# Retired?  Why?



## Tom Young

Hmmm... 
Because it was time?
Didn't want the stress of working?
Had enough money?
An offer you couldn't refuse?
Spousal pressure?
Fired? EGAD!
Wanted to get out of the way of younger workers? (no kidding?)
Health?

So, in my case... after working for major corporations, went into business for myself.  Small business working out of my home, with two of my sons.  After thee years decided to "go big" and began serious plans to expand. Loans,  new location and new equipment plan in place, when the cancer diagnosis came in.  The thought of leaving my bride with a big debt and a business she didn't understand made us think about retiring.
No possible way... at first...  53 years old, and at least 10 years before  Social Security.  
So... in 1989, before internet retirement planning calculators... began a many dozen page analysis (big green spreadsheets) to see what would happen if we retired.  
... cut to results:
Colon Cancer operation was succesful, we retired (very frugally)... and through very good luck, remain solvent today, with high hopes for another ten years or so..

Not millionaires, but have learned how to be happy, comfortable, and worry free. 

So if YOU are retired, wanna share how, or why?


----------



## Warrigal

I was a very happy teacher and I always said that I would go on teaching until it stopped being fun.
That day came when I was 55. The joy went out of it all of a sudden and I decided that I was more needed by the three old ladies in my life: my mum, mother in law and maiden aunt. After retirement I dabbled in a bit of contract work in the education/curriculum field always with the proviso that I needed flexibility so that I could look after my elders.

The crunch came when our government introduced a goods and services tax (GST) and I was then required to submit tenders for work rather than just claim an hourly rate, so I decided to pull the plug.

I've been happily retired ever since and my definition of retirement is "_doing what I like, when I like and if I like_." I'm a volunteer but I'm no martyr. This week I'm preparing pot plants and cooking cakes for our church spring fair but this is the last year for the plants. It's getting too hard for my joints but more to the point I've lost interest and it's not so much fun as it was. Cooking is still very interesting and fulfilling so that will continue for a while yet.


----------



## Diwundrin

> Because it was time?
> Didn't want the stress of working?
> Had enough money?
> *An offer you couldn't refuse?*
> Spousal pressure?
> Fired? EGAD!
> Wanted to get out of the way of younger workers? (no kidding?)
> Health?



All in red, mostly 4.  A big fat redundancy offer at exactly the right time in life.  I retired at 48 as like Warri, I had an 'oldie' in need of more care than I could manage on shift work so I snatched the offer and ran.  Nothing even approaching regret about it, can't imagine why I bothered working at all..... oh yeah, the welfare wasn't all that great back then.


----------



## TICA

I was feeling guilty about not giving 100%, my mind just wasn't into the job anymore.  Also got an offer I couldn't refuse and was lucky enough to get a good pension. 

Another reason was that I wanted to still be healthy when I retired so did when I didn't have any issues and still don't so I do what I want, when I want.


----------



## JustBonee

Why?  Was in the 'retirement zone' and got tired of the 8 to 5.  
Not planning to jet set around the world or anything,  so a quiet simple life works for me.


----------



## SifuPhil

Warrigal said:


> ... This week I'm preparing pot plants and cooking cakes for our church spring fair but this is the last year for the plants ...



They finally figured out they were illegal, huh? 

I usually refer to myself as "semi-retired", at least in the sense that I no longer teach public classes (martial arts) nor accept Chinese medicine patients. I DO have one private student left and I'm actively pursuing online business opportunities, so that's the "semi-" part.


----------



## Old Hipster

My husband is retired, and I'm just tired. My mind when I am at work is semi-retired.


----------



## Katybug

*Retirement isn't for me.  Living alone and all my friends and family being married, I hated it.  After a year of it, I became deeply depressed so I found myself a job.   I don't like working all day 5 days a week, but that doesn't happen often.  I would go bonkers staying in this condo all the time and volunteering just didn't do it for me.  I wanted to be out and about and have money coming in at the same time.*


----------



## That Guy

Old Hipster said:


> My mind when I am at work is semi-retired.



Roger that.  There are signs they put on equipment that's out of service and to be removed saying "Retired In Place".  I keep meaning to make a t-shirt that says the same . . .


