48 Semi Retired & Now 53…Sold my Business

[Ogopogo]

First, I’m grateful for this group. Been reading posts for many years. Now it’s time to put it all into action!

The Succession Plan: At 48 I semi-retired with a rotating 2 week on, 2 week off schedule where my business partner of 19 years and I took turns working while carefully mentoring our young, capable, and eager manager in training.

Fast forward a few years and a growing company in the same industry inquired about acquiring us.

In my ignorance I envisioned a business sale would be quick & easy and I’d walk away a week or two later with big $ in my jeans…HAHA WRONG! It was 4 1/2 months of grinding due diligence that delved into the tiniest details of our operations.

HOORAY! 5 weeks ago the big payday came but not without loads of anxiety & emotional exhaustion.

I’m blessed to have good health and according to about 100 different retirement simulators, enough $ to easily live out my days in a comfy lifestyle resulting from mostly dividend income.

I’ve now moved permanently to my former second home in a warmer climate with far more recreational opportunities, so unfortunately my friends are now a plane ride away.

While not socially awkward, I’m somewhat introverted. Joining clubs & local groups is hard to imagine so being CEO of my own social life is something I need to navigate; hopefully with some solid advice gleaned from other RE introverts in this group.

 

[Flyfish1]

Congrats!
Sounds like a well executed plan.
I am not far away - need to sell my side of the business and it's been legal challenge already, even though t's 9 months away. Yikes.
Like you I will be living predominantly on dividend income.
Have fun!

 

[DrRoy]

Take a look at Meetup.com. You might find something that you would like to do.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Second for Meet Up and Facebook Groups (there are more as they are free to set up unlike MeetUp that charges fees to the organizer). There are general social groups but the better bet is probably interest groups (the social only groups seem to attract more "weird" people IMO but not all are odd); I am a member of local groups that focus on some of my interests including running, paddling, card games, FIRE, special issues (local politics), and several social groups . Beware, for any social groups that are age specific most people will be 10+ years older than the stated age!


After my divorce, she "took" our couple friends as most were based around high school friends of hers and my single life friends had drifted away during the marriage. I have a pretty expansive circle of friends and acquaintances primarily grown from people met through running and paddling groups and branching off from those connections.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

I sold my business at age 50 and full time FIRED immediately. That was almost 7 years ago.

We moved to a new location 350 miles away and didn't know a person there. It was a smaller town, about 4,000 people. We came from a small town and know that many long time residents are skeptical about newcomers. We were right.

It was very hard to meet people our own age since most were working full time and involved with their children. We got involved in our church and met a lot of nice people and got put to work. Learn how to say "No Thank You" because you'll be hammered with requests to volunteer.

I volunteered at a local veterans resort, I liked that.

Most of the people we spent time with were older than us by 20 years or more. We enjoyed them, but you do start to act like the people you spend time with and sometimes it made me feel older than I was.

I used to be active in our town's Lion's Club. That was a simple service organization that anyone could join. Our new town didn't have a Lion's Club so I joined the Rotary Club. That lasted about a year, that group is more focused on business people meeting each other and since I didn't have anything to offer them to help their business or career they kind of blew me off.

I'm glad you got out of your business when you did. Enjoy yourself and don't get too bogged down with volunteering or doing anything you don't want to do.

 

[pacergal]

Congratulations on selling your business and retiring!

Perhaps doing some volunteering in local groups you are interested in may be a start (as others have said, though, don't get pulled into the vortex)
Does you new town have a community parks and recreation program for classes, etc that may be of interest and allow meeting new folks?
If you belong to a Church or religious group, that also may be a place to meet new folks.

I am an introvert also, and sometimes have to push myself to get out if I spend too much time at home.

 

[Ogopogo]

Some superb nuggets of advice. Thank you all!

Nice coincidence; the local community fall/winter activities publication arrived in the mail.

For our first go at community events/being social, DW and I plan to take in the “curling for beginners day”. My parents have been curlers since I was a kid and still play back home.

Kind of an obscure activity. Guaranteed to be a good laugh if nothing else.

 

[Youngblood]

Congrats, Ogopogo!! Time to live the good life now!

 

[38Chevy454]

Congratulations on the sale of your business and now being fully retired. Several good suggestions for you in previous replies. I will add to do some hobbies you like, and that will lead to meeting some new friends with similar interests. May not be more than a hobby friend, or could lead to more of a friend. But one thing for sure, if you don't put yourself out there, you won't meet folks.

 

[Retch The Grate]

Congrats! I've personally found that managing my social life is the key to being a social hub and feeling connected to people. If I stop making the effort to host and plan and invite, a lot less stuff happens and I have a lot less social connection. So actively creating activities and inviting people to participate has a huge impact from my experience. Of course in a new location you have to overcome the initial problem of finding people to invite...