You are lucky that you were able to retire when you did. I did not retire until I was 67, but I did switch to part time when I was 66, to make it easier for me to travel. I made a point of going somewhere on my bucket list (and I did write one out) from age 65. Then Covid happened, and I haven't started back on my list, but I am going to try some easier trips this year.

We're going back to Los Angeles for Cruel World Festival and will be there for four days, but this will be more like a homecoming than an exotic trip. I also plan to go to Colorado in July, and that will be the only flight for this year - I am less enthusiastic about flying, now that I know there are fewer air traffic control employees on the job.

I hope we can continue my bucket list next year with a trip to Europe and Greece, but that is not definite yet.

Congratulations on your early retirements!

Our sister (who is 76) retired a couple of years ago to take care of her husband when he had advanced Alzheimer's, and then he died a few months later. This year she went back to work, as she cannot handle not being employed. It was actually very annoying to be around her when she was retired.

I love being retired! I love setting my own schedule and traveling when the whim strikes. I miss the built-in daily social interactions I experienced when going to the office every day, but it's relatively easy to create a new social circle around common interests and hobbies.

Lars, I’m sorry that your sister had such an awful start to her retirement. 😕

My 77 year old sister-in-law who lives in Vancouver loves Greece. She was single most of her life and I’m surprised that she never moved there permanently. I hope you make it there!

I don't know right now, but I can circle back in a few months with a known answer then.

I am retiring, the date is set, my replacement is hired and the transition is underway. Part of me says it is crazy to voluntarily leave a good job right now. But. I am very done, and I am grateful to be in a position where I can choose to walk away.

All the best Ally De. 🤠

None whatsoever. It's fantastic. The greatest luxury is waking up and realizing you do not have to get up until you're ready. I hated early starts. I also stopped having any dreams vivid enough to recollect in the morning. I hadn't really realized how stressful working was until I stopped.

I have more social contacts than when I was at work because we were all stressed and didn't have time to talk about anything other than work. We were all too knackered to socialize after work, and anyway, we had too much prep to do in the evenings.

I could go on and on about how much I love retirement. I did retire when I hit 65, but I had not worked the full time. As I share, I took a 15 ish year maternity leave. DH retired in his early 50's and we joke that that was when I decided to go back to work.

The last few years of working for me had really gotten dreadful and everything kind of came together- downsizing our home, moving, retiring, the whole bit.

The only "difficult " part was that within maybe a year and a half of moving/retiring, covid came so I hadn't quite gotten comfortable and that was a very difficult time for me. Once things opened up though, I was good.

I LOVE retirement.

Thank you Roxsol. I will probably be posting here more once I am retired. Up to you all whether that's a good thing. 😆

I'm so glad that I retired when I did. We sold our rental homes in Florida to buy a second place in CT and travel there every year for a few months. It was a dream for me to do that, so I can spend more time with my sisters and I thoroughly enjoy it! Not only that, but I've taken to vegetable gardening in Ct and have learned a lot and love cooking with what I pick. Also, great to share the pickings with others.

It's great to set your own schedule. Socialize when you want, relax when you want.

I've been retired for going on 15 years, 25 for DH. We love it. People say, what do you do? Whatever I want, whenever I want. That alone is priceless. But especially as we've gotten older and health issues have arisen, it's wonderful to be responsible only for ourselves. While there are a lot of positives to it, I don't want to discount the lack of negatives as well. EG, not having to drive in the snow or the bad weather. Not having to dread Monday mornings as the workweek set in again. Not setting an alarm that woke you up no matter how tired you were. No more high heels or stockings. And did I mention going braless??? But napping. Yes napping is huge. I used to get so tired at work in the afternoon that I could barely keep it going. But now, I get tired, I snooze. Life is good!!

I was lucky enough to be able to retire at age 56 from a job I really liked.....but have absolutely zero regrets.

“The only "difficult " part was that within maybe a year and a half of moving/retiring, covid came so I hadn't quite gotten comfortable and that was a very difficult time for me. Once things opened up though, I was good.”

Salvona, I felt so sorry for anyone who had just retired, or for people with young families, especially those with school age children during Covid.

When Covid started, and it looked like it wasn’t going to be short term thing, my husband and I had a small fibreglass trailer built. It was solar powered with a microwave oven, fridge, etc. It wasn’t ready until November 2020 but we put it to use the following Spring. We headed up every so often to northern Canada, no masks, no people, and beautiful scenery. I think we went places that we wouldn’t have normally.

Winter of 2021, we put together the LEGO Titanic, that I think is the largest set made. (?)

