Anyone not want to retire?

I took a buyout at 59.5 years old and never looked back. The trick is to enjoy what you do and not be bored. No rocking chair! We always wanted to travel in an RV. We are so glad we did. Not sorry. I do miss my coworkers, especially those that kept working. I'm always gone and they are too busy working.

winnietrey wrote:

rk911 wrote:

Crowe wrote:
Since I don't know what retirement will be like, I don't think I can answer. Definitely don't want to keep doing what I do (office manager) but to not have a reason to get up in the morning scares me.

I have a reason to get up in the morning as I assume most retired folks do. if you're idea of the typical retiree is sitting around watching TV all day then you're sadly mistaken. I meant it when I said that I'm busier now than when I was working for a living.

Being in the people business, I see both ends of the spectrum. I would hazard a guess, it's more like 50-50. 50% seem to be super busy like you and enjoying every minute of retirement. And the other 50% their life seems to revolve around the TV, and slot machines at the casino.

well, to each their own. we (in a normal year) travel 6-mos in the MH, 3-mos in the spring and 3-mos in the fall. we leave the summer for those who have no other choice. I still have a part-time job (can't call being a substitute school crossing guard actual work) and I usually end up "working" between 5 and 15-day each month. I was volunteering at our local history museum as a docent until they went to a full time staff, I'm active with my ham radio club, I earned my Sport Pilot certificate 2-yrs ago and am working on my Private Pilot cert...and that's just a slice of what I've been doing with my time. I DID declare a "personal holiday" over the weekend and vegged out. hey, I gotta relax some time! :)

I think about retirement every day. I'm 10 years away from a feasible early retirement. I also know I get bored easily and more than a few days sitting around the house and I get in a major funk. Retirement planning (dreaming) for me is as much about what I will do as how I will pay for it. My kids laugh because I have a list of a 100 jobs I'll do in retirement, some pay, some volunteer. I have more hobbies than time and I love learning knew things. I love photography but am honest enough with myself that I couldn't live in a National Park and shoot photos all day every day without getting bored. But I could take a job in a park for the activity and access rather than the money - or be a campground host. I also have enough hobbies I can rotate them as we travel. I plan on volunteering with a disaster relief organization to still help others in an active way.

It's about knowing yourself. If your business gives you the flexibility to have 3.5 day weeks and 6 weeks travel that might be the answer. I will be 50-60 hour weeks until I retire with a couple more deployments. As much as I enjoy my job, I look forward to freedom from the grind and ability to spend time with family.

I am sure most of you have seen something like THIS My company was noted in the study.

As someone that helped a lot of my co-workers retire,as a union steward it was one of my jobs for the last 10 years before I retired. I intend to enjoy as many years of retirement as I can.

Unfortunately the graph is pretty accurate.

I joined the Navy at 17,(1960) and retired with 22 1/2 yrs. I then opened a small engine shop, then went to college, after that I opened an appliance /AC shop. The I started to work for the county as a traffic signal tech and retired from there with the highest level for that, I then worked privately and installed /maintained Traffic Signals all over the SE. Now at 72 We own a small farm and raise livestock, I have never had time to get bored, and to make sure I am not doing a course in gunsmithing.. I have never been bored and I do love my retirement as I can take a day off (or several) when I want.

I have been an optometrist for 40 years and I still love my job. I deal with the public every day and while there is the rare occasion that they (public) are a pain in the ass I like people. I am seeing grandchildren of patients I saw as children. Having said that I am 67 now and have reduced my schedule to 20 hrs per week. In a few years I will retire completely so that we can rv full time.

Seems to me the problem some have with retirement is how they approached it. Retirement should be more than just a goal, it needs to be planned as a follow on career. Having a plan for how to get there AND having a plan for what you're going to do when you get there is, I think, the key to having a happy, rewarding and successful retirement.

I had a retirement plan in mind and a financial plan for how to achieve it when I was unexpectedly retired two years earlier than I'd planned. (Company cutbacks.) But I was well ahead of my plan - had my retirement toys purchased, my debts all paid off, my plans well laid out for what I'd do when the day came. I could have gone earlier by making the decision myself, but being a bit risk adverse I found that was a tough call to make myself, although in retrospect I should have done it! Thankfully I got kicked out the door in a RIF that offered some unexpected financial rewards. For the first six months I was a bit anxious wondering if my plans were solid, but it turned out that worry was all for naught. The best thing that ever happened to me was getting RIF'd! And I find I'm busier now than when I was working.

gbopp wrote:
I want to retire but, raising 10 & 13 YO grandsons kind of ended those plans. If you like what you're doing and are happy, don't retire.

I have 8 and 11 year old KIDS!!! and I retired 6 years ago (June 1, 2009)as a law enforcement officer and DH retired from teaching 3 years ago (July 1, 2012). Health insurance is the most costly of our expenses.

We LOVE retirement and stay busy all the time. I am able to do volunteer work at the school during the school year, I volunteer for many projects and committees at church (chair one program) and then we camp host in the summers. We have several rental properties and DH takes care of those during the fall, winter and spring and we hire our nephew to trouble-shoot any problems for us during the summer. We do lots of preventative maintenance during the winter.

We camp host at a state park about 25 miles from home during May and August and currently at a state park in Maryland during June and most of July. July is when we also "vacation", usually in the RV, if we need or want it.

This year, we went to Disney and Universal in April, so there will be no further vacation this year.:(

Our expenses are still about the same if we are on the road or if we are at home. I cook the same meals, we have the same bills but our fuel bill is a little more due to traveling to and from our hosting spots. It's pretty nice to be able to spend in excess of 100+ nights in the RV and get to deduct the traveling and time from our taxes at the end of the year.

Now, if I could only figure out how to take the RV off of my taxes, we would be set. :C

I can't tell you how great my retirement has been so far and I look forward to many more years of it.

IAMICHABOD wrote:
I am sure most of you have seen something like THIS My company was noted in the study.

As someone that helped a lot of my co-workers retire,as a union steward it was one of my jobs for the last 10 years before I retired. I intend to enjoy as many years of retirement as I can.

Unfortunately the graph is pretty accurate.

I don't disagree that early retirees lived longer but as noted, it's hard to say that's not because early retirees are wealthier with better health care access. I also take issue with being useless after 30. Yes, life beats people down but if you are disciplined in maintaining or culitivating creativity, there is no reason not be both creative and productive later in life. Sounds like a survey to get rid of older workers. Where is the balance in life experience/wisdom with creativity? Get rid of "we've never done it that way before" and you can stay creative.

I witnessed a boss count down til he retired. Very soon after he died. He didn't do anything before retirement, and was waiting for retirement to do all his bucket list stuff.

I learned from watching that. Don't wait......