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This issue has come up before, but I was reminded of it this morning when Ben Carlson’s blog linked to a piece by a doctor who followed the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) approach but now works part time. He is thankful he discovered FIRE, but sees three problems with it, one being the definition of retirement. He writes: “I “retired” in 2018, but I still do work I love. I practice part-time as a hospice doctor, I write, I speak. I even make money doing these things. But here’s the difference: I would do them even if I didn’t get paid. That’s what makes it feel like retirement to me—not the absence of work, but the presence of purposeful work I actually enjoy.”
I think that’s a great definition of retirement – the ability to do what you want whether or not you get paid. He thinks he’s retired, I think he’s retired, do you? If not, why not? Or take my case. I spent 30 years working full-time as a techie at a large corporation. October 1st 2000 I retired and started my pension. The next day I went back to work at the same job as a part-time contractor. August 2001 I left the corporation for good and embarked on a four month trip. Back home, in February 2002 I got a part-time job, between trips, as a tech writer at a local start up. April 2004, when I left on a ten month trip was the last time I worked there. When I got back in early 2005 I decided to stop work altogether.
So, when did I retire? I think it was 2000, when I started my pension. But was it instead 2001, when I left the corporation, or 2004, the last time I worked for pay, or 2005, when I decided not to look for another job?
To me, retirement means having full control over how you chose to spend your time. It has nothing to do with money- spending it or earning it. You are simply living when and how you want.
In a few years, I’ll have more retirement years than work ones. I have just one big regret – I made a major mistake in skipping out on the gym in my late sixties. I was busy overseeing the building of a second home for my lifelong hobby. I never recovered physically.
That second para bears rereading for anyone who cares about their fitness and healthspan.
I’m reading between the lines that you’re back on the exercise train now. That’s good. Never too late to start, or to start back.
Great definition!
Great pics!
Thanks!
In Greece there is no word for retired. You are called a sintaxiouhos which means you are getting a pension whether that is true or not.
You’re retired if you say you are. If you say you’re not, you’re not.
A ten-month trip? I would love to see the itinerary for that one. Care to share?
That was my “Round the World by Train” trip. Unfortunately, the site that hosted my website, with the itinerary and descriptions, went out of business, but this is the country list:
UK (train trip starts at Kyle of Lochalsh), France, Spain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro (some of the Balkans were a side trip), Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Mongolia, China, Vietnam (train trip ends in Saigon), Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (with stops in Bangkok between countries), Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii.
Long haul flights were on a One World FF award in business class. I planned the whole thing and arranged transport and accommodation except for Russia and Mongolia and the first two weeks in China (that was during the National Day holiday). For that stretch an Australian outfit arranged the tickets I specified, home stays, and some drivers. I also spent part of the time in Indonesia on an Intrepid Travel group trip to Lombok. I never finished organizing my photos but some are here.
Oh, here’s another version of an answer to this question. My husband retired from a state agency in 2016. He’s definitely retired from that job—he’s gotten a pension ever since, and we both get his retiree health benefits (now a Medicare supplement) since he put in his 20 years to the day to get vested.
He even threw himself a retirement party to say goodbye to his colleagues and invited family and friends on Facebook.
However, he didn’t actually retire, as in “stop working for a salary.” He took a job with a private firm, gave himself a 10-week sabbatical between jobs with vacation time he had accrued from the state, and then went back to work. He’s still working for that firm.
He tells people, to be funny, that he’s “retired, but I have a very lucrative hobby.” That, plus the official retirement announcement back in 2016, confuses people who think he’s been retired for years, and technically he has been, but…
I find it all a bit annoying—I think he should just tell people what he does now—but I suppose it’s his story to tell!
Thanks for the post, Kathy. Is part of the struggle with the label itself? For some, retirement is seen as a badge of honor, a reward at the end of a successful career. On the other hand, there are those who view it as the end of usefulness.
I’ve written that I’m semi-retired, but I don’t use that term in conversation. I say I’ve “backed off to part-time”. I think that more accurately describes my situation. Also, I like to emphasize the work aspect of my new status. I think I may have trouble admitting I’ve reached the end.
I, personally, have no trouble with the label. As far as I’m concerned I retired in 2000, and any work I did after that was optional, although the money was nice. Thinking back, I might have been more concerned about retiring if I hadn’t thought I could continue to earn while I adjusted.
