It was not as easy as just giving notice and walking away since I owned and ran a retail store. But – the lease was up, it wasn’t fun anymore, and I am turning 60 next month. When you’re 60 and there’s a 5 year lease agreement to be signed – you get the picture. It essentially took a year to figure out what to do and implement the plan and I am still cleaning up the details (and the storage unit full of stuff that didn’t sell in the closing shop sale) but I don’t have to think about the shop seven days a week and be there open-to-close for five of those days. The grind was too much.
I have a tiny retirement job – writing for a professional organization that I belonged to and going to trade shows for them.
There’s more than enough stuff for me to do – I speak of my new career in estate management which sometimes translates as landscaping and scheduling worker workers for home improvements – and I get to train and show my dogs, get fitter, and celebrate my impending birthday with a fabulous trip with my college roommate whose birthday is within days of my own!
Conmama, sorry it was sudden. Glad you are taking time now and that your H is supportive. Had a similar situation and age happen to a friend, after the initial shock she did well finding her new norm.
I hope the same for you.
Haven’t read any of this thread–just here to answer the question–
No. Don’t ever retire. Have something you want to do every day that requires your attention. I don’t care what it is. It may not be a paid job but keep moving. Too many people stagnate.
My mom always cooked meals and did dishes. She was 91 with cancer, felt like crap but still kept that on her “to do” list. WHY, I would be home to help so take a break! No–she said it was her “therapy” and if she stopped those tasks then she would just stop altogether. It was her way of staying in the game. She played Scrabble for her brain and kept up on the news.
My dad is 93 and just got his third or fourth patent. He has an internet business which keeps him busy on a daily basis. He’s looking for his next project even now. He officially “retired” at 55 but has worked on whatever he loved since then and made money at it too.
The bottom line–keep actively engaged no matter what your choice of job or hobby. Retire all you want–but never sit
still.
Ok…noted! Once we are back from our trip, I will start volunteering to keep active during the day until I decide what I want to do with the rest of my life.
I’ve mentioned it before, somewhere on CC, but don’t be discouraged if it takes a while to find out which volunteer opportunity is the right one for you. I’ve kissed a few toads along the way.
Wow, what news to get @conmama - sounds like it was sudden and a bit shocking?
As you said, ironic that this happens now that your child left for college - but maybe NOT ironic - maybe “the plan” IS for it to happen now and there will be new things filling your time before you know it. Be open to new things.
Conmama, sympathies on needing to process this major change of circumstance. The schools and kids are a very worthwhile place to put your time and energy. In my area, being an aid to a kid in the local schools, part time, pays about $12 per hour, but more importantly, includes benefits.
I met the greatest guy today, retired professor. His passion is educational policy, and he is devoting his retirement to promoting sane and effective educational approaches in his lifelong field of study. I was so impressed as to how this passion has added such depth to his retired years.
I do not plan to ever retire on life, until I have no choice. But I do plan to retire from the place that I am required to go to on a regular basis at this time in my life.
My H heard somewhere that we should always reinvent ourselves every 5 years. I am overdue!
Something similar happened to me when I was about your age. Our whole group got affected very significantly (likely only 2 out of 10 people in our group “survived” – but several of us were asked to stay around to train employees at another lower-cost site for a few months. I actually thought it was one of the middle managers did us a favor so that some of us (including me) could continue to work a little bit longer. Our project was outsourced to another site in country A, and I later heard the same project was outsourced from country A to country B again in less than half a year.
It took me some time to get another job in another state. Since then, I have extended my work life for another 5 years. I think it is about the time to leave the workforce, voluntarily or not. I could make it to almost 61, but most likely I could not make it to 62.
I would like to continue working, I do not think that they keep me forever though. I am not in any competitive career, I am just in IT and it is not easy to find re-placement and training takes few years. While, there are people who are in late 60s in my department, I do not know anybody who are in 70s. I do not like to talk about work, so I really do not have any interesting to say to others, I like to listen more. I would prefer working from the beach. While it is possible, I am sure my employer will not accommodate this type of arrangement.
It bothers me though that I will spend my days on a beach without doing anything at all. I wish I liked to read, but I do not. Besides these limitation, my H. will want me to retire when he retires. I am already past full retirement age and job is definitely my biggest entertainment although I have few time consuming hobbies. The retirement is scary because I lose the major entertainment and lots of income. We will be poor beach bums.
Maybe you just haven’t found what it is you like to read.
There’s more to reading than novels. I love nonfiction about science-y things. My brother-in-law loves books about WWII military strategy. Some people enjoy cookbooks. And so on and so forth.
“Maybe you just haven’t found what it is you like to read.” - I am sorry, you somehow missed my age, I am past full retirement age. I cannot even read the books that were my favorites, I tried and ruined good memories of them. Talking “boring”!! My kids are not big reader either, my H. can swallow a huge book in few hours and remember all details. So, when we spend time together, he just tells me the story and it is much more interesting this way. He is not a reader either. There is no reason for me to even try, I do not remember anything the next day. Thank goodness, my job does not require any memory! Never head it and it is gone down from practically zero. I do not like to cook, but when I do, I am way too lazy to pull the recipe from internet / cookbook. We have so many books at home, including cookbooks. We donate then to the public library on a very regular basis, most are brand new, never opened. They also have been good presents to those who I know love to read. I just do Sudoku on a beach but it get boring also, I tried candy game, but I do not get it what it is about, all of a sudden, you bit the level, I cannot follow it.
I’m glad I still like reading. When my dad was in nursing home he requested me to bring Paris Match and Scientific American so he could read, up all the way until his last day when he refused food and then just died.
