Should I Retire?

Why not? I think others have posted that. You may end up less fulfilled than before. From my limited time observing folks,its more often true than not, that people don't change. It sounds to me from the OP's written words that he's less interested in retiring than bored/unfulfilled by his job.

I cant imagine many jobs being as exiting and fulfilling as your home life and leisure time activities. If thats the case are you working to live or "living to work"

Seasoned Oak said:

I cant imagine many jobs being as exiting and fulfilling as your home life and leisure time activities. If thats the case are you working to live or "living to work"

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Neither can I, but we're not the OP.

My father (now 93) used to do speeches for AARP, he had a favorite one about "old" retires and "young" retirees and that the "old" ones weren't necessarily old and the "young" ones weren't necessarily young. The "young" ones were active and had busy calendars of things they like to do, the "old" ones just sat down on the couch and watched TV, after few years that's about all they could do. He is and was a major advocate that prior to retiring that you should spend a couple of years planning for retirement as these days the odds are you may be retired for as long as you worked.

Ehouse said:

Happy belated, Jan. 7 birthday. Me too!

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Ha, me too! Beers all around!

As for the topic, I think I'm on the Freedom 85 Plan...

My boss just congratulated me on my 10 year anniversary last Friday. If I stay in my current job, I have 38 more years or thereabouts until I can retire. If you have some hobbies to stay busy with, retire. Hell, we have the farm, I have my antique engine hobby, and I am a member of our Local Vikings lodge.

Now, If We can Just make Money on the farm....

I've been "retired" for a few years now, thanks to my generous and understanding husband. I'm in my mid-50s. I started dialing way back on work in 2006, and steadily reduced my commitment for the next handful of years. I'd have to go check our records, but I *think* that I last pulled a W-2 in 2010... there wasn't a "gold watch" day so I'd really have to look it up.

If your wife has already retired, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? I can't wait until my husband is ready to retire as well! Don't waste another minute of the time you'll have together if you don't have to!

Frank Nuhfer said:

You need four things in retirement. First you need your health. So keep going to the doctor, don't neglect that pain in the stomach or back etc. If you are sick or worse yet, sick and don't know it, it kind of ruins your retirement. Secondly, you need hobbies. People who say "when I retire, I am going to play golf" or "travel" or whatever, are going to be bored. Hobbies are something you do all your life, and you need more than one. Thirdly you need friends. You need friends inside and outside of your comfort zone. Start in your own neighborhood and organize a block party or have a Superbowl party and invite the neighbors. Join the Lions club, or Optimist club or volunteer at your church or school or where ever they need help. Join a breakfast group that eats out once a week for example. Lastly, you need money to do the above. So health, hobbies, friends and money.

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This is soooooo true. My MIL just retired this year (mid 60s). Financially it probably would have been to her benefit to wait a few years but she is at a point where she just hates her job and cant wait to leave. Problem is AFAIK she has no hobbies other than going shopping with my wife and spending time with her grandkids (good for us). I can forsee her being bored but not having money to travel a lot etc due to retiring early and going back to work.

My parents are the same... no hobbies other than working. My dad would say he "reads books". They wil all be bored sillly if they ever retire.


OTOH, I have a freind, one of my flying club buddies who started saving aggressively in his early 20s, has no kids, got really lucky with his investments during the internet bubble days and said #(&*$# it and retired early at 40-something. He runs a small side business, but more importantly has a lot of hobbies and is always busy and is quite happily not working at the age when most of us are in the prime of our careers.


If I could afford to I would retire tomorrow (about to turn 38) and never be bored. Problem is I have so many hobbies id be spending a lot more money in retirement than I am working! Maybe 60 if things work out (but assuming medicare exists by then floating private health for the 5 years to 65 could be $$$$ who knows...) ...

jharkin said:

OTOH, I have a freind, one of my flying club buddies who started saving aggressively in his early 20s, has no kids, got really lucky with his investments during the internet bubble days and said #(&*$# it and retired early at 40-something. He runs a small side business, but more importantly has a lot of hobbies and is always busy and is quite happily not working at the age when most of us are in the prime of our careers.

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he might have been lucky, but the reason he still HAS the money is "has no kids". A major money pit. Is he married? That's the other one.

mass_burner said:

he might have been lucky, but the reason he still HAS the money is "has no kids". A major money pit. Is he married? That's the other one.

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Oh absolutely. With kids he never would have retired so young. Yep he is married, they are both retired afaik.They also live a relatively simple lifestyle, paid off the house young, etc. Very unique case.

mass_burner said:

he might have been lucky, but the reason he still HAS the money is "has no kids". A major money pit. Is he married? That's the other one.

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Only if you chose to support your kids their whole life. Most of my siblings do this with terrible results.

Wish I could offer some useful advice, all I can say is that if I could afford it I'd go today. Started way early, made a few sharp left turns along the way, I've done my time. Some of it good, some not so good. Got everything on Frank's list (great list BTW) except $$. It would not take a lot, but more than I can put together right now. If you don't enjoy your current job, find something you love to do and go with it. Even if you get paid to do it (bonus) it still ain't work anymore.

I will not wait one minute beyond the time that logistically possible for me to retire. If you can, why wait?

