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

Duds13 · 2025-10-03T08:07:18-0400

Congrats! I don't have any advice because I'm not there yet, but I imagine, as a few people have mentioned, that you will try to get everything done all at once. You'll now have 5 extra days to get everything done that you used to cram into a weekend plus the extras.

My wife and I just had our annual review with our financial advisor and it's looking REALLY good for me to be done in a couple of years. My wife will work a little longer to maximize her pension, so I will hop on her insurance during that period. I'll be 57-58 when I retire, so it feels good to see the plan coming together after maxing out 401k contribution for so many years.

Best of luck to you and keep us posted on your new life!

part-time-Farmer-NC · 2025-10-03T08:41:03-0400

So many pearls of wisdom, I plan to take with me, thank ya'll.

While in IT it was common to have a punch list. I'd always push through that list determined to finish it in record time. I do have to overcome that mind set of getting it done despite taking lunch or leaving early. I'm in it for the long haul.

Wifey has not worked a public job for over 11 yrs now. She has acclimated to it well, she has lots of projects lined up, unfortunately they start with "WE"...

. She has been a good model of staying busy either around the house or helping family with dr visits, cooking meals, baby sitting.

I was telling my wife, it seems so strange to think after about 50 yrs of working and never NOT having a job, it will be an adjustment. Before my overall focus was to help the company I worked for or companies as a consultant. That is one reason I planned to change the family farm (wifes) from tobacco, corn, beans to something that brings healthy happiness to others. Fruits!

I tried to buy tools over the last 10 yrs that can make it so one person can run the farm. So I think I have all the tools I "need" and plan to sell off some old surplus stuff.

Hunting and fishing are important to me and have been all my life but I am also kinda excited about the woodworking. I have watched a lot of inspiring videos egging me on to give em a try.

Lastly with my 4 grand children and 1 Gg son I get to spend more time with them. Looking forward to pass down some "Poppyisms".

Please keep the wisdom/ideas rolling in, I'm a listening.

dodge man · 2025-10-03T08:43:39-0400

I’ve found that if you have something to do, like a work project, go to the store, help clean house etc for 2 to 3 hours that will fill up your day.

Duds13 · 2025-10-03T09:21:29-0400

My wife is giving me a hard time about retiring before she does. I just say to her, just think you will never have to go grocery shopping again. And that house cleaner you always wanted will now be me. I will have no issue going to the grocery store very early in the morning before anyone gets there, and it wont bother me to spend a few hours each week cleaning inside the house.

not2old · 2025-10-03T10:51:56-0400

Duds13 said:
Congrats! I don't have any advice because I'm not there yet, but I imagine, as a few people have mentioned, that you will try to get everything done all at once. You'll now have 5 extra days to get everything done that you used to cram into a weekend plus the extras.

Good luck with that!

Duds13 · 2025-10-03T11:05:25-0400

not2old said:
Good luck with that!

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

deserteagle71 · 2025-10-03T11:34:13-0400

I was 70 years old when I retired. I could have retired earlier but I had a job I really enjoyed and looked forward to going to most days. And I worked with some really great people...and that's what I missed most of all when I finally quit going to work. The camaraderie - the teamwork- the friendships. That was 9 years ago.

But I had some long-term projects I needed to complete around my homestead - pretty much full-time jobs in themselves - and those kept me busy for a few years. Now those are done, and with winter coming on, pretty much leaving me house-bound, I'm seriously thinking of getting at least a part time job, just to keep myself busy. I'm the type of person who has to keep busy all the time...too much idle time is not good for me!

I'm also an outdoors person and the one big advantage of being retired is that now, if the weather is nice, I can stop what I'm doing and head for the desert and the mountains. Seems that when I was working, all the good weather was always during the middle of the week. On my days off it was raining, snowing, or blowing! Now I have time to do the exploring I love to do...like finding this very remote crash site of a WWII B-24 bomber in southern Oregon:

Oaktree · 2025-10-03T11:50:54-0400

Congrats on your new retirement! Lots of good points here.

I've been semi/mostly retired since 2012. I was 62. It was a bit "forced" in the sense that the company I worked for went into bankruptcy, and I was not retained by the new owners who bought the business at fire-sale prices. Wasn't exactly brokenhearted over that.
I did do contract work for them, and for a couple other related companies in the area, still doing it to some extent but things are winding down. In fact, this year wife and I did a road trip, and I essentially told everyone that I'd be unreachable for the duration. It felt weird, but good at the same time.

Several posters have commented on the "how'd I ever have time to do all these projects and still hold down a fulltime job?". Very true. Of course you can pick away at projects, you don't need to go all in to get it done over a weekend anymore.
Got an old childhood friend who retired about the same time as me...has no hobbies, projects, etc., lives in suburbia. Basically spends his day in front of the tv or on Facebook, etc. Sad.

75 now, don't know how many years I have left...no man on either side ever made it to 85 (father came the closest), so I'm trying to make the most of every day I have left. One thing that I do that greatly decreases stress levels is to almost totally ignore news/current events, and avoid political discussions. No minds are ever changed so why get all worked up about it?

EDIT: One piece of advice; keep an open mind, don't let yourself become a crabby old man stuck in some mythical good old days.

EscapedSuburbia · 2025-10-03T12:14:52-0400

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.