Is Retirement All It's Cracked Up To Be?

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

Endlessly Groovin'
Location
USA
Personally, I think it is. I looked forward to it all my working life, and wanted to retire early enough to get some relaxation in before my days were up on this earth. Too many people I know delayed their retirement, and found themselves too old and sickly to enjoy themselves. One person who I worked with passed on shortly after retirement. I hear many stories of people actually dying in the workplace of age-related illness or accident.

I live a simple life, always have. To me, just being able to live my days without having to set alarms, drive to work in snow blizzards at 5am, and deal with working for 'the man', punching the time-clock, 10 minute breaks, and deal with all the aggravations of the workplace is a blessing. For years before I retired, I thought about the day that I could say goodbye to the daily grind.

Retirement is what it's cracked up to be, and I deserve every minute of it! How about you??
 

It would be fine if DH hadn't died, but without him I need something to keep me occupied and keep me out around the lights and the people. I just don't want to be one of those crazy old cat ladies who sits around and lives on memories or spends my time feeling sorry for myself (something I probably do way too much of!). Working gives me something to concentrate on besides woe-is-me.
 
I'm sorry for your loss Georgia. I can't imagine how things would be if my husband passed, I'd likely need to do something too and occupy my mind. I could easily become a cat lady too. :sentimental:
 

I retired at 62. Airlines have a mandatory 65 retirement age. The recession had just hit and my company offered some of us an early out package which I would have been foolish not to take. Unfortunately, I injured my back doing some landscaping and mending around the house just after I had retired and had to have three surgeries. It has been somewhat of a struggle since then. Like so many others, I have good days and bad days, so I live with it. All in all, it has been a good retirement. As much as I love to fly, I feel so much better not having the stress knowing that I am responsible for 200-300 souls on-board 4 or 5 days a week. If I want to fly, I go to my local airport and rent a plane for a few hours, just to keep sharp and do what I love to do best. Some men love playing golf, I love to fly.

And like someone else posted here on this board, I also feel the same way. Every day is Saturday. No clocks, no calender.
 
We found it strange at first, and then we realised that we could set our own agendas for the day. Go where we wanted, do what we wanted when we wanted. OK, we miss the salary cheques, private health care etc.. but saved we've enough to get by comfortably.
Since retiring in our mid 50's we've been busier than ever restoring an old house & garden, travelling, walking - even keeping rare breed pigs.

Life is good, in fact, very good. We both thoroughly recommend retirement as soon as you can afford to do it.
 
I am not of retiring age yet...another 10 years to go, and much as I'd love to not be ruled by petty bosses, alarm clocks , and driving in the snow in the winter, or missing out on glorious sunny hot days while sitting in an enclosed office...I am terrified of having to try and live on what will amount to a tiny pension and very little savings.

Retirement for those who have a good income must be bliss to be able to go and play golf when they want , go on regular holidays..or rent a plane ( sorry not having a poke at you folks who can afford it, it must be fabulous to be able to do that)...but the reality for many is that they Have to work to keep the wolves from the door, and also apart from anything else, for many particularly those who live alone like Georgia it's a necessity to keep in touch with the outside world and to keep the mind from going broke!!

My own ex mother--in-law looked so forward to her retirement after working all her life full time and raising 2 kids...and 3 weeks after she retired she died from a sudden illness, it happens , it's horrible, but many just don't have the choice but to keep working!
 
Fortunately; I have enough money; though not a private jet Holly; and retiring early was a very difficult decision.
i do not collect my state pension until next July; but I am not sorry I did it at all.
i was already widowed when I retired; but have managed to have a social life without costing me a lot....and I find plenty to do...
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
It would be fine if DH hadn't died, but without him I need something to keep me occupied and keep me out around the lights and the people. I just don't want to be one of those crazy old cat ladies who sits around and lives on memories or spends my time feeling sorry for myself (something I probably do way too much of!). Working gives me something to concentrate on besides woe-is-me.
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I am the same, Georgia, my husband died after he had retired about 5 years, we did get to travel those 5 years....now, like you, I find that I'm better off to stay busy, there are days I feel 'the crazy cat lady' sneaking up though.
 
I've been wrestling with the retirement decision for a year now. I want to..... and I don't. I'm in good health. I have a very satisfying job. I make pretty good money.. and I'm valued at work. So other than the commute in winter, I've got no complaints. There was a time when I couldn't wait. Now I sort of dread it. I've worked full time for almost 40 years.. I'm not sure I can fill my time with anything other than busy work. I have beem trying to put together a plan.. haven't yet.
 
Quicksilver, if you are going to be financially stable when you retire, there's always the option of voluntary work, you'd be amazed at just how many interesting jobs are run by volunteers only. Google volunteer vacancies in your area for a list of them.:D

Vivjen, I know you live in a large town so there are more opportunities to get out and about without it costing too much, and I'm so sorry you lost your husband before you had the chance to enjoy it together.

