FREE NEWSLETTER
SEVEN MONTHS AGO—on my 55th birthday—I walked away from a job I’d held for 24 years. That day, I got in my car, left Portland, Oregon, and began a two-day roadtrip to Arizona.
My husband, who retired in 2018, was already living in our Phoenix-area home. I was looking forward to joining him, but I questioned how well I’d adapt to my new life as a retiree.
During my 1,300-mile journey south, I had plenty of time to ponder my future. I wondered how my husband and I would cope with the hot desert climate. I questioned if we’d have sufficient income to cover all our expenses. I was unsure how I’d deal with the vast amount of free time I would have.
Now, just half a year later, I feel comfortable with my decision to leave behind fulltime work.
Moving to Arizona in May meant dealing with the summer heat right away. The hottest daytime temperature we endured was 115 degrees. We learned summer heat requires waking up at 4 a.m. to get outdoor activities completed while temperatures are still in the 80s and 90s. During the heat of the day, we often visited one of the swimming pools or climate-controlled gyms located in our retirement community. We also spent time catching up on the various television series we enjoy.
Aldo the corgi getting in his steps on the treadmill
Exercising our four dogs in the heat required some creative solutions. The dogs logged many miles on a treadmill we purchased for them. We had an air-conditioner installed in our garage so we could use the space as a training area.
Financially, we’re doing fine. My husband’s income stream includes a state pension, Social Security and rent from a home he owns in Washington state. His pension includes an annual cost-of-living increase, so inflation hasn’t been much of a burden. I have a pension, a 403(b) and a Roth IRA, but we don’t plan on tapping those until I turn 65.
While our income decreased in 2022, so too did our expenses. Since 2019, we had been paying mortgages on two homes—one in Oregon and one in Arizona. We sold our Oregon home in the weeks prior to my retirement, eliminating a major money drain.
Other expenses decreased as well. The utility and property tax payments on our Oregon home were higher than what we pay in Arizona. Oregon’s 9.9% personal income tax rate is over twice as high as Arizona’s. We do pay sales tax in Arizona, but many items—including most groceries and prescription medications—are exempt.
The money we netted from the sale of our Oregon home is sitting in a cash account, earning 3% interest. Those funds provide us with peace of mind. Should we face a large, unexpected expense, we know we have enough cash to cover it.
The dog training business my husband and I started in June is beginning to turn a profit. The money we make helps offset some of the costs associated with our own dogs. The real benefit, however, is the feedback we receive from clients. Helping residents in our community develop better relationships with their four-legged friends rewards our souls.
What about all that free time I knew I’d have once I retired? It’s devoured by all the activities I never had enough time for when I was working. My husband and I spend our days playing with and training our dogs. We ride our bikes almost every day. We take sunset walks through the neighborhood and we’ve rediscovered the simple joy of reading books.
I admit learning to enjoy a slower pace of life hasn’t been easy. For 30 years, my life followed a set routine. On weekdays, I woke up, spent the day at work, returned home and slept. Weekends were almost always devoted to home improvement projects and house cleaning.
I vowed to take a break from my hectic schedule when I retired.
At first, I wasn’t very successful. I spent hours each day organizing our new home. I scrubbed tile grout, replaced door knobs and cleaned carpets. Slowly, I learned how to unwind. My housekeeping standards are no longer as stringent as they once were. If the dirty dishes sit in the sink overnight, it isn’t the end of the world. The stack of papers I’ve been meaning to file away can wait a bit longer. I’ve learned I can even indulge in the occasional afternoon nap.
People sometimes ask me if I miss my job. I don’t. For 30 years, working was just a means to an end. Time will tell if I ever return to regular employment either through choice or necessity. But for now, I’m adapting to my new life as a retiree just fine.
Kristine Hayes Nibler recently retired, and she and her husband now live in Arizona. She enjoys spending her time reading, writing and training their four dogs. Check out Kristine’s earlier articles.
Want to receive our weekly newsletter? Sign up now. How about our daily alert about the site's latest posts? Join the list.
Was forced into retirement back in 2010 and after waiting a couple of years, transitioned back into the work force with a part time gig I still enjoy over ten years later. Working part time because I want to is a whole different thing because we don’t even use that income to live on. Having a pension with a yearly COLA, social security plus other investments, life is great.
