Being retired is hard....

[MN317]

I FIRE’d in 2009 but still keep in touch with a few people that I worked with for many years. Last week I met a couple of them (also retired) for lunch. The lunchtime conversation touched on many subjects and commiserations. At some point my friends began to pick on me because I got bored and picked up a little part time job. (3 or 5 days a month) In jest, they claimed that I cannot define myself as being retired if I still have a j*b. As the banter continued I made the statement “Being retired is hard…”. Suddenly, there was an epiphany! – For me, and I will assume others, being retired IS hard! Be assured I am very content and happy to be done with all of the BS associated with megacorp. But I still like having a j*b….. It helps provide me with a sense of purpose etc. I am curious if others can relate or have also experienced this quandary.

 

[tps7742]

If you like to work that's your choice and no one else business. Personally I can't relate with a real job anymore. There is a couple up the road from me that won a 20 million dollar lotto about a month ago. He is 71 and has farmed all his life and
Ives in a modest frame home. He told me he was going to continue to farm because it's all he has known his entire life. But in closing he told me "I have always said money doesn't matter but you know it does give me choices now."

 

[REWahoo]

But I still like having a j*b….. It helps provide me with a sense of purpose etc. I am curious if others can relate or have also experienced this quandary.

No way, no how.

I agree with your work friends who say "you aren't retired if you have a job." However, that's your business and if you find pleasure in working, I'll resist suggesting you see a mental health professional and say go for it. If work works for you, keep working.

As for me, I'm like Khan - I'd rather sell a kidney than go back to work.

 

[NW-Bound]

...As for me, I'm like Khan - I'd rather sell a kidney than go back to work.

No way! As I said before, I love my kidneys, even though they give me stones.

I would rather go to work if that's what it takes to keep my kidneys, let alone selling them.

You don't know what your kidneys do for you, until you don't have them anymore.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

MN317,
Yes I have experienced this. It's been 21 months and sometime I find I am missing the routine of a job, the community, the intellectual challenge, and the sense of purpose. It can be damn hard to create a routine from scratch, to challenge oneself independently, and to remember purpose. You aren't alone in this reaction. Also, I believe you are retired -- some part time work is inconsequential to the new major direction your life has taken, so let that criticism roll off your back. There are as many ways to practice a retirement as there are retirees, so your experience and those of your friends is and should be different.

That said, I don't miss the many diverse ways that my career and j*b were killing my soul. So, the difficulty that sometimes accompanies taking this path is well worth it when one considers the alternative!

-BB

 

[travelover]

Retirement is hard. Retirement is 24/7, no more vacation time, no weekends off, no overtime pay.

 

[Amethyst]

The hardest part, for me, is noticing all the things that were let go while I was working full time. Now that I only work 8 days a month, I am busier at home than I ever was at work. The problem is - I do not like housework, or worrying about a house, and also dislike overseeing other people doing things to the house. It requires too much knowledge and concentration that I want to use for other things. I wish I could just live in a hologram that keeps out the rain.

I haven't totally given up work, because out of all the things I used to do for a living, this happens to be my favorite, and the pay isn't bad. By contrast, I have resisted several offers to come back full time as a contractor, even though the pay would be far higher and I could still collect my pension.

 

[W2R]

So many people here want a part time "fun job" and still regard themselves as retired, that I can't really say they are not. I guess they have a right to define retirement however they want, when it applies to them personally.

But as for me, personally I don't want a job of any kind, ever again. After adjusting to not working at all, completely, I don't see how I could ever go back for any amount of money.

As for me, I'm like Khan - I'd rather sell a kidney than go back to work.

+1

So here's the bottom line. I can categorically state that for me, retirement involves not working any more doing what somebody else tells me what to do, just for money. For others, hey, define yourselves as you like, I guess...

 

[Mdlerth]

I wonder how the OP's situation differs from those ERs who "volunteer". Does the presence of monetary compensation, even when it is minuscule compared to what their career furnished, somehow make it w*rk?

 

[Amethyst]

Once I stop 100%, it will be like that for me as well. I must add that people ac work hardly tell me what to do. They think I know more than they do

But as for me, personally I don't want a job of any kind, ever again. After adjusting to not working at all, completely, I don't see how I could ever go back for any amount of money. +1

??

 

[steveark]

Retired but working

I retired from a very highly paid very demanding job one year ago. Now I work about 16 hours a week but still make around six figures. It is easy and fun contract work and I try to not work Mondays or Fridays or more than six hours a day. I maintain a generous expense account and get to travel to fun places on other people's money. Plus I'm a huge bargain for my clients as I could easily double my rates, but I don't need the money. I guess I technically am working, but it feels more like a hobby/vacation to me.

 

[Bamaman]

Since my ER 8 years ago, I've yet to get caught up on the Honey Do's. And we sometimes work with our church's men's club building houses for tornado and flood victimes.

