After you retired?

[RetiredGuy]

Retired almost a year ago from IT - last ten years as MIS Director. Between Roth IRA and dumping as much as I could into CD's/Commodity Market/Precious Metals, I was able to retire despite being 'underage' and will be able to maintain my standard of living until my 401k matures.

 

Do I miss it? NO! I'm lucky I didn't develop ulcers from all the stress of the job, but it did pay quite well.

 

My circle of friends is from outside the company I worked for, so I don't even miss the people I worked with/bossed around.

[Mike L]

8 hours ago, Buckeye Ron said:

I retired two years ago, a full five years before I had planned to retire. Primary reason was my wife’s health, a long story I won’t go into. I have flip flopped countless times as to how I feel about retirement. The bulk of the time I really do not like it. I was a safety manager and was very passionate about my work, and I miss the interaction I had every day with the employees. I hated the stress and all the reporting I had to do to executive management, but loved the ordinary people who mattered. 

 

Maybe if I had a part time gig doing something I liked retirement would be more enjoyable. Hard to say at this point. All I know is I went from being responsible for the health and safety of 3000 people to twiddling my thumbs and I don’t like it at all.

Ron

Trust me, Go find something that at least fills your time. 

You don't have to like it, just something that will help you to leave your thumbs alone. 

 

As I said above, I know the feeling when your whole world takes a hard left and you try to get straight again. 

 

Your situation is a little different than mine as I made the choice, but it still takes getting used too regardless of the reasons leading up to pulling the plug. 

 

You may never get used to it. Your only choice then will be at least try to be at peace with it 

 

Best of luck to you, and I hope your wife is better. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

[Buckeye Ron]

12 hours ago, Mike L said:

Ron

Trust me, Go find something that at least fills your time. 

You don't have to like it, just something that will help you to leave your thumbs alone. 

 

As I said above, I know the feeling when your whole world takes a hard left and you try to get straight again. 

 

Your situation is a little different than mine as I made the choice, but it still takes getting used too regardless of the reasons leading up to pulling the plug. 

 

You may never get used to it. Your only choice then will be at least try to be at peace with it 

 

Best of luck to you, and I hope your wife is better. 

Thanks Mike. Since retirement and the move she hasn’t been sick one time. No meds, no infections, no Dr. visits. Nothing. This after 20+ years of constant infections and antibiotics. We couldn’t be more blessed! And thank you for the encouraging words. Means a lot.

12 hours ago, Mike L said:

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

[.ghoti.]

I retired at the end of 2015. So, it's just a few days shy of three years. I was a full time professor, and a part time consultant. Still do the part time job. I think that really helped me make the transition. I went from 60+ hours a week to my current 10-12 hours a week.

 

I do miss the teaching part of my old job. My times in the lab with my students were some of the most gratifying, and rewarding times of my working life. I suppose I will always miss that. 

 

I most emphatically do not miss the other parts of the job: committees, faculty meetings, diversity training, harrassment training, sensitivity training, ethics training, budget wars, etc, etc, etc,,,,the same old same old, year after year after year.

 

As far as finances go, I'm ok. Not great, but I get all my bills paid on time, and have enough extra to fund my fishing. Between a pension, social security, and a part time gig, my take home pay is about 70% of what it used to be. I look at that this way: I am working about 20% of what I used to work, for 70% of the money I used to make. I can live with that. The only real difference is in the vehicle I drive. I used to by a new one every three or four years. Now, I will be buying a used one, when the current one is on it's last legs. I can live with that as well. 

 

Another thing that helped with the transition to retirement, maybe even more that the part time gig, was my new hobby. Rod building. I have been steadily busy with that since the beginning of 2017. I spend some part of almost every day at my cabin/workshop working on rods. It is slow, meticulous work, requiring patience and attention to detail. I find it quite peaceful. And, if I feel like taking a day off, I take a day off. I don't need to make money building rods. If I make enough from it that it pays for itself, I'm a happy guy. And, so far, it has paid for itself.

 

You guys who find your time weighing heavily on your hands might consider rod building. It does not take a large investment to get started. I spent most of 2015, the last year I worked, experimenting with the various small tasks required to build a rod from scratch. Spending that time time told me what equipment I would need, and what I could do without. It also told me this is something I can enjoy doing, and can feel good about investing some cash in good gear.  

 

In the end, I believe retirement is what you make of it. I went into it virtually debt free, and with a clear idea what I would be doing with my time. I feel for the guys who were thrust into retirement without having had the time to figure it out.

 

One last thought. I've heard a pot of people say I'm gonna fish every day when I retire. I'm here to tell you fishing gets old when you you do it every day. I got myself almost burnt out on fishing. Had to take a break for a while. Got back into it, fishing once or twice a week. Until this year. 2018 pulled a vacuum, as far as fishing goes. Rain, rain, and more rain kept me off the water a lot more than I wanted. And now the season is over. Got the itch bad.