The doctor is Jordan Grumet, and I’m a big fan of his writing. I’m just starting his book, The Purpose Code.
When did you retire? I like your answer, Oct 1, 2000. In Jordan’s words. “The goal isn’t to escape work entirely. The goal is to spend more of your life doing the kind of work that feels meaningful, exciting, and aligned with who you are—whether or not you earn a paycheck from it.”
Thanks. I need to take a longer look at his website.
I don’t think one can be working full-time and state that they are retired. Even if they “love” their work. However, in my opinion being retired is a mindset that requires a structure for fulfillment. I was in a “phased” retirement in my calling for a decade. While phasing out, I shifted to writing, and a You-Tube channel, which I could do while travelling. This had two components; one writing gig earned steady income, the others did not. I also did other things more indicative of retirement. Eventually I was “working” in my original career about 10% of the time, which finally ceased. My “work” writing also ceased when health interfered. Today I write a blog, etc. and there are no time commitments, etc.
I can certainly see the case for saying you’re not retired if you’re working full time, but there’s also the issue of whether you are doing it for the money or because you love the work, especially at older ages.
Nice perspective. I agree, he is absolutely retired.
As for you, I’m not sure, so it’s whenever you say it was 🙂
Interesting reply. He’s probably earning more as a doctor than I was as a tech writer. I was working 20 hours a week, but taking off for months at a time.
I bounced my concept off several AI friends…
This is retirement:
Retirement is the point in a person’s life when they choose to permanently withdraw from their primary occupation or active working life. It marks a transition from relying on a regular paycheck to living on accumulated savings, investments, pensions, and/or social security benefits.
But then there is Semi-retirement which can take many forms for different people, including:
You can’t actually be “retired” if you are earning money, (although you can make it feel that way) but you sure can be semi-retired.
I am not at all interested in what an AI regurgitates. If I were I would ask it myself. What do you think?
Unless I’ve forgotten, I usually run my articles through Gemini with the prompt: “Can you Americanise the spelling and highlight any colloquialisms that wouldn’t be easily understood by a US audience” I think it’s a good tool for this purpose because I can never figure out what words have been butchered with “z” and what words have replaced “c” with “s.” etc.
I’ve lived here 50 years and I still sometimes forget. I do have center and theater and check sorted.
What about jumper and bracers? Come through versus come in? Take a way vs take out.
Good progress for 50 years lol
That’s the last sentence.
Was that your opinion before checking with AI? While I can see something of a case for using AI for data (although I still use straight search with Duckduckgo), I see no case for using it for opinions. That’s denying your own humanity. In this case the response was all opinion.
The AI tools give the reference and link to what they write. It’s easy to verify the source and go directly to the website cited which in many cases is government data. I have not yet found anything coming from other individuals opinion.
if you check, you will find it is no different than looking the question up yourself on Google except you don’t have to do it several times to get verification.
I also ask the same question three times from ChatGPT, from Bard and from Grok as another way to check.
I have never yet found anything from Facebook or Reddit.
+1
I do wish people would stop providing AI-generated summaries, or quoting AI as though it were some sort of authoritative source of information. As Dan mentions below, the result is often just a parroting of misinformation.
AI goes to the same sources you are likely to go to one at a time. I often ask it to go to a specific source like the BLS or other agency.
Well, no, it’s not using the same sources I’m likely to go to. And as Kathy mentions, results often include summaries from Reddit, Facebok etc.
I read recently that input to AI is 40% from Reddit and 20% from Facebook. I am still avoiding AI – happily Duckduckgo makes its use optional.
I’ve started using it quite a lot for some things, but when it uses Reddit as its source, well… I consider the answer provided more artificial than intelligence.
A bit off topic. I was using AI for information on the new Tips Deduction. AI picked up every bit of misinformation regarding the subject from magazine and newspaper articles that were published before the IRS released the draft of the revised Schedule 1.
I just asked Grok about new Tip Deduction. It gave a comprehensive answer citing what was previously reported and what appears to be the latest.
where else would any research go that was different than AI before the IRS draft?
Since I am not an expert I can’t evaluate it, but the report gave 15 citations several of which was the IRS, one Kiplinger and others.
Give it a try and see what you think.
Dick, I had not used Grok, I just did the following search, and received this (incorrect) answer.
is the new Tips Deduction above or below the line?
Above the line.
