"What will you do with your time...?"

[medved]

I attended a professional conference in my business recently. I mentioned to some people that I am thinking I may only work for a few more years and then hang it up. (I know saying that could be risky in some industries, but does not really matter in my position). Nearly everyone's reaction was to question what I will do with my time, and why I would want to stop working. They were nice about it, but seemed to think the idea of retiring in one's 50s was absolutely nuts -- like deciding to move to the moon or growing a third arm.

Did some of you get that reaction from people? Why is it that people think retiring in one's 50s is lunacy or that its impossible to spend time doing anything but working?

A few people got it when I said to them "How long would you work if you knew with certainty that you would die on your 68th birthday?" But mostly they thought it was just bizarre.

I am pretty confident that I don't want to work for more than a few more years, but I must admit that when so many people, who I like and respect, have the same reaction, it does make me wonder a bit whether there's something I'm missing.

 

[pb4uski]

I always planned to retire at 55... ended up at 56. Didn't much care what anyone thought. Have found plenty to do.

 

[2017ish]

I got that from my 50-60 year old age-peers in my firm when I gave my two years (ish) notice last year. (All of them likely are in a position to retire if they wanted to.) They truly don't understand what one would do if not working. For example, one of them, when on a European trip, called me from a famous city asking if there was any work I could shoot to him, as he was "tired of looking at old buildings" (after one day).

Everyone is wired differently. DW and I are concerned that we may have waited too long to retire. 57/56, and we'll have a "bucket" list that likely will take more than 15 years to fill.

 

[RobbieB]

I guess they don't have hobbies and outside interests.

Don't enjoy being lazy?

Protestant work ethic?

I dunno. And I don't care either.

Ignorance and apathy are my friends -

 

[GSMAN]

I am retiring in a couple of months at the age of 56. Yeah, when people find out I am retiring they ask me what am I going to do during my retirement I respond "what am I NOT going to do during my retirement"! Here are a few things that I am planning on doing:

- Fish more, alot more
- Practice playing my trumpet everyday
- Take cooking lessons
- Hang out with my 4 grandsons who live 2 blocks away
- Take at least one cruise a year
- Start lifting weights again
- Spend more time at my cabin
- Plan at least one international fishing trip a year with my buddies
- Will probably help take care of my aging parents in the next ten years


Other than that, I will probably be bored!

 

[euro]

I always planned to retire at 55... ended up at 56. Didn't much care what anyone thought. Have found plenty to do.

+1 on that. Only been retired for 6 months but haven't even come close to missing the grind (and I had a very comfi job, actually)

 

[scrabbler1]

I have always been an outlier, so it was purely consistent with my nature to do something others could never think of doing - retire at 45 as I did 8 years ago. My coworkers (and others) were jealous and that was just fine with me!

 

[Senator]

Finding things to do is no problem.

I find that after being retired for almost 4 months, I sometimes feel the need to take a day off...

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Hobbies, senior club activities (we're the youngsters!), dining out, house and yard work, pet care, house guests from time to time, travel, movies, day trips, museums, decluttering the house, plays, concerts, getting together with friends and family, home improvements - we stay pretty busy. And of course if nothing else there is always binge watching Netflix and posting here.

 

[travelover]

It really doesn't matter. If you have interests, retire and enjoy them. If your colleagues want to work forever, they should. Step one of my successful retirement was banishing the phrase "I should".

 

[bingybear]

many people need the structure of work... or structure in their life. They don't do well finding things to do that make them feel happy or productive. Also, many need some system to define who they are. You leave work where you are ... (manager, lawyer... what ever). Now how do you replace the identity. How do you find people to interact with when most of the people your age are still w@rking?

I had a few that were happy for me. I had many that wondered what I would do with myself... I was a workaholic.
I'm doing just fine.

 

[Taxman59]

Like Pb4uski, I planned on 55 and ended up at 56. I have been lazy (according to one some and 3 sisters), but I was able to take care of DW when she broke her foot and then later was hospitalized for a bit. If I hadn't retired when I did, we would have had to hire someone for the daily care. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

[savory]

I think the issue is the word retirement. Instead of saying I'm retiring, perhaps we should say, I want to control my personal time and now I can do that. I may even go to work but I want it to be my choice. Perhaps, if positioned that way, people would understand the decision better.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

You aren't missing anything. Being fairly young, I got (and still get) that question often.

So when I hear, "What do you do all day?" I simply say, "Any damn thing *I* want." And that usually shuts them up. If they keep pressing I will tell them that very often I will wake up with nothing planned but yet I go to bed that night with only accomplishing half of it.

I am coming up on 2 years retired this month and I have *yet* to be bored or not been able to figure out something to do. As a matter of fact, I am quite busier now than I was when I was still w*rking. I imagine that when I was still w*rking, at the end of my w*rk day, I was too tired to do anything else.

Oh yeah and a bonus of being retired? I am about to go run a couple of errands and since it's almost 10 am on a Thursday, I am keenly aware that the roads and stores will not be very busy.

