Retirement? What's that mean?

Heritage

Heritage

New Member
So I'm one of those guys that doesn't really see retirement in his future. I'm not sure I can really imagine a time where I won't be working. Besides, I love my career (I'm a clinical counsellor).
Anyone else ever faced this? How did you adjust?
 

Retirement is a relatively new idea that didn’t gain much traction until The Great Depression.

If you enjoy what you are doing keep doing it or maybe wind down gradually as you develop interests in other areas of your life.

In my case, I never enjoyed working and was relieved when I was given the boot as part of a corporate merger.

I’m perfectly content to just bumble along with the minimal demands and responsibilities of every day life.

Good luck and welcome to SF.
 
I retired at 62 due to health issues and missed work like a toothache at a Turkey dinner. I had and still have plenty to do with my horses and managing this small farm.

Husband was a workaholic and worked until he was 75; he passed at 76. He had a job he loved and his knowledge made him valuable to the company. They probably let him stay longer than they should have due to his illness, but it was his job that gave him purpose.
 

Heritage said:
So I'm one of those guys that doesn't really see retirement in his future. I'm not sure I can really imagine a time where I won't be working. Besides, I love my career (I'm a clinical counsellor).
Anyone else ever faced this? How did you adjust?
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I retired at age 58 and my husband and I bought a house that needed major work and fixed it up for four months and then sold the other house and moved into it. Then I was quickly bored. I’ve tried the typical thing such as taking exercise classes and volunteering. I didn’t find any of it very satisfying.

Then the local university asked me to teach a class and I did that every semester for eight years and loved it. It was a totally new endeavor for me as I had never taught. Also, during that time I was asked to consult in my old field, which I still do to this day, 13 years later. Financially, I no longer need to work, but since I only work about 300 hours a year I intend to keep doing it until I no longer like it.
 
If one has a happy home-life, wife, kids, etc., it's not hard to see where continuing to work would fall? Need the money to maintain your lifestyle is one reason and a crappy home life can be another.

We chose retirement back in 1990. GAVE our home and property to our youngest daughter and family , retaining a life-lease to continue living here until we expired. Our other 3 kids approved of our choice - -they all own their own homes and there was no bickering between them. We wintered in Florida and spent spring and fall at a daughter's lakeside cottage in Maine. WE have been extremely fortunate, health wise, but continuing to work back in the 90's would have robbed us of these pleasant years. And the costs required to own and maintain our home would have prohibited our travel choices.

Everyone faces a different set of choices as they age and we were fortunate to have made one that worked for us.
 
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I think there are several major factors that come into play when considering retirement. I'll preface this by saying I was planning to work until probably 70 y/o for financial reasons but my company eliminated my position when I was 62. I chose to retire and have been extremely happy.

  • If you define yourself by your career it will be difficult to retire. I had already become more focused on my personal life and my worth as an individual, not my worth as a corporate executive. I was a good husband, a good son, a good uncle, etc. My contributions went beyond what I contributed at work.
  • If you enjoy your job, you should absolutely continue doing it. I worked for a large corporation and the politics and policies made it no longer enjoyable to do my job. Had I really enjoyed it, I would have looked for something else in my industry.
  • Have a plan for retirement. Keep some structure in your life if you've had structure in your career. If there are interests you have outside of your career, dive into them!

I'm in the camp that I'm happy not to be responsible for deadlines and having my time spent at someone else's whims. It feels great to wake up every day and know I'm the only one that dictates what I do.
 
They DO say if you love your job, you'll never work a day in your life.

I retired to look after my ailing wife essentially. No regrets here. I find I'm even busier and have fuller days than when I was pulling the 9-5.

I'll be 60 in a couple of months and I'm taking my CPP early...I'm not fatalistic by any stretch...just thinking I can use the extra cash now more so than later.
 
As Beezer says, they say "if you do what you love, you'll never  work a day in your life.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone to pay me to stay up late watching TV, sleep in late, take frequent naps, browse thrift shops, and eat whenever I wanted, so there I was all those years, having to do things I didn't love to keep the wolf from the door. Phooey!

But now? Oh, yeahhhhhh....
 
