Has your first year of retirement gone as planned?

I've done quite a bit of research on this subject, for personal reasons. The numbers are rather grim for working men. About 1/4 of working men will die at or before retirement age. Another 50% of those who make it have significant, chronic health problems that significantly affect lifestyle.

It bears repeating, working men (Women live longer and are healthier) should strongly consider retiring as early as practical, unless they ABSOLUTELY love their job. I do love my job, but I am struggling to do it. I don't have the energy anymore and I have to sit a lot. I need to retire, but I've been paid to stay. Ugh. It is nice to be wanted, but I'm not going to make it to retirement.

Top killers in order: Heart/stroke, cancer, respiratory, diabetes, dementia.

This interactive chart is very informative and can help men address health concerns properly.

 
One of the reasons I now live where I do that health care is not connected to employment, so I've been able to work as I wish and always be 100% covered. I've slowed down working gradually over the last 15 years and now have formally retired at 65. I do miss the buzz of working with a team of smart people but not the fact that the weeks and years seemed to be disappearing in a flash. I'm getting SS now which is more than the local pension and haven't touched my IRA yet. The hard part is getting motivated to do all the things I could be doing while I'm still healthy.
 
My retirement has been one big pile of pooh.....moved back to Houston because my mother was dying from cancer......then she survived that only to die of dementia at 84. One year to the date her husband died.....then two years later my wife of 24 years died.......the worst day in my life ....nothing could prepare me for that.....she had been sick on and off (diabetic) type 1 etc
The day she died I was taking her to a doctor and we stopped in traffic for a light and she told me she was going to die today.....I got mad and told her stop talking like that your not going to die! On the way home he said she wanted Mcdonalds to I got her a breakfast meal.....she came home played in her flowers.....while she was outside i talked with one of her daughters telling her what happened but she looks to be be doing better. I found her dead later that day.....that was close to 4 years ago now....I was so sure i was going to be the one to go first.
Then her darling daughters.....two of them anyway.....is trying to screw me for every dollar they can from me over some idiot Texas law.
I hope I get this over with move and never hear from or see them again......what a retirement.
 
I retired at age 52 from a Fortune 100 high tech company. Worked there for 28 years. A great company with fantastic colleagues; a few becoming close personal friends.

Retiring early like I did was the worst decision of my life. It wasn't the money. I missed my colleagues and I missed my job.

Strange as it sounds I missed the things that used to drive me nuts - the mind numbing detail of my work, the project disasters and successes, the deadlines, etc.

Scott
 
I retired at age 52 from a Fortune 100 high tech company. Worked there for 28 years. A great company with fantastic colleagues; a few becoming close personal friends.

Retiring early like I did was the worst decision of my life. It wasn't the money. I missed my colleagues and I missed my job.

Strange as it sounds I missed the things that used to drive me nuts - the mind numbing detail of my work, the project disasters and successes, the deadlines, etc.

Scott
Thank you. Every person/situation is different. At 65, I decided to start doing retirement activities now, while I am still healthy and still employed. Cake and eat it too situation. I am exploring retirement options to avoid your experience. I have polar opposite qualities. Love to keep busy with challenging projects and love to be lazy also. I fear the lazy part might prevail in retirement and I become a tv/computer couch potato. When peers say "I'll have no trouble keeping busy in retirement", I cringe. I know people that are more busy in retirement and others who quickly became bored with the garden, hunting, fishing, etc..
 
I retired at age 52 from a Fortune 100 high tech company. Worked there for 28 years. A great company with fantastic colleagues; a few becoming close personal friends.

Retiring early like I did was the worst decision of my life. It wasn't the money. I missed my colleagues and I missed my job.

Strange as it sounds I missed the things that used to drive me nuts - the mind numbing detail of my work, the project disasters and successes, the deadlines, etc.

Scott
What about a hobby or starting a small business that interests you? For me it might be building homemade smokers, selling firewood or hot shot trucking. I’m still at least 10 years away from retirement but I do think about what I’ll do to avoid what you mentioned.

Just my $0.02
 
I retired at age 52 from a Fortune 100 high tech company. Worked there for 28 years. A great company with fantastic colleagues; a few becoming close personal friends.

Retiring early like I did was the worst decision of my life. It wasn't the money. I missed my colleagues and I missed my job.

Strange as it sounds I missed the things that used to drive me nuts - the mind numbing detail of my work, the project disasters and successes, the deadlines, etc.

Scott

Subconsciously you knew your job was mission critical and very important.

You would feel different if you were asking customers if they wanted to super size their meal for 79 cents....
 
