What Will You Do When You Retire?

[nasa1974]

You didn't retire, you had a hiatus......Retirement = NO WORK!

I guess I will never be retired if it = NO WORK. Unlike nnuut, who sits around the pool and drinks fufu drinks all the time. I will still will mow the lawn, help with dishes and do the maintenance things around the house that I never got to when I was working full time. So I guess I will never be retired.

 

[burrocrat]

I guess I will never be retired if it = NO WORK. Unlike nnuut, who sits around the pool and drinks fufu drinks all the time. I will still will mow the lawn, help with dishes and do the maintenance things around the house that I never got to when I was working full time. So I guess I will never be retired.

maybe you should've married a spanish gal...

 

[FogSailing]

I raise a toast to Ringo, fufu drinks, pools, and Spanish gals...:laugh:

FS

 

[Maricar19]

Now that I am on my 2nd week of retirement, I am at a loss as to what to do with my free time.
I have sorted and discarded a box of paperwork that I have been hoarding for a long time.
I still have 4 boxes to go through.

I thought I have it all planned - travel all over.
I am still waiting for my 1st check and my terminal leave payment.
Once I receive my checks ON A regular basis, I will be able to gauge if I can afford to travel without touching my TSP.

We had a (retirement) trial run from January-April to see if we will be able to live comfortably with our pension.
So far, it looked okay.
We also made sure we had at least a year's worth of emergency fund.
Spouse and I originally planned to retire at the same time, however, at the last minute, he decided to stay a while longer.

Current Ages: 56.16 and 57.42
Years of Service: 30 and 29.50
Plan: Retire by April 2016 at 57 and 58
Both will retire with only 30 years of SS contributions by EOY.

Now that we are nearing retirement, we have always wondered what are we going to do upon retirement?...

We have always said that we will tour the US and the world when We retire. But when they are done and over with, what do we do with our time?

Spouse has no problem with that..as long as there is at least a piece of arable land, life will be sweet...
or bring him close to the water and he'll be fishing...swimming

What about me? I hate gardening, swimming and fishing! Why? Because i don't like being outdoors during the day..only when I am on a cruise..

Maybe I should look for a part time job and complete the required 35 years for Social Security?
if that's the case, I might as well not to retire.

Maybe I should volunteer my services to some charitable organizations?
Maybe I should go back to the Philippines and make up for lost time with family?
Maybe I am not ready to retire yet?

How about you? Do you know what you'll be doing when you retire?

 

[Scout333]

Don't worry once your friends and relatives find out you're retired they will fill your life with "extra duties"! Ha! There are always plenty of volunteer jobs and all those things you've always wanted to do but didn't have time? The first few months were a little difficult but after that I don't know how I had time to work!

 

[nnuut]

Do what I do Maricar, ANYTHING you like!

 

[Maricar19]

Do what I do Maricar, ANYTHING you like!View attachment 38241

I like that idea....

 

[DrDetroit]

I'm going to be an usher for a minor league baseball team. Have a team 45 minutes from my prospective retirement summer home, it's a 60 day a summer job and good exercise too! That's 13 years away...

 

[Maricar19]

By 30June, I will be two (2) months retired. I still have not decided what to do with my time.
There is so much to do at home, but it's not my forte.
As to my planned vacations, we went to Cancun last May and Niagara Falls Canada last June.

I still have a lot of places to visit.

Lately, I have been dabbling with ETFs with some success. I just need more $$$ to make it worth my time.

 

[Maricar19]

On our way home from Canada, we were stopped by a State Trooper. My nephew, Papi RJ, was the one driving. The officer told us that RJ was weaving in and out of the traffic and almost hit another State Trooper who reported the incident and asked to flag us down. RJ swore to the officer that he wasn't weaving. The State Trooper then noticed the sticker behind the truck and asked who served In Iraq. I said, "My husband, Sir." He then let us go and just gave RJ a warning.
Thanks to my husband's service to our country. .you saved the day for RJ and mwah!

 

[PessOptimist]

OP posted:

Current Ages: 56.16 and 57.42
Years of Service: 30 and 29.50
Plan: Retire by April 2016 at 57 and 58
Both will retire with only 30 years of SS contributions by EOY.

Now that we are nearing retirement, we have always wondered what are we going to do upon retirement?...

We have always said that we will tour the US and the world when We retire. But when they are done and over with, what do we do with our time?

Spouse has no problem with that..as long as there is at least a piece of arable land, life will be sweet...
or bring him close to the water and he'll be fishing...swimming

What about me? I hate gardening, swimming and fishing! Why? Because i don't like being outdoors during the day..only when I am on a cruise..

