Your Retirement Experience/Lessons

[JCave]

Originally Posted by AX17609

5. Has anyone regretted retiring?
Yes, I regret not staying employed in my profession. For better or worse, that was my life, and I miss it.

Work life often becomes that way. A very dear friend took his life after retiring. He missed the social life at work. Henry was the most social man I've ever known.

I've always been interested in pursuing my own interests and work was the vehicle to that end. For me, having a good income didn't make the life I wanted.

[RP]

Originally Posted by JCave

Medicare proved much easier for me than anticipated. Maybe there's been too much hype?

I also found that to be the case. When I finally went to get advice from my retirement person, I got the best advice. By doing nothing, I got the default plan which was ideal for me. I do wish I'd gotten a secondary dental coverage for the periodontal work I've required, but I saved money by having the work done at a dental school....

As for those who missed their jobs after retirement, I just can't imagine that. Maybe I just grew to hate my work so much and/or it was a bad career fit from the onset....

[KevWind]

I did a few different things in my life but spent most of my working career in High End Custom home construction. First as a carpenter, then eventually as a contractor, then as a lead carpenter foreman for a big construction company doing multi million custom homes. Then finally as a project forman for that company


1. What was your biggest surprise so far about retirement?
How much stress disappeared from my life when I walked away at 57


2. What have you learned since retiring that you wish you would have known before you retired?
To have made the investment moves that allowed me to walk much sooner and been able to walk at 47 instead of 57


3. What's the best thing about retirement?
Far too many really to mention but I would say lack of stress is a big one.



4. What's the worst thing about retirement?
I guess the funny thing is I have been doing alot of carpentry and remodel now on the third home since retiring. Two of which we have sold at a good profit and we are now finally in what will likely be our last home But the good news is I can work at my own pace and do something else anytime I want BUT I still have the the calloused, cracked and dried hands I had when I was swingin' a hammer 10 hours a day


5. Has anyone regretted retiring?
Not me not in the least, Best life move I ever made

[Basalt Beach]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

I have some general questions for the retired folks:

1. What was your biggest surprise so far about retirement?

It was not planned. Our company was a hostile takeover target, so old management offered a fantastic buyout (cash, along with an age and pension bump) to reward long-term employees, however it came with 6 days notice to accept, and then you were gone 3 days later. Your mindset 10 days earlier was to continue working a 4 to 6 more years, then I was retired. Fortunately, I was asked to stay on for another month under a separate employment contract which provided me an extra 27 days to prepare (unlike my colleagues).

Originally Posted by Mandobart

2. What have you learned since retiring that you wish you would have known before you retired?

There is not as much time to accomplish everything you want in a single day, however every day is yours.

Originally Posted by Mandobart

3. What's the best thing about retirement?

You get to plan every moment of every day to do what you want to put a smile on your face or on the face of others.

Originally Posted by Mandobart

4. What's the worst thing about retirement?

Difficult to answer this question. Okay, I would say the interaction of the colleagues who I spent 8 plus hours a day. In our case six folks walked out together, we worked hard, however we had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun for our 20 plus years together.

Originally Posted by Mandobart

5. Has anyone regretted retiring?

No! I had the option to stay and I decided to take the buyout. Prior to the buyout, I thought I had 4 to 6 years longer to work, as I was not even 60 and then next thing I know, I am retired. In hindsight, it was absolutely the right decision and my better half has reminded me of that at least every week since I left more than 20 months ago.

I finished up on a Friday afternoon, right at 5pm, 27 days past the day I was supposed to be retired, and I had decided to do what I wanted. My better half was on sabbatical and out of the country when this all happened, and I had two more months to myself. I woke up on the following Monday morning and I windsurfed for two months.

I now do some consulting for the folks that seek me out, and I choose who to work with. I have spoken at conferences and done some workshops which allows us to build our vacations off of those events. I am also an adjunct instructor at the university now, which I really enjoy so I am now able to pursue my passion in the classroom.

Retirement is just a word for the period of time when you don't have to work if you do not want to work. You can fill that time with anything you choose.

[unimogbert]

..........

[buddyhu]

I've been retired for a little more than 7 years. Wife is till working part time.

1. What was your biggest surprise so far about retirement?

How much I have changed since I stopped working. I feel more relaxed and patient. I have a lot more energy to engage in pleasant superficial conversations with people I don't know. My body is more relaxed. My mood is a little better, day in and day out.

2. What have you learned since retiring that you wish you would have known before you retired?

That a simple life can be very rewarding...I don't need to be doing "important things" to feel contented.

3. What's the best thing about retirement?

Having time to rest when I am a little tired, rather than feeling like I should keep pushing until the pressing work issues were addressed.

Falling into new activities and developing new interests. I have gotten into clamming and oystering...didn't see those coming AT ALL; also i have gotten much more int guitar/music than I had ever anticipated.


