Why I cant wait to retire......

[Bulldog9]

Man............ gotta vent a bit.

I just finished writing a NMT 400 word 'capability gap' paper from scratch. For some kind of "Senior Leader Development class" I'm going to next month. Syllabus Said paper had to cite 3 'scholarly articles Turabian style"  W$&$&$&$??? Kate Turabian and her bizzaro world went out of fashion in the 1990's.  You know, I am forced into 2-3 'schools' or classes a year, but this takes the cake..... 3 Scholarly/academic Citations for a 400 word essay? I'm already working 10-12 hour days, and I ain't got no time to do scholarly research ;-) 32 months baby.... 

I spent 30 minutes writing the paper and 10 hours finding appropriate 'sources' that I could stick in, and then edit/sync al up to some form of cohesive thought........ grrrr......  Yes I waited till the night before to read the syllabus in DETAIL, but hey, I was at work, and watching the World Series!

[jas67]

Yeah, I can relate.  I'm sitting here, eating breakfast on Friday morning.
I've already put in 43 hours this week, and still have today yet.
Not working this weekend though, I have family obligations, then Sunday, I leave for a conference -- oh yeah, that's work 

Been working like this for a couple of weeks (minus the conference), will likely be doing so at least until the end of the year.

Yeah, I'm salaried, no extra pay for this extra effort to complete a project i few months less than it needed.   This extra urgency is due to poor planning on management's part, despite my repeated urging to prioritize it sooner.

Oh, and I'm actually on 3 "urgent" projects right now.    The push will still be on when this is done.

One of the biggest reasons I wish I was retired was all those weeks that I'm stuck in the office on the the really nice days then weekend is rain, or at least not anywhere near as nice.

Sadly, I'm much more than 32 months from retirement..... more like 10-15 years.

[SIR REAL ED]

ya know, if either of you had "real jobs" to begin with.......   

[azguzzirep]

I hope I live a few more years!!

My heart is giving me problems...

Gotta ride now and if I live to retirement, then yippie for me!!

[Lannis]

Something I always heard, then I took to heart, then I actually did it, and now almost 5 years later I found it to be true for me ....

"You can generally retire way before you THINK you can!"

If you're still working in a situation where you have to work a certain time before you can be "vested" in a lifetime pension or other benefit (which I was until 15 years ago when I turned 50), then that's certainly a hurdle you have to get over.    "Defined benefit" pensions are very nice (and very expensive for the company, which is why no one offers them any more), but they do lock you into a defined time frame.   

If you're saving up money in a 401K or other retirement vehicle, then it's up to you when you retire.   The goal would be to have NO debt and no implied or specific obligations to your kids, like getting them through school or apprenticeship.   

We hit that level when we were 59.   Kids were on their own, mortgages paid off, no other debt, we did a spreadsheet of our planned expenses for food, utilities, taxes, insurance, all the necessary things and committed to live (vacations, bikes, etc) on what was left.   It was quite a bit less than my paycheck but you'll surprise yourself with how much fun you can have when ALL your time is your own! 

Then I simply worked until it wasn't fun any more (only took a year) and pulled the trigger.    And it's been everything we'd hoped it would be!

Lannis

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Im 42 now... hoping to beat the system by marrying a 27 year old!

I'm going to 'retire' as soon as I get this mortgage paid off (50-55 yrs old hopefully)
Then I will work at a bicycle shop, part time, and or seasonal tourism gig until I hit 59.5 so i can crack into that 401k....  Should sustain me until I can start drawing SS at 66 and my wife will still be working full time until then...

When I kick the bucket she can sell the house & get a smaller condo or something and we should have her set to ride it out solo in decent comfort.


Until then it is 60+hr weeks of hard labor...  If any of ya'll kids or grandkids express interest in culinary school or food service, tell them to RUN not walk in the opposite direction.

[flip]

I turn 56 this month. I am retiring at the end of the year. So far, I have no plans other than to put some miles on my bikes next year.

