What if it's just another whim?

[martyp]

I ER'd last December. I have no regrets. I did have some doubts because I was typically one of those people anxious to get back to work after 3 weeks of vacation. I was concerned that by the end of January I would be bored. Nope. Didn't happen. Then I thought that I would be bored at the end of 6 months after completing most of my after retirement to do list. Nope. I had a life outside of work and I'm happy to be living it.

 

[Walt34]

Has anyone ever had any regrets?

No regrets on retiring when I did. I went out at the top of my game and while I enjoyed the work itself, other issues (DC area traffic and bureaucratic BS topped the list). I was very careful to make sure the numbers worked and there were no surprises there, but I didn't plan on what to to do with me. That was a mistake.

The first year was an extended vacation along with a new house and learning a new area, and then I started looking for "projects" but didn't want to commit to a job, and found that in helping a friend build an airplane. That was a neat thing to see go from a skeleton to a finished airplane.

On a whim I applied for a job nearby and to my surprise was hired. I went in with my KMA hat* firmly in place but so far it's working out all right. All the others are also retired law enforcement types so the threshold for BS is low and management knows it, I get days off when I want, there's little paperwork and of course the unplanned-for extra discretionary income is always nice.

So for now I'm renewing an interest in photography and learning a lot about that - start two classes next week that I'm looking forward to.

YMMV.

 

[Katsmeow]

I'm within a few months of retiring but, as I get closer to the date, I'm beginning to doubt the wisdom of ER.

I'm a creature of impulse (sort of). I get an idea about something, and that's all I can think of for months. Then I do it - get it out of my system - and lose all enthusiasm for the idea.

....

So, what if ER is another one of these whims? I've been thinking about it and planning it for years. But what if it's just another RV dream?

FWIW, it may help to adjust your thinking on these kinds of things rather than thinking of them as whims. I often tend to get interested in something and immerse myself in it and then I'm done with it and it often has little (if any) interest to me at all. I once thought that this was a weakness because I didn't stick with things.

Yet, over the years, I've come to think of it as a strength. I see it as learning something -- to whatever degree I decide to learn it -- and then I don't need to do any more with it. I enjoyed it and had pleasure from it and now it is time to go on to something else. Because of these kinds of things I have a wide amount of knowledge about a lot of very diverse things which has often been helpful to me.

I have learned to be cautious about throwing serious amounts of money into things that I may not want to stick with for the long term. Some years ago I became interested in sewing and machine embroidery. I had no experience with others. I bought the most advanced consumer machine of the day and all the software and educated myself all about it. I had a web site where people could post or download designs. I was even the owner of the most active mailing list on the subject (averaging several hundred messages a day). I was a well known person in the community spending hours every day running the mailing list, keeping up the website, emailing many people in the community, getting involved in communications between the manufacturer and users, etc. I easily spent about $10,000 on paraphernalia. What I wasn't doing was much sewing or embroidery as I found I liked looking at it and talking about much more than doing it. And, eventually, I shocked everyone by selling everything and quitting.

Anyway....about ER.

I was going to ER last year but my boss prevailed on me to stay part-time which has worked out well (working 1 or 2 days a week). I will at some point fully retire of course. I do realize that I may at some point decide I don't like being retired (I seriously doubt it but it could happen). I sort of feel that if so I could find something else to do. It might not be as good as the job I had but so what? I wouldn't really need the income so I could do something entirely new or even volunteer or find some other regular activity.