I absolutely hated working. It got in the way of everything I wanted to do, but I loved the money. I was never in it for any kind of satisfaction or gratification. The misery ended 14 years ago and I was set free from the scourge of ass kissing and pretending I actually gave a shit. I put it in my rearview mirror. The only regret I had was not being able to do it sooner.

That said I found plenty to do of my liking. Anyone who worries about what they will do without the grind simply has no imagination. Your days will fill with plenty to do and the only permission you need is yourself and your health. The idea of finding a little job to putter around in will just put you back under someone's thumb. So relax and enjoy life, it's short enough as it is.

Year 10 of retirement. What I'm thinking about, with my morning coffee, is if I'm going to pick pole beans today or let them sit on the vine another day. This is my most important decision of the day and most decisions I make now are no more complicated than this. The subject matter is typically about finances because if your finances are in order for retirement, all else will fall into place. If not, it can turn to shit pretty quickly. I'm not sure if I was ready, mentally, for retirement, but I sure as hell was ready for not having to go to work anymore.

Enjoy it. Get up late or don't. Get a part time job or don't. Volunteer or don't. Go for a drive or don't. Just enjoy it and congratulations!

I retired at 59 and unlike a lot of people, I absolutely loved what I did. I was a self employed Electronic Engineer selling design and programming consulting.

Homeland Security asked me to do one more job the year I retired, then they stretched it to 3 jobs a year for another 12 years and I retired again.

As long as you're financially able to do everything you want to do you'll do well in retirement and as someone else said, don't let your job define you. A lot of people do and a number of them end up dead shortly after retirement.

Finances aside , the mental thing is no big deal . Find something to stay busy and interacting with people . I'm not talking about a full time job . Part time or volunteer . Even if it's only one or two days a week . It gives you something to focus on .

Retired at 57, in the middle of prepping the old house to sell, and having a new one built. Been in the new one almost 5 mos, its starting to feel like home. Wife retired, and promptly got another job, drives in 2-3 days a week. I may get a part time job while the wife is still working, but for now I'm our gopher. Works fine for me for now.

quote:

Originally posted by Minnow:
Whenever I read about preparing for retirement, the subject matter is typically about finances. I would like to hear your thoughts on getting ready, mentally, for retirement.

I guess that, for people addicted to work, workaholics, that would be necessary. That wasn't me.

Up until about the last two years of my career I can honestly say I loved my job. I always kinda thought I'd never retire. But it got old about two years before I retired and no other new job or field sounded interesting. So, by the time I retired I was quite ready for it.

One of my best friends, about the time I decided I would retire in a couple years, asked "But what will you do? Won't you be bored?" I told him I doubted those would be problems, and they haven't been. On the rare days I do find myself bored, at loose ends, it's not because I've nothing to do, but that I don't feel like doing any of the multiple things I could (or, sometimes, should) be doing.

In this day-and-age, with all there is to see and do: If you're bored, it's because you choose to be bored.

quote:

Originally posted by Minnow:
For you guys already retired, is there anything you wish you had thought more about, before you retired,stepping out of a career, into a new realm of life?

Nope.

I retired last August. I was worried about a complete cutoff from a job I always loved, so ahead of my retirement I arranged with my employer to go back two days a week. I had a month off and then went back.

I have a pretty good pension that rolls to my wife if I die and we have no debt, so we're good financially. I just hope the 401k doesn't completely evaporate because of Brandon.

Having five days a week off and working only two is great. I have plenty of time to do things and see my grandchildren but still stay connected. Being only part-time removed all of the pressure from the job and the extra money (I have the same pay rate) is awesome.

We've been remodelling the house for the last two years, so there's always something to do at home.

I think part-time work for a bit eases you into retirement.

I retired at age 66. Don't regret retiring at all. I miss some of the people but not the daily grind. Although the job had a lot of pressure I never got up in the morning hating to go to work. So I guess I am lucky in that regard. As far as getting ready mentally for retirement, if you have kids, grandkids, maybe a few hobbies (or even just one), like to read etc I think filling all the new found time you have will take care of itself. I worked lots of overtime when I was working, so although I ate healthy, I never really exercised in a serious way. I often worked 9 hours a day and most Saturdays, so I had no gas left in the tank after work. I made up my mind when I retired that I would make getting regular exercise a priority. My first full day of retirement I did just that. I have stuck with it. If you haven't been exercising my recommendation to you is to start an exercise program when you retire. Not at all suggesting that you become a gym rat. I sure am not. But just start an exercise program with cardio and some strength training. Eric Daw has a YouTube channel devoted to exercise for seniors. Stick with it. Be consistent. It improves your mood and makes you feel better about yourself.

I always knew that in order to be happy in retirement, I would need to go into retirement with my financial house in order. That's one of the reasons why I worked as long as I did. I agree with pace40: "The subject matter is typically about finances because if your finances are in order for retirement, all else will fall into place. If not, it can turn to shit pretty quickly."

Get your hobbies going now and the big items for them etc. Don’t wait to start having hobbies. I don’t know your age or health but I know lots of people that waited to start golfing or something and find they can’t do it physically or financially starting from scratch.

Keep time for your space and self separate from your spouse, if you have one. Especially at first if you’re used to spending most of the day apart. Going from a few hours each day to all day in each other’s company can be a learning curve. This is not a bad thing, it’s an adjustment. It may not be an issue, but it can.

As someone else said, try to avoid other major changes for a little bit. Moving, remodeling, full time RV living.

If you have a spouse or partner or family, discuss what they think your retirement might entail. They may expect frequent babysitting or painting the house or other new request/demands on your time for example.