We had a hoot doing that.

vgkg, now you can remove the chalazae at your leisure! (Still laughing at that 😄)

When I worked, we travelled out of the country, scuba diving, on my three weeks vacation every year. We didn't have any pets, so that made hiking/camping on weekends an easy get away. We also did three day weekend trips to Cabo or Vegas. Took off for photo night shoots on a whim.

Now we're both retired, we have pets. We volunteer. We joined a few gyms. We're staying home more. DH "likes" going to sleep @ 9pm, getting up @ 5am. Me....as long as I'm having fun....the hours don't matter. We are having FUN! No regrets about retiring. Having fun was always the main objective.

Off topic: Roxsol, mini donkey? Please share photos.❤️

Thank you eld. I was wondering about the mini donkey too. I've wanted a pair forever and while we have the room for them, city code won't allow it here, However - I do have two nieces who both have space for them, and small barns. There are three beautiful box stalls and a tack room on one those properties, water, lights, heat if needed. It's been empty since they bought the house 3 years ago 😒 She is open to the idea, just busy with new grandbabies just now,

DH worked until 72 and only stopped because our tech was beginning to experience some health problems. Training someone new would take the better part of a year and he didn't feel the timing was right for that. I know he misses his work some days, he loved what he did and woke up happy every morning of the week, looking forward to his day. For the 50 years of our marriage - i was blessed, not just him. He's a real team player and could easily fill in any place there was a need. i know he misses being part of a team even with all the friends coming and going from this house.

Most of it's been good. We haven't been exactly free to do whatever ever we wanted, mothers health began to take a downturn and she needed more attention, then my sister had a year of illness followed by her son being greatly injured in a fall and he's still working on his recovery now - 11 months this weekend that he has met his PT with grace and enthusiasm, gratitude. Inspirational! And whatever would i have done without DH's help these last three years, he pitched in wherever he was needed.

I worked for him those last years he was employed with his own business. I was used to some alone time which I never get now and occasionally miss but we adapt. Life is good.

I retired at 62, and haven't regretted it. Now ten years later I am still glad I did. Did many things in those 10 years, and now it seems I am beginning to have this and that come up health wise and am slowing down some.

Sorry eld, I got called away just as I was replying.

I got my little donkey when she was only 9 months old, taught her ground manners, and eventually ground driving until she was old enough to pull a cart. She was an absolute delight and looked after our two doofusy geldings (An American Paint and a Morgan)

She was bought as a companion to the horses if one happened to be at a show or clinic or something. Mini donkeys can live 40 years and I thought I would have her forever. Unfortunately, in a series of unforeseen events, she passed away at the age of 14. 😕

Both horses outlived her. Her name was Chalupa.

I had an enjoyable but demanding career. I woke up one morning and out of the blue I decided to pull the plug several years early and retire in my mid-50s. No regrets about doing that, and no regrets about an early start to retirement.

mixed reviews. I retired in 2023, after 36 years at a job I loved. Right afterwards, spent over a month galavanting around Europe with a girlfriend. Had a blast! But now I read a lot, do puzzles, cook way more creatively in the kitchen, etc. Im noticing I am seriously "under friended." I would love to have a friend to do things with. Long term best friends (including my travel buddy) live extremely far away. Im working on this. It's not easy.

hobbitmom, I hope you find a good retirement friend.

thank you, roxsol.

Roxsol, thank you for this thread!!!!

For those who don’t know, I’m one of the two posters rox was referring to, retiring this year - I’m the one desperately hoping to improve her golf game. ⛳️

I’ll be turning 60 in July, and that’s when I’ll be retiring. Originally, my plan was to work until 65. But almost 6 years ago, I had breast cancer. After successfully kicking that in the backside, my doctor found a nodule on my thyroid (thought to be caused by the breast radiation, but who knows?), so after having half of my thyroid removed, my husband and I started seriously contemplating life and how short it is. About a year after that, HE had a health scare. That did it. We are both 100% perfectly fine now, but it really made us realize how any given day…..life can change.

So here we are, making new plans. I have mostly loved my career for almost 40 years and have worked a LOT, but I’m ready to be done now. His exit will not be so cut & dried as he is one of 3 siblings running a family business, but he will begin to hire out his day to day function and transition more into an oversight role.

Some people have told us - don’t do it, you’re too young to retire! - but we are very fortunate financially and I for one absolutely can’t wait!!!! I plan to finally end years of mediocrity on the golf course (ha!), exercise a lot more consistently, be outside and away from my desk, and, hopefully, my recently added goal - learn to play the piano!!!

Thank you all, for contributing to this thread - great hearing so many of you happy to be retired - and thanks again, rox, for starting it!

I'm another that is retiring this year. 2 more weeks to be exact. My company of 30 years got bought up by a Canadian company a few years back and since then I've hated my job more and more every day. I just turned 62 in February and hit the magical 30 years of service for a full pension in October. Money won't be an issue.

