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I have years to go until retirement, but I do have a quasi experience every summer as I am a teacher. My time is filled with chores and projects, punctuated by moments of reading/posting, and some leisure activities including gardening, golfing, and spending time with my eight year old son.
One thing I have noticed over the years is the difference in perspective of the passage of time. Without the daily work schedule it seems to me that time flows more continuously, seamlessly. As much as I appreciate the change in schedule and the opportunity to regenerate, rejuvenate each summer, the passage of time seems to flow by at a deceptively rapid pace, lulling one into a slipstream so to speak.
I hope to be active and have many pursuits once retired. I am determined to make use of the liberty.
A lot of good responses. If able you should try to save all you can years ahead. Once you retire your fixed income, pension, or SS will cause a slight shock. I cut back spending, downsized, did everything I knew that was necessary. It's not what you make, it's what's you spend.I think many have to realize it's a phase of life that requires change. Very doable, the pluses outweigh the negative if you stay active, positive, & aware that the change is normal. Good luck....
Why would that cause a shock, unless it comes as a surprise? For me there was no shock whatsoever; I continued to live exactly as I had lived for a lifetime before that. Perhaps the difference is that I didn't live all that high on the hog anyway - there were no $50 bottles of wine or designer clothes, so I didn't miss what I wasn't used to and had no interest in.
Was retirement different than how you thought it would be?
Did you plan for retirement? If so, how did you plan? What did you do when your plan didn't work?
'Our planning stage' - We knew the date of when my pension was going to kick-in, about 10 years before. So we had a long time to plan.
We discussed a lot of ideas about what our retirement should look like.
We knew a lot of people who live on large sailboats. We talked with them and we toured many boat yards looking at the prices of various sailboats. I navigated deep-draft vessels for a living, so I was not hesitant about operating one.
We also wanted to be off-grid organic farmers. So we looked at properties in different states. Met with a lot of realtors to discuss properties they were listing, etc.
For my last 3 years we were stationed in Europe. That was when we decided to go with the farming plan and which state we were going to settle in.
So far we are 16 years into our retirement. There have been many learning curves along the way.
I think that overall we are happy with our decisions.
Yes, I planned for retirement.
I planned by saving every penny I could.
My plan worked, so I can't answer the third question.
+1
All that I can add is that retirement is even better than I ever could have imagined.
However, I really feel sorry for the folks who say things like...I just don't know what I would do with my time if I retired.
Clearly, those folks don't have much of a life outside of their work, and I just find that to be...sad.
Several years before I retired, one of my former co-workers returned for a visit, and I asked him to tell me about retirement.
What he stated was essentially the following, even if I don't recall his exact words: Instead of rushing through The NY Times, I can take my time and have a second cup of coffee while perusing the pages of that newspaper. I don't have to rush through anything. I do what I want to do, when I want to do it.
He also said, "I honestly don't know how I got everything done when I was working", and that is my overall sentiment. Between my gardening, home repair projects, managing my investments, reading both history and biography books, taking long power-walks, cooking for friends who are still working, and caring for my dog, I rarely sit down during daylight hours.
My advice to those who are approaching retirement age is to save every penny that it is possible to save.
I did that, and now I deny myself...almost nothing...in my retirement years.
Why would that cause a shock, unless it comes as a surprise? For me there was no shock whatsoever; I continued to live exactly as I had lived for a lifetime before that. Perhaps the difference is that I didn't live all that high on the hog anyway - there were no $50 bottles of wine or designer clothes, so I didn't miss what I wasn't used to and had no interest in.
Thanks for explaining my point better than I did. You were frugal your whole life you claim. Not everyone lives like a Buddist Monk, they make it & spend it. When you retire everybody I know made changes to balance their budgets. Let's keep it real, a fixed income doesn't offer overtime. Pretending you didn't experience a change is a bit hard to believe. Good luck...
I took early retirement at age 62 1/2 last December. The only planning I did was make sure I had enough money coming in. Being retired is way better than I ever thought it would be and I enjoy every minute of it. I had a good career in the legal profession but I don't miss it, not even for a second.
I don't need a job for any kind of validation. Only a good golf game.
Camaro, I know I will not miss the work place. But more importantly, what is your handicap?
Thanks for explaining my point better than I did. You were frugal your whole life you claim. Not everyone lives like a Buddist Monk, they make it & spend it. When you retire everybody I know made changes to balance their budgets. Let's keep it real, a fixed income doesn't offer overtime. Pretending you didn't experience a change is a bit hard to believe. Good luck...
I don't find it hard to believe. I, too, always lived within my means and made sure that I had money left over to invest in my future, but never lived like a Buddist Monk. I retired at 50 and didn't have to make a lot of financial adjustments to the way I live because I wasn't living high on the hog before.
Thanks for explaining my point better than I did. You were frugal your whole life you claim. Not everyone lives like a Buddist Monk, they make it & spend it. When you retire everybody I know made changes to balance their budgets. Let's keep it real, a fixed income doesn't offer overtime. Pretending you didn't experience a change is a bit hard to believe. Good luck...
I also don't get what's so hard to believe.......I did exactly the same and experienced no real change. However, I was also contributing the max to a separate 401K type plan while working so when I did retire my take home actually went up a bit. The only thing that remains an issue is no COLA to my gov't pension at this point thanks to a scam engineered by NJ's Dumbo the Elephant Gov.
And you seem to think there are only two schools..."make it & spend it" or "live like a Buddist monk" (as you somewhat derogatorily describe it......btw, many times people who label like this do so out of envy or an inability to do likewise so they have to denigrate people who can make it work so they don't feel lesser for not being able to do it). How about "make it, save a good amount, spend some"??? If one, as the old saying goes, "lives within their means" then it can be very comfortable & enjoyable in retirement....I'm proof positive and I assure you I do not live like a Buddist monk........eat out several times a week, day trips, go to shows, casinos, movies, etc. Will I buy a sparkling new boat or book a world tour....NO....but I will live comfortably and not eat out of dumpsters or burn old pallets for heat which many think means being "frugal"...LOL.
I started planning for our retirement as soon as we were married at 28. I had originally wanted to retire by age 50 but worked an additional 8 years for me and an additional 4 years for my husband. I just retired when working wasn't fun any more, and two years before I really wanted to financially. I had a couple of minor goals I wanted to achieve before I pulled the plug, but it's no big deal that we didn't get there. We're still more then fine.
How did I plan? Well we lived far below our means and invested wisely. The income properties were purchased with cash and payed for all of our daily living expenses. We were out of debt completely 6 years into our marriage and stayed that way to this day. The first million came in our middle 40's, and we continue to grow financially. We're not extravagant people. Want what you need, don't need what you want has been my mantra for decades.
Question 3 does not apply thankfully.
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