Are you retired for good?

[kumquat]

I've only been RE for less than 3 weeks, but I might w*rk a bit under the right circumstances. That would be a SHORT (1 month or less) contract in an interesting place, sort of a paid holiday.

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo 100% card carrying Retired Person here.......no way would I ever go back to a job...real or unreal.

When I retired my Union gave me an official "Retired Union Member" card....so I, too, am a 100% card carrying Retired Person!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lancelot ER'd and NOT going back. Too many places to see

We've been laying out plans for our trips through December of 2008! There are soooo many places I want to go.....but I have to pace myself!

Quote:

Originally Posted by retire@40 ....There are ways to minimize that risk such as... .....Having a guaranteed COLAd pension

Even if all of the other pieces of my financial puzzle vaporize, I still have my cola'd pension supplying me with 87.5% of former salary! I think I'd be able to manage!

So, am I retired for good? Darn straight!!! Besides, I think I've already forgotten HOW to w*rk!!!

[CuppaJoe]

For a couple of decades between ages 28 and 48 I arranged my work so that I could take off four months a year. I remember flying back from Spain in ‘77 with only one month’s living expenses in my checking account and no job lined up. It was an insecure, highly rewarding lifestyle, but by no means retirement. During those years I enjoyed my work much much more because I (and it) never became stale. I remember some people I met on jobs who were putting in 10 years with a large company to get a pension, I guess I’m doing that now, in my way; been at the same job since 1993 and it is cool to see the KEOGH account grow as well as the IRA and taxable accounts.

But what about retirement is so very different from my day at work? I see all you guys and gals posting here, work does not stop me from doing that.... I get my errands done efficiently during the workday, order groceries on-line, etc. I’m just kidding! Give me the other side any day, in a heartbeat, as many of you say.

When I do cross that bridge into real retirement, I plan to not go back. But the statistics are interesting that so many do work in retirement. I can easily see that after a few weeks or months R&R, work isn’t as oppressive. FIREcalc and other calculators tell me I can retire soon and never look back, but the next step is to believe it and go ahead. Its not just about money.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy Does being retired 17 years qualify? We just make this look easy folks...... Billy RetireEarlyLifestyle.com

Hey writing books for cash must just be a paid hobby. That is one thing I might end up doing. Some internet cash game. But return to the rat race? Never!

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CuppaJoe I can easily see that after a few weeks or months R&R, work isn’t as oppressive.

*Snort*. Yeah, sure. Good luck with that.

Here's my take from just 61 months of experience. After a few weeks/months of R&R you'll find that you have absolutely zero residual tolerance for commuting, office attire, meetings, mandatory training, working lunches, performance assessments, career planning, refresher training, stretch goals, deadlines, HR, company-sponsored holiday socials, VIP tours, showing up 5x/week, working late, working weekends,... am I leaving anything out?

They were barely paying you enough to deal with that stuff when you were working. Once you've tasted the ER life, no one could pay you enough to go back!

I liked Kitty's thoughts upon hearing the exit door's cypher lock click shut behind her for the last time. At first it seemed to be shutting her out from a place where she'd spent a valuable & cherished part of her life. Upon further reflection she realized that it was just keeping her co-workers locked in...

[Dreamer]

I have been retired for a little over a year now and can't see myself working. However, I would never say never! Hopefully, that will never happen, unless I wanted it to happen! Besides, I don't have time to work!

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords *Snort*. Yeah, sure. Good luck with that. Here's my take from just 61 months of experience. After a few weeks/months of R&R you'll find that you have absolutely zero residual tolerance for commuting, office attire, meetings, mandatory training, working lunches, performance assessments, career planning, refresher training, stretch goals, deadlines, HR, company-sponsored holiday socials, VIP tours, showing up 5x/week, working late, working weekends,... am I leaving anything out?

But, but, Nords, I’m speaking of others and of my time way back when I didn’t have the cash for permanent retirement; I was young and could go back to work, all refreshed-like. Ha Ha! And over the years I was able to gravitate to a job that suited me well. I had a glimpse of my current job, and thought, "if I ever see a job opening like that, I will apply for it." Well it fell into my lap.

My boss also dislikes business lunches (isn’t that what the phone and e-mail are for?), we keep it to one or two business/social lunches a year with people we all like with minimal business chatter; after our last office move in ‘01 we went to office casual attire every day; the boss hasn’t bothered with a performance review in years; goes with the usual raise every January; doesn’t believe in working beyond 4:15 every day (although I stay until 4:50), we never work on weekends.

I can honestly say I like and respect my boss! People we do business with have asked if he is really as nice as he seems, emphatically, yes! One dreadful day, I had to go begging to a local govt. office for a huge favor, the powers that be there knew my boss, and said, "___ ___ is a fine gentleman...." Company-sponsored holiday socials have disappeared over the years, ; but I am looking forward to a bar mitzvah this weekend, its been about 2-1/2 years since the last event on my own time.

An old dream of mine was to work within walking distance of the job, I’ve been in such a location since 1994; the knees are good enough to walk only half way now but there are many interesting public transit options. Meetings? Meetings, I don’t go to no stinking meetings. But I do see clients which is a rewarding part of the job. Deadlines, no problem-o, boss is an early bird, timelines are reasonable. Mandatory training, huh? Career planning, what is that?, this is the end of the line.

Ok, Ok, "HR" is a downer, bosses’ wife (our HR-equivalent and bookkeeper) seems to be trying to find out if I will be leaving soon-–there’s a topic for a long thread, I try to keep ‘em guessing. ‘Um, refresher training, I do have to keep up with the current rules for conducting our business, but that is not too onerous. And Nords, you've really got me on "showing up 5X week" yick!

I will have to plan not to re-enter the work force because jobs like mine don’t exist.

