quote:

Originally posted by jcsabolt2:
... how did you determine what you wanted to do.

I may be kind of an outlier, but I felt like you for the first couple of months after I retired 7 years ago. When people asked what I did with myself, I felt like I had to say something to show I was still keeping busy.

But then I dawned on me: I had worked non-stop from 15 years old until the day I retired. I worked one, sometimes two jobs in college, and worked full-time when going to law school at night. I earned the right to do nothing and not feel bad about it. So, now when people ask me what I do in retirement, I say "As little as possible".

One aspect of retirement I really love is doing what I want to do when I want to do it and not having to ask anyone's permission. 6 days ago almost on a whim I decided to hop on my bike and head down to Little Switzerland, NC from my home in PA. My goal was to ride the entire length of the Blue Ridge Pkwy 469 miles start to finish. I was only able to ride about 220+ miles due to closures but I still enjoyed riding the parkway and enjoyed the totally awesome motorcycle roads in the area. I spent 5 weeks in Montana another 7 days in VA and 6 days in NC/TN this past week. Just could never had done that if I wasn't retired.

No clue yet. I could've retired in 2023. I have to retire in 2031 at my current job. I will be 56. I haven't planned on what do to afterwards. My youngest grandchild will be 10. My youngest will be finishing college.

I thought about going back to school to finish my bachelor's but I wouldn't do anything with it. I don't plan on going back into anything law enforcement related. 33 years will be enough.

I have years of model kits to put together but that will only take me so far. I really want to buy some land and try farming.

I retired three years ago at the age of 52 & began collecting my state pension.
After decades of working in that prison, I am very happy to never have to go back there again.
There’s a difference of being ready to retire versus prepared to retire and I’m thankful that I was actually prepared for retirement financially.
But I wasn’t prepared for was the fact that I found out I actually like having a job and something to do.
I also realized quickly the difference of going to work because you want to versus knowing you have to to pay the bills.
Knowing that I was doing this because I chose to because I wanted to and that I could walk away anytime I wanted completely changed my perspective.
I actually enjoy doing what I do now.
The only thing that was important to me was the schedule not the money.
Since the money wasn’t needed I was able to find something I wanted to do with the schedule I wanted that would permit me to continue to travel with my wife on the weekends in our motorhome.
In three years, my wife retires and starts collecting her pension & at that point we will decide how we go forward.
We had plans, but her recent cancer diagnosis will probably play a factor in what she decides to do in the future. (she’s in remission now.)
It took me about three months of sitting around the house with nothing to do except my hobbies to realize I actually like having a purpose, a reason to get up.
At first, I thought my hobbies would be plenty to keep me busy as I have a lot of them.
But they went from being something I look forward to doing to simply being all I had to do to kill time. Just wasn’t the same.

Still love my hobbies & stay busy in my shop with projects & on our property and I know there will come a time when I won’t wanna work anymore and my hobbies will always be there.
But that was something I hadn’t prepared for as I was more focused on making sure I was financially set before walking away and retiring.
If you are actually fully secure financially then there’s no reason not to move forward with your plans.
It’s an amazing feeling. One I hope everyone gets to experience.
Good luck on your future!



Hobbies help fill in the lulls & keeps my mind working

I've been retired 3 1/2 years. I have no idea how I ever had time for a job!

The decision to retire was pretty sudden, driven primarily by a work environment that had gone seriously downhill during covid. I didn't feel quite financially ready, but another year wasn't going to change my available spending money much.

At first there was certainly some laziness because, well, I could. And also a large measure of covid insanity having shut down most group or public activities. I did start projects I had wanted to do but didn't have the free time while working. As the covid craziness subsided some, there were more activities available with other people.

From that first year I discovered a few things I wanted to really focus on. You probably have some ideas of what interests you. Brainstorm it and write down a list of ideas. Write a book, learn to scuba dive, visit historic sites, etc.

A bit of a surprise to us was feeling socially isolated. Covid was certainly a very big contributor, but also we lost our work friends and weren't involved with outside interest groups. We found our neighborhood to be poorly suited to our social needs, so we moved to a much better but nearby area.

