So, I'm free of Giant Corp! First month's report, seeking insight...

[Spartacus]

So, I left Giant Corp in December...been free about a month now. Between rolling over pension, 401k rollovers, organizing finances, piddling around the house, being careful not to step on wife's toes...., reading and watching some movies.......
First month "post-work" is over now. Ducks are in a row.

I'm finding my creative thoughts randomly show up more lately. Not too much, but I see the glimmers of light breaking through...
I don't want to do much of anything but chill...

I came from a GIANT company where I was a number for 15 years, loaded with bureaucracy and incompetence....a walkin' talkin' Dilbert strip...
How long does/can this desire to just chill and detox last?
What phases can I expect to go through over the next 5 months to a year?

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartacus I don't want to do much of anything but chill... How long does/can this desire to just chill and detox last? What phases can I expect to go through over the next 5 months to a year?

Congatulations, in a few years you will be a really god beginner.

Those with more time in retirement may be more informative. I've been out about 3+ years. I still get occasional nightmares about being an "essential" employee.

On really crappy wether days the grin goes from ear to ear.

[Retire2013]

I am so happy for you, Spartacus. I am in my countdown mode so I have no advice/info to share but I write to ask that you keep posting updates of how you feel over the next several years so those of us who have not retired know can live vicariously through your "chilling" "everyday is a Saturday" life!

Quick questions: How long did you actively plan for your retirement? How long was your actual countdown period when you were so close you could "taste" it as the saying goes?

[Buckeye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartacus What phases can I expect to go through over the next 5 months to a year?

While unemployed for the last six months and contemplating ER while looking for a j*b, I have gone through these two stages......"happy" and "happier" on my way to "really happy!" A job found me so I probably won't make it to the third stage for another couple of years but I'm looking forward to it. I also know I will have NO issue with adjusting to life without a j*b. The urge to chill is still very strong after 6 months.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartacus So, I left Giant Corp in December...been free about a month now. Between rolling over pension, 401k rollovers, organizing finances, piddling around the house, being careful not to step on wife's toes...., reading and watching some movies....... First month "post-work" is over now. Ducks are in a row. I'm finding my creative thoughts randomly show up more lately. Not too much, but I see the glimmers of light breaking through... I don't want to do much of anything but chill... I came from a GIANT company where I was a number for 15 years, loaded with bureaucracy and incompetence....a walkin' talkin' Dilbert strip... How long does/can this desire to just chill and detox last? What phases can I expect to go through over the next 5 months to a year?

Congratulations on your retirement. I probably can't help much with the phases since I have been retired for only 81 days. Like you, I have had a great desire/need for chill and detox and I am still in that phase. I was surprised that I bought a car this week so maybe I am beginning to emerge from this phase? Or maybe not.

So far I have not started doing ANY of the things on my "list" of things to do in retirement (seems like too much work) but I can foresee getting bored eventually. I'm just not there yet and have been doing the same sorts of things that you are doing (substitute "playing on my Wii or watching news on TV" for "watching some movies" and there you have it). I am still amazed at a life with so few external deadlines. This morning I awakened at 7:05, wide awake and could have gotten up but just went back to sleep for a couple of hours because I could. I am really enjoying retirement.

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Originally Posted by Retire2014 Quick questions: How long did you actively plan for your retirement? How long was your actual countdown period when you were so close you could "taste" it as the saying goes?

I started actively planning in 2000. At that time I was 51 with a negative net worth and sure that there was no way I could ever retire, but my brother told me that was nonsense and that caused me to re-think things. I think best using Excel so I started estimating things using different assumptions and future budgets and the reality of what I could and couldn't afford to spend hit me in the face. Later in 2000 I took possession of an old retirement account from my previous job, immediately cashed it in (taking the tax hit), and bought my Solara in cash since my credit was terrible. Maybe not the smartest move but at least I was trying and learning. By late 2000 I was deep into the planning process and I had set up a multi-sheet "retirement.xls" Excel retirement workbook with spreadsheets for things like daily TSP and bank balances, expenditures, projections of savings, pension calculations, and so on. It only had a half dozen sheets at first, though by now it has 18 spreadsheets.

I started my daily countdown at almost 2400 days (2385? I have forgotten). I updated it for my own benefit every day since then, although I didn't put it in my ER-forum signature line until last year. I kept it on a spreadsheet in that Excel workbook, along with much other information.

[Brat]

Been there, done that twice. The first time I still had a daughter in high school so there was plenty to spend my time on. The next time was neceissitated by my parents' need for help.

As a now long time retiree I notice that there are two major areas of adjustment (other than financial): negotiating domestic relationships and filling your to-do list. When my husband also retired we sat down and made a list of things we would like to do that couldn't be done while working - goals. Then we put in place a plan to accomplish the biggies on that list.

In our case, now, we are in the process of down-sizing so for an hour or two each day we tackle a box.

The goal setting process doesn't change in retirement, just the size of the organization.

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartacus So, I left Giant Corp in December...been free about a month now. Between rolling over pension, 401k rollovers, organizing finances, piddling around the house, being careful not to step on wife's toes...., reading and watching some movies....... First month "post-work" is over now. Ducks are in a row.

You have learned well grasshopper...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartacus I'm finding my creative thoughts randomly show up more lately. Not too much, but I see the glimmers of light breaking through... I don't want to do much of anything but chill...

Perfectly normal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartacus I came from a GIANT company where I was a number for 15 years, loaded with bureaucracy and incompetence....a walkin' talkin' Dilbert strip... How long does/can this desire to just chill and detox last? What phases can I expect to go through over the next 5 months to a year?

Yep..I was at a GIANT co for 10 years and DH was at the same co for 23 years.

It took me a year (I retired in 1998) to shoo the buzzards from my head. DH retired Feb, 2009. Every once in a while he'll look at me and say, "It sure is nice not having to go to work." He gets a giddy look on his face so he's still in chill/detox land.

Congrats....go with the flow.....

[rescueme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI It took me a year (I retired in 1998) to shoo the buzzards from my head.

Same here; retired at age 59 (now 62). It took about a year to chill, kick around some ideas (volunteer "wo*k" only), and be at ease with my new life.

I figured why rush it; I have the rest of my life to figure it out ...

[Spartacus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retire2014 I am so happy for you, Spartacus. I am in my countdown mode so I have no advice/info to share but I write to ask that you keep posting updates of how you feel over the next several years so those of us who have not retired know can live vicariously through your "chilling" "everyday is a Saturday" life! Quick questions: How long did you actively plan for your retirement? How long was your actual countdown period when you were so close you could "taste" it as the saying goes?

I somehow new I was born "lazy". Started saving in my late teens. Read "Your Money or Your Life" in early 90's while in college. Goal was always 42 and out. Kissed the corporate arse way too long, but glad I did, now it's over. I'm 41, had a spreadsheet for spending, and one for investing. I'm most happy about being out of that awful awful life sucking corporate world. HOWEVER; it's "trained" my mind to move a light speed. I think it may be difficult to slow down.

[Milton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spartacus I don't want to do much of anything but chill...

Peter Gibbons would approve:

"Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be."

[Spartacus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I probably can't help much with the phases since I have been retired for only 81 days. Like you, I have had a great desire/need for chill and detox and I am still in that phase.

It's gonna be fun discovering it though, for BOTH of us!
Oh, and Geaux Saints!!

[Spartacus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milton Peter Gibbons would approve: "Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be."

That's funny. A great movie....."Damn it's good to be a Gangsta!"

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by Spartacus It's gonna be fun discovering it though, for BOTH of us!

Yes, it will .

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Originally Posted by Spartacus Oh, and Geaux Saints!!

I don't even follow football but that was the most exciting game! My gosh, neck and neck the whole game and then our field goal in sudden death overtime sailing right between the goalposts! What a dream.

You simply would not believe the degree of Saints fervor here. It's not just the football aspects - - it's New Orleans finally not being last or nearly so at everything, it's local pride, it's a sense of recovery as we rebuild.

[Spartacus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R You simply would not believe the degree of Saints fervor here. It's not just the football aspects - - it's New Orleans finally not being last or nearly so at everything, it's local pride, it's a sense of recovery as we rebuild.

I believe it. I'm your close neighbor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast!

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by Spartacus I believe it. I'm your close neighbor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast!

Oh!! Then you DO understand. Hello, neighbor!

[ScottFromUtah]

I've been retired a year and a half. For me, every day (except Sunday) is a Saturday--for good and for bad. The good is that my time is flexible; the bad is that there is always something to fill the time. I don't ever "do nothing"--unless you consider reading and posting on forums as doing nothing. I spend my time reading books (mostly in Spanish); I still study Spanish grammar daily (even after returning from a year of service in Peru); I help with the child care of a granddaughter (her mother--my daughter--passed away in child birth); I spend time and travel with family (all my children are married); I do several hours of volunteer work each week; and I'm training for my next marathon (with the goal of qualifying again to run Boston) and for my next triathlon. I loved my w*rk before retiring. I LOVE the flexibility and the activities of my life after retirement.

[mf15]

I have been out almost a year and a half now, still chilling. But am back to work as a contract worker 3 days a week, at old company. When not at work I sit and watch CNBC all day with laptop in hand. Wife cannot believe how lazy I am, but I figure since I have been working since 1966,I deserve it. I have found that I love being retired. As far as the temporary 3 days a week work, I can rationalize it since by working for just 3 days, that will pay for medical insurance from my ER package for a whole year.
Old Mike

[Spartacus]

Update. Not much of an update, but an update nonetheless.
I've been sick, the flu, watched the Saints win the superbowl.
Also not enjoying the rainy cold weather.
So sort of an "externally dreary" 1st month of freedom from the evil corporate giant.

BUT! Sometimes my friends call me from work, telling me about the latest thing done by the evil corporate giant to make their lives more and more miserable, and I am almost profoundly moved every day by the absolute joy of being able to just sit on the couch in this bad weather, with the flu, knowing that spring is just around the corner, in more ways than one!

The sun's gonna come out in a month or less, the flu will go away, but the mighty evil corporate giant is not around anymore to suck my life away, and for that, it's all sunshine, even on cloudy days!

It's like I'd like to say to my old a**hole boss, "I can wash my face to clean up, but you'll still be ugly tomorrow."

First month's lesson:
WHEN ER, EVERYDAY IS SATURDAY, EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE THE FLU!
Today sick: Tomorrow:

Oh, and "Who Dat!"

[bbbamI]

Oh...I'm so sorry you've been sick....but at least you don't have to go back to work to make up for time lost. Feel better soon...here's a flower for you.

[Spartacus]

Thanks BBB