Impending retirement...just musing

[buddyhu]

Many years ago, my Mom told me hat she hoped that I could retire when I was young enough to enjoy it. It was good advice. I retired at age 58, and I just turned 57 last month.

It is also good to retire when you have enough cognitive capacity available to support you as you transition to a new style of living. If you are too stuck in your ways (because of normal cognitive decline) building a satisfying retirement life can be more challenging.

I think most men have neglected non-work friendships for much of their life, and this is a complaint that I hear rather frequently from men my age: I dint have many friends. That can be addressed easily enough provided that you have an open mind and do some things (like join clubs, or do volunteer work) that will throw you together with others who are in a similar situation....more time, more interest in having friends to make your days feel emotionally warm, but have interpersonal skills that may be a bit atrophied or limited.

Maintaining the body takes more time and effort as we age....something many older friends have told me, but the actual experience is still a bit of a surprise.

Retirement is good... very good. It can be a big adjustment for a few months, maybe even a few years, depending upon your details.

[ghostnote]

I'm approaching 3 years retired, and it's been great. As long as your health is good and your finances and insurance plans are in order, things can be beautiful. My only "problem" has been the sudden loss of my daily rituals. Working people need those rituals to get through the long days and mine were ingrained for decades. It can be weird to go through your day and not have to do certain things at certain times. It's freeing, but still odd. I've resisted establishing new rituals because, well, I'm retired! I don't need no stinking rituals! I think any new habits will have to establish themselves organically.

[rllink]

I'm retired. Society is trained to make you feel bad about not working, but I feel fine about it. The first few years after retirement I felt obligated to prove my worth with some part time jobs "just to give me something to do," I told myself. I didn't need the money. I realized along the way that with any part time job comes the same responsibilities as a full time job. You have to be there, you have to keep a schedule even if it is for a few hours a day or a few days a week, people are depending on you. You can't be spontaneous. To me being spontaneous is what it is all about. Don't fall into the trap, find something other than a part time job to do. Enjoy your freedom.

[tinnitus]

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?

Congrats on your successful career and impending "transfer to Ft. Livinroom."

Regarding SSA and Full Retirement Age (FRA):
- FRA is an arbitrary age/number concocted by a computer at SSA. It's merely a date they use to nail down your baseline benefit amount.

- For retirees my age, FRA comes at 66 years +2 months. Yours may differ if you are older or younger than me. Regardless of their FRA, most retirees can start collecting Social Security at any age between 62-70, BEFORE, AT or AFTER reaching "Full Retitement Age."

- Collecting before you reach FRA simply deducts a percentage from your monthly (FRA baseline) amount. Waiting to collect until after FRA will net you more than your baseline amount. Your monthly payment will fall somewhere along an incremental percentage scale with a (somewhat arbitrary) FRA baseline roughly in the middle between ages 62 and 70.

- The only way to get your exact FRA amount is to start collecting Social Security that exact year/month. It's really up to you when you want to start getting payments. Collect before your FRA, get less. Collect later, get more

This SSA link spells it out with examples:
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirem...reduction.html

Some retirees might choose to collect Social Security benefits as early as age 62 if they need/want the money (or if they don't expect to live very long and want to see it in this lifetime). On the other hand, good health and longevity seem to run in my family, and I don't need Social Security yet, so I'll wait for age 70 to collect the higher monthly amount (it doesn't increase after 70). The trick then will be to keep having birthdays so I eventually "break even" with the increased monthly amount I get to compensate for the years I didn't collect - and hope I'm still sane enough to know how much it is.

As with anything, YMMV.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

Many years ago, my Mom told me hat she hoped that I could retire when I was young enough to enjoy it. It was good advice. I retired at age 58, and I just turned 57 last month.

It is also good to retire when you have enough cognitive capacity available to support you as you transition to a new style of living. If you are too stuck in your ways (because of normal cognitive decline) building a satisfying retirement life can be more challenging.

Gotta admit I got a bit of chuckle about cognitive capacity and the fact that you retired at 58 but only turned 57 last month, or did you discover "the fountain" ? If so,,,, I will be right over for a bottle

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

Many years ago, my Mom told me hat she hoped that I could retire when I was young enough to enjoy it. It was good advice. I retired at age 58, and I just turned 57 last month.

It is also good to retire when you have enough cognitive capacity available to support you as you transition to a new style of living. If you are too stuck in your ways (because of normal cognitive decline) building a satisfying retirement life can be more challenging.

I think most men have neglected non-work friendships for much of their life, and this is a complaint that I hear rather frequently from men my age: I dint have many friends. That can be addressed easily enough provided that you have an open mind and do some things (like join clubs, or do volunteer work) that will throw you together with others who are in a similar situation....more time, more interest in having friends to make your days feel emotionally warm, but have interpersonal skills that may be a bit atrophied or limited.

Maintaining the body takes more time and effort as we age....something many older friends have told me, but the actual experience is still a bit of a surprise.

Retirement is good... very good. It can be a big adjustment for a few months, maybe even a few years, depending upon your details.

That is great, how do you do that, retire at 58 and then turn 57, I would love love love that plan

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

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....

