To retire or not retire?

[RB5]

You have to keep moving or you won't be able to. I swim 3 to 5 times a week when it's warm enough. I have a garden, and work in the yard. I played and coached soccer into my early 50s. I still lift weights and I am in my 60s. I laugh at the young kids that think I need help with a few 50 pound bags of feed at Tractor Supply. My only fear in retirement is not having enough money to where I can only sit and watch tv. I would rather work. I'm also trying to figure out how much longer I will be working and what I will do. I know I will stay active and have a garden. I have plenty of things I enjoy to keep me moving.

 

[Hughman]

Retired 9 years ago at the age of 56. No pension so retire="I quit". I found retirement requires no instruction manual. Now I wonder where I ever found the time to work. Work for me was always less of a career and more of a means (i.e. paycheck) to pay for my other interests.

 

[ultrarunner]

The cynic in me wonders where was the money and benefits were before you decided to leave. Companies are in it for their own benefit and like others said, everyone is replaceable.

Make sure the offer states you are employee at will with no time restrictions, accept, then do as little as possible. Haha.

This has crossed my mind… since being acquired corp has made a lot of HR changes from job title, exempt to non exempt, company card to turn in receipts, etc.

There are benefits being 10 minutes from work and having the top boss in your corner.

Working for a large corporation I can now say been there, done that and it may be great for those that enjoy the game… but it’s not for everyone.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

Save and invest those savings. Add $ to the principle payment on your home mortgage to payoff early.

I retired 5-1/2 years ago at 58 years old, still have a mortgage, why pay off a 2.9% mortgage when the investments make more?

We have had a side hustle food truck since 2010 to do when we want to do it, selling food on Friday then probably done until January or February.

 

[hube2]

I'm in the same boat. Luckily, I work at a place were I can cut back to part time. I enjoy my work and I really like the place I work, but I'm wishing I had more free time to do things that I want to do or need to be done. I don't really want to retire, but I don't want to worry about getting in full time hours every week. The reason I'm going part time besides liking what I do is that I try to think of what I'm going to do if I stop working, I'm not the type that can just sit around doing nothing.

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

We all know people who have no interests or hobbies outside of work but I've never been one of them. Retiring just gave me more time to do the things I want to do. Projects around the house, traveling, camping, fishing, hiking, biking, woodworking, and the list goes on. I've been retired almost 5 years now and have never had a problem keeping busy.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Nope I am the same way. I have TOO MANY hobbies, projects and things I want to try. I will be just fine if/when I make it to retirement age.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Interesting reading everyone's thoughts, even if thread was started years ago.
I'm ending my 3rd year retired. Wished I had done it sooner.
No shortage of things to do, but some days short the motivation to do it.
First year was doing odd jobs around the house, still got plenty of those to do. This last year was redoing my deck. WHat once took a few days to originally build, took most of the spring, summer and fall to finish. Wait, it's still not finished. The thing is I can do what I want when I want. If too hot, don't have to do it. Too cold, forget about it.
Can go out and get breakfast with other retired couples. Can go away during the week to visit places when less busy. Take vacations. WHile working, most vacation was to take care of things at home, now I can travel. It's great to travel off season.

 

[Torvy]

I still have a current teaching credential. I could go back and work FT or sub if I wanted to or if something drastic happened financially.

Rather than continuing to work just to stay busy, consider volunteering. Anything from Habitat, to soup kitchens, to mentorship programs all need help. You do things on your schedule (mostly) and can still find time for family, doctors and fishing (or whatever hobbies you enjoy).

 

[Gem99ultra]

I retired 20 years ago having 34 years with my employer. My only regret is that I should have done that sooner!

 

[scootr]

I retired 5-1/2 years ago at 58 years old, still have a mortgage, why pay off a 2.9% mortgage when the investments make more?

We have had a side hustle food truck since 2010 to do when we want to do it, selling food on Friday then probably done until January or February.

It sounds like you have a good deal going.
It certainly depends on your mortgage rate and your investment strategy. And everybody's financial situation is different. My mortgage was 6%. Refinancing added time and $ so a payoff was right for me when a maturing CD rate was dropping.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

It sounds like you have a good deal going.
It certainly depends on your mortgage rate and your investment strategy. And everybody's financial situation is different. My mortgage was 6%. Refinancing added time and $ so a payoff was right for me when a maturing CD rate was dropping.

We only owe about $70,000 on it so we could pay it off but I’m in no hurry to pay off.

 

[arto98607]

We paid off final 80+ thousand six years ago, however 70 grand is still lot of money for most people.

No offense, just saying.

 

[scootr]

We paid off final 80+ thousand six years ago, however 70 grand is still lot of money for most people.