[lo n slo]

i’ve been retired from the city water works 8 years as of today! i remember when i had 5 years left. i thought it would never get here. where does the time go?

[halochef]

yes

[A-Jay]

44 minutes ago, halochef said:

yes ~ I handicap the ponies while listening to opera

@halochef

Fixed that one for you.

Happy New Year ~ 

A-Jay

[gim]

These are some great stories and responses from the older generation that is nearing, recently, or already retired.  I'm only 36 so I obviously still have quite a few years left but I've been told by my grandparents, parents, older co-workers, and my financial advisor that contributing a steady amount of money towards retirement over a long period of time is the most efficient way to do it, so that is what I am trying to do.

[Gundog]

Retired....

Never gonna happen unless that lottery ticket I bought pays off. 

[Way2slow]

Problem with most CD's, bank savings and some annuities etc, the inflation rate is higher than the interest rate so you have to be careful how you setup your retirement plan.  Some of the big name companies selling annuities have so many hidden fees they don't tell you about,  (they hid them so deep in the computer disk or booklet they give, you would never read far enough to find them)  and low interest rates, you are not really building much over what you are actually putting into them.  Old saying, one good investment in stocks is worth a lifetime of saving.  All you have to do is figure out what's a good investment.

 

[Gundog]

7 hours ago, Way2slow said:

 Old saying, one good investment in stocks is worth a lifetime of saving.  All you have to do is figure out what's a good investment.

 

That's the problem. If you are not a knowledgeable investor how do you really know you are in a good investment? When I was in high school we had a class in finances and we were told that blue chip stocks (stocks that have been consistent earners) were your best bet for long term retirement stocks. Those were stocks like J.C. Penny and IBM. Problem is that has changed. The new blue chip stocks are Facebook and Amazon. The tech revolution changed the stock market as much as it changed everything. But in 10 years are Facebook and Amazon going to still be blue chip or will it be Alibaba and some other company that few people are looking at now? If you know little about stocks and the market its like you are in a room full of bear traps and you are blindfolded. 

[Log Catcher]

12 hours ago, Gundog said:

Retired....

Never gonna happen unless that lottery ticket I bought pays off. 

I thought I would have to win the lottery to retire. I told myself I could keep doing this. My body said no way. The knees are done and ain't doing this anymore so I retired.

[TOXIC]

The way you avoid volatility in the Stock Market is to diversify and keep all your eggs OUT of 1 basket.  There's no get rich quick plan for long term retirement.  You may not make as much as some and you won't lose as much as some when the market moves if you are set up properly for the long term.  Do your homework and find a Certified Financial Planner you trust and let them set it up.  The Agency I work for has some limitations on what stocks I can hold (bank stocks for example) so my Financial Planner had to know the rules.  My best advice.....The earlier the better.  Make it part of your regular expenses like groceries and gas...put it in your managed retirement account and forget it.  Then when you are like me and get ready to retire, you call your Financial Planner and find out you will make more retired than you did working.  That's a score!!  

[DanielG]

This is an old thread but I recently have gotten to know the OP in person. jbMaine and his wife are good people. At the house here a short while back. We spent way to much time talking as we had as much in common as we didn't.

 

Anyway, my story. I taught Junior High science for  30 years starting at age 22. At about that time, no physical issues but with education changes and possibly battle fatigue, I decided to retire. My fantastic wife was a homemaker so we could retire together. We had planned well and had a bit of good luck and decided that we could do it. So, at 52 yrs old at the end of the school year, I was done. I'll turn 65 in a couple of months. First time on medicare. I'm getting older, and little things are creeping up, a bit of arthritis, I say "what" a lot, but all in all still pretty fit. we hit the Y for an aggressive workout three times a week and we love to travel in our little camper. We've been to all 48 continental states. Some more than once and visited all Major national/state parks, presidential libraries, etc, and we just loooove to ride roller coasters.

A lake is in my front yard (see thumbnail) so I fish 3-5 times a week in the summer. Like the OP jbmaine, I have a full workshop and love to make stuff. I've been making stuff all my life. Even my boat. I've made my house and most of the furniture in it. Guitars; I'm a graduate of the Maine School of guitar making. Lately I'm making crankbaits. There are several other things I've dabbled in that I won't get into here. Retirement has been a time to catch up on all of those things I would have spent my time doing had I not been working. I'm thankful I've had this long time to do them. I wish everyone who wanted to could have the opportunity for a long retirement starting early.

I loved teaching but it's out of my system. It was extremely hard work and relentless in being time consuming. Yes I had two months off but I put in 10-12 hour days for thirty years, and often weekend time and it really worked on your head. Up to 50% of the teachers are on some anxiety meds. Zoloft is the most common. I never needed to be but there were some days....

When I look back at it I am amazed that I sustained it that long and don't know how I did.  A good experience but I'm not looking back.