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It just seems so many people are so content and happy with far less income than I will have at 58, it makes me wonder. A lot.
I will be retiring with $1200 a month SS, but my house will be paid for, no rent, mortgage payments and I plan to be a happy, contented senior, even if I can't afford to own/drive a car. I'm already stocking up on bicycles, 3 of them now!
One main source of contentment was that I did all my worldly and domestic travels much earlier in life, and what else is there to see/experience?
When I read recently, 4,400 people die every day in China due to air pollution, I'm so happy that I did my 3 trips to China before the air became too unhealthy to breathe! Today? With COPD? One day in that cesspool of smog, and you'd find me crashing to the sidewalk, gasping for breath!
Ex-hippie here as well, did my back-packing Europe trips way back 1970-1976, when there were no mosques to be seen or headscarves.
Domestically, all 50 of them!
It does help I've never been materialistic and my big thrill is to step inside a good thrift store, and spend a couple hours there, looking for bargains. Outdoor swap meets? My idea of heaven!
Always have been an adventuresome cook and have never liked eating at restaurants, that also helps with my contentment. Don't need all that extra income for expensive meals, dishes of which I could probably do a better job of in my kitchen!
I live in Vegas, too, and retired last year after 33 years as a social worker (not all in Vegas). My health was being negatively affected, nor so much because of the work, which I enjoyed, but because of the abusive, toxic, political work environment in my last job. House is paid for, I maxed out my deferred comp and hubby is still working. No kids, debt, car payments ever. I beat serious bricks to work and earn an MSW and a license! and in the end had to leave to preserve my mental health. I did not go to Harvard to become a kindergarten teacher, either. No loans that I could never afford to pay back. Now I have double the money I had when working and I am 58, as no commute, wardrobe and eating out costs. I am not bored. Because I was a high achiever earlier in life, it seems like I am expected to keep beating bricks til I am 90. Nope! I worked overseas and with an employer that did not pay into Social Security, so that is not an issue. I don't have to worry about that few extra bucks I might get if I work to 67 (I have never believed the fairy tales about being so much better off by deferring SS benefits, as I could invest the difference). That is a ploy to keep people paying in. Smart decisions earlier in life can avoid poverty, or at least help recovery if "life happens." Common sense. It works. Can't regret!
I know that feeling. I used to enjoy the Big Man playing for the Rockets and 76ers and to think he paid in to Social Security and never collected a penny.
I don't see that as some sort of tragedy, that is, the Social Security part. (Early death is in any case a sorrow). SS is simply insurance that we will not be totally destitute in old age. We pay auto insurance premiums and we are not upset if we never see any of that money back.
I can't imagine not working! What the heck would I do all day? I know plenty of people who have retired before they were truly ready and bored out of their minds. Many found a part time job because they were so bored.
I think this is the most common reason. I did retire too early and went back to work full time at age 61 because I was sooooo bored.
However, time catches up. I'll retire now at 66 because they offered a 6 month pay bonus and frankly, I'm starting to get tired.
But I've learned. I'll make sure I have plenty to do and I'll do everything except sit on the couch.
I think this is the most common reason. I did retire too early and went back to work full time at age 61 because I was sooooo bored.
However, time catches up. I'll retire now at 66 because they offered a 6 month pay bonus and frankly, I'm starting to get tired.
But I've learned. I'll make sure I have plenty to do and I'll do everything except sit on the couch.
Well done. You learned from your experience and you have made adjustments. It can be fun finding things to do and trying things to see if they interest us. So, we go to a museum that turns out not to interest us - we know not to go back to that one and no harm is done because time is the one thing we have in retirement. Best of luck!
At 62 my retirement income would be more than my net income from working but I may stay at least 1 and maybe up to 3 years longer. Each year I stay I increase my retirement income by 7-10% so there is some benefit.
If I had the net worth to stop working without any change in lifestyle, I would have retired at age 40. I took a couple of years off at age 40 and an unplanned year off at age 50. I have no problem finding interesting things to do. I'm 57. I'm trying to retire at age 65 with no change in lifestyle. My plan is probably too conservative but I'd certainly hate to run out of money.
No offense to the married women that post about retirement from a successful career, but have husbands still working and providing additional significant income, but it's not quite he same level of decision. Belladl, especially as an engineer, same as me, is more in my same shoes. She has a spouse already retired, and she was/is still working at a job she likes and makes good money. My DW is 5 years older than me, and she retired 7 years ago at 55, from teaching SPED. There was no drama or regrets, as here like everywhere else, teaching has ceased being about the kids, and more about politics and PC. DW came home from school everyday and immediately went to bed for an hour to decompress. I told her point blank, I'd rather work a few years more at what I like, for much more money, then watch her go through that every day. She worried anout not contributing more to retirement, and the shift to me,mas she was a single mom for many years on her own, and depending on someone else can be daunting. Because she taught in different states, she only was able to collect a pension at 2 of them, and she wanted to have "her own money" and because it wasn't much to begin with, she collected early reduced pensions which total $800/mo (but are COLA) and started SS this year ($1160/mo). I need to make sure she is taken care of should I die, so that is part of the decision, but every year I delay, is one less year we can do things together. A typical paradox of opposing end results.
So, if a package was available at 60, I'd take it too. I am in a profession always in short supply. & can ALWAYS go back and work part time or contract whenever I want. My retired colleagues turn down local assignments all the time for 260 to 1000 hour gigs at $75/hr. I have PLENTY of hobbies, sports, and travel planned so boredom is not in my vocabulary.
I don't know many people who keep doing a "regular corporate job" because they love it. I don't hate my job, but if I could quit right now and maintain a decent standard of living, I would. I don't know many people who wouldn't.
Some people continue working on the side with something they love or at reduced hours, but sitting full time in an office is usually more of what fear than "greed."
Perry, if your pension has some sort of survivor benefit be sure to take it even though it will cost some of your pension probably. That way you can be sure that DW will keep getting your pension if you check out. Maybe that can be a motivating factor to keep working long enough that you won't feel the loss of the survivor benefit cost coming out of the pension check.
If you feel like working longer, who's to say that you have to retire early? Some people have things they are itching to do once they retire, others say they'll be bored. Everyone's different. Just do what's right for you and DW.
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