Your Biggest Retirement Regret?

Age 68 and 46 years into my career that I am passionate about. I've been hinting to people that I will force myself to retire at age 70. They don't believe me. My career keeps me vibrant and healthy. I work with college students that keep me young. I joke that it was a mistake having them assist me through mid-life crises, LOL (I avoided jail).

My current goals are to do retirement things right now (travel, hunt, fish, etc.) as I have about 5 weeks vacation annually and I can take 3 day weekends whenever I choose (almost). I have modified my mindset towards the important things - friends and family. While I am the consummate caring employee, I have adopted the "I don't give a sh-t" attitude towards the unimportant silly stuff. I am ramping up my mentoring of the the young managers - this is especially important to me - one of the small things we can do, since most of what we do is soon forgotten after death.

I appreciate the comments above since it covers the retirement spectrum - the good and the bad. Find balance in life everyone.
 
facility1 said:
had to take retirement due to disability (leg amputation),,wish i was still working my job
Click to expand...
Ronin73 said:
I am so envious of you all. I have 8 years left and then I am done. I have a little countdown clock.
Click to expand...
I got 10 years and I am out. That is still a very long time away so I may end up working part time if I like it and it is worth it tax wise. I am not going to work extra to feed ukraine, izzy, and venzi.

My plan is to be in Florida to reduce tax burden. Regardless of whether or not I work a regular job, I would still be managing my small saving that will be providing enough dividend to cover daily expenses. In addition, my pension will be 1% per year and I’ll have about 35 years. Currently, I can live on 35% of my salary even if I have my existing mortgage payment but no car payment and my house will be paid off in about 18 months.

Main family/commuter vehicle is Honda Fit and it was paid off 11 years ago. I just spent $700 on it to replace front brake pads, rear drum shoes, brake fluid, serpentine belt (still look new but had 176k miles), spark plugs (had 175k miles), and new bigger battery yesterday. I also spent $750 last year to put new set of Michelin Defenders on it. So I am looking at another 60k miles before new tires and front brake pads and about 100k miles before spark plugs. As far as I am concern, thst car owe me nothing and everything is extra gravy and onion rings now.

My only major expense once the house is paid off soon is whatever the kid’s college tuition will be for 4 years. Mid-level expenses would be putting $500 and $300 aside for a new car and house repair budget; respectively. Then add another $200 em for car maintenance and improvement
 
doitmyself said:
Age 68 and 46 years into my career that I am passionate about. I've been hinting to people that I will force myself to retire at age 70. They don't believe me. My career keeps me vibrant and healthy. I work with college students that keep me young. I joke that it was a mistake having them assist me through mid-life crises, LOL (I avoided jail).

My current goals are to do retirement things right now (travel, hunt, fish, etc.) as I have about 5 weeks vacation annually and I can take 3 day weekends whenever I choose (almost). I have modified my mindset towards the important things - friends and family. While I am the consummate caring employee, I have adopted the "I don't give a sh-t" attitude towards the unimportant silly stuff. I am ramping up my mentoring of the the young managers - this is especially important to me - one of the small things we can do, since most of what we do is soon forgotten after death.

I appreciate the comments above since it covers the retirement spectrum - the good and the bad. Find balance in life everyone.
Click to expand...
What do you do? Gent-club manager? That is the only job that would keep me vibrant and healthy.
 
60 days ago I sold my "Quick Lube". Immediately started attacking the long list of chores sorely needed at the 4 properties that I have acquired over the years. I'm spending a lot more time with my Father and Grandson. Waiting anxiously for warmer weather and some time on the water. Probably need to focus on my health a bit more than I do. I've returned to the reloading bench using up some of my past scores on, now extinct, low cost components. My youngest Daughter is 4th year nursing at Rutgers, NB. I fear her new boyfriend will keep her from returning home, even if for just a little while. Retirement, for me, is similar to a new inning, period or quarter in my allotted time here. Halftime is a distant past. I'm grateful for being fortunate enough to have the means to pursue the things I love. Although I loathed the daily grinds of business ownership I find the void it has left is harder to fill than I had anticipated. I'm still a rookie at retirement and as with any new venture it will take some time to adapt to the freedoms that it affords.
It's tough growing up and I'm still doing it.
Thanks BITOG for the virtual array of information and knowledge that I have consumed from the many truly smart participants that contribute to the site. It's porn for a Lube Guy.
 
userfriendly said:
Are you saying that you would rather be old and retired than young and working?
Click to expand...
No but you get to that point when work gets worse and worse and you get tired of dealing with it. The new younger crowd has all the great ideas that have never been tried before :unsure: . You try to be nice and supportive and when it fails (again) they ask you why but have an attitude about it. Really hard to control the sarcasm after 32 years doing the same stuff.
 
userfriendly said:
Are you saying that you would rather be old and retired than young and working?
Click to expand...
Well ... one can look at it this way, because I know where you are coming from ( I used to think that way*LOL*) but will change your mind if you are lucky enough to get old, not everyone does.
Since getting old is inevitable at least for those lucky enough to get old, one can look forward to relaxing and having everyday of the week to do whatever it is they want by being able to afford retiring or choosing not to retire but for some being free from chains with any one particular company or occupation. No schedule, no demands.
 
