Retired guys, how has your life changed?
 

Hearing about how life has changed for those of us who are retired might be instructive to the guys who are looking forward to it in the near future. So - how has your life changed since you retired?

I'm really looking forward to retirement in a few years, I have grown really weary of working for the man/being a cog in the wheel.

I look to build a greenhouse, and have a large garden that I actually have time to tend. I also have many small home projects to get done, along with wanting to restore a few old tractors and motorcycles, and still a wood supply to secure. I can't imagine what it will be like for both my wife, and I to have an extra 10 hours every day not being at work. By then we will also have Grandkids, so I don't see alot of slack time.

I'm still the same person I was "BR" (before retirement) but my life has changed greatly. My wife and I sold out in NY State and moved south to NC. Very happy to have made that change. Lots of time to be with her, family, projects, car stuff, travel, etc. It took me about one week to transition from the work life to the retirement life, I basically walked out of the office, leaving the Blackberry, Thinkpad, keys, badges, etc on the desk, had a great party, said my goodbyes and began moving on.

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I'm 29 months or less away from retiring. My biggest challenge is finding a place/city/state to move because Chicago is financially unaffordable for me.

I have already worked thru the financial number gymnastics and I have milestones to hit before I retire. My next milestone is my youngest graduating college next year. The next is eliminating all debt - mostly from college costs. But, If I got my walking papers tomorrow from work and my year severance package, I'm out.

Everyday is Saturday:

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It took me a while to not wake up early & have a need to hit the ground running. At first it was great, this doing stuff on my schedule, things I wanted to do. Playing with a car, going to car shows, etc.

But now? At soon to be 74 years old? Well, medical stuff has reared it's ugly head, so life has become a lot of things I used to do. Frustrating as hell when your robot refuses to do as you wish and is letting you know it won't follow orders by giving you pain.

There's not much future in old age. But overall, that's okay. I've had a pretty good run so far and it's not over yet.

My life changed incrementally. I went from the full time managerial job with side, ongoing responsibilities with rental property to almost three years of a full time job of building my house. Then came the additional time needed to complete projects & work associated with that. So after "retiring" at sixty two, I've now been "retired" for thirteen years & my retired life seems like a normal life now. It's changed me in some ways, like now I wouldn't welcome having to be obligated to follow a set schedule. I appreciate not having to put up with stupid people or unproductive demands or activities at a work place. In addition to my requirements around the homestead I need to be on the lookout for entertainment opportunities on a regular basis, whereas when I was working, those kinds of things were a treat rather than things available full time in my schedule. You seem to ease into whatever your retirement life is going to be for you - I would say. Some get busy & some relax. My advice to anyone looking at retirement is to ensure you have a life and place to enjoy those things you value. Stay active physically and mentally, and keep looking for things, activities, involvements you enjoy & value. I'm lucky in that I have a sort of a three faceted environment for retirement. I live in an area offering opportunities for physical activity, near enough to a large urban setting offering cultural and other opportunities, and live in a place I love requiring attention and work to keep me busy in that respect. It's like anything else. You make it what it will be for yourself, plus you have to take into account what you think your preferences are/will be can change over time. You have to be willing to accommodate that.

I believe I might be the only senior who retired and then decided to get back into work! I am turning 70 this February. I have a unique occupation, being an Environmental Scientist going on 44 years now. I retired for over a year and found myself getting bored and lazy. I am an avid sailor, car enthusiast and try to stay active. Mickey Rooney once said, "why retire when you can inspire". I work only four days a week, enjoy working with data (beats crossword puzzles and memory expanding exercises) and find purpose in my life in this field. I have gone from cleaning up multi million dollar superfund sites to saving lakes and rivers from pollution and I love what I do.

So why not retire? Well my daughter works for a major airline and as her parents we fly free (standby) anywhere in the world the airline flies, which is all over the world. That makes taking long or extended weekends to visit family, explore new places and get out of town. That's plenty of time for us. Add my pleasure of driving the hell out of my 73.5T 911, sailing on the weekends and spending quality time with the grandkids and I am a happy individual........and still collecting a nice paycheck. I am on Medicare and take my Social Security.

So...why give up now. As long as I have my health, I will keep this going. I tell my grown children, that when I start "drooling", that's the time to pack me up and put me in the sun!

For those who are retired..congrats and enjoy your just desserts, for you all certainly deserve it. I will be there with you sometime, but for now no complaints.

Bob

I have retired several times, first was in 1985 from the 20+ years in the U.S. Navy. Then at the end of 2009 as a senior Oracle DBA. Starting in 1989 I began teaching evening computer programing classes and finally stopped that in April of this year so I guess you could say is was sort of incremental like? The time in the Navy had a very hard time on my health due to the radiation I received as a nuclear machinist mate and doing 5 reactor refueling operations. The head of UCSD Medical Center Stroke Department said the mini stroke I had several years ago was due to the long term radiation (14 Rems total) but she was surprised I was as well off as I am!!!

The biggest difference was having to give up my vintage racing due to increasingly bad arthritis in my hips, shoulders and leg joints. After my last race at Willow Springs, 30 minutes, I could barely feel the brake pedal! My doctor said she would not sign my yearly physical form, so........It was getting a tad expensive anyways so now I make black powder muzzle loading rifles and find I can do that competition okay. I an happy that my and my wife's med's are zero cost due to my 20+ Navy time!

I retired and my wife decided to keep working.
Not my first choice so gave up on the move to Texas and RV USA plan.
Spend the work hours with other retired car guys and meet for lunch frequently.
Working with contractors on the house passes the time too.
Not missing my air traffic controller career. :p
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My retirement mantra...What's for lunch? :)
and...
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Since retiring two years ago I've returned to my alma mater to make a formal study of music. If I live long enough to complete the program I want to get involved in an inner city music program. I'm hopeful that I can become an assistant conductor for a youth orchestra.

Other than that I pretty much eat when I'm hungry and sleep when I'm tired.

'Retired' at 59 a few weeks ago. Too early for a full assessment but a first pass answer is .... this is freekin awesome. But as someone who has been self-employed for 30+ years, it is far from the stereotypical gold-watch, pension, and puttering in the garage wood shop scenario :rolleyes: We sold the house, the business, the car collection, the toys, and pretty much everything else we own. To keep busy and maintain the diesel & bourbon fund, we've got a fun business we're doing from the road from here on out. We'll be spending a lot of time with the daughters who both live out-of-state.

We're roughing it in a 'camper' :D
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Yes...and not being jarred awake by an alarm clock every weekday morning is surely one of life's small pleasures.

I really enjoyed my engineering carreer...but you know what? I don't miss the working world one bit! Now, I wonder how in the world I got any of my own projects done AND worked a full-time job. Still have more stuff to do than time allows...

My last screen saver at work ↓

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So the wife can't stand the thought of having you hanging around the house all day...weekends and vacations were probably all she could stand...

Next off ramp after Retirement is the Cemetery off ramp.

So all you have left is the fantasy?

I don't hit the lottery once a month, and spend most daze outside...wouldn't go back for any amount of $ however :)

Well congrats on serving your full sentence....you is now FREEE.

In time you will grow weary of retirement to.

How bout 20M...would you do it for that?