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As usual, another excellent post! You are the greatest!
Your post was generous and informative. I just had to vent about obsessive workaholics or folks that look down their noses at people who have a genuine need and desire to retire. I guess if you don't want to retire you have every right to post that. But, of course, I will never read it cause I am too busy planning my retirement!
I disagree with the people who say they intend to continue working at their present jobs forever. I think we have an obligation to the younger generation coming up to step out of the way and let them get our decent paying jobs so they can support themselves and their families. What are these young people supposed to do if we won't retire? Work your years, retire, and be happy, but don't deprive a younger person of a a job because you might be bored.
I disagree with the people who say they intend to continue working at their present jobs forever. I think we have an obligation to the younger generation coming up to step out of the way and let them get our decent paying jobs so they can support themselves and their families. What are these young people supposed to do if we won't retire? Work your years, retire, and be happy, but don't deprive a younger person of a a job because you might be bored.
If you are self employed, who are you displacing? If they don't want to retire, why should they? Liz
My husband was a mamager for a big corp. He was finally forced into retirement at sixty seven. They made his life miserable for the last four years he gave him..He thought about getting another job..Forget that He got back into his hobby, fishingafter a month of not doing much. It took that long for him to realize that he still had a life to live and he had the option of enjoying it or sitting around feeling sorry for himself
Good for you...that's the spirit.
I worked at the same place as my friend and we retired within months of each other. Before our retirement we would often get together for a few beers and talk about the upcoming time to relax. We pondered the things that we could then do that we had no time for when working. One subject that always came up was talking about some of the other people at work who felt that the place would close when they left. They never realized that they were not so important other than being a good worker. They felt that things would fall apart, crash and burn, when they leave. This thinking seems to result in a great loss when they do retire. We saw this happen to several other employees. They were amazed that things just hummed along even when they were gone. It started to sink in that they were just numbers. Sure, great workers, but still just numbers when they left. This did not sit well with them. One of them kept stopping in at work and checking on others to see how things were going. It got to the point where he was finally told that he couldn’t hang around because it was disrupting things. Several months later he committed suicide.
My friend and I get together often since our retirement. We also get together with other friends who have retired. This situation seems to be good for all of us. We are all in the same boat, so to speak. We tell war stories from our working days and laugh. I think that it is a good thing to keep friends that you enjoyed when working together. Now that you are both retired you can share a lot. We find it best NOT to go back to see how things are going. We know they are going just fine without us. I can’t wait for the next time we share a few beers and laugh about the poor guys still working. Retirement is a GOOD THING that should be shared with others.
Unfortunately I cannot afford to retire early, so plan on retiring at age 66 provided my health is still good and can either stay on my present job or get hired elsewhere. After I start taking Social Security and Medicare will probably take some time off to travel, then work as a consultant or on-call here and there, doing something low stress, until my health/age takes its natural course...
Do what makes you happy....what works for one doesn't for another and no one should be dictating what another person should be doing during their retirement.
Personally I haven't worked for years. I have developed many talents and friendships so, at this point in my life, I can't imagine being bored - having to go to work every day would be boring for me.
I'm constantly on the go - project oriented - but every once in a while, it is wonderful to wake up in the morning and have a day to garden, read and go for a walk....to me that is what makes for an enjoyable life - a mix of work and play, structure and freedom.
Going to work every day would not be fulfilling or desirable to me, but some have jobs that they love and that is where their heart is - I say good for them and more power to them.
My job keeps me very busy but I can't say that it keeps me entertained anymore. The reality is that I've topped out and I can do my job with very little effort and in a way that is considered excellent by everyone whom I work with or serve. Frankly, I'm bored with it.
Retirement sounds wonderful. Time to pursue all those things that I either have put on hold because of time constraints or squeeze in and do sporadically now because of time constraints. I look forward to the day when I can do what interests me for as long as it interests me, then move onto something else. If I get into a situation where the people I am around are stupid and overbearing, I will be able to simply walk away from them. It is only 2 years away now and all my calculations show I can afford to do it.
Where I work, it is the workaholics who have nothing else in their lives who make the work annoying and cause a lot of our problems. They lack a sensible perspective because they are so narrowly focused and get to be the little dictators that the rest of us find so stupid and irritating. And they never see themselves as causing the serious problems they continue to cause. Will they miss me when I am gone? I don't really care. It won't be my problem then.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,752,651 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DCNative
I'm just going to accumulate as much vacation time as possible over the years, so I can travel anytime I want to or even work part time. But to retire entirely, I'm going to get bored.
If your company will allow you to accumulate unpaid leave, go for it! Mine only allows a carry over of 5 days.
I hope all you people who enjoy working will be allowed to stay at your jobs until you keel over into your coffee cups.
The last thing we retired geezers need is more like us crowding the golf course and taking up fishing space at the lake.
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Yeah, LauraC. You are right on.
He got back into his hobby, fishingafter a month of not doing much. It took that long for him to realize that he still had a life to live and he had the option of enjoying it or sitting around feeling sorry for himself
