I loved my job. (pilot - small aircraft ) Could no longer do it due to physical damage to me from the wreck. Incapacitated in such ways that all but one pastime was doable.
Due to piss poor prior planning & unforeseen costs, we live on SS.
Health for both is not real good.
If you do not have your health, you don’t really have anything. After as certain point. $$$ can not buy health.
Learn to like what you have before you have no choice.
Of the 100’s of examples of the 70 - to 90 year old’s doing amazing things & having a ball, there are millions who are not having near as much fun.
Don’t wait too long & stay in the present as long as you can.
When I applied for my first job (aged 20), they asked if I had any questions. I wanted to know what the pension was like.
It was superb (index-linked, lump sum included) and now I receive it.
I’d also paid off my mortgage before I retired and had an investment fund. (I think it’s vital to have your finances in order before retiring.)
I was lucky enough to have a final job teaching at a very good school, so when I retired (aged 55) I asked to work there part-time. The Head said I could work until I was 65.
So I run Activity clubs for the pupils (roleplaying + computer games ), benefit from the stimulation and earn extra money (without having to do reports, marking or invigilation.)
I teach a few locals bridge and chess (again with the rewards of company, self-esteem and pocket money.)
Living in the middle of England, I have visited Las Vegas several times recently, but the travelling is too much now. (Over 17 hours, largely spent in airports or flying.)
I think I’ll visit Europe by train (or maybe do a cruise.)
The steep increase in healthcare cost was the my most surprising experience. I am not sure this was all foreseeable. The institutions and the insurance companies usually work against us. The first time my medications hit the donut hole left me in disbelief.
On the positive side the relief from the need to carefully plan times and activities like going to the grocery store, or the Grand Canyon for that matter, was a most welcome surprise.
I agree. I am actually busier than when I worked, and if I’m not doing anything on my “bucket list” of things to do, I’m stressing about not doing them.
Not all of us had wonderful jobs that we wanted to do till retirement age.
If I hadn’t left my job from hell when I did, I’d already be dead from the stress. In situations like that, it’s pretty impossible to be affluent after retirement, and the best to hope for is winning the lottery, a death bequest from a relative, or learning to live within one’s means.
I don’t expect to retire. I’ve smoked for 26 years now. Longevity runs in my family (females over 90, males to the mid 80s) and so does Alzheimer’s and strokes. My aunt needs 24 care, my mother just bought a rascal. I hope to jam as much of the retired life into weekends and vacations as i can.
The varied responses in this thread have been pretty interesting. I’m six years away from retirement and, while I have some ideas of what I’m going to do, the first thing will be to decompress from 45 years of getting up and going to work every day. I have things I haven’t been able to get to that I’ll finally get around to doing but if that takes six months or six years that’ll be ok with me. By the time I get some of it done, I’m sure I’ll be interested in something else and finally have the time to go do it.
I miss strange things. Weekends for instance; and vacations. These were breaks from work which don’t occur anymore. I’ve never been much into hobbies, etc. so I have a lot of sitting around to do. I partly solved that by doing some volunteer work; first 8 hours a week, now just 4 (thinking about 8 again).
I have never liked traveling either, so that’s pretty much out and my social network is extremely small but it is mostly satisfying.
My mother is 89 and has been retired for 30 some odd years.
Initially after retirement she became a part time real estate agent. She also played in a band for ‘old folks homes’. She joined professional and college societies for retirees. She travelled. She did social work for her church, sang in the choir, did local missionary work.
And then she survived all her friends. They’re all dead now. The phone doesn’t ring anymore.
Her church, her professional and college societies have given her lots to do and feel useful. She’s pruning them now, because she’ll soon be 90.
If you live retired a long, long time, those formal clubs with a constant ingress of new retirees can be very valuable. Clubs of friends the same age–eventually they all die off.
This is us. We both left full-time employment before retirement age, and money is tight, even with SS, part-time jobs, and two pensions.
On the plus side, there are no expenses for commuting, lunches, work social functions, Beer Friday, or new clothes. We could get by with one vehicle but we choose not to.
Also on the plus side, we were home 24/7 when the new puppy came, so she was housebroken and trained very quickly. We’ve spent a lot of time gardening in the summer, and when relatives come visit, we don’t have to schedule vacation time to be with them.
Same with scheduling all kinds of appointments, doctor, repair people, deliveries. “What time is good for you?” “Anytime.” “Really. Cool.”
The best part is not ever having to set an alarm clock. The worst part is no weekend. One day is pretty much like any other.
I’m recently retired. My Wife as well. We also moved in the middle of this. Gawd, we are busy.
We mostly are hanging pictures and stuff. And don’t judge, but my wife wants to learn to shoot a handgun. She was surrounded by coyotes once, and a woman near here was killed by a cougar. I’m a shooter, so I’m teaching her.
Four table top lessons from me (there will be more). Now two trips the the range. She has tried 5 different handguns, and two of mine.
She has signed up for professional lessons. I believe that’s great. I don’t want to get in the mix of her training/education. I gave the basics.
