Cashing in my chips

Nothing better than owning your own time. There is certainly an adjustment period when you retire, financially wise and relationship wise. I retired early at 52 and have done a few things since but on my terms. The wife and I are coming up on 45 years together and we still like each other too.


As much as I liked my job it never defined who I was. For some people they need the identy of their employment to feel relevent. Some folks think they must be productive to be relevent. Be happy to sit back and watch old westerns all day if you want to or if you must, volunteer at the local (insert here) to 'give back' so to speak. It is now all up to you. Go forth and be free.

steelhunter wrote:
I've decided to retire. I love my job but I'm at the age where the end is much closer than the beginning. DW "says she wants me all to herself before we get too old."
We've had rvs before including an Arctic Fox camper as well as a Cardinal 5th wheel.
Now it's time for a nice Class C ....not too big and not to small.
Hope to see all of you down the trail soon.

DW "says she wants me all to herself before we get too old."

You mean up until now you've been sharing yourself ? I think you should keep a good thing going!

Guy

Many congrats on your upcoming retirement!!

I retired 16 years ago and have never looked back. I always have one question for everyone who says that they "love or loved their job". Here's the question: "If you had been born independently wealthy would you still have worked your job?"

I put up with, and sometimes liked, my professional career ... but in the long run "a job is still just a necessary-evil job". Retirement is something else altogether.

Enjoy! ;)

Way to go! I'm about 16 months behind you. Yes, I'm down to counting months, not years. One of the best things about retiring, so I'm told, is that tomorrow is always Saturday!

Retired in 2012 at 55 spent 4 years touring the world, 2016 discovered Super C rvs been on the road since 10/16, life is good.

Congratulations on a difficult decision. Retirement should be the best job you ever had, and you already have a wife that talks that way about you.
Safe travels in your new chapter!

That "all to herself" thing is a Trojan horse. Make sure that you keep "you" in there somewhere. And sometimes that means somewhere else. We are 40 plus years into this union, but only 2 into retirement. We have needed some adjustments.
Glad you got to the brass ring, now grab it and enjoy.

My early retirement came courtesy of the US Government. I worked federal law enforcement and the mandatory retirement age is 57. They tell you up front about the early retirement so they expect you to save enough money to get through without going broke. Thankfully my wife and I lived cheap and saved as much as possible to enjoy ourselves now. Working part time puts gas in the truck's tank so I don't have to touch the retirement nest egg.
I LOVE retirement. 7 years now and going to make it a long time.

Congrats on your up coming change in status

I retired 16 yrs ago (at 50 yrs old) and it has been better then expected.
18 more yrs and I will have been retired for as long as I had worked.

Retirement SHOULD last longer then work time...don't ya think!

You lucky dog. You get to goof off, and better yet you have a wife who says nice things like that.