I've asked it a lot recently and come to the conclusion that like you, it suits me more to hopefully win by not losing.

I have lots in CGT and lots in RICA and I've just opened a drip into VWRL and I don't know where that will end percentage wise but at some point playing around with a compound interest calculator the penny drops that "enough" might be quite a bit lower than you might think it is.

1. Until within 10 years of retirement, I had no interest in the markets whatsoever, so any bear markets just passed me by. However, wealth was being accrued though work - career plus a couple business ventures- and frankly I was having a ball, enjoying what I was doing. Fortunately, money was going into a SIPP and ISAs, though hardly optimally invested. Probably, whatever was tipped in the Sunday papers each week. Still, thankfully it was there as time marched on.
2. Around the 10 year mark, I did the 'have I got enough' thing and used annuity rates to decide. It did also start more of an interest (through necessity, tbh) in managing the finances, so probably got more returns from that point. Certainly, more use of the tax breaks etc.
I didn't derisk; it was always, for better or worse, a mix of risk-on assets and cash. The cash element driven by known/ likely/ maybe purchases within 5 years.
3. Yes. As said elsewhere, day to day income comes from a 'natural yield' portfolio with its own float of 3 (currently 4) years of cash reserves.

As I wrote that, the lack of planning and discipline became rather painfully apparent. Ah, what could have been...

"Have you asked yourself if you have enough and whether you've tailored you risk level accordingly?
How would you react if we had 2-5 years of a bear market in equities?"

Wallis Simpson said: " you can never be too rich, or too thin."

I lived through the 1970s and through Japan's bear market (was it 1990s?). I found neither that painful.

Even in a bear market some things go up. I would seek them out.

If you have a day-job it is a bit early to become too safety conscious. Perhaps this discussion is not for me. But I'm sure you are not looking just for bias confirmation.

ive been sitting in the wings watching and not posted very much. I thought the forum was really aimed at people who proffesionally traded and were real boffins in the field of investing.

Good to see there are others like me who really only want to provide for themselves and loved ones in retirement , who are happy to live comfortably but not need extravagance.

My thoughts for now are similar to other posters , 5% gain or above would be acceptable , more would be nice, however id rather sleep at night rather than worry and continually look at markets(which became an obsession over the last few years!)and make irrational switches in panic.

Whether ive made the correct move remains to be seen but I too have switched some funds recently into a global tracker and moved cash to CGAR.

Trustnet tools(recommended by some on here)have been really helpful to gauge performance and allow me to make decisions based on performance and OCF.

Oh and driving a 10 year old car aint that bad , simply a workhorse that im not too precious about.

Well, if you have enough, then you could indeed simply consider ring fencing it in a bucket of asset protectors.
At the same time though, all fresh money over the next 10-15 years could then be invested into another bucket with a higher risk threshold. That could then be derisked for retirement part 2.

Retirement income 'assured', but with FOMO scratched with bucket2.
It may also help the discipline of leaving Bucket1 alone and not being tempted to disturb it with tomorrow's Peloton. If you need help with the discipline, that is. (I did).

By separating into buckets, perhaps half the final retirement pot will have a new 15 year period in which to try for growth.

Who knows? At retirement, you could have lots of options. Live off the whole lot, live off bucket1 for 15 years, derisk the next wodge and use that for years 15-30. Or see how it's working out after a period, then blow bucket2 on whatever.
At worst, maybe it just bolsters the common wealth and makes the whole retirement easier.

It all depends on a lot of things, but personal psychology matters a lot. Some say that too few equities is as much a long term risk as too few, and we all have to find a way to live with that.
Hindsight is not terribly helpful, but a lot of the 10 years I spent approaching retirement, when I started to take an interest, was for the most part a time of daily 'wall of worry' type headlines, with doomsayers on CNBC sucking teeth and shaking heads. It would have been far too easy to miss out. Having said that....who knows?
The best advice I remember was 'time in the market, not timing the market'. The time parameter is set by when you need the wealth, so a graduated sequence of target dates may help?

No advice!. Just the sort of thing I was mulling over then.