What does retirement mean to you?

Moving to someplace where I can breathe -- figuratively speaking. I want to do more writing and work on publishing my work and editing other people's. That, I hope, will supplement my income and at the same time keep my mind sharp. A few days, maybe even a week or two, of uninterrupted leisure is fine . . but months of it or years would be awfully dull.

That said, I want to arrange an afternoon nap every day!
 
Originally Posted by vwmaniaman
My days are always full and I wonder how I ever had time to work. I have several hobbies and one being my old VW's and other is old radio restoring. Best one though is travel and camping with my wife and Granddaughter. everyday ends up being full. Today I have to finish mowing the front yard at one home and getting the propane tank filled on the camper and going to the grocery store to fill up the camper refrigerator and then heading to the campground and setting up the camper. Retirement is just really working for a new boss.

Sounds pretty much like me. I worked to 66 1/2 because I had a great job. Now that I'm retired I'm really busy. I volunteer at a museum where I currently work on the reconstruction of a historical airplane, am an executive in a local club, take ball-room dance lessons, do household maintenance and renovations, do a lot of yard work, do auto maintenance, help out with the grand-kids from time to time, travel a bit (2 major trips in the past 12 months), entertain lots of visitors, get to actually read the paper, read a lot of books, and like that. I don't know how I had time to work.

What I don't have is time pressure. Most days I get up when I feel like it. And I can have a nap after lunch if I want.
 
I'm on track to retire at 55 because I've worked hard, saved & invested. I intend to volunteer part time to give back, while enjoying hobbies and taking occasional trips to see the world where I haven't been yet.
 
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I don't look forward to to retirement. I've tried to enjoy life while I'm young.

Retirement for me is a loss of income while my body reaches a stage of disrepair.
 
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Death.


My death has been having to work for the last 48 years. It's taken me away from the things I love (family, friends, hobbies, etc), but I had to pay the bills. For me retirement means the freedom to do as I please...so for me it means life!
 
Retirement means not working.

If you are working, you are not retired, despite any thoughts to the contrary.

Resigning from a high stress job, and downsizing to reduce stress is not retirement or even semi-retirement.
 
The Company I work for lets people adjust their work schedule. People that retire but still want to work a little are able to work a modified work schedule. The guy that works close to me only works 6 hrs a day. 6am-12:30pm. He likes it and has all afternoon to do what he wants. There are others that only work so many months a year. Or take extended vacations. I will probably still work a little when it comes time for me to retire.
 
I'm not really sure. I was deemed 100% disabled by the VA at 30 years old. I guess you could say a mortar round sent me flying into retirement. I still do light duty stuff for friends and family that doesn't tax my back.
 
Originally Posted by ZZman
Yes, for many they will be forced to retire earlier than they planned due to health issues. And for many health cost issues will delay retirement or break them in retirement. Long term care is the big retirement breaker I think.


Indeed. I know a guy who was forced to retire at 65 for health reasons. Due to his health issues he was unable to continue with his hobbies and also developed Parkinson's and dementia. He began to loose his mobility in his late 60's and became wheelchair bound at age 76. Weighing in over 230 lbs he requires 24/7 care and is consequently living in an assisted living center where is his wife visits him every day.
 
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Originally Posted by Cujet
Retirement means not working.

If you are working, you are not retired, despite any thoughts to the contrary.

Resigning from a high stress job, and downsizing to reduce stress is not retirement or even semi-retirement.



Well one thing my pension has allowed me to do is to say screw it if I stop enjoying any of the part-time jobs I'm doing now. It is no longer a necessity to work to actually survive.
 
It means an outdated, unachievable dream that is saved for spoiled baby boomers.

Most people my age (43) and younger will never retire, bc pensions, public or private, will be a thing of the past. The cost of living is so high these days, and wages so stagnant, that saving for 'retirement' is a pipe dream.

I will most likely die at my job, whatever it is.
 
May 1st is my first day of retirement.
I am 67 and have worked since 16.
I may not deserve it but I have earned it!
It's a little scary.
 
I retired in 2005 at age 53. Now I do some part-time accounting work, enough to fund a Roth IRA. Retirement to me means being financially secure, being in good health, playing golf and doing what I feel like doing. And not in that particular order.
 
Originally Posted by addyguy
It means an outdated, unachievable dream that is saved for spoiled baby boomers.

Most people my age (43) and younger will never retire, bc pensions, public or private, will be a thing of the past. The cost of living is so high these days, and wages so stagnant, that saving for 'retirement' is a pipe dream.

I will most likely die at my job, whatever it is.

I'm 42 and I know I won't retire at my current job, as I know I'll get replaced by some recent college grad who can do what I do but for less. [Not sure if as well, but I'm sure it'll cost less.]