Wife still works full time, her choice, while I’m gone three days a week which has turned into the perfect balance for us. So for the next couple of years, we’ll both keep on doing what we’re doing then, we’ll see where things are in 2025 & make any changes then.
I’ve also found that the days fill up quick since retiring. One caveat however, the extra time from can quick be filled by “things we can do now that we have the time to do them.” What to watch out for filling your time with meaningless “things.” We got by for years not doing these “things” so maybe they are not the best use of our time in retirement. All to say, be sure to include big, meaty things along with the small stuff, or you may find time flying away while not having accomplished anything significant.
Anthony – so true
Kristine,
Glad you’re enjoying retirement. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, either, but I’ve enjoyed mine immensely.
Your comment about not knowing how you ever had time for work is spot on. During my working days I’d hear retirees say something like that and always thought they were probably bored to death and said this so we wouldn’t feel sorry for them. I’ve come to find it’s really true. Nature abhors a vaccuum and the days fill quickly with all the things you’ve wanted to do but never had the time for. Retirement is great!
When my mother retired several years ago, I’d always ask her, “What did you do today?”. She’d comment that she was busy all day long, but could never provide specific details. I didn’t really understand how this was possible until a few months ago. These days I don’t get even half of my daily ‘to do’ list items done because it seems I am constantly busy with nothing in particular…
Do the hardest thing on the To Do List first.
My wife happily retired at 62 and has never looked back. I’m in my mid 70’s and still gladly working full time with benefits for both of us.Financial security guaranteed. In this case, our marriage required team work.
“To each their own.”
It sounds like a perfect married life!
Thanks for sharing. That was a pleasant read and I’m glad things are going well for you and your husband. It’s always interesting to hear how others have transitioned into retirement and I’m sure it’s helpful to others contemplating it.
Thanks for the kind words!
Kristine, I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts. I am a public employee, 32 years and counting, who will receive an inflation-adjusted pension upon retirement. I had planned on retiring after this school year, but keep going back in forth on it. Many questions and concerns, especially since I will be 59 in August and have several years before Social Security and Medicare.
Thanks for the kind words. I was a public employee for 3.5 years–just long enough to become vested in a lucrative state pension. Unfortunately I ended up losing half the value of it in a divorce.
The job I worked at for the last 24 years of my career offered an early retiree health care benefit. Without that benefit, it would have been much more difficult for me to consider an early retirement.
Good for you Kristine! Glad your retirement is going well. COVID was a wake up call for me and I had done all the due diligence working with financial advisors to make sure I had enough money to retire in 2022. My wife decided to do her PhD (which she always wanted to do) – so I am continuing my career in tech for another 3 years – I am 64 yrs – have enough money in different accounts to leave a legacy. The thought of passing up > 1/2 mil comp makes it even harder and I am worried I will work myself to my coffin. Any advise by anyone on a systematic approach and tools to help take the plunge would be much appreciated. I live in California probably the worst state to retire.
-Duke
I don’t have a systematic approach to share, but I do have a piece of antidotal wisdom I got from a colleague. About a year before I retired at 65 I had a hallway conversation with a coworker who was retiring. After listening to my ambiguous thoughts on retiring at that time, she shared with me that she’d struggled for a while about when to retire until she finally got to a place where she knew she wanted to retire. She then shared that based on my comments she didn’t think I was ready for retirement and that when I was ready I’d know I was ready. A year later, I really understood what she meant because at that later point I knew I wanted to retire and move on to the next phase of my life. My advice: keeping thinking about it and when you’re ready you’ll probably know you’re ready.
Thank you. Congratulations to your wife for pursuing her dream of a PhD–that’s an impressive accomplishment.
I think many of the HumbleDollar contributors are–or were–facing a similar dilemma to yours. I’m sure they will be able to provide some insight on how they decided when it was the ‘right’ time to retire.
If you are motivated by the compensation, maybe you are not at the point of retirement. When I retired my total compensation was well into six figures, but it never was cause not to retire.
Making that concession could go on forever as you noted. If you have the ability, try to phase into retirement. I did that over about fifteen months.
As you taste the freedom more and more each day, continuing to work will become more difficult.
