# Countdown to retirement **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 25, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653 "2023-03-25T17:37:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2023, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/581 "2023-12-15T04:47:01Z")
It’s always cool to look at my brokerage, and despite making no contributions, and spending assets (wisely, I hope), the value of my accounts have gone _up_. Obviously this is a unique time – thanks Fed! – but still. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/582 "2023-12-18T16:37:28Z")
Countdown’s over! Today’s the first Monday of my retirement. Been having a splendid time doing nothing constructive all morning. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/583 "2023-12-18T16:48:11Z")
Congrats, RT! Sounds like you’ve already figured it out. (don’t let yourself get too lazy, though) mmm ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/584 "2023-12-18T17:02:57Z")
Glorious! ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/585 "2023-12-18T18:05:14Z")
Awesomesauce!! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/586 "2023-12-18T18:07:56Z")
Congratulations 🙂. Remember, every day you accomplish nothing particularly concrete in retirement an angel gets its wings. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/587 "2023-12-18T20:05:26Z")
Yaay!! Welcome to the club! You sure earned it. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/588 "2023-12-18T20:06:20Z")
Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/589 "2023-12-18T20:10:20Z")
Thanks, everyone!! > [@Tamerlane](#): > > Remember, every day you accomplish nothing particularly concrete in retirement an angel gets its wings. Words to live by!!! 😁 😆 🙃 😆 😁 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/590 "2023-12-18T21:04:31Z")
Reminds me of a 3-panel comic I once saw with 2 old guys conversing on a park bench. I can’t get the dialog tight enough, but the punchline is right and it went something like this: > **Old Guy 1** : Got home last night and wife asked me what I’d done all day. Told her “Sat here in the park doing nothin’.” > **Old Guy 2** : Yep. > **OG 1** : Went to leave this mornin’ and she asked me what I’d do today. Told her “Same’s yesterday. Sit here in the park doing nothin’.” > **OG 2** : What’d she say to that? > **OG 1** : “Why? You did that yesterday.” So I said “I ain’t done yet.” > **OG 2** : Yep. “I ain’t done yet” is a _great_ reason for ongoing sloth. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/591 "2023-12-18T22:52:26Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Congratulations 🙂. Remember, every day you accomplish nothing particularly concrete in retirement an angel gets its wings. … and Keith Richards gets a day added to his remaining lifetime ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/592 "2023-12-19T07:02:38Z")
Remember, when you’re retired, it’s not “being lazy.” It’s “conserving my energy.” Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/593 "2023-12-19T07:13:51Z")
Gotta love retirement. I retired 14 months ago after developing anxiety. Quit my job, got help, got early access to my Super as I qualified for TPI and now I’m loving life. Spend my days exercising in the mornings, doing jobs around the house, working on my Golf game and spending every second weekend with my Grandson. Haven’t used an Alarm clock for years. I go to bed at 10/10:30pm and wake up at 6am. All physical work is usually completed before lunch. If it isn’t, meh, finish it tomorrow. Afternoons kick back with a beer and a book and just chill. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/594 "2023-12-19T13:06:00Z")
You didn’t say it in so many words, but it sounds like you’ve licked the anxiety. Congrats if so! That’s hugely good. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/595 "2023-12-19T17:54:51Z")
Glad you’re enjoying the retirement, I hope the anxiety is much better now, I’ve been treated for at least 15 years and it can be pretty tough. What does this mean? > [@stui\_magpie](#): > > got early access to my Super as I qualified for TPI Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/596 "2023-12-19T18:40:03Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > What does this mean? I assume the poster is Australian, and is referring to government retirement benefits: > **[Super](https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/super-for-individuals-and-families/super)** > > How to save for retirement via superannuation, your entitlements and obligations, when you can withdraw your super. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/597 "2023-12-19T18:53:38Z")
My anxiety, which I’d been living with for over a decade, went way down once I retired. However, it didn’t disappear, so I finally got into therapy and I’m having a lot of success with the strategies I’m learning to retrain my brain. I used to be a very happy-go-lucky, optimistic person, and I’d love to get back to that (she says, chewing her lip). Christmas seems to be more difficult than Thanksgiving, though! ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/598 "2023-12-19T21:46:11Z")
Cheers mate, yep, I’m Australian. We have a retirement savings scheme called Superannuation which employers are required to pay a percentage of your salary to. You can’t access it until you reach a specified age, or meet other prescribed tests. The test for TPI (Total Permanent Invalidity) is that you’re unlikely to ever work again in something you’re reasonably qualified and trained for. Being only a couple of years short of retirement anyway, I passed that test and got early access, paid off the mortgage and set up an income stream. As far as the anxiety goes, without having to work and with the help of a psych, I’ve just made a few changes to how I do things and I can can control it rather than it controlling me. Things like being put under any pressure, having to rush, having to be somewhere at a certain time all still trigger a physical reaction but It’s manageable. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/599 "2023-12-19T21:59:30Z")
Thanks for the explanation. Glad the angst is better, keep at it! ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/600 "2023-12-20T08:13:55Z")
Cheers mate. I’m one of the luckier ones, I was amazed at how many people I knew, once they found out, disclosed their own battles. Some took years to get over it, most are on medication. In my case, my Doc’s agreed that I was ground down over years until something broke. I can’t fix what’s broken but I can adapt and enjoy life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653.md?page=31)