<p>…for those who did read read my previous “scary” posts, I am already doing my very limited list of prefferred activities on a daily basis and I have absolutely NOTHTING to add to this list. It is very scary to think about being depressed for many hours every single day, it will kill me when I am kicked out, I am sure.</p>
<p>Neither H nor I are depressed, nor are many of the retired folk we know–do know many who can’t wait to retire!</p>
<p>Miami. You will be able to find volunteer opportunities that will keep you busy, if you are willing!</p>
<p>Well, as a non-working spouse with H 8 years older than me, this thread has given me some things to think about. His company still provides a traditional pension, at least for employees who have been around as long as he has, and supplemental medical benefits, but I am not sure where I fit in to those. I’ve got some pre-existing conditions that require a lot of tests every year, could be expensive!</p>
<p>If look into how you’ll be covered if and when your H retires. For the federal employees, you have to have the coverage you want to retire with for at least 5 years prior to retirement. Additionally, retiree has to designate that spouse will get a % survival pension. If these requirements aren’t met, medical benefits can be lost. HR should have info on these issues and its a good idea to look now while there are hopefully some years prior to retirement to be sure things are done correctly to protect medical benefits.</p>
<p>“My biggest fear with my DH retiring is him turning our house into Sampson and Sons. My DH loves to go to flea markets and garage sales and buying stuff. He buys a lot of stuff to resale or fix and sell. Unfortunately it sits around (way too long) until he sells it–if he sells it. We already have too much junk. He loves to fix things, so that is his recreation.”</p>
<p>That is hilarious…but yeah, it can be a problem. My parents struggle with this, as my dad is the same way, but he won’t sell any of it off. It drives my mom crazy, and there is plenty of yelling about this issue. She won’t allow him to go to any garage sale or thrift shop anymore, but sometimes he sneaks into one, I know it. I think you just have to have an agreement about it. It has to fit in the workshop, or one project at a time and sell, or something that works for you. Otherwise, your entire house may be taken over by junk!</p>
<p>Shiver. /ten</p>
<p>My sister, age 58, lost her husband about 18 months ago. She is considering retirement in Dec. 2014 but is quite conflicted. She would be fine financially, but seems to be concerned about how she will spend her time. She has things she would like to do, but is still adjusting to life without her husband. Her only child is a busy professional living about 2 hours away. When not discussing retirement, she says her job gives purpose to her life and offers her a reason to get out of bed. </p>
<p>I’m wondering if any of you have experience or know others who have dealt with retirement as a single person. Resources to share with her would also be appreciated.</p>
<p>A pharmacist I work with- his wife died suddenly and he decided not only to not retire but went back to work like in a couple of weeks because he said he could not stand it at home alone. He is still working and looks well adjusted.</p>
<p>My particular firm has a very large number of employees above the traditional retirement age. There are at least ten between 65 and 75, with most of those at the higher end. To a one they are all sharp, productive, energetic and busy people with varied interests. I have no idea what that means, but I find it impressive and admirable. There was one woman who retired at 82 earlier this year. She had had a stroke about 5 years ago and was a little limited in mobility, but was a great employee. Her husband died unexpectedly, she retired a week later and has been traveling ever since. Having read this thread, I have been thinking about retirement. I was lucky in having my boss be someone who followed MiamiDAP’s advice and twisted my arm to max out 401k almost 30 years ago. Between that and two generous matching firms, I have a lot of money, so my new idea is that when my husband retires I will ask to work four days a week instead of five and then maybe wind down slowly. This is a truly awesome thread.</p>
<p>She may explore whether her firm may give her extended vacation to toy with retirement or perhaps allow her to work part-time. That can be a win-win, especially if she doesn’t need the money of full-time work and may enjoy the flexibility of being a part-timer.</p>
<p>One of my friends divorced his wife and then retired from his job. He is loving his single life and doing a lot of travel and accepting the projects he is interested in and chooses to do. It really does depend on the individual. Another friend lost her husband a few years before she retired. She is spending a lot of time visiting family and friends across the country and volunteering. She seems pretty happy in retirement as well.</p>
<p>I had a thought today that maybe, just like when your kid is getting way on your nerves and you are counting the days until the first day of college, you do the same with your job before you retire. I used to love my job, then a few years ago I started to think about retirement and now I am getting anxious and counting the months.</p>
<p>I retired a long time ago when we decided to stay for H’s good job (long story, won’t go into details here). He decided to retire at 60 and we knew we were going to leave town. Son has finished college and we have no reasons to keep our life there. We were able to get group insurance through his work’s retiree’s plan- I can do Cobra for 3 years after he turns 65, leaving me with 2 1/2 months to worry about in a few years (btw- as a physician with some moderate preexisting conditions I NEED Obamacare, I can’t buy any policy on my own- raise my taxes, please, so everyone gets decent schools et al). We are financially in good shape- moderate lifestyle and good savings.</p>
<p>We vacationed in various parts of the country during the years prior to H’s retirement to figure out where to move. Considered climate, tax rates, liberal/conservative, ethnicities, major churchiness (ie NO Bible Belt), colleges and many other factors, including being in a large enough metropolitan area. Visited places I didn’t think we wanted and confirmed it. We’re here for the foreseeable future knowing we don’t want to be elsewhere. Plenty od old as well as others here so many things geared to our age group. It would have been harder to move to a new place where all life revolved around a young, working lifestyle.</p>
