Actually, not a lot of my friends are retired. DH is also semi-retired – he works seasonally – so he’s around, and my sister – who lives on the opposite coast – is retired, so we chat at any time of day. But I have friends of differing ages, so believe it or not I have lunch with former colleagues who are now on maternity leave, and with people who work locally. I also have a group of lady friends who get together for breakfast once a month, and several social groups that get together perhaps once a quarter. And I talk to my two kids a lot and go to visit each of them probably twice a year. So, there are a lot of people I talk to.
I’m retired and working 10-15 hours a week in a fairly relaxed setting doing the books in a retail shop. I don’t roll into work until 1 pm. The best thing so far about retirement is that I stay up till one or two and don’t get up till 8 or 9. After 20 years of insomnia I can finally sleep. I was never able to go to sleep early but I had to get up at five so I was sleep deprived for years on end. Not any more.
Many of my friends and family are retired. For those if you who are retired, what is the best thing about it? Worst? Advise?
Best? Being able to get 8 hours of sleep a night and a nap whenever I want (although I don’t often). Sleeping in. No office politics to deal with.
Worst? No corporate healthcare.
Best things about retirement: no work related meetings or paperwork. I really disliked those as they became more and more a %age of my work.
Another best…being able to fly any day of the week, and not having to take vacations during school vacations!
Worst thing:…hmmm…honestly, I can’t think of a thing I don’t like about retirement.
Like @VeryHappy, I have friends who are retired…and friends who are not retired. I have time to see them all. I’m the flexible schedule one!
We own our house, have no debts, kids are married off and independent, like our jobs but we, too, are ready to just call it quits. Realistically, we have 6 more years until I am 62 and DH is 61, and we can retire. We will be comfortable financially (if somewhat frugally) as long as inflation doesn’t jump. Neither of our defined benefit pensions include Cost of living increases…
Not retired yet, however…thinking the best thing would be to be able to sleep regular hours in my own bed, every night. No staying up until 9am, with the maid ignoring the do not disturb sign, fire alarms and loud people waking me up. I also won’t miss having to think like a lawyer, I don’t care for that. No offense to lawyers!
The worst thing would be the difference in income, losing free travel benefits, accruing airmiles, health and pension benefits, loss of identity, and now what do I do with my time?
I just flew with this guy who is retiring early (age 59), in a couple of weeks. He said he knew it was time to retire this summer when he had 80 days off, and could barely stand to come back to work. I was on one of his last trips, and he was so happy.
“I just flew with this guy who is retiring early (age 59)” 60 used to be mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots!
@busdriver11 you will have plenty to do to occupy your time. I promise!!
Only 54, but thinking about retiring in the next 2-3 years. My job is extremely computer intensive and it’s very tiring on my eyes. Have a lot of eye issues. I love the fall season and I really struggled this year with being trapped inside in front of two computer screens when the weather was gorgeous.
My parents are both still alive - father in bad shape at 86, mother ok health-wise but very helpless at 81.
A scenario where father passes away and I retire to help mother and gain more free time for myself is something I think about daily. I don’t see how I could continue to work full time and help her as much as will be needed.
Will not miss working. Not sure about negative financial ramifications though, that’ll be the concern.
I could retire sometime soon. Can’t imagine losing my connection with kiddos Insurance is going to keep us going when I am tired of daily stuff.
Interesting to me how many people are ready/willing/fiscally able to retire in their 50’s. Wonder what the national average is? Or the average 20 years ago? 40 years ago? Are we hoping/expecting to retire earlier? There is a segment of the population that seems to feel they will never be able to retire or not until way past 62.
Sort of a shame to me that the opportunity varies so much for different people.
That said, my H retired 2 weeks ago on his 61st birthday. He was in law enforcement and stayed 8 years past his minimum retirement age. Still seems young to me!
H was 70 when he retired after 45 years of work. My dad was working in his 80s but not much now in his 90s.
Jeez, I’m still working 4 1/2 day a week. I want to help son with new car , as his is my old 2004 Honda, a wedding, and down payment on condo/house. I can’t I fine not working.
Yes, and many of us bemoan that change, because there was a huge stagnation in progression and many furloughs due to that and the economic downturn. Now, I swear, almost everyone is waiting until their 65th birthday. But I plan to be well outta there!
It is hard to think about going from your peak earning years to a big drop in pay. Bummer we don’t have one of those jobs with a huge golden parachute.
I’m afraid I might just sit around on the internet all day!
I just don’t want to regret retiring too early. If it’s a mistake, I can’t go back. But I don’t want my life to disappear in a pile of work, with not enough time off. I don’t want to retire and then instantly die, like so many people. I think it’s really hard to figure out when, sometimes. For some people, it’s obvious, they don’t like to work any more and really dread their job. That would be an easy one. But if you like your job? Much harder.
I retired at age 60 in 2011. I was a public school speech pathologist. Since that time, I have don every six long term speech therapy substitute positions as an independent contractor. Jobs have ranged from a week to 4 months in duration. It’s really prefect.
Last year I worked most of the school year. This year, I hope to pick up something in maybe April or so…to wrap up the school year.
It’s very nice because I do love the work, it’s short term, and I can sort of pick and choose my times.
@bookworm I’ve used my earnings to buy each of my kids a car…and I bought myself a new car too.
That’s awesome that you are able to do that, thumper. I never could. My pay/position is based upon decades of union seniority, and constant training and currency. I would have to be completely retrained on a different airplane, maintain currency, and work my butt off for a pittance of the pay. I’m too old, too greedy, and too lazy to do that.
But that is really cool that some people can stay within their field, and work as much or as little as they choose. It’s not like you have to retire, and that’s it.
Even though I am quite health conscious with exercise and food, I am now able to exercise the way I want to, when I want to. I feel healthier and younger. I like having time for me. I like seeing sunshine in the middle of the day in the winter, which now does not seem so bad. I just took a 2 week vacation to oversees to see D in college. I would have not been given off to do that when working. I like taking college courses for nearly free as a senior citizen. I like sleeping in and staying up late.
After seeing my deficits (in the book I mentioned), I worked on them since the day I retired. They were outside social interactions. I just did not really have time for this when working. All but one friend at work retired before me, and most moved away, so starting all over again with friends.
I cannot think of a negative in retirement mode.
I retired from my long time position about a year and a half ago at 61. I was VERY ready to leave my “real” job…The culture there had changed dramatically in the last few years and I was pretty miserable. I was fortunate to have a paid off house, health insurance through my late husband’s company, and no dependent children.
I almost immediately started working again in a half time position plus some regular additional short term contract jobs. I feel like I’m still working a fair bit, but it’s all stuff I like, and quite flexible as even most of my half time position can be done virtually so I can travel while working and I can pick and choose the contract stuff I take. I plan to continue working as I am now for the foreseeable future.