What’s the secret of a happy retirement?

A NEW poll has shown that retirees worry about getting in the way of their partner after they retire, resulting in many of them taking up a new skill in order to have their own space. We asked our Email Jury if they thought today’s retirees were looking for something different from previous generations and how they planned to spend – or were spending – their well-earned retirement.

Doing things together all of the time is as bad as never doing anything together. Graham D’arcy, Glasgow.

In the past, people were done when they reached pension age, but now folk are more active and able to do more. Having only just retired, I aim to enjoy it. Hugh McArdy, Keith.

Since my husband retired he is a pain in the neck, telling me how to do things that I’ve been doing my own way during 46 years of marriage. I wish he would get a job! Margaret Gibb, Fife.

Previous generations have not had the money or freedom of movement to do the activities that today’s retirees do. However, previous generations have also not had as much pressure to volunteer for various causes. David G. Collins, Scissett.

I think I have a much younger and better outlook than my grandparents and mother did. I retired at 57 and am now 65. I have travelled the world and helped with different charities. I have my health and life is wonderful. 60 is the new 40. Carol Whitehead, Manchester.

My husband has always liked working with wood. When he retired he went into it in more detail and now is a very good wood-turner, teaching an after-school class two evenings a week. You need to find something to do. After working for 50 years, the habit is hard to break. Joan Fordyce, Forfar.

Taking up new skills after retirement is not, for me, about getting space from a partner but about maintaining physical and emotional health and pursuing the interests I didn’t have time for while working. Ian Roxburgh, East Ayrshire.

When I retired 26 years ago, my wife complained that I was trying to tell her how to run the house (I’d only been finished two weeks) so I started my own business and ran it for 10 years. My wife and I now work well together. She organises the house and I do as I’m told. David Hillerby, Durham.