Retirement

Jillaroo

Jillaroo

Demented
Location
Mid North Coast NSW Australia
Retirement is different for everyone.

One day, while going to the shop, I passed by a retirement village.

On the front lawn were six old ladies, lying naked on the grass.

I thought this was a bit unusual, but continued on my way.

On my return trip, I passed the same retirement village

with the same six old ladies lying naked on the lawn.

This time my curiosity got the better of me and I went inside

to talk to the retirement village Administrator, and asked her,

"Do you know there are six ladies lying naked on your front lawn?"

"Yes", she said, "aren't they darlings? They're retired prostitutes -

they're having a garage sale".



 
I absolutely loved working and now the laws have changed so there is no mandatory retirement age. If I didn't have certain health issues, I would work until I dropped.
 
crispy said:
I absolutely loved working and now the laws have changed so there is no mandatory retirement age. If I didn't have certain health issues, I would work until I dropped.
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Hubbys like that too, crispy...always needing something to do. He isn't happy with retirement, but can't work full-time anymore.
Wish we could find some work we could do at home, but no luck with that.
 
Like TWHRider, I also worked to live. I retired several years ago, and I never missed it one bit. I worked a lot of OT whenever it was available, so I could save a bit extra for early retirement...always kept the big picture in mind...there goes my right-brained thinking again. :hair:
 
I have always worked to live as well and I have retirement in my near (I hope) future. And I won't miss it for a second, not working anymore, I have been a wage slave since High School, always had my nose to the grind stone and I am getting tired.
 
I retired this year after working for the Gov't for 32 years but have actually been in the work force since I was 16. Do I miss work? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Since the day I handed back my computer, I truly haven't thought about it at all. It seems I'm always busy doing something and the funny thing is, I actually wake up earlier in the mornings and I'm convinced that is because I'm looking forward to the day ahead. No more hiding under the covers to avoid getting up and working, it's up and at em for this gal.

I appreciated and liked my job so that was a good thing, but I appreciate and love being retired more!
 
I quite enjoyed some of the jobs I had while working, but much prefer reirement where I have the choice of what I would like to do for the day.
I enjoy gardening and doing crafty things as well as looking after grand children some times.
 
I always planned to retire in my mid 50's and that's what I did. There was a big reorganisation at work, and older guys like me were 'on the radar'. So, I took the money and ran - along with a company pension. Living in the UK, healthcare wasn't an issue although the private treatment funded by my employer was better than the state system. My wife retired at the same time too, and although it meant a big drop in income, we had no big bills to pay.

Best move we ever made! We keep busy, but our time's our own. No more spending hours in airport lounges or days away from home. Learned a lot of new skills and get by on a lot less money. Still got state pensions to come in a few years and then we should be much better off.

There's a lot more to life than work - I'll leave it for the young guys!
 
SeaBreeze said:
Like TWHRider, I also worked to live. I retired several years ago, and I never missed it one bit. I worked a lot of OT whenever it was available, so I could save a bit extra for early retirement...always kept the big picture in mind...there goes my right-brained thinking again. :hair:
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No keep onn thinking :)...I know I am going to HAVE to get a part time job, but will be with something I like, such as the Humane society where I live, I surely hope they will hire. No way can we get by on hubbys and my SS...he gets more than I do, but only because I took mune early, Bad move on my part...Any and all ideas are welcome on how to make money.....
 
I'm coming up on 20 years retired and haven't gotten tired of it yet.
Like the Cap'n, mid 50s was the goal but it was more hope than plan. The average use-by and checkout date in my family hovers around 60 and I had no intention of dying in harness.

Like SeaBreeze, I worked every hour of overtime I could get for the last few years, near doubled my salary for three years straight, paid off the investment house mortgage, and stacked away every cent I could while I could. Worked 13 of the 14 days on our roster for months at a time. Damn near put me in hospital but worth it when a redundancy offer came up as I then had an income from the house rent and enough in the bank to see me through until my superannuation kicked in at 55. I snatched that redundancy and ran at 48. It was well worth the effort of all that overtime. It seems to have extended my check out date too.

