My Retirement Struggle

[arcyallen]

Tekward, I feel you. I also have done a bit of that. I think identifying what you really like about the IDEA of those jobs is helpful. It took me years (just recently) to discover that my favorite job involved:
-Doing it excellently
-Getting kudos on a regular basis for it
-Making good money doing it
-Having the chance to show my employees how to perform well and also make good money and advance if they wanted
-Helping dozens of customers a day by...
-Problem solving.

I did not appreciate how much I loved experiencing these things while I was doing them. Now, I can see it. So I've tried to figure out how to get the same "high" out of non paying work. I have not exactly succeeded yet

 

[pacergal]

I hear you! Retired in 2016, agreeing to come back on call to train my replacement. Who lasted a year, so back a year later, then repeat. I went back three times!
It got to the point that I was dreading the 1-2 days I had to go in, even though they were much easier days, since I was no longer involved in the politics and day to day crud. I knew then that I was truly ready for full retirement.
Haven't been back, nor looked at any jobs since.

 

[Pellice]

Change your focus from identifying yourself as the previous worker ID. Adopt a new ID as retired and doing other things not related to work.

Or independently wealthy. Or simply independent. You are, you know.

 

[COcheesehead]

This thread emphasizes the importance of planning for the non financial side of retiring. It’s cliche’, but what you retire to is more important than what you retire from.

 

[joesxm3]

I'm going through it now. Digging though hundreds of pounds of technical books, text books, class notes, etc. forcing myself to throw them out. "But I might need that at me next job" as I toss my old COBOL book. I kept the FORTRAN book... I am an engineer after all...

After six years I finally threw out a lot of my programming books. I had not written a line of code since I left.

Recently I did some VBA in my Excel sheets.

And bought two books on programming bitcoin

 

[NW-Bound]

I hear you! Retired in 2016, agreeing to come back on call to train my replacement. Who lasted a year, so back a year later, then repeat. I went back three times!
It got to the point that I was dreading the 1-2 days I had to go in, even though they were much easier days, since I was no longer involved in the politics and day to day crud. I knew then that I was truly ready for full retirement.
Haven't been back, nor looked at any jobs since.

After my own business floundered, I did not have enough money to retire. And my wife already quit her job due to work pressure. I took on some part-time contract work to make a living and to pay college tuition.

Thought that as a contract worker and not trying to build a career there, I would be sheltered from politics and swiping from full-time employees who were always jockeying for promotion. Just gimme the money and I will do the work. Hah! Just cannot get away from envy and rivalry.

I ended up walking off two jobs, but after reaching a delivery milestone and writing a final report documenting the design and results. It's my nature not wanting to hold them hostage. I don't play dirty.

Their employees apparently could not continue the work, hence they wanted me back. Nope. Ain't worth it. The aggravation would cause me high BP and a stroke.

 

[joesxm3]

Oh boy! Fortran! But do you even have a Fortran compiler for your PC now?

I had a copy of Phar Lap Fortran compiler, circa 1991, somewhere in the boxes of old software. I don't know if it can run in a DOS box in Windows 11 now.

PS. This compiler runs with EMS Expanded Memory. Anybody remembers that?

I remember EMS and the PCXT we bought for $8000 in 1984 to start our tiny software company. It was supposed to have 384K of memory but six months later I found it had only 256.

What a wild ride. I quit my mainframe programmer job, picked up the XT and C complier on the way home. Up to that I had never even touched a PC or programmed in C or ASM86.

 

[TripleLindy]

Travel, pickleball, golf, skiing, grandkids, kids, cooking… no time for work anymore! Seriously, I can’t imagine going back, but I understand that others feel differently. While I know I left a pile of money on the table by retiring at 55, I realize that the experiences I’ve had in just my first 5 years of retirement are worth much more. As some have suggested, consider volunteering if you’re just trying to fill a hole vs. need the income. I found it much more rewarding than achieving some meaningless business objective.

 

[FloridaJim57]

Nope. You can't drag your heels in time and you can't catch yesterday. I have bee retired four years now. My replacement is younger, faster, and better. Even if I went back to my old job I probably couldn't do it any more. It was very stressful, very fast paced, and not good for my health. When Rocky Marciano retired undefeated he was asked by a reporter why he was doing so. He replied "boxing is a young man's game at 32, I am no longer a young man (by boxing standards) and simply don't belong any more. Time to move on." That is exactly how I feel.

 

[neihn]

I remember EMS and the PCXT we bought for $8000 in 1984 to start our tiny software company. It was supposed to have 384K of memory but six months later I found it had only 256.

What a wild ride. I quit my mainframe programmer job, picked up the XT and C complier on the way home. Up to that I had never even touched a PC or programmed in C or ASM86.

Yeah, I bought an IBM PC in 85 for $3000, it came with a 5.2' floppy drive, and a monochrome monitor (no hard disk drive). I remember I was so excited when I got the first modem connection to the school lab with a whopping 300 baud rates. Boy, we went a long way didn't we.

 

[joesxm3]

Yeah, I bought an IBM PC in 85 for $3000, it came with a 5.2' floppy drive, and a monochrome monitor (no hard disk drive). I remember I was so excited when I got the first modem connection to the school lab with a whopping 300 baud rates. Boy, we went a long way didn't we.

Sure did.

Around 1987 I was starting to program the use of modem, blindly fast 1200 bps.

At the tiny company Christmas party (wine and pizza) the founder/main investor wanted me to "perform" and demonstrate the modem.

I sent him into the other room with the people and told him to type something on the command line. No matter what he typed, I replied back "Error". The result was as would be expected from a half drunk computer illiterate guy

 

[kingkarmann]

Whenever I get the urge to go back into the workforce I lie down and wait until it passes.

