I am retired, but I have a friend that's about 67 y o and she had all her paperwork done to retire, and then said "why would I retire? I love my job, I love my co-teachers", so she withdrew her papers and is staying on. The gal that's head of volunteers where I volunteer said that if weekends were a preview of retirement she'd never retire, b/c all she and her DH did was watch football and take naps. LOL

I work with children part-time and love it. I also love the paycheck which isn't big but it is helpful.

Sleeperblues, I think you'll know when you're ready to retire. If you love your job and look forward to going there every day (well, most days), you have little, if anything, to gain by retiring.

Of the jobs I've had, I loved just two of them. I had to quit one because we moved, and the other because I had to stay home to take care of my DH. It's unfortunate that not everyone feels such satisfaction from their employment. The job I have now is by far the easiest one I've ever had, but it's definitely not fulfilling.

My goal was to go to college so I could get a job earning money at a higher rate...so I could put away enough money to live off the interest and quit a JOB.

Now I'm living life to it's fullest! We're only given so much time on this earth....I never wanted a "J-O-B"....I wanted a LIFE!

Not near retirement -- but I love my job.

I will admit there have been several - getting to
this one -- that I didn't love all that much. But,
if I could always do this job, they would have to
chase me out. :)

That being said - everything changes sooner or later, I
guess.

I loved being an RN and especially the urgent care clinic until the large medical clinic I worked for was bought out by a large medical conglomerate......I quit after hating my job for six weeks. I was no long able to take care of patients in a way that made me proud of being a nurse.
No regrets.
Funny thing about it was the conglomerate sold the clinic back to the docs who owned it and within a year, they went bankrupt. (After being in business for 50 years.)

I can't imagine not working. Retirement seems boring to me.

But I have it pretty easy...I like the job, I can sleep late, have no one around to bother me, and I don't have to commute. I think that makes a big difference. If I had to drag myself out of bed early in the morning, get in the car, and drive to an office where I had someone constantly looking over my shoulder and I didn't care for the work I was doing, I'd probably want to retire.

Absolutely! I was a travel agent for 30+ years and tho I loved it, and still love parts of it, the public has become so ugly and difficult that I gave it up. I closed the public agency and opened a concierge service from my house.

That occupies about 25% of my business life, the other 75% of the time I am a personal/executive assistant for a company and the owner of the company. LOVE IT! No two days are ever the same.

I love parts of my job (playing with Sears Homes), but I'm disappointed that the income is so modest. Were it not for a history-loving husband, I'd have to return to freelance writing to pay the bills.

I'm getting ready to leave town for a couple weeks (for a booksigning!) but that's one part I don't like but so much. I'm a real home-body.

Rose

Even though I'm fairly near retirement age and many of my friends have retired, I work a very demanding (time-wise) job to keep medical benefits available for my family. DH has his own business and his health care policy costs are prohibitive.

Even though I am irritated that I've always had to be the one to keep a job so the family has medical coverage, I do love my job.

I'm a designer and after 8 years running my own home-based design biz, I decided it was best for me mentally to get out of the house and back into something more social. I contracted for a very nice company in late Oct 2005 and have been there ever since.

For a designer it is an absolute dream job (if you discount the time demands and lack of flexibility). I use the latest and greatest design software and am treated like gold. I just wish 'd had this job 20 years ago.

Jodi-

Yes - I'm pretty happy in my job. It's very challenging and time consuming at times but it's also fun, intellectually stimulating and rewarding in material and non-material ways. At the moment I can't imagine retiring but I'm only 53. I used to think that's what I wanted to do since I've worked all my adult life - no kids or stay at home mom stint. It seems like there's so little free time to do things. But the more I thought about it, and saw what people I know do who aren't working, the more I realized I probably wouldn't be happy not working. I like the mental stimulation of a challenging job and I really think I'm more effective (and more productive) when I'm driven by structured goals, deadlines, projects, etc. I think if I didn't work I'd end up sleeping a lot and spending even more time online than I do now - with a few other things thrown in from time to time.

So my current strategy is that I'll probably stay at my current company as long as they'll have me and save as much as I can for retirement. Then when they won't have me any more hopefully I can find some other kind of interesting bridge job - something between the full blown demanding career I have now and full retirement with no job.