----------



## Murphy

Spending the majority of my working life in the building industry long before the Occ Health and Safety laws they have now, and battering my body in the process, retirement couldn't come quick enough. Besides my interest wasnt there anymore

Working for myself for the last 20+years I grew tired of trying to please customers who at times had unreal expectations to match their pocket, then there were small builders who refused to pay accounts on time or even at all, all the associated bookwork and overhead costs

Retirement finally gave me time to extensively renovate my own home, once I grew bored with taking my dogs to the park every day


----------



## JustBonee

Old Hipster said:


> My husband is retired, and I'm just tired. My mind when I am at work is semi-retired.



Great answer... Love it! .. LOL


----------



## SeaBreeze

I started working part time at the age of 16, and worked blue collar jobs all my life.  I never really liked work, just did it to take care of financial obligations...no thrills there.  I was glad to have a job for the last 30+ years that kept me physically and mentally active, and changed quite a bit, so not doing just one thing day after day.  I drove forklift, loaded semi trucks, ran large production machinery, and did some jobs that required repetitive (fairly) heavy lifting, also had an introduction to using computers there. Lots of interaction with over the road truck drivers, so there were always different people to meet.   I feel that I'm in better physical shape, than I would be behind a desk somewhere, so that's good.

I looked forward to early retirement since I was younger, I tried to save when I could and spend wisely.  I live a simple life, and am happy in a pair of jeans, enjoying nature, etc.  Not one for the bling, or fancy cars...never had those kinds of wants in my life.  Since I didn't have children, I was able to retire at 56, and have been quietly enjoying my retirement ever since.  I have no desire to work whatsoever, haven't even gotten things done around the house yet that need attention.  Nice to sleep in, or stay up late when I feel like it, and nice not to have to drive to work at 5AM in a blinding snowstorm either.


----------



## Happyflowerlady

I was a housewife and mother until my children were older, then I started working to help with the family income. After my divorce, and the children all being grown up and gone, I worked full time selling insurance. Combined Insurance is a route company, so I traveled all over several states on my route, usually putting on an average of 1000 miles a week, and living more in motel rooms than in my own home.
Later, I set up a little trailer on family property in Idaho, and found a delivery/sales job for Ruralnorthwest.com, which kept me close to home, and even though I still drove most days, at least I was home at nite.

I enjoyed having my little farm, riding my horse, and walking with my dog at nite after work, but I had not counted on my heart having problems. Ever since I was in a serious car wreck several years earlier, my heart kept getting worse with the A-fib, and heart failure, and finally, I had to give up my job when I could no longer physically do it.
Now, I live on my SS pension, and enjoy doing what I can around the house and yard.


----------



## basefare

I've been retired so long I forgot what I was doing when I was working.


----------



## Diwundrin

I sometimes wish I could.   Not that I liked it, I just keep remembering how glad I was to get out of there.



I retired at 48 so it's been a long time for me too, aaaannnd still luvin' it.


----------



## dbeyat45

After a few years teaching, a few more years in the Air Force, a LOT of years in the mechanical repair business, I ended up in computer application and systems support with Australia's postal service.  Computers had been my hobby since the early 1980s;  I wrote software for the service station industry (maintenance history records & fuel reconciliation).  The hobby had become a vocation.  

Truth is, I got tired of trying to keep up with the advances in technology and operating systems.  Besides, I needed more time to visit doctors (of all types).


----------



## atwhatcost

I'm in limbo. I cannot work, but I'm not old enough to formally be called "retired." My story echos yours.

Worked for a bunch of dinky businesses. (The largest company I worked for had less than 300 employees and I thought they were huge.) The last one was next to a place in Philly called "The Badlands." The Badlands is the worse of all the ghettos in the city. I worked two blocks from its border, but across the street were the only heroin dealers in the city. Gunfights every other week right outside my office door. Add to the peril, the owners were cheap so that door that lead to the neighborhood sidewalk was also a typical bedroom door--meaning a good slam with a foot, and it would have shattered. (Bedroom doors are not made to withstand the elements every day for decades on end.)

I was the bookkeeper for the factory, the only women, one of three office staff (not counting the four owners), and white. The kids in the neighborhood got the idea I was a rich boss. (How they got that idea, I'll never understand, since I drove a used Saturn to work every day and wore blue jeans frayed by the factory cat warming in my lap while pawing me for hours at a time.) They rocked my car. No, that's not a motion. I mean they threw rocks at my car, until they broke a window. The owners would pay for the windows. (We still have that car, and it's the only car I've ever seen with dents on all sides, including the roof, trunk and hood. lol) I decided it was time to get out, before one of those bullets landed in me. (A gunfight every other week and yet no one ever got shot. I've concluded drug dealers have to be the worst shots in the world, but the factory had bullet holes in the ceiling and on the outside walls.)

