Hey, Retired Guys....

I retired 10 years ago at age 50. I was a substitute teacher where I previously lived until we could sell our house and move back to the old homestead. I really liked subbing. I shoot competitively and help run matches at our local gun club. I worked in the mail room of a newspaper, worked in a sporting goods store and then worked in a large gun shop. I am now totally retired. I joined the YMCA and go there 3 days a week for about 3 1/2 hours. I re-connected with some childhood buddies and we go places once or twice a month. A couple of years ago, I took up playing the trombone. I hadn't played since high school. I just play for my own enjoyment, but really like it.

There are a lot of worthwhile places that need volunteers, like hospitals (civilian and veteran), homeless shelters, soup kitchens, the Salvation Army, etc. etc.

My advice is:

1. Get up early
2. Exercise regularly
3. Go places, (church and Y's have day trips).
4. Have hobbies
5. Get involved in a club, volunteer work, or other endeavor that interests you.
6. Make friends and hang around with them. Make sure that they aren't "old" friends mentally. They can be old physically.
7. Watch your spending.
8. Get a part-time job and stay with it if and as long as you enjoy it. When you don't like it you can quit (you aren't building a resume anymore).
 
been retired since 96 due to medical problems was 46. had my own gun and reloading supply business. joined the ymca and swim everyday. shoot whenever the weather permits. the key is finding something to do that you enjoy and can afford. sometimes it takes some serious looking but it's there. good luck to you.
 
You guys convinced me. I sent the boss an email today and said I'm retiring. Life is too good to waste working.

S/W - Lifer
 
Originally posted by S/W - Lifer:
You guys convinced me. I sent the boss an email today and said I'm retiring. Life is too good to waste working.

S/W - Lifer

Good for you.

I retired last December and I will be 62 in May. Working pretty much everyday since 65. I am always up by 6 AM and have coffee with the wife before she goes to work. Then I start my day. We have 75 acres so there is always something to do somewhere. I do my own reloading and can walk out behind the barn to my home built range.
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I have four or five deer stands on my land and those with cleaning up the windfalls keep me pretty busy when the weather is nice.

When It's too cold outside, I build a fire and read a good book or work on my reloads. Sometimes I even clean the house! I have my Honda, a four wheeler and a tractor so there is always something mechanical to work on. I'm thinking of selling my Corvette this year and buying a new boat and a Harley.
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Jeez, how did I ever have time to work?
 
There was a guy who retired at lockheed years ago and croaked loading his tool box in the truck!!
Last year I had a friend on L.A.P.D. I belive he had about 43 years on, and was one of the highest senoirority on the entire dept. The last few months he started comeing down with alzheimers and his friends covered and buried his strange actions. He wasnt retired over a couple months, put into a convalesant home and died a few months after that! His brother is my best friend in california and has kept me posted. He has great animosity with his sister in law, as she kept encourageing his brother to stay on the dept far longer than he should have.
I just wish I would have done far more of the things I liked doing when I could have! That was mostly flying and motorcycle rideing. Now I am fighting to update my flying medical, and it looks dismal! Just got a letter back yesterday that they are reviewing my records and will let me know in 30 days. I rode a ton of miles on mostly harleys, maybe over 200,000 miles, and now I dont have a bike. The wife is almost as big as me and has a bad back, and we cant comfortly ride the biggest together. Also, she wont fly with me, and anyway my plane would be overloaded, and it would be nice to take gas along! My thing now is exploring on our large 2 seat quad.
I spend a LOT of time talking to you guys on the computer. It takes the place of my coffee clutch friends I left when we moved here.
The moral of this is retire quick as you can, do a lot of what you like now, as you very well might not be in shape to when you get old!
Hell, I didnt know how to type untill I got a computer about 10 years ago. Now, if I could just learn to spell!
 
I retired at age 51 and worked at one part-time job for several years and began a new, less demanding one in a completely different field last August.

I like retirement and have a good pension but working part-time keeps me busy and allows me to have extra money for hobbies, home projects and just things I want but don't need and would not normally spend money on if it weren't for a part-time job.

All of the things I had always thought I would be doing when retired, I'm not. Priorities and interests change I suppose. Do I miss the job? Sometimes. Are there times that I'm bored? Sometimes. All in all though, retirement allows me to spend more time with my wonderful wife on the place that we both love and I wouldn't trade that time for anything.

Life is short and we never know what awaits us tomorrow. Enjoy it with those you love, while doing the things you love, as long as you can.
 
Working with idiots will kill you.

About 3 years ago I found out I couldn't afford to both retire AND build a retirement home in the area we wanted to (Sedona/Rimrock Arizona) but the land we had bought for the retirement home could be sold for a huge profit. Enough to keep us comfortable until well past Social Security payment age. I told my wife either I kept working and she could be a rich widow or I could retire and we could have a modest retirement and enjoy each others company. She made the right decision and I walked away from any gainful employment.

