When did you retire?

[pduggs]

The unfortunate aspect of retirement is the number of people who never reach it. Either by their failure to save enough while working, die too young, or are afraid to retire.


The more I think about people we’ve known who failed to enjoy retirement, the more surprised I am at how many missed out. I know retirement isn’t for everyone and many greatly enjoy their job, even late in life.

[TexasJeff]

I want to second the opinion of retiring as soon as you are financially able.

Yesterday morning, my brother died. He lived a great life. He was a California Highway Patrol officer and when his health began to decline, they retired him before he was ready. He and his wife bought a nice home on acreage in northern CA, raised goats and chickens, and had a beautiful view of the city of Red Bluff. He watched his daughters grow up and settle down and accumulated a ton of grandkids who came by to visit frequently. He still carried "ol' Betsy" with him, tucked away in his belt, along with his CHP badge also on his belt. He proudly wore his red "MAGA" hat everywhere he went, even when some street punk came up in his blind spot and cold-cocked him. Tom, was tough and wouldn't give in. I told him, at 77 years of age, the only guy I know tougher than he was, is Chuck Norris. Tom got a chuckle out of that.

Tom followed Mary, his wife of 50 some-odd years, around everywhere she went. She didn't like to drive and so he was there with her. He dutifully wore his mask but somehow came down with COVID-19 and ended up in ICU. After 10 days or so in a room with no visitors (my niece would frequently visit with him outside the glass window) Tom got frustrated and fought back and sent his heart in to a-fib. I guess his age, his wine, his retired-body just contributed to his heart condition as much as COVID did and Tom died of, I beliieve, heart failure.

I got a chance a few days ago to call Tom at the hospital and talk to him. He said, "Little brother, be careful out there. This stuff is real." I'm glad I had those last few minutes with him and I'm glad that he got a decade of retirement under his belt before he was called home.

So be careful out there. Retire when you can and enjoy life no matter what you do or how you do it, to enjoy it. God-speed Tom.

[robertkathy]

At age 48, 2019

[dieselclacker]

Drew my last paycheck in 1993 at age 55. Long time ago.......in another life.

[dottedlines]

So sorry to hear of the loss of your brother, Tom, glad he was able to enjoy some retirement. Prayers for you and the rest off the family

[runamuck]

I'm an architect and still have a couple of longtime clients I do work for at age 73. keeps me busy and I would have to dip into my savings if I didnt have that extra income. My wife and her family owned a trucking business that her pop started in the late 30's. she has been retired since 2008 when they sold their business..even tho I work some, we still manage to travel with a group of Harley riders and we snow ski and a few years ago we bought a travel trailer for camping trips. I also found time up until a cpl. years ago to travel around the country playing on a very good softball team....my grandpa died soon after retiring and my dad took early retirement at 56 and died at 66..so I am ahead of the game so far..

[pduggs]

Originally Posted by Curtis in TX

I walked away on my 58th Birthday (DW did too) and I played/ worked in my shop behind the house building custom motorcycles until my SS kicked in. (I took it early, because there was no gaurentee that I would live to see 84 to start seeing more money overall than I would have by taking it as early as possible. way around.

We took SS as soon as we could too. Had we loved our jobs and wanted to keep working, waiting to take SS later makes sense. This wasn’t our situation.

Financial planners tell us all to wait till at least 66.5 because where are you going to get 7% annual return on your money. However for people like my wife and I who’s career had reached an end, waiting to collect SS will only result in drawing down our retirement funds. Funds we can transfer to our heirs, which I can’t with SS.

[Dav L]

Worked for Chrysler / DaimlerChrysler / FiatChryslerAutomobiles for 30 years. The last 10 or so was involved in a software company on the side.

The day I hit 55 with 30 years of service and eligible for a partial retirement pension, See Ya!

Now running the software business full time. Better to be the big fish in the small pond for me than the medium fish in the huge pond. So much more fun being responsible for our own destiny and picking and choosing projects that both make money and are interesting and can be learned from.

Plus with Internet, I can work from anywhere now. Just need to get the family interested in RV traveling some more...

