you feel confident, comfortable, 0:00:35.300 --> 0:00:39.320 and financially in control as you approach your own colorful 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:44.309 retirement. Today, we're tackling the topic of making the big 0:00:44.309 --> 0:00:47.420 switch. How do you go from a lifetime of work 0:00:47.820 --> 0:00:49.959 to your ideal retirement without a bump? 0:00:50.519 --> 0:00:54.130 I think men sometimes find it harder than women. 0:00:54.660 --> 0:00:57.260 It's about more than money as we'll find out. 0:00:57.260 --> 0:00:59.560 If someone asked me to think about what I'd be doing 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:01.250 for the next 30 years, I'd have no idea. 0:01:01.740 --> 0:01:06.619 Thank you for downloading Rewirement, the retirement podcast from Legal & 0:01:06.709 --> 0:01:10.240 General. Here's hoping it brings you one step closer to 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:14.600 your dream retirement. Today I'm going to be chatting with 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.970 Emma Byron from Legal & General as well as entrepreneur Tricia 0:01:18.990 --> 0:01:23.050 Cusden of Look Fabulous Forever for their tips on the 0:01:23.050 --> 0:01:27.339 transition from full time work. Before that let's check in 0:01:27.339 --> 0:01:30.949 with our honest, straight talking team of would- be rewirees. 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.420 Last time I caught up with John. He's retired and 0:01:35.420 --> 0:01:39.039 a member of his local amateur dramatic society in Sussex. 0:01:39.670 --> 0:01:41.809 Today, we're going to meet a couple of his fellow 0:01:41.810 --> 0:01:46.550 group members, Sue, who's retired, and David, who's still working 0:01:46.550 --> 0:01:50.040 and contemplating how and when to make the move to 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:55.050 retire. Here's what happened when we got together. First, Sue 0:01:55.050 --> 0:01:57.499 and David told me a little bit about where they 0:01:57.500 --> 0:01:58.630 are right now. 0:01:59.260 --> 0:02:04.760 Well, my situation is that I retired almost 10 years ago, so 0:02:05.490 --> 0:02:07.210 I'm not working any longer. 0:02:07.210 --> 0:02:10.450 Are you enjoying the process of not working? 0:02:10.519 --> 0:02:12.950 I am enjoying it. I'm enjoying the process of not 0:02:12.950 --> 0:02:14.710 working very much indeed. 0:02:15.410 --> 0:02:17.559 And what kind of things do you get up to then? 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.299 I have an allotment. I have a garden, so I 0:02:20.299 --> 0:02:24.160 spend a lot of time on them. I've joined the 0:02:24.500 --> 0:02:29.540 U3A. I'm in four groups with them and one of them I'm learning Latin. 0:02:29.540 --> 0:02:32.400 I'm in the natural history group. I'm in a walking 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:34.649 group, which is sort of long walks. I'm in a 0:02:34.650 --> 0:02:41.290 natural history walking group as well. I do yoga. The 0:02:41.290 --> 0:02:45.341 police neighborhood watch coordinator for part of my road. And... 0:02:45.341 --> 0:02:48.220 So it's safe to say you don't miss work then? 0:02:48.310 --> 0:02:51.679 No, I feel I'm very busy and I have difficulty 0:02:51.679 --> 0:02:53.540 fitting things in very often. 0:02:55.109 --> 0:02:55.900 And you, David? 0:02:56.419 --> 0:02:59.779 Well, I'm actually still working. I'm still work full time, traveling up and 0:02:59.780 --> 0:03:04.419 down to London for my sins. From what Sue's just 0:03:04.419 --> 0:03:06.790 said, I think, I don't know whether I'm going to look forward to 0:03:06.790 --> 0:03:09.299 retirement or not. It sounds more hard work than actually 0:03:09.299 --> 0:03:14.300 working, but no, I mean, I'm actually looking forward to 0:03:14.470 --> 0:03:19.409 retirement. I'm now conscious of the fact that it's something 0:03:19.410 --> 0:03:25.309 that's coming up now. I'm 62 next month and I 0:03:25.310 --> 0:03:27.870 realize that it is the sort of thing that a lot 0:03:27.870 --> 0:03:31.809 of my colleagues are retiring or what's something I would 0:03:31.810 --> 0:03:34.559 like to maybe do