People Who Should Retire But Don't

[JustCurious]

Originally Posted by kramer

someone said that if they were out of work for more than three weeks that they would be bored stiff.

I feel the same way.

As was pointed out by others, it is hard for some on this board to accept the fact that some people actually enjoy their job and find it stimulating.

[samclem]

Originally Posted by JustCurious

I feel the same way.

As was pointed out by others, it is hard for some on this board to accept the fact that some people actually enjoy their job and find it stimulating.

I don't think people have a hard time accepting that others enjoy their jobs and find them stimulating--most of us have had jobs like that at some time.. It's just hard to believe that they find these jobs more enjoyable/stimulatiing than anything else they could find to do on their own.

[JustCurious]

Originally Posted by samclem

I don't think people have a hard time accepting that others enjoy their jobs and find them stimulating--most of us have had jobs like that at some time.. It's just hard to believe that they find these jobs more enjoyable/stimulatiing than anything else they could find to do on their own.

That is a false dichotomy. You can have both...a stimulating job, AND find other interesting things to do.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by JustCurious

That is a false dichotomy. You can have both...a stimulating job, AND find other interesting things to do.

Well, the original point of the thread was financially-independent people who put up with workplace abuse because they just don't know what else they'd do.

Look at Dan Inouye & Dan Akaka. I can't believe that these guys would rather be working in the DC swamps than cruising around the islands enjoying their victory tours & director's jobs. And yet they continue to put up with the hassles of working in Congress. Maybe their each hoping to outlast Byrd, Kennedy, & each other. Is that the most they can think of to live for?!?

And at some point I'd feel that those "other interesting things to do" would conflict with that "stimulating job"-- especially if the former included beach wear and the latter had the disincentives of commuting, workplace attire, work hours, deadlines, indoors, working lunches, high-stress socializing, official travel, office/corporate politics... am I leaving anything out?

[donheff]

Originally Posted by Nords

Well, the original point of the thread was financially-independent people who put up with workplace abuse because they just don't know what else they'd do.

Look at Dan Inouye & Dan Akaka. I can't believe that these guys would rather be working in the DC swamps than cruising around the islands enjoying their victory tours & director's jobs. And yet they continue to put up with the hassles of working in Congress. Maybe their each hoping to outlast Byrd, Kennedy, & each other. Is that the most they can think of to live for?!?

And at some point I'd feel that those "other interesting things to do" would conflict with that "stimulating job"-- especially if the former included beach wear and the latter had the disincentives of commuting, workplace attire, work hours, deadlines, indoors, working lunches, high-stress socializing, official travel, office/corporate politics... am I leaving anything out?

You are not leaving anything out but those are exactly the things some people love. I know several senior Federal execs who retired and went off to the private sector but then came back to similar or higher positions. They liked the attention they got and the scope of their government jobs. All the BS that comes with those jobs is water off a duck's back to these folks.

[janeeyre]

Doctors, teachers, etc. are positions that are vocations not jobs and the people who hold those jobs generally love them. However, the initital topic of this thread states that workers are taking unnecessary abuse. There is no way a FI person would put up with that unless they want to hurt themselves (form of masochism) and I know someone like that.

[JustCurious]

I think there are several reasons why some people continue to work after being FI:

1. They want or need the status and sense of importance that their position gives them.

2. Making money becomes a way to keep score, to objectively compare and demonstrate their worth to society as compared to others.

3. Some people develop a social network and a peer group based on their professional position, and they don't want to remove themselves from their peer group or social group.

4. The resources that it takes to become FI for some people continues to escalate and increase (on a real basis) because some people continually increase their cost and standard of living as they become more financially succesful. So, what may appear to be FI to you or me may not be considered FI to some folks who become very succesful because they put themselves on a "make more and spend more" treadmill.

5. Some people simply like what they do for a living and don't want to stop.

[newguy88]

I was substitute teaching yesterday in a physical education class. We were in a middle school the other sub was 77 years old! He was an still runs a bit forgetful and he was reading the newspaper while the two classes were playing softball. Me 51 and just ERd a few months ago, he is working like I am for the extra cash and to have some fun. I was impressed with this old guy. I may even run some slow miles with him.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by JustCurious

I think there are several reasons why some people continue to work after being FI:
1. They want or need the status and sense of importance that their position gives them.
2. Making money becomes a way to keep score, to objectively compare and demonstrate their worth to society as compared to others.
3. Some people develop a social network and a peer group based on their professional position, and they don't want to remove themselves from their peer group or social group.

I wish I could find that article someone posted a while back about the office building for retired executives with nothing to do and no place to do it in... was that you, Cut-Throat, or was it someone else?