I do miss the all day long in person comradery of my chosen co-workers in the big company. More great ideas came from the hallways and escalators than ever came out of a meeting room. Lee Iacocca had a good idea to bring all the departments under one big (huge) roof.

[Ted Lambert]

49 years old I retired.
69 years old today.
Never looked back and loving it.

Worked for large oil company.
The key work to get up the ladder for the highest pay possible.

[Ted Lambert]

Originally Posted by TexasJeff

I want to second the opinion of retiring as soon as you are financially able.

Yesterday morning, my brother died. He lived a great life. He was a California Highway Patrol officer and when his health began to decline, they retired him before he was ready. He and his wife bought a nice home on acreage in northern CA, raised goats and chickens, and had a beautiful view of the city of Red Bluff. He watched his daughters grow up and settle down and accumulated a ton of grandkids who came by to visit frequently. He still carried "ol' Betsy" with him, tucked away in his belt, along with his CHP badge also on his belt. He proudly wore his red "MAGA" hat everywhere he went, even when some street punk came up in his blind spot and cold-cocked him. Tom, was tough and wouldn't give in. I told him, at 77 years of age, the only guy I know tougher than he was, is Chuck Norris. Tom got a chuckle out of that.

Tom followed Mary, his wife of 50 some-odd years, around everywhere she went. She didn't like to drive and so he was there with her. He dutifully wore his mask but somehow came down with COVID-19 and ended up in ICU. After 10 days or so in a room with no visitors (my niece would frequently visit with him outside the glass window) Tom got frustrated and fought back and sent his heart in to a-fib. I guess his age, his wine, his retired-body just contributed to his heart condition as much as COVID did and Tom died of, I beliieve, heart failure.

I got a chance a few days ago to call Tom at the hospital and talk to him. He said, "Little brother, be careful out there. This stuff is real." I'm glad I had those last few minutes with him and I'm glad that he got a decade of retirement under his belt before he was called home.

So be careful out there. Retire when you can and enjoy life no matter what you do or how you do it, to enjoy it. God-speed Tom.

Thanks for sharing this story! A good lesson for all

[Ted Lambert]

Originally Posted by Bella222

For those that retired before 65-68, how did you handle health insurance till you got to 65-68?

We are in our 50’s. Trying to plan ahead.

I didn't worry about health insurance, relied on savings but we never paid out of pocket except for dental.
Risky yes but we made it. And where I live in Canada most medical is free.
The USA is real bummer when it comes to health care. A fellow I know had a heart attack in California was presented a bill for 160 thousand dollars.
He never paid it and that was 10 years ago.
He no longer travels to the USA.

[dbircky]

Originally Posted by Ted Lambert

I didn't worry about health insurance, relied on savings but we never paid out of pocket except for dental.

Risky yes but we made it. And where I live in Canada most medical is free.

The USA is real bummer when it comes to health care. A fellow I know had a heart attack in California was presented a bill for 160 thousand dollars.

He never paid it and that was 10 years ago.

He no longer travels to the USA.

Not paying what you owe is an retirement strategy? I am not familiar with the rules for Canada, but living fairly close, can I just cross the border for free medical care?

[TourNut]

Retired at 59 3/4 , from Product design on CAD systems . All I did was work to support everybody else's needs , no enjoyment for me , but paid off everything & saved up for RV , etc. when I retired ;
Now almost 68 , still haven't enjoyed life , w/ no RV yet , lost interest in everything after wife always crapped on anything enjoyable for me so she could do her worthless geo-caching & constant snacking . 2 grown boys have their own lives now elsewhere and doing fine there , So I really have nobody to enjoy life with here .

[Gsykora]

Originally Posted by TourNut

Retired at 59 3/4 , from Product design on CAD systems . All I did was work to support everybody else's needs , no enjoyment for me , but paid off everything & saved up for RV , etc. when I retired ;
Now almost 68 , still haven't enjoyed life , w/ no RV yet , lost interest in everything after wife always crapped on anything enjoyable for me so she could do her worthless geo-caching & constant snacking . 2 grown boys have their own lives now elsewhere and doing fine there , So I really have nobody to enjoy life with here .

Jeez, I feel sorry for you as you sound like a miserable old man. Maybe go back to work.