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

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.
 
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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