The Joy Of Retirement

[Tomorrow]

This post has nothing to do with anything. It is totally a fabrication of my demented mind...(I think, therefore I am{demented}). So read it at your own risk.

Whilst (sorry, I've been talking to too many limeys) drinking my favorite cup o' joe this morning, I began to really appreciate retirement. That would be MY retirement. YOUR retirement may vary with age, location, and management. The fact that advancing age is forever tethered to retirement is somewhat an inconvenience, but can be ignored with enough active imagination and/or drugs.

On being retired....

*** I have time to spend roaming, not only the pits of dispair over my falling jowels, but to discover the endless, mind-expanding world of the internet. (Which brings me to you.) In this, the Great Age of Illiteracy, it is delightful to run across young people like Jaxvon who have learned to speak well and also realize the limitations of youth and value of experience.

*** I have the time to do the things that I always wanted to do when I was young. Now, if I could only find the energy or the resources to DO the things that I always wanted to do. (Go get 'em, Sleestack!)

*** I have the time to deal with all the debilitating diseases that come with the concommitant aging process. By gosh, I can go to the doctor any ol' darn time I want! By the way, the physicians don't help a lot unless you have something like an arrow sticking out of your chest. THAT they can somewhat accurately diagnose and treat. Usually, one just walks out of the doctor's office, not with the liberation of a cure, but with the semi-full and scary knowledge of what's ailin' you. ("Can't do much about that, son." SON??!! Why, you...)

*** I have had adequate time to say goodbye to much of my hair. ("So long fair hair!") and feel okay about it.

*** I seemingly have entered a new era...where one can no longer be considered a "letch". I'm now, officially, a "dirty old man" (theoretically, a higher calling). You younger folks must realize that sex doesn't just fall in your lap during retirement years. In retirement, if your missus or girlfriend blesses you with some lovin', consider your entire year to be made! (Are there any women on this forum to explain this phenomenon? )

*** My hearing is shot from years and years of rock & roll and concerts and being screemed at by various high frequency partners (not the current missus, of course!). BUT, check this out. You can buy any speaker you like, the cheaper the better, and you'll not be able to tell the difference between that and those Wilson Watt Puppies over there. Now that's how you save money. See? Experience pays.

So here I sit, making nonsense, and hanging on to life like granny's last tooth. From the right point of view...retirement life is wonderful.

Good cheer.

 

[nibhaz]

Your post gives me hope

 

[MDS]

*** I have the time to do the things that I always wanted to do when I was young. Now, if I could only find the energy or the resources to DO the things that I always wanted to do. (Go get 'em, Sleestack!)

That reminds me of a famous quote: 'Youth is wasted on the Young' (George Bernard Shaw - I think).

When you are young you have very few responsibilities and all the time in the world but usually not much money to go and do all the things you could do. So you get an education, hopefully a good job, work hard and save your money and get to a position where you can appreciate a few things - but you no longer have the time and boy do you have responsibilities.

If you do what you are 'supposed' to do and save so you can live comfortably in retirement without income from your own labor, you are now too old and not as energetic as you once were so you often STILL don't do all the things you would like to do. Life is backwards!

But, I always remember the Joe Walsh song 'Life's been good to me': I can't complain, but sometimes I still do. Life's been good to me so far.

 

[Kai]

"Life's been good to me so far" defines my life to this point.
I intend...Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise...to retire in 15 years...66 years old.

I can not wait to retire. I have a good job and am well paid but would rather relax and enjoy my "senior" years.

I hope to see more of the country and world, have some enjoyable adventures and plain ol' relax while I can actually appreciate and enjoy it.

Hopefully I will have 15 to 20 years of "retirement" before I slow down lol.

 

[audiofox]

RJbudz, thanks for sharing your thoughts on your retirement-it is a subject I think about a lot these days. I, too, am looking forward to retirement (5-10 years, depending on the success of my investments), but I don't see myself playing golf every day or even traveling as my primary activity-I am worried that I would get bored and be left with nothing to do. I want to have some form of trade or profession (but not necessarily the same as my current one), but with a slower, more casual pace, with plenty of time to indulge my hobbies and non-career interests. I don't know if that is realistic, but that is what I want to try to achieve. I keep thinking of my dad, who retired at age 52 with no real plan for himself except to escape his job and build his own home (he designed and built a log home that they still live in). The first few years after the home was finished, he drove my mom so crazy that she got a full time job apparently so he couldn't order her around all day (I guess he missed his management job more than he had anticipated!). He eventually found things to do, but it took him several years before he was really happy with his retirement status. My biggest fear is to not have some sense of reward or accomplishment in my retirement activities, but that fear will probably be my best friend in preventing it from occurring in the first place.

 

[The Dukester]

Crikes, RJ, just what was in that favorite cup of Joe?! Personally, I can't wait for retirement...at least to not have to report to work. The age thing that comes along with most folks retirement I can do without. Man, if only I had saved more and not spent so much on a couple of hobbies Can you say, "Audio/Videoholic"?