I'm lucky and did start my 401k when I got out of college, although I short-changed it for years. Worst case, I convince the wife to move wherever it's cheaper to live. Liquidate the house and find someplace "cheap" so as to live off 401k & SS. Might not be the dream I wanted but if I have food on the table I'm not sure I should complain.

But I plan to keep saving. Split my "spare" money between saving for the future and living for today. Already starting to lose friends and coworkers around my age, have to keep that in mind.
 
Originally Posted by addyguy
It means an outdated, unachievable dream that is saved for spoiled baby boomers.

Most people my age (43) and younger will never retire, bc pensions, public or private, will be a thing of the past. The cost of living is so high these days, and wages so stagnant, that saving for 'retirement' is a pipe dream.

I will most likely die at my job, whatever it is.


You mean us spoiled boomers who worked all of our lives? I hardly call that spoiled, I call that getting what we earned. Envying us because the system you now have screws you over is not the answer. And BTW, retirement is not unachievable for non-boomers, you just have to save on your own...
 
Originally Posted by Dallas69
May 1st is my first day of retirement.
I am 67 and have worked since 16.
I may not deserve it but I have earned it!
It's a little scary.


You deserve it too, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise...
 
I retired at 63.5 for a number of reasons, the biggest being fear of health loss. I worked at a sea port running container cranes. After September 11th security really ramped up including high power x-ray equipment. Like any x-ray equipment it has radiation escape, just like at the dentist office only much higher. People retiring from the port used to live well into their 80s, some 90s. Shortly after the install and 24/7 use of this stuff, we started seeing cancers we'd never seen before: tumors of the brain, lung, kidney, throat, colon, prostrate etc along with strokes and heart attacks. Now some of these conditions happen w/o anything helping them start but some do not. The number of that us that died while working, long before the normal time to retire (something rare before 9/11) started going up - a lot.
So I exited stage left.
I have a 1905 house so that indicates what I do now that I'm retired.
 
Originally Posted by Cujet
Retirement means not working.

If you are working, you are not retired, despite any thoughts to the contrary.

Resigning from a high stress job, and downsizing to reduce stress is not retirement or even semi-retirement.



I agree 100%. To me that just means you're financially independent. An enviable position to be in, but you arent 'retired' if you're working somewhere, no matter how menial the job is or how stress free it is or how easy it would be for you to stand up, walk out and never go back if you choose.

I used to get jealous when I would hear about people my age (51) or close to it retiring. Honestly, I dont feel that way much any more, the more people I know who retire, the less personal interest I have in the concept. I've seen too many of them "retire" and 6-7 months later I run into them and its always the same story... bored, bored, and bored. They traveled here and there, painted every room in the house, they golf 2-3 times a week, and 6 months later they are looking for something else to do. Retirement became hum-drum, that quick.

If I had a dollar for every guy in his mid-50's or 60's who retired from my company here and came back, I could probably retire myself. They are all fired up, they are going to sleep as late as they want, they are going to restore an old car, they are going to build an addition to the house, no more stress, no more putting up with crud going on here, they are going to travel here there and everywhere, rah rah rah! Uh huh. Its the running joke around here, when people retire and they have the retirement party in the conference room or at a local bar, "See you in six months when you start dying of boredom". And just like clockwork, six, seven or eight months later here they come. At least 40-50% of them, and thats probably a way low number.

My dad retired from aerospace engineering in the 1990's, and for the last 10 years or so he had been working in a sporting goods store and finally quit working last year at age 84, after much persuasion from myself and my siblings. We wanted him to quit working and do whatever he wanted do to. Well, apparently he already was doing what he wanted to do. I talked to him a few days ago about a car issue he was having, and he mentioned he had to get up early the next day for his physical. I told him to reschedule it for later in the day if he didnt feel like getting up early, he said no they need it for the paperwork to go through, he has to turn it in, etc etc . At this point I was like "What paperwork? Turn it in to who? What are you talking about?" and he says "Oh, yea I'm going back to work, this is a pre-employment physical. I'm going back to the store to work part time". He will be 86 next month, going back to work 20+ hours a week at the sporting goods store he worked at. I asked him why in the world he is going back to work at his age, I asked if he is short on money, does he need help, nope. Same old thing.... he's bored. He's already golfed every course around here, fished every lake and stream within 100 miles, he had been all around the globe in the military and traveled wherever so he's pretty much over that. Everything was been there done that. He says he just needs something to do on a daily basis. He has said several times "retirement sounds nice, I just dont find it all its cracked up to be". Well that lasted what, two years?

If my physical and mental health holds up as well as his, I'm sure I'll be walking in his footsteps if I live to be his age. I hope.
 
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