Was retirement for you a good or not so good choice?

[winnietrey]

I understand, and do not question, the reason folks retire. Job stress, health, want to do something different.

For some I think, it was the best thing they ever did, for others not so much.

I think, I fall in the latter category. I like my job, I have no real hobbies, I enjoy all that much. I take a lot of time off, and travel, we are healthy. I think for me, retirement could be one of the worst things I could do. Just wondering if anyone else feels the same. With my personality I think I would be bored stiff

[DallasSteve]

JAC1982 wrote:

DallasSteve wrote:

JAC1982 wrote:
Do what my mom did... marry a guy who is 12 years younger.

Or do what I did... marry a woman who is 24 years younger. They have a lot less health problems and the woman is supposed to be much younger than the man, anyway. (That's going to stir up a hornet's nest, but it's true.)

OK so I'm female and a year older than my husband. Why is the woman supposed to be "much younger than the man"? So she can take care of him when he's old?

I'm 34, but before I met my husband, when I was 29, I went out with a guy who was 43. We got along fine and had similar hobbies, but after few dates I just started being weirded out and felt like I was dating my dad. No thanks. 24 years would be totally unthinkable for me.

And, BTW, my mom's health problems stem from a virus she got while holding babies in her church's nursery, and from a fall she had while riding her bike that fractured some vertebrae in her back. IE, things that could happen to anyone of any age.

Surprisingly even though I'm much older my wife's had many more health problems then I have during our 7 years together. I can still outrun her in a footrace, short or long, so I don't feel like I'm too old for her, and at my age I couldn't care less what other people think about it. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of cute women over 40, I've just never been with one yet.

[JAC1982]

DallasSteve wrote:

JAC1982 wrote:
Do what my mom did... marry a guy who is 12 years younger.

Or do what I did... marry a woman who is 24 years younger. They have a lot less health problems and the woman is supposed to be much younger than the man, anyway. (That's going to stir up a hornet's nest, but it's true.)

OK so I'm female and a year older than my husband. Why is the woman supposed to be "much younger than the man"? So she can take care of him when he's old?

I'm 34, but before I met my husband, when I was 29, I went out with a guy who was 43. We got along fine and had similar hobbies, but after few dates I just started being weirded out and felt like I was dating my dad. No thanks. 24 years would be totally unthinkable for me.

And, BTW, my mom's health problems stem from a virus she got while holding babies in her church's nursery, and from a fall she had while riding her bike that fractured some vertebrae in her back. IE, things that could happen to anyone of any age.

[Bobbo]

Retired for 6 weeks. Don't know yet.

[DallasSteve]

JAC1982 wrote:
Do what my mom did... marry a guy who is 12 years younger.

Or do what I did... marry a woman who is 24 years younger. They have a lot less health problems and the woman is supposed to be much younger than the man, anyway. (That's going to stir up a hornet's nest, but it's true.)

[JAXFL]

As I said earlier... I only work to live... not because I want to or enjoy it, I work for the pay. But dapperdan brings up a good point that I have to try and remember...A "brother" from back in Vietnam has Alzheimer's and has had it for about 5 years now. Never seen it coming. He was always active and was/is an Airborne Ranger, was a Army Drill Instructor, and a great guy. Then one day he was home and then he was not. Took about 9 hours to find him. He had left home and forgotten how to get back. Was just setting on a bench when the police seen him. For the last 5 years he has been in a protected area... normal day is eat sleep watch TV set in a chair and look at the wall. He only remembers maybe 2 minutes of something everyday then it is back into the dark world... What I am saying is if you can.... retire and get out there before someday you wake up and don't know who is looking back at you from the mirror.

[2gypsies1]

The OP stated he doesn't have hobbies and he'd be bored stiff if he retired.

The thing is after retirement you have the time to add hobbies or interests. You can then take classes, volunteer, take up sports with fellow retirees - pickleball is big nowadays for older folks - check it out, you can help out in schools in many ways, etc.

There's absolutely no reason to be bored in retirement. Those that just sit around doing nothing are those that get health issues. Stay active!!!

[wilber1]

I enjoyed doing my job which had mandatory retirement at 60. It's been 10 years now and I don't miss it a bit. It seems like another life. The time has gone by in a flash trying to do things while we are still healthy enough to do them. Life is too short to spend it doing just one thing and as long as you are healthy, there is no reason to be bored if you don't want to be.

[travelnutz]

After nearly 40 years of hands on intensely running a very busy hopping business, my fear about retiring was not having enough to do to keep me busy as keeping busy is what is fun and enjoyable for me. I loved what I did! I'm still waiting after 15 years of being retired to have a single boring day or a non-busy day! Wife talked me into finally selling the business and she was so right!

