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I hear about this topic on YouTube retirement videos. It has also been a topic on HD from time to time. We all know about the process of preparing financially for retirement, but it seems that for many people facing a retirement lifestyle is equally challenging.
Honestly, I can’t relate. I never thought about what retirement living would be like. I had no expectations. Perhaps taking phased retirement for 18 months was a factor, but even when I decided on doing that it wasn’t with a plan to prepare for retirement, it was purely a financial move – collecting a pension, Social Security and half my pay simultaneously. Admittedly it gave me a taste of more free time and a loss of work related status.
It may be retiring at 67 was a factor as opposed to taking the leap at 55 or even 60, when the retirement years might be longer. Still, I have been fully retired over 15 years with no disappointments or regrets.
Why did I retire? I liked my job, that’s not it. I felt I had accomplished all I could. The senior leadership changed and in the process the company culture changed. At a meeting with the CEO about an incentive compensation issue he whipped out a flip chart and started writing formulas. It could have been Sudoku as far as I was concerned. That was it.
Perhaps I just have a dull personality. The older I get, the more mellow I seem to be. I am happy doing nothing if that happens. Connie maintains a pocket calendar with everything she (we) will be doing. There are two main activities. Family events and doctors visits. I write in “golf” twice a week. When there is a open date, I’m happy.
I’m equally happy traveling, even a road trip. I look forward to the five hour drive to Cape Cod, even driving to Florida in the winter.
SO, FOR THOSE RETIRED, how was the transition? Are you all settled into a comfortable retired life routine? Do you seriously miss any part of your pre-retirement life? FOR THOSE NOT YET RETIRED, what are your expectations?
I knew my retirement would be a paradigm shift. I was to simply walk away from an intense, rewarding business to a possible sedentary life. I had concerns. I did it gradually.
As an anecdote, I was once involved in a large and costly project that morphed into a financial disaster. I was 23 and in one of those “in the right place at the right time” situations I had uncovered the problem and made a detailed analysis and sent it to the executive VP of the firm. This was to have been a routine report, but what I did was beyond my scope at that firm.
I subsequently spent 11 months in a leadership position with a critical role in the resurrection of that project. It was ultimately a success. At the formal conclusion I was given a surprise by another of the firms involved. During a closure meeting I was gifted with gold Rolex, engraved with “To Norm, in Appreciation” with one additional cryptic word, of no meaning but to those involved at the time. Completely surprised I was asked how I felt about this. I stammered that “I guess I’m retired now”.
It took quite a few more years to actually retire and 44 years later I did it in steps. At the age of 67 I began reducing my hours and involvement. I had been doing a lot of volunteering, about 1,000 hours each year. I also began RVing part time with my spouse, began a YouTube channel and a blog to fill the spare time. (1347 posts created in two blogs). It took another nine years to retire completely, spending significant time each year in three areas of the country with travel in between. We were full-time RVers and I ran my business from various locations.
The blogs I created are journals and educational, some posts are 3,000 words or longer with photos, videos and embedded charts, etc. One was created in 2008, but most of the posts were created 2013 and later. Creating them and the 149 YouTube videos was a time filler and testimony to our travels and experiences. I learned a lot about videography and editing. I’ve reduced the frequency of publishing posts; the most recent was April 22, 2025. Using an alter-ego I’ve been writing and publishing on other matters since 2013.
I used the nine year period of partial retirement to plan and implement full retirement, structure my finances, extricate myself from my business and relocate in the U.S. It was good I completed this at the time I did because as I was completing these tasks I was diagnosed with an inoperable, rare and deadly stage IV cancer. From 2022 to the present dealing with that has been my primary challenge and occupation, with a few projects interspersed.
Today I prefer to avoid open-ended agreements. I’m currently completing a solar power upgrade to the RV which I originally installed in May 2022. I’m also upgrading the electrics in the golf cart.
When contemplating retirement I decided that I would prefer to be fully spent, burn out and be extinguished. It seems I may get that wish, but not yet.
“Are you all settled into a comfortable retired life routine?”
Since we’re international nomads, I wouldn’t say we’re “settled” in any way except we have no desire to change our life in the very near term.
As Kathy says well, we didn’t plan for our retirement, but we did save for it, and it has worked out well so far.
“How was the transition?”
Easy-peasy.
“Do you seriously miss any part of your pre-retirement life?”
Absolutely not.
More interesting than finance threads.
Not there yet but know I already have at least 2 years worth of projects including travel ready to kick off when it happens. Will be too busy to consider the work type replacement roles in the shorter term. Possibly more if I consider taking up pre college maths/science exam tutoring which seems to pay pretty handsomely given what people I know have been paying to help their teens over the line.