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I don’t see the hardship either. We did everything ourselves, no free babysitting from any relatives because we lived farther from anyone of them. Kids turned out great, so far at least, they are our favorite people on the planet. I wish we had more, but reastically two was very doable. I was still able to retire when I was 55.
I have two adult children. I would not trade either of them for anything. But, not everyone wants to raise children. And that's OK.
I have two adult children. I would not trade either of them for anything. But, not everyone wants to raise children. And that's OK.
Absolutely! My comment, which preceded this one, was in response to the poster who was observing that an easier lifestyle is related to not having children. I responded in order to present another point of view.
Where to begin? And without revealing too much or too little? I was drawn to C-D, as others here have been, because I am approaching retirement. Although I’m still seven years out I began my “research” on the investments board and then found this one. I keep coming back because, frankly, I find the posts here to be the most interesting. Joining an on-line community is unique due to the fact that our only interaction is through an exchange of ideas. Tall, red-headed, big-eared, dark, funny-sounding, young, odoriferous , none of that matters. I’ve learned a lot here. Personally, I’m a husband and father. I’m 54. I teach high school English. I’m looking forward to the liberty of retirement.
My stint in jail was in 1961. Eads, Co. I was 15 and had stolen a car and run away. They shuffled me around to various reform schools for a few weeks and finally sent me home to Alabama where the town agreed to supervise me. They knew my mother was not up to the task, and I had no father. I was required to attend church.
I did manage to graduate from high school. 1963.
Navy. East coast; West coast, riverine patrol Vietnam; got out in '71 to pursue a sales career.
I did well in sales. Changed companies a few times. Got a chance to drive an 18-wheeler for 5 years (I always wanted to) at the end of my working life.
Married in 1990; age 45.
Accumulated real estate.
Today: Retired. All real estate paid for; cash flow is excellent. I have visited 49 states and 20 foreign countries. I never smoked, drank very little, and still work out almost every day.
62, last job was programming, for, of all places, a retirement unit. Responsible for millions of people and billions of retirement savings. No more 20-hours days for me. No more people in the next cubicle yapping when I was trying to code mainframe-web transfers and cross-browser compatibility testing. Software agile methodology was a laugh a minute.
Enjoyed the work and accepting responsibility for so much, but software is a young person’s sport. Did not even file for unemployment. Company stock was cranking and no one is going to hire a 60-year to write code so why pretend to look for work?
New Jersey was crowded and the taxes. Moved to Denver. People and traffic followed me. Got a house a few hours away. Now I enjoy silence. Homeless people coming for Thanksgiving.
65 years old. I retired after a great career (31 years) with Oregon Dept of Fish & Wildlife. I managed fish hatcheries for the last 20 years of my career. The first place was Nehalem Hatchery sort of close to Astoria, Oregon. It as a beautiful hatchery with a disabled fish dock. Pretty interesting to watch a guy in a wheel chair land a 30 lb salmon.
After about 3 years at Nehalem, I transferred to Leaburg Hatchery on the McKenzie River. Another beautiful hatchery where we developed a show pond with 8 ft long sturgeon, many rainbows from 10" long to 20 lbs or so. We opened the show pond for kids to fish on Free Fishing day. What a sight!
I retired in 2011 and moved to Oakridge, Oregon. Oakridge has a lot to interest us: a nice fish river, The middle fork of the Willamette River. I can walk about a hundred yards through my back gate and be fishing the river. We also love to hike and there are many hiking trails in the area. We have about a half acre lot that we can almost get lost in. I volunteer at the local hatchery periodically, and enjoy our retirement.
These life stories are amazing! Almost 37; drawn to this forum after some recent life changes, unsatisfying jobs, and thinking about my future. Divorced a couple years ago, no kids. It about killed me, but I realized I married the wrong person. Seemed to always have that gut feeling that something was off in that marriage. Went through a brief, deep depression; then, got up one day and decided I could either do something about it or not. Got back to dating and met my wonderful wife very shortly after. Dated a year, engaged for 6 months, and have now been married a little over 8 months. Best decision I've ever made and I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. (Depression and anxiety has always been my big struggle.)
Now, I'm becoming more thankful, especially after reading the stories on here of the things people have gone through in their lives. I'm at a turning point. My house will go up for sale soon, and we will look to buy our "together" house. Not sure if we will have kids. Age and health concerns may prevent that. I never wanted kids but now that I'm with the right person, it may not be so bad. We will see what happens. I would prefer none and be able to save for the future, as well as have more job flexibility, but I promised her that option and will be ok if that happens. Life seems to work its way out in the end.
Career wise, I've already experienced a number of jobs. Graduated with a degree in Finance, and I've worked in automotive service, hospitality, construction/engineering inspection, internal audit (got to travel all over the US--enjoyed that), accounting (hated it), and procurement. I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I get tired of everything after about 6 months and get bored with it. I think I've come to the conclusion that work is a means to an end. I've been lucky enough to work in industries that interest me, but I still haven't found my niche.
Now, with a new wife, recent job change, and new house coming up, I'm starting to think about retirement and the future rather late in the game, cut wasteful spending, and save. I threw so much money away since college buying material things as a reward for working miserable jobs.
This forum and this thread has been eye-opening and inspiring. There are some strong, resilient folks out there! Keep the stories coming!
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