We sure enjoying ours...

Good one. Although if the folks in the picture retired early they could be home falling asleep on the couch because they may not have been able to afford travel. I've seen early retirees who wished they had put in a few more years. I'm enjoying retirement; having retired a couple months after turning 66. Just turned 70 and glad I waited until 66.

I’m still working at 67, I’m gonna make another year and a half. Wifey is ten years younger than me, I’m hoping she can hang it up at 62. I’ll probably die the day after I retire.

I’ll be 40 this year and I’ve got lots more to see. I’ve only done one major trip without my kids and my parents always dragged us along on foreign travels. Hell, took my then 9 month old son on a trip from Austria to Romania. Want to do Poland soon.

Life is short..........retired at 59........

It comes down to time or money. Nobody dies wishing they had more money!

That ain't much of a retirement plan. DON'T!

That looks like me when I’m driving to our camping location! memtb

That ain’t retired

That’s Zyklon B

Retired 3 1/3 years ago at 56 so I don't think I waited too long No regrets..
The OP looks like a comfy place for a snooze more than one way to look at it

Your dang right, I retired at 51 and have not looked back.

I quit a couple years ago but still have to go to work 3 more years.

61 and called it quites. wife waited to 62.
Co worker worked until he was 70. Droped dead 3 months later.

48...

Been retired all my life.

56 here!!

not retired, just tired

Not once, ever, has retirement been overrated!

55 is my date... im very serious about it too

56 also!

I'm 69 and December 31 is it for me. Had enough. Wife is 11 yrs younger she will work to 62.

Retired at 64, now 70 and have enjoyed every minute of retired life.

Retiring next month at 59.

I don't get it. Is there a prohibition on travel while still working?

I'll never retire, although I'll probably work less. But I can't imagine not having anything productive or interesting or renumerative to do.

Not if you’re a teacher 🙂


I have always referred to my summers as “early retirement”.

LOL, sure, works for me. I find I do pretty much as much traveling as I can stand, which is admittedly not that much (though Miami was a nice respite from zero degree weather at home last week). Long time from retiring. I figure retirement is when you start pestering your neighbors to take your excess tomatoes in August.....

My goal is to be work optional by 45 or 50 hopefully.
It may or may not happen but if I can keep my savings rate it should be theoretically feasible.

Pulled plug last year at 56. Wish I had done it sooner

Always planned on 60, got a fantastic buy out offer right after turning 59, life is good.

The restriction to travel while working is that vacations are at the discretion of most employers, when retired you can travel when you want for as long as you want.

59 twelve years ago
it's great

You all are making me want to hang it up!

Same here. Can't imagine not being in the game as long as the economy keeps housing profitable. I'm sure we'll travel more and spend more time at the place in the mountains, but I can work from there just as easy. Like to buy a little gas station or Diner to mess with. Both grandad's did during "retirement".

Divorce impacted my financial status significantly, in particular retirement and social security are classed as shared investments, not income. IIRC the starting position of negotiations is to add those of both parties then divide equally. Statistically, half of all marriages end in divorce, most of which are initiated by the woman. However stable you might think a marriage is, menopause and post-menopause can be a wild card.

I don’t think the risk of divorce is mentioned enough in financial planning.

The good thing about working construction most of my life is all the hunting and fishing, traveling I was able to do my entire life, not just when I am old and out of my prime. When I hear someone say they are going to do xyz when they retire, I think damn that's what I've done every year when I was in shape and could pull it off, not some old out of shape guy.

3 Years ago at age 60 I was still able to pack a bull elk out of a hell hole in two days, then helped a member here pack his out of another hell hole a couple months later. I could probably still do it but my desire is lessening, I'm hardcore so I look at someone that hasn't done that, but in their 50s 60s 70s say they are now going to... fantasies are fine until you are in the middle of one.

I'm still viable on the jobsite so I still do it and the best guy on the job when I walk on... no brag just the sad state of construction today, when us old white guys at 75% hang it up all there will be is mexicans reading blueprints building your houses. This is actually an ongoing topic on the jobsite and why contractors beg us to keep working.

I have been a small independent contractor for a long time, it's given me the freedom to pursue my outdoor activities, create economy in our system and stay viable in society. Lots of ups and downs but I wouldn't trade it for a secure 9 to 5 job and the 'I'll wait till I'm retired' to do stuff.

I'm still viable on the jobsite so I'll stay for now.

Kent

Retired at 51. Best thing I ever did. Worked part time for a few years after that but nothing serious. Don't miss it a bit.

I’m glad I retired when I did at 52 and got to do lots more stuff before I had to become a caregiver at 56. It got more involved and complex by 58. As many here know, I still try to make the time to do stuff but it has become greatly impaired.