I think a lot of people leave their exit strategy too late. Many I worked with just couldn't afford to take the redundancy option as they had preferred to 'have a life' instead of spending more time at work than they had to and didn't see the point of putting a dollar they could spend on 'socializing' into the bank instead.

It's a throw of the dice, I was lucky I picked the best option for my circumstances. I was also lucky that the opportunity for overtime was available for so long. (Thanks for 'having a life' and leaving the overtime for me fellas. ) Some I knew worked right up to 65 and still didn't own a house. Hope all those 'partying' memories comfort them in their old age. 'Having a life' on the bare pension in a rented flat doesn't seem all that tempting to me.

We get the cries from some of "but all our money went on raising a family" and that's true I guess but I don't see that as entitling them to any more than the partiers, they chose that path as their personal preference, not as the taxpayer's preference.

I do feel sorry for the ones who went that way and still ended up in a flat on the bare pension because the sacrifice wasn't appreciated by their families though. That must be the bitterest blow of all.
 
For those near retirement. Learn about investing, finance and taxes BEFORE you retire. Yes there is a learning curve and getting used to a limited income but you still need to know or understand these things. Actively invest and do you own taxes a year or two before retirement so you feel comfortable enough to do these things yourself if something changes or you can't afford to have these things done for you.

NEVER stop learning!
 
I know many young folks don't think about retirement but they should. Waiting until you are near retirement doesn't give you enough time to be ready.
With 401ks available to most people nowadays, financial security at retirement should be easy to accomplish if people will only take advantage of it.
 
rkunsaw said:
I know many young folks don't think about retirement but they should. Waiting until you are near retirement doesn't give you enough time to be ready.
With 401ks available to most people nowadays, financial security at retirement should be easy to accomplish if people will only take advantage of it.
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You absolutely 100% correct. I was talking based on the premise that you had a 401k or pension coming. The problem is that even the retiree who saved or participated in plans at work are quite frankly financial idiots even on the first day of retirement. There will be no meetings, no hr to go to and less experienced people/workplace advice. You are on your own come retirement. They simply can't manage money including budgets, they don't understand finance or taxes. It's a different story shelling out 300$ when you are working for tax prep but another when you are on a fixed reduced income. The early retirees tend to be the worst because they are younger and tend spend younger.

I know retirees who took a buyout and spent the bulk of their money on one stock-"ah sure thing, the future"-CRASH I also know people who gave money to professional money manager or investment advisors which can be good or bad depending how it was invested and how much the commissions and fees are. Point is a lot of this stuff just about anyone can do on their own if they take the time to learn about it and actually "practice" by doing their own investments and taxes before retirement.
 
boring-meeting-540x403.jpg
 
Bullie76 said:
Same here. I enjoyed a lot of the people I worked with but my job......not so much. I was a bean counter and doing basically the same thing over the years just got old.
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Same here, Bullie, the last few years were such a drudgery, retirement is wonderful. BTW, welcome to the forum.
 
I agree completely; but I am lucky; I have enough money to maintain my standard of living.
 
Retirement could not become quick enough for me after years of punishing my body in the building industry and being self employed tradie I grew tired of getting ripped off by late or non-paying builders.

I did some voluntary work as a relief driver for the local community bus, and in a retirement home and was treated like dirt for my efforts. Finally volunteering at an animal shelter, where I couldn’t handle the death and misery after a couple of months. I took my dogs to the park every day for a few months to watch the grass grow and nearly went nuts, so I tackled one of many jobs that had needed doing on my home for years. 18 months later and some $30 000 poorer I finally finished.

Now it's life at a slower pace doing a Family Tree, selling off my equipment etc and life is bloody terrific
 
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