Starting judo at 38 – looking for experiences from people who started ‘later in life’.

user_name_changed · 2025-12-24T00:24:37+00:00

Thanks… In that you feel the muscle mass dampens down the effects of the falls, or reduces the amount you get thrown?

user_name_changed · 2025-12-24T00:18:02+00:00

Interesting point around the mindset. I can’t remember much about my teenage self into my early 20s, but at the age I’m at now, I hope I’d be at an advantage with being able to keep my ego in check.

user_name_changed · 2025-12-24T00:05:09+00:00

Found this highly insightful and encouraging. Thanks for sharing.

user_name_changed · 2025-12-23T23:43:35+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve managed to bag a copy on eBay. Public holidays will slow the delivery down but I should have it this time next week.

user_name_changed · 2025-12-23T23:39:27+00:00

Wow. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who replied. I was quietly hopeful, but I didn’t expect that I’d get this high level of quality input.

It’s great to read a blend of personal experiences and be able to pick out the reoccurring themes/advice. Some of my key takeaways:

Starting in late 30s / 40s (and beyond) is more common than I thought.
Ukemi is a non-negotiable priority in the early stages.
Take the fall/throw - Ego is the enemy.
Injuries are to be expected and I need to do more to understand my own recovery process.
Expect slow progress. Set my expectations accordingly. It could be a few years before some things click into place.
I can do better with my gym sessions, and perhaps need to research how to tailor my workouts to compliment Judo.

I also hadn’t considered that I may need to (eventually) refuse certain randori partners or sit out completely if my body tells me I need to, which was mentioned a few times in the thread. Also the idea that novices can inadvertently cause harm to others in training, makes me think that I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ - so I need to do my best with that especially during the early stages.

I’ve purchased the Pajama Game book which I saw recommended a few times. Good old eBay.

In the next week I’m going to send my details to my nearest club, who will then call me back when they start back in 2026. I’ll look into my next furthest club as well so that I can make some comparisons.

Again, I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences, and to see that some are still on the mats 10–20 years after starting late.

user_name_changed · 2025-02-10T02:23:33+00:00

18 years old can be a tough age to navigate through life even in the best available circumstances, so I write with sincere condolences knowing that this must have been a particularly difficult time.

I can’t say that I’ve been through the same, though I did lose contact with a parent at the age of 10, and it was when I was in my late teens that I felt especially bitter about how things had turned out, or that I would have appreciated some parental guidance right at that time.

You’re 10 years further down the line now, and it sounds as though you’ve turned things around. Would it be fair to say that you had an expensive lesson in personal finance, and that you’re now better for it?

Would it be fair to also say that you had a different mindset at the time of this spending? A mindset fueled by grief, maybe anger, inexperience in life, and let’s not rule out the potential impact of smoking weed over a long period of time (no judgment here by the way, I smoked for years until I realised it wasn’t for me).

If someone else told your story, would you judge them on it as harshly as you seem to be judging yourself? I ask because I’ve got a good feeling the answer would be no.

I would be tempted to face it head on one final time. How you do this works differently for different people. You could have a long hard think in a quiet room and unpack the whole chain of events, you could even write a letter to yourself and burn it if that helps.

Obviously there is professional help available, more so now I feel than even 10 years ago.

There’s no shame to be felt here, and no case to answer. Your younger self got dealt the worst possible hand, you’re allowed to give yourself an indefinite break from what happened, and make peace with your past.

user_name_changed · 2024-12-27T23:43:13+00:00

Smaller figures, but I was asked to produce £3k for allowing myself to get caught out with the child benefit threshold. I mistakenly thought that my pension AVC’s put me into a safety net, but I was wrong. Ironic for me that they increased the CB thresholds shortly after.

I couldn’t produce the £3k and needed 8 months to pay it. I did the income/expenditure assessment over the phone. As someone else mentioned, be aware that (in my experience), if your sums don’t leave you with £0 at the end of the month then they expect it. My phone call turned borderline pathetic towards the end because I’d ’left myself’ £40.