I was a paper pusher with business writing skills and the college degree in Communications, so I studied how to open up my own secretarial services during my lunch at work and at night. The kids broke another window and one night, I stayed a couple of minutes late, only to have a gang of kids no older than 12 block my way out of the driveway. No older than 12, but if looks could kill, I'd be dead. They truly scared me, but fortunately my boss caught what was happening and shooed them away.

New plan. I'd do the bookkeeping at home, and come in a couple days for a few hours. It worked for a while. (Good thing. "The Mother of all Storms" hit the east coast, Philadelphia was literally closed for a week--crippled for ten days--but I was able to keep up with the invoicing and bookkeeping, so I was the only employee paid that week.) Meanwhile, I put in 40 hours of work for them and 30 hours of work developing my side business. The boss told me to come back or they couldn't use me anymore. I was too scared to go back, so I quit. Dumb. They wanted me to quit, so they didn't have to pay my unemployment.

Jokes on them. They hired a new girl (who only worked part time, but cost the same as I cost them), so we negotiated. I was available for her, if she had any questions, and they'd back up my unemployment claim. Funny thing--apparently you're allowed to quit if there is gunfire outside your door every other week. She never called me. lol

Within six months I had enough customers in my secretarial services/resume writing/small-business marketing business to make it all right that I lost the unemployment benefits. Another 6 months, and I hit the black for the business. Stupid me. No Internet back then and no AFLAC duck to tell me a one-person business ought to have disability insurance. The same month I hit "profit," I had a simple gall bladder operation. Something went wrong, but no one is supposed to wake up with more pain in her back then where the incisions were. Chronic, hard-core pain (worse than the gallstones passing through), I couldn't lean over anymore, which killed the possibility of lifting huge boxes of paper to type in the addresses on each of those letters into the database and keep the living room clean for customers coming whenever. I lost my health, my gall bladder, and my business in the summer of 1999.

It took 4 months for doctors to even believe me that I was in more pain after the operation--not that I was taking time to recover. It took another 5 months before they started to discover some of the causes for the pain, 2.5 years to get on Disability, because no one told me they couldn't process my claim, until I stopped trying to get someone to fix me, and seven years, before a doctor finally told me the cause was probably a nicked back nerve during that operation. (Statute of limitation for malpractice is 2 years. I'm pretty sure the doctors put two and two together, before that, but didn't want to give me the ammunition to file a suit against a colleague. Little did they know, I wouldn't have sued for an enormous amount. Doctors are human. They can make mistakes. All I would have liked is to pay off the $45,000ish we still owed on the house to eliminate our mortgage.)

Two years later, a "little virus" caused my hubby to become disabled too, so our retirement money flew out the door. (The recession in the early 2000s made half of it disappear already.) We both survived our health problems. We're both disabled. He just went on to retirement SSI, and I'm still on disability.

We have enough to live on, but not enough to take care of our home too. My new plan is to sell a novel I'm working on. (If things work out right, I'll make $3000 advance. If things work out well, it's the first in a series and we keep getting royalties.)

Not the "retirement" I wanted, but we must make do.


----------



## atwhatcost

Warrigal said:


> I was a very happy teacher and I always said that I would go on teaching until it stopped being fun.
> That day came when I was 55. The joy went out of it all of a sudden and I decided that I was more needed by the three old ladies in my life: my mum, mother in law and maiden aunt. After retirement I dabbled in a bit of contract work in the education/curriculum field always with the proviso that I needed flexibility so that I could look after my elders.
> 
> The crunch came when our government introduced a goods and services tax (GST) and I was then required to submit tenders for work rather than just claim an hourly rate, so I decided to pull the plug.
> 
> I've been happily retired ever since and my definition of retirement is "_doing what I like, when I like and if I like_." I'm a volunteer but I'm no martyr. This week I'm preparing pot plants and cooking cakes for our church spring fair but this is the last year for the plants. It's getting too hard for my joints but more to the point I've lost interest and it's not so much fun as it was. Cooking is still very interesting and fulfilling so that will continue for a while yet.


