Or do you not intend to? Or have you already? Retirement is coming up for me in a few years, so I’m considering my options.
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I’m a millennial in the US, what’s retirement?
OK Boomer has entered the chat. Seems most comments are from those looking forward. I left the paycheck life in 2019. Except for 2020 (catching up on every episode of The Office), I’ve been having a measured good time. I have lucky stars to thank. Got married in ’85. Adopted a daughter in ’91. Wife and I inherited a home when my mom died. We spent 30 years saving for retirement instead of paying a mortgage/rent. Was self-employed the whole time in marketing communications. Wife was a mid-level manager in health services, retired 2 years before me. We spent decades living below our means. I threw the towel in at 62. I think being self-employed (and a one-man show) prepared me for my after work life. I wasn’t going to miss the office life and friends because I didn’t have any, in the conventional sense. These days I work in the garden, getting dirt in my fingernails. I teach QiGong and Tai Chi pro-bono to a dedicated senior group at a local park, and I’m getting a similar gig with the city rec services to do the same. I’m a small-time landlord (one-unit granny flat behind the house). I recently transitioned from Mac to Windows (sorry Linux users, I know…) with great success. I drive a 25 year old stick-shift Toyota truck and hope it makes it to 300K. At 66, I exercise almost every day, and while I could be convinced to take a nap in the afternoon, I never do. My wife is a pickleball queen, and we manage to have lives together and apart. We both have pretty good health for oldies. Several of my peers have died recently, and the end of the road looms closer for me than ever before. My life is devoted to staying healthy and paying it forward as long as I can keep it together.
Least ok boomer boomer I’ve ever seen
This was a good read! I’m also lucky in that I’m part of an actual retirement plan through the state, although I am also putting money away as well. I actually plan on working, but not in my current industry. Maybe give different things a try and just focus on enjoying myself.
Not starve or be homeless.
Paint and read, and do political organizing or volunteering. Maybe play some guitar if my hands aren’t fucked up with arthritis. Kick it strong with the grandkids. Probably some gaming too, my dad games quite a bit
Whatever the fuck I feel like that day. Maybe some gardening, maybe some backpacking, maybe just laying on the couch and fucking around on my phone all day. The best part of this mythical retirement I’m teased with, is that I wouldn’t have any obligations on a day-to-day basis.
The obligations thing is huge. Like literally anything I end up doing - even work - will be because I want to and not because I need to.
Not die. But that’s a tough ask as my current retirement plan is unaliving.
Yell at clouds
haha, retire. as long as we’re dreaming, i guess i’ll spend my time riding unicorns on the moon.
but seriously, if this is somehow really an option for you… i’d teach community education classes. art, programming, basic cooking, whatever. i’ve met a lot of great friends in community ed. i think it’d be rad to contribute back.
The main thing I really want to do is something that will let me give back and help people, so all of that sounds great. I thought about teaching, but I’m also really sick of IT, so I’m not sure. I did recently get a chance to speak to some college students about IT and really enjoyed that, so maybe that would be OK. Otherwise I’ve considered personal training or maybe even opening a gym.
Play video games. Make myself go outside for twenty minutes a day. Do some stretches as exercise. Hope my daughter visits me.
I’ll keep myself in a low key part time job. I’ve read studies that retirees die sooner if they don’t feel like they have a purpose.
Create a better purpose than slinging hours for dollars, my dude.
Most people get purpose from being out in society and being a part of the workforce. Not everyone hates their job.
I don’t hate my job. As a matter of fact, I quite like it. But I promise you I would find something different to do if I had enough money to retire.
Of course, I never said you had to continue doing the same job. One that is part time, not stressful, and where your responsibilities are minimal.
Same. I don’t hate my job, but it’s also not what I want to do any more.
My purpose it to be sitting on a beach, fat and drunk.
Retire?
Ha, good one
Travel a little, volunteer in the community, use any (if any) excess funds to try and better the things around me, cook more, adopt pets.
I just took a week off and was so wildly productive at home, so I assume it would be the same if I could ever voluntarily retire. Haul wheelbarrows of mulch, tend to the garden, make bread and tepache, take care of the animals. Clean up the house. Like a stay at home mom who didn’t have to take care of kids, would just manage the house and yard.
In reality it is probably only disability that would force me into retirement though. So I’m not sure.
I just made a batch of tepache. My first time. Delicious!
I used to bake sourdough quite a lot, but then I developed a wheat allergy. Before the allergy I thought quite a bit about switching careers and baking for a living.
If you like fermenting, I highly recommend ginger beer from ginger bug. You need organic ginger for the bug (I think the non organic must be irradiated or something, ginger alone I find the conventionally grown won’t ferment.) Once the starter is established you can use it to ferment any juice.
I have a ginger bug going. I made naturally carobanted “cola” using it. Def would love to try making ginger beer!
20 years for me. Currently my idea is to open up a kiosk. Because I assume money won’t be enough…
Camping, traveling, hiking and going places that are enjoyable and accessible with my wife and dogs.
Gardening / homesteading in such a way to live as self-sufficiently as possible.
My way I want to give back in retirement is working as a volunteer urban/wildland canine search and rescue team.
I train my dogs in scent/detection sports and tracking now so I’m prepared to understand how to do the real deal once I have time to volunteer in retirement. My current job is in a related field, so I already have many of the other skills and certifications that would be needed, but I don’t work with dogs for my job.
If I need extra income in retirement, I’ll probably get into offering dog training for detection/tracking.
I train my dogs in scent/detection sports and tracking now
I’ve been training our puppy in scent work. It’s pretty fun. He gets so excited when he finds his little birch tree oil soaked cotton ball in a perforated tin.
