retirement done wrong.

[KC911]

Mission accomplished Patrick

[dmcummins]

I’m 61, retired at 50. Sure I gave up earning quite a bit of money over that time. But I have enough to do pretty much what I want. I like to golf, shoot , and fly my plane. We also travel, that’s more of the wife’s thing.

My mother passed away when she was 55, so I know you never know when your time is up. My old job paid well, but took up all my time. Now I still don’t feel like I have enough time to do everything I want, but I don’t have work wasting most of it.

My dad retired at 57, the year mom died. He currently is 83 and living in assisted care. He was in pretty good shape till about 78, then started going downhill. Had a couple of strokes and now has to use a walker and has dementia. I’m glad he at least had quite a few good years to do what he wanted. He always said he wished he had quit working sooner.

[billybek]

My dad pretty much retired in his early 60s but was still doing small projects in the garage until his mid 70s.
He was a weldor by trade and will be 90 at the end of this month. 90 weldor years are like 120 years for the rest of us....
He was pretty healthy until about 6 or 7 years ago when he had a (some?) mini strokes and had developed Alzheimer's like symptoms.
Now he sleeps most of the time and is losing weight. Hope he makes it to his birthday but also hope he doesn't have to suffer too much longer.
He and my mom were able to travel and spent winters in Arizona until purchasing health coverage became to costly to justify.

[t6dpilot]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

I retired at 59 about a year ago, so it's still pretty fresh. I can see now how retirement can cause killer stress for those who don't prepare their mind properly. It's all about contentment. We did it a lot differently from most by selling all our crap and living the gypsy life in a luxury 5th wheel. So every day is a bit of an adventure - but rarely stressful. We're now traversing life with a very, very light load, living comfortably and debt-free on <10% of what we used to. The only way to make the plan work is to lose the desire to own 'things' (i.e., big houses, cool cars, expensive watches/jewelry, pole barns to put more crap in, etc., etc.) and lose the notion that you need to maintain your current lifestyle until you die. If you're getting your retirement advise from a financial adviser, you're doing it wrong! Like they say, less is more. Way more.

Cool to see you check in here Curt and give a brief synopsis of how things are going. Glad it is going well for you and K. My biggest challenge is giving up "stuff" - cool cars, aircraft, etc.

I "retired" at 52 from the corporate world and reinvented myself to do something I absolutely love and now fly for the airlines. I used to stress about work and managing up and down the chain from the moment I got up until shortly before bed. Weekends too... I decided to kiss the EBITDA cowboys goodbye and try out getting paid doing something I love.

OK so it is not official retirement, but I call it my retirement job, with a wink, wink. I used to be more wound up and in a less than chipper mood doing the corporate thing. I am now way more relaxed and my family says they have never seen me more happy in general. Sure it is "work" and getting back from a trip is always met with a profound sense of joy, but I look forward to every single time I go to the airport and get in the cockpit. I would probably fly every leg if given the choice. Plus health insurance is great and that is important to us. And I have way more time "off" than in corporate life. Plus, when you shut the Master Switch off, you are DONE for the day. Just hope the health stays good...

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Life truly is like a roll of toilet paper - going faster and faster toward the end.

What a great way to describe it.

If you want to live, you gotta chase life or death catches up.

That's an original by me.

My uncle just turned 91, a friend took him for a ride on a Model-T, he liked it so much that he just bought a Model-A with a rumble seat for himself.

I'm thinking that car might help keep him alive with his boat in dry-dock this year and maybe next year too.

PBS had a program on longevity, they went to Okinawa where people live a long time. There is no word "retirement", there is a word for finding something that gives meaning to your life though. Typically that is gardening.

[ckelly78z]

I have no plan of ever stopping work cold turkey, that would kill me. My plan is to transition into something I want to do, that makes me a bit of money, and keeps my mind, and body occupied, and busy. This will probably be fixing/restoring wheeled items in my shop. Gardening will save us alot of money, and keep us active. We will probably use our camper quite often also. If I find myself restricted to the house/chair from health concerns, I will probably take up building model cars/airplanes like I did in my youth.

My other thought is to help local farming freinds driving a grain truck, or a feild tractor, and possibly helping an entrepeneuer freind of mine in one of his many endeavors.

When my time is up, it's up, I don't want a long slow decline.

[MRM]

One of my wife's former bosses retired sometime in his early 60s after a long and successful career managing a business group for a Fortune 500 company. To ease the transition he and his wife booked a once in a lifetime 30-plus day around the world cruise to start the day after he retired. He thought that the anticipation of the vacation would keep his mind off retirement, and that the cruise would be like a long vacation, and no one wants to go back to work after being on vacation. It seemed to work. I would like to do something like that when my wife and I retire.

[CalPersFatCat]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

...Into something else that excited me, involved people, and had a money making opportunity. I really dislike the Real Estate industry...filled with 'used car salesman' types...but think I could do well there and enjoy it.

If you don't like the used car salesman types but are intrigued by $$$ in real estate, then simply avoid those areas of RE that are transaction based. Investigate the ownership, development or value add/re-positioning side of it.

Sure you will have transactions when you buy and sell, but generally speaking, the larger the asset, the longer between transactions. Find a great broker, monetarily prove your loyalty to him, and the sleaze side of it will greatly decrease. Your only challenge will be in sorting through the level of lying/deception by the seller with regard to deferred maintenance and economic occupancy.

DL

[Joeaksa]

I turn 66 this coming January and still enjoy my work plus the boss just gave me another raise. Guess I will hang on another year or so then give it up...

Having fun at work sure helps!