creekland Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 On the retirement thread I confessed that I don't really expect to get that old 'cause I can't envision life without working (being able to travel a lot would change that). My mom is retired and spends the bulk of her time at casinos and playing computer games. She does travel some with us, but not so much on her own. My dad is retired and spends his time basically criticizing and annoying most people or governing authorities. My in-laws are retired, but FIL stays busy with oodles of projects most of which he gets paid for, so it's not really retirement IMO. MIL has Alzheimers... I can envision a retirement if we can travel or possibly even volunteering quite a bit, but otherwise? None of my role models' lives appeal to me (nor tons of TV or getting into hobbies like models, etc). I'd rather keep working. What are y'all thinking retirement looks like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingM Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I want to keep working, but at a slower pace as I get older. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Probably yacking on the internet, if I can still see well enough to read. :P I would like to read and hopefully take a walk every day or some other outdoor exercise. Sip coffee. Maybe spend some time with a nonprofit of my choice, but not if it gets political (which they generally do). I would like to clean up my house every day so it is always nice and comfy. I hope I will be friendly with my kids, since most of my friends and relatives are likely to die before me. I think about this fairly often, since my job often makes me feel old. :P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I cannot see my DH ever retiring. He will keep doing at least some research. I cannot see myself retiring either. I love working and can't imagine not doing it. We have talked about moving somewhere nicer; the area here is OK, but does have neither the outdoor nor the cultural opportunities we would like. We moved here because of work. So, we are likely to relocate, not sure where, that may depend on where the kids end up. We still have a long ways to go, but both my grandmothers lived healthy active lives well into their nineties, and my great grandma did as well, so I consider it likely to live long. I can't imagine being "retired" for three decades of my life. My parents are retired. They are healthy, travel, go to concerts and operas. Dad did some contract work until his early 70s and still plays competetive chess, but he is pretty bored and does not enjoy not getting anything done. My FIL is in his eighties and blind. I have no idea how he spends his time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 DH and I hope to travel around the U.S. and Canada in an RV as long as our health allows. Not full timing, but maybe two or three longish trips a year, with some shorter ones thrown in for sheer relaxation. We're a few hours from the beach or the mountains, so it's fairly easy and inexpensive to take off for a few days. We'll be starting construction soon on our retirement home, which will be on a few acres of land. So we'll probably do some gardening and piddling around the house. My nephew farms the adjacent land and I don't see him stopping, so if we get tired of gardening and piddling we'll let him start farming most of it so we don't have to fool with much upkeep. We'll also probably do some sort of volunteer work. I'd definitely like to increase my pet rescue activities. DH has thrown out the possibility of Red Cross disaster relief. If nothing else I can see us volunteering at the county animal shelter once or twice a week. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I work part time as a math tutor so I have summers off. I spend time doing typical things like cooking and housework, but also do things I enjoy. Today I wrote a couple of notes to people we visited last week when we were traveling. I grocery shopped, menu planned, did laundry, took stuff to Goodwill. I also did some weeding since we mowed the lawn last night and needed to tidy the hosta beds. I did some paperwork- paid some bills, updated my spreadsheet to reflect account balances as of the end of the second quarter of 2015, and mapped out the large expenses we expect to incur through the rest of the year. And I made a list of the household projects to get done in the next two weeks- with an old house the renovation list never ends. I haven't spent any time quilting today, though I have several projects that are calling my name. I also haven't done much reading, though Go Set a Watchman will arrive tomorrow and I'll begin that. Dh comes home for lunch so we spend noon to 1 PM eating lunch together. He'll be done with work in two hours and we'll head to the gym to workout together. Then we'll make dinner, clean the kitchen, watch a show on TV, and read/chat until bedtime. On weekends we usually spend a day doing renovation work on the house and the other day is spent watching college football or taking a day trip. I will not have any problem filling my days when dh and I retire for real. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I want to live somewhere in the central highlands of Mexico in July and August, then as close to Yellowstone as I possibly can in a sandbag house till Christmas, and then in a different country every year for the first half of the year where we work on an oral history project. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I have so many thing that I enjoy, that I can easily imagine retiring and staying very busy. Reading, talking about books, hospitality, hiking, beaches, mountains, travel, choir, working with 5th graders (my sweet spot), nonprofit board work, weaving, knitting, nature crafts--no, I would never run out of stuff to do. But I like my job, and so I try to have a good time along the way and enjoy my life while working. I think that people whose job is the only thing they really enjoy should just keep working. Why not? Society expects people to retire, but they really don't have to. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I think that people whose job is the only thing they really enjoy should just keep working. Why not? Society expects people to retire, but they really don't have to. It does not have to be the only thing - it could just the thing that they like most and that they feel defines them A dear colleague of mine is 78 years old, still teaching, doing research, mentoring a sorority, and loves it. And the students love her. She never wants to retire and hopes to keep working until the end- because she loves it. But she also travels and enjoys opera and theatre, just does not feel she can spend her entire time on that. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I probably should have said travel too. But realistically, I will probably be working until I am too old to do anything else. And I try to get some travel in annually rather than build up a bucket list for "someday." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 My situation is weird - I'll be going back to work around the same time my husband retires. :) He's such a driven, motivated, hard-working person that I fear he's not going to enjoy retirement as much as he thinks he will. I hope that I'm wrong, but he really doesn't seem like the kind of guy who can enjoy having unlimited free time. I suspect he will end up teaching or consulting part-time. He says he's looking forward to being able to do all the work, repairs, upgrades, etc. on our home that he's been thinking about for years. I think that will keep him busy for a year at most, and then he won't know what to do with himself. :) And I am thinking about *starting* a career for the first time in my life - can't even think as far ahead as retirement yet! :D 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Gosh, IDK. My husband wants to leave here in a few years (perhaps after dd finishes college, we'll see) and go work in Israel. There's a real possibilty for that. I would be "retired," as in "no longer working part-time." After that, I see him continuing to teach, to write, and to record music (but I'm sure his singing voice will give out eventually). For me, I will need to be in some sort of faith community. I can see leading some Bible studies, Cursillo reunion group-type groups, and maybe offering workshops to preschool teachers (whom, I feel, are often in dire need of more education). That's not really working, but I guess I would like to get paid a bit! I'd love to be able to visit my grandchild(ren). IDK if any of my kids will live near enough for us to be involved a lot in their lives, but it would be nice. I want to write a couple of books someday, one detailing my life with my son in recovery and how we got there, and the other a spiritual devotional based on my Holy Land sabbatical experience, but I don't know if I'd ever really do it. Retirement might be a good time to, though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 It does not have to be the only thing - it could just the thing that they like most and that they feel defines them A dear colleague of mine is 78 years old, still teaching, doing research, mentoring a sorority, and loves it. And the students love her. She never wants to retire and hopes to keep working until the end- because she loves it. But she also travels and enjoys opera and theatre, just does not feel she can spend her entire time on that. I'm not even sure it feels like my job defines me. I just plain like it - working with teens, sharing knowledge, and watching them grow and fly - and I don't have to feed them or put up with their cranky moods (since they are in better moods with non-family). There are plenty of things I like, but do I want to give up that one simply because I get paid for it? I don't think so. I already work part time to enjoy the other things in my life throughout the year - and to avoid what I don't like about the full time job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abba12 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I dunno, I dream of being a hands on grandma. The grandma that comes over once a week to watch the kids so mum can run errands or have a morning out (we are second generation homeschoolers, so I guess I don't have much of a frame of reference of what I'd do if my grandchildren went to public school and didn't need watching after toddlerhood) and has big sleepovers full of craft activities and special treats. My grandma was like that. She is like a mother to me now, we are very close, and she was around a lot when I was growing up. I've also considered training to be a doula or midwife once my children are grown. I've never really worked in a real career and I would like the experience, and I see how much difference a good midwife makes from a bad one first hand, after a horrific first birth, a mediocre second birth, and an amazing third birth that almost made me excited to do it again. (almost, lol) Travel is nice, but I'm not interested in big overseas trips. I could see my husband and I doing the RV around the country thing, but I wouldn't want to stray too far for too long. My husbands parents are talking about retiring to spain or something, where they will never see their grandkids (I have no interest in paying the cost of plane tickets