4. What's the worst thing about retirement?

There is a peculiar type of isolation that can descend, because of the sudden loss of many stable, warm (though superficial) relationships. It is strange to miss the 2 minutes of superficial chatting with the folks who serve you at the "regular" lunch destinations, to miss the innocent flirting with a co-worker, etc. You still have all your intimate friendships and your wife/partner to whom you can confide, and have intimate conversations with. But there is someing buoying about having a wide variety of brief, superficial, but genral friendly and uplifting interaction sprinkled throughout your day, and it is a bit of a challenge to find a substitutes for these types of relationships.

Another bad thing about retirement: Time seems to pass more quickly, which can make death feel much closer than it used to (that, plus the fact that more of your friends and more of the folks who you admired on TV either look "pretty old", or are dead). It can be sobering.

5. Has anyone regretted retiring?

Not me. While there are a few challenging aspects to being retired, it is a very nice way to live, wi many advantages and benefits.

[Kerbie]

Reading unimogbert above reminds me of what I'm doing right now for a couple friends. I've helped them with two financial ideas that will save them 5 figures just in 2019. I encourage anybody who is nearing retirement to learn as much as possible about the financial challenges involved. Those can include health insurance, Medicare, Social Security, pension decisions and how to use qualified funds from 401(k) and IRA accounts. Lots of stuff to learn, but it might save you a bundle.

[Daniel Grenier]

1 Biggest surprise about retirement?
How time suddenly speeds up.
You get 3 times the wife you had before.
Possibly worse, your wife gets 3 times the husband she had before.
Make sure you're both good with the retirement thing.

2 What I learned & wish I'd known before retiring?
Waited way too long before doing it (64 for me)
The rat race you loved becomes utterly meaningless
You, me, everyone is/was expendable, replaceable and disposable in that race.

3. Best thing about retirement?
It's always Saturday.

4. Worst thing about retirement?
You never get a day off from it.

5. Regretted retiring?
Yeah. I did. The first 3 minutes were hell. Then it went away.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Daniel Grenier

5. Regretted retiring?
Yeah. I did. The first 3 minutes were hell. Then it went away.

That's pretty funny, but brings up something real I didn't mention earlier.

There IS AN ADJUSTMENT.

When you've been in a routine for 30+ years, you don't just suddenly take it away without some feeling of dislocation. I remember sometime in the first few months, I ran into a woman I'd worked with who was still at the same agency. She asked me how I liked retirement. I said something like, "I'm mostly liking it, but there are times I get pretty bored". And she said, "I've been working for 30 years and there are periods of boredom pretty much every day - the difference is you have about a million more options to get UN-bored". Which was exactly right. I've never looked at boredom as a negative since - it's just a motivator to find that next new interest that's stimulating.

That was a great perspective check. I ran into her recently - she's just retired in the past year. I asked her how it was going and we had basically the same discussion in reverse. I told she'd said that to me back when I'd first retired and she didn't have ANY memory of having said it, but I hope she found her own advice/perspective as helpful as I did.

[KenL]

I have nothing to add to the excellent responses to the 5 questions, but I would certainly agree with the previous poster's statement that "There is an adjustment."

The big adjustment for me, even after being retired for 8 years, is that YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE DOING SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE ALL THE TIME!

Back in my working/raising kids days, I was busy from sunrise to sundown. Lots to do. Never much time to just do nothing. To sit on my porch and play guitar for an hour was a rare thing.

Nowadays I could sit on my porch and play guitar all day and it would be just fine. But I wouldn't feel right about it, and would start looking for something to do.

It's that danged work ethic in me, I guess. Gotta get over that.

[Glennwillow]

One of the things I appreciate about retirement is that I actually have time to sit down on the couch and fall asleep for a while, and if I do, it's okay.

- Glenn

[dkstott]

The only thing I miss about working is the social aspect of discussing sporting events on Monday's.

I don't miss the stress of working in manufacturing environment where lay-offs, company relocating or being sold were a constant concern.

[KevWind]

For me retirement has been a blast so far ...Thought I would offer a pictorial essay on my retirement experience




Cruising on the scooter



With my Girl



With my daughter and son in law




Bicycling Colorado



Alpine snow skiing Jackson Hole



X country skiing Wyoming



Scuba diving Akumal Yucatan



Shark dive Roatan




Interisland flight Bahamas



Snorkling Bahamas



Shark Dive Bahamas




Fly fishing Bahamas



Fly fishing Yucatan

[KevWind]

Fly fishing Turks and Caicos




Fly fishing Yucatan




Fly fishing Kodiak



Fly fishing Kamchatka Russia


I'll stop here

[rdeane]

What was your biggest surprise so far about retirement?
--How quickly I began to forget what day of the week it is.
2. What have you learned since retiring that you wish you would have known before you retired?
--How stressed in my everyday life I was. I should have learned how to control it better.
3. What's the best thing about retirement?
---Being able to wake up when my body is ready to wake up. Don't use an alarm clock at all unless I have an early appointment, which I don't do unless it's absolutely necessary.
4. What's the worst thing about retirement?
---If you aren't careful it's easy to lose touch with your friends who are still working. It's a bit harder to get together since their schedules are less flexible than yours
5. Has anyone regretted retiring?
---Not for one second.