We've decided to raise a small flock of chickens and are currently rehabbing our chicken coop that hasn't seen a chicken for 10 years now. Newly hatched chicks are hard to find right now because of the egg prices but in a few weeks that should ease. As Rox mentioned, fishing will take up many a day during retirement but we don't have plans to move to our lake house. We do not have any plans to travel other than short trips to visit family in Wisconsin a couple times a year.

I get the 'under friended' part. When you're working, your social interactions are typically a given....your neighbors are your officemates. When you have kids, meeting parents of other kids at the various events and play dates is a quick and easy way to make friends. But when you are a retired adult, it's harder. I've made friends through book groups and knitting groups and going to the gym. But even at that, it's not the same as old friends, and they too can move away. For some, politics, churches, charity events, neighbors, and volunteer opportunities can be other sources of social interactions. There is my retiree lunch bunch, but that group is only getting older and no new blood coming in, so we know where that one's headed....

I retired almost 8 years ago (for the second time) and was ready. I retired from my government job in 2005, took 3 months off to travel, have some minor surgery i needed, and then went back to a consulting support job doing what I had done in my government career, working with the same people. I loved my job and enjoyed working with most of the people so it was easy. I always had my ’Plan B’ worked out for the most part and have followed it. Mainly it included volunteer work, which expanded a little bit and now has morphed in the last 3-4 years, travel, working out, and enjoying the freedom to do nothing if it suits me some days.

I have a lot of old friends I see on a fairly regular basis. Some are girlfriends from back in our ski trip days, some from high school and college who still live nearby, and some former co-workers and fellow volunteers I’ve met in the last few years. It’s nice to get together for lunch, coffee, or dinner and I hope those of you who don’t have that now can cultivate new friends to share a coffee excursion or some social experience with someday. It’s good to have that relief from your every day routine. You might need to be the one that needs to take the first step in suggesting this, so don’t hesitate.

LoneJack, enjoy your final drive home from work in 2 weeks, mine was surreal and like a weird dream. I drove home extra carefully that day. Roxsol, they'll always be just hen buggers to me, nyuk.

I semi-retired at 57, working just 2 days a week for a boss that happily lets me take month-long vacations once or twice a year, and that's been great. I enjoy the mental challenges of work, so I'm reluctant to leave it entirely; I will probably will within the next couple of years (at 65 or 66), but - frankly - some of that timing will have to do with the US stock market. I don't think there's any growth in my Canadian or European investments that can make up for the current loss in my US investments.

Great thread. I had the great pleasure of being able to retire at 55, especially since it was a job I did not like. I liked my coworkers but that's about it. I have always wanted to "just be" and now I could do that and for that I am very grateful. I'm still friends with people from grade school, high school, various jobs so there's always someone around to "play" with. While I was working I traveled somewhere different every year with 5 wonderful friends. One has passed so it's bittersweet to look at those pictures. We traveled the country and saw about every National Park and our later passion became presidential libraries.

Mostly I love how life has meandered. I have done a lot of volunteer work and even more spontaneous helping of neighbors and family. Right now with an elderly dog, I am not traveling but I don't really miss that since I have had the great fortune to go to Paris, Rome and explore the whole country of Ireland. I live in a nice little house and have the best neighbors anyone could want. I'm not rich but I have enough to get by. I will be 74 in less than a month and can honestly say I have enjoyed every moment of "just being".

No.

I was effectively forced into retirement during age 58 when the movie theater where I had worked for 36+ years shut down 1/8/2021 due to effects of COVID on the industry. The initial plan (so we were told) was to reopen when COVID effects eased, but they received an offer and sold the building five months later. The senior owner (of three brothers) had developed pancreatic cancer (died two years later to-the-day of the shut-down date), which I imagine was a factor in the closing. I had done the bookkeeping for years, among many other responsibilities. The final fiscal year ended 2/2022 and the postage meter contract was still in effect ($300 penalty to cancel it early) so I continued with what little effort was required (and a bit of hourly pay) to finish-out the books ... effectively totaling 37+ years of employment with the company.

I had also worked concurrently for a 8-years+ period at a local ISP. The owner there also went into failing health and died approx two years after closure of that business. Seems I have a pattern on that point ...

i am waaaay past retirement age and semi-retired a few years ago but still work remotely 2 days a week. I have no plans to quit but have concerns over being forced back to the office to see clients in person. Especially over having to drive in winter. I'm so hoping it doesn't come to that with proposed possible program cuts, but it could be worse if the non-profit company I've worked for over 20 years has to close.

