I haven't retired so have no experience but if you can give it a try I would encourage you to do so. If you don't like it you do not have to continue on doing it.

Yes! I retired from the Government when I was eligible because I was really working for pennies in terms of additional retirement. Took 3 months off and then went back to work as planned 4 days a week as a consultant. About a year and a half later a former boss asked me to come to work for him but it was full time. I did and it was great. I socked away a bunch of money in my 401k and finally retired a couple of years ago at 68. I worked a little longer than I intended but I really enjoyed my job.

Yes, I retired from teaching with the idea of substitute teaching at the same school. It has worked out well, I need to keep busy and 2 days a week is great for me. I would have not wanted to try to learn a whole new job, just for part time. I have been retired 3 years now, and this 2 days is just perfect. In fact, about August I start looking forward to going back. The only down side for me is getting up at 5:30 in the morning to be at school at 7 am in the winter when it is dark and cold.

ladypat1 Thank you. I agree, I don't want to learn a new profession either. Yikes 5:30, the only time I see that early anymore is a trip to the bathroom. lol l wouldn't have to worry about commuting. I can do my job remotely from home. I am a certified profession medical coder. I retired from working for Uncle Sam.

I retired at the end of 2013. My last day on payroll was December 30, and my first day of retirement was December 31. I had turned 64 in August of that year. I loved, loved, loved my duties. I was a Domain Administrator for the Active Directory network of a large California State agency. I created the network user accounts and e-mail accounts for our employees, retired annuitants, consultants, etc., and assigned security permissions (which determine who can access what on the network). But after upper management shifted the unit & section managers around, my unit ended up with a manager who knew nothing about network administration or Active Directory. This manager had some crazy ideas and expectations, and everyone in my unit pretty much hated the manager. We always had to do pretty detailed weekly time records, because our time was charged to the various departments/offices within the agency, but with this new regime, we had to turn in weekly accountings that detailed our time in 10-minute increments. It was absurd. I would have kept working much longer, but I was having cardiac issues and the added stress of this management wasn't helping. I miss my duties and many of the folks with whom I worked on a day-to-day basis, but now most of them are retired, too. (In California State service, you can retire at 55.) I keep busy and have not regretted retiring for an instant.

My sister retired in 2010 from the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), and within a year she was doing seminars and consulting. She's still at it. She's finally getting tired of it though. For the last 4 or 5 years she's been working (as a consultant) 3 days a week at a community college district as a manager/administrator. When she "went back to work" it wasn't because she was bored, it was because she wanted to earn extra money. I don't know why, because her pension is over $130,000 per year. Each to his or her own, I guess. Actually, the money she is earning now is being put aside for the care of our other sister, who has Asperger Syndrome and is no longer able to live on her own.

Functionthenlook, how did you land a job with the government doing coding? Medicare? Just curious because I've spent a lot of years do billing for a private clinic and don't have any benefits that will get me close to retirement. :(

A pension of over $130,000 a year? Wow. Wish I had thought more about career choices back in the day!

I worked for the Dept of Veterans affairs. I found the job online years ago. I previously worked for a health system in my city. Yea, sorry coding is hard job to get your foot in the door. Everyone wants experienced coders and how are you going to get the experience if you can't get a job.

I still work at a part--time job, totally different than the career I was trained in.

I don't need to work. I like the added dimension of working on projects with friendly co-workers.

Function, if you don't need the money, what do you have to lose for trying it out? If this is a job that you really enjoy, it's a win/win.

Littlebug, sounds like you found the awesome retirement jobs. I have thought of working at a greenhouse. I love dirt under my fingernails, but the closest one to my house is 9 miles away on roads that are not well maintained in the winter.

Retired at age 54 after teaching for 30 1/2 years.

Couple part time positions: volunteered at the zoo in their education dept. Fun! And even went on a African safari with them.

Volunteered at local hospital delivering hospital complimentary birth certificates to new parents.

Courier for a while with a travel agency.

Settled down after those few years, and got into water aerobics, which conflicted with part time work schedules.

If you and your husband have different preferences about what works for a vacation trip, nothing says you need to go on all trips together. My wife and I go on many together, and we also go separately when it's a like of one and not the other. That seems to work fine.