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After 33 years of bedside nursing last May 2020 retired at 62 never look back,since 25 years of service is night shift.No stress especially this pandemic and a lot of co worker's wished they can go to.I don't missed those PPE that your covered from head to toes.Then staff shortage and lot of overtime.Pension and SS good enough to cover expenses.
 
My retirement has been one big pile of pooh.....moved back to Houston because my mother was dying from cancer......then she survived that only to die of dementia at 84. One year to the date her husband died.....then two years later my wife of 24 years died.......the worst day in my life ....nothing could prepare me for that.....she had been sick on and off (diabetic) type 1 etc
The day she died I was taking her to a doctor and we stopped in traffic for a light and she told me she was going to die today.....I got mad and told her stop talking like that your not going to die! On the way home he said she wanted Mcdonalds to I got her a breakfast meal.....she came home played in her flowers.....while she was outside i talked with one of her daughters telling her what happened but she looks to be be doing better. I found her dead later that day.....that was close to 4 years ago now....I was so sure i was going to be the one to go first.
Then her darling daughters.....two of them anyway.....is trying to screw me for every dollar they can from me over some idiot Texas law.
I hope I get this over with move and never hear from or see them again......what a retirement.

A few days after i wrote this got sick.....very very sick I slept for 5 days no food just some coke and water....then my GF called 911 and took me to hospital were i was glad i did not have covid but had a bad case of Pneumonia and amost died....i can remember hearing 2 doctors talking saying at his age and conditon i dont think he will make it.
After 3 days in ICU and 8 days in reg room I went home...with a portable oxy gen....I now only using it at night.....thts one of the close call i had of dying ....it shook me up......now im getting the bills and im sick again.!
 
Retired a few months before 9/11 after more than 35 years of OT and call out duty. Two of my close co-workers died of glioblastomas within six months of retiring and several others have since past on. Wife retired four years later and the most stressful things now are increasing Dr. visits and deciding where to spend winter so no complaints. I'm an old hot rodder and have a small farmstead with 200 plus year old buildings that take up most of our time. We`ve traveled some and need to get to the bucket list before it`s too late.
 
I ended up having to retire on SS disability about 15 years ago because of a back injury so my retirement hasn't been near what I was expecting. I'd thought that would be a time my wife and I would be able to travel and do things together we enjoyed. As it worked out I'm home while she's working toward her retirement. I'm also in constant pain. When she retires we won't be able to do lots of traveling like we'd planned since driving more than a couple hundred miles in a day makes my back pain considerably worse. I wouldn't be able to drive 200 miles a day on a constant basis either maybe once a week or so without having a terrible impact. Thankfully during my working years I made decent money, had the house and cars paid off with some money in the bank and in retirement funds. We don't and never have tried to live beyond our means so we're able to keep the bills paid and have a few things we want on my SS and her income so I don't have anything to complain about.
O.M.G. You sound like you could be telling my own story almost word for word. I am going on 13 years since forced out of work after 42 years. The last twenty eight were with the same & best company I ever worked for. They even paid for a lawyer to make certain I was treated fair by Uncle Sam. Paid me a supplement to my pension for a full 12 months until I was approved 100% permanent and total disabled by SS & Doctors. Bad part was I was in no way ready or wanting to stop working for another 6 years. But neck fusion, spinal degeneration, pinched nerves , bone spurs and twisting spine along with bad knees and ankles made me accept I was done and could not continue my work. Like you I made decent money and left a company with a pension plan and savings. Wife is old enough to retire but is a life long educator and loves her job so she chooses to keep working long as she can. Biggest disappointment is being unable to do nearly "anything physical I used to do..." , about all I do now is our plumbing and light electrical repairs around the house as needed. Got rid of the classic cars and my hobby is now the never ending quest to find good Doctors to help manage what they can not cure. Second disappointment is like you. No more travelling like we did all our lives. We went on cross country driving excursions 2-3 a year for almost 25 years until my body conked out and revolted after so many years pulling wrenches and ****ed near every kind of physical labor out there along with crawling under and all over my autos and friends cars, trucks and boat motors. I loved it and never made a profit off anyone. Sometimes we traded and bartered things yet I only asked they purchase quality parts so we would not have to do jobs over again. Charged them zero for my time. I thank God he allowed me to take good care of my wife & two sons until they were grown and end up debt free. I know far too many guys who worked 10 -12 some even 30 years at places to have them shutdown and pull the rug from under them and default on the pensions etc... Some poor souls have gone thru it more than once. There seems to be no life long jobs in American manufacturing or factories anymore.
 
I want to retire badly, probably much more than the average 57 year old does. This is due to the physical exhaustion of working almost 40 straight years of rotating 12 hr. shifts. The hangup is heath insurance and the last of three kids still in college.

