Retire

“Approaching retirement, in the back of my mind, I had a fallback option of turning retirement into a “gap year” or two, if it didn’t pan out. That is, I thought that I might choose to return to part-time work, after a year or two’s hiatus. That wasn’t the plan, but it was a failsafe option. I wondered, “What if I miss the intellectual stimulation or challenge of work? What if I miss interacting with smart people in my profession? What if I can’t find enough activities that feel meaningful and productive?” Well, none of that happened. I am more intellectually stimulated and challenged now in retirement than I was at work. I occasionally miss some of the interaction with colleagues, but interactions in the workplace were narrow in scope, because of the professional roles and tasks. I interact with a wider range of smart people now, and I feel freer to express what I think about a variety of issues I’d never talk about at work. And I haven’t had any trouble finding meaningful things to do. So, my career is over. It feels a little sad to say that, but also freeing. I don’t say it with any negativity. I never got “sick of” my job or anything like that. I always liked it at least a little. I just know that I’m done with it. My career is part of my past now. It’s in the rear-view mirror, and I’m not going back.”

“When I actually retired, I ended up spending a lot more money than normal, especially in the first 6 months. I opened the spigot. I was celebrating. I bought whatever I felt like buying -- a bike, camping gear, a dog, some furniture, a ton of books and music, clothes, some stupid ****. Also, once I retired, I noticed a bunch of stuff that needed replacing or upgrading, which I’d been putting off while working. Yearly expenses were $5000/yr. higher than expected. Not a lot in actual dollar terms, but looked at as a percentage, that’s 15% higher than what I projected (38K vs. 33K/yr.). That’s not a problem – I jacked up my spending on purpose, and I’ve got plenty of headroom -- but it is substantially higher than what I estimated. In retrospect, I think I unconsciously kept the estimates as low as I could, because by doing that, I could feel safer and more secure when pulling the plug.”

“I retired a few years ago. I was almost 51. Had spent many years in tech slumped over a laptop for 16 hrs a day. I don't have kids so i'd run a lot of calculations to see if I'd have "enough". The first year was bizarre. I was lazy at first. I started playing pickleball...and subsequently got hurt. a lot. I ended up watching a lot of TV. Just relaxing a lot. But decided to go on a health journey. A REAL one. went to a Dr. and everything and went on a 2 year mission to get as healthy as possible. Lost lots of weight. Moved more, ate less.”