I'm retired

[jonp]

You are I think fortunate to being at a workforce time where you can save some money if you really try. Investments can be very good if you do your homework and keep an eye on them. If you are lucky you will get an employer that will match funds on a 401K plan or stock purchase plan and the like. Most employers expect 100% loyalty to them but give none back to you. You are just a number and they will drop you like a hot potato if they can save a buck. Don't want to sound harsh but it's a dog eat dog world out there. Don't get me wrong I have some great jobs but some that really sucked. Hopefully you will get an employer that will respect you for what you do and reward you as such. Good luck.

gmsharps

Exactly. One job I showed up every day, worked overtime and was never late with a load then a manager took a disliking to me because I actually told him the truth of what I was thinking and I was out the door "downsized". No company owes you any loyalty and you are one paycheck from unemployment especially if someone drops a race bomb or similar on you. HR will run for the hills even with no proof. That's not what happened to me but it was close.

[jonp]

Congrats, I retired about 5 years ago at 55 and I loved it until my wife retired about a year and half ago. She didn't adjust well to it at first so I took a part-time job at a local sporting goods store to get out of the house. I may have to quit or get a fulltime job to pay for all the stuff I buy at the store. The employee discounts are really good.

My wife has prohibited be from a job at Lowe's, HF or similar for exactly that reason. Working an entire week and then owing the company money isn't a good way to go.

[1616s16]

I get to retire when I get old. I will be 75 in April. What is old?
Thanks

[Winger Ed.]

Working an entire week and then owing the company money isn't a good way to go.

I talked to a guy at Bass Pro like that.

He had worked there for about 6 months before he didn't owe them money every pay period.

[slohunter]

Congrats, been retired 8 yrs. The pay sucks but the hours are great!

[kevin c]

Congrats!

It's been about three years for me. People ask, " How's retirement?", and I say, "I haven't run out of money yet, so it's great!". If you've planned well financially and still have your health, there's so much that can be done. Just be flexible; COVID has put a (temporary) hitch in our travel plans, but in the mean time I've found plenty of other interesting things to do, including learning fun stuff both familiar but forgotten to me as well as new, building projects (I was a white collar professional that never had the satisfaction of making things with my own hands), etc.. The one retirement plan I haven't followed through on is digging into the extensive library I put together for my leisure time. What leisure time? Too busy to sit now, but having fun out of the house.

[curdog]

Congratulations on your retirement. I have been retired from IDOC for going on 13 years. You should come to the Goshen Trail Longrifles range at Boyd and shoot muzzleloaders with us. The shoot is the second sunday of every month and we would be glad to have you........................Curdog

[cabezaverde]

End of the year for me.

[MrWolf]

As a fella who should everything go right, should be entering the workforce shortly, I've got my doubts that I'm ever going to have a retirement to begin with. Here's hoping whoever I work for will respect me enough to give me one in the future.

You have some things to consider starting out that you may not have thought of. Employment has changed in that you are a number, not a valued employee as others have stated. Keep that in mind. You can go one of basically two routes. Work for the government. Some agencies still offer nice pensions and benefits on retirement usually after 20-25 years while others have gone to a more 401k type and restricted benefits to just you. As an example, I have health insurance for life for free. If I marry again, my spouse would get it also. My dental would only cover me. I got very lucky and was grandfathered in. Look at places and consider what they offer. Some actually pay well especially if you can get in a niche organization.
Second path is to work in the private sector. Find a place that offers matching on 401k's and profit sharing and take maximum advantage and put the max away every paycheck. Do not make an excuse that you will just take a break for a bit. That turns into forever with life stuff. If you become self employed, you must be diligent and put money away every time you can.
You could also do a combo of the two like I did. I got lucky. I ended up working for a County agency but moved up very fast due to my education, licenses, and work experience plus being in the right place at the right time. Pay at first sucked for years and took up,a bit of our savings but was worth it in the end.
Sorry for the thread drift but there are things that I wish I knew starting out so I might have changed plans somewhat. I was very fortunate in that I have always had a job and moved up very fast. Take advantage of companies that pay for education. That is a free raise and offers future mobility. Best of luck and holler if you want to talk.
Ron

[smoked turkey]

Thumbcocker: Congratulations on the "new job". I tell people it is the best job I ever had. That is true too. I agree with your statement that life is good. You and Mrs. Thumbcocker enjoy that retirement. After 32 years in the public sector you deserve it. I had almost 30 years in when I retired. I had the best job and worked with some very nice people and for the most part my bosses were good to work for. The company decided to downsize and offered an early retirement package. I think they were somewhat surprised when so many of us took them up on their offer! I have been retired for almost 23 years and I have never regretted a single day of the retirement lifestyle. As you have been told and undoubtedly know that if you and Mrs. Thumbcocker have good health you now have the world by the tail. Do what you need to do to keep yourself healthy. You will be busy as others have said.