I don’t mean to minimize anything you say here in your post, Nords, it’s absolutely true of large companies (I’ve worked in many various size companies, even among nuclear engineers). Glad you are free of all of that. Will join your ranks soonish.

[Khan]

From the Retire Early Home Page

Retire Early Home Page - An Error Has Occurred!

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan Retire Early Home Page - An Error Has Occurred!

Khan, for those of us who are no longer registered members there, can you give us an unregistered summary?

[aenlighten]

That means work I find stimulating and enjoy. It also means they would have to find me. There is no worse work under heaven than looking for it. There really seems to be a competition among employers on how they can turn their applicants into supplicants and how shoddily they can treat them to see if they come back asking for more. Having been out for several years now, it is unlikely I ever will. I don't mind. Looking back, one realizes how unimportant work really is.

[becca]

After being retired for six glorious years, if there was a financial disaster I would move to a trailer in the hills of West Virginia and eat dog food before going back to work.

[tangomonster]

But don't hold back, Becca---how do you really feel? Actually, I loved your reply and totally agree (although I would need to find an alternative to dog food, being a vegetarian!).

[Billy]

kumquat:

Quote:

I've only been RE for less than 3 weeks, but I might w*rk a bit under the right circumstances. That would be a SHORT (1 month or less) contract in an interesting place, sort of a paid holiday.

Check out our Retirement Jobs page: Relocation Retirement Jobs Community Service and click down to Back Door Jobs, Cool Works or Tropic Jobs. You might find something fun/interesting to do and enjoy yourself while making a buck or two! When you don't have to work, it can be fun!

Kcowan

Quote:

Hey writing books for cash must just be a paid hobby.

We write because we love it, and because we consider it to be a service; we put in measurable volunteer time. Don't forget, we were retired 15 years before our book came out... We enjoy this. Work was never a 4 letter word to us.

Be well,

Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement

[lazygood4nothinbum]

surprisingly even to myself, i would consider going back to work. is there a job where i can work in just my underwear, shave just once a week and have lots of personal contact with the public?

[megacorp-firee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum surprisingly even to myself, i would consider going back to work. is there a job where i can work in just my underwear, shave just once a week and have lots of personal contact with the public?

I think you described a runway model... although they may shave more often.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Khan, for those of us who are no longer registered members there, can you give us an unregistered summary?

Memoirs of a Meeting

Quote:

Today there was a meeting scheduled to run from 2pm - 4pm (never mind that many of us leave at 3 or 3:30); it lasted 'til 4:30. I did not know why I was there, I had no input. I had no idea what the acronyms meant. It reminded me of those dreams where one is scheduled to take a final exam for a class never attended; or maybe is trying to understand people who don't speak your (or each other's) language. The 'leader' has a voice set on '11', and gratingly ungrammatical (irregardless, I seen, had went). It went on and on and on. My blood sugar was dropping. I found myself experiencing fugue states, out of body experiences, hallucinations, terrorist fantasies. One of the hallucinations was seeing all the participants as chimpanzees; dressed in suits and shuffling papers, while baring their teeth and making pre-lingual noises. I half expected them to run around on all fours, grunting, and throwing papers into the air.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan Memoirs of a Meeting

Thanks!

Reminds me of the Monster.com "I work with a bunch of chimpanzees" commercials...

[JonnyM]

I've been ER'd for a bit over a year now, with that very desireable modest but guarranteed Cola'd Pension of about 30 percent of ending Salary.

As to going back, I basically arranged a trial PT job ( at least in my mind ) just before I left. The concept was while I still had some leverage, was reasonably well-liked and respected by people in power (medium large Agency 1000 plus employees), I would be "willing" to come back (after 4 months decompression) and work one day per week as a consultant and/or work special projects.

So after about 10 months (about 40 actual working days) I'm finding it quite bearable. I don't have to go to any far-reaching meetings as it's N/A I'm just not there enough for most meetings to be relevant. Deadlines aren't a factor as you can't assign me something that needs to be quickly achieved when I'm mostly just not there. Instead I've weaseled stuff I wanted to do before I left full-time-ness and after I'd become basically a Manager rather than a Hands-on Problem solver. I've slipped a bit sideways in the chain of command, I seem to partly work for my sucessor, and partly for his high level Manager, and they kind of each think the other is taking care of monitoring me. Meanwhile I do interesting things from my point of view, i.e. researching solutions, making recommendations, sharing my experiences with the youngsters, doing some needed repair work that doesn't have a deadline and therefore tends to fall thru the cracks and never quite get done, and all the while still receiving my peak ex-hourly rate including whatever Colas the "real" employees get along the way. I'm contributing in an effective way, with good kharma all around, but if it all goes away when the next big management shakeup occurs, It's all Good. My guess is the expiration date will at the latest be early 2009.

All that being said, there is likely no "other" job I'd ever take, other than maybe volunteering at the Library, somebody should really put all those books back up on the shelves...

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan Memoirs of a Meeting

I'm still at work and this is hysterically funny. Thanks for posting that, Khan. Nords' description of a typical day reminded me of two jobs I didn't take because they let me "test drive" them and I got the joy of attending their meetings. One was set as a breakfast mtg at 7:00 a.m. because everyone had full calendars (each hoping to be the only who didn't have to attend).

I actually like solving problems and the opportunity often presents itself because I rarely have the complete picture (could be because I don't attend mtgs?) For me its a game and work equals filling in the gaps only as far as needed....

[Billy]

lg4n

Quote:

surprisingly even to myself, i would consider going back to work. is there a job where i can work in just my underwear, shave just once a week and have lots of personal contact with the public?

I thought they called that 'working from home' or 'telecommuting'. So long as you have computer access you can have a good deal of 'personal' contact with the public, and who cares what you are (not) wearing?

Akaisha
Author, The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement