Retire Or Keep Working?

[4cruisin]

My dh is very sad today. A person he worked with collapsed at work yesterday, never regained consciousness and passed away last night. He worked at this company for over 40 years. He was in his mid to late 60's. Although we do not personally know of his financial affairs, it certainly appeared that he was comfortable enough to retire several years ago. The job is blue collar and can, at times, require moderate physical exertion. The man did have some fairly serious health issues in the past 10 years but not enough to knock him out of commission so to speak.

My question is this, if you were able to retire at 62 or even 65 with a comfortable standard of living, would you? My dh and I plan to retire as soon as we are able to...not for another 20 years but there is no way I want to die on the job. I feel so sorry for this man and his family. I just can't understand why he didn't want to have some free time to travel and spend quality time with his wife. She will now be a wealthy widow. My dh and his co-workers are all very sad today. I wish I could be there to help him through a very somber day.
Please say a prayer for this man's family.

Thanks,
Nancy

 

[Christine]

Of course, my gut reaction is to say "retire" as soon as you can. But, I think when the time comes, for some people, it gets murky.

Take, for instance, my mother. She is 61 years old and is very close to being able to retire. She is a GS-14 with the federal government and pulls in over $100,000 a year. Her job is very demanding and she puts in 50 hour weeks, plus has a long commute. It does drive her nuts.

BUT, it is very hard for her to "give up the money." $100,000+ a year is a LOT of money. We also live in a high cost of living area and her income would probably be cut in half (if not more) if she retired. She also doesn't want to move to a cheaper place because I live here as well as her only grandchildren. It's a very hard decision and I think for many people it comes down to quality of life and how retirement impacts that.

 

[bananiem]

I'm very sorry to hear of this man's death, but my Dad retired at 65. He has NO hobbies. Work was everything. He's now 87 and all he's done for the past 22 years is crossword puzzles and drive my mother crazy. He did work at a bank in the mornings for a few years delivery mail to the various departments and that was GREAT because it got him out of the house. So perhaps this man truly enjoyed being at work.
He may have had a financial reason for continuing to work as well. I've known some people that hid their gambling debts quite well.

 

[golfgal]

Retirement is very hard for some people. My FIL took to it very easily, he has a lot of hobbies, a lot of friends that are retired, etc. My MIL retired a year ago and isn't doing as well, she doesn't have hobbies, none of her friends are retired and they live in a VERY small town so not much to do. She wants to move and we are all trying to convince FIL to do so. They could move to a town about 10 miles away, which doesn't sound like a lot but it will make the difference for MIL. FIL could still meet up with his buddies, most of whom live in this other town.

I can see my DH having a difficult time when it comes time to retire. He does golf but that is about it for hobbies. He is a homebody too so that could drive ME nuts after a while .

 

[ntburns22]

I am very sorry for his death. My dad will be 49 in July. He has already put in 25 years in the fire department. He plans on retiring within the next 5 years or sooner depending on the new mayor. He wants to have more time to travel with my mom.

As for myself and DH I don't see DH retiring until his 60's. I am a SAHM so when I go back to work I will work until I don't have too no more. My Dh has a good pension with the railroad but I doubt it will be there for us when we are ready to retire.

 

[SC Minnie]

My mom retired last year at 59 with 40 years with the co. She is busier now that when she worked. I think it depends on what other interests a person has. Will they volunteer somewhere?

My mom made sure her house was paid for and has little debt and she got a good 'package' for retiring (they were getting ready to go through a round of layoffs and she volunteered to retire).

I would like to be able to retire when I'm 62 but I will probably have to work well unto my 70's

 

[Sandy V.]

My question is this, if you were able to retire at 62 or even 65 with a comfortable standard of living, would you?

First of all, Nancy, I'm sorry about your DH's coworker.

For me personally, no. I wouldn't retire that early. Of course, all of this is contingent on things being as they currently are (health, marital status, life situation, etc.).

I don't plan on retiring until I'm at least 70. I love my job, it has decent pay with good benefits, good vacation (and I can "buy" an extra week of it if I wish), and I work with wonderful people. DH and I may move someplace warmer as we get older, but I'm fortunate that my job is computer based and can move with me anywhere in the U.S.