If my health holds out and I don't get fired in the meantime, I plan on working another ten or eleven years. Need to start doing some retirement planning, buying those lottery tickets.

Retired at 57, under a 30 and out rule,( worked 31), wife got a nice buy out 2 years later (also 57)
Been retired now for 18 years, good health helps a lot along with a good marriage (53 years).
Between pensions and SS our income is more than needed, have a nice investment portfolio that's for our kids
Have everything I need or want, lifes good.
Retirement is working very well for us. :>)

With the pension you talk about, why not? Get something part time if you want to, but something fun. That way, you only have to work around your wife's vacation schedule, not try to fit two of them together. I semi-retired at 58. I work 12-18 hours a week at a gunshop. Keeps me busy, gives me spending money and I get great discounts on things that go bang.

After 34 years at the same compamy I retired in November at 62. The lack of stress now feels like a ton of weight off by shoulders. I probably hung on too long but I thought the money was too good to walk away from. I haven't missed it one bit. I miss most of the people I worked with, you can't help that after all that time. I just don't miss "it". Life is good.

I thought I "retired" ten years ago.

We downshifted at 40 and moved west so we could take advantage of weekends in the mountains, short trips to lots of cool places, over-the-counter tags for things like elk and easy-draw forantelope, and drive-to vacations in the mountains, all of which outweighed the money left on the table. It also was a great place to raise a child, who now thanks us for moving. The mountains don't get easier to negotiate as we age. Now, I am semi-retired and will go another couple of years until my wife is ready to retire. We are happy with the choices we made.

I'm 67 and retired when I turned 60.

This last seven years have been the GREATEST time of my life!

All three of my Mom's brothers passed in there 50's

I wanted some "time off" before I kicked the bucket.

Looks like I made it just fine! If I die tomorrow, I'll die happy!

Virgil B.

If there is I didn’t know about it.

I retired after a little over 30 years policing at age 51. I worked a couple part time jobs for almost 14 years -- a couple days a week. The policing pension brought with it a great paid up benefit package which certainly helped. I'll turn 70 this fall, Lord willing.

Nothing bad to say about retiring.

I've met a few (very few) people who really love their jobs but most of the time, it's just them meaning that they've made bad choices over the years and can't afford to retire or their job is their entire life and they have no hobbies.

Keith, I was thinking about you, and your lovely wife yesterday. That railing your father-in-law made for you in the house on Thunder Lake road. Did you have to leave that, or could you use it in the new house?

It's still at Thunder Lake, but we had a new one built in Austin. A bit chilly on the deck right now, tho.

Just figured out you meant the railing between the dining room and sitting room. No steps in the new mansion, so no place for it.

^^^^^^^^^^
This
Be careful, #2 took a small fortune. I'll have to work at least one more year. Add

I quit punching clock at 53 and still took years to not fill lost , you have to train yourself to not feel guilty when you retire young. I took over family ranch 10 years ago and will work to build it up until I die, it's hard to feel free and retired in a city.Robert

I'm nearly in your shoes... Wife's ten years younger, and will retire in four years.. I'm still working (80%) at 71, but when my license runs out on June 30, 2022 I'm hanging it up..

Time to enjoy what little life might be left.. But I cannot complain - I'm very healthy, still travel at times and have the means to do a lot more.. Life's been good.

I was looking at my retirement options. As it is I could retire at 65. I was thinking that even if I did retire I would get a job of some kind. At 66 and 10 months I can draw Social Security and what I make will not be counted against it. Once I retire that social security will be wiped out by WEP.

So I was thinking I defiantly want out of custody. I was thinking I would go to the maintenance department. Lower pay, but the SS would more than make up for that.

What is WEP?

I'm afraid to retire (again) tried it for about ten months after the Navy and I missed not having a "compass"... I expect I'll do it before too long, though. I'm 65

Windfall. My state pension is a windfall. I would only receive about $200 SS.

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/wep-chart.html

Getting close. Will be 61 this summer, and plan to farm for a few more seasons.

Just put an offer in on a little piece of heaven on the Middle Clearwater in Idaho.

I got lucky in my profession, and did a lot of the stuff I'd always wanted to do as part of my job of freelance writer, including hunting in 14 countries other than the U.S. There was also a lot of ancillary travel--much of which my wife also got to do as well, partly because she's also a freelance writer, though a few years she added book publishing. Often we'd take an extra few days before or after the hunting to do some more standard "vacation" stuff.