I have to ask--potted plants or pot plants? Very progressive church if you're selling pot plants there. lol


----------



## SifuPhil

atwhatcost said:


> I'm in limbo. I cannot work, but I'm not old enough to formally be called "retired." My story echos yours.
> 
> ...
> 
> Not the "retirement" I wanted, but we must make do.



Amazing story, AWC. I give mega-respect to you for being a survivor. 

Many moons ago I used to drive down Broad Street once a month or so to get to Chinatown. I remember being definitely underwhelmed by the Badlands. Never had any incidents like yours, but then I was driving my UAV - Urban Assault Vehicle - as I so proudly called my beefed-up Ford Bronco. It was big and black, had metal-tube "cow-pushers" all around and blacked-out windows. I think they feared me.


----------



## Diwundrin

Reeeespect! ... as the saying goes AWC.  I bailed out at stepping over drunks and dodging panhandlers, never even heard a gunshot.  I feel a total wimp now.

May fortune fall upon your novels, they'll be well written, and you've earned, and deserve a break.


----------



## Warrigal

atwhatcost said:


> I have to ask--potted plants or pot plants? Very progressive church if you're selling pot plants there. lol



:lol: Well, we are progressive in a theological sense but we are very law abiding.
I doubt that anyone in the congregation has even seen or smelled pot.
I know that I never have.
We call everything growing in a pot a 'pot plant'.


----------



## Diwundrin

Warrigal said:


> :lol: Well, we are progressive in a theological sense but we are very law abiding.
> I doubt that anyone in the congregation has even seen or smelled pot.
> I know that I never have.
> We call everything growing in a pot a 'pot plant'.



You need to get out more Warri. 


 Smells pretty okay, but I never 'inhaled'.  Unless passive smoking counts.  Some of the staff were usually half potted, and a trip to the back storeroom could have you emerge downright euphoric if they'd been out there. 

 

I'm pretty sure I got a whiff of it in the last burn-off they did in the hills behind here, saved the cops digging it up I guess.


----------



## Warrigal

There are quite a few of life's experiences that I don't regret missing out.
Drug experimentation is one of them.

How alarming would it be if my work colleagues were smoking weed while on duty?


----------



## Diwundrin

> How alarming would it be if my work colleagues were smoking weed while on duty?



They weren't alarming Warri, they were the friendliest bunch stoned you'd ever want to meet, they were useless at the job though. 
 It was the management springing them while I was in charge that was alarming.  They didn't get to smoke it in the office while I was on,  but I didn't have control over what they did outside it.  

I was only an 'acting' supervisor who took over to cover vacancies and holidays etc, although I was more often supervising than being the staff it's very hard to be the boss one day and  'one of the crew'  again the next. Bit of a balancing act. We didn't all do the same tasks, or have the same level of responsibility, but we did all have to work together.
 Did you ever try being the Teacher one day and the student the next?  Should have, sure enhances your negotiating skills and tolerance levels.  


We came to an arrangement that they wouldn't smoke on the premises when I was in charge,  if I didn't dob them in and get them sacked.  Best we could do.

You lived in an ivory tower in teaching Warri.  I worked  in a job with high turnover of staff that was used as a way station for Government supported welfare cases and rehab survivors as well as just the normal permanent employees. 

Over the years I've worked with all types,  from all areas of society,  from ex child hookers to still almost normally functioning heroin junkies on the way down and recovering ones trying to make a life again.  
From North Shore housewives between divorce settlements playing 'poor me',  to beaten up Westy women with hair raising stories.  People from the middle class socio economic group you and I sprang from, and some from backgrounds who thought that we were insufferable rich snobs.

Shy country girls trying to make their way in the big city and sly city kids killing time between 'jobs'. 
 I worked with 3 'rehabbers' who went psycho on duty, one of them threw boiling water over another girl who walked into the meal room at the wrong moment. One went postal on herself and clawed her own chest into a bloody pulp. The third went 'vegetable' after locking herself in a loo.  
Add to that mix immigrants from most of the Nations you could name in 60 seconds,  and even  a punk rocker who was a downright lovely kid under the tats and piercings.  Why on earth would I be alarmed by a few overly placid pot smokers??  




All in all they were just a normal sampling from a wider range of people than you'd meet in most jobs,  and very much more educational than anything I ever learned in school. 




PS.  Maybe that scenario explains why 'Gwen' and I were such a weird pair?  She was the other 'acting' supervisor and we were each other's bosses at various times.


