Ready to retire - looking for inspiration

[bonvoyage]

My wife and I (both mid 50s) are both working in relatively high paying jobs near New York. Financially, we are more than well set. For years we have mostly lived on one paycheck and saved most of the rest. I'm really ready to quit but my wife is very happy in her job. I'm planning to quit by next year and my wife is fully supportive. I have no problems at all

I have joined this forum to get my thoughts in order before making the big jump. Hopefully learn from those who have made the transition.

 

[joeea]

I'm really ready to quit but my wife is very happy in her job. I'm planning to quit by next year and my wife is fully supportive.

Sounds like a win-win!

So what are you planning to do when not working? It's better if you know what you want to do, versus only knowing what you don't want to do.

 

[bonvoyage]

My background is math/computer science/cognitive science (have a PhD in CS). I still really enjoy computing and math but I don't want to do it for anyone else anymore - I want to do stuff just for the fun of it. I have collected a small mountain of scientific books and academic papers that I am dying to read. My job leaves with very little time for study unfortunately. I'd also like to contribute to open source software.

My other hobby is model trains - a passion since childhood. I know - really geeky but that's what really makes me happy I'm planing to continue working on my home layout and also start a model railroad club in my town.

 

[albireo13]

That actually sounds cool. I would love to more reading and creative pursuits but will never have the time until I retire.
I cant wait to get back to some fun hobbies ...
buiding models, telescope making, and wood strip boat building

 

[HI Bill]

Welcome! Sounds like you'll be able to keep your mind busy in retirement!

 

[WestUniversity]

Welcome to the site! There are a ton of great resources at the first link below. At the second link is a list of great checklist about retirement in general...

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f47/

http://www.early-retirement.org/for...-answer-before-asking-can-i-retire-69999.html

 

[Souschef]

My other hobby is model trains - a passion since childhood. I know - really geeky but that's what really makes me happy I'm planing to continue working on my home layout and also start a model railroad club in my town.

I also had a hobby of model trains. However, I now volunteer at a railroad society and a tourist railroad. If there is one near you, and they are all over, look for them them.
Right now I am restoring a 23 tom switch engine. It is way more fun than the model trains.
If you PM me with your location, I will try to find one near you.

 

[bonvoyage]

Welcome! Sounds like you'll be able to keep your mind busy in retirement!

I have a dozen projects in mind to get started on after detoxing from my job. Truthfully, I have to admit that my mind is definitely not as quick as it was when I was 18, but I think age has given me some compensations. I've been helping my older daughter (a junior in college) with some computer science and found it quite enjoyable so I'm now thinking of some teaching work perhaps

 

[bonvoyage]

I also had a hobby of model trains. However, I now volunteer at a railroad society and a tourist railroad. If there is one near you, and they are all over, look for them them.
Right now I am restoring a 23 tom switch engine. It is way more fun than the model trains.
If you PM me with your location, I will try to find one near you.

That's a good suggestion and will keep that in mind.

 

[Bamaman]

My first 10 years after retirement, it was like I was a moving company. Parents and aunts had to close down their homes and move into assisted living and then into nursing homes before passing. Move, move move. Then we'd have to liquidate their real estate and furniture. We'd pick over the good stuff, hold garage sales and then give away what's left.

At the same time, I helped build homes for tornado victims and church camps. Our church has a part time construction operation with in house architects, electrical engineers, framing carpenters and a bunch of grunts like me with strong backs.

I'm just glad others have good clean hobbies like model trains. I've known some retirees with incredible train setups--including my uncle who willed all his train paraphernalia to the local railroad museum.

 

[brucethebroker]

Welcome.
I know a couple of men who semi-retired (now self employed PT) to get out of the rat race. Both of their wives still work full time due to high job satisfaction. It has worked out well for both.

My friend collects toy trains and enjoys buying used, broken pieces and repairing them. Nice hobby.

 

[BigNick]

Don't worry about retiring before your partner. I retired in 2012 aged 51 while DW continued to work. Since then I have completed a Masters degree and am most of a way through a PhD, and she has come home every weekday evening to enjoy dinner prepared by the better cook of the two of us.

In the meantime, our mutual employer has been going slowly downhill which would have affected me (in HR) a lot more than it has affected DW. Plus I've had a couple of hospital stays, from which I returned not having to face a big backlog of w*rk-related e-mails.

DW retires in two months and we're planning lots of travel, both together and independently. We still get on great after 31 years, but rattling around in the same house together every day might not be the best way to spend our time.

 

[bonvoyage]

Welcome.
I know a couple of men who semi-retired (now self employed PT) to get out of the rat race. Both of their wives still work full time due to high job satisfaction. It has worked out well for both.

My friend collects toy trains and enjoys buying used, broken pieces and repairing them. Nice hobby.

After spending all day working on computers and abstract stuff, there's nothing more satisfying than going to my basement and running the trains for a bit.

Its not a super expensive hobby either - definitely cheaper than say astronomy. I gasped when I saw the prices for good optical stuff. I have already collected a fair bit and just want to spend my time playing with what I already have.

 

[bonvoyage]

Don't worry about retiring before your partner. I retired in 2012 aged 51 while DW continued to work. Since then I have completed a Masters degree and am most of a way through a PhD, and she has come home every weekday evening to enjoy dinner prepared by the better cook of the two of us.