 

[W2R]

I still look at j*ob listings and think about being able to do it well. Interesting w*rk, good money, feeling valued, etc... But that is an old mindset.

I almost made it through 2022 without applying for a j*b, but I failed last month, before pulling out. There's always a goal for next year....

Anybody else have an old mindset to overcome?

Not me.

When I signed up for this forum, I chose the username "Want2Retire". I was dead serious! I haven't regretted that decision even one single day in the thirteen years since I retired.

I can't imagine being unable to find something interesting to do on my own, or not feeling valued without being a slave to a job.

YMMV and apparently does. I don't get it but work like a dog if that's what you want.

 

[EarlyandLate]

I left my corporate j*b at age 52, actually was downsized. I had plenty to FIRE and did so for about 1.5 years. But an "opportunity" to do something I had always thought I might enjoy came along. I went to teach at a university. While I enjoyed the teaching and working with the students, I grew to hate the university administration. I w*rked my butt off and my student evaluations were among the highest, but never got any appreciation for it. One of the lowest priorities on the list for the admins was quality education. It was so disheartening that I left after 3.5 years. I realized that I could pay myself as much as they were paying me and without all the frustration and B.S.

So my advice is to tread carefully!

 

[kgtest]

I read a statistic in my city there are 4 job openings for every 1 skilled technology worker. I am not yet FIREd but definitely riding that wave of "dang I feel overpaid and overqualified for what I do" wave.

Just got the gas/electric bill and it was $600.00 still plenty of work for me until I FIRE in 9 or 10 years.

 

[thod]

Sure did.

Around 1987 I was starting to program the use of modem, blindly fast 1200 bps.

At the tiny company Christmas party (wine and pizza) the founder/main investor wanted me to "perform" and demonstrate the modem.

I sent him into the other room with the people and told him to type something on the command line. No matter what he typed, I replied back "Error". The result was as would be expected from a half drunk computer illiterate guy

I love that. I think I am going to start replying to my wife's texts with just "Error" from now on.

 

[lawman]

This thread emphasizes the importance of planning for the non financial side of retiring. It’s cliche’, but what you retire to is more important than what you retire from.

Ditto..That is where I failed.

 

[MC Rider]

I love that. I think I am going to start replying to my wife's texts with just "Error" from now on.

I can't imagine she'll see the humor, but I don't know.

 

[luckydude]

I still look at j*ob listings and think about being able to do it well. Interesting w*rk, good money, feeling valued, etc... But that is an old mindset.

I almost made it through 2022 without applying for a j*b, but I failed last month, before pulling out. There's always a goal for next year....

Anybody else have an old mindset to overcome?

Nope. I've been retired long enough now (7 years) that my w**king years now seem like another lifetime ago. I've got money, health and time to spend each day as I please, and there's no way in hell I would even think about going back to w**k.

 

[NW-Bound]

I love that. I think I am going to start replying to my wife's texts with just "Error" from now on.

I can't imagine she'll see the humor, but I don't know.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I read a statistic in my city there are 4 job openings for every 1 skilled technology worker. I am not yet FIREd but definitely riding that wave of "dang I feel overpaid and overqualified for what I do" wave.

Just got the gas/electric bill and it was $600.00 still plenty of work for me until I FIRE in 9 or 10 years.

$600 for energy or more has been a big complaint on our local Nextdoor, and we usually have pretty mild winters here. But this year has been really cold for the Bay Area and energy prices are up.


We're going to look at an energy audit, heat pump, maybe solar panels this year. We lowered our energy bill by 2/3s early in retirement just with a bunch of odds and ends changes that all added up, but with colder than normal weather this winter here and a spike in energy prices it is time to revisit our energy costs again.

 

[explanade]

I've been retired for over 8 years.

I occasionally dream that I was back at work, though I don't really see my co-workers -- I haven't kept touch with them./

But it's not so much about missing work or anything, it's about some impending deadline or having it occupy my consciousness./

I think I used to have similar dreams about school, sometimes failing to do the work and the term is about to end or not being prepared for some exams.

It's probably this conditioning to perform in school and work.

I don't feel compelled to do something though some days, I feel I should have gone and exercised.

I have a mental to-do list and often find I forgot something, though I try to use calendaring and reminder apps to notify me of things I wanted to finish.

And of course a bucket list of places to travel to, though I travel a lot, especially before the pandemic, there always seems to be more to cross off.


Never gave thought to working again though sometimes feel wistful that it's such a seller's market for labor right now.

 

[rk911]

i'm in year 18 of retirement and still occasionally dream about work. i've been back to the comm center for several functions...new building, retirement parties, etc. one of my co-workers was then and still is one of my closest friends. i loved what i did but RE primarily because the men on my dad's side of my family tend to die early. dad passed at 48. i've outlived him and my paternal uncles.

 

[NW-Bound]

I've been retired for over 8 years.

I occasionally dream that I was back at work, though I don't really see my co-workers -- I haven't kept touch with them./

But it's not so much about missing work or anything, it's about some impending deadline or having it occupy my consciousness./

I think I used to have similar dreams about school, sometimes failing to do the work and the term is about to end or not being prepared for some exams...

Just last night, I dreamt of being in a final exam. Only 3 students including myself, and the prof. I finished my work early, but did not want to turn it in yet. I used the remaining time to dump out my backpack and re-organize its content.

When it was the end of the period and time to turn in the work, I could not find my sheets of paper. I got in a panic, and dumped out the content of the backpack to look for it. Nowhere to be found. At that point I woke up sweating.

And I finished grad school 42 years ago.

 

[Souschef]

I have been retired for 13 years, but at a later date than many here.due to my needing medical coverage for my brain injured wife.
Here is my story:


I am now 84, and still enjoying life with my wonderful wife.