My date, if things don't go to sh!t, is August 1, 2030.

Don't retire. Find a way to get paid for participating in one of your hobbies. Since your hobby is heating your home maybe you can sell firewood, repair chainsaws , do stove installations, be a chimney sweep, open a hearth store, etc......My hobby has always been fishing so I'm a commercial fisherman.

When I retire I'm gonna find a nice part time job doing something I like. Maybe cut down to 35-40 hours/week.

I may be the exception to the rule. I had very, very few hobbies or interests outside of work when I stopped. We had just put two boys through four years of college each, with two overlapping years. We had kids in college for six years straight, with two in college at the same time for two of those years.

Neither I nor my husband wanted any of us to be saddled with heavy debt at the end of this journey, so both my husband and I worked many hours at multiple jobs. The kids worked too. They each were graduated with less than one semester's debt a piece. We wish it could have been zero debt, but college is expensive, and two kids in college at one time is very expensive. We needed a little bit of help to get through those two years when both were in school.

I'd worked in health care for decades by the time both boys were in college, and health care is a demanding profession. By the time both boys were through school, what remained of my "hobbies" and outside interests was largely long gone.

I had to re-build a new life. The transition itself has provided a lot of opportunities for "enrichment." I say that tongue in cheek. We significantly downsized to an "empty nest" bungalow that needed love and updating and was priced accordingly. The day after I finished working my notice, we closed on our new to us house and our new life. Two hours after signing the papers, I had a paint brush in my hand, painting over orange paint in the living room.

Downsizing is in and of itself a process, although I'm not and never have been a "hobby shopper." You have more crap than you realize, especially after a couple of decades of raising a family.

Renovating a house will keep you busy too, especially if you are wedded to DIY as a means of saving renovation costs.

Then we decided that instead of concentrating on the loss of market value as the housing market imploded (although moving to the little bungalow in town from the typical suburban tract home before the bubble burst helped us hang onto some equity) we'd try to find a deeply discounted property in our target retirement location. After a little over a year of looking we bought a property that meets our needs and the vast majority of our wants at a price we couldn't refuse.

Having the property is one thing- using it and enjoying it requires at least a modicum of furnishings. I hit Craigslist, thrift shops and consignment shops, washing, scrubbing, cleaning, shining, repairing, painting and refurbishing along the way. It was not a difficult process but spending money was replaced with careful thought, planning, elbow grease and patience.

That being said, we now own two properties- and I never, ever thought we'd be "That Guy." Even though we bought both properties at discounted/deeply discounted prices, we still own and must maintain two properties and we still must save for my husband's retirement. Ergo we keep a *very* tight budget. There isn't a lot of discretionary money floating around for travel, entertainment and recreational shopping.

Nevertheless, I seem to have developed a whole new life, with satisfying hobbies and interests that don't cost a king's ransom. There's plenty to do out there that doesn't cost a lot of money. The first step is to realize that you are trading hours, years of your life for a paycheck, so you can pay others to do things for you that you don't have time to do for yourself. This can apply to the most basic things like home maintenance, services and yes, even entertainment.

Value added, when my husband has time off of work, I have "time off" as well. Years of trying to reconcile 24/7/365 hospital employment with my husband's corporate hours (largely unsuccessfully- hospital hours can be grueling) makes simply having the time together an amazing luxury. Also, simply being able to go to bed when I am tired and sleep until I wake up is the most amazing thing I've ever done.

To the Original Poster- have you sat down with a financial advisor and have you had a trained, professional set of eyes review your numbers? If you have- do you have an idea of what "retirement" will look like for you? How do you want it to look?

mass_burner said:

he might have been lucky, but the reason he still HAS the money is "has no kids". A major money pit. Is he married? That's the other one.

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Married people do better financially than unmarried. We have no kids, my wife makes more than me and this year I went part time at my job to pursue my side job/hobby/passion. Now she is suggesting that I should retire soon to be a full time poor potter. I am about to turn 44, and I'm the luckiest guy that I know.

Edit: knock on wood

No need to give your kids all your money while your alive,because they will get enough when your dead

Seasoned Oak said:

No need to give your kids all your money while your alive,because they will get enough when your dead

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No kids here . . . but even if I did . . . my money is going to a charitable cause my wife and I believe in.

firefighterjake said:

No kids here . . . but even if I did . . . my money is going to a charitable cause my wife and I believe in.

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I just posted a thread of that very topic.

Seasoned Oak said:

I just posted a thread of that very topic.

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And I should say . . . I wasn't entirely truthful as you can see in the other post . . . I should have said no children of my own, but an estranged step daughter who we haven't heard of or seen in years is not in the will.

My wife told me she was the only caregiver to her mother for several months before she died. Although the other 4 siblings lived very close ,no one else helped. I think there are a lot of people in similar situations.

BrotherBart said:

Don't have kids but my four nieces seem inordinately interested in how I am feeling.

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We've got family we rarely hear from unless they want something.....at this point we have no Will, but I do have 100G that is earmarked (Insurance Policy) for my buddy's two daughters (they don't know about it).....love 'em as if they were my own....we keep talking about a Will, but never go any further than that