Thought I’d start a discussion on retirement. I am retired and I enjoy it but my brother, who worked for the Seattle Police Department 25-years, retired and then decided to go back to work. He did not need the money; what he told me was that he felt more alive going to work on a daily basis. I went into a Wal-Mart and one of the greeters had on a T-shirt which said “Retirement is for the Birds!” I have a hard time understanding that.

The four (4) pillars of a successful retirement include:

1)      An adequate retirement income.

2)      Affordable health care.

3)      A second or backup income like Social Security.

4)      A stimulating retirement lifestyle.

But there are people who want to work until they die; although I don’t think you will find many of them that go camping or RVing. I find the RVing lifestyle very stimulating and challenging.

I spoke to a couple in their 50’s who were afraid of having to spend their later years in a nursing home or “soldiers home,” which is just like a nursing home. Health is very important and it can interfere with a desirable lifestyle.  Although it does seem like there are less people today in nursing homes than there were say 30 or 40 years ago. So what do you think about retirement; add anything that comes to mind.

Heidi, I so agree that it is the people whom you touch that make life worth living. I have also found that when camping because I meet a lot of new and interesting people who are RVing and they have wonderful stories which they share. I am often invited to other people’s campsites to share a meal, etc. I too worked in the medical profession and feel blessed to have touched the lives of so many and they touched my life as well. When I worked in a hospice I used to hear the terminally ill patients talk about how their lives went by so quickly, and then I came to realize that many of them lived their lives in the memories of yesterday and the desires for tomorrow; they were rarely here in the moment living their life as it happened and thus their life went by without them and seemed to go by quickly.

Khoyle, I can understand the fellowship thing. My social life was once closely tied to my job and place of work, and I must admit, I did go through a sort of mid-life crisis when I first retired. My first year of retirement required some emotional adjustment but now looking back I think that it was more of and ego thing for me than anything else. My brother talks about his purpose in life would be diminished if he just stopped working but I think when you retire you adopt a new purpose, and there is also periodic volunteer work available when you retire if you want to pursue a purpose of serving others.

Ratdog, very fumy about your “bucket list" and I also agree with the long term insurance as a necessity. Back to the bucket list; I worked in the healthcare field for about 4-decades and at one time worked in a hospice with people who were terminally ill. It surprised me how many people left this life with unfinished business; there were things that they wanted to do that they never got around to doing. Of course some of the things on their list were unrealistic, like the Dianne Keaton thing, but there were a lot of other things, very simple things that they just put off or procrastinated on. I have been very fortunate to have manifested and lived a lot of my dreams.

Furpod, a lot of people don’t understand why I don’t work either. I have had a lot of people tell me that I should not sell my house and go full-time RVing as well; they say that I will be living like a vagabond or homeless person who lives in their car, but I think these people know nothing about RVing.

Camper Bob that’s a very sad story but I can relate. I had a friend who retired at age 55 and he did not know what to do with himself so he just watched TV all day long. He lived alone and for a period no one heard from him, when his daughter went to his house she found him dead at age 58, sitting on the couch in his under shorts with the TV on. He had a massive heart attack. I think about him a lot.

Thank you to all of you for sharing such wonderful stories.

Larry

Depending on what happens to Obamacare will determine a lot regarding health insurance; the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling on it this coming week.

Regardless, when you turn 65 you will be eligible for Medicare but it is also wise to have some kind of Medicare supplemental insurance, which if you shop around can be reasonable.

I really don’t understand Obamacare that much to comment on it but it does seem like a lot of people are against it. Especially the mandate part.

When I was in college, a recreation degree was being pushed because Americans were going to learn to relax and live as they went instead of waiting for retirement to do it all.  The 4 day work weeks never materialized and the "best" employees are the ones who continue to put work first, not taking their vacation days and working well over 50 hrs a week.  Yes, I was one of those and thought I was doing the right thing but as we age, it starts to take its toll.  Weight, sugar, blood pressure, etc starts to creep up because we don't have time to take care of ourselves.  I think it's a shame that people can no longer afford to retire and the media touts working forever as a good thing.  So older people continue to work (while health deteriorates) to support their kids who can't get a job.  What a cycle!

Last week I heard on the news that in Spain if a person gets sick on their vacation their employer will not count those sick days as vacation days and that employee will be given new vacation days. It is interesting how employers in different nations handle paid vacation days.

According to CNNMoney.com the U.S. lags behind other countries when it comes to paid vacation days and sick days, and many developed countries mandate that employees take a vacation yearly. Among developed nations only the Canadians and Chinese work more days than the U.S. The Japanese may work longer hours but they get more vacation time than the U.S. and most developed nations also have longer lunch breaks than we do. There is a belief that our work habits are due to the “Puritan work ethic” or Protestant work ethic attributed to Max Weber. Basically it says that hard work is and honor to God which would lead to a prosperous reward.

I remember a divorced woman I used to date who lived on a dairy farm in northeastern Colorado; she got up before the sun everyday to milk cows, bail hay, etc., and then woke her kids and prepared breakfast for them before sending them off to school, and then she would drive more than 60-miles to go to work as a secretary at the clinic where I worked in Sterling, Colorado. She believed that “idle hands are the devils workshop” and felt guilty when she was not doing anything. A lot of Americans just don’t take any vacation time and they won’t retire because they feel needed or relevant working a job on a daily basis.

Many of us have heard about that person who wins the lottery jackpot and says “I’m going to continue working.” It is unfortunate that most people work for a paycheck but I guess there are also people who work because they love what they do.

I could make more money by going back to work but I am enjoying retirement too much; as someone else said “freedom is addictive.” And my retirement income is much less than if I were working in my field full-time but I feel it is necessary for me to learn how to live with less.

In my opinion there is a trade-off regardless what we do; married people willingly make sacrifices for each other, people with kids willingly make sacrifices for their kids, single people sacrifice the constant companionship of a significant other, and it is the same with whether we choose to work or retire. The thing is when people willingly make sacrifices they often don’t consider it to be a sacrifice.

Peace and Good Journey to All,

Larry