[lightman]

Congratulations on a well earned retirement. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have mine.

[country gent]

And you were so excited hen you got your first "real" job.

Now seriously Congrats on retiring with all intact. Enjoy the time and everything.

[hoodat]

My retirement plan?? I'll probably take off at noon on the day that I die.

I work for an outfit that loves me, and will pretty much do anything to keep me on the job. (except make me rich) It's a gig that I love (usually) and as long as I stay healthy and happy I'll keep at it. I do plan on cutting my work week down to four or even three days in the near future, and even more when I start collecting SSI. (I'm 64 now).

I've been with these guys for over 20 years, and I'm the second oldest dude on the job. I guess I'd call myself a 5th degree delivery boy, and I do some pretty gnarly stuff on a regular basis. Get to drive and operate equipment that most of us boys love, and deal with lots of great folks who treat me like some kind of hero.

As a bonus, I get to talk Jesus, sometimes with folks who want to hear, sometimes not. Right now I think he'd prefer to have me in this spot, than sitting on the couch getting fat an old. jd

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[Dekota56]

Hope life is good for you..I retired from the Army in 97.. then retired social work 2 years ago.. was able to take care of my father and mother through there last time on earth.. Mom just past yesterday. wouldn’t have done it any other way spending that time with them, my wife just retired this past July.. plan on taking the rest of our time making the best of it. So enjoy your time.

[375supermag]

Hi...
Like several others have said, I considered getting s part time job in a gun shop after I retired.
Several shops nearby have had openings but so far good sense has gotten ahold of me before I applied for the jobs.
I don't need the money and quite frankly the idea of setting an alarm on s daily basis again terrifies me... and I used to be fearless.

I wake up most mornings around 7:00AM and do pretty much what I want whenever I please.

I work in the reloading room when I feel like it and I study military history and paleontology when the Labs give me time to crack open a book for a few hours.
I generally spend one day a week doing a gun shop tour... typically hit 5-6 shops on a weekday. If my son has off on a Saturday we generally do a gun shop tour that day and we visit one of the gun clubs on Sunday if the weather is decent.
All of my travel plans the last year or so have been put on hold by this totalitarian government shutdown but I hope to be able to start traveling by midsummer or fall if the government would get out of the way with their unconstitutional edicts.

[monadnock#5]

Been retired for 6 mos. Best job I ever had. Me and the dog greet the lady of the house every afternoon at the door with a cup of coffee and it's a wonderful life.

Congratulations on making it to one of lifes highpoint milestones.

[JAMESGR]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Retired in 2009 at 62 yrs. It's nice when every day is Saturday except Sunday.
Have fun and enjoy retirement.

[alamogunr]

Retired almost 15 years ago within 3 months of 64. I could see things happening at work that would cause problems. I had just finished one of those projects where about 12 people were assigned to the project and at most 3 of us did most of the work. The other nine got the credit.

Funny how the time flies when your are having "fun". This 15 years has passed and I'm a long way from completing the bucket list. I will say this: I have never had a pension. I signed up for the 401K when it was first offered. Learned about investing the first few years and survived a few market corrections. After 15 years of using the 401K converted to IRA to supplement Social Security, we've got more $$ now than when I first retired.

My dad was the smartest man I've ever known. He only finished 2 years of high school and had to go to work when his father died. He insisted that I go to college. I'm glad I did. I was too dumb to do anything else. I found out too late that I could have probably made more money by going into a trade.

I've been blessed with relatively good health. I'm only 78 and I hope it lasts a few more years. If not it has still been a good life despite a few bumps in the road.

[David2011]

Congratulations! It’s been just over 3 years for me. I’ve been just as busy as ever and that seems to be the norm. Hope you enjoy retirement as much as everyone I know that’s retired.

[facetious]

Like they all say "your going to love it.

It has been a year and two months for me. Got four weeks and the bug thing locked every thing up. So I guess you have to be flexibelle . A friends DR. told him that it takes 6 months for all the stress hormones to get out of your body. And he was right even the wife commented that I was more relaxed .

If you have a dog get some good walking shoes and walk him a hour a day and if you don't have a dog go anyway. Like they say . If you want to keep moving you have to keep moving.

The best part is not having to get up when you don't want to go some where you don't want to go to do stuff you don't want to do.