Meet Nigel any day of the week, and he’ll be wearing a smile. He’s a cheerful, positive person who sports a license plate on his car that says ‘Soluky’, a perfect reflection of his attitude to life. If he ever feels even a bit down or tired, he remembers that compared to a lot of people, he’s a very lucky man.
“Retirement is great,” Nigel grins. “I’ve done it a couple of times!”
Several retirements
In his earlier life, Nigel was a school principal, a career that included a superannuation scheme. When he reached 50, he decided he’d had enough, took early retirement, and he and his wife Lorraine went off to Australia for a time.
As a person who likes to be busy, Nigel soon found that he needed to have more purpose in his life, so took a job running family group conferences.
“I worked with families under stress, who might have had a child removed from their home, or were at risk of losing a child. I’ve seen some terrible situations,” Nigel says.
Back to NZ at 60
A generous redundancy pay-out from his Australian job prompted Nigel and his wife to return home to their growing family of grandchildren. They bought a unit from his parents, who were moving into care, and spent some of their capital renovating it. Nigel’s handy skills came to the fore – he loves building things and working with wood, so the car has to share the garage with a well-set-up workshop and tool storage. A completely new kitchen was possible on their budget due to Nigel’s skills.
“We had a kitchen company come in to design and build the various units, but I installed everything,” he explains.
Have caravan, will travel
Another big-ticket item that Nigel valued was a clever caravan that could be parked into a narrow space using a hand-held remote device. Seasoned caravan campers, Nigel and Lorraine have had a lot of fun touring both the North and South Islands, and going fishing whenever possible.
More recently, a shoulder disability increased the risks – and pain – of towing a caravan. They traded in their mid-size car for a smaller one, sold the caravan and bought an all-mod-cons motorhome. Camping has never been more luxurious.
“I had to rearrange our little section – the motorhome was too tall for the space where the caravan lived. It would have sliced off the eave at the end of the unit!” Nigel laughs.
The joys of life
With so many things in Nigel’s life to give him joy – grandchildren, wood-working, friends, fishing, golf croquet – first on the list, he declares, is his wife. They do most things together, and she smiles as often as he does. When they aren’t helping run the golf croquet club or loading the motorhome for another trip, they’re locking up and driving off to the airport to catch a flight to Christchurch. Grandchildren down there need a regular dose of grandparents, it seems.
“It’s a second marriage for both of us, and we’ve been together 23 years,” says Nigel. “Between us we have eleven grandchildren. We don’t think of them as ‘his and hers’ – they’re all ours.”
Working with a bung shoulder
Nigel’s only health worry is his shoulder. Without health insurance, he depends on the public system to put it right, but the waiting list for non-emergencies is a long one. Meanwhile, he finds some jobs just too painful to complete – raising and lowering his arm too many times is crippling.
“Public health is great for emergencies, or really serious issues like cancer,” Nigel explains. “But when it comes to conditions like mine, where I’m not actually dying, it takes a long time to get surgery. I’m seeing someone in December, so I’ll have a better idea how soon I’ll get my chance.”
Meanwhile, Lorraine struggles with fibromyalgia. She manages it with occasional pain killers, and by only vacuuming half the unit at a time.
“She went on that keto diet and lost 20 kilos – that helped a lot,” says Nigel.
A comfortable future
The couple bought their unit outright, and they have no outstanding debt. Nigel still gets two pensions, and Lorraine, who isn’t 65 yet, ‘piggybacks’ on his government Super. Nigel says that although they spent a lot on the big motorhome, they have no financial worries.
“We have a fund for any emergencies, and we have enough to do what we want,” he says. “Maybe we can’t afford overseas trips, but we live sensibly so we can fly to Christchurch two or three times a year, no problem. Holidays in the motorhome cost almost nothing – what we spend on diesel we save on power at home.”
Nigel’s freetirement snapshot:
Getting out and finding the fun
The best part about retirement: “We can do what we want, when we want. With our motorhome, we can go free camping anywhere, anytime we feel like it. And we can do it together.”
The hardest part about retirement: “Waiting for treatment on my shoulder is hard. And there’s so much fun stuff to do, it’s sometimes hard to find the time to do it all!”
His advice for the best freetirement: “You can sit at home, or you can get off your butt. The fun in life is not going to come to you – you have to get out and find it for yourself. It’s people who make the difference – invest in the people around you – with time, not money.”