Impending retirement...just musing

[Slothead56]

I’ve had a really great 41 year career in my field. Have only worked for three companies during that time and have achieved a satisfying level of professional success. But 65 hits next Fall and I’ve told my younger boss (with whom I have a fantastic, open, honest relationship) that I plan on packing it in in the next 12-16 months.

Kind of a weird place to be and kind of a weird conversation to have. I still enjoy my work, still motivated, still engaged though there are some days I ruminate on the past and get misty. Or, conversely, I spend too much time thinking about a work responsibility free future of fishing, playing and what not. I suppose a good reward for a lifetime of working hard.

A good friend-now deceased-once told me “don’t wish your life away”...I get that and try to do my best everyday. I’m looking forward to the next 12 months and truly being able to see the end of the runway....

[MikeBmusic]

Good that you can do that, but should you not wait until 66 and xx months so you can claim full Social Security benefits?

[Martz911]

Retirement is wonderful. You'll never look back. Just make sure your finances and health care plans are in order, and that you have hobbies, company, and a location you enjoy.

[Slothead56]

• Hobbies-check.
• Location(s)-check.
• Company-a bit more difficult to figure. My wife is going to continue to work for a few more years so job one is staying out of her way (WFH). The friends I have that have retired are mostly all over the place with grandkids and second homes. I think it’s a chance to make new friends related to activities, whether it’s golf, fishing, music, whatever. Haven’t had the time to do that while working 50+ hours plus business travel. Not concerned but it is the one thing I think about.

[emtsteve]

I'll be 55 in two weeks so the pondering and wondering has started for me too. The wife and I are healthy and want to travel, and I enjoy guitar, fishing, and time outside. Plenty to do when I retire. Right now my goal is retire at 62 when my pension maxes and the wife can go on Medicare.

To paraphrase John Cougar Mellencamp - 17 has turned 55.

Best of luck to you in your retirement.

[RP]

The worst day of retirement is better than the best day on the job. The last ten years that I've been retired have been the best years of my life...

[gfirob]

First, I would say that there is a transformation from the working person you were to the retired person you will become. These are different people. As career people, we have powers, achievements, anxieties, duties, responsibilities, networks, people over us, people under us and so on, a matrix of energies and connections that form our actions and thinking as we go through time.

All of that is gone the minute you retire. If you loved that work, if it was the primary source of your validity or meaning, if it is the major thing that defined you, this transition can be painful. In any event, it is a new and different life.

For me (after a successful career of 45 years) this process of transition was fraught to some degree but what became clearer as time past, was that I had arrived to a state of what might be described as a joyous freedom—a freedom from that matrix of duty, worry, pressure, responsibility, financial insecurity and striving. I laid my burden down. In short, retirement is the greatest racket ever.

But I think you need to be prepared to embrace it. My father, after a long career as a college professor, could not accept the loss of his previous status and spent the rest of his life sitting in a chair watching television and slowly losing his mind. That is not a good strategy.

Everybody has different interests and abilities and everybody embraces retirement in different ways (including continuing to work) but it is a good idea to think about those things which give you joy and try to engage with them as much as you legally can. This might mean golf, creative writing, grandchildren, playing the guitar, traveling, sleeping late, fly fishing or whatever.

But you don’t have that many years left at that point so you should not waste them on depression or television…

[Mr. Jelly]

It takes at least a year after leaving work to start getting retirement. And there is no correct or perfect way to grow old. Just like everything else in life. Financially plan for 15 or 20 years in the future.

[rokdog49]

Advice on retirement is as individual as the individual giving it.
As a for instance, I have my guitar playing as a hobby and I enjoy working in the yard. That being said there are days where I don’t do anything and I’m completely content. In fact there are many days like that.
That probably wouldn’t work for a lot of others.
When folks advise you, just remember it’s from their perspective.

[RoyBoy]

Congratulations Slothead! 40 years is a good run and you've earned it. It sounds like you have plenty of hobbies which you will enjoy a lot more. I'm sure your wife will be happy to let take over the cooking and cleaning. I just retired in July from 37 years of teaching (50+ hour weeks also). I bought a new dread, first new acoustic in 20 years, and am working on flatpicking. There's plenty of time for projects and you won't have be in a rush to complete them. I play my instruments every day and don't feel guilty about it. Hope your last year is a good one. Stay well!

[Pura Vida]

Congrats on your upcoming retirement. There are several threads here, and most have no regrets, so I'm sure you'll be fine. Plus, you have time to get your plans in order, in terms of finances, healthcare, etc.

I'm younger, but looking to retire sooner than later, due to a number of factors (some good, some not to good). But healthcare and my kids' education are the two biggest conflicts we have at this times, so we're both continuing to work, while we try to figure out those parts of the plans.

I wish you well over this next year and beyond. It will be here before you know it!

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Advice on retirement is as individual as the individual giving it.
As a for instance, I have my guitar playing as a hobby and I enjoy working in the yard. That being said there are days where I don’t do anything and I’m completely content. In fact there are many days like that.
That probably wouldn’t work for a lot of others.
When folks advise you, just remember it’s from their perspective.

Absolutely spot on
It's so subjective and every situation so specific, that most general pronouncements other than simply observing personal experience, are kind of like a shotgun blast at a 30 paces ,while trying to hit a fly on the wall


For instance I retired at age 57 13 years ago, now at that time , we also had a lucrative wholly owned family business , that we just sold summer before this last.

However since that time 2007, we have done 3 major house remodels and a new Riding Arena/4 horse Barn complex, on which I either did entirely, did much and managed sub contractors, or did some and managed the Contractor and subs, on the Arena.
So I have been fairly busy and could not really offer advice for someone in a different situation. .

[Silly Moustache]

Hi Slothead,
I am 72 and hoping to make 73, 74, 75 etc., but nothing is guaranteed.

I "was" retired at 59 when the contracts ran out but worked less and less hours whilst planning retirement so it didn't come as a shock as the day after retirement has to many of my friends.

1. Think on this: no-one ever says on their deathbed "I wish I'd spent more time at work!"

2. You know those retired folks who boast "I'm so busy I don't know how I had time to go to work!! (ugh!) -what they don't realise is how much they have slowed down. If I have three things I must do in a day - I'm, REAL busy!

3. "I planned to retire, but I didn't plan to get old!" (that one is mine after surviving a heart re-plumbing, lung disorder and cancer) -

4. As you age you have to work ever harder to keep fit. it becomes increasingly important.

5. You can admire beautiful women without them without causing offence because you are a) invisible, and b) harmless.

6. If you live long enough you can recoup all your paid taxes!

7. You'll never get out of it alive so enjoy asap.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

Good that you can do that, but should you not wait until 66 and xx months so you can claim full Social Security benefits?

Yes, if you enjoy your job, you might as well wait and get full retirement benefits.

I also enjoyed the job I had. At 66 I put in for full retirement with Social Security, but with my boss begging me to stay on, I worked a deal with him to keep working, but for only 3 days a week. Four-day weekends every week! I did that for a few years, then quit altogether, without any "withdrawal effects."

Then my wife retired, we moved to a house overlooking a lake, and couldn't be happier....

[Slothead56]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

Then my wife retired, we moved to a house overlooking a lake, and couldn't be happier....

That view alone would me make happy man!