I can’t stay long without starting to make plans, and then the illusion of “meaning” returns.

My inner child is more dead than alive these days. “Playing” has become difficult because of lack of practice. That’s really a pity and I hope it’s reversible.

A simple, brilliant post. Thanks, Jacob.

I plan on retiring early and I do not plan on being bored as I will do what I want when I want to do it. It makes sense that you have to keep busy when retired otherwise it will be very boring.

I wonder what’s really considered early retirement these days. I’ve just (a few days ago) turned 59 and will be retiring in three months. Is that early? Feels more like it’s just in time! I’m working through all of the issues connected to retirement – at least those that wake me in the middle of the night – in a blog at http://www.forthefirstime.ca and hope more women who’ve already retired will share their wisdom. We need to stick together. As they taught us in kindergarten – it’s better when we hold hands.

You are right. We have to do something with our time. I suppose retirement will never mean doing nothing for me. There will always be (i hope) some small business, or non-profit and grandchildren.

Otherwise, I might die of boredom.

Cheers

@bongohipster – Job-identification is reversible by focusing on other activities. My guess is that most people do this automatically. For them a job is simply something that makes money for the rest of their life. For the rest of us I would say … for example, I am a scientist and I will always have this particular way of thinking regardless of my job title. So I focus more on who I am than where or exactly what I’m working. I used to do the latter, but it’s psychologically dangerous.

@Sylvia – Hmm, I don’t know what the classification scheme is or if there is an exact one. I would say below 40 is “extremely early”. That’s my cut-off. I don’t think 45 is extreme for instance. Most magazine articles talking around “early” retirement interview people below 50. I have also seen people at 55 talking about early retirement. The tax advantaged pension plans are released [in the US] at 59.5, so maybe that should be considered standard. Anything over would be late retirement.

@P – Nah, I think it’s very possible to have extrovert activities that don’t cost a fortune. The problem here though would be finding people that don’t spend all day working. Volunteering is a big hit here. As is all those light duty works … like part time camp ground maintenance. We have groups around here that play golf at 8a in the morning. Crazy people! 😀

Let’s set the stage first. As a 58 year old retiree, I’ve been looking for something to do to feel productive. As my fellow baby boomers reach retirement age, I see a wave of people, like myself, searching for something to do to reinvent ourselves. Lets face it, most people work most of their adult lives at something that is unfulfilling, but it paid the bills. My job was even more unfulfilling considering that it was thought of as a necessary evil by society. What I wanted to do was be involved in a something that was challenging, but not too demanding of my time so that I could occasionally take some time off without being brow beat to death for it.

When I retired at 55, I wasn’t ready for the rocking chair just yet. Some people think that I have pulled up short and that I should still be a full-time member of the rat race. They are generally still employed full-timers and can not relate to anything less than a full-time commitment. All that I can say to them is that in my 58 years, I’ve been around the track more times than most people have in a life time. Those people who are most critical of me have lived in their comfort zone all of their adult lives and have rarely ventured out without their security blanket. I have a great deal of dislike for people who are threatened by my risk taking lifestyle. Unfortunately, my desire to reinvent myself places me in situations where I have to humble myself to these narrow minded individuals. These specialists in what ever it is they did for 35 years or more are out of tune with the rest of the world and fear the unfamiliar. However, they are my supervisors and I either play their game or quit. Reluctantly, I play their game.

After I retired three years ago, I moved to rural County in California. The fantasy of living in the forest was what got me through those times where I just wanted to take this job and shove it. My life has been filled with taking a lot of risks along the way. I attribute my ability to retire early to risk taking. After all, the bigger the risk the greater the reward. The risk taking has definitely taken it’s toll on my body and mind. Fortunately, I have been blessed with the ability to focus on what I have going for me, not my shortcomings. For example, I can no longer participate in my passion of running, due to a work related injury, but I can certainly hike a
trail to my hearts content. My wife and I hike daily for exercise and peace of mind. This is just one of many examples of how I ended up with lemons and made lemonade out of them.

When I retired at 55 I was financially able to do what ever I wanted without the worry of how much I got paid. Over my career, I discovered that the more money you made the more stressful your job was. Ergo, it would appear to be true that low paying and even volunteer positions would be less stressful and therefore more enjoyable. Because of that, I believed that I should have no trouble finding the brass ring that had eluded me my whole adult life. As it turned out, I was in for a big surprise. Soon after I moved up here reality set in. I struggled greatly with becoming a Private Investigator due to my lack of experience as a small business owner. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. I then took on a seasonal job with the Forest Service last summer. In spite of accepting this low paying job, the demands were very high and I learned what the term “Seasonal Employee Abuse” was all about. I was assigned the crappy jobs that they didn’t want to do and worked the shifts they didn’t want to work. In addition, I was never allowed into their “inner circle”. Oh well, needless to say, I didn’t return this summer.

So much for the blunt introduction. This brings me to my volunteer fire fighter position at Station 123. I’m not going to get into how I became a volunteer fire fighter, because that’s not important. I have learned a lot over the past 4 months. Actually much more than I ever expected in such a short amount of time. I have come to understand that rural areas are hard pressed for alternatives, so they just have to make due with whoever is available. That means that marginally qualified personnel, like myself, are expected to do things that are generally learned in programs that involve a long and disciplined training curriculum. In many ways, the training program here can best be described as putting the cart before the horse. Many tasks that I am expected to do, after seeing it done only a couple of times, are later taught in an abbreviated crash course. I still haven’t been through the “67 class” (fire fighting class) and I’ve been on three wild land fires and one structure fire.