All things I’ve heard people recommend. The biggest two things I hear from retired people I know: “I shouldn’t have waited so long!” and “I’m busier now than when I was working.” Sometimes from people that expected to be bored in retirement.

quote:

I felt cut off from my employer. Retirees are cut off from the company on-line news.

This was an unpleasant surprise for me. No longer had access to the company e-mail directory. No longer had access to the online medical library. No longer had contact with my previous patients. In addition, we left Maui where I had been working and moved to Southern California where we had kids; so had to start over socially.
That was made much easier by joining a church.
Then came, over the course of several years, two granddaughters who have become the center of our lives. Our daughter has something like chronic fatigue, so she really appreciates that we had so much time to spend with the girls.

quote:

Originally posted by Powers77:

Going from net savers to drawing down savings is harder than I thought it would be.

This.

I started working regularly at 15. I was on my own and supporting myself at 17. I was never out of a job from then until I retired - working full-time through college and law school.

The first couple of months going without a paycheck felt very strange and was a big adjustment for me.

A wind-down job is a great idea. Pocket money plus time commitment.

One of the owners at my job was alarmed at talking to several peers who were still working full time in same careers well into their 70s because that was all they knew to do and had no other plans.

He (64 now) has been working since on his Year One plan. What he's doing is mapping out the big things he'd have planned, not hourly. So, go visit each of the 5 kids twice a year. Annual family beach trip. Three trips/year with few other sets of close friends. Rebuild the fence on his ~20-30 acres. That sort of stuff. His strategy is to know beforehand how he's going to already be struggling to find time for all he WANTS to do instead of putting it off indefinitely because he doesn't have anything he PLANNED to do.

I like it.

We retired last December, earlier than planned for due to a multitude of circumstances.

For me, the biggest adjustment has been suddenly feeling (and being) on the outside. As an airline pilot, for decades I've been on the inside. Access to all the behind-the-scenes rooms and hallways, access to even the concourse area when meeting an elderly parent arriving. Access to ride in the cockpit when all the seats in back are taken. Access to bring a few things through TSA like liquids which passengers can't bring.

Along with that is being on the outside of the industry and profession. Other, much younger people are getting opportunities to move up which due to timing was not available to my cohort. A lot of times I catch myself thinking "I could do that" when I see something about flying, but then realize, no, I am not allowed to do that any more.

For all those years we, as working adults, are looking for new opportunities to advance in some way. Pay, location, title, benefits, etc. It is difficult to turn off that mindset. It is a blessing not to have to worry about a career or job security, but it is a transition to letting all of that go.

Associated is the idea of no longer being whatever it is you've done during your working live. Now you are just retired. There is no stigma to being retired, though, unlike telling people you're furloughed or between jobs.

Thanks for the thread.
I am 5 years out from retiring I’ll be 44 and my oldest will be in 8th grade.

I won’t HAVE to work as I will bring home pretty much what I bring home now and have health insurance as I do now. We do just fine now and unless everything just collapses we’ll continue to do just fine. No I won’t have a Porsche or a Condo on the beach but that is alright.
I have sort of started preparing by having a little side hustle that will likely continue but with more availability once retired.
The joy is the side job is completely on my terms and hours and once I actually retire it will fully pay the kids school tuition.
Then we can devote even more money to the retirements so my wife will be able to retire sooner.

I will be able to go to the gym daily again, shoot a bit more, plan to volunteer on the building and grounds committee at our Parish, and maybe just maybe will be able to actually finish my Mustang!!!

I am looking forward to it.

Get a place at the villages,
buy a golf cart,
go online for a years supply of viagra
download the activities calendar
play golf,
go to happy hour
have fun!

I’m getting ready to find out, I’ll start my retirement on Aug 6. Right now the finances look like they’ll work out and I’m looking forward to some free time.

I’m, sorta, thinking about this as well. I already talked with my business partner that I’ll be pulling the plug at 50 (8 years out)

I think, basically, there are two directions.

Either check out from the world, garden/other hobby, go to church, precision shoot 22s, hunt, fish etc.

Or, view it as a career change. If nothing else, we need more decent people to run for office.

Every decent man learns that no one else is going to eat the poopy sandwich in front of him, so he better get started on it.

I think we really need folks to start feeling like serving in office is the same as signing up for the service.

I retired 11 years ago, and I've never found myself wandering around the house and bored. Of course I'm older now and can't do somethings I used to like back country hiking and other such activities that require a younger body. Still, my days are filled.

YMMV, but I say let it come to you. If you do find yourself bored, go get a part time job or do charity work. A good friend of mine builds houses for Habitat for Humanity and finds it quite fulfilling. But for me, that is more than I care to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Powers77:
Biggest transition for us has still been related to financial. We are both financially conservative. Wife even more than me. After 30 years of being dedicated savers we had to flip the switch and stop saving and eventually start consuming those savings.
Going on three years in (in a pandemic with rampant inflation) we have been able to get by on normal savings and my pension. Eventually we will probably need to start tapping the IRA/401K savings. That is going to be the biggest mental hurdle for us.
Going from net savers to drawing down savings is harder than I thought it would be.

Absolutely good advice. We knew how to save money: that's how we got to pull the plug early. We realized we had no idea how to spend it efficiently. We turned the savings over to a CPA firm that also does wealth management. We still control what we spend. They give us our funds in the most tax efficient manner. That's been a blessing.

You will grieve for your previous life; you can do that while still working, or after you retire, but you will do it. Whether you liked work or hated it.

Advice:

Don't get too grumpy.

Scale back from .45 or .40 or .357 Sig to 9mm.

Death awaits. But it always did, you were just too busy to notice. Laugh at it.

Do something for other people if you can.

Think of ways to screw with any of the hired help at the old age home who are tyrannical. Be nice to the ones who are nice.