look at is maybe working part 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.540 time. So just continuing for two or three days a 0:03:37.540 --> 0:03:41.650 week, but then giving myself the option to find things 0:03:41.650 --> 0:03:45.480 outside of work to actually deal with. Because I often 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.790 thought that it was a bit unfair with people who 0:03:47.790 --> 0:03:51.740 retire, that they just suddenly, one day they're working, the next day 0:03:51.740 --> 0:03:52.379 they stop. 0:03:52.540 --> 0:03:54.320 And do you have things in mind that you want to do? 0:03:54.850 --> 0:03:59.440 I do. Yeah. Like Sue, I enjoy gardening, but I'd 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.869 like to do a bit of traveling, not necessarily abroad, 0:04:01.869 --> 0:04:04.969 but maybe around the country, because there's so many things 0:04:05.070 --> 0:04:09.430 in the UK that I haven't seen or I've seen 0:04:09.869 --> 0:04:12.690 through work, but this best out or maybe a hotel 0:04:12.700 --> 0:04:15.210 window or something like that. So it'd be nice to 0:04:15.210 --> 0:04:18.039 just maybe spend a few days in places to go 0:04:18.039 --> 0:04:21.710 and see them, visit and have a look around these places. 0:04:22.450 --> 0:04:23.640 Remember John, from last time? 0:04:24.010 --> 0:04:29.270 I'm John, I've been retired about three years. I'm married 0:04:29.270 --> 0:04:31.169 with two grown up children. 0:04:31.740 --> 0:04:33.760 As a bit of a saver, John talked about his 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:36.520 dilemma of not being sure about when to enjoy the 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:40.360 money he'd set aside and when to continue his careful 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:43.409 habits. I asked him about how he approached the leisure 0:04:43.409 --> 0:04:44.589 side of retirement. 0:04:44.599 --> 0:04:48.580 I enjoy being able to do what I want to do 0:04:48.770 --> 0:04:53.380 when I want to do it without restrictions on what I do, not having to 0:04:53.380 --> 0:04:57.920 travel up to London, being able to, usually, go out when 0:04:58.070 --> 0:05:02.539 I want to, without thinking about meetings. And it's a 0:05:02.539 --> 0:05:05.839 lot more relaxing than when I was working. When I was about 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.849 to retire, I found that I was aching an awful lot. 0:05:10.789 --> 0:05:15.810 Eventually it was decided that I got rheumatoid arthritis, which is 0:05:15.810 --> 0:05:19.069 very much under control, but it does mean that some of 0:05:19.070 --> 0:05:22.339 the things I thought I was going to be doing are difficult to 0:05:22.339 --> 0:05:27.810 do. I think my advice to people would be to think about 0:05:28.539 --> 0:05:33.010 whether you ought to be retiring when you're younger and, in 0:05:33.010 --> 0:05:35.070 fact, when you're fitter. 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:40.890 So, John, transitioning from full time work to retirement, how 0:05:40.890 --> 0:05:41.949 do you feel that's been? 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:47.080 It actually worked out well and not quite so well. 0:05:47.330 --> 0:05:53.930 So, when I started work, our pension scheme said that I would retire 0:05:53.930 --> 0:05:59.250 at 60. So, that was certainly the plan. So I 0:05:59.250 --> 0:06:03.560 was 60 at the end of 2015, but that was when 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.109 I suddenly started to realize that my health wasn't as 0:06:07.109 --> 0:06:12.210 good as it might have been because of my arthritis. 0:06:12.979 --> 0:06:16.259 I worked from home for the last six months or 0:06:16.260 --> 0:06:21.260 so of my employment because when things have moved forward, a 0:06:21.260 --> 0:06:24.300 lot of my work I could do over the internet. 0:06:24.779 --> 0:06:28.010 So, that's how I transitioned. And I was very fortunate 0:06:28.010 --> 0:06:33.529 as well, that when I actually did retire, the arthritis was under 0:06:33.529 --> 0:06:36.750 control. I've needed a couple of hip replacements because of 0:06:36.830 --> 0:06:40.400 it. But in fact, that's been fantastic. Been really good. 