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Almost 1 Year to Go Until I retire!!!!

Retired at 51 in 2008 and all the "you will be bored" or "everyone dies right after retiring" nonsense was just that.

Big thumbs up to those on the verge of achieving "independence."
 
At 51? Hot damn I'd love to retire that early. I think I could almost pull it off if I found a cheap enough place to live. I tested the waters for a few years after I got laid off in 2023. I do not recall being bored :laughing but all that moto riding did get expensive.
 
I can't imagine retiring. I wouldn't know how to keep myself busy or active enough to stay physcially and mentally healthy.
One thing i hope i'm able to do is volunteer in some disaster relief areas. Clearing rubble, helping setup shelters etc.
If i have the funds, i'm opening an animal rescue.
 
I cannot wait to run away from dealing with the Building, Planning and Public Works Departments!!! :ride
 
Melissa said:
ya think they will miss you?
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Nope. Most of the folks I really knew have moved on and since the pandemic most work has been through portals and a zoom here and there. Very few face to face interactions. I used to have friends in a lot of cities. Now... :(

I will reach out to a couple to say so long.
SJ - One person.
SV - Two or three
SC - None
Fremont - None
Newark - None
Morgan Hill - None
Brisbane - None
RWD City - None
Hayward - None
San Mateo - None
Menlo Park - ha!
Mountain View - One (consultant)

That is the new world... and it kind of sucks so glad to GTFO!
 
I'm very lucky in that my wife likes the non-stressed out, happy-go-lucky version of me much better. :smoking
On the rare occasions I mention maybe going back to work, she says "No! No, you're not!" :laughing
 
I’ve been done with the corporate world since 2023 but my wife pulled me into her daycare business.
There are 7 family members in the house now and everyone feeds off of the daycare income so stopping is not in the cards for the next couple of years.
 
ctwo said:
My gramma told me, as she lay in pain for years suffering all manner of ailments half paralyzed from strokes, don't get old, die first. And she would grab my arm and beg to be taken into the hills and be left to die.

I'm falling apart and am starting to think like my grandpa, who's biggest concern was waiting too long...
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Well, that's bleak
 
Dino Ferrari said:
Having been a 911 Operator and Police Dispatcher for 24 years I have roughly 206 shifts left before I can finally retire. My wife is a bit concerned but with my pension and being lucky enough to have paid off my house we are going to be just fine. I will be 62 when I retire and don't really have any plans at this point. I am going to take 6 months and just decompress. Once I do that, my feeling is to find something with no stress and just enjoy living. I brew my own beer, I have a 56 Chevy that my son and I are fixing up, it was my dad's, and my son has started riding so we hook up on weekends and try and go somewhere and grab a bite to eat or a cup of coffee. Going to work on my golf game as well.

Long story short, I am planning on doing something, but just not sure what.
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A friend's wife worked 911 dispatch. She had a heart attack and passed away while on the job. I can't imagine the stress you guys deal with.
 
Brokenlink said:
You ok dude?
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I had a friend that did all the right things headed for retirement. Already retired from national guard so medical and I'm sure some kind of retirement $ from 20 plus years in the reserves. House paid for and had a nest egg that would carry him and his wife comfortably in retirement. Then at 55 kidney cancer took him out :( Work on that bucket list while you can!
 
BillSmith said:
Two unexpected time consumers of my retirement days...grandbabies and poker.
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I'll be a grandpa this coming December, so there's that too. My son's wife is from Austria. I came within a whisper of losing him to an ocean between us. The fact that The Universe changed circumstances and kept him not only here, but near, matters to me too. He bought a house 10 minutes from me. Nobody ever said from their deathbed "if only I'd worked more".
As I type this I realize I'm making this decision much harder than it needs to be.
Thank you for this thread, Lefty.
 
I'm (almost) 52 and I think about retiring pretty much every day. I've been at the same company for almost 30 years and drive 53 miles to get here (Down from six days a week to four now thankfully). I'm tired of the commute, it's crushing. Even if I can somehow retire from here and get a less paying, less healthcare job in town, that would be ok. Not sure how I can swing that though.

