I'm so glad to be retired........

[Mike Lewis]

I lived in the Baltimore-Washington area for 32 years before retiring. The region gets about one or two good snowfalls in a typical winter, just enough to be fun imo, but not enough to learn how to drive in it. This may have contributed to the mess on I-95 this week but I think jackknifed trucks blocking the highway were the main problem.

I retired and moved back home to Florida in 2012. The years since my retirement have been the happiest of my life, without question. Don't fear retirement, embrace it.

[Vermilye]

I retired in December, 2002. A good retirement plan has me now making more than I did when I retired. There have been ups & downs, I miss teaching, but overall, it has been great. Hard to believe it has been 19 years, although to follow cpaharley's dad, I would have to hang around another 13 years & 90 years old!

[GeorgeB]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Our dog Jake likes to get up at 5:30 AM. He might not even need to go outside , just wants to get up and bark at the neighbors some as far as 3/8 of a mile away when they exit their driveway. He’s a good watchdog and I can live with getting up that early. Because after things calm down we both go back to sleep and take our first nap of the day. I cannot believe that I got up at 5:40 every morning, even on the weekends when I was working. So now I just assess the load of traffic on the county highway for about 15 seconds and say Man, I’m glad I am retired.
Iowa , where you can slide into the ditch on your way to coffee and walk. 1/4 mile to a farmhouse, wake a farmer, get pulled out with a used $150,000 tractor, and be rejected when you offer him money for the tow. But when you get to coffee, 5 miles away, and you’re late, everybody knows where you went in, who pulled you out and that since he didn’t charge you, (never does) you ought to pay for everybody’s breakfast.
Love those Internationals

My wife would drive into a ditch every winter going to college. Never had to pay for a tow truck. Always an old farmer with a tractor and a good heart.

[nepaweb]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Sixteen years now, my father said the length of retirement should equal and exceed the length of employment to earn the retirement....14 years to go!

At age 96 my father in law is in his 38th year of retirement. He took an early retirement package offered by his employer after 30 years on that job. He hasn't earned a paycheck since that time but has found plenty to do to keep busy ever since.

Not only did he beat the system on retirement but he is also one of the few, if not the only person to have survived both the Battle of the Bulge and the delta variant.

If we could all be so fortunate.

[marsman]

I've been retired 5 years now and I also highly recommend it to all who can do it. One of the biggest differences I've noticed since I retired is that there are certain household tasks I used to not like that I love doing now.

For example, today we've had quite the blizzard here in central Ontario (still going now), so far we've had about 6" of snow with a lot of drifting; so this morning I sat at my living room window relaxing for couple hours drinking coffee and watching the blizzard. Then went outside and slowly cleaned all the walkways, stairs and drive over about 1.5 hours. It was a lot of fun!

Back inside had a big mug of hot chocolate and fell asleep on the sofa watching the snow fall...very nice....

[John in Santa Cruz]

When you're retired, every day is Saturday!

re dogs, our last dog, Maggie the yellow lab, may she RIP, was very quiet. she would WOOF! once if a stranger came up the driveway, and if I didnt' come pronto, she'd WOOF WOOF! a second time to make sure I'm coming. she almost never just barked and barked.

we currently have our son's dog Seamus, he's a McNab (short hair border collie) and he'll bark at ANYthing for ANY reason. deer in the canyon behind the house? BARKBARKBARKBARK. squirrel in the trees? BARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARK!!

he's totally deaf so you can't yell at him, either.

[GeorgeB]

Originally Posted by stratos175

How can someone not like being retired?

Soon to be 4 years ago I got fired from a company that for most of the 21 years my rep firm represented them they told me I was part of their family, told many of the other firms they would never fire me, they were 85% of my firms income. Well guess what, they changed their mind. At first I panicked then some of my money advisors said Steve how much a month do you truly need to live on? Well after doing the math and having two retirement counselors check it I've never looked back, happy to say I got to retire at 57.

Only problem I have is my better 1/2, she is not quite ready to call it quits yet, 3 more years she says so we only get to use our Escape a few times a year.

Enjoy the journey,

Steve

Stratos175, That reminds me of a business seminar I attended. A son who inherited his business gave this as his last words of advice. “You don’t have to increase wages or give great insurance coverage. All you have to do is make them believe they are a part of something great and part of the family.” The room applauded him; I threw up a little in my mouth. I'm glad you got to retire.

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Stratos175, That reminds me of a business seminar I attended. A son who inherited his business gave this as his last words of advice. “You don’t have to increase wages or give great insurance coverage. All you have to do is make them believe they are a part of something great and part of the family.” The room applauded him; I threw up a little in my mouth. I'm glad you got to retire.

And people continue to blame those "lazy" people who just want stuff for "free" on why the labor market is so tight.

3 years and I'm out. Sooner if I can swing it.

[GeorgeB]

Originally Posted by WillyB

And people continue to blame those "lazy" people who just want stuff for "free" on why the labor market is so tight.

3 years and I'm out. Sooner if I can swing it.