----------



## Warrigal

> You lived in an ivory tower in teaching Warri.  I worked  in a job with high turnover of staff that was used as a way station for Government supported welfare cases and rehab survivors as well as just the normal permanent employees.


More like a cloister than an ivory tower.

Some of your work mates wouldn't have been allowed within a bull's roar of our underage charges but at home that was another matter. We were constantly fighting a battle against outside influences like big brothers who wanted their younger sisters to flog drugs to their friends. We also patrolled the perimeter fences and chased away adolescents who wanted to chat to the girls at lunch time. Too easy to pass small items through the wire. The girls thought we were anti romance but it was really all about watchfulness concerning drugs. Most of the girls were very naïve.

The same watchfulness was necessary at school dances and since I hated loud music I would prowl around outside checking all the dark corners. Mostly I just broke up snogging.

Speaking of people who weren't allowed within a bull's roar of the maidens, I refused to allow visits by Canterbury Bankstown rugby league footballers and that was long before the scandals began to surface. Warrigal was very intuitive way back then.


----------



## Diwundrin

> I refused to allow visits by Canterbury Bankstown rugby league  footballers and that was long before the scandals began to surface.  Warrigal was very intuitive way back then.



Sure were!  Gooood decision!


----------



## atwhatcost

Warrigal said:


> There are quite a few of life's experiences that I don't regret missing out.
> Drug experimentation is one of them.
> 
> How alarming would it be if my work colleagues were smoking weed while on duty?


I won't name names, but one of my roommates in college was a state cop. Guess how we got joints when we were low on money? 

For the record, I stopped getting high before graduation.


----------



## Old Hipster

That Guy said:


> Roger that.  There are signs they put on equipment that's out of service and to be removed saying "Retired In Place".  I keep meaning to make a t-shirt that says the same . . .


I love it! I need one of those so badly. I'm still working my butt off at work, but it is like a veil has been lifted, and I just don't care anymore, don't give a rat's ass, a tinker's darn......

When I retire too I keep telling my husband that we will no longer be ridin' the gravy train, instead we will be lucky to hitch a ride on the last caboose heading to Poverty Row, along with so many oldsters, some months we will be lucky to have 2 nickles to rub together.

Oh boy I can see it now, instead of stressing out over being kicked to the curb too early, now I can worry about out-living our money. Ah let the good times roll. 

And yet I am still completely, absolutely giddy over the prospects of not working anymore. I have been a wage slave since High School and I am pooped, more so mentally than physically. 

I plan on spending a lot more time working in my yard and reading.


----------



## That Guy

You and I are thinking exactly alike Old Hipster.


----------



## i_am_Lois

Everyone has their own & unique story. Mine was this. I was divorced. Mom died & I got some inheritance. I bought a home in Delaware & got a job going home to home as a health care aid. When I reached my 50's I had health issues. The job became increasingly too demanding for me physically. I decided to sell my home & move. I was shocked when the housing boom caused the value of the home I was selling to double in value. I was able to build a brand new home in Florida. The timing was also perfect in my love life. I met a wonderful man. We married. He sold his place and we were able to put in a pool, screen room, get new cars, a shed, fencing, etc. etc. Combining what we had we were also financially both able to retire. Now what's important is our maintaining healthy, independent lives.


----------



## Vivjen

Great story Lois; keep enjoying life!


----------



## Katybug

Things worked out very well for you, Lois, good story and a happy ending.


----------



## Rainee

Gee great stories you all have not sure I`ll post mine now its uninteresting compared to others LOL..
well I retired from work .. 
Because it was time?  ...... Never was time.. just circumstances changed and mother in law needed caring.. while I was working I looked after her.. each day rush off to work nights in the hospital then back to see she was in bed.. home again .. sleep .. up again go visit Mum in law.. same ol routine each week,for 2 years.. so . in the end it burnt me out I found I couldn`t do it any more  and still be expected to do a shift at the hospital which was very demanding.. so had to leave look after Mum full time but after a year doc put her in a home because she had dementia , didn`t know who was who .then  she passed away 6 months later... then was too tired to go back to work so left and retired at 50 .. 

