Are you retired/dreaming of retirement? UPDATE

Every day is a Saturday since I retired.

we love retirement. but it is very much that we are comfortably off.. so worries are about other things. we hoped to do a lot of travel.. but covid slowed that down. we are traveling a lot this year.

but we have a adult child with autism at home.. that is a concern. and I take care, at a long distance, of my sister with severe mental illness. that is a big concern.

then my dh has been dealing with orthopedic issues over the last three years.

so we enjoy it, but we have been restricted on what we want to do. we have also been spending a lot of time dealing with elderly parents.

my dh liked his job but was super tired of working. he retired at 68.. so I could have medical insurance (I am younger). he also was tired of dealing with really young adults. (he was at a. major tech company).

I taught private school for 16 years in order to get a 50% discount in tuition. I couldn’t afford $12,000 a year for 3 children. Once the last one graduated I moved to public school for the retirement plan. After 10 years I will get 20% of my salary. I have 3 more years to go.

When I retire I want to spend more time with the grandchildren. My daughter has a 3 year old and is doing a homeschool preschool program with her. She’s also in cosmetology school. She’s said she may want me to be the part time teacher. I might do it.

I’m saving like a fiend for retirement but with my health conditions it remains to be seen if I will see retirement.

DH is retired. He retired at 58 after 3 months in the hospital with a major cancer diagnosis 5 years ago. He had worked at his job for 40 years and wanted to enjoy life while he still could. I am 4 years younger and was going to retire at the same age he did but I turned 59 in January and am still working. It's hard to let go of that guaranteed salary! However, we are making steps toward my retirement, hopefully early next year. When DD went off to college this year we did a major downsize and moved to our mortgage free, much smaller lake house. We are in the process of selling our other home. We are also remodeling our lake home. We want to travel more and spend time with our elderly parents, as well as be able to visit DD in college out of state. And I am still a scrapbooker so I want to have time to do all those many projects that I have dreamed of for years!

I retired right before Covid. I was anxious about retirement from the standpoint of losing my identity. I was nearly 70 when I retired and my job was so boring (although the salary was fantastic!) I just couldn't get excited about going in anymore.

I do love retirement as I am a quilter and always have a project going. I still think I would like to have a very part time job in retirement but then I remember it would cut into my quilting and travel time.  

I am officially retiring June 2. I have been out if the full-time corporate world for 6 years, and don’t miss that at all. I was going to continue working or at my school until age 70 but this year just said f- it.

I’m 66 and already have an Italy trip booked for October with one of my bffs and a long road trip culminating in a bucket list rafting through the Grand Canyon late next spring with my other bff.

My house and decent vehicle are paid off and though I do not have even close to what financial sites say I need to have in retirement funds, I have enough for a nice trip per year. I have free or low-cost hobbies like hiking and learning languages.

I’m ready. Yeah it is a little scary but I know in my heart it will work out.

We are planning on retiring August 2025. My DH will be 60 and I will be 57. He has been at the same job since he was 25 and I have been at my job since I was 32. We are lucky we can plan to retire a little younger because of that.
I want to sell our house and move into a smaller place. My DH would stay in the house forever. I want to travel. Just get in the vehicle and see places we have never been before.
I am counting down.

Like most people, I had ideas about what retirement would be like. When my husband died at age 64, when I was 62 and still teaching, those ideas all changed. People say things like “Don’t you just love being retired?” I remind them that while I am glad I’m retired, it is NOT what I’d planned or wanted. People just assume it will be the way they have in their head, but crappy stuff can happen at any moment, and change the future you naively expected.

I finished the school year after Vince died, and then went back and did the next year, which was already planned to be my last.

I retired in May of 2020, during the pandemic lockdown. In early June, my brother finally got to have a surgery that was needed, but postponed because of COVID, and then I had new flooring installed in parts of the house. In July that year I had my first knee replacement. I was just finishing rehab for that when my mom's health tanked, I had to go through tons of medical stuff, another hospice signup, and then she died November 1. There were things to deal with because of her death, and then in March of 2021 I had my second knee replacement. Right as I was finishing that rehab my brother had another surgery. So my whole first year was dealing with health issues for myself and others. I didn’t feel like I could even think about figuring out what I wanted retirement to be (without my husband) until after all of that.