Now, I get up, get a chair and sit by the window waiting for the mail to come. Then, after that I open the mail. Then, ....... I jest.

As many have said, I keep so busy I don't know how I found time to go to work. I was going to apply as a WalMart greeter but first of all I'm too young (not yet 60) and secondly their are more people applying for WalMart Greeter than there are trying to get into Harvard Business School.

Biggest change for me was realizing I don't make any money any more. My wife put me on an allowance and I buy and sell on the internet which is fun, make a few bucks and pay for my guns and ammo.

Dan R
 
I've been retired for three years. I had a hard time adjusting to it for the first year - nightly dreams about work, waking up mad, getting calls from the plant from people that didn't know I didn't work there anymore. A heart attack and triple bypass got the work-memory out of my system. Now, I'm having a ball. Never bored - planted tomatoes/peppers in the garden today. There is always something to do. Life is just too short not to use some of it for pleasure.
 
Been retired fourteen months now and still not bored! I found I have the range to myself on weekdays, ride one of my motorcycles when weather permits and otherwise just do what I dang well please. I would have made a good wellfare bum as I like being paid to do nothing! If I do get bored Im sure I can find some volunteer work to do.
 
I took a Medical Retirement from Federal Law Enforcement in 1994. The first year was a confusing time.

Then I moved home to Idaho and started running, revamping and redesigning the opperation of the the ranch. That kept me busy for 12 years and certainly kept me from borebom.

Several years ago I had some serious health issues. like the others weren't and we as a family reached a decision that I would in fact "retire" from management" of the ranch. It pretty much works now and Ian does a pretty good job running things with Cousin Wayne as Segundo.

Now I "Putter". I try and stay busy and that usually means just getting in a pickup with my dogs and spending the day out on the desert. I don't jump out to fix broken fences other than to get them fixed enough to hold cows. If they are real bad I radio for somebody to come fix stuff. The old man no longer lifts, totes or does anything that will blow my back out. That really limits what I do. Mostly I reload, shoot and tinker.

Working even part time is out. The VA disability doesn't limit income and my Federal Retirement doesn't limit income but now that I am on Social Security Disability, any income would would need to be reported and would simply be deducted from my check.

I am actually getting better at being retired and hope to spend some time traveling and fishing and shooting before it gets too hot. "I don't summer well".

RWT
 
I retired in 2003. then started a small business. keeps me busy. I love it.
 
I been retired 17 years and i wonder how i ever found time to work
 
Well, with 35 years as a night watchman, I had PLENTY of experience getting ready for retirement! (it should have, but didnt help.)
 
On page 3 I mentioned sending the boss an email telling her I was retiring. Today I sent a date to the point man at HR.

The last 48 hours have been great. What a sense of relief. Also got the results of a PSA test and my score was great. I had an earlier test which was way off and follow-on screening has been fine.

This has been one of those few times in life when things really change and it has been a time to savor. I'm going to enjoy the time I have left.

Thanks for the thread, guys.

S/W - Lifer
 
Hey S/W, congratulations. Hope it all goes well for you.

I guess the best thing I can do is get up off my tail. Gonna start with the spring yard work and then take it from there.
I appreciate all your stories and suggestions.
 
Thanks, Ron. And I hope you get settled in. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and I'm betting we are going to get the hang of it.

My pal, Combat, sleeps in until 11:00 AM and says he enjoys every day he doesn't have to deal with a boss. Then he stays up all night watching war movies. He claims he's happier than a Billy Goat with dual reproductive systems. He flat out refuses any notion of work, to include being a greeter at a shopping center.
 
My dad is retired. He spends his time running rivers. I'm jealous.
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I ran the grand canyon with him about a year and a half ago and I vow to do the same trip with my children some day.
 
One other thing I might mention is that I'm one of those people who rarely look back. I don't reminisce with regret. I'm not a member of any group associated with my past. I don't dwell on health issues and avoid hanging out with those old folks that do. I try to always look forward to the next day or task. I don't like routine. To me it is being in a rut. I like to add something new to my life every now and then, be it a twist to my exercise program, shooting, or whatever.
 
Congratulations on your retirement. I was a LEO for almost 30 years and retired in '91 at age 52. When I first retired I started a small computer consulting business but it wasn't really worth the effort so I decided to take full advantage of retirement. I hit 70 last year and hope for many more. And - haven't been bored yet. Between doing stuff around the house, the computer, collecting and shooting guns, the grandkids, and whatever my wife and I feel like doing, there's really no time for boredom. Took me a while to make the decision to retire. After 30 years otj it was a little frightening to think of walking away. But once I decided to pull the plug and put in my papers, it was like a big block had been lifted off my shoulders and I didn't look back. They were good years but the future was and is what's interesting. Good luck and enjoy it!
 
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