Retirement - How do you fill your day?
Community
So with all of these retirement threads, here is a question for those who are already retired.
What is your daily routine? What do you do to fill your day without watching tv or surfing Bowsite?
You mean there's more than TV and Bowsite. We've been retired for a little over the years. There are many days I can't figure out how I would have had time to work. I get a lot more sleep, we're working on our retirement issues almost every day ( real estate). We have traveled more, go to the pool about 5 times a week. We walk about 2.5 miles a day with the dog, And we now have our 17 year old grandson living with us. He was not going to graduate at home in Sacramento. No accountability, so he just didn't do the work. So he played videos 16+ hours a day. Now doing online school here in Oregon, doing very well. Also doing more projects around the house. Time goes a lot faster when you're retired.
I've gotten a little taste of retirement being off work with back surgery.... that has limited me in what I physically can do....
But when I retire in 2020 my wife and I plan to move from the city..... Hopefully I can find a house where I can deer hunt right out my back yard.... I'll begin retirement with hunting and fishing a hundred times more than I do now.... and go from there....
I'm not retired, but I only work when I want and with whom I want. So I guess you could say I'm semi-retired. I don't need to take on new clients for income purposes, but I really like helping good people become financially successful. That's very rewarding emotionally.
When I'm not serving my clients, I'm doing volunteer work for the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Wild Sheep Foundation, as the liaison between the CA Chapter of WSF and the CA legislature, the CA Commission and the CA DFW, plus the CA DFW as the Chair of their Big Game Advisory Committee. Those things eat up a lot of my time.
One great thing about my business is that I'm my own boss and deterimine my own hours. I've got a reasonably solid cash-flow from my existing book of business, so I'll probably stay in this mode as long as I'm capable and as long as my clients still want me to be their advisor.
Then there's yard work, shooting my bow, golf, hunting, and, of course, Bowsite.
Just got done stripping the bark off a AZ white oak stump. Have to true the ends up so it sits square on the floor and then mount an anvil. Just put up a rabbit feeder for the cottontails. And one for the squirrels. The Mrs. wants to be just like Snow White and have all the woods critters following her.
Have a Suzuki Samurai that I am doing a restoration on. Don't have a ATV, UTV, so the Samurai will substitute for that, plus it has AC and a heater.
The Mrs. goes into town (hour drive) once a week to play cards with her buddies and pick up groceries. Road trips, cruises, elk hunts, turkey hunts, javalina hunts. all slated for this year.
Terry
I have been retired since 1999. I have gone on hunting trips, I make furniture with all my woodworking equipment and travel to other countries a lot. In the summer my wife and I make our place beautiful with all of our flower gardens. We do walk a lot everyday. Lately, I have been trying to recover from several spine surgeries and a shoulder surgery. I don't want to show you my 11 level fusion with double rods on both sides because it would probably make you sick. Still trying to learn how to walk again without pain.
Heck with it, I'll show it to you anyway. I now have double rods on both sides from T-9 down to S-1.
Whoe...prayers for a good and speedy recovery.
I'm not retired but since I have about 4 lifetimes worth of things on my list I want to learn and accomplish, I am guessing that when and if I do retire, trying to fit it all in will be as busy as it is now .
I have a few more years to go before retirement. I'm sure there will be plenty to do with the grandkids and church. I'll play plenty of golf. Fish the lakes I like anytime I like. Will continue to hunt in South TX. Travel the country with the wife in the RV. Looking forward to it.
"Be careful what you wish for you just might get it". Those who truly despise their jobs and angers them everyday are deserved retirement when that time presents itself from the release of the anguish alone. People usually sacrifice their entire lives, the most vibrant and only times you can truly see colors in your life for preparation of retirement and years of relaxation which sadly may not come to fruition, time wise. Retirement is not for everyone and you may believe you are a candidate and just can't wait. Some people, usually business driven people, need the action more than the money and retirement is viewed as a white flag in their life's work and giving up and in. My opinion is retire ASAP if you can but leave your options open, do NOT burn bridges and do not stray too far mentally from your profession. Keep in touch with associates. As Kyle stated choosing to work on your own schedule changes the dynamics of retirement. Finding ways to pass time, (which is Taboo IMO) is a one way ticket to the bone orchard. Stay productive and in the company of the younger set as long as you can. The young never complain about every ache, pain and some disorder that is hampering them and youth can put a hop in your step both physically and mentally.