[Gliderjohn]

Overall retirement is great. I was 60 (4 yrs ago) and my wife had already been retired since 2005. Surprizingly I find myself riding somewhat less. We are involved in many community and church activities which means we have something to be doing almost everyday. So it is difficult just on short notice drop things and go ride for a day or days. Plus use to do a 100 miles or so a day in the spring and fall riding to and at work before retirement. We also live rurally with acreage to maintain so some nice riding days are devoted to outdoor work instead.
Not complaining at all just saying retirement can get really busy believe it or not. Still a great way to live.

[Tusayan]

Im 42 now... hoping to beat the system by marrying a 27 year old!

See what you think about that when you’re retired at 65 (or earlier) and she has at least 15 years of paying for medical insurance ahead of her...  in other words make sure she remains healthy, has a good job with her own benefits, likes it, and won’t be relying on you for medical insurance.  Otherwise you may be working longer than you think 

[lti_57]

nice timely discussion.
I am 62 and going to retire from work Dec. 5th 2019.
After 29 years as a Engineer for a TV Station complete with  being on call 24/7, late night  trips to mountain tops in the worst weather to work on a High Power Transmitters.
BS Corporate dead lines. Its time to get out.
I too am looking forward to being more involve with my Church and doing volunteer work. All ready have projects lined up.
Congrats to you all that are getting out.

[Lannis]

Overall retirement is great. I was 60 (4 yrs ago) and my wife had already been retired since 2005. Surprizingly I find myself riding somewhat less. We are involved in many community and church activities which means we have something to be doing almost everyday. So it is difficult just on short notice drop things and go ride for a day or days. Plus use to do a 100 miles or so a day in the spring and fall riding to and at work before retirement. We also live rurally with acreage to maintain so some nice riding days are devoted to outdoor work instead.
Not complaining at all just saying retirement can get really busy believe it or not. Still a great way to live.

Very much like me.   HOWSOMEVER, I have found that I have had to also "retire" from some of the church and community activities that were filling up our weeks and months.    After 40 years of seminars, committee meetings, board meetings, status meetings, finance meetings, and other weekly and monthly meetings, I made the decision last year that I have done what I consider to be enough of that in my life.   No more activities that involve periodic meetings.  Painful but it's been the right thing to do.

Service to the church and community is all very good stuff, but if we old people, as smart and experienced as we are, don't get out of the way and let the younger people learn to be smart and experienced too, then it won't get very far.    We stick with it because we think "Well, nobody else is stepping up to do this, and I've gotten to be good at it, and other people know that and continue to plead with me to do it again next year, but I'm going to me and them a favor, call my 20 years of doing this as 'good', and resign."   Somebody else WILL step up to do it; if they don't, it probably was at its end anyhow.

So now we do "ad hoc" community service things "upon request" or "at need",  and give money to the charities we believe in, and can thus schedule month-long trips or six-week-long trips without missing anything.   

The only thing that was a limitation was our dog, but we found a guy who does a great job of boarding him, and Jack runs to him to say hello and then runs to his kennel, tail held high, whenever we take him over there, so that works out well (at $160 a week, so that's adding to the vacation budget).

Everyone's different, though.   Fay is already proposing bike trips to Louisiana and to the far Northeast for next year ... !

Lannis

[Wayne Orwig]

I just got my first pension check yesterday. I guess I am officially retired.
I 'quit' work a year ago. On my last day, they had a retirment party for me. They forgot to invite me.    

Going through all of this Medicare/Pension/etc. paperwork has almost been a full time job the last couple months.

I go through more bourbon now.     

[rocker59]

Why I cant wait to retire......

People suck and Corporations don't care.  That's why!   

[lti_57]

Why I cant wait to retire......

People suck and Corporations don't care.  That's why!   

