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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Piney Creek
I like this answer!!
NO MORE Annual reviews,
NO MORE 'Stretch Goals' No more 'Self evaluations'...
retirement #1 (age 15). escape from Dairy Farm Boarding school was best, and very well executed! (I had saved a lot of money (No time / place to spend it...)) 'retirement' was great! but.. High school suffered a bit Having to rent a place to live was a bummer, so I shifted around cheap digs until I could by an RV! (1949 Dodge truck with a plywood camper! $55... had a provisional 'farm' driver's license for age 14) Had a blast!
#2 (age 35) too Short
#3 was great (Free college for 2 yrs + plenty of perks (Free HC))
#4 was poorly executed (too bad, could have been so good if I would have waited one more week (Huge severance (again)) whoops!)
#5+ room to improve
Retire early, retire often... Practice makes perfect. (TBD)
Not for a second after any retirement, did I ever wish I were still working!
out the door and 'poof' - GONE! (I never really had time to W-O-R-K, always had a lot of more important (fun) things to do. ) Working nights really helped... every day(light) was a day OFF Work. I can't imagine how miserable it would have been to burn 40+ yrs of daylight stuck INSIDE!
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 04-19-2019 at 01:30 AM..
I retired 3.5 months ago....my self grade would be:
- Staying healthy through diet, weight control - A
- Getting in better physical condition through strength training, yoga, biking - A-
- Seeing family and helping out kids and grandkids - A
- Developing personally through advancing my mind or skills - D
"At that point, the wife explained to the reporter exactly what she and her husband were trying to do with their lives: “We’re still trying to strike a balance between engagement and freedom.”
I think those words, a balance between engagement and freedom, come closest to describing what most people, myself included, are looking for in later life—a mix of activities that will allow us to stay involved, in mind and body, with our community, friends and family, and still allow us to enjoy the fruits of our working years. And that can be tricky.
The author E.B. White, not surprisingly, put this much better:
“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning, torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”"
As for me, I'm not a very good retiree. I keep getting drawn back to doing my career work part time because I love it so much. My current contract expires in October and I'm not looking forward to that.
Key question: Has your enjoyment of life increased? Lessened? Or stayed the same. Why?
I don't have the luxury of gauging my retirement as successful or not. I'm still trying to land somewhere that I like. So I guess that's my answer.
I've been "retired" for several years. I am waiting to start my retirement...so far, house repairs, house hunting, money management, trying to continue exercising, loss of friends from moving, etc. I hope I get to start a real retirement soon. Next year? Or the next? Or when I'm 70? Who knows. Few things have gone in accordance with plans. Lots of people trying to take advantage of me, is what I have noticed. Even the electric company. There is no shortage of people trying to screw over a retired woman alone.
Retirement is great. I don't owe you a grade in anything. I can spend time with myself and my spouse. The rest of doesn't matter. I answer to me now the most insightful boss ever. I do things my way.
This is a funny thread. I can tell who I would like to hang out with and who I would want to avoid -- just by the answers.
Anyway I'll play -- I give myself a B+. I have made a few financial/investment mistakes over the years but overall time and compounding interest have been the great equalizer and have provided us a very solid retirement. We hung onto some bad mutual funds for way too long and now are reluctant to sell and get a huge tax hit. And I was WAY too conservative in the early years of investing. But as the saying goes -- TOO SOON OLD, TOO LATE SMART.
Our retirement is nothing extravagant and we have no pensions so we are on SS and our investments. We both waited until FRA to take our social security. We are traveling quite a bit and spending freely in early retirement, but I do feel pulled a bit by family responsibilities with an elderly mother and very small grandchildren. Love the grandchildren but WOW they are exhausting!
Been retired for a tad over two years now. Things have unfolded somewhat as expected. A few things haven't happened...yet. Such as resuming piano lessons, camping/hiking/exploring as much as I expected prior to retirement, and taking university courses in subjects of interest.
Other things are great, such as being mortgage free and having a secure income. Other things are totally new and unexpected, such as my involvement in the Sea Cadet organization and learning Latin. Financially, I could have done better. Who among us couldn't have?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vision67
Key question: Has your enjoyment of life increased? Lessened? Or stayed the same. Why?
Have to say, "stayed the same". I enjoyed my pre-retirement life and the work I did in my career. I miss the work, but not the commute. Also miss the museums, theater, operas, and symphonies. That has been replaced by living in an outdoors-man's paradise. Hard to determine which fulfills the soul richer and deeper, live music and performances or mother nature.
It’s an A for me, not A+. I never did get any A+ in college so why pretend I would get one now.
I forgot to mention. I get an F for garage clean up. Yesterday, we removed two more boxes, one I never touched since our move from one house to another 1989.
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I like this answer!!
Having to rent a place to live was a bummer, so I shifted around cheap digs until I could by an RV! (1949 Dodge truck with a plywood camper! $55... had a provisional 'farm' driver's license for age 14) Had a blast!