My general advice to someone in your situation is to ease into retirement with part time work for the last couple of years if at all possible. This will give you free time to experiment with different things you think you want to pursue. And you can find a group of similar people to become friends with. Retiring is a process not a moment. Lots of things change, almost all of which are positives, but it's like landing in a foreign country where you don't speak the language nor know what any of the food is. Easing into it makes the transition less stressful.

Another piece of advice is to set up your financial plan so that it, too, transitions into retirement smoothly. Probably you will want a different risk/reward profile, and to have several years living expenses in liquid assets (bonds, money market, etc). You will change from being in earning mode to spending mode, and your finances will change from accumulation mode to preservation and controlled spending mode. Ideally you would have a several year plan that starts to transition the portfolio before you retire, so that it is ready to go on the day you do retire.

Taxes are totally different in retirement. Even if you retire at 58, you'll soon bump into various key ages like 59 1/2, 62, 63, 65, 67, 70. Knowing what is coming up will help you avoid some big tax traps and you can make better decisions.

Financially speaking, have a plan and execute the plan. Whatever it is that makes sense for your situation. Your plan should be resilient against the typical economic cycles, which means even in down cycles you can be confident that your plan is safe. Which means you can sleep well at night.

I forgot to mention,
I know four people who are a crap load of inheritance money on traveling.

One guy just finished touring every M.L. B. Ball Park.

Another fella and his wife go on three guided tour vacation per year.

A third has visited nine national parks in three years.

I retired from 30 years in LE and military at around 54. I was not comfortable with just doing "fun" things. So, to answer OPs question. I deal with retirement by being a full time college professor. Depending on the day, or who you ask, I'm either doing retirement right, or totally don't get it. My father worked until the day he passed or there about. In his mid 80s he asked me if he should retire. I told him, if there's something you would rather do with your time, do it. Otherwise, why not keep doing something that you think is worth your efforts.

Don't be terrified. I thought I'd just keep working until I no longer could...mostly because I still enjoyed it.

But my wife, who is MUCH smarter than I, had been planning for years. I realized she was right about when to retire and how to prepare. Most of all, we both like to travel (two or three times a year, nothing extravagant). I play golf 2-3 times a week and almost always walk so I stay in shape.

Let it come to you.

I'll be 62 at the end of the month,
could possibly file in 6 months,
or wait till 65
or wait till 67 or so,

small business owner, have 4010K's from previous employment that I have not drawn from

not sure what I will do, and honestly have not given it much thought

but need to

All depends on you, we can't say.

My dad broke his leg at work and was forced to retire. Workers comp case at 90 years old. Two years later now, he'd go back tomorrow if he could. He's miserably bored. The lack of physical activity and mental stimulation is taking a toll on him, quickly.

I'm the opposite. At 56, I'd retire tomorrow if I could. But I'm just getting by on full pay, don't know how I could ever get by on so much less. I'll probably have to work till I drop dead on the job.

I would only add to all the very good posts here to be mindful of your health insurance costs until you reach the age to start Medicare (65)! Monthly costs are very expensive unless you are covered by some sort of plan from your previous employer! I'm talking about upwards of $2,000 per month. Do your research!

^^^

This is the ONLY thing I fear in retirement. I plan on retiring early to late 50's and insurance/medical care until Medicare will be a huge expense.

quote:

Originally posted by Boat Fun:
I would only add to all the very good posts here to be mindful of your health insurance costs until you reach the age to start Medicare (65)! Monthly costs are very expensive unless you are covered by some sort of plan from your previous employer! I'm talking about upwards of $2,000 per month. Do your research!

Even if you do have access to that insurance it may not be cheap. I knew medical was going to be our biggest challenge and planned for it. What I didn't plan on was the way my former employer would kick their retiree's to the curb. Year one renewal increase was 40%. With their subsidy we were still paying over $2000 a month when I finally went on Medicare.
Then they force me into the Advantage plan at Medicare if I want to keep the overpriced coverage they "will provide" for my wife until she turns 65.
People I worked with are now on the board and I'm frankly disgusted that they would let this happen. As a retiree with 30 years in, they have really not been on my side. If you get what I mean.

