How do you know you are retired?

[calmloki]

Suspect it's when you feel retired, but interested in other definitions. Here's the issue: there are those who love their work - since they love what they are doing is it work? or are they retired?

There are those who retire, then volunteer vast amounts of time doing things that look a whole lot like work from the outside - and do those things on a schedule, needing to be a certain places at certain times. (i'm thinking of a gent that drives a bus route for seniors and disabled people).

There are some that tromp around a big field flailing about at a wee little ball with a crooked stick trying get get it into a gopher hole - not once but 18 times! (Thanks Robin Williams: YouTube - Robin Williams - Drunk Scotsman Invents "Golf") That's retirement?

There are people like Nords and Honobob who are retired, but get income from rental property, which they presumably care for and manage. There are those who spend vast amounts of time researching and scheming on their investments - isn't that what financial planners do at work?

Recall some tv commercial about some "get rich quick with no effort and a mere $487, normally $974, course fee" which had as the goal the ability to get up whenever and spend the day in bathrobe and slippers if one chose - is that retirement?

If the gubberment says you have no earned income are you retired? Didn't earn anything, must not be employed...

Reason i ask is that i'm sitting here having a bowl of oatmeal after getting back from the gym, it's 9:45 and i'm considering hitting the hot tub before showering and getting dressed for the day, and at this point i only need to hammer a couple tenants for money and check a squealing dryer before flying down to Palm Springs on Caturday for a week. But i don't feel retired. Is it a matter of degree of difference? Been doing the same landlord thing for the last 25 years or more - maybe i'm retired and don't realize it - maybe i just have a heightened tolerance for personal laziness.

So how do you define retirement?

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

if you get out of bed before 10 am, you are not retired.

 

[jIMOh]

retirement is when you stop living at work and start working at living.

 

[REWahoo]

So how do you define retirement?

I define retirement much the same way Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter defined pornography: "I know it when I see it."

And I see it in the mirror every two or three days when I shave.

 

[Khan]

When you have to check to see what day it is.

 

[Nords]

There are people like Nords and Honobob who are retired, but get income from rental property

Wasn't my idea, but the place is shaping up for a future sale. Anyone with $600K+ who wants a set of $2800/month* tenants who aren't likely to move in the next few years, you know how to contact me...

*No, after expenses those numbers are worse than CDs.

But i don't feel retired. Is it a matter of degree of difference? Been doing the same landlord thing for the last 25 years or more - maybe i'm retired and don't realize it - maybe i just have a heightened tolerance for personal laziness.
So how do you define retirement?

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” -- Bob Dylan

At least as soon as I finish those $%&^ing chores I'm avoiding.

I define retirement much the same way Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter defined pornography: "I know it when I see it."
And I see it in the mirror every two or three days when I shave.

Yup.

 

[Goonie]

If the gubberment says you have no earned income are you retired? Didn't earn anything, must not be employed...

When you have to check to see what day it is.

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” -- Bob Dylan

No earned income = [-]Unemployed[/-] Retired

Most of the time, I have no idea what day of the week it is, unless I see the neighbor's garbage cans out, then I know it's Wednesday! And if I can remember how many days have elapsed since I last saw them out, I can cypher out what day it is......sometimes!

I've always admired Bob Dylan.....such depth of wisdom!

But most of all, how I know that I'm retired...........I can do anything I want, anytime I want, and I ain't gotta answer to nobody about it!!!

 

[calmloki]

No earned income = [-]Unemployed[/-] Retired

Oh man - was afraid of that - so i've been ER since i sold the shop and started doing the rentals exclusively?

Most of the time, I have no idea what day of the week it is, unless I see the neighbor's garbage cans out, then I know it's Wednesday! And if I can remember how many days have elapsed since I last saw them out, I can cypher out what day it is......sometimes!

Usually do know the day of the week..

I've always admired Bob Dylan.....such depth of wisdom!

But most of all, how I know that I'm retired...........I can do anything I want, anytime I want, and I ain't gotta answer to nobody about it!!!

I have to answer to me, and i feel responsibility to the tenants, as i do the cats and anyone i've told i will do something or be somewhere. So are sole proprietors and landlords like half retired?

.

 

[W2R]

Each person is different, but personally I would not feel retired if I had to be a landlord and deal with tenants. To me, that would be too much like running my own business (not being retired). Each to his own!

