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Old 06-17-2019, 01:28 PM   #21
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20 years ago I quit my corporate job and took a "practice retirement", we bought a trailer and hit the road traveling extensively for three years. Didn't take long to get the hang of it, and liked it just fine When our funds started to run short I went back to the corporate world. Got laid off from that 10 years ago and spent several years volunteering with a cat rescue group. Not having much of an income turned out not to be a good life strategy So I got into building catios - outdoor cat enclosures - and built up a business doing that. Hoping to keep doing that a few more years and defer social security to let it grow bigger. When I do eventually retire, I'm not sure I'll know what to consider myself retired from.
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Old 06-17-2019, 01:31 PM   #22
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Retired after 40, all phases of IT and electronics. Similar story to Donna, company bought out by big multinational. Went from loving work to dreading every day. Haven't missed it at all in the 5 years I've been done.

I have recently started attending a small country church. They are/were having computer issues with a recently installed AV system. As no one knows anything about computer systems I took a look at it. I've enjoyed correcting what was wrong. Like riding a bike.

I still find I do not have enough time in the day to get everything done I;d like to get done. Of course half way through the day I'm tired out.
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Old 06-17-2019, 02:29 PM   #23
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My retirement was not by my choice . I liked working at my trade and really miss the feeling of taking blueprints and making them reality
Retirement is not as bad as I envisioned and not as good as I hoped
i could return to the trade ,but a my age I would have a hard time earning my wages and it’s unfair to expect the younger workers to pick up my slack .
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Old 06-17-2019, 04:26 PM   #24
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I was an Army Infantry Officer for 32 years. My wife says the only thing I miss is when I enter a room now instead of "Ten-Hut", Nobody cares!
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Old 06-17-2019, 04:55 PM   #25
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There are so many differing feeling and sentiments about retiring. I have met quite a few like Tom, and think it has to do with the type of work done, with his not very easy to do much of in retirement.

After graduating as a Civil Engineering Technologist, I applied for Civil Engineering at the University here, and though accepted decided a bit ahead to forego it. I know I could have done fine in school and would be able to do the work in the office, BUT in hindsight for my preferences I am very glad I stepped down from the Engineering degree, as working on site, even though much of it was manual, is WAY more appealing to me then sitting in an office most of the time. This is me though, and know it does not work that way for everyone.

At 61 I am semi-retired though have some customer jobs awaiting and a horde of personal work to do if and when I want. I will continue do some smaller jobs (all my employees are laid off) for previous customers if I have the time and it is something I would like to do. Fortunately being a renovation and building contractor I can carry on with what I did as much as I feel I need, and can incorporate much of that into working on my trailer if I want.

My biggest consideration for doing future work (other than my pathetic physical condition now due to my fall)) is that it does not interfere with my travel, fun, family and friend time. I imagine I will quit almost completely by 65 or so.
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Old 06-17-2019, 07:27 PM   #26
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I started retirement just short of my 63rd birthday with the “pickup trip” of my first RV - the Escape 19. 6 days up, 9 weeks back home. It was lucky for me as 7 weeks later my wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She lasted 25 months and I was able to be her full time caregiver. Since then I concentrate on maintaining my health/fitness. TRX at the YMCA at home and during travel, yoga and mental exercises. (Lumosity app) It’s just me and my cat, but we got 65 nights and 5,200 miles last year traveling with the Escape. I no longer look at challenges as being negative, but opportunities to challenge myself. Your world can either shrink or grow in retirement, we make the choice. I haven’t had the urge to look for work, but enjoy volunteering opportunities with the United Way.
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Old 06-17-2019, 09:38 PM   #27
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This is an appropriate thread for a Monday, since most every Monday morning I wake up and smile, because I don't have to go into work that week, hopefully ever again.

Unfortunately I had a bad career with the US government and got out as soon as I could do so and keep my health insurance. I kept my parents' farm in Florida after they passed so I moved back down from Maryland to my childhood home. I've been retired for more than six years now and don't miss a thing. I bought my Escape in 2014 and have made several long trips in it, enjoying every one, and hope to continue to do so. In retrospect, retiring early enough to travel while I'm physically able was a good decision. I have also enjoyed participating in this forum.

The downside is that reading this thread will probably make me dream about work again tonight. Arrgh.
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Old 06-17-2019, 11:56 PM   #28
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Hey Chotch, What took you so long to decide that. An old engineer told me “ When you walk out the door don’t look back “. I never did and love it. 14 years and counting.
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Old 06-17-2019, 11:59 PM   #29
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2 years ago, on my 20th anniversary at my last $job, my boss (still a friend) called me in, said 'good news, and bad news', the good news being 'thanks for 20 years, here's your plaque, etc', and the bad news being 'our department is being shutdown. you're getting 6 months to wrap up operations' (most of the group got immediate forced retirement). I got a nice layoff bonus based on my 20 years (2 weeks pay per year) at the end of those 6 months. I had enough in my 401K and IRAs to go, meh, at 64 noone is going to hire a burned out software engineer, I'm done.

every day since has been Saturday and I'm not minding it one bit. Just got home last weekend from a 3 week road trip to various Utah National Parks, spectacular.

