2 years into retirement

[madsquopper]

Retired exactly 2 years ago, on the Ides of March. Celebrated by wearing a toga into work. Other than having to deal with Covid, retirement has gone just about like I figured it would. I had no problem immediately switching into retirement mode for two reasons: 1) I had more than enough savings to withstand most any realistic "worst case" scenario, so other than a few months of feeling a little weird about no new money coming in there hasn't been much stress. Since retirement, my portfolio has gone up a few percent overall (balanced allocation). 2) I already had plenty of interests that kept me busy, and being retired allowed me to add one or two more, primarily golf. I've talked to people whose whole life revolved around work, including their identity, and that's a guaranteed recipe for retirement failure.

My spouse and I have done OK during Covid year; worst thing was the cancellation of live dancing. I was able to continue with several of my other interests online (bridge and trivia), and we did a bit more walking, hiking, and biking than normal to replace traveling. And a fairly large ornamental garden was a nice diversion in warmer months when you could sit on the deck, read, and listen to birds. I've done pretty well healthwise, about 5 pounds less than when I retired and probably getting more exercise.

Got my second vaccine shot last Friday, so feeling good about that, although my spouse still hasn't been able to sign up since she's just under 65.

 

[cooch96]

Bravo! It seems like everything is going as well as can be expected. I'm amazed you were able to pull-off wearing a toga to work. I've never worked anywhere so fun.

 

[pacergal]

Sounds like your retirement is going well. Doesn't the time go so quickly?
We are starting year five, and it sure doesn't seem like it.
Enjoy every minute!

 

[ER Eddie]

Sounds good. I'm coming up on two years myself, at the end of June. It's been good. Some challenges, mostly due to COVID isolation, but all in all, good.

As you say, it's critical to have an identity outside of work and plenty of interests. I liked my work but never wanted to feel identified with it or have my self-esteem hinging on my professional role. I actively worked against that process. Although I found my work meaningful, I've always found the majority of my meaning and purpose outside of work. So retirement has been an expansion of possibilities. I feel fortunate.

 

[goingtotravel]

Congrats on two years! These post-FIRE updates are appreciated by those of us who are not yet FIREed. I do believe the grass is greener on the other side of w*rk and in less than two months I can find out if that is true.

 

[Flyfish1]

Toga!
That is awesome . Thanks for the updates. I'm two years and 3 months away from retiring.It's nice to hear from someone who has recently retired. Good advice to not let work define your life. I have too many hobbies, so I think I'll be fine, but I imagine the lack of new money coming in will be a little weird.

 

[naggz]

Thanks for sharing, I love hearing retirement transition success stories, as it helps lower the anxiety of what's to come.

If you don't mind sharing more, where online do you go for trivia?

 

[harley]

Just so y'all know, after 15 years retirement is still great. Much better than it was after the first couple. It only gets better (other than getting older).

 

[madsquopper]

If we want to compete in live online trivia, we go to Sporcle and do one of their virtual trivia games (lots to pick from every night). On other weeks we do a combination of replaying a District Trivia webcast of a weekly game and combine that with an audio music quiz off of Sporcle.

 

[Dtail]

Congrats.
We are at 3.5 years of retirement. Couldn't be happier, even with Covid restrictions.

 

[Montecfo]

Hey Larry thanks for the update. Great to hear it, just wondering how you indulge your interest in trivia?

Monte

 

[doneat54]

I've talked to people whose whole life revolved around work, including their identity, and that's a guaranteed recipe for retirement failure.

So true. I'm 4 years and 3 months in, and have never been busier, or happier.