I had a chuckle when I read this. Right after we got married, I discovered that my wife had no interest in grocery shopping or cooking. So, for the past 30 years, I've done most of the cooking in our household. My daughters, when they were young, would get surprised when they went to friends' homes found the mothers doing the cooking

 

[street]

I like your plan and retiring to something is very important in my opinion. I have known people I worked with that retired and just sat and seemed content but found out years later they were miserable. Good luck.

 

[Bir48die]

I see no issue with you retiring and your wife working. It all comes down to division of labor. Not sure how you two handle tasks but if you can pick up much of the slack then generally there is no issue.

My wife retired eight years before I did. She has a pension so that helped immensely. She was glad to do most of the cooking and keep up the house while I jaunted all over North America. After I retired we changed the routine to include myself into many of the tasks.

There is great opportunity to take classes, learn a language or volunteer one day a week/month at Habitat. If you have some skills then do a couple projects. Where I was concerned about abilities I just went to YouTube and my gosh they have everything under the sun.

Good luck with your decision and congratulations on saving for an early retirement.

 

[jt999]

Looking for inspiration?

If you're in the NY Tri-State area, you may have visited already...check out Northlandz. Pretty neat place in western NJ. You can check out the site for details.

They have one of the largest running train set ups in the US, possibly the world. Very unique place. I'm not a huge fan of trains and even I found it very interesting. Probably good to go early unless you're a big fan of kids...but it can be a kick to see them marvel at the set up.

 

[bonvoyage]

If you're in the NY Tri-State area, you may have visited already...check out Northlandz. Pretty neat place in western NJ. You can check out the site for details.

Thanks for the suggestion - I have indeed visited Northlandz. There are actually several big model railroad clubs in the area (Union and Carlstadt in NJ) in that I would like to join.

As a matter of fact I first got the idea of retiring early when I visited these club's open houses last year. I was wondering why I never have enough time to work on my hobby. Then, I started to look into our finances to see if I still needed to work and I'm finally getting convinced that I can - thanks to this forum.

 

[Souschef]

As a matter of fact I first got the idea of retiring early when I visited these club's open houses last year. I was wondering why I never have enough time to work on my hobby. Then, I started to look into our finances to see if I still needed to work and I'm finally getting convinced that I can - thanks to this forum.

I found some active railway museums for you
Black River & Western RR
Delaware River RR
NJ museum of Transportation
Whippany RR Museum.
Google them and see which ones are close to you

 

[brett]

If you are looking for inspiration perhaps you are not 'ready' for early retirement.

It is not for everyone. I believe that many people reach a stage in life when they know that they are ready for early retirement.

 

[HI Bill]

If you are looking for inspiration perhaps you are not 'ready' for early retirement.

It is not for everyone. I believe that many people reach a stage in life when they know that they are ready for early retirement.

...or it may be that the OP was so busy working, he never developed interests/hobbies outside of work. I've seen many folks who do nothing but work, and then have a difficult time transitioning to retirement. Those who already have a passion/main hobby have little difficulty.

My mom was kind of like this. Teaching was 95% of her life prior to retirement. Her teacher's sorority and church were her entire pass time in retirement. Although she had done a little art/painting prior to retirement, she just couldn't discard her teaching mentality. She kept on buying children's books and art supplies for her church, more than a decade after retirement. Moral is, explore now, find out what you like to do. Not just things to pass time, but something you can become passionate about.

After I graduated from college, I was jobless for the only 6 weeks in my adult life. I mountain biked, played golf, and watched movies. These weren't passions, or great hobbies, just ways to kill time. Later, I took up scuba diving, and then the remainder of my life has had a mostly singular purpose, at least until I was married in my late 40s.

 

[bonvoyage]

...or it may be that the OP was so busy working, he never developed interests/hobbies outside of work. I've seen many folks who do nothing but work, and then have a difficult time transitioning to retirement. Those who already have a passion/main hobby have little difficulty.

My mom was kind of like this. Teaching was 95% of her life prior to retirement. Her teacher's sorority and church were her entire pass time in retirement. Although she had done a little art/painting prior to retirement, she just couldn't discard her teaching mentality. She kept on buying children's books and art supplies for her church, more than a decade after retirement. Moral is, explore now, find out what you like to do. Not just things to pass time, but something you can become passionate about.

After I graduated from college, I was jobless for the only 6 weeks in my adult life. I mountain biked, played golf, and watched movies. These weren't passions, or great hobbies, just ways to kill time. Later, I took up scuba diving, and then the remainder of my life has had a mostly singular purpose, at least until I was married in my late 40s.

I have hobbies and interests - no problems in that department

It's just that the very concept of "Early Retirement" had never occurred to me until recently when I came across it by chance on Reddit. My current plan to quit by the middle of next year at the latest - if not sooner.

 

[FreeBear]

I have hobbies and interests - no problems in that department

It's just that the very concept of "Early Retirement" had never occurred to me until recently when I came across it by chance on Reddit. My current plan to quit by the middle of next year at the latest - if not sooner.

Yay!! The power of information...

 

[ER Eddie]

I'd suggest reading Ernie Zelinsky's "How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free." I've read it a couple of times and always found it inspirational. He has a great attitude and an easy, entertaining style of writing.

 

[tb001]

I have hobbies and interests - no problems in that department

It's just that the very concept of "Early Retirement" had never occurred to me until recently when I came across it by chance on Reddit. My current plan to quit by the middle of next year at the latest - if not sooner.

Ha! I honestly cannot even fathom how it didn’t occur to you...I think I’ve spent my entire life working with that goal in the back of my head.