Six months to go - 2nd time around!

by Anonymous

Had scheduled to retire last December; about 2 mths before I took a week off to "test retirement" and frankly it sucked.

I had not done the planning. Simple as that.

So I signed on for ANOTHER YEAR of work. Now we just crossed 6 mths and staring down the last 6!

This time I have everything covered, more than enough things to keep me busy, and financially secure and every day is brutal!

I have no interest anymore in my work but try to focus on the relationships here. Still, this is going to be hard - I have to stop thinking about the finish line and live in the present.

Praying for perseverance!


Wendy: So happy to hear you thought it all out first, and have a roadmap to where you are headed. Sounds Great!

I am curious, why MUST you remain employed six months? Did you sign a contract? Simply feel obligated?

Let me say, dozens of retirees would tell me "You'll know when it's right..." and I always wondered HOW I would know. But one bright sunny April morning, with flowering trees all down Cass Road on the way to work, I knew that was the day I would resign after 37 years. Because of sunshine and flowering trees! Seriously.. I wasn't going to miss another spring or summer.

I retired at 55, but had 37 years of service with one employer. Enough is enough. However, mom is doing fine at 97 years old in a few months! NINETY SEVEN. If I can keep healthy, that could be my retirement -- FORTY YEARS of it. So, yes, if you can find a good mindset, keep going.

If, however, enough is enough, Let it go!

P.S. Don't be surprised if things change, that's life! Few things happen exactly as we plan! Best wishes!

Comments for Six months to go - 2nd time around!

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Plan each day
by: Anonymous

When I was in my 50s I went to a seminar on retirement offered by my employer. The first part was about the importance of planning what you are going to do in retirement.

Nobody was interested in that. Everybody was interested in the second part -- about our pensions.

Now that I am retired I realize the first part was just as important.

After I retired, a friend who had been retired for a while told me, "Plan each day." So I bought an agenda and planned everything I wanted to do. Having it in writing helped keep me on track.

I suggest other people may want to try it.
retire soon
by: Cindi H Ohio

I'll second what Wendy said - unless you are locked into some contract, why wait?

I had plans to wait til the end of the year to retire so I could have everything ready to hand off to a new person but something came up that made me realize that they could live without my expertise.

Suddenly I just couldn't stomach another day of someone else's deadlines or care about the work in a field I had happily worked at for 18 years.

I ended up retiring 2 months early even though I could've gotten an end-of-year bonus if I had stayed. It was just the "right" time.

And you know what? Business just kept on after I left - I left no gaping holes.

I did miss my relationships there though which did not outlast the job camaraderie.
Not Ready
by: Canadian Retiree

I can relate to your pain about not being ready to retire. You were smart to test the waters before retiring.

I was on sick leave due to cancer and was trying to return to work but decided on retiring earlier than I planned. I really wasn’t ready for retirement. I had no plan for what to do with my time. I felt lost and alone.

I joined an art class which really helped. Still it took a long time for me to quit thinking about my job and wondering if I made the right decision. It’s been 5 years now going on 6 and I still have my days when I feel a bit empty and alone but it’s a lot better.

Just keep going forward and you’ll get there!

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