Your story sounds quite similar to mine...in fact eerily so.
I wanted to hang it up at 64
My boss also “begged me to stay” so I did, but at 67 I was done.
I was being paid the highest I ever was for a three day work week during my last 18 months.
I waited to collect my SS until I retired because we didn’t need it. That way the checks are bigger.
We have no lake house but our daughter and her hubby do so we can sponge off of them.
If it rains really hard sometimes there’s a little water in the back corner of our back yard. Does that count ?

[AmericanEagle]

I can never retire, thanks to my ex.

[rdeane]

When you retire you will likely have a lot more time on your hands than you ever imagined. I have known a number of people who retired and returned to work because they were bored. I retired and have never been bored. I figured out that if you don't have any friends outside work, if you don't have any social activities outside your work contacts, or any individual interests outside work, you are not ready to retire.

Of all the people I know who have successfully retired (at all levels of financial wealth), every one of them had interests they pursued outside of work. They all had a social life outside of their work friends, and they all had friends with no connection to their work. In other words, they had a separate life from work. If your whole life is centered around your work, retirement isn't going to be successful. If you don't have those already established a year before retirement, you need to get started developing interests and contacts that have nothing to do with your work. Just like financial planning, it is an important part of your readiness to embark upon the next chapter in your life.

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

...I retired at age 58, and I just turned 57 last month.

Are you a time traveler?
Or is your real name Benjamin Button?

[H165]

a house overlooking a lake

Is that Payette Lake?? Sure reminds me of it....


“....don’t wish your life away”

This is it. I am far happier retired (24 years and counting) than I ever was working, and I'm one of the fortunate few who can say my work was actually fun.

[spock]

I retired nearly 6 months ago, but was unable to work for 6 weeks prior to my actual retirement date due to COVID, which proved to be a great preview of what retirement was going to be like.

Leading up to retirement I got lots of unsolicited advice from patients who were already retired, and among the many thoughtful suggestions I received, one in particular has helped me adjust very well to the abrupt change from being in the high stress, pressure packed fast lane at work to the exit ramp where there are very few urgent and/or critical decisions that need to be made on a day to day basis.

The retiree recommended that I establish some form of daily routine that was neither etched in stone nor incapable of being altered on a whim for any reason, but rather represented a loosely but thoughtfully organized accounting of my time from day to day. Having been tethered to such unforgiving, rigid time constraints and routines for so many years, such an approach afforded me the opportunity to enjoy the carefree aspects of retirement without feeling like I was in free fall, with near unlimited opportunities for pursuing long delayed hobbies and passions, but little in the way of a template for just how to fit them all into some kind of coherrent and reasonably productive day.

I have done this and found a couple of things to be true: one, I have many more passions, hobbies, and interests than I do hours in the the day, a nice problem to have by some accounts, but personally somewhat discouraging sometimes as I dislike having to leave certain pursuits by the side of the road while I tend to others. Two: having formulated my 'basic' routine has absolutely positively permitted me the opportunity to fit more of what I like to do into my days while also giving me a sense of having made the most of my deserved and cherished free time, and after all, time is our most precious commodity.

Some had predicted I might miss the prestige my job and title afforded me as well as my need to be needed, but it has been just the opposite, I like being known for who I am rather being defined by what my career choice seemed to dictate I was. As well, while I learned to be much more comfortable in socially engaging my patients through the years, my nature tends decidedly towards introversion, and that has helped me as well in making the transition to a more isolated life.

So speaking for this joyful, blessed and contented retiree, I can state without hesitation that the experience has exceeded my expectations.

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Gotta admit I got a bit of chuckle about cognitive capacity and the fact that you retired at 58 but only turned 57 last month, or did you discover "the fountain" ? If so,,,, I will be right over for a bottle

I said cognitive capacity was good to have. I didn’t say I had much...

[Mandobart]

I'm 57. I may quit working at 60, maybe 62. Social Security is not a factor for me - I've been maxing out my 401k and 457 for many years, and I have a defined benefit state retirement coming. If SS is still around in few years I'll get the maximum amount if I wait until 70 to draw it. My FRA is 67.

I joined the USN at 17 and have worked full time ever since. I have no debts or financial obligations. I could retire right now (I'm eligible) but I would be leaving a lot of future income on the table, as my pension is based on years of service and age at retirement. It is reduced for every year under 65 at retirement. Retiring now would reduce my pension by 60% compared to what it would be at 65.

I like my job and coworkers. Being responsible for the safe, reliable operation of a 1200 MWe nuclear plant (enough power to run Seattle) is challenging and rewarding. But I enjoy my days off more than any day at work. The only questions I need to figure out are:
1. What will I do for health care for my wife and I and what will it cost? And
2. How much retirement income is enough? How much do I really need?

Friends who have retired have almost without exception loved it, and wished they did it sooner. The couple exceptions were people who failed to prepare or had major health issues with insufficient coverage (a whole other subject).

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

I said cognitive capacity was good to have. I didn’t say I had much...

Right there with you friend ,,,,, oh wait ,,,,, what's the discussion again