As a "Solutions Architect", I was tasked with addressing business needs by automating them with computers and software. I pretty much had a free hand. So I miss the creativity and the interaction, sometimes jousting, with really smart business people.

Debugging and running your new code is like opening a present.
If I weren't at the right company at the right time, I would likely have been stuck as a maintenance programmer and gone into management. No thanks.
 
Same as the many who say "wish I had retired sooner"

My thing was I way way way over thought and over estimated how much $$$$$$$$ (savings and income) I would need. I mean I would use the most conservative estimator and then 3X or somesuch. Keep working, keep doing this, and that save save save save...........I mean not a bad thing, but not healthy when I shoulda coulda been enjoying life sooner.

EDIT: To add to the above, I've not had to actually make an income required withdraw from my retirement accounts in 3 years! Huh?? NOT what I had in my brain at all. Both our SS and Amsoil and my small pension are fine to live on. This year wife gets her state pension. Point being, yes you need to be smart, but not so conservative as I was.

No worries I cannot change it now Hahahaha I LOVE RETIREMENT. I am a kid again. It's GREAT. Highly advise it.

Busier than a one armed paper hanger and loving it.

Men's meeting this AM, Pickleball at 3. I got work to do.
 
Last edited:
I retired (not by my choice at the time) when I was 56. I worked in Automotive and had a toxic relationship with the CEO. He then offered me a package to leave or take another lower job within company. I took the exit package because my wife thought the place was causing me health problems. Best decision ever. After 6 months of puttering around the house, I realized that I needed to find something completely different with emphasis on no emails, no meetings, no video conferences and no more international business travel.

I work 2 days a week doing grounds & building maintenance for the local pilot training facility. I serve on the H&S committee and do the maintenance on the 2 Kubota tractors (L5740 & M126GX) and the tugs we use to move the 34 planes around. I build offices, repair floors, paint and pour concrete as needed. The best part is riding the tractors! This spring I might ask to go to 3 days per week, except in winter.

I'll wait until I turn 65 to start drawing my Canada Pension and my other investments, for now we manage on my wife's income and the little cheques from the Flight Centre. We meet with our investment advisor every 5 months - more to comfort my wife - and all is very good.
 
Not being retired 😅 You're confirming my thoughts... Grandpa retired in his mid 50's so he had a good 30 years till passed at 82, spent a lot of time with him over those years. I'm hoping to do the same and in 10-12 years at 53-55. Probably won't stop working all together.. few hours here and there and for insurance. We're maxing out our Roth's and 401k/403b so we should setting good doing 20 years of that.
 
Someone on an unrelated motored bike forum asked me what I have been up to since I retired.....

We travel a lot more. Italy. Hawaii. Alaska (two daughters live there) and all over the CONUSA

At home, all kinds of stuff to do on our property besides riding riding my mountain bikes (carbon stumpy and eCannondale/Bosch) - tree plantation, raised gardens, shed, building stuff. My shop (1/2) is almost converted to a wood shop now. House was sorta a beater, but newish. Was used as a rental, odd really, but never landscaped or made homey nice. Build a covered connecting breezeway to the shop, poured concrete paths fully around, made a large patio with retaining wall, etc and such

To escape all that work I play pickleball 2-3 times a week. 2 hour sessions, senior league and pick up games.

Headed for 66 yo. Few health issues, but way better than working and two businesses.

My Amsoil business is still great, self sustaining with only local sales and web sales to content with, pretty easy really.

I still have half a rack of valuable parts. I have donated all (well pretty much all) generic bicycle parts to charity bike shop. Ebay sales go from quiet to crazy. Not to bad except the shipping. I really am not happy doing it, but I will continue on.

