Well... Tomorrow's the big day.. "R" Day!

[Duds13]

Congratulations, you're going to love it. You can wake up in the morning and after a cup of coffee decide to work on a project around the property, go fishing, take the dog for a walk, or do nothing at all. It's your choice. For the first year or so my wife would ask me every morning, "so what are you going to do today?" My answer was always, "whatever the hell I want." What baffles me is when I see people go back to work because they're bored or need "purpose". Trading money they don't need for time they can't get back.

I never understood the people who retire and find another job to "stay busy." I've had people say to me "you should do that when you retire" referring to another job and I reply, that's not retiring, that's finding another job. When I retire, I aint workin for someone else again.

 

[GSVette]

Been a few months over a year for me-don’t miss it at all-busier now with all of the tasks around the new house and property. Certainly don’t need the gym! Stacking rocks for retaining walls and borders and other assorted manual labors have thinned me down!

Enjoy

 

[not2old]

So you can't fit weekend chores into a full week?

I used to be the guy you gave an urgent job to even though I was too busy already. I got things done. Before I retired I ran a handyman service repairing condos. Prior to 2010 I used to book $350 to $400 a day with my own hands while supervising three or more others and doing the administration. Now, when I put a dollar value to what I accomplish in a day, It's hard to total $200, and given inflation, that's a very minor amount. The list of things I need to do keeps getting longer and longer. I find it a bit frustrating. I've heard the same thing from others on here.

 

[Runner]

I could have retired earlier but I had a job I really enjoyed and looked forward to going to most days.

That has always been my definition of a successful person. Doesn't matter how much money you made, what you accomplished or what "position" you reached in the organization. You were happy with the way you spent your working days.
Congratulations!

 

[ronjhall]

First Day of Retirement!! Enjoy many more days.

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

I never understood the people who retire and find another job to "stay busy." I've had people say to me "you should do that when you retire" referring to another job and I reply, that's not retiring, that's finding another job. When I retire, I aint workin for someone else again.

And those jobs are always something with low/no benefits and pay less than the job they retired from. They do tend to be lower stress jobs, but you're still a slave to someone else's schedule. I've never had a problem staying busy with things I want to do and don't understand people who can't. I can somewhat understand the argument that they do it to stay busy since so many people have no hobbies but the one that I can't understand at all is the "to have purpose". Unless you're doing something that truly helps other people I don't understand the word "purpose". Sitting in a cube making money for investors isn't a "purpose".

 

[Duds13]

And those jobs are always something with low/no benefits and pay less than the job they retired from. They do tend to be lower stress jobs, but you're still a slave to someone else's schedule. I've never had a problem staying busy with things I want to do and don't understand people who can't. I can somewhat understand the argument that they do it to stay busy since so many people have no hobbies but the one that I can't understand at all is the "to have purpose". Unless you're doing something that truly helps other people I don't understand the word "purpose". Sitting in a cube making money for investors isn't a "purpose".

Exactly my thought. I'll find more purpose pulling weeds, lol

 

[Torvy]

And those jobs are always something with low/no benefits and pay less than the job they retired from. They do tend to be lower stress jobs, but you're still a slave to someone else's schedule. I've never had a problem staying busy with things I want to do and don't understand people who can't. I can somewhat understand the argument that they do it to stay busy since so many people have no hobbies but the one that I can't understand at all is the "to have purpose". Unless you're doing something that truly helps other people I don't understand the word "purpose". Sitting in a cube making money for investors isn't a "purpose".

My wife initially retired first. She couldn't handle being home with nothing to do when I was at work and kids were gone.

She did 6 weeks working an hourly cashier job (she has an MBA and tons of high end experience). She hated it, so started looking for something more akin to her last professional job.

One place she interviewed for called her references and that let her old job know she was available. She was rehired as contractor and had a sizable bonus for staying for a year.

She ended up re-retiring maybe 6 months or more after I had retired.

In my endgame, I deliberately went from a private sector job into teaching so I stepped down a bit. Fewer hours, less responsibility. When I retired, I didn't look back. I could see maybe being a guest lecturer and I kept my certificate current, just in case.

 

[drssg]

I also retired a few years before my wife. When people asked how that came to be, I would say, "Hey, I may be easy, but I'm not cheap. If she wants all this (referring to me), she's gotta work for it!"

 

[drssg]

Well, im 30 years away (42 now, and expect to work till 72.5), so... but when I worked for the county, the joke was, when you have the retirement party, go ahead and make a calender invite 48 months out for the funeral. Many folks we worked with, only reason to get up was work, and when they stopped doing that, they did nothing.

It doesn't sound like that's your mind set, but it's pretty common for people to just waste away for a few years and be gone. Doesn't really matter if it's golf, fishing, hunting, wood working, gardening, whatever there has to be something to fill that time.

Also, my mom's husband has an addictive personality; so he would go insanely into a hobby, could be pool, fishing, golf, whatever, 4/5 days week, to the point he was better than "average" but could never be better than folks "gifted" in it; and get frustrated and start a new thing. Guess the lesson, even fishing can be work; probably better to fish a couple times a week, shoot skeet once a week, whatever, and have some variety in life.

I only know one guy who died shortly after retirement. In his case, going to work was the only thing keeping him sober for a significant chunk of his life. He only lasted a few months.

As long as you have other interests that are not self-destructive, retirement is great, IMHO.