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.539 So now I can move forward and start to enjoy 0:06:43.539 --> 0:06:47.930 retirement more than I had been. It's something you very 0:06:47.930 --> 0:06:51.630 much have to take into account that when I was working, 0:06:51.630 --> 0:06:56.260 I was out of the house for 12 hours a day. Suddenly you 0:06:56.260 --> 0:06:58.669 find that there's the two of you in the house 0:06:59.169 --> 0:07:00.560 and you're here together all the time. 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.630 I mean, that's a transition just on its own, isn't it? 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:08.359 Ever so much. Ever so much because if you're not 0:07:08.359 --> 0:07:13.360 careful, you can very easily get the other's nerves. So my 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.270 wife likes to go out and meet friends for coffee. I go out 0:07:16.730 --> 0:07:19.820 for lunch with friends of mine and see various people. 0:07:19.860 --> 0:07:24.689 And so making sure that we have an active social 0:07:24.690 --> 0:07:29.129 life, but I think we've always decided, Shirley, that although 0:07:29.580 --> 0:07:31.420 there were a number of things we wanted to do 0:07:31.420 --> 0:07:37.460 together, it was very important to have our own lives as 0:07:37.460 --> 0:07:41.119 well, because otherwise you tend to run out of the things to 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:42.720 talk about if you're not careful. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.110 It sounds like you've really made the transition from full 0:07:46.110 --> 0:07:50.880 time work into retirement amazingly well. And also with your 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.880 personal life and being with your wife at home full 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.450 time, sounds like you actually have done extremely well. 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:01.670 Well, the other thing, Shirley, of course it is rather 0:08:01.670 --> 0:08:05.250 nice is that rather than having to get up a quarter past six in the morning, 0:08:06.410 --> 0:08:09.010 get down to the train station, getting the train London 0:08:09.150 --> 0:08:13.489 Bridge every day, so the 45 minute journey. If I 0:08:13.790 --> 0:08:19.550 want to get up at eight or half past eight now, I can do it, but you have to be careful 0:08:19.630 --> 0:08:21.239 that you don't spend half the morning in bed. 0:08:22.030 --> 0:08:25.200 It sounds like getting the balance right in your relationships 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.780 and your routine is just as important as making sure 0:08:28.780 --> 0:08:32.880 you have hobbies and plans to enjoy. David, meanwhile, has 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:37.280 worked for the civil service for 42 years. He's confident 0:08:37.329 --> 0:08:40.880 about the financial side of his move to retirement, but 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.080 he knows that's not the situation for most these days 0:08:44.370 --> 0:08:47.040 With the younger generation, what they tend to do is 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.059 you say to them, " Have you thought about a pension? 0:08:49.059 --> 0:08:51.439 Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that?" 0:08:51.439 --> 0:08:54.010 And they just go, " Oh, I'll think about that in a few 0:08:54.010 --> 0:08:54.280 years' time." 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:58.230 I asked Sue what advice she give people when making their plans 0:08:58.230 --> 0:09:01.910 for retirement? Sue seems to be a master of hobbies 0:09:02.230 --> 0:09:06.260 and is enjoying colorful retirement. But is there anything she 0:09:06.260 --> 0:09:07.480 might have done differently? 