How to prepare your retirement as a Software Engineer?

Get a hobby or 3. I am 2 to 3 years (or one TTJaSI moment) from retiring. I have been an system admin, programmer, accountant, manager of these roles), teacher teacher of them too. I made an early choice to do SW over HW.

Now repairing things and making things fascinates me. I got involved with volunteer repairing groups and been salvaging old electronics for reuse. I want to resurrect my old reading habit (now 2 or 3 books a year, back then 100+. I have a list. There are TV series to watch old and new. I have done Karate in the past. I want to restart that too. Well maybe Tai-Chi. With out this list I would fear retirement with it if the budget would allow it I would start now.

Retirement planning takes into account your age, income, expenses, life expectancy, dependents. It has little to do with “as a software engineer.”

I've tried "retirement" twice now. The first "retirement" was actually a 3 year unpaid sabbatical (study for degree, write books, etc) which extended for another four years after I ran out of money and struggled to land a job. The second "retirement" was accidental, due to a mental burnout that crashed into the covid lockdowns. In both cases, lack of money forced me back into employment. Making sure you will have enough money/resources to survive retirement is critical. Even then, no amount of planning (or money) can cover all the edge cases.

My current plan for my next (and final) retirement is to keep working/paying into the pension plans. At some point I hope to move to more part time work. I'm also looking around for an idea I can solo-code up which could give me some additional income in my twilight years: 100 users using a £10/month niche online service is £12k/pa turnover (less running costs, tax, etc). As they say, every little bit extra helps!

If you have plan, execute it NOW, don't wait for the retirement. I have saved 70-old fatties in the Arctic, who think they have finally time and money fulfill their dreams.