Thoughts on being retired- before and after

Before or after-but sometime- you should read the original article on HumbleDollar I reference here. The following is the text of my comment on that article.

I have been retired 13 years, I will be 80 in a few months and as I read this article, it dawned on me I have experienced it all and here I am still content in retirement with few regrets, but thinking about the future and still with the what ifs running through my mind.

I retired at age 67 and I used a phased retirement so the last year I began reducing hours in the office. Perhaps the phasing and my age helped with the transition, I don’t know. 

I was shocked at the disconnect from coworkers who I mistakenly viewed as friends.

Many times when I read about retirement issues, I find myself wondering, why am I different? Why am I so fortunate? I am the first to admit having a stream of income in the form of a pension makes a big difference. I don’t know how I would cope living off investments, not well I suspect. I would be under constant stress. Still, my fixed pension value is eroding from inflation and investments are more important these days. 

Retirement is more than about money as Jonathan and others point out, but adequate income and a stream of it is essential and to me that is the most important planning challenge and the one that takes a lifetime to achieve.

I get up in the morning with a routine, not planned, but sort of fallen into these days. I read HumbleDollar with my coffee, read papers on-line and check FB and Twitter, I read other sources currently Eric Hoffer. I walk, I take my wife on errands and shopping, etc. if necessary. Frankly, not doing anything at times is not depressing.

We see our children and grandchildren regularly, weekends are filled with sporting events and other family activities. Four children and 11 grandchildren live within an hour drive. I get calls asking a question or advice. One son has health insurance issues, another asked me to review his resume. On occasion we drive grandkids here and there. 

We moved to a 55 plus community five years ago. It’s only five minutes from where we lived for 47 years. Nothing was interrupted in our lives, but unlike before I have made more friends and we all play golf twice a week and except for one, are 80 or older – one 91. Fact is I have more friends than ever before in my life. We are not moving again. 

We have traveled the world and the country, but mobility issues are slowing us down. Nevertheless, my wife, now 84, is planning a family reunion in Italy for next year. Time will tell. 

As I see it, retirement is no different than life, good and bad times, calm and crisis, boredom and excitement. If you view retirement as the beginning of the end, you may struggle. Life is just one big trip.