Its tough to keep going but I am going to ride it out to maybe 62. I think.
I retied at 55 years of age and my health insurance averaged $500.00 a month through the "Exchange". So yea-expensive. I turn 65 next month and that goes away. I filed for Social Security at 62 (did the math). In 12 to 18 months (or when the market normalizes) I'm buying a new truck.
 
OK here we go. Just put a wrap on my first year.

"Has your first year of retirement gone as planned?"

hahahahahahahahahaha well NO.

We had planned long ago to do a lot more traveling..............THAT never happened. But will happen!

Otherwise it's been 12 nearly stress, well OK completely stress FREE months. It's been great. Highly recommended. Should have done it sooner.

Money? Everything good. Boring details in a nut shell, my net worth is more than when I started the year. Period.

We sold our house of the last 16 years and moved everything. What a HUGE pain in the posterity, but it was not stressful, just painful. And fun to. Our house that somehow we thought would be tough to sell, sold for more than 3X what we paid. Tougher to find a new place FIRST but we looked and looked and had people looking too.............had to make a quick decision. Hate that but did fine.

Then the fun started..............but we knew it, these were not surprises.........and had set aside the $. New flooring, new HVAC, concrete, water system, shed, ZT mower, etc....pretty soon we were moving out of loose change and talking real money! And work!! Holy krep!! No stress.

Anyway, bought an expensive mountain bike. Fun!! Hiking a LOT too. Rain or shine. TONS of fresh food - veggies, meat, etc

Big shop, enough property. Happy happy dream life. BBQ now connected to house LP tank, awesome. Many guests were visiting until winter hit. Fine.

Youngest daughter is pregnant which is cool but her life party plans - included wedding in early 2020, ruined. Even just now, baby shower cancelled cause...........

Dog is so old he was on the decline before we moved, now he is a PITA. Like a puppy again.

Trying to make some new geezer friends - you know - THAT is tough. Open to ideas there.

As planned? Not exactly, but pretty darn good!!!

No stress!!
 
Well…..just fine. Fewer requirements. More time to read, exercise, and spend with the kids (11,14). Just more time where I’m not pressed . It’s good
 
OK here we go. Just put a wrap on my first year.

"Has your first year of retirement gone as planned?"

hahahahahahahahahaha well NO.

We had planned long ago to do a lot more traveling..............THAT never happened. But will happen!

Otherwise it's been 12 nearly stress, well OK completely stress FREE months. It's been great. Highly recommended. Should have done it sooner.

Money? Everything good. Boring details in a nut shell, my net worth is more than when I started the year. Period.

We sold our house of the last 16 years and moved everything. What a HUGE pain in the posterity, but it was not stressful, just painful. And fun to. Our house that somehow we thought would be tough to sell, sold for more than 3X what we paid. Tougher to find a new place FIRST but we looked and looked and had people looking too.............had to make a quick decision. Hate that but did fine.

Then the fun started..............but we knew it, these were not surprises.........and had set aside the $. New flooring, new HVAC, concrete, water system, shed, ZT mower, etc....pretty soon we were moving out of loose change and talking real money! And work!! Holy krep!! No stress.

Anyway, bought an expensive mountain bike. Fun!! Hiking a LOT too. Rain or shine. TONS of fresh food - veggies, meat, etc

Big shop, enough property. Happy happy dream life. BBQ now connected to house LP tank, awesome. Many guests were visiting until winter hit. Fine.

Youngest daughter is pregnant which is cool but her life party plans - included wedding in early 2020, ruined. Even just now, baby shower cancelled cause...........

Dog is so old he was on the decline before we moved, now he is a PITA. Like a puppy again.

Trying to make some new geezer friends - you know - THAT is tough. Open to ideas there.

As planned? Not exactly, but pretty darn good!!!

No stress!!

What made you decide to retire ?

Age ?
Job no longer rewarding ?
End of career / tired of the politics / bull **** ?
Or you planned accordingly and met retirement nest egg $___ amount ?

.
 
What made you decide to retire ?

Age ?
Job no longer rewarding ?
End of career / tired of the politics / bull **** ?
Or you planned accordingly and met retirement nest egg $___ amount ?

.
All four!

62 - should have done it sooner.
Yeah, were getting less projects, good time to split
Yes - mainly the HIGH stress working conditions,
I did all the calculations, all the time.............never felt comfortable, until I had a decent cushion.

Two things I left out above.

A) Highly recommended!
B) Not taking social security yet
 
Luckily I can retire tomorrow and will work a few more years, maybe 3-4.
Its a low stress job and not bad.

If things change for the worse........ I’ll be like Antonio Brown. LOL.

I have enough in the ‘gas tank‘ to make it to the finish line. 🏁
 
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