Life at Satation123 has had it’s ups and downs. My Captain, an ex-college professor who started out as a volunteer fire fighter at the age of 16 is, shall I say, a f***ing-know-it-all. He is a 64 year old man who is a legend in his own mind. He refuses to play second fiddle to anyone and being the first on scene is more important than anything else. It’s really not about helping someone who is in immediate need as much as it is beating the other units there so that he can have bragging rights. His method of instructing his trainees is to ridicule them in a condescending tone and finding fault with nearly everything they do. The last time that I dealt with that kind of person was in boot camp. I’m sure that you are asking yourself why I didn’t just walk away from that kind of abuse. Well, I have to admit, I have learned more in four months from that Man than what most people learn in a long structured classroom setting. I’m sure that the skills that I have learned from him will someday save my life or help me save the life of someone else. For that I will always be thankful to him, in spite of my dislike for his poor social interaction skills.

In conclusion, I have noticed that my self-confidence has grown in my abilities and that I am standing up to his sarcasm more often. Surprisingly, when I stand up to him, he rapidly backs off and his snide demeanor goes away. Somehow, I see myself like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, discovering that the Wizard is really this insecure old man behind this curtain who is on this power trip in order to deal with issues of his own.

Welcome Baby Boomers to the finish line of the rat race. There’s a gut check coming up and by the way, welcome to OZ.

Arthur E. Morgan said that “preparation for old age should begin not later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.” My own observations lead me to the same conclusion. If you’ve had lots of things you were excited and passionate about before you retire then you’ll have lots of things to pursue when you retire. If, though, work has been your life then I’m guessing retirement is going to be very very hard.

Great post, Jacob!

Because I had been semi-retired for 7 years before I fully retired in 2008 at age 45, there was not a big “shock” to my daily life like there was when I first semi-retired 7 years earlier.

Back in 2001, I arranged to do some volunteer work and resurrect some dormant hobbies. Over the years, I was able to expand both of those things but it was in 2008 when all of my nonwork activities began easier to do.

One thing I have been able to do much more often since I fully retired is reading books. I always liked doing that but can now do so even more. With most of my volunteer work being school-related, the summer is the best time for reading. As the schools resume after their summer breaks, my reading will decline a bit but that’s okay.

But one thing I have said before is that losing the negative things associated with working, particularly the miserable commute, is the best part of being fully retired. If this means I watching TV or sleeping instead of doing that awful commute, I don’t mind.

As I finished reading this post my newly retired Mom called. She’s a poster child for retirees and on the extreme end of a self-starter. Her life has always been filled with volunteer projects and this is helpful to her as she transitions into retirement. My Father worked high-paying jobs that were not that fulfilling and so after work volunteering at various projects gave him a bit of balance. It’s been great to see my parents so happy, finally doing what they love-FULL TIME!
I quit my job last Spring and will not return to the workforce until this Fall. When I quit I had a long list of what I wanted to accomplish over the summer. What I did was about half the list. When I started feeling guilty I realized that part of my stress at work is that I moved 100 mile per minute. At the end of the day I would come home and I was totally drained, unable to give any ounce of energy to my family. I had a reputation as someone who could make things happen and make them happen fast. I thought that was something good. It probably would be if I was someone that had three times more energy then I do- but I don’t.
I had my first job interview this past Friday. The company had heard about me through people I had worked for in the past. During the interview he would refer to what he had heard about me, ‘I hear you get things done- fast.’ I gotta find a balance or I’ll be dead before retiring!

I retired at 58 years old one week ago and am still destressing from working eight hour days with a five to six hour daily commute. I figure I should be in a better place in about one month. I plan to work on my house prior to trying to selling it but want to enjoy my home for a couple of years.
I will miss some things about not working after 42 years but will definitely not miss the long commute. I have always planned to retire at 58 to 60 years of age and enjoy a few good years of doing what I want to do when I want and not have a schedule. I have enough money to retire and pay my living expenses for at least 25 years; that is if nothing drastic happens. I do not have plans to go back to work.

@idahoretired – $1400 sounds like a lot, a huge amount really, for just site rent, food, and utilities. Utilities in an RV should be next to nothing—if not, move to a more favorable climate. I think our utility costs were <$100/month. Site rent was $475... the highest I've ever seen is $700/month. This leaves a lot of money for food (we're currently spending $250/month for two people). So it would be worthwhile figuring out a solution to this first to liberate some dollars. Top priority.

This fear of not having enough to do seems pretty scary, but somehow on my days off the day just flies. So, I think I would create my own routine if I were not tied to the corporate world. I know a lot of people fear leaving work because they think they won’t have enough to do, but I think I would choose what to do: volunteer, work on the house, learn new skills. It would be fun.

Great post!

Been retired for 2.5 years and don’t have enough time to do everything in a day. Doubt I’ll ever be bored unless I lose use of my hands and can no longer make things. Then I guess I’ll keep busy with my huge list of library books in my queue and visit with my friends even more. Happy day!

What!? I’m 30. I have a big student loan (luckily it’s from the gov.t) but I will retire in 5-10 yrs max. Even if I retired right now, I still am not sure if I’d have enough lifespan to do everything I aim to do and experience. My imagination and curiosity are my existence. I would be sad without fully exercising them; most certainly dead inside 🙁

The contrast you set between starters/non-starters, meaningful/so-called meaningful, fear/..you? and the sarcastic job description, reads like: enlightened/unenlightened and kinda supposes the superiority of the formers, compared to the latters. I would be careful with that. It might seem that way for many people, but, at the risk of pissing many off, what’s the big deal about (early) retirement? I’m happy as can be with that status, but your blog post proposes it as a cure-all for those who have not yet seen the light. There might be more to cure than the routine job if that kills one’s creativity.

JPP