Is Retirement All It's Cracked Up To Be?

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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My neighbor worked till 70 for the health insurance because his wife was sickly. When she passed, he said goodbye to work and bought himself an expensive BMW. It was time to live. Instead, he got a stroke. The BMW is gone because he can't drive anymore. I see him once in a while and he looks like the walking dead.
 

Chet said:
My neighbor worked till 70 for the health insurance because his wife was sickly. When she passed, he said goodbye to work and bought himself an expensive BMW. It was time to live. Instead, he got a stroke. The BMW is gone because he can't drive anymore. I see him once in a while and he looks like the walking dead.
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I wonder if your neighbors job was physically and/or mentally demanding. I think it needs to be considered, even working aside, that taking care of a sickly spouse could have contributed to his stroke. They have done studies on this for people who took care of sick or people with dementia for a long period. It can shorten their lives.

So many different people get many different things dealt to them. One never knows what they endured.
 
Chet said:
My neighbor worked till 70 for the health insurance because his wife was sickly. When she passed, he said goodbye to work and bought himself an expensive BMW. It was time to live. Instead, he got a stroke. The BMW is gone because he can't drive anymore. I see him once in a while and he looks like the walking dead.
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Similar thing happened to a Navy captain we knew for years. He and his wife worked all their lives, scrimped and saved, and he put in an extra 10 after he could have retired so he could buy his own boat and they could sail wherever they wanted to. We attended his retirement bash on a Friday night. Sunday morning two days later, he died of a heart attack. I thought it was so very sad -- a lifetime of looking forward to, working toward, and saving for a future that wasn't to be.
 
Some people like their jobs and are lost when they retire. Personally, I kind of eased into it by doing freelance work from home until completely retiring. I can always do more freelance work if I need some extra money, but that involves working at the computer, which is tiring for me due to a stigmatism in one of my eyes. Supposedly, it can be corrected with contact lenses, which I may look into after the pandemic is over. I'm not having surgery since there are too many potential complications when performed on older, far-sighted people.
 
Timing retirement isn't always easy. Some people retire before they are ready financially and can't afford the good life they hoped for. Others Wait too long and can't do what they planned because of health. It's an individual decision, a gamble any way you do it.
Best of luck to all/
 
I retired early at 60 after my spine doctor told me that if I didn’t get surgery soon then I would need a wheelchair. Plus the pain was getting intolerable and I didn’t want to have to keep taking more medication. The pain was so bad and so debilitating I was looking into how to obtain opium and I’m not joking. So I chose retirement and surgery over becoming a poppy-head.

I changed jobs and locations all through my working years – always going where the pay was better, the rent was cheap and the schools were good – so I wasn’t going to retire with an IRA or 401K or CDs or any sort of plan, and I was starting to think I totally messed up in that regard. But on my doctor’s advice I applied for SS disability benefits. It was excellent advice. I get less per month than straight SSI but I have excellent medical benefits so it evens out. The kids were all on their own and doing really well at that point so retirement has been way better than I expected.
 
Murrmurr said:
I retired early at 60 after my spine doctor told me that if I didn’t get surgery soon then I would need a wheelchair. Plus the pain was getting intolerable and I didn’t want to have to keep taking more medication. The pain was so bad and so debilitating I was looking into how to obtain opium and I’m not joking. So I chose retirement and surgery over becoming a poppy-head.

I changed jobs and locations all through my working years – always going where the pay was better, the rent was cheap and the schools were good – so I wasn’t going to retire with an IRA or 401K or CDs or any sort of plan, and I was starting to think I totally messed up in that regard. But on my doctor’s advice I applied for SS disability benefits. It was excellent advice. I get less per month than straight SSI but I have excellent medical benefits so it evens out. The kids were all on their own and doing really well at that point so retirement has been way better than I expected.
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I'm glad things worked out for you M. I hope the surgery proved beneficial. I've always felt for those with severe back pain. I had an aunt who suffered with it.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I'm glad things worked out for you M. I hope the surgery proved beneficial. I've always felt for those with severe back pain. I had an aunt who suffered with it.
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The surgery was absolutely life changing. Pain was reduced a good 60% overall but also I walk so much better. I didn't even realize how uncoordinated and weird my walking was until after the surgery.
 
Gaer said:
Remember cassette tapes? Well, I used to take off alone in my truck with Duane Eddy or Johhny Horton playing to DAMN! Baha, Mexico, Colorado or Fairbanks Alaska, or go off roading in an ATV (remember those?) in Glamouth over Thanksgiving weekend, YAHOO!
Don't do that weekend stuff anymore. Of course, when I married, I worked, and worked, and worked, and worked. I was draggin!