And I've net to stop building projects in my houses and in my daughter's house. I too realize now how many things I let slide while working.

 

[street]

Winter has been a little hard on me and this is the first winter being retired. I do get out everyday and walk about 4 miles even in minus temperatures.

I retired last April but went to work for a Agriculture Research Center part time and will be going back this spring again, I can only work 90 days a year. I don't have to work but I do because I like to be around people and I get a lot of exercise and I'm outside each and everyday. The hard work is good for my heart. Lol
I do consider myself retired.

 

[Souschef]

Every time I think about doing something for pay, I figure by the time I pay State and Federal Tax, plus SS plus State disability, I get 50c on the dollar. Not worth it. JMHO

 

[cme4oil]

I simple see being FIRED as being able to do whatever you want to do or whatever pleases you. If working part time pleases you there is NOTHING wrong with that or anything else you want to do. After all, isn't one of the reasons you retired, to do what you want to do when you want to do it?

 

[kimcdougc]

Volunteer with the older seniors at the local community center. Have fun. When it isn't fun anymore I will stop. I haven't thought about going back to work in the 7 years I have been retired. Too much to do and not enough time to do it.

 

[6miths]

I don't have a huge circle of friends so having a part-time gig increases my contact with people and provides stimulation and does let me contribute which is nice. They do pay me a small amount (relative to my old income) but I would and have done the same task for free. As well, there is an opportunity to travel internationally on someone else's dime which is nice. I get to control how much I do.

 

[Rambler]

I've been retired for 4 years, and yes, from time to time I miss the intellectual challenge and the camaraderie of the working world. But as others have mentioned, I do not miss the soul crushing BS that goes along with it. Some days I resent the honeydo's an think maybe I should just go back to work. But every time I think about it that way, the fear of the soul crushing nonsense comes back, and I just say no thanks. Sometimes I think of a part time job doing some kind of hobby-job kind of thing. I may eventually do that, but truth be told, I have a hard time even considering that, because I'd probably earn $12-15 bucks an hour, but because my income from investments (and from 2019, deferred income from megacorp) is so high, I'd see less than 42 cents on the dollar (39%+ marginal fed, 11%+ marginal Kommiefornia state tax, 7.62% SS and Medicare, plus whatever they charge these days for disability, during my deferred income drawdown). So, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me to go back to work, UNLESS, I do it specifically to learn something, the camaraderie, or to just get out of the house, with no anticipation of any financial gain. But if I'm going to do that, I probably should go do volunteer work. Nah, on second thought, maybe I'll just travel, visit the kids, and in 8 more months, dote on our first grand-baby!

 

[Ronstar]

Retirement is extremely hard. I used to sit comfortably at a desk all day. Now I'm working in the yard, running, biking, hiking, woodworking, chasing down landscape photography sites all day. Grueling. Retirement is more like work than work used to be.

 

[pacergal]

I haven't been retired long, but went back to work on call a bit. Headaches resumed and blood pressure skyrocketed. Finally realized how toxic work was for me. Fully resigned and now happy as a clam. Health improving day by day! working on my own fun list, then going to start Zelinski's Get a Life tree. How to Retire, Happy, Wild, and Free is a great book.

 

[txtig]

Retirement is extremely hard. I used to sit comfortably at a desk all day. Now I'm working in the yard, running, biking, hiking, woodworking, chasing down landscape photography sites all day. Grueling. Retirement is more like work than work used to be.

Agree. I used to only have to make two pots of coffee per week. Now, I have to make seven!!! Hard work indeed.

 

[bclover]

I always say for me the best thing about being FIRE'd is choices. you have the option to work or not.

I got a p/t gig also. My hobby is/was baking. for a long time I thought I would retire and open a bakery. lol, talk about work and stress. for me this is the next best thing.

i get to stick my hands in dough and make some dough, (sorry, couldn't resist). I enjoy getting out the house, the bakery loves me because I'm reliable and flexible and I come with experience handling crazy customers.

no stress, no responsibilty

 

[Walt34]

I always say for me the best thing about being FIRE'd is choices. you have the option to work or not.

That's the same distinction I have about it. A few years after retirement I stumbled into a low-stress job with a 3.4 mile commute that paid unusually high for that type of work. I stayed with it for about five years and quit when the pay was going to be reduced by about 40% and I was thinking of quitting in any case. Turned out I would have only lasted a few days under the new company anyway.

I and about 19 others quit; others didn't have that option because they were still so deep in the hole with debt that it simply wasn't on their radar.

 

[hesperus]

Like anything, at first it may be difficult to adjust to the free time, but with time it becomes much, much easier. It's a mindset now.

 

[brucethebroker]

Met a business broker on a flight to FL a few years ago. Said he was based in Naples, FL. I said he must keep busy due to all the retirees. "No, most I meet want a "business" where they can work only 10 hours a week, and make at least 100k a year. Good luck with that!"