I am so very glad I am out of teaching, and don’t have to deal with the ongoing issues and the worsening of the climate for educators these days. I love not having to set an alarm most days and the freedom to do what I want when I want. I do more gardening than I did before (I was the weeder and more of the helper when my husband was alive), and enjoy being outside more than I ever did before. I have not pursued volunteer opportunities, as I had thought I might after the first year or two - too many health issues for lots of people, and no desire to have any major standing commitments of my time.

I do think retirement satisfaction is greatly affected by finances. I paid off the mortgage a few months after I retired. I have a good pension, guaranteed 3% increase each year, and access to a very reasonably priced insurance/supplement/Medicare Advantage plan. My siblings and I ended up selling the family farmland just over a year after mom died and that gave me more financial security. I can reasonably live as I choose and don’t worry about the cost of groceries or medical bills or prescriptions.

Health issues are a bigger concern. I tripped and fell a year ago and broke my elbow; more physical therapy and time when I couldn’t do what I wanted. This year I’ve had back issues (my physical therapist and I have a pretty good ongoing relationship!) and am recovering now from pneumonia. I have certainly learned that you cannot assume how things will be even a day from the present time.

I craft, I read, I ride my recumbent exercise bike, I sometimes do jigsaw puzzles, I garden, I do things with friends. I can’t think of where I want to travel and don’t feel excited to do so without my husband, but that may change. I prefer road trips at this point in my life, but I need to get into better physical shape to be more active.

I continue to figure out this retirement thing. And I always wish for the best when I hear someone with great plans because I know too well that life doesn’t always go as planned.

I quit working in 1999, but only started referring to myself as retired once I turned 60 due.  DH is now 67 and still working.  He has retired twice, but each time a great opportunity fell in his lap so back to work he went.  That's been a blessing for both of us - he keeps his mind busy and I don't have him trying to tell me how to run the house!    With the health issues he has had this year, we are currently taking it one day at a time. Based on the outcome of a surgery later this month, he could well end up retired later this year.

What I enjoy most about being retired is that my time is my own and I get to pick & choose what I do and when.  It's nice to have more time with friends for lunch and outings, as well as being able to help DD out when she needs it due to all her business travel.   Being able to travel off season is an added bonus.  We haven't done as much in the past 3 years, but that will be changing later this year.  

Same! Every once in a while I think I'd like to go back to work part time, but then I realize how much I like being a free agent and in total control of my time.  Once you commit to working for someone, all that flexibility is gone! 

That really depends on each individual. Based on discussions with our financial advisor, for us it is better to have the mortgage and let the money grow in our investment accounts. At some point in the future that will likely change, but not currently. We have some friends who also continue with a mortgage, while others have paid off their homes. It just depends on individual finances and risk tolerance.

I seem to be the only one who was bored when I retired. I went back to work because I was bored. At this point, I would still like to keep working, but part time. I don’t enjoy projects, crafting or gardening, so too much free time is not good for me. I do want to volunteer, and am looking into a few things.

We knew that we wanted to move closer to the kids at retirement but we also wanted to travel so we put everything in storage and we’re traveling full time in ours Motorhome in North America for the last year in a half.
We plan on doing it at least another two years maybe three and then we will buy a house and travel part time internationally .
Retirement is the gift of time , times to do whatever makes you happy.

I wish! I'm 55yo, and my dad had retired at my age. My mum is now 75yo, and she's still working 5 or 6 days a week (in her own business). The retirement age here is 67, and I have no doubt that I will be working until then, unless I win the lottery. 

The thing is, I would want to travel more when I retire, but being retired means I won't have the money that I would need to do that.

A good friend of mine, who is my age, has just retired. I'm very jealous.