0:09:08.069 --> 0:09:11.370 It's very difficult because when I first retired, I retired in 0:09:11.370 --> 0:09:14.739 the August and I was a bit of a loose end in 0:09:14.740 --> 0:09:17.900 the winter as the winter came on. And I was 0:09:17.900 --> 0:09:21.630 actually really quite sort of bored and wondering what to 0:09:21.630 --> 0:09:24.730 do. So I hadn't really thought out what I was 0:09:24.730 --> 0:09:28.629 going to do myself properly, but I would, looking back 0:09:28.630 --> 0:09:31.249 on it, advise someone to give it some thought as 0:09:31.250 --> 0:09:35.429 to what they wanted to do and how they were 0:09:35.429 --> 0:09:36.099 going to set about. 0:09:36.100 --> 0:09:37.971 So think about it before you retire? 0:09:37.971 --> 0:09:42.150 I think you should do. Yes. Yes. I mean, once 0:09:42.150 --> 0:09:45.540 that autumn was over and I got to the following year, 0:09:45.540 --> 0:09:48.800 I started actually doing things. So it was fine, but 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:52.679 I think some people who haven't got any interests and 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:54.380 I did have a lot of interests, it's just I 0:09:54.380 --> 0:09:57.530 didn't do anything about them. Some people who haven't got 0:09:57.530 --> 0:09:59.950 many interests, I think they find themselves a bit of 0:10:00.110 --> 0:10:04.430 a loose end. I think men sometimes find it harder 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.420 than women. I don't know whether this is still so, 0:10:07.900 --> 0:10:10.350 but in the past, a lot of men retired and 0:10:10.350 --> 0:10:13.469 all their life was just work and they did nothing 0:10:13.470 --> 0:10:17.150 else. And quite a lot of them just died after 0:10:17.150 --> 0:10:19.520 they'd been retired for a few years because I think they must've 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.679 just got so bored and had nothing to do. 0:10:21.910 --> 0:10:23.530 Thanks, Sue. That's something for me to look forward to. 0:10:23.530 --> 0:10:26.660 Actually, don't you think it's a bit, like you said, 0:10:26.660 --> 0:10:30.650 just now different people do different things? And some people 0:10:30.670 --> 0:10:33.949 will plan out what they're going to be doing. Other 0:10:33.949 --> 0:10:36.750 people will just go, "Well, I'll let it just wash over me 0:10:36.750 --> 0:10:39.609 and I'll deal with it as and when it comes." And 0:10:39.610 --> 0:10:44.059 I think the problem is sometimes it depends on, with 0:10:44.130 --> 0:10:48.020 your retirement, is it something that you planned or is 0:10:48.020 --> 0:10:52.010 it something that's unplanned? For example, my father is 87. 0:10:52.530 --> 0:10:55.499 He's got a condition and I don't know if he's 0:10:55.500 --> 0:10:58.110 going to sort of how many years he's got, but 0:10:58.110 --> 0:10:59.949 I mean, it could be that suddenly I'm going to 0:10:59.949 --> 0:11:02.959 have to suddenly think about, " Okay, well what do I 0:11:02.959 --> 0:11:05.660 do now? Do I go part time? Do I retire? 0:11:06.010 --> 0:11:08.449 What do I do?" So I think sometimes it's how 0:11:08.449 --> 0:11:12.609 people had the approach that they have with regard to it. 0:11:12.610 --> 0:11:12.670 And it's sometimes- 0:11:12.671 --> 0:11:16.160 Case by case scenario person. 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.699 Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. I think everybody has to sort of look 0:11:18.699 --> 0:11:20.259 at it from their own point of view. 0:11:20.439 --> 0:11:24.510 Because I have to say I'm a little bit like you, David. I couldn't even 0:11:24.510 --> 0:11:28.439 possibly not imagine going to work. And fortunate in my 0:11:28.439 --> 0:11:32.040 industry, particularly that you can go all the way up 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.020 to you pop your clogs as they say, because you 0:11:34.020 --> 0:11:36.809 can teach dance at any age. So I think where 0:11:36.809 --> 0:11:40.319 yours is gardening, mine can always be still dancing or 0:11:40.319 --> 0:11:43.880 teaching or something. I couldn't imagine. But now having listened 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.559 to you also, Sue, I will be bearing in mind 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.850 about hobbies and things and starting to get organized with 0:11:49.850 --> 0:11:52.790 things like that. Cause I don't think