Neither one of us plans to ever totally retire--partly because we like what we do. One advantage of freelancing is you can cut back instead of quitting. In fact, we joke that I'm "semi-retired" now, since I dropped one of my my freelance markets after starting Social Security last year, since SS paid as well.

We traveled enough to grow wearier of airports as they became more hassle after 9/11, so now are sticking closer to home, anywhere it's a relatively easy drive. Are learning (or relearning) some nifty stuff about the West, and even our own little area.

Everyone I've ever worked with or known has done just that. Either them or their spouse seriously ill or dying within months. Most was needlessly... kids all grown, homes paid for, no real bills. Just waited too long.

Phil

My state pension will cause my SS to take a 468.00 a month hit because of the WEP. I’ll still get 1200.00 SS. That’s better than nothing. I would much rather have the state pension even if it is going to cause me to be subject to the WEP penalty. My pension will me more than twice max SS at age 66.

The WEP penalty is 468.00 or no more than half of your SS, so they won’t take it all.

OrangeOakie: I retired at age 50 and only wish I had retired when I first could have (age 46!).
I have been on warp speed (enjoying retirement to the max!) for almost 23 years now and still gettin after it.
My advice to anyone who can retire - DO SO, as soon as possible!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I retired at 50 to manage and liquidate my fathers estate , took three years to go through all his holdings . I have work as a consultant as much as I want to , but don't miss it at all .

I retired in 96 at age 46. Never regretted it. I taught college for a few years but gave that up once the excitement faded. For 20 years I've hunted, crappie fished, traveled, and played with grandkids. Would've changed a thing. For me, retiring young was my best decision. However, that may not work for some. Ymmv.

Wife retired at 51 I quit working full time at 50. After 31 years of working on heavy equipment the old body was telling me to get out or be a cripple. Now I contract as a pilot/ escort car for big loads and am enjoying that, have driven all the highways in the state from end to end several times but the scenery here never gets old. 63 now and enjoying life.

It doesn't take "age" to retire. It just takes "money."

It reads: "For roughly the first $10,000 in average annual earnings, the WEP reduces the replacement rate from 90 percent to as low as 40 percent, depending on years of coverage under Social Security; however, the reduction cannot exceed 50 percent of the amount of the pension received from noncovered employment."

50% of my state pension will far exceed my social security.

Why, it's like being on vacation every day. Its wonderful.

I’ll not argue that time off while employed takes more deliberation and effort than when retired, but I will argue that many, if not most, people will not take significant unpaid time off. Either because they are ensnared by a mountain off debt, or by some personal or cultural belief that there’s something wrong with taking time off. In most jobs and businesses, there’s a slack time where you wouldn’t be missed for a week here or there.

So, where have you been catching those crappie?,

If I formally retired - I figure ""The Warden" would plant a 38 wadcutter in my forehead after about a week. (I can be a pest, I've been told)
I thoroughly enjoy what I do, however - especially at the ranch.

Retired at 73. I loved my work. At 80 I no longer consider going back. Living on SS and a modest retirement income. 80, no meds, 55 years married, big grin.

Force medical retirement @60 and broke. Not too bad though.

My wife thought she would work until 70 years old and live to be 100.
Wrong! She died of breast cancer in 2011. Age 55.
I was able to get Social Security at age 60.
Luckily my house was paid for and no debt.
Not quite what we had when she was working but you adapt. Neither of us had life insurance or a pension. I may never make it to Alaska to a Brown
Bear hunt but I did shoot barren ground
caribou.
Maybe I could hunt some feral pigs?
whelennut

No meds at 80? A marriage of 55 years? Loved your work?

You are a blessed man.

My father in law is 87, on no meds. Married 70 years in Sept.

Four more winters and I’m done. Hoping I can physically do four more. I measure years by winters, brutal 4 months doing what I do. Will put me right at 58. Should be fine financially using what we’ve saved in 401’s, 457’s, Roth’s, and IRA’s.

My plan was to be gone at 55. Ambitious plan with 3 kids. College and weddings and the unexpected expenses they bring going to cost me a couple more years.

No plans after though I know I’ll be into something. Not working will take awhile getting use to.

Rob

I was gonna be retired 6 weeks before my 48th birthday. Was............

Then the fuggin gangster's union went and bankrupted our region's retirement plan amidst the best economy in anyone's memory........... So, retirement ?? Never. Burn in hell, Teamster pension managers..............

That is sorry

Union Yes

Every time I see one of those bumper stickers I wanna kick a quarter panel in.

😠😠😠😠😠

I’ve been retired since 65 and the past 5 years has been as busy as when I was working. I have a good income stream and the wife and I are building a second home that may become our first home soon. That has kept me busy. Got to finish that by October or my hunts may be in jeopardy.....