to take children to see grandparents who have never had much time/interest for them when they were here, and the inlaws are not well off enough to be travelling between countries too much.) but I just don't get that. I guess I'm too family oriented, I would totally fit into a culture which normalized multi-generational households. We will likely be taking my grandma and/or grandad in sometime in the future (young motherhood for three generations, they are my children s great-grandparents but they're only in their mid-70s and very active.) I imagine sewing special clothes for the grandkids, and being involved in church ministry (finally!) and volunteering and getting out in the community. My husband is on much the same page. I don't know that he will ever truly 'retire', he's too entrepreneurial for that, I think he will always have something going, and I'm much the same to be honest, right now I sell second hand clothing to make a part time income, and can imagine myself selling or doing SOMETHING even in old age, part time. I guess retirement for us would just mean slowing down on the responsibilities and putting more into the things we love which we didn't have the time/freedom to do when we were raising kids. And being grandparents. Assuming my three daughters so far don't ALL decide to remain childless, I consider grandparenting to be an important role worth considering and putting effort into. Not in an overbearing, 'ill help you raise your kids' way, not at all. But in an 'I'll help you with whatever you want help with, and give the kids some special memories and treats that only grandparents can give' kind of way. I guess that mothering instinct is just too engrained in me! Or maybe I'm just regretting my own children's lack of a caring grandparent while remembering my own childhood, only one set of great-grandparents cares much about them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I'm youngish, so this seems pretty far away to me. I'll likely be a grandmother in my 40s. I plan to work until I'm 65-70ish if my health holds out...then maybe I'll just be an old fart artist? I want to be a fun grandma, but I don't want to raise them (no long term babysitting if I can help it). Dh, he'll happily retire, hopefully early. He'll probably putz around with tractors and do ministry work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 For us it is very unlikely that our kids will be able to get jobs in their chosen fields in this state. DD and hubby are in upstate NY, given the nature of eldest ds's permanent disability he will do better moving somewhere that has milder winters though really hot summers are out as well, middle ds will end up in Great Lakes' Conservation but Minnesota Sea Grant and some of the western NY research groups and northern Ohio ones pay much better than Michigan, and youngest will end up either at NASA or working for an aerospace industry supporter/supplier for NASA which means not Michigan. So we'd like to sell out here and land somewhere sort of central to the four of them if possible, rent a place that we can come and go from easily, and be able to spend time with the grands, travel with the grands, etc. We have slowly been realizing that this house would make a terrible retirement house. When we bought the place and renovated it, we thought it would be our forever home, but life changes, and well the maintenance of the building plus the heating system as well as the yard will be a very real negative. So we are increasing retirement contributions to reflect that A. we will never get out of this place what we put into it because any economic recovery/housing appreciation that this area of Michigan will experience is at least a decade away by just about any economist's estimate which means B. we need to either have more saved for buying somewhere else or for monthly rent. Since we both agree that getting out of the house maintenance/home repair burden would be best for dh, rent it is! I am going back into the workforce in three years when youngest graduates if not before in order to help fund this. DH works really long unpaid over time as a salaried IT worker, and I'd like him to leave that rat race while he still has some health left. Travel is very important to us. The bucket list includes Alaska, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Thailand, and Costa Rica. My sister lives in France and will be getting married soon. So visiting her is also going to be a somewhat common and the nice thing about that is we won't have hotels to pay since we can stay with her. We also have friends in a foreign locale with an organization similar to Doctors without Borders, and we'd like to do what we can to help them on a fairly regular basis. We are trying to make sure our budgeting for retirement includes the trip money. Dh is highly sought after for both his computer skills on a consulting basis as well as his woodworking which he enjoys and finds relaxing. It is likely he will do these things on the side as long as he can into "retirement" in order to also fund the travel expenses. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 In my husband's field, retirement means going into work and not getting paid. :-) I hope I have a after-kids career to retire from. This is silly for me to speculate about... it is so far in the future! