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This morning on the elevator Connie and I were commiserating with a friend, a fellow octogenarian, we exchanged the normal pleasantries-how are you, how’s it going, what’s new, how are you feeling? “Can’t complain” was the standard answer.
But then he said … “they lied to us, where are the Golden Years?”
Have we been duped by advertising? “Golden years” refers to the later years of life, typically retirement-originally in the context of age 65, which ideally are years of leisure, fulfillment, and enjoyment after a lifetime of work. The term became popular in the 1950s due to advertising campaigns that portrayed retirement as a period of financial security and relaxation . Florida, Del Webb, insurance companies, even Geritol promoted the gold to be found in retirement.
My friend and his wife both have chronic health issues so I can understand his feelings. Nevertheless I doubt they lack financial resources. They spend the winter at their place in Florida.
However, I’m not sure the above description of Golden Years is accurate. Financial security sure varies by a lot among retirees. Life and its vicissitudes continue into retirement. Why should we expect anything different?
Recent HD posts have raised questions about fulfillment and relaxation in retirement. Some folks take great pains to plan their activities and leisure time or lack there of, plus, of course, finances, but you can’t plan everything Or even make sure a plan works.
Things aren’t going too great right now for us, but they could be a lot worse and for many retirees they are.
Personally, I’m not disappointed In retirement.
So, is your retirement tin, silver or 24 carat?
As of now, ours is 18 carat. One reason is that we kept our expectations low and realistic going into retirement. In addition, we have not yet developed any new major health issues. That could change any day. We downsized, and lead a simple and active life. We have good support network amongst our community. Positive mindset helps.
Yes, it helps. Mindset and attitude drive a lot both good and bad.
I retired from an enjoyable career ten years ago at age 60. I turned 70 this week and these ten retired years have been amazing! My 70 year old wife and I play tennis, pickleball, ride our bicycles, hike, run, walk, bushwhack extreme terrain, fish and travel. We also do a ton of volunteeer work, helping others regain their health and to pull themselves out of poverty through education. Golden years understates just how wonderful these years are.
I wish you thirty more years of the golden touch. Keep enjoying.
Even now dealing with weekly chemo visits and an unknown future I find it hard to complain about our sixteen years of retirement. We have all we need and want and had amazing adventures.
We crashed landed in a hot air balloon in the Arizona desert, walked into Jesus’s tomb, flown in blimps, walked the streets of Moscow, in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and on the beaches of Normandy, on Hadrians Wall, kissed the Blarney Stone, walked among penguins in the Falklands, sailed through the Panama Canal twice and visited every state in the Union at least once to name a few adventurers part of our Golden Years.
It’s been a heck of a ride.
Now my thoughts turn to children and grandchildren and their challenges paying for college, saving for retirement and every other part of life. I wish we could do more to help them all.
Off topic but curious… by “Jesus’s tomb” do you mean the one in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Garden Tomb, both…?
And since I’m going off topic, will also answer your question :-). Our retirement isn’t what we expected, but it’s great. It’s not perfect or worry free, and we’re glad to have some of the worries we do (read four living parents), but overall we love our life.
Holy Sepulcher
You both packed in a lot of travel during retirement. I’m curious—during my working life, I traveled extensively, basically crisscrossing every continent except North America. My extended trips lasted anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks at a time. Did you do something similar, or did you wait until retirement to do most of your traveling?
We traveled the U.S.while I was working, but it was business related. It wasn’t a matter of waiting, but more out of a necessity regarding available time, family and finances.
Fair points, I was lucky to be able to do so. If I’m honest, and I know it’s not the normal retirement narrative, but I can’t be bothered with destination travel anymore. I’ve been underwhelmed more often than not—the pyramids, Great Wall of China, Uluru, the Amazon, Rainbow Mountain in Peru. All supposed must-sees. These days, I’m happier with a nice hotel, a fantastic pool, and a good beach right beside me…boring or what lol
Mark, you were underwhelmed by the Great Wall? Wow.
I consider walking that wall one of the great moments of my life. 25 years later I can still recall the emotions. Different strokes, I guess.
We’re hopefully off to our longtime dream destination in March — a cruise around New Zealand (family situation permitting).