I retired at 51, 23 years ago. I have never had any regrets. Everyone's situation is different. Near the end of life most people say they wish they would have spent more time with their family, more time traveling, camping, fishing or what ever. Never heard anyone say, I wish I could have spent more time at the job I had.

Not strictly about retirement but about travel. Many years ago, I had a stint as an engineer in the Merchant Marine. I traveled to about 30 different countries, and it was the most exciting time of my life. It was during a time that everyone wanted to talk to me because I was an American - (I watched Ronald Reagan be inaugurated in a dive bar in Africa). Being mostly on tramp steamers, the ports I visited were certainly not tourist destinations. The experience made me appreciate the United States, and the best feeling in the world was seeing Ambrose Light in the distance.
I strongly encourage traveling if you have the physical and financial means.

I'm done full time in exactly 2 months. Will work for the employer part time as needed until our asphalt construction backlog is cleared up. I have never minded working in my life, but the job part and the bs you have to deal with from the younger generation in management is enough to wanna make you stick your finger down your throat and ralf all over their shoes. F**KING PC a**hole bureaucrats. Yeah see you can tell I'm ready to go. Gonna reaqqaint myself with the walleyes, follow BP gong shoots around Mt and Wyo, put a new roof on my house, garden , bldg projects ,basically,hunt,shoot,fish and run my own schedule till I croak. On a daily basis the light in my tunnel is getting brighter and not because spring is getting closer . I know I ain't going to go through withdrawl from working a job either. MAGNUM_BOB

We retired 7 years ago (me at 71 - my wife at 69) and have regretted it ever since. We both enjoyed our jobs and feel something lacking now. I work at a golf course and enjoy the comradeship of a dozen other retired guys and, my wife is President of a non-profit organization. We sorely miss responsible jobs in which we had significant says in policy and operations. Before anyone retires, they need to be sure what's under the plank before they jump.

Dave Skinner: Sheesh man expand your horizons (get outa the house!)!
I have at least 10 major hobbies that require every bit of my "retired early, time"!
And have been enjoying them "full-time" for 23 years now (since I retired).
If you have nothing to do but work that's your choice (and a poor one I might opine!). I can NOT recommend to you strongly enough how wonderful my retirement is/has been!
Try it - you'll like it.
Life is just to short to work until death.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

In no particular order

- More woodworking and building some more small boats
- Flying (next a floatplane and glider rating)
- Shooting / reloading
- Gardening
- Fishing of all sorts (and we'll be living on a lake)
- Some model airplane stuff both flying and plastic
- Another puppy and training her to be a bird dog
- Get back to doing some brewing
- Getting to know a new area and friends (as we're moving from MD)
- Get better at some cooking gaps I have (like bread baking)
- Build some more muzzleloaders
- Lots of skeet and sporting clays
- Some EAA Volunteer work
- Restore my Uncles 52 Ford F1

Yes, retirement will be awful.

Pugs.........
Hiking! It's required here.

Comes with the dog! And of course skiing again.

I was 56 when we retired. That was 19 years ago. Makes me 75 and feeling like 45. We had absolutely no debt. Everything was paid for, kids got through college, life is good. Grandkids are truly fun!

I'd really like to buy a new Mustang, like the "Shelby GT500". I read the specs on it in Motor Trends last issue. What do you think?

I sold out my Company that I built over 19 years at age 42, for more money than I'd ever dreamed of. Part of the deal was a 3 year non-compete.
At the end of the non-compete I held an auction and finally took a position as a senior VP at a fortune 500 company that I held for 10 years, then retired for good at age 55.
That was near 4 years ago, and I've absolutely loved every minute since, including the time spent "working" on a consulting basis...LIFE IS GOOD...

Buy it or leave it to your kids...

So you miss being a boss...that's sad.

I’ll have to work a half day before my funeral maybe even moonlighting as my own gravedigger

I’ll retire when a whole week goes by without someone asking me when I’m retiring!

On the cusp of financially ready (well assuming stablizes :-) ). My issue is two-fold:

1) Health insurance, I'm about to turn 56, company will cover 50% health insurance for me and wife until we are medicare eligible if I hang on til 58.
2) Fear of long term running out of money

Kids are grown/married, first grand-baby due in 9 days. We are in WY where our goal had always been retire in the Rockies somewhere. Want to make sure we have the cash flow to do what we want and fly back to NH whenever we want. Plus travel a bit.

I don't see "retirement" as "stop working", just change working to something part time and fun to help me stay busy while I figure out how to be retired.

Medicare may have more money if this virus kills us old folks off.