# 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:** 56
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1101 "2026-08-13T21:18:55Z")
Welcome to the blatherhood! (Occurs to me we could use some [regalia](https://wist.info/bierce-ambrose/78485/).) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1102 "2026-08-13T21:22:00Z")
I bought a bunch of funky Hawaiian type shirts as my Retirement Shirts, so that’s my vote! ---
**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:** [August 13, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1103 "2026-08-13T21:26:41Z")
Hell yeah! Great job ---
**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:** [August 13, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1104 "2026-08-13T22:13:24Z")
Woo hoo, one of us! ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1105 "2026-08-13T22:49:34Z")
Congratulations @Horatius! I hope you like taking afternoon naps… ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1106 "2026-08-13T23:06:50Z")
It’s been known to happen. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2026, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1107 "2026-08-14T09:38:08Z")
You’re a natural already! Hooray! Now go spend the kid’s inheritance. Just not too soon. 😁 Seriously, welcome to the best club you’ll ever join. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2026, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1108 "2026-08-14T10:27:42Z")
Congratulations and welcome, @Horatius! mmm, Member since 2023 ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1109 "2026-08-14T12:38:27Z")
Congratulations and enjoy the days ahead! ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1110 "2026-08-14T21:49:43Z")
And It Is Done. My face hurts from smiling. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1111 "2026-08-14T23:39:41Z")
And it gets even better ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1112 "2026-08-18T05:59:54Z")
Did you survive the first day? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1113 "2026-08-18T11:00:44Z")
The First Monday went well. Had a short medical visit, then went out to a movie around noon. It was supposed to rain, but it turned into a nice day, so I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reading on my balcony, listening to music and having a few beers. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2026, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1114 "2026-08-18T11:07:04Z")
Hooray for a Monday done right! It is surprisingly easy for the “a few beers” habit to take hold. Then comes a beer at lunch, and a bit later, a beer with breakfast. Especially if you’re a solitary sort in a solitary living arrangement, as I often am. That way lies ruin. It’s easier to avoid falling into the abyss when you know it’s out there and which way the ground slopes. You’ll be developing all sorts of new habits. New recreations, new ways to fill time, new ways of thinking. There’s certainly room for some “vices” in there. But the siren song of “I’m out of hock to the system, so I’m gonna let loose every which way!” is loud and persistent. At least for me. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1115 "2026-08-18T17:44:23Z")
My letting loose is reading the NY Times in the morning before getting dressed for the day. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1116 "2026-10-23T12:29:47Z")
Well, this sucks. I got a letter that my Part D (prescription drug plan) is being discontinued. I have to select a new plan. What’s more, my excellent Medicare broker says she’s no longer able to assist with helping to select plans (no doubt due to new rules established by the current health care turd in office). She provides a link to Medicare’s tool to help you select a new plan, and I think I’ve got it sussed out how it works. It’s a good tool to help you compare costs, based on what drugs you take. But I’m afraid if I choose solely based on price, I’ll end up with an understaffed, error-ridden crappy company. I’m trying to do research on “best companies for Part D coverage”, and it’s more of the same price-only comparisons. Who here loves their Part D company and recommends them? I’ll look and see if they’re on the list of companies that Medicare’s tool provided me, and furthermore, if I can afford them. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1117 "2026-10-23T13:02:14Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > I got a letter that my Part D (prescription drug plan) is being discontinued. I have to select a new plan. I would suggest you air this post in the excellent Medicare thread in this forum. There is an ongoing discussion about All Things Medicare, including Part D. > [@America's Elder Crisis, Medicare Edition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146): > > They call, or we call them, an inexhaustible stream of elderly, disabled, and/or poor Americans, all with their stories to tell. Different in the details of course, but in the aggregate a theme develops, a daily oral history of a shattered medical insurance system, not broken because of governmental incompetence but of an insane ideological commitment to “choice” and “competition” and “the market” even in areas where these ideas do not belong. And it has been my experience in the private Medica… ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1118 "2026-10-23T13:23:01Z")
Oh, right. I was conflating that thread with this one, since I’m more than three years past retiring and haven’t had to think about Medicare stuff in all that time. Thanks. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2026, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1119 "2026-10-24T17:16:59Z")
naps being mentioned upthread: . > **[Frequent, Unintended Napping Tied to Higher Dementia Risk | Johns Hopkins...](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2026/frequent-unintended-napping-tied-to-higher-dementia-risk)** > > Study of nearly 1,000 older Americans finds napping habits, not just nighttime sleep, may signal or contribute to dementia risk. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653/1120 "2026-10-24T19:04:23Z")
I think… > “More frequent napping could be a marker of changes in the brain, rather than a cause of brain changes that lead to dementia,” says Adam Spira, PhD, MA, senior author of the paper and professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Mental Health. …is the clearest signal from the paper, as opposed to people who are just going to read that headline and start avoiding naps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653.md?page=55) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/countdown-to-retirement/981653.md?page=57)