I’ve been shooting since 1979 (I was a kid). Yes, I was a little surprised that my wife inquired about this.
I was surprised by how much I enjoy cooking, being very indolent, indulging my genealogy hobby, and taking frequent naps. About the only thing I do that’s of any real benefit to society is leading AA meetings for inmates in the nearby county jail. Also donating to PP and ACLU, but that doesn’t really require much action on my part.
Wow this is a pretty old thread that’s had a major bump.
No way. Not in the least. But some people are wound that way. Not me.
In the years as retirement approached I thought of many projects / tasks / skills to build during retirement. I tried several of them but, naah, not interested. I’m enjoying doing what I want, when I want. I enjoy doing anything at all. I got back on my motorcycle and am enjoying that immensely.
Not at all.
I travel when I want, where I want. I recently returned from a one month vacation in the Philippines.
I’ve got too much to do. Working around the house, built a landing for our stairs. My wife and I play a LOT of chess. Four games last night. We also play a lot of darts. Gonna start a garden this summer. Also bought electric bikes. And walk the dogs daily. They have a nice yard, but they love their walks. We bought a piano too and are taking online lessons.
Never really had a social network because I used to live pretty remote. There are two people I kind of miss. But now, in our new house we get visitors and friends spending the night about once a month.
Going to Iceland and Europe in August for 4 weeks.
I can barely keep up with our own schedule
We moved to a bigger house in suburbia. We wanted to be able to live on one floor. We do have a finished basement, that’s where my office is and where I am now. There is at least open space behind us and a couple of dog parks. I’ve met a number of new people at the dog parks.
I miss work very little. LESS than I thought I would. Even though I had a very pleasant and fun and interesting job. I worked in technical jobs for 50 years, and before retiring I wondered what I would do to satisfy my technical self. It seems that, at most, I sometimes enjoy reminiscing about areas I worked in, but I don’t feel motivated to do more of it.
I find more to “do” than I have the time to do it. I do everything at a more relaxed pace, and am amazed when I look at my calendars from 10 or 20 years ago with half a dozen events per day. Now I have one event on most days, and two seems too busy.
My social net has maybe frayed a little, because I haven’t put in the effort to maintain some relationships, but nobody has dropped me. I keep meaning to improve this.
I didn’t expect to travel a whole lot. For the first time in years we don’t have any cats who need daily treatments (shots, sub Q fluids, special food prep), so that’s freeing.
Yes, this, emphatically. For one thing, I do some volunteering that is based on experiences I’ve had – that is, not many people can do it. This volunteering keeps growing because it seeks me out. I’m not trying to fill my time. Indeed, the opposite. But the need keeps turning up.
Something else. I just got it done. The county I worked for for 33 years did not pay into Social Security, but rather invested it under my name. A great thing (this was offered for a short time, two Colorado counties opted in)
But good god, the retirement/seperation papers where 100 pages. I had to sign in 13 places. About as complicated as buying a house.
Luckily, we have a financial advisor. We at least saw this coming.
Since neither of us work for County Government anymore, we can’t use the County Government retirement assotiation. Those monies have to be moved.
I was let go from my company after almost 25 years of working there at age 58. I had planned on quitting at age 60, so financially my wife and I were sitting pretty good with only some minor adjustments to our retirement plan. Wife is 5 years younger than me and she plans on retiring when she is 60.
I do not miss work, I enjoyed the actual job task that I was doing and took pride in it, but I was amazed how much stress I had been under making sure the job was done right while dealing with coworkers who didn’t seem to care and a supervisor who would jack me around on trying to schedule (and take) vacations, among other things. I realized after the fact that a huge weight had been taken off my shoulder and the improvement in my overall heath, mental and physical, shows it.
I have a hobby of buying used push mowers and snow blowers at rummage sales and fixing them up and reselling them. Because I like to piddle-fart around what should take me 2 hours, now might take all day, but who cares, I am retired. I also have a garden in the summer and taken over a bigger share of the housework.
As to the question in the title? I attend a men’s breakfast a church on Wednesday morning with almost all the attendees being retired. I am surprised at the lack of meaningful activity some of these guys say they are doing all day. They go home, watch TV, eat lunch, take a nap, watch TV, eat supper, watch more TV, and go to bed. It seems work was their life for 40+ years and never learned how to do anything else (hobbies?) outside of work.
My wife may volunteer at a horse rescue center. She’s an equestrian. Rode on a team in college (English style). She may not have time though. She has signed up for a Pickle Ball class. I have signed up for a pastels class. I may sign up for fencing. The pointy kind, not the wood kind. I’m done building fences. En garde!
Oh, and my wife just ordered a .38spl . I’m teaching her how to shoot. She asked, I was rather surprised.
Since the OP is from 2013, I’m wondering how retirement is now working out for them. @pullin posted a couple days ago so is still an active Doper. How’s retirement treating you, pullin?
), benefit from the stimulation and earn extra money (without having to do reports, marking or invigilation.)