Maybe I should look for a part time job and complete the required 35 years for Social Security?
if that's the case, I might as well not to retire.

Maybe I should volunteer my services to some charitable organizations?
Maybe I should go back to the Philippines and make up for lost time with family?
Maybe I am not ready to retire yet?

How about you? Do you know what you'll be doing when you retire?

I posted:

I will sit on my patio with my laptop and do as told. One goal is to try to exceed nnuuts post total. Unless Tom says enough.

I will do as told by my SO as she seems to hate the fact I may have nothing to do. I will resist getting a job.

I may put some money in to my at that time 17 yo pickup and take a solo trip. I may put the pickup on the lemon lot on the air base and make some young Airman a deal. If that works I may buy a used **** box economy car or hybrid and take that trip. So what if I can only go 40 miles a day electric. Think of the future.

This is all based on my calculations about retirement income which still seem to be too good to be true though I have had others check them.

Bottom line about the original question – as little as possible.

PO

As I mentioned in another post I have reread most of the “Retirement and IRA Talk” forum. This thread was started 6/6/15 and my reply was the next day. The last post was 6/26/16. Reading this and a lot of other threads has reminded me of TSPTalk members who I had forgotten and may no longer post for various reasons. I am bumping this thread with a request for updates from all who have retired. If the mods feel it is appropriate they can make this a new thread.

My current reply is pretty much the same. A few things have changed, I no longer will compete with anyone on post totals. My planned retirement date kept changing and I finally said enough and retired 12/31/18. The pickup was traded in towards a used almost **** box economy car a couple years ago. The solo trip won’t happen as SO developed medical issues and that has been the priority. Trips in my future involve the SOs issues.

Not saying poor pitiful me, just saying priorities change. I am currently in that limbo between having actually retired and getting notification from OPM or at least an interim payment deposited. It’s only been one month so I must be patient.

My intent for updates is for all, not just those who have retired, not just updates for those who posted in past years.

PO

 

[Maricar19]

Hi PO,
As an update, I retired in April 2016. My spouse will be retiring this year,2019, in March. And since retirement, we traveled to Europe and Asia.
Our temporary home base is Cancun, Mexico every winter.
TRAVELS:
June 2016 -Paris,France, London, Rome, Italy
August 2016 - Cruise to Western Carribean
November 2017 -Osaka and Kyoto Japan plus Philippines
December 2017 - Athens Greece including Delphi
May 2017 - Lisbon, Sintra and Fatima Portugal
May 2018 - Barcelona, Toledo, Segovia and Madrid
November 2018 - Tokyo, Japan plus Philippines
March 2019 -planning to go to Lourdes, France and Venice, Italy
What do I do in between travels? Planning for the next trip and Whatever I feel like doing!

TSP:
We haven't touched it yet. Still growing. Maybe this year,2019 when spouse retires.

 

[Tsunami]

Sitting at the SLC airport with a long layover, on my way to the Tri-Cities, WA to visit family for 6 days….the first trip of my budding retirement. Will be staying at the mom and dad motel, they’re both 85….the food is lousy but hey it’s cheap! My early retirement has been consumed with preparing to sell our house and move to Florida, either the north side of Melbourne or somewhere around Tampa, we’ll be renting a house on Patrick AFB first and take our time finding the dream house. I joke that I might get a volunteer job at the Brevard County zoo and pick up rhinoceros poop…other than that my only “job” will be tasks assigned by my SO. I have a stack of a dozen books to read, and a few new ones on exploring Florida, and got a “best of the best Florida recipes” cookbook for my wife…I plan to learn to make some killer breakfasts on occasion. No significant travel planned for this year other than a family reunion in Detroit, but next year is our 25[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary so I better come up with something good…we’ll be closer to Europe so that’s a likely destination. My wife wants to fish, a lot, not really my thing by I’ll learn…I worry about rising ocean levels but might surprise her by agreeing to get a house on the water with a dock, and a pool…you’re all invited! I’d like to rejuvenate teenage hobbies like photography and long hikes to stay in shape….I have a small online business to keep me occupied while sitting by the pool.

I’ve only been away from work for a month and don’t even think about it anymore! I’m keeping in touch with a few co-workers and they’re jealous and moving up their retirement plans. I haven't received my first interim annuity deposit yet, not a peep from OPM, but I'm getting letters from FLTCIP, and BENEFEDS that miss getting money from me and they'll be direct billing me soon, so I know it's in the works and I'm not concerned.