The new tips deduction, introduced in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed into law on July 4, 2025), is an above-the-line deduction for qualified tips up to $25,000. It applies to the 2025 tax year through 2028, phases out for higher earners (starting at $150,000 AGI for singles or $300,000 for joint filers), and is available without itemizing deductions. This reduces adjusted gross income (AGI) directly, unlike below-the-line deductions that only affect taxable income after AGI is calculated.
Which AI tool? In what context and what site did AI reference? They don’t just make the stuff up.
Gemini was the AI. I don’t remember all the sources, AARP was one for sure. I also inquired about the effect of the $6/12K deduction on SS tax. Several of the sources cited gave incorrect information.
As someone who has graded AI-generated papers with bibliographies filled with citations for journals that don’t exist, I can assure you that AI does “just make the stuff up.”
Cecilia, thanks. I understand the same issues have come up in courts of law.
There’s a very nice bridge you should look into buying. Haven’t you heard of hallucinations?
I used to work as a techie. There was a popular phrase back then that is more relevant than ever: GIGO – garbage in, garbage out.
I have to disagree with the statement that you can’t actually be “retired” if you are earning money. The perspective Kathy brought explains why.
By definition that falls into semi retirement i suspect
i retired and started collecting my pension in July 2008, but i still worked in the same job up to 20 hours a week keeping my 401k and earning more pension credits. I stopped all that in January 2010. Legally i retired in July 2008, actually i retired and then started Medicare even though i was over 65 in July 2008.
Assuming “by definition” you mean according to the AI result you provided, it seems to me that sort of misses the point that Kathy and Jordan Grumet raise about what retirement really is.
i like not having to be in a hurry.
I am still sometimes in a hurry, but I’m staying busy at my retirement community.
I retired officially from my day job. I’m still writing and advising graduate students. It’s possible I’ll even teach a class in the winter if they can’t find someone else (it’s a class I’ve taught for many years and no one else is ready yet to take it over, even though I offered for a couple of years to mentor someone for it).
I still feel retired—in my case, it’s a clear line; I get pension checks , and if you look up my personnel file on the university portal, it says I’m retired as of 7-1-25. But I haven’t fully disengaged from my academic life.
That sounds great, except perhaps for the class. Getting a pension certainly says you’re retired from the entity paying it.
I’m going to be surprised if it happens (the class). If they “recall” me as a retiree to teach, they have to pay me a prorated portion of my final salary to do so. The Dean’s office would rather hire a grad student or some recent PhD as an adjunct than pay me. I’ll be their last resort. But if it happens, that will pay for a nice trip or perhaps some new kitchen appliances.
That’s OK because you are in control now. I think that’s a great deal of what retirement is. To me, it’s the idea that when I get up tomorrow, the only things I must do are take care of are family, home, and self. I no longer have to work for the man unless I want to.
Fun post Kathy. At the end of the day I don’t think it matters at all.
Here’s how I look at it. I’d call the time between 2000 and 2005 a delightful period when you worked on your own terms. A period where, if you woke one morning and felt like never working again, well, that’d be just fine, and totally your call.
So I’d say 2005 is when you retired. But hey, like I said, at the end of the day….
Thanks Dan. On a lighter note I prefer October 1st 2000 as my retirement date because I like the number. Besides, I had a retirement party. (Wonder if those still happen…)
The first two words of the acronym FIRE resonate with me. Although I have been “retired” for a short while, I don’t really think of it that way. I see it as being financially independent, which means I can now pick and choose whether or not to work. At present, I’m choosing not to work, but I reserve the right to do so in the unlikely event something interests me.
I would probably say you were still retired, although I suppose that might depend on whether it was full time or part time work.
I don’t like that word, it makes me sound old😜
Try thinking of all the people who envy you instead.😌
That’s a good point, I am grateful for my position.
Thanks, Kathy. Everyone should read the linked article by Dr Grumet. Very worth the few minutes. I had thought I recognized his name. He was the person featured in the final chapter of the recent Christine Benz book on retirement. Chris
I thought it was a good article. Among other quotable lines I liked this: “Money matters, of course. But it matters only because it frees us to pursue the things that really count. Don’t mistake the tool for the goal.”
I really like this definition! And I’d agree that you retired in 2000, not 2004/5. I’m guessing the retirement police will squawk that if someone earns money they aren’t retired, but to me, that seems a narrow way of looking at it.
Thanks Cecilia. It seems to me there’s a critical distinction between working because you have to and working because you want to.