3 Years 20 Days for me...I have a count down app on my phone. :-)

[sofmerc]

I'll be turning 63 this month and am not real sure about full retirement. I love my job and have away from it for the last 4 months dealing with throat cancer and radiation treatments. The thing I miss most is going to work for my month on as a Tugboat Captain. The job leaves me plenty of time off,1 month on, 1 month off. I'm having a hard time reconciling not being able to go to sea again in retirement. Hopefully I have many more seagoing adventures before the lord says enough. I'm hoping to go back to work later this month..we will see

[Iowa Dave]

I worked with a man who was about 6 or 7 years older than me. Bud Derhammer had grown up in the same neighborhood as my family. He became the concrete foreman for the city streets department, I was the Parks Superintendent. One day I had several little things to do downtown. It was November cold outside. I got about 4 blocks from my pickup and was on my way back. Bud pulled up and said “Get in”. He took me back to my truck. When we stopped Bud wanted to talk. He asked me how long I had till I could retire. I admitted that I didn’t know for sure. He said “you need to get one of these”. He put his fingers around a stack of paper held by a clipboard. Under the board was a single sheet of paper. It was a typed paper with a “countdown” till he could retire. Bud said “Tina (his admin) gives me a new one the first of every month”.

I thought it was a little strange but I didn’t forget it. About a month later I thought about his countdown. I penciled a countdown together allowing for calendar quarters and birthdays and totaled it up towards the magical 85. Service plus age , and full pension at 30 years. I was closer than I’d guessed. When I hit the date needed, my attitude changed. There had been downsizings, early out offers etc. But with the date behind me, my manta became “I can go anytime.” And my inner feeling was “They can’t get me now”.

I worked 2 1/2 years longer than I had to, retired, worked for a turf and landscape materials company for nearly 4 years and then called it quits. That was in 2013. A couple months later Rita bought the first Escape and it’s been a pretty darn good ride ever since. I will say it took a little while to work into believing I could get paid without working after 50 years of seasonal and full time work.
Updating my countdown and remembering that day in the pickup with Bud are good memories.
Iowa Dave

[cpaharley2008]

Wow, so many varied careers involved in Escape ownership....... proud heritage!

[rmitch]

Since retiring my favorite day of the week is Monday, Kids are back at school, everyone else is back at work, and I can do whatever I want without a crowd. The best part is I get a monthly check to do whatever I want!

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by sofmerc

I'll be turning 63 this month and am not real sure about full retirement. I love my job and have away from it for the last 4 months dealing with throat cancer and radiation treatments. The thing I miss most is going to work for my month on as a Tugboat Captain. The job leaves me plenty of time off,1 month on, 1 month off. I'm having a hard time reconciling not being able to go to sea again in retirement. Hopefully I have many more seagoing adventures before the lord says enough. I'm hoping to go back to work later this month..we will see

Jack: I'm sure you have some great stories. Wishing you a quick and full recovery.

[escape artist]

Hi: Iowa Dave... In my case I got to watch to many fellow Transit workers die before they got to retire. In their case the payout was 50K. So far I've had more than double that. I'm just glad the transit co. doesn't run the pension fund!!! In Ontario all municipal workers are members. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[azjack]

I put in my 30, now 25 retired and hoping for another dozen and a nearly new Escape to enjoy it with. Nancy's mother made it to 101 so I'll have to keep up with her in case she follows in her Mother's footsteps.
AZjack. P.S. The 30 was mostly what I enjoyed.

[Centex]

While I was lucky to really (really!) enjoy the vast majority of my working career, changes beyond my control finally meant 'the thrill was gone' as I approached age 55 / ~30 years in the workforce. With some trepidation (relating to both financial security and personal satisfaction) I elected to retire with "full pension benefits" at relatively young age 55, that'll be 14 years ago on March 31, 2022.

Within a short few months I joyfully accepted that retirement was the greatest thing since sliced bread and haven't looked back. Perhaps fortunate that the financial side has worked out much better than planned or anticipated and I've certainly had no problem keeping myself active, stimulated, and gainfully busy.

The ability to redirect more of my precious time to hands-on support of several IMO worthwhile 'volunteer' organizations and my own avocational interests has been wonderful and personally satisfying.

It seems there's lots of similar tales here, I wish the best for everyone facing the opportunity to experience a fulfilling 'life after career' at whatever age.

[kathytony1985]

I retired early @ 56, 9 years ago. My husband is now counting down, 14 months and 26 days until he retires from the USPS Vehicle Maintenance Division. He will be 62. We are looking forward to full-time traveling in our new 21NE for as long as we are able.

[Shiny]

Coming up on 3 yrs retired, I miss the work but not the stress.

I always joked about dying in a cubicle so I was truly blessed to retire.

In my last job the VP would gather his org every year and share his philosophy of intentionally overloading employees beyond their capacity. He and his managers knew we couldn't do everything asked of us. No, I don't miss that environment.

On the positive side, I was lucky to get paid for stuff I liked doing for 43 years. I collaborated with some amazingly smart people to address some fascinating problems. I had the support of a wonderful wife who sacrificed and took care of our sons when I could not.

Retirement - Tuesday I made the 3 minute drive home after playing pickleball and told my wife it was just like going out to recess in the 5th grade. I start the day reading forums with a cup of coffee instead of sitting in traffic for an hour. Every day is productive because we do what we want to do.

[Roger C H]

I have heard that the Keto diet is good for cancer because cancer needs lots of carbs. I haven't been able to get our own daughter to try it, but there it is if you want to. God bless you and Happy New Year.