I'm overly organized 0:11:52.790 --> 0:11:55.879 with my retirement because you don't think it's coming, do you? 0:11:56.429 --> 0:12:01.939 No, and it's there and you're in it and you've just got to grab hold of 0:12:01.939 --> 0:12:03.990 it with both hands and get on. 0:12:04.079 --> 0:12:07.420 I think if people can gradually go into retirement that 0:12:07.420 --> 0:12:11.809 helps them to get more used to it and have 0:12:11.809 --> 0:12:15.220 these hobbies building up around them. So that when the 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.650 one that when the day comes where they no longer have 0:12:17.650 --> 0:12:21.010 to work or they retire, it is difficult for people 0:12:22.069 --> 0:12:24.530 if they haven't got anything else apart from the day 0:12:24.530 --> 0:12:27.109 to day work and they just got their state pension. 0:12:27.449 --> 0:12:30.910 That's why for them probably planning is the most important 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.069 than pensions perhaps. So they have something when they retire 0:12:34.550 --> 0:12:40.131 are important. The trouble is that people think about it when it's too late, a little bit. 0:12:40.131 --> 0:12:40.650 When it's actually happened and they're there. 0:12:41.380 --> 0:12:43.670 Sue, tell me about how you made the decision to 0:12:43.670 --> 0:12:48.010 move from full time work to retirement and what influenced the 0:12:48.010 --> 0:12:51.790 timings for you. And what about your partner? How did 0:12:51.790 --> 0:12:52.359 he feel? 0:12:52.750 --> 0:12:57.410 About me retiring? No, he was happy for me to 0:12:57.410 --> 0:13:01.239 retire with him. He'd retired. He's three years older than 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:05.780 me. He'd retired two years before I retired. The reason 0:13:05.780 --> 0:13:09.209 I retired when I did is because the firm I 0:13:09.209 --> 0:13:12.209 was working for in Haywards Heath, which was a very nice, 0:13:13.219 --> 0:13:17.550 friendly, local brokerage was taken over by a much larger 0:13:17.550 --> 0:13:23.439 company. The whole working ethos was very different and I 0:13:23.439 --> 0:13:26.490 sort of hung on for two years till, and put 0:13:26.490 --> 0:13:28.999 my state pension off for two years so that I 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.719 got more when I got that, and just hung on 0:13:32.719 --> 0:13:36.670 then until I was 62 and then left with a 0:13:36.670 --> 0:13:38.240 great deal of relief. 0:13:38.329 --> 0:13:41.119 Did you miss the structure and the routine of going 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:42.099 to work every day? 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.410 Yes, I think I did. I mean, I was pleased to get out because of the 0:13:45.410 --> 0:13:48.599 circumstances, but I did miss the routine of it all. 0:13:48.599 --> 0:13:51.199 I think when you've been in a job for so 0:13:51.199 --> 0:13:54.270 many years, did you find it a little frightening to suddenly going to 0:13:54.270 --> 0:13:57.910 retire and how you're going to manage and what are your finances now? 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:03.040 And also when you're married and you retire, you wonder 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.500 how you're both going to get on when you're in 0:14:05.500 --> 0:14:10.530 the house? Yes, yes. I thought, " How will we get on 0:14:10.530 --> 0:14:13.790 if we're forced into each other's company every day?" 0:14:13.791 --> 0:14:16.410 Because it's one thing seeing each other for half an hour in the morning and a little bit 0:14:16.479 --> 0:14:20.330 evening from five o'clock. There's another thing, 24/ 7 with 0:14:20.330 --> 0:14:21.070 your partner. 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:23.740 Yes, but no, it worked out very well because my husband 0:14:23.830 --> 0:14:25.790 was doing a whole lot of things. He's always been 0:14:25.790 --> 0:14:29.359 very much into music, so that was fine because he 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:31.110 did that and I did my own thing and it 0:14:31.110 --> 0:14:32.350 works out very well. 0:14:33.530 --> 0:14:36.230 I love that. What about you, David? 