<p>We put our house on the market and searched for one here. We decided we could rent or handle two houses so we weren’t forced into choosing just any house or giving up a good one for us. We ended up with a 25 year old house needing renovations (my posts about the PINK insides are elsewhere), finished the inside and now just some landscaping touchups.</p>
<p>H did some locum tenens until a year ago. He has signed up for senior citizen courses the past year and now can audit local public U courses for free (I can too but have still been too busy). We haven’t traveled up the east coast yet since we were busy with the house but do intend to. Now that we have spent two summers in Florida and son moved to the Pacific NW (our other choice except for winter gloom) we anticipate being snowbirds eventually, depending on where son eventually settles long term. We have a good library system here and check out tons of books (nonfiction included). Several Indian grocery stores nearby- more convenient although I am doing little cooking for the two of us. </p>
<p>My only problem is the heat and need to avoid sun effects. Love being in T-shirt, shorts and sandals all year round, casual town. It is a major adjustment to know no one and learn a whole new area. I am adjusting to many gardening things- backwards seasons here and so much zone 4 stuff can’t handle zone 9. We had “exhausted” the Midwest for travel and it is good to be in a new area. Should get around to traveling while we still have our health.</p>
<p>I have known people who keep working forever because they don’t know what to do with themselves in retirement. H has had to adjust to loss of position (his choice) but is finally enjoying being able to do what he wants when he wants- days enjoying reading in the heat, computer, classes… I still manage the household, although it is fairly easy with just two of us (we have the pool guy and the lawn care guys but I still clean house- every month or so).</p>
<p>Ages and stages in life. Our bodies are not as young as they used to be- even as when in our 40’s. Need to enjoy while we can. Long post- need to quit. Hard to believe son no longer college (undergrad) age. Ask me any questions anytime.</p>
<p>H LOVED his job until the end, including a 4 week “retirement,” followed by a 6 month re-hire. He was very, very happy with his job and is very, very much enjoying a most well-deserved retirement. We love the flexibility to plan trips to visit our kids, see friends and places of interest to us. I work part-time, as much (or little) as I choose. It is nice not to have to worry about waking early and having too many things scheduled in too little time.</p>
<p>As a SR, H is entitled to free tuition, IF he decides to take courses, but at the moment has not indicated any interest. We are working on some very long-deferred maintenance for our home, have now purchased 3 printers over the last few months (the latest one is to replace our laser that finally gave it up). H is also fixing the windows in S’s room that have been broken for many, many years. He also plans to paint, clean his decades of stuff from the carport, and fix the fence between our home and the neighbor (which he deconstructed a while back).</p>
<p>I have been getting our finances in order. We have found an estate attorney we like, who is helping us. I am also working on a backdoor IRA, first transferring my existing IRA into my former employer’s 457 and then opening a traditional, non-deductible IRA. After that, I will roll it over into my existing ROTH IRA. It should work just fine.</p>
<p>H has been a very good investor- he loves doing it and it is a very productive hobby. We are govt physicians and the only lingering concern is that we spent at least until 30-35 years old training and now at 60-65 we will be shutting it down. We are both still very good at what we do, but part time will probably not be an option. I am frankly afraid at this point in our lives to work locum because of possible malpractice unless it is the govt. There are govt locums but in our fields they are limited. The Indian health services and military bases do advertise. After you stop practice, it is over. Any physicians who have taken a different pathway for retirement?</p>
<p>wis75, great post - sent me to Mr Google twice. So locum (or locum tenens) is temporary work for retired physicians? And zone 4 and zone 9 refers to the USDA plant hardiness zone map, where zone 4 is colder Wisconsin and zone 9 is warmer Florida.</p>
<p>[USDA</a> Plant Hardiness Zone Map](<a href=“USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map”>USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map)</p>
<p>I tell people (if they ask) that if you love your job then there is no reason to retire. My older brother is a research scientist and professor and loves what he does. I expect he will be very very old if he ever retires. But I think a lot of people really hate their jobs and don’t realize they could possibly stop working if they wanted to. I have friends with kids still in high school, so retirement isn’t an option. But many others are simply afraid to stop working, or are still caught up in the “gotta work to make more money to buy more stuff” lifestyle. </p>
<p>If people research the possibilities carefully (like you did) they discover options.</p>
<p>Sadly, it can be hard to work part time at some jobs, including medicine. Have you considered teaching or mentoring at the med school? Teaching at a community college? It does seem a shame to retire after so many years of training, especially if you still enjoy and are good at your job. H retired after 45 years at his job because it was going to cause his pension to go DOWN if he kept working beyond this magical date that he decided to retire on. He has gotten a few calls from his office and been happy to share his expertise with them. </p>
<p>We are grateful that he has insurance as otherwise we would be tough to insure at reasonable rates–we all have chronic health conditions in this family and seem to get more as we get older. The kids are under H’s plan, but S will have to get his policy with his employer when he ages out this year.</p>
<p>Rocky. We have a number of physician friends who practice only 2-3 days a week now. They love the reduced hours.</p>
<p>My personal dilemna is that I am healthy enough to keep working whereas if I retire, I’d have to buy health insurance for a few years. therefore, we probably couldn’t do the thing we want to do anyway because of the added expense which would be about $1200 a month. So…I may as well keep working. That said, I for sure will be looking into something affordable under Obamacare and I would be greatly relieved if I knew there is a net. I have other professional reasons for wanting to keep working, certain goals I want to meet.</p>
<p>Ditto, VaBluebrd…</p>