after retirement

B

B~C

New member
We're a ways from retirement but I know many on here are retired or are close. I often wonder how I'll stay busy when the day comes, puttering around the house, and fishing only go so far.
One possibility is that at many colleges you can enroll in a course for dirt cheap. The "boat delivery" thread brings this to mind as there is a retired chap that lives in the machine shop. He pays his five bucks for tuition and spends months in there cranking out beautifull sail boat parts. He started out knowing nothing about machining and now is producing some durn expensive parts for next to nothing....I told he and the machine shop instrutor that they need to start a fiberglass program and then they could build complete boats :)

A couple of years back Da Nag Bill pointed out this forum http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ it's full of good info. I've been lurking at this site thinking it would be fun to pull the plug early and just work seasonal jobs http://www.coolworks.com/forums/ What kinds of things do you do? how many have interesting odd, fun, jobs?
 
B C,
If I were to "retire" today, I'd still have a "full time" job.....since I still have a teenage daughter in high school... :roll:

(Seriously though, I'm still lovin' all that I do!)
 
Ken --

Our only suggestion for retirement is to remain active and busy -- some do this with continued work, some with hobbies, some with volunteer work, etc. Retirement is a time to do all those things you always wish you had time to do -- so it is very individualized, and there's no 'answer' that would work for everyone -- except, our observation, that those who are mentally and physically active, doing 'things' they love to do, last longer (and better) that the others.

One small thought that might work for some and that we haven't seen in lists of retirement suggestions -- we love to go on "quests." Now, the quest chosen is YOUR choice -- might be after an old motorcycle (with sidecar) like someone we all know, or a winter cruise in the Keys (like a few others we know), or rehab-ing hurricane demolished churches and homes (like someone else we know). El and I are usually either "just plain useful" (right now covering grandkids at their home while their folks get a much needed holiday to Hawaii) -- or we're off on a 'learning' trip (like we decided we wanted to find 500 birds in North America in two years [oh, the places we traveled - Alaska in January, Hudson Bay in February, etc], or go to a wine festival in Argentina or a Radish Festival in Mexico or ...

Some folks need to feel useful (or productive, whatever that is); others to learn; others to kick back and enjoy the sunsets ... the only limit on what to do is your own imagination ...
 
Good topic,

Nancy and I have been retired for about 1 1/2 years now. We do what we want, sleep in, stay up late, spend time boating, photographing, playing on the computer, or whatever.

Many activities are now done one per day. I cannot figure out how we used to do the many activities of daily life and go to work too!

There is ample time to talk, read, take walks, etc.

In the beginning of retirement, many people try to live their lives at the same pace as before. It takes time to slow down and loose the guilty feeling about not 'producing', 'accomplishing', 'achieving', or whatever was driving one prior to retirement.

I would suggest first doing the things you want to do most, like cruising, travel, golf, C-Dorying, fishing, motorcycling, or playing with grandchildren. Or do the things which require good health first. Avoid scheduling your life too far in advance. Take advantage or the flexibility of having all the days being your own.

Being retired means finally getting to figure out what you want to do when you grow up!

Good boatin' to yah!
 
Retirement was an easy transition for us--we had already taken 4 years of full time cruising--and went back to work for 7 years to get the kids thru college and grad school. We finished complete restoration of a Cal 46 and then spent 4 years cruising. After that--it was involvement in the community. It turns out that all of us have learned so many skills that there are always opportunities as either volunteers or a second/third career if we so choose. The nice thing about retirement is that you can choose what to do...(within the limits of caring for parents, health issues and other family matters!)

But I have seen too many people putting off what they really wanted to do--until it was too late. So do it (what ever it is you really want to do) as soon as you can.
 
I do too, Pat, and find that helps create a kind of pervasive calm with which life's many challenges can routinely be met with faith and kindness.

I appreciate this thread and the useful, insightful contributions. People have so much to teach us.
 
What a nice and thoughtful thread. I've retired three times and still haven't figured it out. I strongly support the idea of not waiting to do the things you dream about. Too many of my friends/acquaintences have died or become unable to follow that dream while they were busy waiting for everything to come together. I'm in danger of the same thing so it is especially on target to hear others give the same advice.
 
Hey, Pat -- certainly not heresy! El and I loved our jobs as well. One does not necessarily retire because you don't like your work. There are many reasons why a person retires. For us, we chose retiring young because we love the freedom of 'our own time' and our own choice of what to do each and every day - a luxury our teaching jobs didn't afford. So, this brings up a somewhat different slant about retirement.

We have discovered that some folks (who may or may not enjoy their work) enjoy the regimentation and orderliness of a job. So many decisions are made for you or required by the job -- you know where you will be tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, where you'll be eating lunch, who you will be with, what you will be doing tomorrow night ... There's an internal comfort in that certainty for many folks ... and that's an important factor in retirement. For such folks, it is important to build in a clock (or a pattern, at least) into their retirement activities.

For us, the clock and patterns were dictators we didn't enjoy (and as teachers, we flinched every hour for a year or so after retirement). So, when we retired we wanted to change our entire lifestyle -- and went to a delightful (almost delerious [or perhaps, demented]) extreme. We sold the house, gave away most everything (including the car), and with a wee little motor home took off to see those parts of the US we didn't know well -- (of course, as teachers, we had long summer vacations so through our working years we spent months every summer traveling with the kids by canoe, raft, on foot, or car -- so we knew we enjoyed that lifestyle). We were soon overseas kicking around the 'back blocks' of the world -- oh, and with our freedom of movement and time we found we were seeing our kids (or they were sharing travel with us) more than many of our retired friends with adult kids who were off to distant places with their work.

So we strongly feel that retirement is a very individual experience -- the happiest folks in retirement, in our experience, are those who know themselves and design their new-found freedom for their needs, interests, and personalities.

If the retirees are a couple, it is essential that both individuals have their input into the design of their shared retirement. It will be the first time in ages (or perhaps, ever) that both will be together all (or much of the time). For some this is pure joy -- it's the fruition of why you wanted to be married and together in the first place. For others, it can be a bit much not having the more private or solitary lives (for many hours a day at least). This might require a retirement design that allows personal space some or most of the time. So, retirement as a couple is NOT an individual thing, but requires the ability of two folks to find a shared and enjoyable style that fits their personalities and interests.

For El and I -- who immensely enjoyed our work -- we find the self-designing nature of retirement to be ideal. We could still work a formal job if we wish, or design our own kind of work, or whatever -- what we love, is now we're the ones chosing how we live every minute of our lives.
 
thataway":2mb5y9vf said:
But I have seen too many people putting off what they really wanted to do--until it was too late. So do it (what ever it is you really want to do) as soon as you can.
Click to expand...

This statement bears repeating. In fact, for a retiree it should be a Mantra. Health issues can rear an ugly head at any time, and there's no way to rewind the clock.

Don
 
When we sold our business the question of whether we were retired or not never got asked. We didn't want to make that decision. I couldn't stop thinking I needed to do just one more thing. Then one night Cathy said she wanted lobster. I took her on a 4 day trip up the coast to Freeport Maine. The decision was a lot easier then. Why not? The kids are out of school and for the last 3 decades our lives were spent riding the pine everyday.
Now we have a boat and can't stop playing :smiled
We love it :lol:
 
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