 

[NellyBelle]

Retired in March 2015 at age 51 (Law Enforcement). Traveled a lot in 3 years, but not all big expensive trips. The bigger trips include, Hawai'i twice, Key West, New Orleans, Belize, and Costa Rica. This summer planning a trip to Europe and then February 2020 back to Costa Rica, maybe. My wife still works so we aren't able to stay away for more than 2 weeks at a time. I've held several jobs. I'm not a person prone to sitting around. I worked at Costco for a year part time, and currently have a full time seasonal position as grounds maintenance at a large local Metroparks with Dec.-March off. In winter months I'm remodeling my house.

 

[wavecoder]

I'd imagine I'd trade stocks, surf, and brew most of the time. Shutdown happened and I got a taste of what that'd be like, I was bored with that after 2 weeks.

And it was more of a pain because my girlfriend expected me to help out with things I had no interest in doing because I had 'so much time'. I guess that part of it wasn't too fun. I'd imagine I'd take up more hobbies since surfing is something you can only do 3-4 hours a day at most, and brewing is mainly just a few hours of doing something with 2 weeks of waiting for the yeast to do its thing.

I think if I was retired maybe I'd upsize my brewing operation and maybe start selling it. I always get friends wanting to buy my batches, but I have to say I can't cause it's illegal lol Even if I don't end up selling my beer, I may end up just building a backyard brewery anyway. It'd be a fun project I'd imagine

 

[ravensfan]

I read a number of these posts, found them quite interesting and decided to share my retirement journey.

I was an air technician with my local Air National Guard unit and having reached age 55 and 32 years of service in 2011, fell victim to the "Selective Retention Board". Originally, my plan was to retire at age 60 and with my military and federal retirement secured, travel around the country with my wife until the TSP funds were exhausted. But as luck would have it, life tends to get in the way of the best laid plans.

I spent the first 3 years of my retirement completing a number of home improvement projects, that I never had time for while working and helping my wife with her daycare business. After the home improvement projects were completed, I got bored and with some nudging from my wife, I went back to work part time, driving a school bus. Then in 2016, my wife decided to retire from her daycare, but got bored as well and decided to drive a school bus as well.

So reset the retirement plans. We were both going to retire for good at the end of the 2019/2020 school year and do all that traveling we had always talked about. But as luck would have it, my wife began having health issues in 2018 and this past November, was diagnosed with ALS. She has since given up driving a school bus at the request of her Dr. and I will be doing the same in June.

We still plan to travel, Niagara Falls, Maine and a cruise to the Caribbean are on the agenda this year, but plans will be tempered as my wife's health dictates. Eventually, the ALS will take her as there is no cure for this disease. But we will make the best of the time we have left and in the end, there will be no regrets.

The lesson in all this is to retire as soon as you can afford to do so. Enjoy each and every day as tomorrow is not promised.

 

[weatherweenie]

So sorry to hear about your wife's condition. Yet another reminder how precious life is. Another reminder, to me, that I'm getting out ASAP and planning on living life.

I read a number of these posts, found them quite interesting and decided to share my retirement journey.

I was an air technician with my local Air National Guard unit and having reached age 55 and 32 years of service in 2011, fell victim to the "Selective Retention Board". Originally, my plan was to retire at age 60 and with my military and federal retirement secured, travel around the country with my wife until the TSP funds were exhausted. But as luck would have it, life tends to get in the way of the best laid plans.

I spent the first 3 years of my retirement completing a number of home improvement projects, that I never had time for while working and helping my wife with her daycare business. After the home improvement projects were completed, I got bored and with some nudging from my wife, I went back to work part time, driving a school bus. Then in 2016, my wife decided to retire from her daycare, but got bored as well and decided to drive a school bus as well.

So reset the retirement plans. We were both going to retire for good at the end of the 2019/2020 school year and do all that traveling we had always talked about. But as luck would have it, my wife began having health issues in 2018 and this past November, was diagnosed with ALS. She has since given up driving a school bus at the request of her Dr. and I will be doing the same in June.

We still plan to travel, Niagara Falls, Maine and a cruise to the Caribbean are on the agenda this year, but plans will be tempered as my wife's health dictates. Eventually, the ALS will take her as there is no cure for this disease. But we will make the best of the time we have left and in the end, there will be no regrets.

The lesson in all this is to retire as soon as you can afford to do so. Enjoy each and every day as tomorrow is not promised.

 

[Scout333]

RF, best of luck to you and your wife! Enjoy your time together! Good advice for all of us as we never know how much time we have!