Mom only had one employer her entire adult life. She started part-time when she was in college and became full-time admin asst when she graduated. One of her boss' careers took off and brought her with him at every promotion. By the end, he was an executive with the corner office in a very luxurious office building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Soon after the 3rd merger, her boss came to her and said they have 10 admin asst positions and 11 people. Mom was 18 months away from maxing out all retirement benefits, and he said that if she took a different, less luxurious position for 6 months that he could get her max retirement benefits at the end of the 6 months (i.e. max retirement 12 months earlier). Win win as he didn't have to lay anybody off and Mom got to start retirement earlier. It turns out that 12 months was a God send and the only cancer free portion of her retirement. She lost her battle with cancer 3 years and 8 months after retiring.

Dad is alive, is in good health, and has been enjoying retirement for 17 years. He only had 3 employers his entire adult life and every one was for over a decade. He took a leave of absence from work about 3 months before Mom passed and officially retired the week after her passing.

I've only had 2 employers my adult life. I'm 3 years, 6 months, and 19 days from being retirement eligible. Sure I could work longer and make more money, but Monte Carlo analysis already shows I'll have a 99% chance of having enough money. I don't know if my longevity will be like Mom's or Dad's, but I plan to err on the side of caution and retire soon after I'm eligible.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

I've only had 2 employers my adult life. I'm 3 years, 6 months, and 19 days from being retirement eligible.

You're obviously younger than I and have had only 2 employers. Thank you for making me validating my feelings. Outside of the Navy, I've had 8 employers. I thought I was going to retire from my first permanent job after the navy when I was in the shipyards. They changed the "rules" just as when I was starting my working life and I was expecting the old paradigm.

I always loved my job but then retired and found out not having a schedule is awesome. It usually comes down to what you developed outside of work. If you haven’t developed a few hobbies that you enjoy you’re probably not going to enjoy retirement.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
... It usually comes down to what you developed outside of work. If you haven’t developed a few hobbies that you enjoy you’re probably not going to enjoy retirement.

+1. One of the best pieces of advice I've received from a mentor who retired was "you need to retire to something not from something." Retiring because you're sick of [insert work BS here] is a recipe for being miserable. Instead, I'm retiring to [insert hobbies, volunteer, start a business, travel, be a more involved grandparent, etc] is a recipe to enjoy and find fulfillment in retirement.

Unfortunately, a different coworker didn't take that advice. He hated work and retired with the sole goal of no longer being employed by my employer. He was even more unhappy in retirement and 6 months later committed suicide.

I will be 70 this December. I like what I do. I've worked as a Light to Heavy Equipment Mech all my life.
I'll keep being full-time until my dad passes (he's 92+) and then decide where I want to live/work.
I'd love to live somewhere that I can keep wrenching, at my pace.
I'd prefer to stay away from Quarries, spent 25+ years on super-heavy junk!
I retired twice, maybe this time it will stick.

I punched out at 59.5 (17 years, 1 month, and 15 days ago ). The previous year I had suffered a heart attack. Decided that the stress and pressure of management wasn't worth it and that the medical issue was a wake up call that if I wanted to enjoy the "fruits of my labor" I needed to bail.

Turns out health issues have continued to impact my retirement with my loftier bucket list entries simply unattainable. But if anything I kinda wish I'd punched out a few years earlier than I did. So while I thoroughly enjoyed some assignments, and others not-so-much, during my dual full careers (military and later civilian), I absolutely unequivocally do NOT miss going to work!