No offense, just saying.

I rear the average family has about $10 in savings and $11k in credit card debt. That's not a good picture

 

[ultrarunner]

I was asked to put off any decision until January which I was going to do anyway as I have 420 hours of earned PTO on the books that would get paid out so better to defer until next year.

If I could keep the parts of my job that I like and get rid of the ones I don’t… but then it wouldn’t be work.

I had no idea my letter would have this much impact and it’s only been seen by leadership… as far as I know.

It does sound that most here are happy to very happy in retirement with regrets if any not retiring sooner.

Those I know with retirement struggles are due to finances… bad health can strike any time.

About 6 years ago a coworker age 60 was diagnosed with terminal cancer… my administrator refused leadership insistence to early retire her…

My coworker friend had full work insurance until the day she passed… it’s things like this that are remembered…

 

[Carl_NH]

I was asked to put off any decision until January which I was going to do anyway as I have 420 hours of earned PTO on the books that would get paid out so better to defer until next year.

If I could only keep the parts of my job that I like and get rid of the ones I don’t…

You are in the driver's seat and can name your price and what you will or won't do, so just craft a one year contract with the bonus offered the 50% raise and profit sharing.

 

[Dawg in Fl]

I find this thread very interesting. I am 65 and have my own business (professional services). I enjoy helping people with their "problems" and worry that I may miss the daily interactions if I retire.

I had a young man leave last week. I have a young person that I am trying to train (she has a good work ethic and is learning) and also have a woman with 50 years experience who works 2 days per week. She's 10 yearrs older than me - works so that she can get out of the house.

I can't decide whether to replace that guy that left or cut back in some areas. It's hard to find a new hire - and I'd have to train them.

Thoughts of retiring keep running through my head but there's no coming back if I do close up. My current plan is to keep working while thinking this through. I figure I've got 5 or so years max. I've seen guys say they are going to retire "next year" - their "next year" goes on for many years - so I have an artificial deadline of 70.

 

[t1kilo]

I find this thread very interesting. I am 65 and have my own business (professional services). I enjoy helping people with their "problems" and worry that I may miss the daily interactions if I retire.

I had a young man leave last week. I have a young person that I am trying to train (she has a good work ethic and is learning) and also have a woman with 50 years experience who works 2 days per week. She's 10 yearrs older than me - works so that she can get out of the house.

I can't decide whether to replace that guy that left or cut back in some areas. It's hard to find a new hire - and I'd have to train them.

Thoughts of retiring keep running through my head but there's no coming back if I do close up. My current plan is to keep working while thinking this through. I figure I've got 5 or so years max. I've seen guys say they are going to retire "next year" - their "next year" goes on for many years - so I have an artificial deadline of 70.

Is there any possibility of selling the business? I turned 63 earlier this year. I too had a service related business. I told my employees that I would give it 2 more years, max. In the end, I got an offer that I couldn’t refuse just a few months later. Life has a way of working out.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

We paid off final 80+ thousand six years ago, however 70 grand is still lot of money for most people.

No offense, just saying.

$70,000 is not much in my mind compared to the money invested that is making me money.

I rear the average family has about $10 in savings and $11k in credit card debt. That's not a good picture

Luckily I’m not the average family.

Only have one credit card and never carry a credit card balance and could pay 1/2 the $70,000 with just our cash savings.

We could also sell our food truck business for about $100,000 but we are not ready to.

 

[ultrarunner]

I find this thread very interesting. I am 65 and have my own business (professional services). I enjoy helping people with their "problems" and worry that I may miss the daily interactions if I retire.

I had a young man leave last week. I have a young person that I am trying to train (she has a good work ethic and is learning) and also have a woman with 50 years experience who works 2 days per week. She's 10 yearrs older than me - works so that she can get out of the house.

I can't decide whether to replace that guy that left or cut back in some areas. It's hard to find a new hire - and I'd have to train them.

Thoughts of retiring keep running through my head but there's no coming back if I do close up. My current plan is to keep working while thinking this through. I figure I've got 5 or so years max. I've seen guys say they are going to retire "next year" - their "next year" goes on for many years - so I have an artificial deadline of 70.

The men in my family all were small business owners and all died in their 70’s never retiring.

In part it was proving they still had what it takes and in part it was to give substantial boost to spousal social security…

Dad was on dialysis from his chemo treatment and would get frustrated wasting a morning with dialysis… he said how early can I get in here… the tech said you want to be here at 7 am and dad said yes… the earlier the better…

Dads doctors said he was a true fighter to the end and never surrendered and having purpose was fundamental…

Lots of viewpoints… my LEO friends all retired in their 50’s with 100k+ pensions and lifetime medical… it is an interesting option some have…