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We focus a lot on the financial aspects of preparation toward retirement but there is an emotional aspect too. Mentally and emotionally you must be ready for the major change in your life.
My wife learned last evening that the husband of a long-term friend and co-worker died suddenly yesterday afternoon. He was 62, fit & trim, an avid bicyclist, and appeared to be in great health.
He had a 30+ year GM/UAW pension and was working as a bank teller after the local plants closed. He wife is 61 and qualified for a pension from her job at age 60. The last conversation my wife had with her friend involved retirements and the friend stated how much she and her husband were looking forward to their own retirements.
Since my wife and I fall into the grouping of "Financially Ready but Uncertain", sad tales such as these make us reconsider the uncertainty component. Our next meeting with our Financial guy is 1-1/2 weeks away, with a couple major financial milestones at work scheduled for Oct 1st and Nov 15th. I learned yesterday there will be no benefit for me to stay till mid-Jan 2020 (I thought there would be 2020 vacation pay-out eligibility), so mid-November 2019 leaped to the fore front as my targeted retirement date.
We focus a lot on the financial aspects of preparation toward retirement but there is an emotional aspect too. Mentally and emotionally you must be ready for the major change in your life.
I am still working on the emotional part, going from the accumulation phase of pouding away every extra dollar into a 401k, to now being in the withdrawal phase.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MI-Roger
My wife learned last evening that the husband of a long-term friend and co-worker died suddenly yesterday afternoon. He was 62, fit & trim, an avid bicyclist, and appeared to be in great health.
This happened to a friend of mine. He had been talking with a friend for a long time about doing a cross country motorcyle ride when his friend had a heart attack and died. He then put together that trip and did it (solo).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vision67
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"....John Lennon..
Great quote, but per Wikipedia....
The lyrics of "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" contain the famous Lennon quote "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." However, the expression of this sentiment can be traced back to a 1957 Reader's Digest article, which attributes it to Allen Saunders.
I thought this thread was going to be about the people who retire but then don't know how to adjust to their new life, LOL.
What the heck, I'll talk about that for a second, too. That can be a problem for some people, after all.
If that's your problem, it helps a lot to join a few groups such as a men's breakfast club, a book club, a bike riding group, etc. At the very least, get out of the house every day and go somewhere where you'll start seeing familiar faces. A library, neighborhood pool, rec center, a place you volunteer, places like that.
Although it's great to do things on your own (for example taking hikes on your own), you'll feel like you're on vacation. A long and wonderful vacation, to be sure, but if you want to make that emotional transition to feeling like you're retired, that seems to happen after you start connecting with people.
.... OK, enough for the side bar. Getting back to the OP's topic, I agree that life is short. It's tricky to make sure all your financial ducks are in a row, but once you feel you can swing it I'm a fan or retiring sooner rather than later.
If you’re in a city large enough to have them Meetup groups can be a great resource for finding folks with similar interests.
Great suggestion.
The worst thing to do, IMO, is stay inside your house doing nothing but watching tv. TV is like salt. Its function is to add extra flavor; it's not meant to be a lifestyle.
I am still working on the emotional part, going from the accumulation phase of pouding away every extra dollar into a 401k, to now being in the withdrawal phase.
You may want to read "How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free". The book was originally published in 2004 so some references and comments are quite dated (such as: "23% of the population uses the internet to book air travel") but the premise behind the book is still valid.
Every job, no matter how frustrating, provides the worker with three things: Structure, Socialization, Purpose. The book then concentrates on helping the reader identify things in their own lives, out side of work, which can provide the same things.
No wrong answers other than allowing the TV, La-Z-Boy, and Refrigerator to become your three best friends in retirement.
My grandfather worked until suffering a stroke at age 86.
At 70 years old as much as I try I can't envision not working. Why not? Why retire and do what?
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