We’ve been to New Zealand twice, both when I was invited to speak at academic conferences in Auckland and then extended the trip to see other parts of the country. I absolutely loved it. It’s one of the few places I’ve visited where I’ve thought “I would like to live here.” I might have even perused some academic job openings at points.
Anyway, I hope it works out for you to go and that you have a great time!
After the hassle of getting a tourist visa, I travelled solo from Hong Kong to Beijing by train. It took nearly 15 hours with various delays, had a few hours sleep, and then I navigated the local public transport system (another couple of hours) to get to the wall. I was possibly sleep deprived and slightly grumpy by the time I got there, hence it feeling underwhelming and not worth the effort, lol.
I think I would go back, but in a more civilised manner, probably a guided tour or something similar, and definitely after more sleep!
Our numerous vacations have been over-weighted toward sunshine and blue water; we have no regrets. We are in the planning stages for a 2300 mile road trip, Ohio to Los Angeles, in May.
I’m looking forward to visiting some places here in the US that I’ve never been to. I have visited your beautiful country and England, but have no burning desire to visit additional countries.
We are the opposite, more adventure and history oriented. Some of our best trips were river cruises in Europe. Especially visiting and eating a meal in a local home.
Our most adventurous was a three week trip on the Volga from St Petersburg to Moscow stopping in small villages with three days in each city added to the cruise. A very different vibe in that country. I had a soldier wave his AK47 at me for walking off the sidewalk in the Kremlin. No language barrier got in the way of his message.
Russia was the only country where a significant percentage of younger people didn’t speak English.
Dick, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your travel stories.
I should tell about the time I was talked into going in the catacombs in Rome and discovered I was claustrophobic or when I was chastised in the opera house in Kyiv for touching their newly gold leafed railings. I don’t have good luck in Eastern European countries.
I feel you with the claustrophobia … mine was in the burial chamber at Newgrange
When the guide said to be sure and keep him in sight because if you get lost we may not find you, I knew I was in the wrong place.
About 25 years ago, I was detained by armed Cypriot security forces for filming my wife. I hadn’t realized it was a no-filming zone near an army checkpoint on the buffer zone between the two forces. That was nerve-wracking. I just acted as a thick Irish tourist, although it didn’t take much acting on my part.
I’ve come to realize that I’m replacing my concerns about finances with worries about my health span and the broader world beyond the narrow confines of my work life, which has defined me since college.
I need actively work on reducing my worries and building a greater trust in humanity! HumbleDollar helps.
Retirement for us hasn’t gone like I thought it would so far, but I am hoping next year will be better. We found out over Thanksgiving that there will be 2 new babies in our extended family. This on top of my youngest sister becoming a first time grandma. It is good to have some happy things to think about after this year. We are at this moment in the middle of getting Spouse’s mom in assisted living and selling her house. She is still being very difficult and we are unsure how things will ultimately go. Alzheimer’s is such an awful disease. Chris
Always keeping in mind the subject of one of your recent posts, The next day it hardly matters, we are 24 carat, so far. I’m not talking about the size of our net worth, but the quality of our life. I may have worked until 70, but the final 16 years were basically 3 months on and 9 off. Chris retired 7 years ago, and had ample vacation time prior to that. We have had a lot of fun together. I’m in no hurry for our good fortune to change, still, I already feel like I’m living on the casino’s money, and I know, it’s only a matter of time before life happens.
I can’t speak to retirement’s “golden years” from personal experience, but my sense is that retirement doesn’t fundamentally transform who you are—it’s simply the next chapter of life, complete with the usual mix of hassles, headaches, and heartache. What matters most is your mindset, which plays the biggest role in how happy you actually feel.
Take the husband of a sporting friend of mine. He’s always been someone who sees the glass half empty, and now that he’s been retired for a few years, nothing has changed. If there’s a negative angle to find, he’ll find it. Meanwhile, other people naturally gravitate toward the bright side of things. I suspect the way you’re wired to think—your default outlook—will largely determine how you experience retirement. What looks like 24-carat gold to one person will look like fool’s gold to another.
You’re right, there is no fundamental change in the person and I suspect that drives everything else.