My work makes me happy, it's not physically demanding, and I'm saving money for more life experiences down the road. It's not as though my life is "on hold" until retirement - we're doing plenty of "living" now and hopefully things will continue as they are for a long time.

 

[Hillbeans]

My dad is 72 and still works about 18-20 hours a week.

He's long since retired from the gov't job he had for 37 years and now he works PT. He could retire if he wanted to, but he'd be bored and quite frankly, work gets him up and going every day. My dad, believe it or not, seems younger now at 72 than he was 10 years ago.

I know that i'd not want to be working a stressful 50+ hour week if I were in my older years, but I see nothing wrong with working a few hours to keep the wheels oiled. Why do you think you see so many retirees working at WDW?

Edited to add I do send my prayers to DH, his co-workers, and the family of the deceased.

 

[4cruisin]

I know that I would have to have hobbies (besides taking cruises every chance I get ) and the joke is that I could always pick up a few hours a week as a greeter at Walmart but I really hate to think that at the age of 68 or so, I'd be still doing this job. I agree that retirement is difficult for some people. If you look at retirement as the end of your life, that's not good, personally, I'd prefer to look at it as the beginning of an exciting new chapter. DH and I are not rich by any means but I try to balance out our life by never waiting to do things "until retirement". My parents were going to buy an RV and travel across country when my dad retired...he passed away at the age of 49. I learned literally at a very young age that tomorrow doesn't always come. I've seen too many people not live to retirement and never enjoying life along the way. When I'm old and sitting in the nursing home, I plan to look back and say, "Wow, that was a heck of a ride."

 

[bananiem]

I'm sorry about your Dad. I think that's an example of why so many people "live" when they're younger. People travel and do things because we've all had too many loved ones die early from accidents or illness, so we tend to do a lot of the stuff that people used to save for retirement while we're still working.

 

[horseshowmom]

I'll retire as soon as I'm able. My folks retired when Daddy was 59 (have been retired for almost 15 years now). They planned ahead for it (had already bought and paid for their retirement place in FL). They are very active and thoroughly enjoy themselves. It just depends on the person.

 

[dvcgirl]

My dh is very sad today. A person he worked with collapsed at work yesterday, never regained consciousness and passed away last night. He worked at this company for over 40 years. He was in his mid to late 60's. Although we do not personally know of his financial affairs, it certainly appeared that he was comfortable enough to retire several years ago. The job is blue collar and can, at times, require moderate physical exertion. The man did have some fairly serious health issues in the past 10 years but not enough to knock him out of commission so to speak.

My question is this, if you were able to retire at 62 or even 65 with a comfortable standard of living, would you? My dh and I plan to retire as soon as we are able to...not for another 20 years but there is no way I want to die on the job. I feel so sorry for this man and his family. I just can't understand why he didn't want to have some free time to travel and spend quality time with his wife. She will now be a wealthy widow. My dh and his co-workers are all very sad today. I wish I could be there to help him through a very somber day.
Please say a prayer for this man's family.

Thanks,
Nancy

I don't know when we'll retire, but I know when we can *afford* to retire....somewhere in the early to mid-50s range. I think we'll probably ease into it a bit and see how it goes. Sorry to hear about your DH's co-worker....that's rough.

 

[froglady]

I "retired" 24 years ago to be a SAHM. I'll be 60 when my youngest goes off to college, so I'll never work outside the home again, unless I choose to get a job for "fun." (I've been offered a couple already) DH loves his work, and as a physician, it's very much a part of who he is, so I think he would have a hard time giving it up completely. He has adequate time to pursue his many hobbies; he would only increase the time devoted to them if he retired. Quite frankly, I'll be very uncomfortable if he spends too much time at home; I'm used to having my days to myself, and cleaning, running errands, etc without taking anyone else into consideration. "Would everyone please leave the family room so I can vacuum and wash the floors?"

FIL was a doctor, and he saw patients the morning he died at age 75. That's the way he wanted it. He did a lot of travelling over the years, and took time off every year to work on the ship Hope. So, God willing, DH would also like to do the same.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I think some form of work keeps us healthy and actually helps us live longer. DH is a commercial hvac mechanic. I"d like to see him get the certification to teach in his field so he's not doing such physical work.
I'm 41 and in school to get my teaching certificate. I hope to teach 20 years. There are alot of students in my class who are nearing retirement age and are getting their teaching certificate as a second career. They're at the point where they can live on a teachers salary.
I suppose if you have alot of hobbies and volunteer you can keep youthful.
Now if I truly had the money to travel the world, preferably sailing all over i'd retire tomorrow.