One guy in an EBay message yesterday called me a "clown" and said I was hard to do business with and everyone here on this site knows this is the reason SBP shut down. Well one sliver of that might be true. It's the reason we never sold parts on eBay if you know anything about eBay messaging. You see he wanted a personal list of everything we don't have to make a 2 stroke shifter kit. I would have gladly emailed him the pdf, etc.....but you know you can't do that sort of thing on eBay. I gave him a very short list of a few things missing and he flew off the handle. He may be a member here, dunno. My point is I do tire of dealing with the public - and that is a reason we closed up.
Click to expand...
 
I am 14 months retired / disabled after my 4th spinal surgery (all but one level fused both cervical and lumbar). I can walk with a brace as my right calf is severely atrophied and cold below the knee from the nerve damage. I was making good money and worked with some great guys. I don't miss the aggravation of being a defense contractor (39 years) or getting up early in the morning. My wife is still working, so the jury is still out, overall.
 
When I was forced to leave teaching the first time, I dropped out of KPERS 2. When I got back into education, they had come up with KPERS 3 and now I'm part of that unfortunately. 3 isn't as good as 2 so that stinks a little.
 
CharBaby said:
After I retired, I had more people ask me sarcastically(in their snide voice),
"What do you do all day?"
And I'd say; "anything I want and nothing that I don't"
I mean really! Is work all they have?
I mean, don't people have any projects, hobbies, sports, interests, religion, help others or volunteer that they enjoy?

My BIL said it best. He said; "I don't have a thing to do but I am always busy!"

And others would ask me(again sarcastically); "why aren't you traveling?"
And I'd say; "who said that I wasn't!" I'm just not gone all the time.
I don't know anyone personally(regardless of their good money situation) that can afford to travel forever.
Not only that but, in order to travel so much(and I know people who do travel more than I), it's unhealthy! They've all gained and enormous amount weight due to their traveling eating habits.
Eating...
eating in the car
eating in the hotel
eating in restaurants all the time
eating fast food
eating on the go.

I mean at some point, the money will run low and you won't have enough money for the stroke(nursing home) or by-pass surgery co-payments.
Click to expand...
Yep. The in-laws travel constantly in retirement. They just did a 3 week South America and Antarctica cruise/trip. 2nd week of March they're going on an 8 week trip/cruise to Australia, New Zealand, etc. They're going to be gone more than they're home in the first 5 months of this year. Plus, with all the traveling and casino on the cruise ships, the FIL gets anywhere from 5-10 comped cruises a year and the MIL gets 2-5. They'll usually travel out of Galveston or N.O. so they'll drive and save money. But a lot of them eating is on the cruise ship or at the hotels.
 
CharBaby said:
After I retired, I had more people ask me sarcastically(in their snide voice),
"What do you do all day?"
And I'd say; "anything I want and nothing that I don't"
I mean really! Is work all they have?
I mean, don't people have any projects, hobbies, sports, interests, religion, help others or volunteer that they enjoy?

My BIL said it best. He said; "I don't have a thing to do but I am always busy!"

And others would ask me(again sarcastically); "why aren't you traveling?"
And I'd say; "who said that I wasn't!" I'm just not gone all the time.
I don't know anyone personally(regardless of their good money situation) that can afford to travel forever.
Not only that but, in order to travel so much(and I know people who do travel more than I), it's unhealthy! They've all gained and enormous amount weight due to their traveling eating habits.
Eating...
eating in the car
eating in the hotel
eating in restaurants all the time
eating fast food
eating on the go.

I mean at some point, the money will run low and you won't have enough money for the stroke(nursing home) or by-pass surgery co-payments.
Click to expand...
The wife and I travel extensively. Been to the Baltic States, (Estonia) St. Petersberg Russia, Denmark, etc. on a cruise. A year ago we did a 74 day cruise to South America, and Antarctica. Been to the Caribbean more than once. Just got back from a Mexican Rivera cruise. Did a California coast cruise. And Alaska.
You are correct in the mind set that you cannot eat everything when traveling, especially on cruise ship , and many try to do such. Almost all are 100pounds (or more) over weight. However, if you are careful you don't gain any appreciable weight.

Some us have led a life where all of your concerns are addressed.
I retired at 55years of age and we are so busy we need to keep a google calendar, or we have scheduling conflicts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Racer4
Investing nearing retirement: are Annuities in your retirement plans?
2 3
Replies
42
Views
1K
JeffKeryk
S
Interesting push for pension over lump sum
2 3
Replies
50
Views
1K
Sj08
MCompact
Retirement 2.0
2
Replies
29
Views
1K
Dave Hess
F
Pulled the trigger, last day at work will be 4/11/25!
2 3
Replies
41
Views
1K
LordNilesStandish
G
How far will $1 Million go in retirement in your state?
10 11 12
Replies
220
Views
5K
loneryder
Back
Top Bottom