I am a 51 year-old female, and thinking about retirement for the last 10 years. When I was younger, I really liked my job. As I get older I just do not have energy to continue. Financially, my house (~$300K) will be paid off in a year. I own another house (~$300K, paid off) which brings in $1200/mo and various accounts (total ~$500,000.) In my calculation, this is barely enough.
My concern is that my life (friends, activities etc) is so closely tied to work that I am afraid to miss them all. I play piano. I have a dog. I volunteer weekly at soup kitchen. But they are not my passion. I took dance classes, knitting classes etc but did not enjoy. Money is of course a concern. In this economic climate, I do not think I can get my job back once I leave. But then even if I stay, I do not know how long I can hang on to it.
How do you decide when to retire? Some say "retire into something". Do you wait until you find one or things come to you once you retire?
Well, barely enough sounds like enough to me.
Have you taken the time to really figure out how much you anticipate pending in retirement? How much does it cost you to go to work? How much are you now contributing to your savings and will you need to continue that? Will you be downsizing your house, car, etc.? My favorite read on that subject is "Your Money or Your Life" You may find out you will spend much less. Of course, if your passion turns out to be extensive travel or collecting vintage sports cars, you might spend more.
One thing to keep in mind is that although we tend to have lots of opinions confidently expressed, they are not necessarily worth much to you or any other individual.
Listen most carefully to your own inner self, unless of course some glaring financial hole in your proposed program was discovered.
Ha
I totally agree. Only you know what you want your retirement to be. It can be scary, but not like really scary. Where there is a will, there is a way. I would suggest you might want to look inside yourself and think about what it is you really want to do with your life, even if what comes to mind seems crazy or impossible. We all get programmed into a certain lifestyle and our upbringing, friends, culture, etc. all conspire to kind of keep us in a box. My favorite read on that is " How to
Retire Happy,
Wild, and
Free".
I've noticed over the years on the forum and after my own retirement that what people do is all over the map.
Some are loathe to ever be committed to ever having to show up for work on time ever again. That's where I was for the first few years. For a guy who started working mowing lawns at age 13 the novelty of "Wow, all I have to do is keep breathing and they send me money every month!" was euphoric.
Some already had a long list of "stuff to do" and were chomping at the bit to get to it.
Some planned from the outset to either change careers, work part time at something entirely different, or just take up space.
Some are more laid-back and just thought "I'll figure it out when I get there" and I suppose that's about where I was. The first year and a half or so was just a long vacation and DW and I both had a hazy notion of getting part time jobs. Eventually.
The point is, there is nothing "wrong" with any of those options or any other option. Do what fits you. But have faith that you'll find it.
Even in retirement people tend to want to build little boxes to dwell in and sort others into. On another forum there was a discussion about what retirement really was. One guy in particular insisted that if you worked for money, you weren't retired. I countered that what if your dream was to retire and open a bistro, you worked 80 hours a week and loved every minute of it and you barely made any money because that wasn't the point. He said no, you wouldn't be retired.
I say that only to point out that on forums, or talking with your friends, family and coworkers, be wary of people telling you what you should do or shouldn't do. I read a lot of blogs written by full-time RVers and many of them talk about how their kids and friends are horrified by the prospect of chucking it all and living in an RV. Obviously, they all did it anyway. You need to do what's right for you. If people tell you getting a job in retirement or living in an RV or on a sailboat, for instance, means you're not retired, ignore them. Do what's right for your. You get one life, make the most of it by pursuing your dreams no matter what other people think.
