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I’m retired and very happy!
Old 04-23-2014, 07:16 PM   #1
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I’m retired and very happy!

I was laid off about 5 years ago at age 62 and just decided I didn’t need to work anymore, so I haven’t. I should have retired much earlier, but just didn’t know exactly how much I had in assets – lesson learned - know what you have and track it. Since then we moved to the Texas Gulf Coast, bought and paid for our house, got involved in the local activities. I took up saltwater fishing and wood carving along with maintenance activities. DW took up Master Gardening and Master Naturalist studies and recently became a volunteer for the Padre Island Turtle Watch to save the eggs of the turtles coming onshore to lay their eggs. My saying is that if you’re bored when you’re retired, it’s because you want to be bored because there are a myriad of activities and interests to keep you busy.

When I was in college I had it figured out I could retire by age 44 with no trouble, and then life intervened. Got married, had two boys, became a contract engineer who followed contracts around the country, got the kids through college, and finally really started saving for retirement.

I can learn from everyone here and maybe give the kids a course correction at the appropriate time. I look forward to going through all the posts!
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Old 04-23-2014, 07:24 PM   #2
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Impossible. We know you must be bored and poverty stricken. We read it on the internet.
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Old 04-23-2014, 10:48 PM   #3
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Welcome Joggernot. Glad to see retirement is working out well and you are NOT bored. Red drum are legendary on the TX Gulf coast.
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Old 04-24-2014, 06:06 AM   #4
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Thanks for the welcome. Yes, I read that I was to be bored, poverty stricken, and sit all day watching TV. Cancelled the cable tv, and found other things to do. Red drum (redfish) are excellent, black drum are excellent, and a bunch of other things we catch down here.
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Old 04-24-2014, 08:17 AM   #5
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You sound like you will do well as a retired guy. Congratulations.


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Old 04-24-2014, 08:19 AM   #6
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Congrats on your retirement! If you find a way to fit in more activities during the day, let me know. It's great to have so many interests and not enough time to do them all :-)
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Old 04-24-2014, 05:52 PM   #7
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This is some of what I do with wood carving. These occupy my "spare" time
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Old 04-24-2014, 07:26 PM   #8
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Thanks for the welcome. Yes, I read that I was to be bored, poverty stricken, and sit all day watching TV. Cancelled the cable tv, and found other things to do. Red drum (redfish) are excellent, black drum are excellent, and a bunch of other things we catch down here.
Congratulations! My wife caught her first redfish today, and she was VERY happy.

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Old 04-25-2014, 06:08 AM   #9
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This is some of what I do with wood carving. These occupy my "spare" time
Impressive! Wood carving is not an ability I have but I appreciate the work involved. I especially like the dragon.
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Old 04-25-2014, 02:14 PM   #10
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Joggernot, you have the right attitude.

Those people who think we will be bored, irritable, lonely and just die young because we retire don't know what they are talking about.

Today, I framed two photos from last year's vacations (note the plural in vacations!) Installed a CO2 detector, started the first phase of this year's her garden, made plans to meet a friend for coffee on Saturday (he still works, poor soul), and read the newspaper while slurping down an extra cup of diabetes preventing coffee.

Sure beats working!
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Old 04-29-2014, 06:50 PM   #11
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I was laid off about 5 years ago at age 62 and just decided I didn’t need to work anymore, so I haven’t. I should have retired much earlier, but just didn’t know exactly how much I had in assets – lesson learned - know what you have and track it.
While hindsight is 20/20, it sounds like getting let go was the best thing that ever happened to you!

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My saying is that if you’re bored when you’re retired, it’s because you want to be bored because there are a myriad of activities and interests to keep you busy.
Amen!

I suspect that most of the people who have difficulty in retirement were previously so consumed by their jobs that they had made no time to develop or indulge other interests. It's hardly surprising that they have problems without the routine of paid employment; but whose fault is that?
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Old 04-29-2014, 11:02 PM   #12
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Nice carvings! It's great that you having a good time after the trauma of a layoff. Living well and happily is a great way of making lemonade out of lemons. People who don't know what to do with themselves after they retire are sadly lacking in imagination.
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Old 04-30-2014, 08:02 AM   #13
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Joggernot, you have the right attitude.

Those people who think we will be bored, irritable, lonely and just die young because we retire don't know what they are talking about.

Today, I framed two photos from last year's vacations (note the plural in vacations!) Installed a CO2 detector, started the first phase of this year's her garden, made plans to meet a friend for coffee on Saturday (he still works, poor soul), and read the newspaper while slurping down an extra cup of diabetes preventing coffee.

Sure beats working!
That's about it. Already started carving a small "hobbit house" and cleaned and maintained the "water feature" out front. Now for some more coffee and a good book for a while. This afternoon looks like the perfect afternoon for riding the motorcycle around Texas to see places I haven't seen before. Guess I won't be bored today... Guess I'll have to be bored tomorrow, if something doesn't come up

Thanks for the encouragement on carving. It's something I have enjoyed since grade school off and on, and now I have the time to try many more things.
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Old 04-30-2014, 03:45 PM   #14
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I love these "happy endings" stories. They inspire me. The wood carvings are great ! I love the big eye big lip fish trophy !
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Old 04-30-2014, 06:53 PM   #15
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Well done. Beware of spring break.
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Old 05-01-2014, 11:43 AM   #16
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I love these "happy endings" stories. They inspire me. The wood carvings are great ! I love the big eye big lip fish trophy !
I made the dragon for a grandson. The fish was made for my son who suffered the loss of "a big one". This became his mounted trophy fish in his "man room" (read basement).

Spring break down here is family oriented, so nothing like you see on TV. Families playing on the beach; BBQ and grilling; and fishing. In the five years I've been here I've only seen one "party boat" and it was labeled as "party boat" and not getting any takers. They didn't show up the next year.
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Old 05-05-2014, 01:17 PM   #17
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Congrats and keep up the good "work"! Nie carvings!
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