Didn't want the stress of working?  After you turn 50 they don`t want you to return to work because they would rather have younger nurses and assistants then so that was my cue no more work... too old lol..did miss the money but thats not everything..  
Had enough money? Not really just a small super as my hubby was leaving his job the next year, even though we owned our 
own home he had already in his younger years when he came to Australia.. married a lass from Sydney (not me ) lol ... and they bought 5 acres of land down south from where we are.built a home also then . the marriage fell through and he was left holding the full morgage which he had to pay off for year , in the end got nothing for it .. but he was healthy so when we got married I was already a widow at 25 with my two young children.. married  my present husband  3 yrs after my first husband passed away from cancer, he was young at 25 too young to die.. that was the hardest time in my life .. my son was born 3 months later and the dads coming in to see their babies and mine in a grave... was just so hard.. 
Hubby  had 2 boys from his previous marriage as his wife had died too, so we had an instant family.. not a very happy situation I found the going so hard to accept but just kept going on as life had to go on I didn`t want to disappoint any one . least of all his 2 boys who had gone through divorce and a death of a parent when they were under 13 ... but we managed till they grew up meaning I never worked while the children were all at home or young , was my duty to look after them and manage on hubbys wage the best way we could.. this time we had 5 children yours , mine and ours .. one daughter between us.. 
We moved up to the Central coast  and hubby got a job as maintenance man in the local hospital.. and was there till he retired... I started there when my younger daughter was 15 so she was able to look after herself a little then too , time was right to go back to work then.. but only for 10 years then had to leave again ... but now am retired.. we have travelled the world many times during the 10 years since retiring.. sold our home.. bought ourselves a little relocatable home because its easier to manage and also easier to look after.. we have everything we need.. not a lot of income because we spent our super travelling which I wouldn`t have changed for the world..as if I had left it my legs wouldn`t have done any walking ..  I have left out lots of things that has happened during our lives but thats irrelevant to this posting it would bore you all as this much probably has already hehe but this is my story ...


----------



## Vivjen

Interesting and uplifting story, Rainee, you can tell us some more under another thread....


----------



## Bullie76

I retired at 52 and feel very fortunate to do so. I was tired of being a bean counter and was financially able to it, so I went for it. Many told me I would become bored and regret it, but that has not been the case. Love having the freedom to do whatever I want each day. Within reason of course.


----------



## Pappy

Company ask me if I wanted to keep working when I reached 62. It took me all of one minute to give them and answer. NO.....26 years on a no-mind job is enough for anyone.


----------



## Bob in NH

Because it was time? *Definitely! I was going to be 65 at the end of 2012, that was close enough. I had been working there (for several companies and a variety of acquisition programs) since 1984. Once viewed as valued members of the acquisition team, by the time I left - contractors were being looked down upon as overpaid parasites. Not a fun environment!*
Didn't want the stress of working? *I worked as a contractor at an AF Base near Boston. A total of 2 hrs commute (no fun in winter). Contractors with 20+ years of experience were being phased out and replaced with younger - and cheaper -  gov't civilians (who were taught their jobs by the outgoing contractors - go figure!).  Those contractor who remained faced salary cuts of @ 30% when their contracts were renewed.*
Had enough money? *My spouse and I ran our budget numbers multiple times and they came out okay.*
An offer you couldn't refuse? _*No*_
Spousal pressure? _*No*_
Fired? _*No*_
Wanted to get out of the way of younger workers? (no kidding?) *Definitely! The accent was certainly on youth. We experienced people were tolerated (barely) by the younger (30-something know-it-all civilians and immature junior military officers) generation of military and civil servants*_.* I felt the younger  gov't workers resented the higher salaries experienced contractors earned.*_
Health? _*No.  My health was just "okay" when I retired. In Jan 12, I began working out (cardio & weights) 6 days a week at the local "Y".*_ _*I feel better than I have in many years*_.

_*13 months after I left (and NEVER looked back)  I can sat it was the BEST decision I've made recently!*
_


----------



## OhZone

Why?????
I was 80 years old!


----------



## Relevant

*Understand*



Katybug said:


> *Retirement isn't for me.  Living alone and all my friends and family being married, I hated it.  After a year of it, I became deeply depressed so I found myself a job.   I don't like working all day 5 days a week, but that doesn't happen often.  I would go bonkers staying in this condo all the time and volunteering just didn't do it for me.  I wanted to be out and about and have money coming in at the same time.*



I have thought of getting at least a part time job.   What kind of work are you doing?


----------



## Rainee

Thanks Vivjen,, Will do so one day but for today am glad I saw the email on my email from Seniors forum I have had a lot of problems with the computer and lost all my 
emails and addresses so now found this one when opened it up and so happy will post more to forum later not about retiring but just to say hello


----------



## jujube

I retired at 62 1/2 for three reasons:

1.  I was going to seriously maim someone at work if I stayed there much longer.  I was sick to the gills of lack of planning on someone else's part becoming an emergency on my part.