My only complaint is that my wife is still working, so we have to limit our road trips to her vacation time, although I sneak a few astronomy trips in solo like I always have (she is bored at these multi-night star parties as we sleep all day and stay up all night and have to have total darkness).
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Old 06-18-2019, 12:29 AM   #30
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Won't be that long from now that pretty much everybody will be retired; their jobs taken over by AI ( artificial intelligence ) and robots. Won't need truck drivers, Uber drivers, journalists or engineers.

That's a lot of people buying RVs and booking campsites.
Excellent audio program on the topic is here:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/artif...work-1.4286200
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Old 06-18-2019, 06:17 AM   #31
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Mike, waking up Monday morning and thinking about work will end soon, as retirement allows you to forget what day of the week it is, I even have to look on my screen to find the date. All I worry about now is when the 1st hits my bank account for my retirement check.
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Old 06-18-2019, 07:38 AM   #32
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Retirement

My father in law always said the problem with retirement is you never get a day off. [emoji4]

I retired four years ago at age 60 and it took me about a year to wind down and stop thinking about the old job. I traded that for the mental exercise of planning our various trips. We are lucky enough to be able to go camping as well as 1 or 2 international trips a year. I now have a spreadsheet and budget for our travels extending out at least five years. The point is...I traded my job for something else I enjoy more, planning and traveling.

And we are off tomorrow for a two week trip to Iceland. It’s one of our bucket list items. To bad we can’t take our trailer. [emoji6]
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Old 06-18-2019, 08:10 AM   #33
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This has turned into one of these nicest streams I've read in awhile. Everyone sharing their passage to retirement, which can be difficult. Some days I wake up and wonder "now what", because we cannot travel with great abandon just yet. You've all reminded me of the correct mind set. Have a great day!
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Old 06-18-2019, 08:20 AM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz View Post
My only complaint is that my wife is still working, so we have to limit our road trips to her vacation time, although I sneak a few astronomy trips in solo like I always have (she is bored at these multi-night star parties as we sleep all day and stay up all night and have to have total darkness).
John- consider Great Basin National Park in Nevada for a future astronomy trip. It has a very dark sky and hosts astronomy events.
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Old 06-18-2019, 08:52 AM   #35
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Not yet retired but, at age 57 yrs, can almost see it from here. Maybe another 7 yrs to go. My work as a geotechnical engineer is challenging and I love working with and mentoring the younger engineers in our company. I try to avoid some of the more boring and mundane aspects of my work. LOL. I do find myself spending more and more time thinking about what retirement holds for me. I see a lot of travel in my future, gotta keep the Escape in tip top shape till then. Hopefully my travel will continue to be in combination with many of the other outdoors activities (whitewater paddling, running, mountain biking, backpacking/bikepacking, skiing) that I love to do. Just finished running my third marathon a week ago (started running five years ago) and had a finish time that will qualify me to run in the Boston Marathon in April 2020. Too bad that I won't be able to fit that trip in with a cross-country journey in the Escape. Definitely another time though.
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Old 06-18-2019, 09:30 AM   #36
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Congratulations on a qualifying time for Boston! That’s quite an accomplishment.
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Old 06-18-2019, 09:35 AM   #37
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I also found this forum several years ago. It’s got lots of great info. There are many threads on this topic and many others. The contributors are in many ways as collegial as this forum.

https://www.early-retirement.org/
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Old 06-18-2019, 12:11 PM   #38
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I retired at 66 years and 4 months. The company I worked for made glass tempering furnaces they sold all over the world. I made it to every continent except Antarctica. The last few years I wrote software and traveled less. After I retired we sold the house and bought the Escape and have been traveling ever since. Updating and fixing things in the trailer has replaced what I used to do at work.
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Old 06-18-2019, 03:17 PM   #39
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Another retirement benefit is financial freedom. You spend you working years saving and planning for retirement. Now that it has arrived you may have more disposable income than you had while employed. You no longer need commuting time nor expenses, you no longer need to set aside % of your income for saving, some states do not tax retirement income, so you tax impact can be lower. You have this freedom, unaccustomed albeit, from a lot of things. I gave away a lot of my suits, ties and dress shoes as I have a casual wardrobe. I no longer set aside money for savings, I spend my monthly retirement check in full. If not needed, I donate to my favorite charities or give it to my children or grandchildren. Freedom to do anything. I try to do at least one or 2 things everyday, mainly between the hours 10-4. I'm up at dawn and at dusk I'm ready to relax. I have several pets which sometimes I feel they live in the house and I am there to wait on them!. Staying healthy becomes a priority now and as my Mom would preach, everything in moderation, nothing in excess.
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Old 06-18-2019, 03:25 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gbaglo View Post
Won't be that long from now that pretty much everybody will be retired; their jobs taken over by AI ( artificial intelligence ) and robots. Won't need truck drivers, Uber drivers, journalists or engineers.
Will always need the engineers. Unless you are implying that the robots will start designing and building other robots. Now that starts to get scary!
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