Just had enough

I retired over 20 years ago at 55. I have never missed the work at all, I missed many of the folks I worked with and after 32.912 years at the same place I had worked with a lot of folks. The main reason I retired at 55 was that all my benefits continued after 55 and 30 years or more. The other reason was without saying so the mission statement was thrown out and the new management did not try and set standards that I had worked hard to meet for 30+ years and no one seemed to care about working to achieve goals, just to meet the budget.

So I set my own work standards in and around the house and on the road. We still take vacations but they tend to be longer now and a lot more fun when the only work you have to do when you get home is help the DW dust and clean and of course the dreaded job of pulling weed in the flower beds.

You just have to set up a rhythm of work and RV, RV and work and RV.

Retired 7 years ago after 30 years in the business world (at 50 years old). Spent a couple of years as a landscape photographer - was very good but bored to death (lonely - no people contact). Went back and finished my degree, got my certification, passed my tests and am now teaching High School. Worst damned mistake of my life. Gonna teach for a year or two more and then get back on the road in the TT - perhaps do the photography thing again.

My wife says to figure out what you love and then figure out a way to get paid for it. Only problem - not to many roles for an old guy in the erotic film industry.

I'll figure it out soon, I hope? Dammit!

Gdetrailer wrote:

WyoTraveler wrote:
Seems like everyone wishes their life away. I retired at 55 and regretted it. I changed my profession the 3rd time and went back to work and retired 2 years ago at 75. I was bored after I retired at 55.

Hmm..

Not sure where you went wrong that you could be bored when retired.

I have a garage full of projects, a back yard waiting for a bunch of projects to be completed, a basement full of projects for fixing and even a upstairs bedroom with a bunch of "round to its"..

Not to mention about 6 rooms that need wood work trim to be made (500 board foot of VT pine to plane, sand and fit)..

I am trying to finish up some of these projects before I retire so I won't spend 24/7 working on them when I do retire..

As far as I am concerned, once I retire I have no care to ever go back into the work force.. I have put in too many hard years of work for not much wage and only in the last 10 yrs have been able to start really gaining a decent wage..

My Dad retired at 58, after 38 yrs of service in a refinery., worked many hard long hrs and his last 10 yrs on rotating shifts.. Those took a toll on him..

He is now 88 and still going (albeit a lot slower now days), he and my Mom snow birded to FL for nearly 15 yrs after he retired while he was able to drive with that huge 5th wheel behind him. He enjoyed those years and he earned them..

No one ever said, if only I worked a few more years..

If only I could spend more time at the office..

If only I could enjoy working for more bosses..

Life is short, no way of knowing exactly when your time is up..

Make the most of it.

If you have the means to retire early, do it, you won't regret not having to punch a time clock.. Just don't sleep your life away when you do retire.. There are many great things to do once you are no longer punching the time clock of work..

I tell folks at work, only 11 more years.. and I am out of here.

Great post. What do you suggest for someone not established in the work force yet? I'm 29 and since I graduated from college I have been bouncing from not so good job to not so good job. Long hours and hard work with a questionable future for my generation. You seem like a person with a good outlook on life. Just curious if you could start over, would you stay with the same employer and work towards traditional retirement or something else?

There are a some people whose passion is their work and they love their jobs...good for them. I think there are more people who only work to help provide for other things in their lives. They look forward to retirement so that they have more control over their daily activities.

Both can be good choices. It's not one size fits all.

I retired the first time at age 36, the second time at age 50 and finally at age 65 I was ready. Not everyone is ready to sit around a campfire every night at a young age. I completed my bucket list after 6 short months and became really really bored.

Remember, when you're retired there are no vacation days and everyday is a Saturday!...Dennis

I retired 12 years ago at age 55 and have never looked back. I keep busy with all kinds of projects of my own and have a hard time getting my DW honey do list completed. I have remodeled and sold 2 homes since then and just finished the changes we wanted to make on our current home. We travel when we want and have time to attend the Grandkids events when we want. Life is good.

kyle86 wrote:
What do you suggest for someone not established in the work force yet? I'm 29 and since I graduated from college I have been bouncing from not so good job to not so good job. Long hours and hard work with a questionable future for my generation. You seem like a person with a good outlook on life. Just curious if you could start over, would you stay with the same employer and work towards traditional retirement or something else?

I was forced into retirement a couple years ago by job cutbacks. Luckily I was only two years away from my planned retirement. My suggestions to someone just starting out in life:

Don't base your plans on promises of the future made by your employer(s) or Government. Expect the worst case and plan for that. If the promises hold true you'll just be much better off when retirement comes your way.

Don't just dream about retirement, plan for it. Make sure you know what you'll be doing in the "retirement career" and test those plans while you still have time to change them. Far to many people just dream about retirement and when they get there they're bored to tears with the lack of activities, goals, etc.

Young people just starting out do tend to jump around in jobs. First is usually the idealist job - you studied some field in college and your ideal job is shaped by that. In reality that first job isn't what you imagined. The second job is more about money. The third job is more of a balance between money, work and environment. After that the jobs tend to be about location, money, work, people, etc. Understand your job benefits and try to maximize them towards your retirement target, such as taking advantage of 401K plans, exploring different places you might want to live, expanding your work and hobby interests, etc.

Start early tracking of your finances and stick with it. Know what you have coming in and where it's going and make sure part of it is being saved for your future. Try to live below your means rather than at or above your means. As you get closer to retirement (within 10 years), start trying to live your retirement lifestyle financially and see how it works. Make adjustments as needed so that your transition into retirement isn't a financial shock.