0:14:38.410 --> 0:14:40.260 Well, I'm going to be on my own, which is 0:14:40.260 --> 0:14:40.511 a bit frightening. 0:14:40.511 --> 0:14:42.460 Don't you like your own company then? 0:14:42.460 --> 0:14:46.729 I pretty much do enjoy my own company. I enjoyed gardening as 0:14:46.729 --> 0:14:48.830 I said, but I do belong to other groups. I 0:14:48.830 --> 0:14:51.920 belong to a local amateur dramatic group. I'm a belonged 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.889 to a choir. So I'm sure I will find other 0:14:55.890 --> 0:15:00.119 things to do. I can fortunately drive so I can 0:15:00.340 --> 0:15:04.100 get out and about. I just cannot imagine myself sitting 0:15:04.100 --> 0:15:07.960 indoors all the time, doing nothing, but I'm a sort 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.150 of pretty active type of person who wants to do 0:15:10.150 --> 0:15:13.989 things. But it's interesting what Sue was saying about work. 0:15:15.310 --> 0:15:19.420 Various colleagues that have left and without fail, all of 0:15:19.420 --> 0:15:22.320 them say, " I don't miss the work, but I will 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:24.940 miss the company and I will miss the people that I 0:15:24.940 --> 0:15:29.890 work with." And I think that's an important thing because really you're 0:15:29.890 --> 0:15:34.139 with these people, well for about seven or eight hours 0:15:34.140 --> 0:15:37.020 a day and you get to know them. They get 0:15:37.030 --> 0:15:39.700 to know you. And then all of a sudden when you 0:15:39.700 --> 0:15:43.399 retire, you're sort of, as Sue said, you cast a drift 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.010 a bit and you're sort of "What do I do now?" And then you've got to build up sort of a group of friends as well. 0:15:48.229 --> 0:15:56.789 A new set of friends. New friends, new hobbies, and 0:15:56.790 --> 0:15:59.840 a whole new dynamic to the relationship with your partner. 0:16:00.330 --> 0:16:02.710 No wonder our guests had so much to say about 0:16:02.710 --> 0:16:05.979 making the leap from work to retirement. We'll be catching 0:16:05.979 --> 0:16:09.410 up with them next time. Joining me now, or two 0:16:09.410 --> 0:16:13.300 people with some great insights to share. Emma Byron is 0:16:13.310 --> 0:16:17.720 the managing director for Legal & General retirement income, which specializes 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.619 in products to help people provide an income in their 0:16:20.620 --> 0:16:25.039 retirement, and Tricia Cusden became an entrepreneur and business owner 0:16:25.070 --> 0:16:28.770 in her rewirement years. She's the founder of Look Fabulous 0:16:28.770 --> 0:16:33.899 Forever, which provides beauty and cosmetic products, especially for mature skin. 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:35.100 Hello. 0:16:35.130 --> 0:16:35.150 Hi. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.020 Thank you for joining me. Tricia, tell me about your 0:16:39.020 --> 0:16:42.560 journey to starting a business in your retirement years. Was 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.590 beauty always a passion of yours? 0:16:45.970 --> 0:16:48.990 Makeup was always a passion of mine and, but I 0:16:48.990 --> 0:16:52.489 knew nothing about the beauty industry and in fact was very 0:16:52.490 --> 0:16:55.020 much an outsider to the beauty industry when I had 0:16:55.020 --> 0:16:58.080 the idea to start the business. It grew out of 0:16:58.150 --> 0:17:01.090 what was basically a very challenging year for me. So 0:17:01.090 --> 0:17:04.149 I started the business when I was 65, but the year before 0:17:04.149 --> 0:17:07.490 that, when I was 64, my daughter had given birth 0:17:07.510 --> 0:17:10.240 to a baby who was very sick. And I found 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:14.480 myself really needed for practically every day during that year 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:18.619 for one thing or another. When India, the baby, did 0:17:18.619 --> 0:17:21.629 eventually get discharged from hospital, which was when