Some people can cut the grass and prune the bushes and are completely happy and fulfilled in their retirement. Others still have a burning drive to remain relevant in their chosen field. Ever wonder why those who can easily retire, the super rich never do and many times put in more hours in their so called retired years, that is, until they fall over. Something about that action that is attractive.
Retirement? I would call it a new beginning in life that you MUST provide to yourself to remain in the game. This time under your own rules.
The Rock
The Rock
Well said, Rocky.
There is also a great deal of evidence showing that people who retire without having a passion or passions for doing other things than 'work,' die much sooner than those who do have such interests and passions.
I have a friend here in Reno who owns a business with ~ 50 employees. A little over two years ago he asked me to install a Simple IRA plan and enroll his employees in the plan.
Financially, it's not worth my time, but emotionally, it's a winner.
Last month I did the annual enrollment for their new employees. One of them was a young lady who just turned 18 two months earlier. She signed up for contributing just over $100/month, which I thought was amazing. Because her employer has a matching contribution, she'll be setting aside ~ $2,500/year.
That may not sound like much, but if she continues to do that until she retires, never increasing her contributions, and averages an 8%/year return, by the time she's 67, her account will be worth over $1,325,000!
In my 42+ years in the business, never have I had an 18 year old begin a regular investment plan. This young lady is now my hero!
I've been retired for over 20 years and don't know how I ever had time to work. I hunt, fish, shoot all kinds of rifles, shotgun and pistols. Keep the neighbor's Groundhogs very unhappy. I have miles of trails to ride my Gator. I only sleep about 5 hours a night and have been that way for as long as I can remember. I don't think I ever slept 8 hours my entire life. I do a lot of gardening and do all the grocery shopping. After being on call 24/7 for years it is a relief not to worry about the phone ringing in the middle of the night and having to catch a plane in the morning. I can field dress a deer with the best and beat most skinning squirrels. I love cooking them too. The main thing I miss is playing music but the fingers on my left hand are too messed up to play anymore so I just follow the guys I used to play with and my son. He just played at a ski resort in Colorado and I sure miss the gigs.
I've been retired just over 1 year. My day..
Ice fishing, open water fishing, spring turkey, golf, bow hunting, yard work, watch our 2 granddaughters when needed, grocery shopping, laundry, I'm at my parents 1-2 days each week, I learned to bake bread, if there is bad weather, I'll just relax at home, have coffee 2-3 times per month with a retired co worker, each month I'll have lunch with the ROMEO club...Retired Old Men Eating Out..with some of my high school classmates, meet my wife at school for lunch or bring her supper when she has to stay late, get a hair cut during the week instead of on Saturday, every 3 months get my BP checked...let's see, did I miss anything?
If anyone says that he or she will get bored when they retire...well, shame on them.
You don't get any extra time added at the end, if you work longer now.
Kevin,
Yeah, the regulation thing gets worse and more cumbersome every day. After the DOL rules came out last year, I was asking myself if continuing to do what I do was worth the BS.
Even besides hobby activities, don't overlook the opportunity to reinvent yourself after you end your career. There is always something to learn the finest details of and that depth of learning is not likely to be any small accomplishment or short period of time/effort. Use that new education/experience to better your second half of life or to benefit others with it, either way you're likely to find a new excitement in life that you may recall when you were young and just starting your last career.
So what do you guys do for a living ..... or what did you do before you retired ? I know Kyle is a financial advisor....
Hence the name "Pig Doc".... makes sense.....
I would suggest that if you don't know what you'll do with your days at retirement, maybe you shouldn't retire in the first place.
I'll probably end up working at a hospital as security a few days a week...... I worked there for a year after I got out of the Navy before I got hired into the Police Department.... My wife can't retire until 5 years after I do so I don't want to be a complete slug while she's still working full time..... and that will give me some fun money for hunting and fishing....
I spent 11 years managing financial reporting for businesses using Data Processing equipment, 14 years in Procurement purchasing Capital Equipment for a DOE site and 6 years doing Scheduling and Budgeting in Project Controls.