We've been using Christian Healthcare Ministries for our insurance. Total monthly cost for both my wife and I is $575. That's lifetime unlimited maximum included, so we could get the next tier down for less.

The only significant concern is they limit coverage on pre-existing conditions for 2 yrs. Other than that the coverage is quite good - better and cheaper than under my or my wife's employee plans.

Retirement is something different than simply not going to work. That definition leads to stress and bad decisions.

Retirement is properly defined as having reached financial independence, adequate to support you through your likely remaining life. You aren't precluded from continuing to earn compensation, but you don't have to.

What you do after this point is purely voluntary. If you get personal gratification from your current work, that's great. The pay is irrelevant to the decision to keep working, but certainly a bonus to your heirs.

Retirement is the freedom to choose what you do. If you were not being paid for your work prior to retiring, would you be doing that work? Or, to look at it differently, if your employer offered you full pay with the option of coming to work or doing whatever else you wanted, would you keep going to work?

For me, it was an easy decision to retire several years ago at the age of 61. Even though I owned and operated my business for 16 years, and could have continued on, for various reasons it was time to let go, and evaluation of our financial situation made it even easier. As someone else posted, don't be terrified, let it come to you. My wife, who is younger, still works in the medical industry, still likes her job, and covers our health/eye/dental insurance needs. I have no trouble keeping busy with chores/projects and various interests.

I live on a street that is populated by older retirees (only one house has children) and my neighbor across the street, a retired dentist, gave me advice which I accepted wholeheartedly- don't expect every single day to be a gangbuster busy day; hell, embrace those days when you have nothing planned, nothing to do. And he's right.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
I told my wife I would retire when work (software engineering) wasn't fun anymore. The last three months changed my outlook. I don't look forward to going to work on Monday. It's a bit of a grind. I don't hate it but damn, hanging out on the porch with my smarter half seems like fun. Traveling with her seems like a good idea. Now is the time for me to hang up the keyboard. No fears here, I hope you can get your mind wrapped around changing gears.

Almost exactly the same for me. I've been in IT since I was 22 in all kinds of jobs. I'll be 60 soon and enjoyed my work until the last few months. Now I can't wait to get out. Too much corporate BS and, though it has it's uses, "AI" being jammed down our throats.

A lot of for me is not just my lifespan (no one in my immediate family has lived past 80) but my "health span." I take care of myself, but the next 10 years I think are the most important and I feel like I am literally wasting the rest of my life working.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:

quote:

Originally posted by jcsabolt2:
... how did you determine what you wanted to do.

I may be kind of an outlier, but I felt like you for the first couple of months after I retired 7 years ago. When people asked what I did with myself, I felt like I had to say something to show I was still keeping busy.

But then I dawned on me: I had worked non-stop from 15 years old until the day I retired. I worked one, sometimes two jobs in college, and worked full-time when going to law school at night. I earned the right to do nothing and not feel bad about it. So, now when people ask me what I do in retirement, I say "As little as possible".

I get the sentiment. I just say “whatever I want when I want to”.

I’m so glad I retired early. I watched my father in law work until he was 70 because he never established anything outside of work. Every year for ten years it was going to be next year. On a Monday morning he wasn’t feeling good so he worked from home. He was in the hospital by noon and never made it out. I just go over all the plans he had with his wife that he was going to get to when he retired. Definitely didn’t need the money so it was a waste to give his last ten years to a company instead of his wife and himself.

When my place of work closed it was a blessing in disguise. It afforded my wife and I to take shifts and care for her mother until her last breath. That kept me busy for a while but after that it was weird not getting up everyday and going to work. Surprisingly to me that wore off and after a year I can’t imagine having to go into work on a fixed schedule again. When you decide to do it you might be surprised.

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
When my place of work closed it was a blessing in disguise. It afforded my wife and I to take shifts and care for her mother until her last breath. That kept me busy for a while but after that it was weird not getting up everyday and going to work. Surprisingly to me that wore off and after a year I can’t imagine having to go into work on a fixed schedule again. When you decide to do it you might be surprised.

That’s my absolute favorite thing about retirement. No schedule.

I remember when I first retired and my wife asked me “can we go” and I interrupted with a yes before she was done asking the question and she just busted out laughing.