2.  I met a fellow who was already retired and was ready to head out to "see America".  He didn't want to wait much longer and I was more than eager to go along for the ride.  

3.  I could afford to retire.


----------



## Aunt Bea

_Voluntary redundancy_.


----------



## mathjak107

Relevant said:


> I have thought of getting at least a part time job.   What kind of work are you doing?


all the things i do for money are now things i would do for free. the fact i get paid is a bonus ...

my wife and i love photography and sell photo's and files on our website ....  i enjoy teaching motor controls and variable frequency drives for a local distributor one day a week , it is very enjoyable .. i also got back in to drumming again and am preparing to  take part in the 50th anniversary tour  of a well know group of recording artists .

so while i get paid ,  i don't consider any of it a moment of work .


----------



## Keesha

I retired WAY early because I could and my husband was perfectly ok with it. I then worked part time doing woodworking and selling items on Etsy which was a lot of fun. Someday I might go back to doing that . At the moment I have too many things on the go.


----------



## ClassicRockr

I retired, IOW, stopped looking for a job, when I turned 62, and started getting Early Retirement SS. Unlike my wife, I didn't have a college degree and/or certification in the area I worked in earlier...…..inventory and purchasing. Due to previous surgeries, I could no longer work in a warehouse or stockroom full-time. Doing the physical stuff anymore was gone. I only wanted to work Monday thru Friday and only a daytime job. Wife and I both agreed on that. So, we both decided that my SS would be some money coming in and that I could take care of things at home (laundry, etc.) while she was at work. Has turned out great for us. 

I don't miss working at all.


----------



## Knight

Didn't want the stress of working, had enough money because we planned for early retirement at 55, an offer you couldn't refuse made it possible to retire at age 54.


Would probably have worked until age 65 at the blue collar job I had, but when a white collar job was offered it was to good to pass up. The choice. Continue hard physical labor outdoors in all kinds of weather or inside out of the weather supervising at a significant increase in pay & benefits. 


Like many corporations in the early to mid 1990's downsizing management was considered the best way to reduce operating costs, hence the offer I couldn't refuse.


----------



## CarolfromTX

I was just flat-out tired. Hubs retired because he was also tired -- tired of the BS, the stress, the BS, the travel, the long hours, the BS...  His blood pressure dropped 30 points after he retired and he no longer needed meds. And we could afford to, after years of saving and living within our income.


----------



## Butterfly

jujube said:


> I retired at 62 1/2 for three reasons:
> 
> *1.  I was going to seriously maim someone at work if I stayed there much longer.  I was sick to the gills of lack of planning on someone else's part becoming an emergency on my part.
> *
> 2.  I met a fellow who was already retired and was ready to head out to "see America".  He didn't want to wait much longer and I was more than eager to go along for the ride.
> 
> 3.  I could afford to retire.



Your Item #1 was a big part of my decision, too.  I retired at 67+.


----------



## MannyGT

The title of this thread says it all.. "Retired? Why?" I left my main job in my late 40's with a decent pension. I went back to work because I love what I'm doing. It pleases me to know that I am helping to instill joy and excitement in peoples lives. Legally I am retired, but I refuse to look at it that way so long as I can continue to do something with my life.


----------



## ronaldj

laid off at 59 small pension...two years later part time job, five years later no job.....two years later loving it.....just turned 67


----------



## WhatInThe

ReTIRED. That's why 

Should add I'm not one of those people who work/go to a job for something to do. I'll do volunteer work for an organization or cause that benefits people rather than put my time and help put money into a for profit business. They only profits I care about are my investments, that's what I'll 'work' on.


----------



## Gary O'

Why the hell not?

Worked for someone else for over 50 years to provide for family

Family grew up, moved away (thank you, Lord)


And here I am
Doing whatever I want to do, whenever I wanted to do it…aaaaaalll the time


----------



## Aunt Bea

Retirement is all about the future!!!layful:nthego:


----------



## twinkles

i retired at 62 to take care of my grandson while his mother worked-i also had a part time job when his mom got out f work i would take him to her job then go on my part time job --i worked until i reached-74  -i got sick  because the doctor gave me the wrong pills--i also took my grandson to school until he went  to high school


----------



## Trade

I retired at the age of 60 years and 6 months in order to achieve my lifelong ambition to be a non working bum.


