Retire Feb 1st any advice?.... I did it.....

Fishinfool said:
Congrats on your retirement. I retired from LE in 2009 at 50 years old, after almost 30 years, and swore I would never work again. Spent a lot of time on my hobbies (shooting, wildlife photography, motorcycles, fishing). Eventually got to be too much of a good thing, and decided to get a part time job to keep busy, and "circulate". Its easy to become something of a loner, and lose people skills when you retire, if you let it happen.

Wanted something in a local gun shop. Most of them around here know me on a first name basis, but they are small mom and pop outfits, and usually have a son or nephew to help during busy periods. Ended up at a Gander Mnt. working the gun dept. That lasted 2 weeks...... Way too much BS for me.

Ended up 2-3 days a week with a local auto parts store, doing parts deliveries. Good folks to work with, keep busy, and spend about as much time jawing with the guys at the local garages as I do working. The extra $$ funds more purchases of guns I don't need.

My advice is to remember you are retired, and look for something that allows that flexibility. You don't want to end up with a job that unduly restricts your free time.

Larry
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Dang good advice Larry.
 
cmore said:
Save up as much cash as you can, or maybe get the HE loan BigBoy
suggested. I figured pretty close on my monthly budget, but did not
count on such things as:
New roof for the cabin: $1100
Dam repair: $1600
New water heater: $600
Car repair: $250
My brother fell and broke his leg and had to move in with me for recovery,
so:
Plumbing repairs in bathroom: $2500 so far
New bed he could use: $1000
Groceries: double
Hopefully, you won't need the money but......
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I've read this one twice. Am I seeing do not leave a forwarding address when one retires? :eek:

Just kidding. Family is family. My wife would have it no other way than to demand we sell our retirement farm so we could move closer to her kids. Well about half the days she now thinks Az or so would be better than close.
 
Larry,

Congrats on making it! Enjoy this next chapter of your life! Do what you enjoy. It has been almost two years for me and I love it! Insurance for the wife is still an issue and an expense. Seems you get less coverage for more money each year!

Bob
 
model70hunter said:
Advice?

Quit chasing wild wimmin,

cut back on alcohol and smokes,

Then enjoy the rest.

I retired 2 years ago at 67. Retirement is so great I should have retired at 62 or 65. Skeered of not working I guess.

Don't miss work.

If there was a nice LGS close I would work there. Enjoy the sales and trading.

Have fun.

P.S. There is a post work stress syndrome where one feels they should be getting up and going to work. My brother told me about it. I practiced being retired for the last 6 months I worked. I walked out the door and it was all behind me and gone.
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Retired and sold the business on November 2, 2015, so I am now officially retired. Retired from law enforcement 20 years ago, but went right to work then.

Best advice I can offer is NO BILLS. With the house paid off, vehicles paid off, and all the toys paid off life is unbelievably relaxed.

My old Dad used to talk about the time that he gave up smoking, quit drinking, stopped gambling, and quit chasing women. He always swore that was the worst 45 minutes of his entire life, so I am being very careful about all of that.
 
You know I'll be there,but don't know if Saturday or Sunday. With all the reports of high gun sales,should be hectic/frenzied,along with FFF right down the road.
 
I retired 8 yrs. ago due to health issues and immediately volunteered with the friends of NRA. It has been great to help at youth/boyscouts/Eagle Scouts shoots. We have a local high school trap team that we do benefits/raffles for and I get in a lot of range time. Of course this is all free labor but the payback is the smiles on the kids faces. You have to have something to do and I found this more rewarding and healthy then an easy chair and a cold one in th a.m.
 
This is a great and timely thread for me.

So after spending the last 31 years of my life climbing the company ladder, I've recently decided that I want to retire this spring. I'm 57 years old and in "OK" health but do have some significant problems that I think I could address better (with diet and exercise) if I weren't working in a pressure cooker 9 hr days x 5 days a week.
I've run the numbers and barring some unknown six figure emergency, should have adequate money for the wife and I to live comfortable the rest of our days. I should have no need to work but think I'd like to volunteer a few days a week to keep busy and socialize.

So, why am I nervous about finally achieving my lifelong dream of getting out while I can still enjoy myself??? Is it the loss of a guaranteed income to fall back on? Is it the likely loss of the friendships I've built there in those years? Am I afraid of failing into the pit of doing nothing and wasting my days? Does working add to my self worth? I'm likely overthinking this but I'm thinking it's probably a soup of all of the above. Admittedly, it's been a rare case that I've overheard anyone say they regretted making the move. Still, It's a huge step to take to toss away 30+ years of career building and I'm admittedly having some trouble processing it all.
 