I was a System's Engineer specializing in upgrade design for a communications manufacturer (you likely use that company's product BB).
Technical engineering isn't something I think I want to do anymore (never say never though!) but something in finance/investing has always been a strong interest to me. That interest and knowledge over the last couple decades got us to where we are now (wife quit work back around 2007) solely on savings and investing without pensions or inheritances.
Better knowledge of investing is only be more important to us in retirement than it was in bull dogging our way up prior to retirement so that will naturally be a bit of reinventing myself now. Whether it becomes something I eventually get paid to do or not doesn't really matter to me at this time unless I can get some kind of company educational assistance to expand my knowledge.
That FireCalc, and another considered even better, was just about dead on with the calcs/spreadsheets I've created and used for years. They are a little more optimistic than my sheets were but that's because I intentionally erred on the side of caution (lower returns and higher inflation) to mitigate my lack of formal education.
Bighorn.... Your back surgery makes mine look minor... get well...... No wonder I feel like a simpleton around here... you guys are all financial geniuses....
Bighorn I have to tell you the first thing that came to my mind was “I’m on the toilet, now what”? I had a lower fusion that ended my career. I had to get inventive when it came to personal hygiene. I can imagine what you’ve gone through. What people don’t realize to have a fusion they have to also go into your abdomen to do the fusion and scramble your insides around. Hope your getting better.
I had planned to do Taxidermy when I retired years ago and that’s what I’ve done. This is a cat you won’t often see. It was from an animal sanctuary. It’s a Clouded Leopard from Asia.
DL,
And you also went sheep hunting in the CA Desert!
I hope to live long enough to find this out. I have no set timeframe.....as long I get keep getting paid doing what I'm doing.......I'm not stopping. I have a very fun and very interesting job that also pays extremely well.........
You must be a financial advisor...... I'm surrounded......ha !!
This woman (link) will be 100 tomorrow and recently killed a deer. I guess retirement doesn't mean slowing down!
I'm an IT executive. We get fired constantly.....so I may be retired sooner than I think.
Man this place is full of white collar guys..... No wonder I always feel like a numbskull talking to you guys.....
That lady looks like she's in her 60's Henry.....
I will have decades and decades of experience in growing flowers when I reach her age.... because I'll be plant food.....
Big Bear x2
You guys are impressive.
In my 39th year in education. Prior to that worked in agriculture. Neither lucrative, so retirement will be thin.
Doc, hundreds of acres growing wild in central KS - not so much out where our land is.
This is probably like beating a dead horse at this point Henry.... because we all have our opinions and are stead fast in them.......
But it seems to me that there wouldn't be anyone illegally growing pot out on public land in say..... Colorado.... why would they want to ??
DL, Yes, you do have to be creative when doing personal hygiene. I have learned to stretch my arm and hand further than I ever thought that I could. I do have a bolt with a large flange in my belly too. I will see the surgeon again tomorrow for a checkup. When I sit for 15 minutes or longer both of my legs go to sleep. When I lay on my left side and fall to sleep I wake up with middle back pain on the left side. I am still numb on the right side of my lower back. It has been 6 months and I thought that I would be getting some feeling back but not yet. I have given away to two grandsons my Mathews MQ1 and Bowtech Fuel bows along with my Remington model 760 in .270 caliber that I have owned since 1964 and my Remington 16 gauge semi-automatic that I have had since I was 13. Tough things to do. However, I still have my Hoyt Alpha Max and custom Pronghorn bow along with my Sako .308. I won the Bowtech, Pronghorn and Sako in raffles at the CBA and RMBS banquets. Yes, I purchase a lot of raffle tickets to support the organizations. I'm not giving up yet. I do want to continue hunting with my bows and rifle but it will have to be with someone to get things out for me.
IT tech. Was also a project analyst. Army National Guard helicopter crewchief. A&P mechanic mercenary during the Vietnam war. B-17 lead mechanic on a CAF restoration. Currently in charge of honey do's.
Terry
Hang in there Merle..... I can't imagine what you have gone through.... I had surgery on 2 measly little herniated discs on Dec. 11.....
