Four paydays to go

I am now in the last four months of my working career (at least, I hope I am). I have now informed most of my colleagues that I am retiring at the end of September. Reactions ranged from surprised to happy for me. A few said they wished they could retire early as well. Just about everyone asked what I was going to do with my time.

Financially, everything is in place, although I still think I have too much cash. Between my post-retirement catch up pay which I will receive early next year, the return on my capital which will be paid out in installments after I retire, dividends from the shares for 2013 and 2014 and Mrs Traineeinvestor's part time income we should have no need to touch our savings until some time late in 2015 (estimate). This assumes that all income from our properties will be used up in mortgage payments or other outgoings (which is unlikely to be true, especially since one of our Hong Kong rentals is now debt free).

I have several post retirement activities lined up:

• I will complete my university enrollment this month and start my course work before I retire;
• I am planning a short trip to New Zealand later in the year;
• I have taken on a volunteer role with a local non-profit; and
• I am making very slow progress on my novel.

I almost need to retire in order to find time to do everything I have planned.