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Dave, winter is the busiest time of the year for us, way too tense. Thank God we haven't had much snow which makes it all harder. I hate cars and my job, going out now to catch cabin fever, bring it on. I'll keep my self busy so I don't develope any winter deseases. The pease of mind will be great. To go out at 57 like you have the chance would be a dream. Fixing wrecked cars has changed a lot through the years and the tension is high. The more you know, the jobs you get are harder to fix. It's also tougher as you get older. Larry
 
Referring back to post #8,flexibilty in a job working after retirement is important. I've always,since high school graduation,been into high performance cars. Working on mine and friends cars for dragracing but never employed in that realm. I work part-time at a Tuffy automotive service center,mornings only. Just do 'simple' stuff there,oil changes-tire changes-maintenance of shop equipment-inventory of expendables-painting of lift racks. His income/sales to the business is not dependent upon what I do there but it allows his other employees to concentrate on the important stuff. Back to the flexibility. There's never a problem taking off for travelling or car events because I give him 'reverse flexibility'. When he or employees are planned not to be there,I'll adjust my hours/time to accommodate. For me and him,it's a great situation. Today I'm taking off to pick up a rear end in Indiana. When he travels out of state for family,I'm there for extra coverage. The place is close enough that I can walk to work,since I'm a 'walker' anyway. When I got laid off from last job(city public employee),I took retirement thru Ohio Public Employee Retirement System instead of filing for unemployment. Didn't file for social security until last year(age 68) so that was building up. Now the combination of OPERS and SS makes it 'comfortable' and that working at Tuffy is just 'extra'.
Hope this wasn't too long.
 
Big Cholla said:
Speaking from personal experience, don't let the wife make you her personal slave and 'go-fer'. My wife got the erroneous idea that because I was now "retired" nothing that I was doing was of much importance. I would just get going on a fun pistol project in my workshop and my wife would come after me to do 'such and such'. I went along with it for a few weeks and then had to gently put a stop to that practice. I set aside a block of time in the morn, the afternoon and the evening that I was "doing my thing" and was not available for anything but emergencies. She finally got the idea and all has been good now. We usually have tea or a drink together about 5/6 pm in the evening and she will let me know if there is anything that just absolutely needs my attention the next day. And, I tell her if my workshop time has to be longer than usual or if nothing much is going on there. We are both avid readers so we visit one used book shop or another together once a week.

Oh yes, one more bon mot: She had to be educated to how important my 'reloading time was' and that I was not to be interrupted for minor reasons...........

And one last important change to think about; You should be quick to help with the heavy lifting in the house cleaning department. It is only the right thing to do and it really builds that 'good points' up with her. ....
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My wife's a gun chick so my issue will probably be: "How come you're not loading any rounds in MY caliber!?!?!" Well, you know what they say....Give a woman bullets and she shoots for an afternoon....Teacher her how to reload and you can go fishing without her....
 
model70hunter said:
Advice?

Quit chasing wild wimmin,

cut back on alcohol and smokes
Click to expand...

This is possibly T.H.E. absolute worst advice I have ever seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, it's at least in the top three.

I retired at 53 two years ago just so I could do these three things!!!!

Dude, the day you leave work head for Matamouros, Mexico...there's these twin girls there that for $37.00 will hang you up by the feet and beat you simple with ping pong paddles!!! My Mexican friends all told me that if you want them to stop just yell "yo quiero mas, yo quiero mas!!!!" and they will ease up...it didn't really work, they seemed to get more violent to me, but what did I know...I had been drunk for three days!!!!
You can still buy Cuban cigars there too, and the Tequila is cheap. Now I ask you, where else but here can you get a deal like that?????

Edit: Please don't post that this is worthless without pictures...my buddy has them but just remember, what has been seen cannot be unseen!!!
 
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Big Cholla said:
Speaking from personal experience, don't let the wife make you her personal slave and 'go-fer'. My wife got the erroneous idea that because I was now "retired" nothing that I was doing was of much importance. I would just get going on a fun pistol project in my workshop and my wife would come after me to do 'such and such'. I went along with it for a few weeks and then had to gently put a stop to that practice. I set aside a block of time in the morn, the afternoon and the evening that I was "doing my thing" and was not available for anything but emergencies. She finally got the idea and all has been good now. We usually have tea or a drink together about 5/6 pm in the evening and she will let me know if there is anything that just absolutely needs my attention the next day. And, I tell her if my workshop time has to be longer than usual or if nothing much is going on there. We are both avid readers so we visit one used book shop or another together once a week.