she was 0:17:21.629 --> 0:17:25.470 about 10 months old, Susie hired a special needs nanny 0:17:25.470 --> 0:17:29.820 because the baby has special needs. And I kind of 0:17:30.129 --> 0:17:33.520 didn't have a life to resume almost. I felt very 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.379 low and very in need of a new challenge, let's 0:17:36.379 --> 0:17:39.480 put it that way. I was making sort of dates 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:41.580 every day with a television. I was thinking, " Oh, I 0:17:41.580 --> 0:17:43.820 must get back because Countdowns go back to Stowe," which 0:17:43.820 --> 0:17:47.250 was not a very good use of my time. And I kept thinking, " 0:17:47.619 --> 0:17:50.609 I might live for another 30 years. I'm 65, but 0:17:50.609 --> 0:17:52.609 I could well live into my nineties. What on earth 0:17:52.609 --> 0:17:53.810 am I going to do with the rest of my 0:17:53.810 --> 0:17:57.619 life?" So I actually thought, what do I love? What 0:17:57.619 --> 0:18:00.590 do I enjoy? What do I miss? What would I 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.260 love to have in my life right now? I was 0:18:03.260 --> 0:18:05.869 also quite exercised about the fact that the beauty industry 0:18:05.869 --> 0:18:07.810 could only talk to me through the language of anti- 0:18:07.810 --> 0:18:11.249 aging, which made me very cross. So I put all 0:18:11.250 --> 0:18:14.359 those things together and I thought, " Well, I love business. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.850 I love makeup. I'd love to do something different within 0:18:17.850 --> 0:18:22.590 the makeup arena for older women." And so I just 0:18:22.639 --> 0:18:24.840 decided to do it and set up the business. 0:18:24.869 --> 0:18:27.609 Wow. That's simply amazing. How is running a business at 0:18:27.609 --> 0:18:30.800 this age different to the career you had when you 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:31.369 were younger? 0:18:32.100 --> 0:18:33.810 I think the thing about running a business when you're 0:18:33.810 --> 0:18:36.540 a lot older and you've got a huge amount of experience, is 0:18:36.750 --> 0:18:40.949 anything that crops up you've usually met before along the 0:18:40.950 --> 0:18:43.669 way. And that helps enormously. I mean, there is no 0:18:43.669 --> 0:18:46.040 question that by the time you reach 65, you're going 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.560 to be extremely experienced in a huge number of ways. 0:18:50.030 --> 0:18:52.459 And I've what I feel quite strongly about Look Fabulous 0:18:52.460 --> 0:18:55.780 Forever is that it brings together everything that I have 0:18:55.780 --> 0:18:59.990 done into one very neat package. So for instance, we 0:18:59.990 --> 0:19:04.449 make videos for YouTube and they have been part of 0:19:04.450 --> 0:19:06.609 the sort of bedrock of the success of our business, 0:19:06.609 --> 0:19:10.139 especially initially. So making a video for YouTube would have 0:19:10.139 --> 0:19:13.889 been daunting for some people, but because I used video 0:19:13.889 --> 0:19:16.750 a lot in my life as a management trainer, I 0:19:16.750 --> 0:19:20.790 was perfectly comfortable being on video and also things to 0:19:20.790 --> 0:19:23.919 do with actually running a business, keeping an eye on 0:19:23.919 --> 0:19:27.330 cash flow and understanding how everything's sort of meshed and 0:19:27.330 --> 0:19:30.919 work together, was something that I'd experienced before. And I 0:19:30.919 --> 0:19:36.389 think the big difference was to do with risk. I've 0:19:36.389 --> 0:19:40.689 always been quite entrepreneurial, but when you're 65, you cannot 0:19:40.690 --> 0:19:43.269 risk the roof over your head. At the age of 0:19:43.270 --> 0:19:46.520 65, when we needed extra money to help the business 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:48.869 to grow, I knew that the solution to that was 0:19:48.869 --> 0:19:52.230 to go outside and ask other people for money, which 0:19:52.230 --> 0:19:54.780 is what we did. And fortunately the business was very 0:19:54.780 --> 0:19:58.100 attractive. So we raised money very easily, but it's very 0:19:58.100 --> 0:20:01.919 important, I think, if you're older and you're going to 0:20:01.919 --> 0:20:07.439 start a business venture that you do so within certain limits. 