----------



## OneEyedDiva

mathjak107 said:


> all the things i do for money are now things i would do for free. the fact i get paid is a bonus ...
> 
> my wife and i love photography and sell photo's and files on our website ....  i enjoy teaching motor controls and variable frequency drives for a local distributor one day a week , it is very enjoyable .. i also got back in to drumming again and am preparing to  take part in the 50th anniversary tour  of a well know group of recording artists .
> 
> so while i get paid ,  i don't consider any of it a moment of work .


Re: Drumming. That is very *cool *Mathjak!


----------



## mathjak107

thanks


----------



## OneEyedDiva

I retired because I was tired of working, the supervisor was getting on my nerves (and everyone else's), the woman I had to work with in one of my offices and satellite clinics was a real b*tch no matter how nice I was to her.  Plus I had the minimal time in and had always dreamed of the day I wouldn't have to get up to go to work although I really liked my work. I left one month before my 51st birthday.


----------



## Manatee

The joy of retirement is that your time is your own to do with as you see fit.  That has done me well for 22 years.


----------



## DaveA

Manatee said:


> The joy of retirement is that your time is your own to do with as you see fit.  That has done me well for 22 years.



I couldn't agree more, Manatee.  It's been 27 years for me and folks can still be as busy or laid back as they choose.  That, in my opinion, is the real value of retirement.


----------



## Ronni

I'm jealous.  There, I said it.  Flat out jealous.  

I love my work but I'm SO ready to not be ruled by the clock, and schedules, and what day of the week it is, what time it is, how much longer till the w/e.  And even then, I'm scrambling to get as much personal stuff done as I can before it's Monday again and I have to go back to work and watch the clock and my time isn't my own.  

My dysfunctional marriage, a husband who was a bum and a parasite and didn't work over half our marriage, my low income freelance jobs just to make ends meet and put a roof over our heads and food on the table for a family of 7, all contributed to a wretched financial situation that has impacted me now as a senior. My ex demanded to handle all the finances and I thought it was the least he could do since he wasn't working, and I believed that he was actually managing things, till we separated and I found out he hadn't paid taxes in forever, had drained all the savings, maxed out the credit cards, and left a mountain of debt .....  financial ruin that I'm STILL working my way out of.  

Yeah, stupid.  I know it was stupid.  Too damn  trusting for my own good.  Too loyal.  Too afraid of him for too damn long to get away.  

So, yeah.  I'm gonna be working till I die, probably.


----------



## OneEyedDiva

Ronni said:


> I'm jealous.  There, I said it.  Flat out jealous.
> 
> I love my work but I'm SO ready to not be ruled by the clock, and schedules, and what day of the week it is, what time it is, how much longer till the w/e.  And even then, I'm scrambling to get as much personal stuff done as I can before it's Monday again and I have to go back to work and watch the clock and my time isn't my own.
> 
> My dysfunctional marriage, a husband who was a bum and a parasite and didn't work over half our marriage, my low income freelance jobs just to make ends meet and put a roof over our heads and food on the table for a family of 7, all contributed to a wretched financial situation that has impacted me now as a senior. My ex demanded to handle all the finances and I thought it was the least he could do since he wasn't working, and I believed that he was actually managing things, till we separated and I found out he hadn't paid taxes in forever, had drained all the savings, maxed out the credit cards, and left a mountain of debt .....  financial ruin that I'm STILL working my way out of.
> 
> Yeah, stupid.  I know it was stupid.  Too damn  trusting for my own good.  Too loyal.  Too afraid of him for too damn long to get away.
> 
> So, yeah.  I'm gonna be working till I die, probably.


How sad Ronni. Unfortunately you made the mistake too many women do, whether their husbands are good or not....they let the man handle all the finances. I'm sorry that you're now paying the price for that mistake and likely won't be able to retire. Best of luck to you in trying to get out of this situation.


----------



## win231

After 46 years working various jobs in various fields, including a family business, I retired, mainly to care for my aging parents who, among other things, couldn't drive safely any more.  I thought caring for them would be less stressful & easier than working.  Boy, was I wrong!  My dad was OK, but my mom became more & more difficult as she aged...and she wasn't so nice when she was young.


----------



## fmdog44

I retired becuse I deserved it.


----------