Finally, there's nothing wrong with going into debt to get the things you want or need to live the lifestyle you'd like. But having a good financial plan to retire that debt before you retire can make for a much more stress-free retirement. Part of your retirement plan might include being debt-free and having already purchased your retirement toys beforehand. That also gives you an opportunity to test-run your retirement lifestyle before you are committed to it and make adjustments while you're still working.

kyle86 wrote:

What do you suggest for someone not established in the work force yet? I'm 29 and since I graduated from college I have been bouncing from not so good job to not so good job. Long hours and hard work with a questionable future for my generation.

I tell folks like you to get a government job of any kind. You have little chance of a pension, lifetime medical and super benefits in the private sector. As you look thru these RV forums, you will find a large number of members that retired from government.

Great post. What do you suggest for someone not established in the work force yet? I'm 29 and since I graduated from college I have been bouncing from not so good job to not so good job. Long hours and hard work with a questionable future for my generation. You seem like a person with a good outlook on life. Just curious if you could start over, would you stay with the same employer and work towards traditional retirement or something else?

You need to figure this out for yourself. What works for others probably won't work for you.

But, since you have to work for something somewhere and for somebody even if it is yourself, you need to start somewhere. The grass typically always looks greener elsewhere. If you work for the government owning your own business looks better; if you own your own business, sometimes looking at corporate or government with regular paychecks looks better. Just dive in somewhere, you will figure it out.

I retired six years ago, it is nice!!! And I never hated my job, liked almost all the people, and the work.

kyle86 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

WyoTraveler wrote:
Seems like everyone wishes their life away. I retired at 55 and regretted it. I changed my profession the 3rd time and went back to work and retired 2 years ago at 75. I was bored after I retired at 55.

Hmm..

Not sure where you went wrong that you could be bored when retired.

I have a garage full of projects, a back yard waiting for a bunch of projects to be completed, a basement full of projects for fixing and even a upstairs bedroom with a bunch of "round to its"..

Not to mention about 6 rooms that need wood work trim to be made (500 board foot of VT pine to plane, sand and fit)..

I am trying to finish up some of these projects before I retire so I won't spend 24/7 working on them when I do retire..

As far as I am concerned, once I retire I have no care to ever go back into the work force.. I have put in too many hard years of work for not much wage and only in the last 10 yrs have been able to start really gaining a decent wage..

My Dad retired at 58, after 38 yrs of service in a refinery., worked many hard long hrs and his last 10 yrs on rotating shifts.. Those took a toll on him..

He is now 88 and still going (albeit a lot slower now days), he and my Mom snow birded to FL for nearly 15 yrs after he retired while he was able to drive with that huge 5th wheel behind him. He enjoyed those years and he earned them..

No one ever said, if only I worked a few more years..

If only I could spend more time at the office..

If only I could enjoy working for more bosses..

Life is short, no way of knowing exactly when your time is up..

Make the most of it.

If you have the means to retire early, do it, you won't regret not having to punch a time clock.. Just don't sleep your life away when you do retire.. There are many great things to do once you are no longer punching the time clock of work..

I tell folks at work, only 11 more years.. and I am out of here.

Great post. What do you suggest for someone not established in the work force yet? I'm 29 and since I graduated from college I have been bouncing from not so good job to not so good job. Long hours and hard work with a questionable future for my generation. You seem like a person with a good outlook on life. Just curious if you could start over, would you stay with the same employer and work towards traditional retirement or something else?

Now days if you really want to increase your income, you are pretty much forced to move on to other jobs/companies. Just the way it is, My Dad was very fortunate to be able to work at the same place his entire work life and get a pension.

Today, Pensions are pretty much a thing of the past, you really need to start now putting money into co 401K PLUS take a small portion of your pay and toss it into a Roth. For your co 401K, take full advantage of the co match.

My first Job out of Tech School was a subcontractor with a large corp presence.. Discovered then that they had more subcontracted help than actual employees.. No benefits, no 401K, no vacation and I had to pay double the SS payments..

Second two jobs with little mom and pop consumer repair shops, got paid PER PIECE that I repaired at half the labor rate charged.. Worked that for 5 yrs and worked my behind off for next to nothing in wages.

Next job was with a real co, Didn't pay much but had co piad health, paid vac and other perks..

Current job I doubled my income, better vac, much better 401K plus even able to purchase co stock at a 15% discounted rate.. Co sold off my division and I no longer have to co stock option..

I bought a lot of co stock at good prices.. Getting in at the ground floor, now days that stock is trading well over the last purchase I made.

If you want to be successful, you NEED to set some goals, you NEED something to work to, otherwise you are simply going to get tired of it.

I have had many goals along the way.. I wanted to buy a house and pay it and still enjoy life..

DONE, bought a very low priced fixer instead of a expensive house..

Instead of buying new cars, I kept fixing my old, old car. The money I didn't spend on new car payments went to paying off the house..

15yr mortgage was paid in full in 11 yrs, this saved me thousands.. That savings then was used to buy my first new vehicle..

I pay off all of my loans early, the savings in interest are put aside and are used for the next purchase.

I only buy on a credit card WHEN I HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY IT OFF THE VERY NEXT BILL.. I don't use credit or credit cards to fill in when I run out of income.

I have achieved all of my goals so far and when I do I set another goal.. I break it down into little goals, achieve that goal and set a new goal..

This keeps me busy, not bored.

I have goals in mind when I do reach retirement, those goals do not include continuing to punch a co time clock.. Instead, I will be punching my own personal "time clock" that I control for my own personal projects.

Set a goal, set your mind to that goal, reach that goal and set a new goal. It is how life goes.

I wish you all the luck and best of all, have some fun while achieving your goals..