Exactly

[John A]

Retirement is not all that great.  There is so much work to do .  Get ready for winter, RV to put in the south shed, motorcycles to find room for besides endless cleaning and organizing. Today for instance I didn’t get up until nine , made coffee and was thankful I didn’t have to rush off to the airport where there would be a group of aircraft waiting to be fixed or inspected.  Sometimes I miss it but I just have to go have lunch with the guys and listen to what they’ve been doing.  Flap motor on a 1947 Beechcraft where everything you touch needs attention while trying to keep the bill reasonable but you like the owner and you don’t want him to get hurt in the thing.  Subjective judgment calls that will be questioned and judged in the event of some bad luck.  Airworthy? Har har.  Then there’s the corporate turbine stuff that needs to be about as perfect as it gets, at least visually. Tractor work calms me down a bit. I think I’ll try a larger pulley on the loader tractor hydraulic pump to see if slowing it down will make it be not so sensitive to control inputs. I tried adjusting the pressure relief which helped but wasn’t enough. The pump is powerful enough to pretzel the loader. At least she won’t go down in a ball of flames.

[Wayne Orwig]

People suck and Corporations don't care.

Well, I worked for a large corporation for decades. Over 40,000 employees around the globe if I recall. I couldn't wait to work at a small company. I got a job at a company with only 15 employees.
Worse decision of my life. The reasons are far too complicated to write out, but it was pretty bad. I suspect if you boil it down, in a large company if a co-worker is a loser, there are enough good workers to pull the weight and get the job done. In a small company, if your coworker is a loser, you are the only other person to pull the entire load. And if the loser is good friends with management, you are hosed. And looking for a job change in your late 50s and 60s, is a bad thing. 

[Lannis]

Why I cant wait to retire......

People suck and Corporations don't care.  That's why!   

Why should corporations "care"?   I used to get a big "Thank You!" every two weeks from the corporation I worked for, via my bank.  I never asked for anything else.   If I didn't like their deal, I was perfectly free to go find one I liked better.   And I did.  And you can find good and bad people anywhere.   Depends on what you're looking for.

Farmer's don't expect the sunlight, rain, and soil to "care".   Miners don't expect the coal seam to "care".    Lumbermen don't expect their skidders, harvesters, and pine trees to "care".   They just make their living with them .... ?

Lannis

[guzzisteve]

Reading all this makes my happy I went to work instead of school, and worked labor jobs not brain crap. All depends on how you want to make money.

[Furbo]

Gonna 'retire' in 3 years at 58 1/2. That's when I can draw my Army Reserve pension as well as my civil service pension. Been doing 'Army' as a cadet. active officer, reserve officer, and civilian since 1982. That will make it an even 40yrs. It's been good - lived in Europe for 25+ years, been all over the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa...but....eno ugh, I want to do something different.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I just got my first pension check yesterday. I guess I am officially retired.

Congrats, Wayne.. you'll find it's the best job you ever had.

[JohninVT]

I turned 50 this year and I plan to retire at 62.  I have a mortgage that I’m refinancing to take advantage of the current low rates and will have no other debt within 2 years.  I’ve been doing a little research about being a retired ex-pat and Algarve Portugal is looking pretty great.  Plenty of sun, the Mediterranean, mountains, great seafood, low cost of living and great roads to ride.  When I have a bad day at work I like to daydream about tooling around on a Vespa in Portugal....

[Griso8V]

Well I have decided to retire in March 2020 since I will be 65 then.  We have no debt, house paid off and I get a pension from my first job/company that I had just out of school.  That is a rare thing these days.  We have put money away in our 401K and IRA's for years.  Also, I have been fortunate that I rose up through the corporate ranks to make a good salary.  Everyone likes to bash corporations but they have been good to me, not sure why they need to care or give anything away, but that is just me.  My wife works in Pharma and makes more $$ than me, and has been lucky, it has been very lucrative for her.  She will keep working a bit longer.   
But for me it is time to retire and enjoy my hobbies:  Bikes, horses, old cars, SCUBA diving.
As my good friend JJ likes to say, "Life is to be enjoyed, Not endured..."
I have found the key to retiring is not having debt, NO DEBT.  Otherwise, one can not do it, unless you have a huge nest egg.