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonwood Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I haven't thought that far, mainly because I have changed SO much in the last 10 yrs that I am certain that what I envision now, will not be reality then. But if i had to guess now, it would be something like homesteading the parent's homestead with a few animals (my name's on the deed), being on the water a lot, hiking the Appalachian Trail, watching grand kids, doing as I please. lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Working till I drop. Staying home with kids was my retirement. Ditto. I pretty much assume that I will be working from now until I just plain can't in order to try and make up for the years I didn't earn while staying home. Mostly, that doesn't bother me much, since I'm not a sit-around-and-pursue-my-hobbies kind of person. But I do worry a bit about how I'll hold up physically. And I would like not to be tied down to a particular place or job so that I have the freedom to visit my adult kids and any grandkids they choose to provide me with. We'll see how it goes. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 In my husband's field, retirement means going into work and not getting paid. What field is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 My dh is eligible for pension when he is still relatively young, but i don't expect him to stay on extra unless it is a few years while the kids are in school. He might then do another job - maybe some research that doesn't pay as much, or some consulting work. I think his dream occupation would be to get really good at building boats and spend a lot of time using them. He also likes to build electronics things down in his man-room, and hunt birds, and fish, and generally spend time in the woods. I wouldn't be surprised if we moved to a more rural location so that would affect what i do. i would like to do quite a lot of things around my community - I would like to help out more at the church, and at the farm museum up the road. I've always wanted to keep a cow. I would love to join a choir, and get back to hooking with a group. I have a UK trip planned that is the only one i seriously want to do and if I haven't by then I will go. I would like to go to the isle of Lewis and hear people sing the psalms in Gaelic. I would like to learn Gaelic. I would like to visit the North. I would like to improve my drawing. I would like to volunteer at the Salvation Army food bank down the road. I would like to go to the library and collect up copies of all my grandfather's writing. I would like to learn tai chi. I would like to try drinking real absinth. I would like to earn a Master Gardener accreditation, and to grow all of my own fruit and veg for the summer/fall season, and maybe become accredited as a permaculture teacher as well. I would like to keep bees that don't all die. There are a lot of books i would like to read too. That's all i can think of right now, but I don't expect to be bored. My dad has been retired for years. He keeps pretty busy in his community - he sings in a choir, plays drums in a blues band and country band, and works at the theater doing caretaker type things. His health isn't great which also takes up some of his time. My mom hasn't worked for a long time. She is spending more time these days helping out my grandfather. But she also spends far too much time decorating her house and i think it is actually unhealthy. My step-father still works. My grandfather had a hard time when he first retired, but then he started volunteering at an aviation museum that was just founded. he was an aircraft tech in the navy and just loves anything to do with that sort of thing, and he played a bit role in getting that place going. He still works there even though he is almost 90. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I have so many thing that I enjoy, that I can easily imagine retiring and staying very busy. Reading, talking about books, hospitality, hiking, beaches, mountains, travel, choir, working with 5th graders (my sweet spot), nonprofit board work, weaving, knitting, nature crafts--no, I would never run out of stuff to do. But I like my job, and so I try to have a good time along the way and enjoy my life while working. I think that people whose job is the only thing they really enjoy should just keep working. Why not? Society expects people to retire, but they really don't have to. That can be fine, but there can also be barriers. Some jobs aren't easy as you get older - my carpenter uncle really liked his work but it is now hard on the body. He's retraining as a luthier, so related and work but something new too. And then there is the question of leaving room for younger workers. There was a prominent reported at the CBC a few years ago who decided to retire, he said, largely because he thought it was important that there was more young people getting into the system - its a job where many people stay on well past 65. Similar things happen in universities sometimes, where tenured positions are so limited, if many people stay late then you can get younger academics stuck in the middle, especially with decreasing positions in general.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 My parents are 70 and 76 and very very busy with a lot of volunteer work. I fear I won't have that luxury because dh and I have no retirement. But that is ok. It is a choice I made....first to stay home and raise my son and then to divorce my first husband. Dh's health is not the greatest and I fear he will end up on disability.....but I can work some and our expenses are few. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanne Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 There will be no retirement for me. I'm not being negative, just realistic. A reduction down to one job would be nice. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I cannot see my DH ever retiring. He will keep doing at least some research. I cannot see myself retiring either. I love working and can't imagine not doing it. We have talked about moving somewhere nicer; the area here is OK, but does have neither the outdoor nor the cultural opportunities we would like. We moved here because of work. So, we are likely to relocate, not sure where, that may depend on where the kids end up. Yup. My husband will keep designing, programming, coding, and researching, because that's just what he does. It makes his heart happy. I'll probably be teaching and continue running production fiber arts until I can't anymore. I hope to travel and see my kids, be highly involved in local organizations, politics, and our church. I don't want to atrophy. My husband's family is very long lived if he can avoid heart disease. Mine is long lived if we avoid cancer. Big ifs, but we have the genes to live into the 90-105 range if we aren't run down by a disease first. So we are planning long, active retirements and if we die in the middle we will have had fun while we were here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 It does not have to be the only thing - it could just the thing that they like most and that they feel defines them A dear colleague of mine is 78 years old, still teaching, doing research, mentoring a sorority, and loves it. And the students love her. She never wants to retire and hopes to keep working until the end- because she loves it. But she also travels and enjoys opera and theatre, just does not feel she can spend her entire time on that. I want to be her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 For us it is very unlikely that our kids will be able to get jobs in their chosen fields in this state. DD and hubby are in upstate NY, given the nature of eldest ds's permanent disability he will do better moving somewhere that has milder winters though really hot summers are out as well, middle ds will end up in Great Lakes' Conservation but Minnesota Sea Grant and some of the western NY research groups and northern Ohio ones pay much better than Michigan, and youngest will end up either at NASA or working for an aerospace industry supporter/supplier for NASA which means not Michigan. So we'd like to sell out here and land somewhere sort of central to the four of them if possible, rent a place that we can come and go from easily, and be able to spend time with the grands, travel with the grands, etc. We have slowly been realizing that this house would make a terrible retirement house. When we bought the place and renovated it, we thought it would be our forever home, but life changes, and well the maintenance of the building plus the heating system as well as the yard will be a very real negative. So we are increasing retirement contributions to reflect that A. we will never get out of this place what we put into it because any economic recovery/housing appreciation that this area of Michigan will experience is at least a decade away by just about any economist's estimate which means B. we need to either have more saved for buying somewhere else or for monthly rent. Since we both agree that getting out of the house maintenance/home repair burden would be best for dh, rent it is! I am going back into the workforce in three years when youngest graduates if not before in order to help fund this. DH works really long unpaid over time as a salaried IT worker, and I'd like him to leave that rat race while he still has some health left. Travel is very important to us. The bucket list includes Alaska, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Thailand, and Costa Rica. My sister lives in France and will be getting married soon. So visiting her is also going to be a somewhat common and the nice thing about that is we won't have hotels to pay since we can stay with her. We also have friends in a foreign locale with an organization similar to Doctors without Borders, and we'd like to do what we can to help them on a fairly regular basis. We are trying to make sure our budgeting for retirement includes the trip money. Dh is highly sought after for both his computer skills on a consulting basis as well as his woodworking which he enjoys and finds relaxing. It is likely he will do these things on the side as long as he can into "retirement" in order to also fund the travel expenses. Come visit! I know all the good piano teachers, homeschooling groups, and quilt shops! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I have a friend who works about forty hours a week in her own (flower) garden, which she opens to the public for charitable contributions. That sounds good. However, she retired early, and I won't be retiring until I'm 67 or so. I'd be loath to increase the gardening burden at a time when I might get injured and not be able to keep it up. So my dream is: more time to keep the existing garden looking lovely; lots of walks with Husband; yoga; book groups... We will have to move into a house that is smaller/easier to heat. We dream of building another house on this land, but are pretty sure that we will not get planning permission to do so. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 No idea. I would like to work part time. Dh plans to not retire until into his 70s, so we have a long time. My parents are retired, but my dad didn't really stop working until his 70s and even now keeps up on his licenses and studies quite a bit just on his own. He likes keeping up on things. Dawn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I would like to do longish (3-6 months or so) mission trips. We have many in our church who do this (church is based near a translation center). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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