In my opinion if you are retired and bored or not feeling relevant then you are not applying yourself ! There is soooo much out there to do that doesn't cost an arm and a leg . Get yourself a daily exercise regimen as an example . Walk a mile or two every day with your wife or friend or another family member . Volunteer at a local shelter/food bank or volunteer to mentor youngsters . Volunteer at the local SPCA these are just a few examples there are literally thousands of opportunities out there .

There are a LOT of us that have a vast array of life experiences that can be shared with others , why take it to the grave with you ? If you want to be that grumpy old bastard with the stay off my lawn attitude then you have no one else to blame but the man in the mirror ! You worked 30 ......40 ....... 50 years to finally enjoy retirement so go enjoy it ! There are random days that I just molt on the couch but those are rare , instead I keep busy working around the house on projects/improvements . There's always a vehicle needing some maintenance .

My wife and I randomly just go on a day trip to local towns near us , it's amazing how fun it can be to just walk around a town square , visit local shops , eat a sandwich at a local deli and just see new people . We spend as much time with family/grandchildren as we can we have very full lives . If I ever get the restoration of our camper done :D we will start exploring this great land we live in .

There was a MASH episode where the Army shrink had a statement that was something like " if you want to have fun then take my advice , pull down your pants and slide on the ice " . Go have some fun folks :D and don't lose that inner child .

^^^^ Does pondering the lint in yer navel count ;)?

If you're motivated enough to "retire" early, by doing all the "right" things....then boredom is yer choich.

Nice perspective imo...

The lesson: Determine what is quality in your life. Your quality may be different than mine or anyone else’s. Define that quality and then only pursue those things; your life’s quality. I gleaned that from a book, more on that below. If you have patience to read my blabbering, this is how I have expanded that thought to my scheme of life. To address the OP, by first defining your life’s quality, you can then determine what type of retirement your aim should be.

I have had many things impact my life which has shaped my personal philosophy. These impacts have been people I have met, ridden motorcycles with, and discussions with buddies and family during campfire nights, discussions with buddies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Albania, and the Horn of Africa, and books that have struck and forged my ideas of life.

The lesson that I gleaned from fellowship, discussion, reading and pondering is to take the time to sincerely consider what is quality in your life. This is not to be determined over a beer, but rather determined over a section of your life. For some, it manifests quickly in early years, for others it takes decades. For me, it took until I was in my 40s. I was cataloging many experiences, but I was not philosophizing them. By that time in my life, I had graduated from college, been married, had two kids, flew F/A-18 and C-130s in the USMC, became an Infantry Paratrooper in the Army, fought a few battles in Iraq, traveled to Afghanistan, Horn of Africa, Republic of Korea, and Albania. I learned to sail, built a canoe, and tinkered on cars, motorcycles and other stuff. I had experiences, but I did not understand what everything really meant to me. I had made some major career changes, and major life changes. I was learning that one thing defines us all; defines our success: how we adapt to “plan-B”.

In 2012, my good friend Jake, who lives in Ohio, encouraged me to read Robert M. Persig’s book, published in 1974, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Interestingly, this book is not about Zen, nor is it about motorcycle maintenance. It reaches corners way beyond those things. If you are a reader of philosophical storytelling, consider this book that teaches the pursuit of quality.

Venus (my wife) and I have had many discussions, and we have defined our life’s quality. For us, quality is travel and experiences over things and do-dads. We know that a complicated life offers bells and whistles, but a simple life offers more; it offers freedom. Our Quality is to have good health; because health-is-wealth, a flourishing family, to stay debt free, live simply, travel, enjoy being foodies, be good citizens – be good homo-sapiens. Our quality is also on focusing on others who are close to us. We strongly believe that if you are your own life story’s main character, you are probably focusing wrongly. We also recognize that most people spend a heck of a lot of money, purchasing things that they do not need, trying to impress other people that they don’t even know.

We have chosen to accept only the best people, travels, experiences, and values in our lives, and we reject things and people that do not add value or quality in our lives. As my friend put it,

“Life is great, God gives us life, memories keep us young, bourbon makes us brave and forgetful, good friends help us live forever”. -N. Harper, 2019

I have the most wonderful family. Venus has been my life’s inspiration and partner. We celebrated our 32nd- year anniversary in 2019. We have two wonderful children who are successful adults. They are the focus of my life’s Quality, they are my life’s main characters.

In the summer of 2021 I will retire from the military after 35 years of service. I’m looking forward to it. I have the specific goal to wear out as many sets of tires as I am capable of, while motorcycling, RV’ing; and hiking boots as well. I constantly ask myself, “I wonder where that road or trail leads to?”

I leave you with my life observation on travel: As I have traveled the Earth, I have found that whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over, I do not need luxuries as freedom is more important, and that little kids and farmers are the same in every place I’ve ever been.

I hope to see many of you over the years of my vagabond travels. The good people on this board have helped me in ways that reach way beyond wrenching on my 911.

^^^^^^ Nice read & nicely said

Thanks for sharing Snapper!

