Retirement

[trouttimes]

I loved my last few jobs and retirement was definitely turning the page. I enjoyed the lack of stress, more time to fish & hunt and getting to sleep till 7. I really missed the faster pace of working life, the people I had around me, and the sense of accomplishment that came with a job well done. It all can be found after retirement but it is definitely different. For me, it has been a hard and long adjustment.

 

[Servant King]

@Scottmi thank you for this article! Wifey and I read it this afternoon and found it quite interesting and valuable. It also caused us to realize that we've may have been semi-retired for a while now without even knowing it! We left our rat-race jobs in LA in 2015, moved out of the city the following year, and although we've been working, it has been on our own business (and, recently, our own ranch/farm), and at a rate we feel comfortable doing while still being able to grow our future wealth. Getting to smoke a pipe (almost) whenever I want to and working from home also makes it feel a bit like semi-retirement, but still staying busy (on our own terms) so as to not fall into any of the myriad ruts the article brings to light.

Cheers!

 

[warren]

, it has been a hard and long adjustment.

I'm sure that's true for many. I enjoyed being useful to others. So, I took a job offer as night manager at a friend's hardware store. Only supposed to be 20 hours a week, quickly grew to 40.

I've also suggested to folks leaving a "beloved career" that they immediately take a trip, a vacation, so they won't wake up in the mornings with a vague feeling that they should be "at work." Sometimes doing so has worked for friends. The change in location, switching to vacation mode seems to abet in smoothing the transition. Just a suggestion. When I left my career I spent a week in the Las Vegas area, in the desert. It helped me adjust.

Retirement can cause a real sense of loss especially if the retiree's job defined them. I had one of those jobs/careers and miss terribly the purpose it gave me in life. I can seriously relate to "Embers."

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is failing to realize if you want to live a full enjoyable life, it will likely require more money than you m made while working. I suppose if your idea OG happiness is to sleep in every day and sitting on the porch, you could be fine.

I fully retired for a few months and ended up getting back into the business on what I thought would be a few hours per week to keep a little busy and pick up some pocket change. That rather quickly evolved into 60 to 70 hours per week for 5 straight months. I then was blessed to hire a great person I trained and who now does 80% of the work for around 50% of the money. They are ecstatic to have quadrupled their income and I make enough to essentially live how I like without touching any retirement funds and delaying the need to access SS. I work a little more during peak season but have decided to not aggressively seek to grow the company by taking on more work.

I've been very blessed and am enjoying life. I'll be happy maintaining the present situation as long as it's workable. I've been tempted on a few occasions to grow the business but wisdom has shown me happiness and peace of mind are far more important than money.

 

[VDL_Piper]

Passive income is king when retiring that’s for sure.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Well yes and no. I have a very generous one but I still hunt and acquire as I see fit. Tastes change and I find I’m on a soft aromatic binge at the moment and so I am carefully selecting blends that suit. I’m thinking I need to take a leaf out of @cosmicfolklore book and make a nice chocolate/coffee blend with it being forward on the coffee.

I’m confused. I’ve never made an aromatic of any sort. Could you be confusing me with someone else?

 

[VDL_Piper]

Passive income is king when retiring that’s for sure.

I’m confused. I’ve never made an aromatic of any sort. Could you be confusing me with someone else?

Sorry cosmic my Alzheimers kicked in and I’ve incorrectly tagged you, should have been Mr Telescopes!

 

[fireground_piper]

Oh, and keep on making new friends - because the longer you live, the more your existing stock is likely to diminish.

I like to keep actively culling mine. I'm down to like 3 but they are a stubborn bunch.

I doubt I'll ever want to truly retire, just get out of being a corporate cog and do my own thing eventually. I'd be too bored. Hobbies are fine, but people paying for things you do puts a different lens on things for me/motivation.

 

[Briar Lee]

I’m about retirement the same way my dear old mother was about dying.

She went to the doctor and came home and called me, and said she had stage four congestive heart failure.

She said she knew in theory she might someday die, but she always figured the Good Lord would make an exception in her particular case.


If my wife hadn’t gotten sick, I’d still be at that law office, and someday I’d have died in the traces like an old worn out horse.

As it is, I get to watch the world spin and don’t have to worry about payrolls and taxes and all the other distractions to being a sharp dressed lawyer.

What amazes me most I guess, is I got through without any real disasters.

I may miss practicing law, but I done done that, you know?

 

[gamzultovah]

I've been tempted on a few occasions to grow the business but wisdom has shown me happiness and peace of mind are far more important than money.

Amen!

 

[RPK]

My last day of work at age 60 was July 3rd, 2002 and the next day was July 4th or Independence Day here in the USA which I celebrated and have been celebrating every day since.

 

[telescopes]

Passive income is king when retiring that’s for sure.