Now? I stay home with my dog. I sculpt, write magazine articles and books, paint, illustrate and clean the bathtub. I don't even camp out anymore. It's a whole different lifestyle! But, You know how you settle in and accept you're growing old? I don't have that! I'm really old, I guess, but I feel like i'm still 40! I'm terribly healthy!

Kind of a forced sedentary lifestyle. Maybe it's because of the China virus, but I'm still not quite used to it. "Stayin in"and "stuck in the house" nah! It's not me! i do agree with Gary though. it's nice to just go back to sleep,if you feel like it!
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Boy, do I remember cassette tapes! :)

And using a pencil stuck through one of the gear holes to rewind loose cassette tape when the player would eat it.
 
Autumn said:
I had to stop working at age 60 because of health issues. I was really sad and disappointed because I loved my job. My husband was still working, so it was a huge adjustment for me. If I were able to, I'd still be working, but we all have to adjust to what life sends our way.
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I had to retire before I had planned to, because my hips had deteriorated to a point where I could barely stand, even with a cane, and the pain was so bad that he only solution was to have them both replaced. I retired at 67 and had planned to work on until 70 at least.

I still miss being involved in the work, and the people I encountered, and the mental and social stimulation. I really loved the work I did, though I didn't like working where I did, for a very difficult boss.
 
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Come 2021, I'll have been retired 29 years. I've loved every bit of it and never looked over my shoulder since the day I left. I had a comfortable career and good working conditions. Enjoyed most of the people I worked for and with but I never saw the day when 8 hours spent at work was preferable to 8 hrs with my wife, kids, or grandkids.

In my case, I can't imagine finding it preferable to have my day "planned" for me, including the responsibility needed when self employed, as compared to having the ability of choosing how and where my day will be spent.
 
My take on retirement is so much different from most that I thought it prudent to read the entire thread. My working life was in the logistics industry, if you have seen a large truck delivering to the back of your supermarket, it will have come from a distribution centre. I worked as the head honcho of such centres. UK members will recognise names like Waitrose, Argos and Scottish & Newcastle Breweries, they were all customers of the conglomerate that I worked for.

When the chairman of that conglomerate, one, Sir Ronnie Frost, died, the company was broken up and the division that I worked for was no more. At 64 I was on the scrap heap, best take retirement then. It lasted eighteen months. How I missed the stimulation, the day to day thrust of the job, so when a local company of whom I had previous dealings with, were in the market for an adviser, that was for me. Now I'm running a depot with fifty odd delivery vans twenty or so large trucks and a large storage and distribution warehouse, I couldn't be happier. I love it. Am I sad? Probably, but I do empathise with Dolly Parton when she said that she would rather wear out than rust out.

Enjoy your retirement if that is what makes you happy, I certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone a deserved rest after a lifetime of work, but indulge me my pleasure and that pleasure is work, how I love it.
 
Retirement. Well I guess it all depends on what you wanted out of your golden years and how well you had saved and planned, and how healthy you are. My husband lost his job when he was 60. That was at the time when the whole economy collapsed. He found another job, but that company, like the previous one, shut it’s doors within a year. What little money we had saved, we used to survive until we could both take our SS. Like Horseless, we both missed being out among people so we both took other jobs, nowhere near the fields we were previously in, but they
Allowed us to earn a little extra income, were pretty much stress free, and not full time so we could still enjoy days off and relaxation. My back prevented me from hanging on to my job after 8 years so I gave it up last summer. Husband still works and enjoys it. And we are happy. We were never big travelers so don’t feel bad that we no longer can. Happy with our little weekend or day trips. And we were never high dining type of people before so don’t miss that we can no longer do that either. We’ve had the lake homes, huge houses, lovely vacations etc., all while our kids were growing up and beyond so have no desire or need for those any longer either. We are pretty darn content where we are in life...in relatively good health, and thrilled beyond measure that we still have each other. So for us, so far, retirement is wonderful 💕
 
I'm 62 and after 45 years decided to stop working as I had a few projects including getting the house decorated and some learning I wanted to do amongst other things. Plus, getting divorced gave me some freedom - good and bad points. Anyway, that was 6 months ago and after talking to my financial advisor recently I confirmed the way forward financially. So, no pressure from that point of view unless WW3 happens and the markets crash. I've not closed my options for working but at this moment I have enough to do but I know once the house is complete I'll need a new project or objective to focus on.
 

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