Coyote.... you are another white collar guy being an IT Tech guy but you are cut from blue collar roots.... Thank you sir for your service to our country !!!
I might have to hire one of you financial advisors to manage my retirement for me.... I'm terrible with money...... ha !!!
I'll retire from my present position in about 2 1`/2 years. I won't have turned 60 yet. I'll continue to work part time when I feel like it, most likely as a traveling RN. Go to some other part of the country, work two weeks in a place I've never been before, take a month or two off if I feel like it. One thing is certain, I won't be residing in California.
I'll be retiring about the same time Rick......
Hang in there Merle. It will get better. It’s amazing what your body can adjust to. Going through TSA at the airport won’t be fun. I got metal in my back and knees. I try and wear shorts whenever I fly , slip on shoes and no belt. My right knee looks like I got in a knife fight with a midget and lost but they still have to check me out like crazy. Keep us updated on how your doing.
10 years out for me still , but i hope to enjoy a lot more activities with my free time, more hunting and traveling....but, not gonna lie, makes me very nervous just thinking about it....hoping your money decisions were and are sound....time will tell though....
I have 26 titanium screws, two stainless steel plates, and a stainless steel battery in my lower left leg. I have not set off the metal detectors at the airport in years....and I fly a lot. I used to set them off all the time so they must be getting better.
Big Bear,
"But it seems to me that there wouldn't be anyone illegally growing pot out on public land in say..... Colorado.... why would they want to ?? "
I can't speak for CO, but it's a big problem in CA and NV.
I guess my point was that if it's legal.... why would people grow it on public land and risk getting it stolen....?
BB, Doc and I were razzing each other.
BB,
Because to grow it on private land would mean you'd have to own or lease the land. And growing it on private land in no way protects the grower from having it stolen.
If you grow it on public land, the only cost you incur is the armed guards you hire.
They grow it indoors where its legal........
Which is light years more expensive that growing it outdoors is!
I asked my Mom what she was going to do in retirement. She said, "Any thing I want!!" :) That was nine years ago and now, I'm retired. Know what, I have the same answer. If you're the kind that has to be busy, then stay at the job! DA :)
Bighorn,I've had the rods and brackets,not as extensive as yours.that was in 2003.still things I can't do good.my fear is falling on ice and nocking stuff loose.but now I'm retired and divorced,and set my own limits on what I do.I still bow hunt,just not like I used to.
I have watched a bunch of guys retire and take a wrong turn. They sleep late in the morning, get up and watch the Young and the Restless and go sit in a bar and drink all afternoon and evening. In a few months they are dead!
I retired in 2004 at age 54 from the Alaska DNR. A while after that I gave up my Alaska Master Guide license and retired from outfitting. My general plan was to retire BEFORE I was "over-warranty" because I had a lot of things I wanted to do before I assumed room temperature. I am well along on doing those things.
I've been on 7 African safaris. I have hunted NZ, Mexico, Australia and a bunch of states.
I own and manage a small firewood business down in the Lower 48. I wuss out on the coldest part of the Alaskan winters now. New Jersey is my "Florida." I trap coyotes in NJ to assist deer on my own land and to help out other landowners who need the ADC help. I manage my family property there for deer, sawtimber and fire wood. (Last June I was named the 2016 NJ Tree Farmer of the Year!)
Going "cold turkey" into retirement would not have worked. I still do fire fighting/management work during the summer months. I serve on the command staff of the Alaska Interagency Incident Mgt Team, providing reinforcements on large wildland fires all across North America. 2018 will be my 51st fire season. Even though I am now more of a fire "manager" than a fire "fighter," I'm proud that I can still pass the Arduous level work capacity test that the basic firefighters are required to pass for fireline duty.
I served a term on the Alaska Board of Game. I'm active with the Tanana Valley Sportsmans Assc and the Alaska Trappers Association.
I've written a couple of books and am trying to get motivated to begin on a third.
So yes, I'm retired, but like others posting above, I am a fairly busy rascal. The worst part about retirement is that you do not get ANY days off...!
Pete
....now that's the way to do it Pete! Reminds me of my idol.......Ojibwa......he didn't let a little retirement get in the way of his accomplishments either.