[Griso8V]

I turned 50 this year and I plan to retire at 62.  I have a mortgage that I’m refinancing to take advantage of the current low rates and will have no other debt within 2 years.  I’ve been doing a little research about being a retired ex-pat and Algarve Portugal is looking pretty great.  Plenty of sun, the Mediterranean, mountains, great seafood, low cost of living and great roads to ride.  When I have a bad day at work I like to daydream about tooling around on a Vespa in Portugal....

Wow, that does sound pretty cool.  I have thought about spending some time in Italy during retirement, we will see.  I speak the language, have relatives there, some friends, so it may not be too bad.  I have check out some really beautiful places/houses for not too much $ compared to here.
Good luck, I heard Portugal is very nice.

[Lannis]

... I’ve been doing a little research about being a retired ex-pat and Algarve Portugal is looking pretty great.  Plenty of sun, the Mediterranean, mountains, great seafood, low cost of living and great roads to ride.  When I have a bad day at work I like to daydream about tooling around on a Vespa in Portugal....

That does sound good.   I liked the location (supposedly Goa, India, {Portuguese once}) where the second "Bourne" movie was set, a nice house on a pretty beach with the local shopping bazaar just a walk away.   I wouldn't mind living somewhere like that IF it was really like that and there's not something going on that the local Chamber of Commerce and the movies don't show us ... have to do some visiting and research first.

Not now, though ... my biggest pleasure is watching the grandchildren grow up and I can't do that from 11,000 miles away!

Lannis

[rocker59]

Why should corporations "care"?   

Didn't say they should.  Just noted that they don't. 

[roadventure]

I WAS planning on working until 65 and then retiring (I am 61 currently).  But, as luck would have it, my manager's manager (who I was considering leaving because of too much corporate BS) called me into the office to tell me that my "position was eliminated" (i.e.: "you're fired").  I was told that I was getting severance pay, qualify for COBRA and state unemployment.  As I listened and tried to appear shocked and disappointed inside I was smiling.  Here was the opportunity to "retire" with a very generous severance, continued health insurance and I qualified to collect unemployment payments for the next six months.  So, I "sadly" left at the beginning of this year and all is well.  My wife has been retired since 2015.  When we were much younger we were advised to save as much as possible and invest now, when you're young.  We listened, so not needing to work is okay.  We are looking forward to having no income from jobs for 2020. 

[Lannis]

Didn't say they should.  Just noted that they don't.

I guess the question would have better been put as "why would you expect them to?" (the expectation being implied by the fact that it was worth a comment) rather than "why should they?".

Lannis

[britman]

I have been full retired since July 31th of this year.  I made a list of 26 projects I was going to get too that needed immediate attention.  I have finished three.   Best damn decision of my life, days are full and fly by, and I must tell you, those roses that you are supposed stop and smell need trimming, number 8 on my list.....

[rocker59]

I guess the question would have better been put as "why would you expect them to?" (the expectation being implied by the fact that it was worth a comment) rather than "why should they?".

Lannis

Lannis, you assumed that I was crying about my employer not "caring" about me. "Ass-U-Me".

I work for a large corporation which is the customer of other large corporations.  "People Suck, Corporations Don't Care" was really about my dealing with the shitty customer service and repeated fv<k ups I have to resolve on a daily basis from those people and corporations, and how great it will be to have the bullshit off my plate, when I retire.

But do go on with your narrative.  You're oh so entertaining.

 

[Lannis]

Lannis, you assumed that I was crying about my employer not "caring" about me. "Ass-U-Me".

I work for a large corporation which is the customer of other large corporations.  "People Suck, Corporations Don't Care" was really about my dealing with the shitty customer service and repeated fv<k ups I have to resolve on a daily basis from those people and corporations, and how great it will be to have the bullshit off my plate, when I retire.

But do go on with your narrative.  You're oh so entertaining.

 

No need.   You've explained what you meant - I didn't have the back-story about corporations working for other corporations and the hassles that go along with that.   

And "entertaining" is generally a good thing .... !

Lannis