0:20:07.510 --> 0:20:13.479 Boy, what a story. Our rewirees talked about the transition 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:17.270 in their relationships. How have yours changed in retirement? 0:20:17.510 --> 0:20:19.500 I think what's interesting. I now work with my two 0:20:19.500 --> 0:20:22.909 daughters. So what happened was I started the business and 0:20:22.909 --> 0:20:26.520 six months later, my older daughter, Anna rang me up. 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.270 She was working as a PR consultant and she rang 0:20:29.270 --> 0:20:32.429 me up and she said, " Mum, this business is really interesting. 0:20:32.429 --> 0:20:35.510 And it's obviously doing brilliantly. Can I come and join 0:20:35.510 --> 0:20:38.590 you because there's a great story to tell here?" So 0:20:38.590 --> 0:20:40.470 I just said, " Well, there's no job and there's no 0:20:40.470 --> 0:20:43.560 money, but you can come if you like." So I 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.530 didn't exactly incentivize her to join me, but she did 0:20:46.530 --> 0:20:49.619 join me. It was lovely because she came with a 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.899 fresh pair of eyes. We then had to find a 0:20:52.899 --> 0:20:56.220 way to make that work for us because I'm still 0:20:56.220 --> 0:21:00.389 her mum and we still have to relate as mother 0:21:00.389 --> 0:21:02.419 and daughter. But at the same time, we were running 0:21:02.419 --> 0:21:05.190 quite a serious business together. And then my other daughter, 0:21:05.190 --> 0:21:08.300 the mother of India, the sick baby, she said, " You 0:21:08.300 --> 0:21:10.010 and Anna seem to be having a lot of fun. 0:21:10.010 --> 0:21:13.050 Can I come and join now?" We all have a 0:21:13.050 --> 0:21:16.040 good relationship with each other. We're good at talking out 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:18.340 problems and stuff like that. And it's just been the 0:21:18.340 --> 0:21:22.639 most amazing fun. So instead of having less contact with 0:21:22.639 --> 0:21:26.560 them, I actually now have more contact with them and 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:30.310 the five grandchildren that I've got, they live quite near 0:21:30.310 --> 0:21:32.980 to me. So I get to see them as well. 0:21:32.980 --> 0:21:35.600 And we've got an absolute iron rule that when I'm 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.189 there, we don't talk about the business. So when I'm in 0:21:38.190 --> 0:21:40.530 their homes, the business is off limits. 0:21:40.690 --> 0:21:43.240 I couldn't think of anything more special actually, to be 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.440 honest, listening to your story. It's really, for me, it's 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:49.840 quite captivating. So congratulations on all you've done for sure. 0:21:50.460 --> 0:21:50.880 Hello, Emma. 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:51.571 Hi. 0:21:52.189 --> 0:21:55.300 Hi, darling. What are the steps people should be considering 0:21:55.300 --> 0:21:56.540 before they retire? 0:21:57.520 --> 0:21:59.700 Well, I think, as Tricia mentioned, it can be quite a daunting 0:21:59.700 --> 0:22:01.789 prospect to look at the next 30 years of your 0:22:01.790 --> 0:22:03.500 life and work out what you're going to do and 0:22:03.710 --> 0:22:06.050 what money you're going to use and so on. So 0:22:06.270 --> 0:22:08.739 I think people should really just try to break it 0:22:08.740 --> 0:22:11.020 down a little bit and start with thinking about how 0:22:11.020 --> 0:22:13.959 they see themselves spending their life in the next five 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:17.219 or so years. So will you be working? Maybe you 0:22:17.270 --> 0:22:19.790 want to carry on part time working. Maybe you want to 0:22:19.790 --> 0:22:22.899 volunteer. What hobbies will you take up and so on. 0:22:22.899 --> 0:22:25.359