Great positive read for me – thanks Kristine! As a skier and golfer, I’m far less worried about “what do I do with my time” but more about my wife’s limited interests outside of reading and her PR work. Neither of us has a pension other than future SS, if one should expect those benefits to be around fully over the next 30 yrs. So at age 59, it is all about the investments we have in place to make it to the finish line and fund a life we can enjoy. I’ve recently engaged a fixed fee-only CFP to run plans that I’m comparing to DYI plans I’ve done in online tools. So far, the results are in line and overall positive but the great benefit is this process is also getting my wife to start thinking and talking more about it as I’ve asked her to be on the calls. Her next journey is more about the vision of what she does with her time, not at work or working a lot less and unbounded by a daily schedule.
You’re welcome. Thanks for the kind comments. It sounds like you and your wife are well on your way to a happy–and financially sound–retirement.
Thanks for this, Kristine. I’m trying to decide whether to keep working or pull the plug at 60 after a RIF. I’m financially ready to retire but wasn’t emotionally set, expecting to work 3-4 more years at a company I’ve loved. With house renovation projects underway there’s no shortage of things to do right now. But I need to sort what’s on the other side of that.
I retired at age 72 about three months ago. While I miss certain aspects of my career as a CPA I do not miss the deadlines. August & September was a good time for me to help a family member with a short term disability and I have also now completed two of three eye surgeries to deal with issues mostly related to aging. I do not believe these events would have worked as well as they have if I would have continued working. Four years ago the small local firm I worked 28+ years for dissolved and I joined a large firm. The new firm was full of good people but was mismatch for me.
After my final eye surgery in 2023 and recovery I will make a decision on if I will try to do any paid work and the nature of such work. Purpose currently seems to be most important criteria in my decision.
I am currently reading a book penned by Steve Lopez, a LA Times columnist, titled “Independence Day: What I learned about Retirement from some who’ve done it and some who never will”. The book has been a humorist, easy and timely read for me and is helping me make a decision about a possible un-retirement at some future date on the non financial aspects. Retirement seems to be winning.
Good luck on your decision David.
Best, Bill
Thanks much for the experienced perspectives and the book tip, Bill
You’re welcome. I’m happy to share my own experience. For me, retirement has allowed me to play around with careers I would have liked to pursue when I was younger. I often dreamed of working as a writer and/or a dog trainer, but was always too afraid to take the plunge. Now I can dabble in both knowing my financial security isn’t dependent on my success.
Dabbling might be just the ticket, thanks Kristine
It’s fun to work when you know you don’t HAVE to work!
Thanks for the insights, Retiring in less than 60 days and looking forward to filling my days with activities that often get pushed back due to work. I was wondering, did you plan to start a business after retiring? Thanks again.
Congratulations on your upcoming retirement! Having the freedom to spend my days the way I want is so refreshing. I’d been pondering starting a dog training business for about twenty years. A few months before I retired, my husband and I began making plans to make it a reality. There were some twists and turns along the way, but at this point, we’re happy with how it’s going. We only work when we want to and we limit our clientele to people who live within just a few miles of us. I wrote a little bit about our experience here: https://humbledollar.com/2022/10/hitting-the-brakes/
Good to hear that it is working out well for you. I retired at 53, and have never, ever, regretted it.
I would have LOVED to have left two years earlier (as soon as Covid hit), but I needed to stick around so I could get my early retiree medical benefits.
Yes, retiree medical benefits were crucial, although the ACA might help these days. Also, my (sadly, non-COLA) pension started the day I quit. I did go back part time for a few months, and then worked as a part time contractor in a related field for a couple of years. I retired early so I could travel, and got 15 good years in before I was mostly grounded by rheumatoid arthritis and now Covid precautions.
It’s great to hear that you’ve adjusted so well to a slower pace. That’s what I wonder about myself when I retire, too, but I have a feeling that I’ll figure it out!
You will know when it’s time to retire. I thought I would never retire. I loved my job, had near total control and was one of the few employees who could walk into the CEOs office to chat.
Then things just seemed different. I accomplished all I could after nearly fifty years on the job. Management started changing. The ability to be creative and have fun was gone. It was just time to go.
Never regretted it one minute and instantly the days were filled with travel, grandchildren, helping family members on occasion, writing, new friends and some days I wake up knowing there is nothing to do that day – hooray! So I don’t do anything.
You will figure it out or it will be figured out for you.
The amazing thing about retirement is how quickly the day passes. These days I can’t figure out how I ever found time to go to work!