General question : Retired or not?

[dangier_VA]

Retired at 55 a year ago last January (08) after 37 years in DOD and Capitol Hill and loving it. Key is keeping busy! Put around 400 hours seat time on the L3130 and L225 doing ground work on our property and neighbors. Built a 30' x 60' shop for projects. Have a dozen or so lined up for now. Wife will retire from DOD next January. Looking forward to her not having to go to work. May consider some volunteer work also in the future.

 

[buck12]

I am still trying to figure out the retirement deal. I am a long away from even thinking about retirement. In my line of work I hire a lot of retired people in part time teaching jobs. Many tell me after about six months they are ready to return to some type of work. One 74 year old gentleman who works 15 - 40 hours per week tells me he plans to part time teach for 20 years and then reconsider full time retirement. Another 60ish lady who does some part time work told me deciding to retire was the worst decision of her life. It seems some people need to work.

 

[Bird]

It seems some people need to work.

Yes, Buck, individuals are different. My Dad retired when he was 56 and he and Mother spent 4 years full time RVing, but the first time they visited my paternal grandfather, he asked my Dad, "Well, what are your going to do now?" Dad told him they were going to do some traveling and some fshing and my grandfather says, "No, I mean what kind of work are you going to do." And my Dad told him he wasn't going to have a job; that he was retired, and my grandfather said, "Well . . ., if that's all the ambition you've got!" My grandfather had been a farmer, but from 1943 on, he also hauled the mail between the post office and the train station, around the clock (got up twice during the night to go meet the train), 7 days a week, and when trains quit hauling mail, he hauled it to the bus station for a few years. He only "retired" when his job played out.

And my Dad's best friend was just the opposite of Dad. He was a bookkeeper for a chain of auto parts stores and would not retire. I know once when I asked him how long he'd worked there, he had 60 years on the same job, and it was several years later when they finally took his keys away from him because he was still opening the office every morning. He was very upset by being forced into retirement in his 80s and didn't live long after that.

 

[AchingBack]

Retirement is the closest thing to death. Unless you lived a life in an occupation you love. Statistics prove, people involved in unsatisfactory work, on average, have much shorter life spans. Generally, they only live a couple years after they retire.

 

[Bird]

Retirement is the closest thing to death. Unless you lived a life in an occupation you love. Statistics prove, people involved in unsatisfactory work, on average, have much shorter life spans. Generally, they only live a couple years after they retire.

A lot of "studies" come up with interesting, but sometimes erroneous, information. But anyway, I once read one that claimed police officers who retired at the age of 50 died on average at the age of 53. Scared me so bad, I decided I better not wait until I was 50, as I had planned, so I retired 10 days before my 49th birthday.

 

[jinman]

I'm 61 and retired. I'll turn 62 in September and in October of this year, I'll start drawing SS and I don't see any reason at all to go back to work. I considered driving a schoolbus for awhile, but I've reconsidered that. I am loving being able to do all the things I want to do on my own schedule. My stress level is probably below zero.

I'm lucky that I am also retired from the US Navy and my wife has a retirement from a fairly large city. That means our medical coverage is good and we can shop on military bases as needed. We've also worked to save our money and have a nice personal nestegg. If I find something I really want to do and can make a few bucks at it, I'll do it just for fun. Otherwise, we are very happy with our lives and spoiling our grandchildren.

In my last job, I met a lot of guys who were in their late 60s or early 70s without a chance of retiring due to debt and demands of their families. Also, many of them would show up at the office on their days off on a regular basis. Their job was their life. I think there are lots of folks who fit that mold. They not only work all their lives, but they work for somebody else, never being able to reap the rewards of their skill. Perhaps, that's what they want from life, but I just can't do that. I've worked all my life for now and I'm gonna enjoy it.

 

[The Dougster]

"The closest thing to death?"

Maybe I'm mis-intrepreting that statement... I'm retired several years now (will be 65 in Aug) and loving every minute of it... I'm okay financially and feel quite fortunate about that... I count my blessings every day... When I was working I loved my job.. now that I'm retired, I love my job.... I get up at approx. 5 AM every morning and am usually asleep by 10 PM every night... On my place in the country I will never run out of things to do... I love being retired.

 

[workmytractor]

Sounds like I am the youngest guy on here at 33. I still have quite a bit to go before retiring. I put my 40 hours in each week and try to squeeze some tractor time in on the weekends. Maybe my web site will take off one day and i will be able retire from my 40 hour a week job and start on my 80 hour a week job at my house.

 

[soulasphil]

I retired on the day of my 60th birthday and am now 71. My wife retired a few months later. We loved our jobs, but we love retirement. The trouble is as we get older, we go slower and time seems to fly by. I can't find the time to do half the things I'd like to do. Just done one though, bought a new JD3520! Yet I can't help being slightly anxious about the financial future with the world-wide economic crisis. In the mean time, more sailing and more seat time than ever before!

 

[Giterdone]

Disability retired a couple of years ago after an accident and back surgery that didn't really do what they said it would. I'm only 53 and although I like being in charge of my own life, I can't stand to sit idle. So I do what I can when I can and sometimes over do it and suffer for a few days at a time. But it's just a way of life for me now and I'm used to it. I've got enough imagination that I should be able to keep busy enough around my little 5 acres for a long time. God bless my Ford 1900 and FEL