Retirement?? Over my dead body!

riverrat

riverrat

Getting old ROCKS!
Location
Overland Park, Kansas
I might slow down a little when I hit my mid 90's but retire? NEVER!!!
I work between 70 and 80 hours a week over a 7 day period and still have time to do things I like.
People tell me, "But you can go fishing all you want".
Or I can continue working at a skill I've loved since a teenager and not worry about a fixed income or the other
drawbacks to retirement.
 

Sounds like a workalcoholic to me: Someone married to his job. I have been retired 19 years & would never want to go back to work. But, of course, I love to travel, play my guitar, exercise, walk, read, record music, etc. Now, if you do not have any hobbies, then continue working. People who have no hobbies & retire too early end up dead in 2 years or so the studies seem to indicate.
 
But aren't you just in your early 50's?...easy for someone is their 50's who is strong and healthy to pronounce they'll never retire, or diffiuclt to understand that the body naturally slows down in most people.
My husband works a regular 90 hour week.. he's in his late 50's.. and he's done this for over 40 years in a job he loves and has always loved , but I can see now that it's starting it's toll on him... so he's begun taking more time off..., and is feeling a whole lot more relaxed because of it.

To quote an old adage... ''all work and no play makes jack a dull boy''...

..and remember there's no-one buried in a graveyard with a stone saying they'd wished they could have worked another day
 

Packerjohn said:
Sounds like a workalcoholic to me: Someone married to his job. I have been retired 19 years & would never want to go back to work. But, of course, I love to travel, play my guitar, exercise, walk, read, record music, etc. Now, if you do not have any hobbies, then continue working. People who have no hobbies & retire too early end up dead in 2 years or so the studies seem to indicate.
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I fish, play my guitar and mandolin with the guys, collect theology books and spoil my dogs.
Wrokaholic? hardly. I practice a skill that 98% of the population can't do and adore it.
 
hollydolly said:
But aren't you just in your early 50's?...easy for someone is their 50's who is strong and healthy to pronounce they'll never retire, or diffiuclt to understand that the body naturally slows down in most people.
My husband works a regular 90 hour week.. he's in his late 50's.. and he's done this for over 40 years in a job he loves and has always loved , but I can see now that it's starting it's toll on him... so he's begun taking more time off..., and is feeling a whole lot more relaxed because of it.

To quote an old adage... ''all work and no play makes jack a dull boy''...

..and remember there's no-one buried in a graveyard with a stone saying they'd wished they could have worked another day
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If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.
 
If you love your job that much I see no point in retiring... but... as you get older you might change your mind. You can save a boat load of money between now in your 50’s & say late 60’s. If you have a good fixed income with good health insurance retirement is a lot of fun. 😊
 
I might slow down a little when I hit my mid 90's but retire? NEVER!!!
[/QUOTE]
I thought that way at one time in my life. Then a few phrases I have heard really sunk in and found my inner feeling about life and work and climbing the corporate ladder.
Life is to short, can't buy back time, my time is worth more now to me then a pay check etc. etc.. It took me a while to adjust to retirement but now I regret not doing it earlier in my career. It is kind of like when I was going to school and it was the first day of summer vacation. My life was as free as butterfly and the time went by so fast then school started back up and wasn't as near as free then. LOL
 
I was almost forced into retirement by the FAA. Pilots holding an ATP certificate cannot fly commercial airlines past the age of 65. I did take an early out offer at age 62, but only because the offer was so great that only a fool would have turned it down.

Sure, I would have continued to fly as long as I was healthy, but once I did retire, the stress that I lost was something that I noticed almost right away. You have 2-300 people's lives in your hands daily and believe me, that's a lot of stress.

So, what type of work do you do?
 
oldman said:
I was almost forced into retirement by the FAA. Pilots holding an ATP certificate cannot fly commercial airlines past the age of 65. I did take an early out offer at age 62, but only because the offer was so great that only a fool would have turned it down.

Sure, I would have continued to fly as long as I was healthy, but once I did retire, the stress that I lost was something that I noticed almost right away. You have 2-300 people's lives in your hands daily and believe me, that's a lot of stress.

So, what type of work do you do?
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I'm a machinist. I program and make parts for the nuclear industry. Exotic metals and tight tolerances +/- 3 microns
It's totally fascinating!
 
riverrat said:
I'm a machinist. I program and make parts for the nuclear industry. Exotic metals and tight tolerances +/- 3 microns
It's totally fascinating!
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Nuclear power plants or Nuclear powered ships? Or, maybe nuclear something else. BTW, what's a micron?
 
riverrat said:
I'm a machinist. I program and make parts for the nuclear industry. Exotic metals and tight tolerances +/- 3 microns
It's totally fascinating!
Click to expand...
After I left DuPont and before I went to flight school, I worked for Allis Chalmers. We designed and built nuclear reactors for subs. I once met Admiral Rickover, who led the Naval reactor program. I was very over-whelmed by his presence.
 
Advice from an elder (86 and counting) - this too shall pass. Love your job and stick with it as long as you wish but, just for kicks, develop a hobby or another interest Just as insurance.

Some of the saddest retirees I have known are those whose whole life was their job and when that went (and most do for some reason) so did their interest in life. As they tell us when we invest ...... diversify.

I don't mean to be a downer. I apologize in advance so don't shout at me.
 
riverrat said:
I'm a machinist. I program and make parts for the nuclear industry. Exotic metals and tight tolerances +/- 3 microns
It's totally fascinating!
Click to expand...
I worked with Inconel, Monel and 300 series Stainless, like 305 SS. I designed a flow tube that allows water to escape from the core while it is running. I named it "Stub Tube." It is made using Monel and then tig welded to the outer core of the reactor using Stainless Steel wire. Depending on the size of the reactor, determines the number of Stub Tubes that are welded to the outer core of the reactor.

There was also a steel that emitted a poisonous gas and the operator had to wear a hood with O2 on his head, so he could breath, but I can't think of the name of the steel. Oh, yeah, now I remember the name; Beryllium. Not sure of the spelling. I never used it and never wanted to be around it. But, we did use it on some of the parts in the reactor.

I had to go through an extensive FBI background check before being allowed to even get into the Nuclear office of the company. I carried four different clearances. Back then, CNC was just coming into industry. Up until that time, all or most of the machining was done by hand and the machinists and toolmakers had to serve an 8000 hour or 10,000 hour apprenticeship. When CNC's became popular, a lot of guys and gals wanted to learn programming because that's where the money was. Even some of our engineers took up programming the CNC's. We had an 18' and a 24' VTL and a 16' and a 24' Boring Mill. All of these machines were run by hand with the machinist actually seated on the machine as it turned the outside of the core.

Even though I designed it, the patent belonged to Allis Chalmers who later sold their nuclear division to Precision Components. Their Hydro division was sold to a German company named "Voith Hydro." I don't know if they still own it or not. I didn't do any work on any parts of the hydro electric parts. Most of that stuff went to the TVA project and also to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the mid-east that used hydro electric for power.
 
Yep, I know all about the clearances and vetting. I work the the metals you mentiones plus Hastoly A, B & C. It's basically harder than the cutting tools. Average 70 SFM to machine. I basically grew up in a machine shop on manuals. Spent 4 years as an army Ranger then got out due to my second purple heart left a bullet in my spine and one in my hip.
Went back to machining. Learned to program on a keyboard and punch tape on an OKUMA LC 30.
 

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