Adding: Neither of the jobs had a pension/retirement plan so that has always been my responsbility. Dad urged me to fund an IRA immediately upon earning qualifying income, to which I contributed every year without fail, along with other savings/investments. House was finished (early) in 7/2013, car before it was driven off the lot in 4/2014. I elected to start Soc Sec 2025, could have waited longer but ... reasons.

Regards to socializing, a few good friends although I don't see them often. I've always been primarily a loner. There's no love lost for 99.9% of my classmates. One of them greeted me at a recent jury duty. Someone walking past last year at Walmart called me by name, absolutely no idea who was it.

I retired at the age of 65 but I missed my job and the sociability of my co-workers for some time after. Now the days fly by and I wonder where the time goes. I have a busy volunteer job, slowly tackle the pile of my TBR books, try to do a decent number of steps per day and cook healthier meals. For me, the internet has enlarged my world and made retirement much easier than it otherwise would have been.

I can’t say I retired as the last 20 years I worked 3 part-time jobs which had nothing to do with my original career. . For various reasons, each one ended in the last few years.

Right now I’m helping my oldest with a side mall business. She designed initimates for mastectomy patients after having gone through this herself last year

My DH retired from his day job 20 years ago but keeps busy with our real estate properties. He had owned some for do long we are now on the second go round of renovations. I help with paint colors, cabinetry, backsplash etc, At 77 he doesn’t want to wind down!

Hobbitmon , you are not alone. I’m an introvert and I don’t enjoy lots of hussle and bussle. I’ve never been involved with large groups of friends, but have had a few special friends. But….two have moved out of state and one passed away.

I’m lucky to have a good relationship with my twin sister, we talk all time, but she lives 12 hours away.

Right now my goal is to say yes, even if it’s something I’m not particularly interested in.

I was asked to join a Rummikub game and participated in a few games. So, while I don’t especially like tile games, I like that I said yes, especially since there is no pressure to be there each week.

Opportunities are out there but you have to be open to them!

I ”retired” a few years back, meaning I took a package rather than be forced to return to the office. Six months later, covid hit. Go figure. I’ve been Mr. Mom, but that excuse has worn thin and will be nonexistent this fall as we become empty nesters. On the one hand I miss the structure of the work week, on the other hand I wouldn’t want to be bound to that structure again. Friends still work, so it’s not like I can hang out with them all day. I’ve been saying this will be the year I have to figure something out, but I also have the hurdle of two TKR’s coming up so have to see where that leaves me. Overall I’d say no regrets but looking for more outta life.

I retired at 62 a year after my DH retired at 63. I was much more thrilled to have the ability to retire than he was. He loved his very long career in a specialized part of the space industry which began in military & continued post military retirement in private sector. I enjoyed my work in various finance businesses, inside & outside of personal & commercial banking, but was very tired of the stress of it. Part of the retirement planning we did was spending our prior 10 years researching & visiting places to decide where we wanted to live. We wanted a smaller city - and much smaller home - but still with good access to airport/medical/culture. We’ve loved our new smaller home & have made good friends here. Our neighborhood has quite a few younger retirees from many different places so we lucked into an easy route to make new friends. We’ve been very happy & content in retirement with 2 exceptions. Covid was a life game changer & our social scene hasn’t seemed to recover its former momentum. Everyone missed so much with their families too. The other exception is recent personal health events. First for DH in January which was painful but not life threatening & he’s back to top form. Second a major event for me just recently & from which I should be good to go in a few weeks. Roxsol, the timing of your thread is perfect & truly a day brightener for me. I’m celebrating being home from hospital & it’s been lovely to read what everyone is sharing and find the majority are good things happening in spite of life’s challenges. And, thank you for sharing your pictures of Chalupa! I am so sorry you lost her at such a young age. That surely was heartbreaking.

KW, I was wondering where you were! Wishing you a speedy recovery.

(Thanks)

KW - Sorry to hear of your rough patch but glad to hear your husband is all good, and you’ll have yours behind you shortly. Good luck!

Ditto to what food said.

I was able to retire at 48 when the company I worked for was sold. I likely would have continued working if not for that. However, it turned out to be a gift I’ve enjoyed every minute ever since.

roxsol, Chalupa💕

I realize I never answered the question because I'm not fully retired, but I certainly appreciate having 4 3/4 days off a week. Since I'm single I'm not inconveniencing anyone else by still working.

I had a small independent business and my only responsibility was a cat. I had cheap rent and am not very materialistic. So I was never very driven. I'd make a good sale and take the rest of the day off. My time was extremely flexible and I kept my schedule light.

At 61, I married and at 64, thanks to Covid, my business died. So I'm retired, but it's really more work than just being on my own. Both lifestyles have been fun.