Sorry cosmic my Alzheimers kicked in and I’ve incorrectly tagged you, should have been Mr Telescopes!

lol. I was thinking that sounded more like me. One point of correction - if we are being formal, that would be Dr. Telescopes, ha, ha. Mocha and chocolate go every well together. I just purchased an extra pound of Chocolate Supreme by Sutliff for bagging until I get the 40 oz of C&D Mocha I will need to make another batch of EZ1. With the addition of the 8oz of FM that will be added to the blend, that will give me 4lbs of EZ1. Enough to last 12 years the way I use it.

 

[tschiraldi]

3 more years. I can’t wait to retire and would do it now if I could! My work is not who I am, it’s where I make money. My father was one of the fortunate ones who made a career of something he had a true passion for, and still does. I am not that guy. My passion is for my wife, my children, and my friends. If I have learned anything at all in my life it is that it’s the relationships that matter, not the things. I have made a sufficient income and have prepared well for retirement. I have several activities, I won’t call them hobbies, that I really enjoy. I travel a lot on my motorcycle, love shooting pool, been playing the guitar all my life, read an average of 50 books a year, and, of course, pipes and tobacco. Add to all this spending quality time with those I love and my life is pretty full, without the need to work. I’ve worked over 30 years in state prisons and it often feels like I am doing time myself. 8 hours a day plus overtime, I figure I’ve spent about 12 years inside the fence. It’s like doing time on the installment plan. Yes, sir, I am surely looking forward to the end and my imminent release!

 

[ThermionicScott]

I like my job well enough most of the time, but it really gets in the way of riding bikes and spending time with family and friends...

 

[ssjones]

My position as Director of Operations for a small quick service restaurant chain was pretty challenging. I'm 63 years old and left in August, but stayed on as a consultant, working one week per month up North. It was incredibly strange, from waking up early to read 20 sales and control emails and start putting out fires, to not needing to check my emails every 10 minutes to nothing. (last year, I had well over 100,000 emails, it went as high as 175,000 one year) I still feel guilty at times, for not contributing to something. We had a huge challenge with the new home, to muscle thru some big projects. Now, as those are nearing completion, I'm feeling under utilized. I'll need to get a PT job down here, to keep my wife from killing me. For over 45 years, she was used to me being gone 50 hours per week or more and travel. Up close and personal, I'm not as charming in real life as I appear here. My wife also retired at the same time. I'm a hard worker, but she put me to shame (25 years supporting out local Senator). I didn't think she could take not solving problems, but it seems to be agreeing with her.

Note to members - if I disappear, tell the Police to dredge the lake out beside the house.

 

[Merton]

I will have to retire from my profession in about 8 weeks. It has been a privilege and honor to serve but we all must retire on our 70th birthday. I face retirement with a mix of emotions including relief but also some dread. I think that something telescpoes wrote rings true about the potential danger in seeing one's identity in terms of one's work. I have always tried to separate my profession (which is public in nature) and my private perception of who I really am. The nature of the work that I have done for almost 25 years requires a bit of monk like solitude. The result of this has been a change in my everyday life as well. So, time to press on a find happiness as one can. Retirement they say is but the next chapter

 

[Briar Lee]

One of the great pleasures and privileges of retirement is I can have a beer at a restaurant, now.

Before, somebody might call and I’d have to go to a jail someplace, and who would hire a lawyer, with beer on their breath?.

 

[VDL_Piper]

lol. I was thinking that sounded more like me. One point of correction - if we are being formal, that would be Dr. Telescopes, ha, ha. Mocha and chocolate go every well together. I just purchased an extra pound of Chocolate Supreme by Sutliff for bagging until I get the 40 oz of C&D Mocha I will need to make another batch of EZ1. With the addition of the 8oz of FM that will be added to the blend, that will give me 4lbs of EZ1. Enough to last 12 years the way I use it.

I've just grabbed some Chocolate Truffle some Espresso and a little cigar leaf to see how all that melds together. I also have 515 and some oriental here if I think it needs a bit of something extra so fingers crossed.

 

[BingBong]

I burned out three times round the clock but couldn't stop, doing the job of a team by myself. I managed to take voluntary redundancy at 61 and then retired; the years at 110% caught up with me and by the time I was 63, I was in free fall. Both my 64th and 66th birthdays were spent in hospital plugged into drips etc., but I turned a corner just over a year ago, now taking it easy, slowly healing, enjoying my baccy and not worrying.

A colleague worked a couple of years past his retirement, had everything to look forward to. Finally retired and six months later, dead. You can't legislate for it; enjoy the now, let go of petty concerns, do what still floats your boat if you can.

 

[SSGT.]

I doubt I will ever fully retire, since my daughter has joined me in our veterinary practice I have dialed back quite a bit. I only go out to the ranch customers when she is behind, or I want to. I mostly take care of the office and clinic. Which is located 100 yards from my front porch.

On the days we don't have any field calls I fish in my stock pond, work with a few bloodhounds I'm training to track, or sit on the back porch smoke my pipe and thank God for all he has done for me and my family.