Maybe the reason I feel that way, is that I have absolutely NO desire to be a landlord. Even though I think that income from rental property would be a great way to diversify my income, the idea really turns me off.

 

[Rustic23]

When you figure out how much time you are spending on this board!

 

[Dawg52]

And I see it in the mirror every two or three days when I shave.

Very true. I did it Tuesday so need to knock it out again tomorrow.

 

[clifp]

My roommate left on a short trip said she'd be back Monday evening. I said oh so you took time off and she said no Monday is holiday.

I said it is?
Martin Luther King day
Oh guess I really am retired...

 

[jambo101]

When you have to check to see what day it is.

Beat me to it,i'm definitely starting to loose the idea of keeping track of what day it is..

 

[REWahoo]

Beat me to it, i'm definitely starting to loose the idea of keeping track of what day it is..

You might want to invest in one of these...

 

[Rustic23]

Time to fess up! How many people went to dayclock.com? I think I just might get one of these.

 

[Goonie]

Time to fess up! How many people went to dayclock.com? I think I just might get one of these.

I went there a couple of months ago, and thought about getting one. However, after pondering it, I came to the conclusion that I don't need one......because I really don't care what day it is!!!

 

[tryan]

What? HonoBob retired? Must have missed that ... oh well.

Was bent over a 1500 gallon septic tank "sticking" for the float (septic alarm buzzing for at least a day!) ... didn't feel retired. Fixed it (the float was caught on the wire feeding the pump) then skiied mid week .... felt very retired.

 

[52andout]

retirement is when you stop living at work and start working at living.

I have seen this before and find this statement incredibly sad. I hope that doesn't sound mean to the poster, but putting living off until retirement has no guarantee that you or you SO will survive intact to be able to do what you want. And most likely your kids will be gone and independent.

I may have done a lot of things wrong in my life but I hope I had more balance than this. Yes, I have a ton more time now, but I am just doing more of what I have enjoyed all along, and taking those things in new directions.

My definition would be that in retirement you can set your priorities differently as you have to spend much less time on what you have to do and way more time to spend on what you want to do.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

don't need a watch, everyone else has one. checking the time now is just a good excuse to start a conversation. don't need a day clock either. my neighbors remind me to reset my retirement calendar twice a week on trash days.

 

[SecondCor521]

For me it's simple. There are two things, FI and RE.

1. FI means my last six months' living expenses times 50 is less than my FIRE stash. My FIRE stash is basically my net worth except my home equity, adjusted for certain unfunded liabilities (child support and college expenses). My version of the 4% rule.

2. I will be RE when I don't go to my day job. This very well may happen the day after FI.

2Cor521

 

[megacorp-firee]

Wow, this is really a very complex question, multi-leveled.
IMO, retired = not having to show up to do any specific activity each and every week day (or some part thereof), for the purpose of being paid money.
So any voluntary w*rk, hobbies, ...etc, that you are doing NOT for the primarily purpose of making money (even though you may receive money) does not disqualify you from retiree status.
W*rk for the expressed purpose of making money (supplement your 'retirement' from your original j*b) means you have picked up another career and you are not retired (ex. cop who 'retires' and gets a j*b as a security guard to supplement income).
The middle ground is where you have an active hand in an investment like rental properties. I would think that if your primary j*b before your retirement was other than handling your rental properties and you have not increased your activity after retirement (like doing more of the maintenance and more active in managing the property), then you are retired. If on the other hand, you 'retired' only to make property management your new full timeactivity, then you switched careers.

In any case, after having stated that, it really doesn't matter. You are retired if you SAY you're retired. Who cares what other people think?
Now that is REAL freedom. ... free at last, free at last ...

btw, I totally agree with 'day of the week' and 'wearing a watch' as clear indicators of whether or not you are retired. I have to buy a newspaper or sign on to the internet to see what day it is. My self-winding watch runs down regularly and my DW laughs at me when I put it on (going out and she says I should wear it) and start waving my wrist back and forth for 10 minutes.

 

[Jeb-NY]

Last time I looked at my watch I had forgot to set it on daylight savings time. I thought about setting it then but decided it was only a month or so till the time switched back to standard time so why bother. Glad I bought a new 5 year battery for it a year before I retired.

25 months retired and loving it.

Jeb