Go back to work or work part-time?. No, that doesn't interest me at all. I had one colleague who took a part time consulting gig at retirement, out of concern for how to spend his time, and he decided to drop it after 6 months. He hadn't realized that he really wanted to be retired and not working, like me and other colleagues who all retired over a 5 year stretch.

I think retirement is the pot of gold at the end of the lifelong career rainbow. You should enjoy it, now's your opportunity to spend your time as you want to.

My late FIL started his own desktop publishing company after he retired and also lectured at what I suppose would be the equivalent of your community college on writing and getting published. He couldn’t do nothing.

DH is the same and while he could have retired some years ago at 55, he really enjoys his work and has no plans to retire as yet. I’ve told him his retirement plan needs to include something to keep himself occupied as he gets antsy with nothing to do.

I’m effectively retired but do some relief work on call and to be honest, if I was offered a job I enjoyed I’d take it.

You know what, yinz are right. If no one wants to hire me because I have been out of the profession for over a year or if I don't like the work or employer what do I have to lose...... nothing. Tomorrow I am going to updating my resume and start pounding the internet. Thanks everyone.

If you have temporary agencies in your area start applying to them. You may find that you enjoy a wider range of positions than what you thought you would. They may even have positions in medical coding. An alternative is to apply with your local ambulance department. Here the turnover is high because most people simply do not like working on coding full time.

One thing you do need to think about if your retired under FERS and are currently drawing SS is that your SS will be cut $1 for every $3 you earn.

In June, it will be six years since I retired. My days are so busy that I often wish there were a few more hours in each day. I love that I have reached the stage in my life that I am finally in charge of me and no longer report to or answer to anyone else. Not having to live by the clock or calendar is something else I value highly.

I do have my small (make that tiny) jewelry business which keeps my busy designing, creating and doing other things involved in running a small business. This yer i am going to spend more time on marketing. I have thought about volunteering, but currently don't have the time. That may come later.

Some of my former co-workers (mostly teachers) have gone back to teaching part time and really enjoy it. Everyone is different and should do what works best for them. You have nothing to lose by giving it a try. If you don't like it, you can always go back to full time retirement. Good luck to you!!

maifleur, Yep I am under FERS and collect SS and the basic benefit, but haven't touch my thrift plan. At my age (63) my cut will be $1 for every $2 earned above $1700 a year. I know even part time I will probably will exceed that, but I am hoping not too much. This is one time I would accept a coding job at a lower pay rate. lol

A teacher/principal friend of mine retired at 65 for one year and then was offered a position at a small private school as their principal. She's in the middle of her second year so I guess she enjoys it.

My husband retired for a year at age 55, then returned to work ten days/month for several years. Now he's down to eight days/month but can take off as much time as he wants and we do travel about 12 weeks/year. The job was never about the money but it's added up to quite a little nest egg. I do worry about how he'll spend his time when he leaves this job. He always thought he'd have plenty to do but I can see that at times he's on the verge of boredom.

Credentialed teachers who retire will often take one or multiple day substitute teacher jobs (at whatever frequency they choose) after retiring. Their former schools often put hem at the top of the call list when they decide to do that, as well known and respected former colleagues and all that. Some districts have a post-retirement moratorium for subbing, sometimes it's 6 months or 12 months.

Have you done any subbing, Dawn?

No, I'm not a teacher.

I love, love, love being retired, it's been almost ten years and no boredom here. There's always someone to help or something to volunteer for at church. I'm busier in retirement than when I worked and can't imagine how I'd squeeze employment into my day.

I retired in 2005 from a federal government job I loved. But I had health issues, and my husband was bed-ridden with multiple sclerosis and needed full-time care duringt he day. What was i to do, continue working full-time so I could pay fpr aides for him? Well, it worked out he needed me home more and more. He passed away just about 2 years ago. Now my daughter and her husband and their 2 kids under 3 years old live with me. So there's always baby-sitting or something going on with them. I'm glad I had those last few year with my husband. I could never return to my old job, my skills are out of date. and I've been offered one job , waitressing, which would be too physically strenuous anyway. so no regrets. ,

I gotta admit, I did not read anything above this...

NO!

However, I thought about it, but decided that it would intrude on my "new" life.