How old are you?

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by bbbamI

I used to be in the 40-49...but 2 weeks ago I turned fffifty.

Congratulations! I'm 59 and a half, so I am in the same age group as you. Honestly, my 50's have been the best decade of my life. They are WAY under-rated! Hope yours are terrific as well.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa

I'm 58 til March. Not long ago, I went jogging with my 32 year-old son. We kid around with one another often, part of the patter. When we were done, he said, "Not bad, Dad, considering you're pushing 60."

well, when you hit 60 just tell people you're nearly in your 50s.

i'm nearly in my 40s & i'm gonna be here for about the next 10 years.

[fisherman]

One 40ish member who will not be at work in 17 more days!

[Darryl]

Congratulations Fisherman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bbbamI]

Originally Posted by Want2retire

Congratulations! I'm 59 and a half, so I am in the same age group as you. Honestly, my 50's have been the best decade of my life. They are WAY under-rated! Hope yours are terrific as well.

Thank you...I really appreciate that!

I have to be honest that the idea of being 50 bothered me. I was kind of down about it and DH wanted to make me feel better. So....he e-mailed my old work buddies and told them about the "special" day. I got 7 or 8 calls that day singing the happy birthday song and the question, "well, how does it feel to be 50?" I also got a dozen or so e-mails with condolences on this "milestone."

Guess I can't lie about my age now, huh?

That day I heard from people that I haven't talked to in years. I laughed all day. It felt good.

[Sue J]

I'm 52. Turning 50 hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't believe it was really happening to ME. I wanted no party, no gifts, no cards from the old fogeys section. I just wallowed in denial for a while.

After that, 51 and 52 were a breeze.

[Goonie]

Originally Posted by mountaintosea

And just as an aside, no 70-80 in sight yet? Does that mean that they (like my parents) refuse to enter this brave new world called the Internet?

Heck no! My Mom is 80, and spends time surfing and emailing friends and family every day.....well, actually every night. She gets online about midnight for an hour or two, before she hits the pillows.

Most of her friends, who are also roughly her age...or older....are web surfers too. She has a hand full of friends that aren't online, but that's a very small minority!

She and my Dad started out with the TSR-80's in the late 1970's, starting with the Model 1 and working there way up. From there it was on to Commodore's....she still goes on about how much she liked their old Commodore 64, and wishes she had it back. Then they got their 1st IBM 286, then up to a 386sx, (now a Pentium AND a laptop for travel). Then the internet came home....first Juno dial-up.....now 6.0Mbps DSL.

Besides emailing & surfing, she pays her bills, orders her meds, does her banking, and makes investments online. She's one hi-tech 80 year old Granny!

[Want2retire]

Goonie, that is great! My mother, who would be 98 had she not passed away a couple of months ago, was reasonably computer literate (for her age) back in the 1980's and 1990's. She used to track her investments in Excel, and we would e-mail back and forth every day. Whenever one of us visited her, we would clean the spam out of her e-mail account for her since she had a tendency to just leave it there.

She was not as computer literate as your mother, though. I don't think my mother ever got to the point of paying her bills online or surfing the net on her own, though she thought it was interesting. I think she felt a little intimidated by the WWW and was afraid of picking up a computer virus. She was great at using Excel, though.

During the past few years she was nearly blind and could not continue with the e-mails. My brothers fixed her up with all sorts of technology to deal with it, but eventually she had to have someone handwrite snailmail letters for her, instead. Oh, well!

I am 59, and I feel that while people younger than me are usually computer literate, people older than me often aren't or at least have some difficulties with computers. There are exceptions, of course, including my two older brothers whose careers were founded on their computer/programming skills as was mine.

I can relate to those who have such difficulties. I feel the same way about cell phones! I am trying HARD to push myself beyond that mental barrier so that I not only pay for my cell phone, but actually carry it with me at times. It's tough when you grew up in an era when phones were black, wired, and on a phone table in the entry hall.

[tightasadrum]

Rich, why are you doing this? I'm reminded enough of my age as it is, usually when I get out of bed in the morning. As a 40-something trapped in a 61YO frame, I look at my friends from my youth and wonder what's happened to them, so grey, so wrinkled, so...old looking. Maybe they didn't take care of themselves. Glad I don't look that way.

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by Sue J

I'm 52. Turning 50 hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't believe it was really happening to ME. I wanted no party, no gifts, no cards from the old fogeys section. I just wallowed in denial for a while.

After that, 51 and 52 were a breeze.

I turned 50 just as I was newly divorced. That was scary! But I needn't have been concerned. My fifties have been wonderful, and have made up for all the BS I endured during my first half century of life.

I hope my sixties are at least half as much fun. I turn 60 next June, and that thought is pretty unnerving as well. 60 sounds.... old!

[Rich_in_Tampa]

Originally Posted by tightasadrum

Rich, why are you doing this? I'm reminded enough of my age as it is, usually when I get out of bed in the morning. As a 40-something trapped in a 61YO frame, I look at my friends from my youth and wonder what's happened to them, so grey, so wrinkled, so...old looking. Maybe they didn't take care of themselves. Glad I don't look that way.

Painful, huh?

Went to my high school reunion a few months ago (40th) and also noted how old my classmates were. At 35 or so, I noticed how young professional athletes were becoming. When my kids had kids, I marvelled at how that could possibly be happening to my kids. Of course, none of that was related to me (I stay the same).

As I now approach my final year of being in my 50s, I seem to have come to some kind of adjustment. No arguing that the 60s decade is a milestone widely perceived as senior=old=emeritus. I think it's about attitude and good health.

[tightasadrum]

On my 60th birthday, DW hosted a party for me at our new home. She invited old high school friends, former work associates, my choir buddlies, Sunday School class, former neighbors and other miscellaneous friends around the area. It was the quickest four hours I can remember. I never sat down. I don't know if I ever finished the beer I started. Somehow it made the big "six-o" far easier to swallow.

Rich, I recommend you have a party or do something. Celebrate!!

[Dawg54]

Originally Posted by Janet H

I am 29, blond, thin and independently wealthy - how about the rest of you?

OK, OK - I'll vote...

Can I buy you a cup of coffee?

53 here.

[Moemg]

Just turned 60 and I can't believe it .I don't feel any older .I thought by this age I'd be wearing sensible shoes with matching bags .Did not happen !

[kcowan]

I think the lack of 70+ here might be related to their level of interest in the topic of early retirement.

Have you noticed how the press report people as elderly when they pass 60? I always thought of elderly as a state of mind not a state of age. But what do reporters know anyway?

[REWahoo]

Originally Posted by kcowan

I think the lack of 70+ here might be related to their level of interest in the topic of early retirement.

Let's hope that's the case rather than a couple of other possibilities:

- no longer mentally competent enough to participate on a discussion forum
- dead

REW, 62 next week

[Martha]

Originally Posted by REWahoo

Let's hope that's the case rather than a couple of other possibilities:

- no longer mentally competent enough to participate on a discussion forum
- dead

REW, 62 next week

Well, if this won't get Jarhead and Charlie out of retirement from the board, nothing will.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by REWahoo

REW, 62 next week

Feeling a little introspective? Hey, when I'm your age I hope I'm as young as you are.

As the golf courses brace for winter rules I was kinda hoping that Jarhead would be back by now, but he's probably spending all his time refining his technique with a Wii golf game.

Besides, Chris Crowley promises that if we quit eating crap and exercise every day then we'll be "Younger Next Year". I'm looking up to guys like you to let me know if that's a lifestyle worth pursuing!