My problem is i live in a very rural location, so very little to do here. I'm financially stable now thank god, but the way the employment stats are going in this country any one of us could be out of work long before we've even prepared for retirement.
 
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You are of course, correct, Hollydolly,; I have worked hard to get this far...and really began to hate it before I retired.

It took me a while to become 'organised'; I always try to have something to look forward to....
 
Quicksilver, if you are going to be financially stable when you retire, there's always the option of voluntary work, you'd be amazed at just how man interesting jobs are run by volunteers only. Google volunteer vacancies in your area for a list of them.
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:D
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Money is not the problem.. I have saved well... will have SS next January.. and several pensions from past employers (back when they offered pensions).. The problem is I don't have a clue what I would want to volunteer for. I'm doing what interests me now.. I know that as an RN.. there would be no limit to what I could volunteer for, but then again...why not just be paid for doing that? At 66 I will have no limit to how much I can earn and still collect SS.. But of course, I have demands of having to be somewhere at a specific time, which I wouldn't have if I retired.
 
I often think that we retired early somewhat under-financed. Unfortunately, we had just moved back north to Scotland when the 'credit crunch' came along. One year we were getting 7% intrest on savings and the next year, very little. At least my works pension is indexed and the FTSE linked equity bonds that we bought at the bottom of the market gave good returns. Nevertheless, supplementing our incomes to compensate for poor return on savings, meant drawing down on the capital. OH's works pension comes along later this year and I should get basic state pension and another 2 small occupational pensions next year at age 65. They will help considerably and when OH's state pension comes (when she is 100 or what ever it is by then) that will allow us to splash a bit more cash on having fun.

So, while I definitely recommend retirement (as early as practical), it is vital to have sufficient finances.

Hollydolly, I'm confused. You give your location as London, but say that you live in a very rural location. I live in a small village in N.Aberdeenshire and over the years, everything has closed and it's now little more than a collection of houses.
 
Cpt .ightning I live in a very rural village 20 miles from central London ( 10 miles from the borders of North London)...no public services including transport , not even a little shop..
 
Sounds like the little town I was from in Upper Michigan, hollydolly. We used to joke that it was too small for telephone service so we still had to use two tin cans and a string:D We also used to say that you couldn't "get here from there...or anywhere."
 
Sounds like it could be a popular area being so close to London, so a surprize that you're not well served by transport etc.

We're somewhat better served as we can easily get to the next town and from there we can get a bus every 30 mins to Aberdeen in one direction and to Elgin in the other. We get our bus pass at 60 and there's no travel time restriction. The main problem is the lack of fast broadband.
 
Gotta do it again, SB......:clap:

SeaBreeze said:
Personally, I think it is. I looked forward to it all my working life, and wanted to retire early enough to get some relaxation in before my days were up on this earth. Too many people I know delayed their retirement, and found themselves too old and sickly to enjoy themselves. One person who I worked with passed on shortly after retirement. I hear many stories of people actually dying in the workplace of age-related illness or accident.

I live a simple life, always have. To me, just being able to live my days without having to set alarms, drive to work in snow blizzards at 5am, and deal with working for 'the man', punching the time-clock, 10 minute breaks, and deal with all the aggravations of the workplace is a blessing. For years before I retired, I thought about the day that I could say goodbye to the daily grind.

Retirement is what it's cracked up to be, and I deserve every minute of it! How about you??
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Sea, I agree with you. Even if my world has shrunk to just an old log cabin, and only getting out to go to the Dr.s. It is good to be free of all the stress of daily work, and trying to help the world go around. I was so happy to see that it could do that all by itself. :wave:
 
Vivjen, I just remind myself that it's the younger generations turn. But yes, it would be nice if they would just remember that all the generations that came before them, had a few good ideas before they were even thought of. :tapfoot:
 
Capt Lightning said:
Sounds like it could be a popular area being so close to London, so a surprize that you're not well served by transport etc.

We're somewhat better served as we can easily get to the next town and from there we can get a bus every 30 mins to Aberdeen in one direction and to Elgin in the other. We get our bus pass at 60 and there's no travel time restriction. The main problem is the lack of fast broadband.
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There's one bus a day from the village to the next market town 3 miles away where there's a direct line train to London, (£15 quid to get into London) there's one public phone box and a pub ...and that's it, and even though we're only 20 miles from central London, due of the volume of traffic into the city once we hit the edge of North London if I drive in by car it can take up to 2 hours just to get in, then there's the congestion charge on top to contend with then the super high parking fees in the centre of the city).
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
Sounds like the little town I was from in Upper Michigan, hollydolly. We used to joke that it was too small for telephone service so we still had to use two tin cans and a string:D We also used to say that you couldn't "get here from there...or anywhere."
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Sounds a lot like ours Georgia LOL>... but it is very pretty . we are surrounded by farmland, woodland, rivers, streams and beautiful scenery:D
 

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