I will admit that I miss it sometimes but that thought passes quickly because I'm far too busy to work at any business anyway and will be for the next 50-100 years! I still do keep in touch often with many of my customer friends, their engineers, and their upper management so I can keep up on what's happening yearly in the industry. Therefore, maybe I'm still kind of a closet business owner.

[OLYLEN]

HMMM retired at 48 and am 69 now, I'll decide in a few years if I should have or not. Now if I would have waited until 65 I would be 86 now and drooling on myself. I have more good retirement years in than most will get and hopefully have a couple more good ones left. When shortly after retirement I did the funeral thing for about three friends that passed very soon after retiring, I think I am very happy. Now I'm not rich and life has been good to me, I can't afford everything but enjoy life. And hope to see my 20 month old grand daughter walk down to get her Masters degree.

LEN

[dapperdan]

Just last Monday I attended my long-time (30 year) co-worker's funeral. 3 years ago I retired, he didn't. He, like you felt he would be bored to tears. I was able to visit with him a week before he passed away. He had NO regrets "working" till the end, except for the last several weeks of his sickness, he was an active employee of the company. His exact words to me were "I've lived an long and good life and I have NO regrets the way things are playing out". I felt VERY bad for him but he assured me he lived the way HE wanted!

I still don't understand it but I accept it. His life, his decision. You have to do what you have to do. Like you HE really enjoyed working and couldn't imagine doing anything else. I'm glad I was able to see and talk to him and have a last chat. 😞

Dan

[Padlin]

I have lots of hobbies and took up an instrument after retiring. I'm as busy as I want to be and am pretty much doing whatever I feel like with zero stress. For me it was a good choice head and health wise. Money wise, you'll have to ask me in 10 or 15 years.

It did take me roughly 8-12 months to get working out of my system.

Living in New England, winters can get old if you don't head south for at least part of it.

[JAC1982]

Do what my mom did... marry a guy who is 12 years younger. She did a sudden retirement at 64 due to some issues with her state licensing for her job, and her health issues. Her husband has great health insurance as he works for a school district as a school bus driver, so she hopped right onto his, and now she's old enough to get Medicare as well. He gets summers off, so they travel together during the summer, and then the rest of the year, she goes on trips solo to visit my brother and I and other family, and does her newfound hobbies.

After spending the first few months of her retirement doing a lot of nothing and reading a lot of books, she took up quilting and joined bible studies and other stuff at church that occur during the day that she couldn't do before. She also has some adopted "grandkids" since my brother and I haven't given her any yet, she most recently spent a lot of hours sewing a dress for the little girl, and a matching one for her doll. She's busier now than she was before retirement, only she's actually enjoying how she's spending her time. She does still work 1-3 days a week at her old job, depending on when they need her, as she's trying to pay down her mortgage so she can sell it and move here to CO.

I'm quite jealous of her life now, but I've got a good 30 years to go 🙂

[ol__yeller]

To answer the healthcare question... I had healthcare from the employer I retired from when I pulled the plug at age 50. It was paid for in full by my employer and my only expense was a $40 co-pay when I went to the doctor, no monthly premiums paid by me. While driving school bus I switched to that employer's insurance as it had better coverage and my contribution had increased to about $200 monthly from my previous plan. After my unfortunate incident, I had to return to my previous employer's insurance plan.

Fast forward to today and a vastly inferior plan to what I had when I decided to retire now costs me just under $900 a month for both my wife and me. It also carries an annual maximum out of pocket of $6,000 which we will probably hit next month. When I retired (2003) my annual elections from my employer included 3 or 4 different plans by different providers for varying costs depending upon coverage desired. Last year I had the choice of 1 plan from 1 provider and 3 different ways to pay for it. It is hard to make life decisions when the rules keep changing.

[bucky]

We both retired this summer at 63 and 62. Selling the house and finding another one out of state has become a full time job. Don't know how we would have done all this if we were still working
Settlement here in MD is next week and then in NC mid Oct. Then we will be really retired. I'm loving it so far. Always something to do.
We are going to wear the tires out on the Jayco by Christmas of 2017 and they are new now haha.

[westend]

I label myself as semi-retired. I keep my hand in on some projects and that keeps me as busy as I want. DW is still brown-bagging but I can see the end in sight for that.
I do some work in a retirement community, most of my customers (beyond the association, itself) keep busy with volunteer and local community involvement. A few still work. Some residents travel extensively or split their time between residences here and further South. Retirement is a mixed bag, differing by personality, economic means, and later, by health. You sure can't argue with the "do it now before it's too late" mantra. I've pretty well lived my life with that in mind.

Retirement should definitely not be feared, even by those that have been plugged into one job for a long time and have to someday yank that cord. There are many things to do and see and isn't that what RV'ing is all about?