Honestly, though, people talk about how they are going to have so much more time after they retire. Most folks I know seem to have less time then than when they worked. Gee, how do we ever do anything and work? I was unemployed twice for several months from 2000 to 2002. I thought I would get all these things done around the house, do all these extra things for my friends and at my church...NOT. I tell, you, I don't know how you fit all that stuff in and work, but somehow we do!

Ah, the old saying that states "the older you get the faster time goes" surely is true. Will somebody take the turbo charger off that clock?! No commets about me having a lot of spent gas!

 

[Tomorrow]

No commets about me having a lot of spent gas!

LOL! Oh, yeah, I forgot. As you get older you can't digest those veggies like you once could. Boomers come-a-callin' much more readily in advanced years. And yep, those time skids get greased extra heavily after you hit the big FIVE OH.

One more retirement joy, my friend...with all these y'ars under my belt, I've been given a chance to meet good people like you!

 

[Geno]

Great thread...I'm looking at about 3 years before I can jump off the runaway freight train I'm on. I work in a cutting edge technology field, and the pace of change is getting to me. The closer I get, the more intolerant I am of my job. Gotta stick it out, though... I'm in that stretch between 3rd and home - can't blow it yet!

 

[highfihoney]

I cant wait to retire,i dont hate my job but i am very tired of doing it 70 hrs a week,i got 9 years to go & im out

 

[Nick250]

I work part time and with some of my free time I volunteer at a local hospital. It adds to a sense of purpose. And not just a little additional sense of purpose, but more than I would have imagined. It's not that I am a Saint, far from it. One could argue that I am selfish since I get at least as much, if not more, out of my time at the hospital as they do. Who would have thought it would work out this way. Not me.

Nick

 

[STRONGBADF1]

rj,

Only 22 years to go! (and thats if I retire at 59-1/2)

I'm not in any hurry, my son just got to a great age (6) and I really want to slow down to soak as much in as I can.

I hope I still have my sense of humor and reality as much as you seem to when I get there!

Heres to time well spent,
SBF1

 

[The Dukester]

after you hit the big FIVE OH.

Only 5 months to go before the big five-oh! Crikes, I feel the banana peel slipping under my foot. Thanks for them mighty fine words, RJ! Back at 'cha!
The gearheads here on the site would pick up on the spent gas/turbo pun. Now that you mention it, though, I do expel quite a lot more than I used to. Ole'!

 

[Tomorrow]

rj,

I hope I still have my sense of reality as much as you seem to!

Heh. Got you fooled!

SBF1, that 6 year old will keep ya young for at least 22 more years! The problem is, you blink and he's in college. Blink twice and your a granpa! After that, you'll learn to keep your eyes open. No more blinking, LOL!

Good cheer.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Heh. Got you fooled!

SBF1, that 6 year old will keep ya young for at least 22 more years! The problem is, you blink and he's in college. Blink twice and your a granpa! After that, you'll learn to keep your eyes open. No more blinking, LOL!

Good cheer.

...Looking for toothpicks and tape for eyelids...

SBF1

 

[wrb]

I'm 56 and set a target age for retirement @ 69! 69? My father never had any outside activities from work, and when he left the work force, he was miserable. So I am trying to learn from that. I collect golf balls from the woods when I can (mine and other avid golfers), and occasionally even get one to go into that little hole that I can no longer see very well! I still play my saxophone at least once a week. Can't see the music, can't hear the key, but I still play?

Isn't it a cruel thing that you can enjoy life better(physically at least) when you are younger, but do not have the money to retire? Or, that you can't afford kids until you're 50+, but then don't have the patience for the little darlin's? Of course, when I was younger I got into enough trouble working full time; there's no telling what would have happened if I had every day free to do as I wanted, all day long!

Blessings

wrb

 

[majorloser]

I have one finger pointing upward...

...Rj, can you guess which one?

I can't really complain. I've been working for municipalities for over 20 years. So, in reality I've been retired for years.

 

[billy p]

Retirement

what the hell is that! I've been working at the same place since 1981. I'm in my early 40's with three kids 11 yrs apart with the cost of university and tuition I might have to work till I'm dead . The one shining light though is early retirement at age 55 with 35 yrs of service, however that will still leave me 3yrs short on the age scale.

 

[Tomorrow]

...Rj, can you guess which one?

I can't really complain. I've been working for municipalities for over 20 years. So, in reality I've been retired for years.

Hey Major...come out to Oregon where my tax money will go toward your retirement rather than just any municipally employed slacker.

Heh, which finger huh? Take this! SNOW

 

[jcrobso]

Well I was retired for 3 days back in '97

I retired from IBM at the end of '96. I'm 61 now, maybe in a couple of years I'll try retirement again. John