[Meadbh]

Perhaps that's why universitites who appoint professors emeriti provide them with space to hang their coats and mingle. Some of them keep puttering around for years!

[Martha]

Originally Posted by Nords

I wish I could find that article someone posted a while back about the office building for retired executives with nothing to do and no place to do it in... was that you, Cut-Throat, or was it someone else?

Here is the thread: http://early-retirement.org/forums/i...8058#msg148058

I still have an office. I am going to visit it in a week or two. Someday they are going to make me clean it out. Not sure where I am going to put all the stuff. I do like my office, it is a nice, comfortable work space. Or just a nice space to sit and hold court.

[Nords]

Well, depsite Cut-Throat's attempt to completely disembowel the thread, the link was quoted.

Unfortunately the Star-Tribune took down their own article too...

Originally Posted by Martha

Someday they are going to make me clean it out. Not sure where I am going to put all the stuff. I do like my office, it is a nice, comfortable work space. Or just a nice space to sit and hold court.

Is it stuff that you'd actually use in your home or on the road? Otherwise I'm thinking Craigslist & Goodwill.

Everything from my office worth keeping ended up on a 3x2 section of our garage wall right over the dryer. I did move the chunk of anchor chain back to my study desk.

[Martha]

The art on the walls can be used at home, or sold. I can leave the plants. The furniture belongs to work. Most of the reference materials belong to work. The big thing is that this is where I kept all our personal files. Taxes and supporting documentation going back to 1984. Files on all the property we ever owned. Insurance files. I have to find space for a good portion of this stuff (though the old tax returns could get ditched).

[Nords]

Originally Posted by Martha

Taxes and supporting documentation going back to 1984. Files on all the property we ever owned. Insurance files. I have to find space for a good portion of this stuff (though the old tax returns could get ditched).

I still have all that crap stored in our hurricane shelter closet under the steps. I'll let our heirs sort it out...

[haha]

My FIL has had two complete careers, 2 retirements and now at 93 he is a part time teacher at a middle school. He started out as a paratrooper, landed in the Normandy invasion, went to Korea and had various stateside postings after. He retired O6 when Viet Nam was still a little known spot for special ops and CIA, with 2 master’s degrees. He then immediately went to work to get his PhD in math. He taught in several private colleges and wound up at a large state university for another career, and finally retired not too long ago. He tried various entrepreneurial gigs, but found that his most comfortable niche is in an organization. He was not too happy being around home, but he found this part time teaching job that he really enjoys and seems to work well for the school and the kids too. My wife is visiting and she and her mother had to do some outings without him because he had commitments to his students! Between you and me, I think this may be a least a small part of the appeal of continuing to work after >75 years in the workforce.

Obviously, at 93 if he were going to retire he would have done by now. I would say he is a guy who shouldn’t retire, and hasn’t, and wont!

Ha

[Helen]

Originally Posted by Texas Proud

Many people do this... as has been mentioned before... look at every CEO of a major company...

We have an executive that beats up people all the time... many keep quiting he is so bad... he is in his upper 60s or early 70s... but never had to work a day in his life... was FI as a kid... but has worked all his life.. he LOVES it...

And since he is in charge, he does not have to put up with other peoples crap... someone who knew him many decades ago said that when he was young he went up to an EVP and cursed him out because he was doing something stupid...

This guy sounds like a psychopath. I'm sure he's there for the power his job gives him.

[Oldbabe]

When I worked in a lodge at Denali one summer three years, one of my co workers at the front desk was a 68 yr old woman who had worked in the national parks for 4-5 years every summer. She loved the adventure and the people she met. There were other seniors and young people from eastern European countries. Sure, she wasn't as sharp as the younger workers but she kept up with me, fifteen years younger. I think she had an interesting experience working in the lodge (even though tiring) that she would never have been able to replicate as a tourist.

[dmpi]

Originally Posted by Meadbh

Don't get me started. I work with some old geezers who are well past their sell by date. Enough already!

Why quit if you get paid to do nothing?

[audreyh1]

Originally Posted by dmpi

Why quit if you get paid to do nothing?

Because you actually want to do something that no one would pay you to do?

Audrey

[newguy88]

Originally Posted by dmpi

Why quit if you get paid to do nothing?

Get this, today I am a substitute for a home economics teacher who is on a field trip with almost all of the students in her 3 classes. I am getting paid to hand out a test and talk about how to cook/barbeque Chicken and ribs. Oh and play on a computer.

I get to pick and choose where and when and what to sub for. I have my pick of well over 20 jobs a day in 10 different high schools and Middle schools in the Raleigh NC area. This is just the easiest thing I have ever done. And i also can work when i want to.

This sure beats my old Newark NJ teaching days.