Oh yes, one more bon mot: She had to be educated to how important my 'reloading time was' and that I was not to be interrupted for minor reasons...........

And one last important change to think about; You should be quick to help with the heavy lifting in the house cleaning department. It is only the right thing to do and it really builds that 'good points' up with her. ....
Click to expand...

Wife??????????????????? What is this "wife" of which you speak??????

Oh wait...now I remember!!! You want to loose that thing asap!!!
 
I retired a bit over three years ago at 59. Finished a good book a few days ago and got an almost intoxicating wave of joy in realizing I could do nearly anything I wanted and had the time to do it.
 
I retired 3 years ago, I spent couple months sleeping in, getting as nap in afternoon. I stay busy with shooting a couple times a week, reloading, reading. The wife and take trips different places. I have been to Kentucky 3 times just to going to the different bourbon distilleries.

I plan on a trip to the black hills.
 
Remember one thing, regardless your profession, there's life after the job. You'll find plenty to do and time to do it. Enjoy.
 
I retired 5 years ago when I was 62, and I don't miss getting up at 4:30 every morning to go to work. Recommend you find an enjoyable hobby and get deeply involved in it. Mine is shooting and cleaning my firearms, and gardening. Get into some kind of exercise program, even if it's just walking around the block everyday. Light weight lifting is good too, all you need is some dumbbells.

Also, maybe it doesn't apply to you, but your wife may not appreciate all the extra time you spend in "her" space. I try to stay out in my workshop at least 6 hours a day. Of course, I have TV, laptop, fridge, heat and AC.

The only bad thing I can think of about retirement is, now I hate weekends and holidays, LOL.
 
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Bozz10mm said:
The only bad thing I can think of about retirement is, now I hate weekends and holidays, LOL.
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Me too. I didn't realize how many people were out and about on those weekend and holiday things. After I retired..they always seemed to be in my way. I have a tendency to fish and hunt during the week. Especially when I lived in Md. Chesapeake bay was really crowded on those weekends
 
Congrats on getting close to retiring! :) Looking like I will be forced to retire in a few months.. At 63 I think I can survive it :)I will work part time some where to stay busy and will also look into volunteering at the V.A.
 
Exercise will be one of the daily activities, either the 2 miles around the block or the treadmill on the bad weather days. We walk now every day. It's lunch time now, one week down and 3 more to go. January always went kinda slow for me but is moving OK now for what's at the end for me. Still hard to believe it's here, seemed only your parents retired or only old people. 😅 Larry
 
If you and your wife have an inclination to travel, this might be a good time. It seems like a short window of opportunity before a retiree is required to be a caretaker (grandchildren, parents, spouse) again, and thus home-bound.

Enjoy this new phase of life. :)
 
Went to the Berea Show today, great how you meet so many good people over the years. Denny (oldman10mm) was at the show and the fin after. Good that I keep running into you at the shows. As usual, I brought the mint first year 586 with the box home. Only 15 working days to go. Getting excited but 3 weeks is still, kinda, a long time. Larry
 
Acquired at the Berea show everything on my list. A 10XX S&W 10mm magazine,200 pcs of 44 Mag brass,250 pcs of 44 sp brass and a bonus of 2 69XX S&W magazines. Had funds along in case I found one of the pistols I've been looking for,a 4013,4014,4053,4054,CS40.
Last time I seen so many cars in the lots and patrons inside was for the 'frenzy' for the proposed AR15 and 30rd magazine ban.
Stopped at FFF just too see if the crowd carried over to there,not much of a crowd there.
How many days Larry ?
 
Denny, 15 working days or 20 total. Denny is a professional retired person and lives it to the MAX. April 23 is not only the spring NE Ohio bunch meeting but we can make it a retirement party also. Larry
 
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I was gonna post earlier about using the 'bunch' as a combination retirement party,but I didn't know how you'd feel about that. Now that you brought it up,sounds good to me.

Edit:I wish I was doing it to the MAX,then I'd be doing Cedar Point more than a couple dozen times a year,Kings Island more than once a year,racing my Z28 at the strip more often,ride my Yamaha 600 'crotch rocket' more often,do more of the N.C. gun shows. The only thing I am doing to the max is all the local gun shows(which is not a bad thing),Medina,Berea,Akron,Eastlake,Dalton,Niles/Liberty,East Canton.
 
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