When I first retired, I was so busy, mostly with familial responsibilities that my son said "So that's what retirement means..."re-tired." :D To me retirement simply meant not having to get up in the morning to go to work, no matter how I was feeling or what the weather was like. I wasn't a morning person then. I loved the work I did, but sometimes my last supervisor got on my last nerve. :LOL:
 
Heritage said:
So I'm one of those guys that doesn't really see retirement in his future.
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This was me...right up until the moment I decided to retire. I was in IT and I loved the actual work that I did. (I still love IT stuff and try to keep up!). Within 3 years of graduating I had landed a job at a company (DEC) that I expected to work for forever. But time passed, the company failed and was bought out and I was absorbed into another company and the grind began. Ultimately, the time came where the environment in which I had to do the work was simply untenable; unreasonable expectations with ridiculous timelines and inadequate resources. I was fighting the system, and fighting fires, (caused by the things above), more than I was able to do the actual development work.

Combine that with the realization that, at my age (62 then), I would never be able to get another development job at the same level, my skill set was not as current as it should be because the applications that I was working with were giant corporate behemoths firmly fixed in 90's technology, and in the end, it just seemed the obvious conclusion. I had always heard that the answer to the question "How do know when to retire?" was "When it's time, you'll know." For me, that turned out to be true.
 
It's something like this.. or should be..
(need to click to see full image and text)
 

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I have been retired for 16 years, and am having the best time of my life. After being widowed, I met and married a wonderful lady. We traveled extensively, taking 51 trips of varying lengths, including getting married on the Island of Santorini.
I also did a lot of volunteering with Angel Flight West, Civil Air Patrol, Tax preparation for low income people, and repairing medical equipment at a hospice.
I was also able to fly a number of airplanes from WW2 and the Korean War.
 
When to retire is always up to you. You love your job so that makes it a little more complicated. I think the trick is to make your retirement as fun and fulfilling as working was. When you retire, you get to live life on your own terms, not someone else's schedule. Since you love clinical counseling, you might find ways to do something similar. Join clubs, groups, help out in your community. Things of that nature. Good luck in your decision!

Retired and loving it!!
 
At 79 I finally called it a day but I am finding this period of leisure to be a profound exercise in disenchantment, as I miss the sense of purpose and contribution that my career provided. While I appreciate the respite, I find myself feeling at a loose end, longing for the sense of utility and meaningful engagement that my professional life afforded me.
The transition has been challenging; I've come to realise how much I defined myself by my work, and the absence of that professional identity has created a significant void. I'm discovering that true contentment for me is not found in endless free time but in the challenges and collaborative problem-solving that my job offered.
A new challenge has been offered, my italic script handwriting was admired by a print company. I may write a few paragraphs for use in brochures, menus and such like. It will be interesting to see what 2026 brings.
 
DaveA said:
If one has a happy home-life, wife, kids, etc., it's not hard to see where continuing to work would fall? Need the money to maintain your lifestyle is one reason and a crappy home life can be another.
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You have made this assumption before and it still doesnt make sense to me - no reason people can't be financially secure and have a happy home life and also find work rewarding and wish to continue it
 
horseless carriage said:
At 79 I finally called it a day but I am finding this period of leisure to be a profound exercise in disenchantment, as I miss the sense of purpose and contribution that my career provided. While I appreciate the respite, I find myself feeling at a loose end, longing for the sense of utility and meaningful engagement that my professional life afforded me.
The transition has been challenging; I've come to realise how much I defined myself by my work, and the absence of that professional identity has created a significant void. I'm discovering that true contentment for me is not found in endless free time but in the challenges and collaborative problem-solving that my job offered.
A new challenge has been offered, my italic script handwriting was admired by a print company. I may write a few paragraphs for use in brochures, menus and such like. It will be interesting to see what 2026 brings.
Click to expand...
I don't know which one of us is luckier. You enjoyed your job, but are lost in retirement. I worked in a toxic environment and hated my job, therefore, retirement is great.
 
I have no retirement savings and no way to pay the bills or keep busy so I plan to stay working as long as I'm able. Til my lungs or body give out.
 

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