I also think I'll have a hard time spending money if I retire because I'll always be worried that I don't have enough to last the rest of my life. That I think would somewhat limit my ability to enjoy my unlimited free time. As long as I'm working and accumulating savings, I'm comfortable spending.

is my job fulfilling to me LOL no...just filling my bank accounts, house, and life w/ things i want to own and places i want to vacation at. for right now i have to accept that. i worked for this company from 2000-jan 06, 2006 leaving that day was a very happy day for me lol. i went into landscape design doing work for several landscapers then for a high end company. i loved that work, thou some of that had to do w/ making alot of $ even thou i literally work 16 hours a day. i saw the downfall of the economy coming in the summer of 2007 when less people dropped $30-40K on landscape w/out a care. my dh was quitting his teaching job to go full time on finishing his BS & MS. i quit design and went back to my previous job, they had been after me for a yr, to go back to having my own health insurance and a non-commission check. many many days i hate it, especially the last 2 yrs after they laid off most everyone, expecting the few rest of us to do their work. i do plan on leaving w/in a yr...can't wait!

don't know what i would like to do, i'll probably go back to college and get another degree. i have always said i wanted to quit working around 50-55 on my inheritance but i'm now 43 and worrying about retiring & having to do something called "budgeting" whatever that might be LOL i do not do that. if i want something i buy it, i work hard, i spend as i please w/o having to think about whether i can afford it and i can not live any other way. until recently i always though i'd want to retire as soon as possible but i've become obsessed w/ quality of life in retirement and worrying about state of mind. recent research published says people who retire early lose the most cognitive and memory function and those who work into old age maintain their memory and intelligence. makes me afraid to stop using my brain in challenging ways... ~ liz

I didn't want to say anything this morning, before I spoke with my boss, but I've been planning to quit my job today. I did just that, giving lots of notice (my boss was grateful for that part). I'll be here until December 16.

The isolation has been dragging me down . . . I'm alone all day, have a 45-minute (on a good day) drive to work, have co-workers for an hour, and then am alone all evening at work. A drive home (in the dark all year round), and then I'm alone all night. I turn down invitations to events that take place during my work hours, and on the weekends I'm often tired and reluctant to get in the car again. Plus I dreaded the thought of the winter commute. I managed to do it the past two winters, but often felt I was risking more than I wanted to. The drive is circuitous, on rural roads, and goes over a mountain. I will be so happy to spend this winter's blizzards putting wood in the woodstove and taking care of my cats.

I've been at this place for close to 20 years but not in the same position the whole time. I like my job but I'm starting to sense I need a change. There's lots of places to go here if I want to drive. I may be making a change but stay with the company. But then again tomorrow I might feel different about that. Today was a so so day, not great but not bad either. As for retirement I'm at least 10 years off. The closer I get the more I realize I need lots more money.

congrats alisande! i do remember you posting about your winter drive because i am psychotic about driving in snow (after being hit in 1990), more so since it's been 13 LOL. ~ liz

First of all, Congratulations, Susan!!

What an interesting question. I do many different jobs through the year, each with its plusses and minusses.

The start of my season begins with working in my brothers greenhouse. I love the growing end of it, a small but excellent crew to work with and being with family. The retail part is not as much fun and overall the pay is mediocre.

Later in Spring I gradually transition to being self-employed in my landscape installation and maintenance business. I spend 95% of my time working alone and being outside. Perfect for me. The pay is excellent. The down side is that it is physically difficult. At age 55 I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to do this.

As my business winds down this time of year I also collect soil samples for the local Farmers Coop. They equip me with a truck, trailer, and 4 wheeler with an onboard computer and GPS. Each morning I get a handful of maps and spend the rest of the day out in the country by myself. I have the best office in the world but, the pay is lousy.

In mid-Winter I work as a substitute in the local school system. Many times in a high school in the Emotional Behavior Disorder Classroom. I come home and am so thankful that my kids are as well adjusted as they are. Every day is an adventure. Once again the pay is mediocre and it's something to do until the greenhouse starts up again.

Variety really is the spice of life.

Ron

Sometimes, had a patient today who asked for me as he was going home with his wife. I took care of him last week. Sweet older couple. Gave him a big hug, she gave me a big hug and kiss goodbye. Was a horrible day, running my butt off, some staff saying crap behind my back (found out later)...too much paperwork to take good care of patients. Had one quick lunch break that I forced myself to take off the floor. I knew if I took it in the break room they wouldn't leave me alone for 2 minutes. I'm exhausted. Love the patients, hate the workload. Will be retiring as soon as my time is up. Maybe there will be a school nurse position open when I do that, or maybe I'll work at something else entirely. I doubt I'll be able to completely retire.

So does this mean you are retired, Susan? Congratulations on making a decision it sounds like you are happy with.

Thanks for all the great replies!

Thanks for all the congratulations!

So does this mean you are retired, Susan?

I don't think I'll ever call it retirement--simply because over the years I've had a lot of at-home time, all of it busy. Some of it was spent raising my kids, some of it was telecommuting as an editor, and some was as a freelance writer. Even now, I'll continue with my part time job (at home) working for a lawyer, and I'll also try to make some money writing.

One thing's for sure: I will not be looking for another job this winter. After that, we'll see how it goes.

I'll miss my two wonderful co-workers, but we're already making plans about how we'll see each other. I believe it will happen.....I quit my last job five years ago, and those co-workers and I have stayed in touch, with periodic get togethers. The three of them are therapists, and our evenings together are always a super combination of heartfelt, serious talk and laugh-till-we-cry hilarity. I think I can expect the same from my present two, even though they're librarians, not therapists. :-)