Yo Pete, some love your way. Sorry, enjoy every sandwich.

Retired at 52.5 after a nearly 25 year career with public agencies with a decent pension, that was reduced some for not riding it out to 55 with great medical coverage until 65. Sold my house in the Bay Area for 6x what I paid for it in 1994, moved to the mountains, bought a great place on 3 acres with a killer shop and work harder now than I ever did around my property.

What was gunna kill me? spending another minute in the bay. The hordes of people, the traffic, the day to day BS, and did I mention the people? I was never married and had no kids so I never had to give up half my assets or pay support.. I don't live extravagantly, but comfortably. Travel is not my thing, don't race cars anymore, spend maybe too much on my Jeep, but would not change a thing.

You do you Chris, don't grind your fingers to the bone and live a little. We need to have an intervention for Cliff and get him to hang it up! Hope you and the family are well.

Hey, fella. Do what you want with the time you've got left. They don't always know how long it's going to be. You'll be missed for sure!

Swing by sometime and we can hang out at my Ranch.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1724200670.JPG



My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits.
Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside

My grandfather had a good retirement. His whole working life was at the Bank Of New Zealand and got retired off at 60 or thereabouts. Each week he got something like 40% or even 60% of a branch manager's pay until he died in his 80's.

Thanks for the replies, fellas!

Good to hear from you, Toby! Cliff is going to work a few more years but as others have said, he’s not waiting until retirement to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He’s probably off trekking the globe right now.

I tried it back in 99 after a stroke and rehab, but came out as a friend needed me to run a big project for a couple years. I pretty much semi-retired in 2003 at the ripe old age of 38. I had lots of real estate to keep me busy and it still does. Back then, I also cared for my mother since 1995 until her passing in 2022. My sister passed in Dec 2021 and that was a big shock. She was 65 + 2 months.

I have really bad spending habits, but the properties have really good cash flow. Luckily, as there is no debt.

Retired in 2015 at 55.I have a good pension and benefits. I also saved used a money guy. I’m lazy and I don’t care. We moved out of the Toronto area 2 years ago to a larger house in a smaller town.
We spent a month in Arizona this past January and a month in St. Pete’s in mid April/May.
Did I mention that I’m lazy?.
More travelling next year. I figure as we get older our health dictates if we can still travel.

If I didn't have kids to put through college I'd retire now. I think I have enough. I'm turning 50 next year.

Laziness is the father of invention.

I turned 70 in June and just got my 63rd SS retirement payment. Just showed up in my bank account like magic!

I still work in my field and really enjoy it.

The hamster wheel has just shrunken substantially and all the pressure/business/paperwork stuff has gone away.....and I'm getting paid!

And where I live.....it's like being on vacation every day! :)

My youngest is a junior in HS. Luckily we’ve planned for college expenses way ahead of time.

Medical issues forced my hand at 62. Fortunately, I have always been careful with spending and the use of borrowing. So, while I must still be careful with spending retirement has been very interesting.

I am still as busy or lazy as I wish.

If one has worked and honestly earned enough to kick back I say "good for them!".

Saddest and most Depressing thing ever that influenced me in life.

I watched a co-worker retire after 50 years at Boeing. He had lied about his age to hire on during WWII. Company gave him a cheap asss fake leather jacket or gold watch or some crap. GO Enjoy the World we all said.............

sad part.

He returned to work 3 months later well into his late 70's early 80's.


"I'm bored, there's nothing to do, my wife is driving me nuts"


how depressing. but back then "A man was his work, and the work was the man"


Too bad more people can't dream past their pinky finger when it comes to life and new adventures.

What is retirement? Not working? They say if you love what you do for a living, you'll never work a day in your life. I think that holds true for some people. I retired after 30 years at 54 years old. The first 25 weren't work. The last 5 I couldn't wait to retire and were just a grind.

I seriously don't miss a thing about it. My work was never my identity and I've always had other interests to keep me busy. In the 2 years I've been retired I've barely stopped moving.

Fortunately, financially I have the freedom to do what I want to do and being retired, the time to do it whenever I want to. I've never felt so free in my life. I too count my blessings everyday.

So enjoy your retirement, it doesn't mean your lazy. But if you decide to be lazy sometimes, who cares.

I'll be 65 in a few days and plan on retiring at the end of the year. I figure that will give me a few months at the beginning of 2025 to pack things up and get the house ready for sale. Also time to search out where we want to land.

I'm just not feeling the "spark" working in the film biz anymore. Too much financial input overriding the creative input. The pandemic and various actor/writer/director strikes didn't help either.

I spent 10 hours yesterday at Dewey, Cheatham & Howe on the 37th floor in downtown LA giving a deposition in an "Intellectual property/Proprietary information" lawsuit.

I'm soooo done with this business. I've got no debt, some savings and pension, and SS to get me by. Wife has 2 more years to go but can work from anywhere.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1724270292.jpg

I loved what I did .... hated the corporate bs ... when the "joy was gone".... then ... so wuz I ;)

Good luck with the next chapter Craig :)!

I’m 67, I retired 17 years ago. I’m happy I did. My time is my own. I got interested in early Porsches for a while, learned to fly and owned a plane up until a few years ago.

I currently golf a couple of days a week, shoot sporting clays a couple of days a week, and fish offshore weather permitting. The wife and I are going on a little trip next week, not sure how long, we will return when we want.

I worked as a construction manager for a highway and bridge contractor. Put in lots of long hours. Roads and bridges were being built before I started and they are still being built now. If I had worked till I was 60 or 65 I would have a lot more money in the bank. But I live a very good life now. And you never know when your health will run out.

Cantdrv55,

You did well tapping out of the workplace as soon as you could. I recall your job(s) weren't always easy and probably took a toll on your health and your ability to live a healthy lifestyle. We are not aware while we are in the hamster wheel, but work takes a toll on our health, especially as we age.

There is a joke, about working another year: Did you know, working an extra year pays you back 3 years in retirement? This is how it breaks down:
1 year: since you are still working, you won't tap into your retirement
1 year: since you saved for another year, your retirement fund lasts a year longer
1 year: you'll die a year earlier from the stress of the job

I read some of the comments here, where some of you claim a job or position "needs" someone direly and they are the only ones that can do the job. Before you have your funeral, someone will replace you. And after a few weeks, they will barely remember you were there.

I will follow your example, enjoy your time, you earned it!

G

Great to hear from you, G! Yes, business trips every week for over 20 years did impact my health. Whoever said business travel is glamorous was sorely mistaken. Hope you get to retire soon too.

I loved my career, but knew it was time to retire. I had a blast, but life is even better in retirement!

Thread has made me question should I retire early and if I'm fooling myself about enjoying my work

Then I remembered over the years

Went back to work next morning after being hit by a car cycling home from work

Went back to work 3.5 weeks after a cardiac arrest/3 day coma

Wet back to work on Mon. after having a hernia op previous Fri.

I must enjoy my work or I've had Stockholm Syndrome all these years :confused:

Recently when I told a friend I plan to retire in a few years he belly laughed at said 'You'll go straight from work to your grave' :eek:

Intend to prove him very wrong, I hope

For all those that have retired early, good for you, power to you for having the financial means to do what makes you happy :cool:

^^^ You need to finish your garage Cap!

Rod, you're so right, gets me down sometimes, not touched it since last Oct and I'm desperate to spend time on it :(

Have only about 5 or 6 weekends of jobs to do then I'm calling in the professionals as I can't see work calming down until earliest 2026