But what I really want is for my wife to retire. I just want her to be able to relax and enjoy life. She's been a server for many years and although there are MANY very nice people she interacts with, some people absolutely suck.

What I'll do when I retire?

Garden a lot
Fix things I've been wanting to fix
Tinker in the garage while swilling brewskis (I do this now but, ya know)
Fish more than once a year
Ride motorcycles a lot more
And if we are lucky enough to get some grandkids, spend as much time with them as possible. We got a lot of help with our kids from family and I would love to pay that back to my kids.
 
gixxerjeff said:
I'll be a grandpa this coming December, so there's that too. My son's wife is from Austria. I came within a whisper of losing him to an ocean between us. The fact that The Universe changed circumstances and kept him not only here, but near, matters to me too. He bought a house 10 minutes from me. Nobody ever said from their deathbed "if only I'd worked more".
As I type this I realize I'm making this decision much harder than it needs to be.
Thank you for this thread, Lefty.
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The Austria thing gave me a chuckle. My wife's father was from Austria. I'm glad he made it here so I could meet one of his daughters :laughing

Thanks Andreas!! (An amazing man that I miss often.)
 
bmwbob51 said:
I had a friend that did all the right things headed for retirement. Already retired from national guard so medical and I'm sure some kind of retirement $ from 20 plus years in the reserves. House paid for and had a nest egg that would carry him and his wife comfortably in retirement. Then at 55 kidney cancer took him out :( Work on that bucket list while you can!
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Sounds a lot like a guy I used to work for. He was a Press man for the Santa Cruz Sentinel back when the paper was actually printed in Santa Cruz. He and his wife I owned and operated the burger joint I worked at. Scotty would run the Press at night during the week and deep clean his restaurant on the weekends. He was a hard working, fair and generally fun guy to be around, living the American dream with a business and a family and a community he enjoyed. Cancer took him about two years after he retired from the Printing press. It's always stuck in my head as rotten and unfair.

Definitely examine your priorities often. "Now" is as close as we are going to get to a promised tomorrow.

I'm glad your stoked for the next chapter lefty. Hope, anticipation and excitement are great things to feel.
 
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Abacinator said:
A friend's wife worked 911 dispatch. She had a heart attack and passed away while on the job. I can't imagine the stress you guys deal with.
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Yes, I know it can be stressful. I have a very close friend who has worked in ambulances as a paramedic. He then spent some time running a Sonoma county ambulance company. Then he worked on the sheriff’s helicopter jumping into the ocean and doing many other dangerous rescues. He then finished his career as a Sonoma county dispatcher until one day he got a phone call that triggered his PTSD. He’s now happily retired.
 
I retired about 6 years ago. It was a gradual process, beginning with starting my engineering consulting business. About that time my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimers. My daily work gradually changed from my business to taking care of my wife as her Alzheimers progressed. When she finally died, I realized that I was now fully retired. Then, seven months later, I had my stroke.

Just when you think you’ve got your life figured out and back on track, it throws you a massive curve ball. And all you can do is go with the flow.
 
Rtmac said:
I'm very lucky in that my wife likes the non-stressed out, happy-go-lucky version of me much better. :smoking
On the rare occasions I mention maybe going back to work, she says "No! No, you're not!" :laughing
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I like your Wife!!!!! That is awesome. I think that my Wife would be the same way.
 
I really LOVE reading your posts. My Wife is a couple of years younger than me, so she said that she will retire two years after I do. That may be hard for me because she and I hike together (with the dogs) every weekend). I'm going to miss not having her to hike with on the weekdays too. I may have to get a "weekday Wife" to fill in for her, until she retires!!!!!!:)

Ant, to the White Courtesy phone.
 
Congrats lefty. One year is countdown time. Took me 6 months to not feel I was on vacation, that was 16 years ago.

Had this on my desk my last year
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Retired last year at age 42 and am loving it. Caddying at Pebble Beach as a fun part-time job to stay active and social. I'm surprised more people in the bay area don't hang up their hat early due to all the high paying tech jobs. I guess it's a case of golden handcuffs for many.
 
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