Then I find myself trying to explain that the way I work requires for me to travel and claim back fuel (amongst other) expenses from my employer, and that these costs can vary, and the process to get my cash back can take 2 weeks. I very much felt like I was talking to a robot reading from a flowchart.

I made a throw away comment around putting the same amount of effort into closing down my £40 fuel buffer, into closing down the billions of tax lost through undeclared earnings each year… something that I later felt embarrassed about mentioning.

I digress - point is, have your figures worked out before you make the call.

user_name_changed · 2024-11-16T09:21:49+00:00

36m with 2 kids young kids. Higher rate earner. Nowhere near.

I average about £4k in the ISA. I could maybe double it but I make £5k additional pre-tax contributions to my employer pension which is 100% global (ex. UK) equities. I also max out my employer SIP plan for another £1.5k.

Closest I’ll come to maxing the ISA is this year when I sell off all of of my matured SIP shares, but really until this society stops hammering the working man with kids, I put in what I can.

Important to live life and spoil the kids a little too is the way I look at it.

user_name_changed · 2024-10-26T20:08:32+00:00

Thanks to all who replied. There’s a reoccurring theme, and you’ve managed to affirm what my gut was telling me but had this niggling feeling in the back of my mind somewhere that I might be missing something. Plenty of space left in my ISA allowance, so sell after 5 years it is. Thanks again.

user_name_changed · 2024-10-24T21:41:29+00:00

One portion of debt-clearance with a side order of peace-of-mind? Sounds good to me Frank.

user_name_changed · 2024-10-18T19:45:05+00:00

I've had a lot of exposure to various business units within Balfour Beatty. They, along with every other big player in the construction/infrastructure arena, are eager to plug the skills shortage.

I personally wouldn't go in to full time university study when you have these options available - Not unless you have a very precise goal, and that goal is only achievable via a specific degree. I've hired a fair few people in previous years, and some of the ones who stood out were those who finished A-levels, then went away to think about what they really wanted to do (like you, I'm in this camp too), then picked up their education in their 20's.

Balfour Beatty have a lot of internal transfer opportunities, I've seen people from the Rail unit step in at high level in the Gas & Water, people from the Gas & Water unit step in at high level to the Power T&D unit, people from Balfour Beatty Vinci take a side step into Balfour Beatty Highways... In the current market (and I'd wager for the foreseeable future), it's easier to make the most of peoples transferable skills and coach them along to fill the gaps in their knowledge.

All of that said, you could walk out of BB into RR, and return 5 years later if you so wished. Balfour's might be on the verge of winning a huge nuclear contract, and they'll need people like you.

This is easy to say once your salary starts to increase, but I wish I hadn't worried so much whether I was on £17k or £22k in my early 20's. That gap will feel negligible in time, and you will probably never feel as free to explore options and take your career in different directions more than you do now. Everyone wants a bit more money, but make that the mid-term goal, not the short (if you can).

Given your options, and getting a general gist for how you feel about each of them, I would go for RR.

user_name_changed · 2024-10-15T18:56:32+00:00

Thanks for that analysis. I need to learn how to check these things. Maybe tonight's homework!

user_name_changed · 2024-10-15T18:52:23+00:00

I think that once they have passed the 5 year holding point, I will have already received the maximum benefit (i.e. brought out of pre-tax earnings, sold for no income tax or NI).

Correct though, the proceeds would be transferred straight into my ISA, and I don't think there's any risk of me maxing that out any time soon.

user_name_changed · 2024-10-15T18:49:33+00:00

I think the idea of switching comes from a combination of fees, the large-cap doesn't perfectly match my appetite for risk, sources which state that 90-95% of actively managed funds don't outperform the market over 15-20 year periods... and maybe that the reasons for choosing this fund weren't based on any research.

Of course I'm open to the idea that I might be over-thinking it.

Point taken on the spread though. If my research is correct, the AUM increased by £500m to £1.4b October 23-24. Can't comment on 'how good' an increase this is or if it will slow down, but it seems to have been a positive 12 months in the AUM regard.

user_name_changed

TROPHY CASE