 

[Galahad]

Depends on what you love an what drives you. Some folks would rather keep working. DW and I plan to retire at about 57. I'm on the side that says nobody dies wishing they spent more time at the office. But like the doctor above that worked until they day he died - if that's what drives you it's clearly the right thing to do.

 

[disykat]

At this point we plan for me to retire at 65 and dh to retire at 60. I'm almost 5 years older than dh so we'll retire at about the same time. Since I'm still mostly a SAHM, I'm not afraid of not working - I know how busy I can stay with volunteer work. (I don't have the job yet that I'm talking about retiring from!) Dh is a handy guy who likes to putter, so he'll stay busy as well. If we get bored, we'll get part time jobs. I could easily back to substitute teaching and dh could also sub for the district in some capacity. We just want to be able to do lots of traveling etc. without being tied to a school calendar.

 

[4nana]

So very sad, to work hard all your life and it all end before you can really enjoy the full benefits .
My sympathy to your DH and co workers, my thoughts and prayers are with this family.

Retirement may not agree with some, but DH retired at 65 and I think it probably saved his life! He was so tired of getting up 4:30am, fighting the beltway traffic and all the gripes he put up with at work. Unfortunately, 911 had just happened that month and we lost half our 401K soon as he retired. Does he/we regret it? Not a day!! Could we afford it? Can you ever?? We happily manage and somehow the Lord has a way of providing our daily needs.

We are reminded daily how short life can be, so we stay busy trying to live it to the fullest. It really makes me happy to see DH finally enjoying life more, spending time with family, working around the house (which includes a new sunroom he just built), restoring his old car, tending to yard work, helping with my Mom and our grown children's projects. Thankfully, our 401 has rebuilt itself, so we are afforded to be able to do some projects and the funds to travel more than we've ever been allowed before.

I will not qualify for SS for quite a few yrs., so still do PT daycare, which I love, and to me it isn't a job . Have thought of retiring, but, apparently God has other plans, as he is always sending me children to love and nurture.

 

[caitycaity]

dh and i are not even close to retirement, so eventhough we have retirement savings, we haven't really talked about what we'd do and when.

i believe my gpa, who never officially retired, and died in his 70's, probably did regret not getting enough work done. he and his son - my dad - are the kind of people who believe what they do is important. my dad lives his work. i can't imagine my dad ever retiring, and (sadly) i do think the one thing he will regret on his deathbed is not having enough time to finish whatever he was working on. not that he doesn't love us, but he takes his work very seriously.

personally, i am not this way. i look fwd to retirement -- i hope i make it!

 

[Tiggeroo]

I live in a town with alot of retired folks. For half of the year I work in a coffee shop so I get to talke to know alot of them. I think retirement is rarely what it was in our grandparents day. Most of these folks truly don't need money. But generally they work some. Not full time, physical jobs, just something. They also travel alot, spend time with the family, go to community meetings, play cards, golf, etc.
There is one gentleman I know. He is retired and probably early 60's. But he's very healty and active. He runs every day. He is well off as he bought in Ocean City when it was inexpensive. He now has several properties and buys and sells them.
But his job is window-washing. He rides a bike with a wagon on the back. He washes nearly every window on the boardwalk twice a week. I believe he also does some in the downtown area. I would imagine he doesn't spend more then a half day 3 times a week doing this. If you saw him you would think he was a poor older man who needed money. He doesn't. This keeps him active, earns money, keeps him talking to all his neighbors, etc.
The retirement I see alot of folks in my town engaging in is what i'd like. Part time work or consulting or a small business, with a flexible schedule, travel, time with grandkids, etc. Our town is also very fit. Everybody, no matter their age bikes, jogs, etc alot. If you go to the coffee shop the rack is full of bikes, very few cars.

 

[aprilgail2]

my dad was set to retire at 60 but he drooped dead suddenly at 54. At my job we can retire at 50 and that is when i am going to go.