 

[Souschef]

Since I retired 7 years ago.
Fly for Angel Flight West
Fly for Pilots & Paws
Flew a B-25
Flew a Mig-15
Volunteer on a tourist railroad
Do data analysis for a food bank
Travel about 2 months a year
Sit on our porch with my Kindle Fire reading and looking at a 2000 foot mountain a mile away.
Life is good. Tomorrow we will be celebrating our 9th anniversary!

 

[Sojourner]

many people need the structure of work... or structure in their life. They don't do well finding things to do that make them feel happy or productive. Also, many need some system to define who they are.

+1

Leaving the world of structured, for-pay work behind when you are still relatively young (40s or 50s) can prompt something of an existential crisis. Questions like "Who am I, really?", "What do I want to accomplish in life?", "What are my short term and long term goals?", "How can I spend my time in a fulfilling and meaningful way?" can come rushing to the forefront, when you've probably spent very little time thinking of them in any serious way previously. But these are good things, in the end. Makes you take a deep, honest look at yourself and your life and your mortality. Most people who are still 100% caught up in the daily rat race are utterly oblivious to all this. I know that when I was working, I rarely thought of these things, but now...

 

[RetireAge50]

http://youtu.be/KlcXNB8xHqw

 

[Johnora]

I am retiring in a couple of months at the age of 56. Yeah, when people find out I am retiring they ask me what am I going to do during my retirement I respond "what am I NOT going to do during my retirement"! Here are a few things that I am planning on doing:

- Fish more, alot more
- Practice playing my trumpet everyday
- Take cooking lessons
- Hang out with my 4 grandsons who live 2 blocks away
- Take at least one cruise a year
- Start lifting weights again
- Spend more time at my cabin
- Plan at least one international fishing trip a year with my buddies
- Will probably help take care of my aging parents in the next ten years


Other than that, I will probably be bored!

Love your list, I am sitting at 7 weeks before I end a career at 52 and get asked this question every day. I have so much written down that I want to do retired, not sure how to fit it all in.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I'm not at all surprised that people who haven't been considering retirement don't know what they would do in retirement, like people who don't own cars don't know where nearby gas stations are. I don't think asking what a retiree would do all day needs to be interpreted as a challenge, especially when it is often asked as chit-chat while mingling.

 

[jjquantz]

+1

Leaving the world of structured, for-pay work behind when you are still relatively young (40s or 50s) can prompt something of an existential crisis. Questions like "Who am I, really?", "What do I want to accomplish in life?", "What are my short term and long term goals?", "How can I spend my time in a fulfilling and meaningful way?" can come rushing to the forefront, when you've probably spent very little time thinking of them in any serious way previously. But these are good things, in the end. Makes you take a deep, honest look at yourself and your life and your mortality. Most people who are still 100% caught up in the daily rat race are utterly oblivious to all this. I know that when I was working, I rarely thought of these things, but now...

Great statement and I worry about DW's take on these when she retires! The funny thing is, for me anyway, that these are the very questions that kept me awake at night WHILE I was w*rking. I never felt that any of my jobs were a good fit with who I am as a person. Although I felt my teaching years were "fulfilling and meaningful," the stress that this introvert felt from the daily personal interactions was pretty unhealthy. So I spent my entire career looking for something that would let me feel good about my w*rk hours. Never found it. All of my jobs were essentially a means to support the things in my life that I thought were important (especially family and music).

Now that I'm retired, I can do the things that I value and be in the environments that I find supportive. That includes doing "nothing" and "being at home" when that's what I need. It especially includes the ability to spend 5-6 consecutive hours on music when that's what I need.

 

[TimSF]

My former career was so stressful that colleagues needed no explanation as to why. Many were simply envious.

 

[Gotadimple]

"Well, what are you going to do all day?"
This question is not posed to the OP, it is posed to the questioner. They are expressing a discomfort with a perceived lack of structure.

Leaving the work force (and that is generally what retirement is, but not always) begins with a thought process around who you are and how you want to spend your time. When working hard at a j*b, one's mind gets foggy to anything other than the work routine, or solving work problems.

Those who don't understand "Well, I'll do what I want when I want to," haven't considered their life beyond the next weekend, IMHO. Give them space, eventually they will.

- Rita

 

[NW-Bound]

"What will you do with your time...?"

The clock runs faster when you are not working, I swear. So, you have so little time, even when you are not doing anything worthwhile to write home about.

PS. The corollary of the above is that you have to retire early, because the years in retirement before you croak are shorter than you think.

 

[marko]

My old HR director actually told me: "I think you'll get tired of sailing all summer and skiing the Alps all winter".

Some people just don't have any imagination.

 

[Amethyst]

I am far busier working 2 days a week in retirement, than I was working 5 days a week. Seems like it's barely Monday when it's Friday already.

I now have time to notice all the things that were going wrong and being neglected at home, while my mind was fogged with the concerns of a full-time employee.