I just got my daughter married last weekend, and my son just graduated college in August, so no real budget in place yet. Next year will be a better financial year than 2019, while hopefully not hitting my health care out-of-pocket limit also like the last 2 years.

It's time to buckle down, get a real budget, reduce expenses, and increase my Roth IRA withholdings. Looking to go early at 62 in 8 years.

I'm 56 and was on a plan to work another 5 years but really hated my job. My wife is 7 years older and went down to 20 hours a week this year and took her SS at 62. I then found a part time job with full benefits at a small catholic school doing their books, HR and some projects. I enjoy the work and the stress of being responsible for 300+ people is gone. Healthcare has been our biggest worry. This job having benefits has changed my plan. I'll work until 65 or later now. We can take frequent long weekend trips, terrorize our kids more, time to play with cars/bikes and walk the dog in the park. We're both calling this our partial retirement :-)

No kidding...there was a whole bunch of good in that post.

For years my MIL has been telling me that I should travel.
"you work too much you should go somewhere, see the world".
And for years I smiled politely.
I finally spoke out and in a nice way, explained to her that if I wanted to be somewhere else I would already be there.
If I wanted to travel I would be traveling.
But I don't.
I hate traveling, and just because she likes it doesn't mean that everyone else does.

Point is, everyone has their thing.
Retirement done right is freedom to do what and how you please.

And I look forward to never getting up at 4 am again, unless I want to.

As I pack for another Sunday evening through Friday evening week of travel, I can say with some confidence...I will not make travel any part of my retirement plans!

LOL! When we first retired everyone asked if we were going to travel. “Hell no! We’re retiring so we can stay home!” MrsWD says we’ve been everywhere and haven’t seen a damn thing. Got lots of pictures of signs that we took as passed by on our way back to the office - “Mt Rushmore Next Exit.”

Exactly.

If you retire with no huge passion for a hobby or some other reason to get up in the morning, You'll be dead in five years. Read the Obiits.. If you are bored, then volunteer. Gardening and a Motorhome don't cut it.
Get off your ass and get into something that makes you want to jump up out of the bed early in the morning.
If you don't..... Goodbye my friend.

There’s some uplifting thoughts!

65,retired18 months ago and sort of miss it, mostly not. I visited several dozen countries on Disney’s $. Mostly got the travel bug out of me to international locations, I got to travel business class, now its coach from LA to NYC to see the daughter and 3 grandsons, which isn’t so pleasant.

I’d like to take the new RV out a lot more, like for weeks, instead of just weekends. We’re working on that.

Well, a lot of us enjoy gardening, and there is a huge thread here about restoring a motor home. For a lot of folks gardening and a motor home are good reasons to get out of bed. WTF do you do that “cuts it.”

Travel is nice, but just to have time to have sex more than once or twice a day will make retirement rewarding and busy.

I haven't posted much in the last couple of years. Just now saw this post. I spent 23 years in the Army (11 bullet stopper the whole time). Then went in another direction and went to law school and enjoyed the practice of law for 25 years. One day, about a year ago, I woke up and came to the realization that I was no longer having fun. So I retired at 63. My wife is 10 years younger and still wants to work. Which is fine with me as I doubt she could put up with me 24/7.

So what changes have I made?

First off I have plenty of money in retirement. A result of not having much money most of the time I was in the military. So when I became a lawyer, my lifestyle did not change considerably. I paid cash for things when I could and whenever I made some extra money, I paid extra on the cars and house.

I have Tricare for health insurance which beats any health insurance I could buy. I certainly hope SeaHawk is wrong about that going away. :)

I gave up working on cars. My body seems to tolerate restoring motorcycles much more!

We live in a 100 year old house so between motorcycle restoration and maintaining the house, my days are full. I have always been a bit of a solitary person, so I don't need constant social contact.

The thing I have been thinking about the most lately is deciding where to spend the rest of our lives once my wife decides to retire. Lincoln Nebraska, while a friendly place, is not where I want to live out my days.

Oh and I just bought a new motorcycle for next season's track days. As a nod to my age and beat up body, I gave up and sold the SV650 and bought the new Kawasaki Ninja 400. I may not be fast in the straights, but should be able to close the distance in the corners! And the lighter weight should help me make it through an entire weekend of racing.

Ummm, yeah, this concerns me because I’m the same way. Idle chit chat - just talking to be talking- bores the hell out of me, so I don’t have a lot of social contact. When I read that people say about retirement (or anything really) and they say “it’s the people!”
???
There are lots of people I respect. Lots that I love to listen to and learn from. I spent my 2nd career interviewing people about their lives and their hobbies. It was my work, i was fascinated by many of them and always enjoyed listening to them. I have few Old friends l can talk with about the “good old days”, but I don’t see any of them more than a couple of times a year. I don’t see me ever seeking out people just to chat with, but I wonder, at some point what else do you have?

As a lawyer I too spent my days dealing with people. To the point that I was sick of it. I kept up contact with some of the people on this board and the BMW "Airhead" group and get together enough times to keep me entertained. And I also participate in motorcycle track days. What a great bunch of people to hang out with! So when I am alone in the shop, it's because I choose to be.