How do you define retirement?

My dad took early retirement in his 50s from being a school counselor and still receives a pension to this day. Im 31 and i dont remember him working a real job in my lifetime. I mean I guess raising 5 young kids in your 50s and 60s could be considered a tough job. He is now 84. My mom retired 2 years ago. She gets a pension also for her 40 year teaching career. She does not have or want a part time job. She is done. They have traveled more these past two years than i can ever remember. They probably have been on at least 15-20 vacations in these two years. That is what retirment is to me.

 
Frott Scost said:
My dad took early retirement in his 50s from being a school counselor and still receives a pension to this day. Im 31 and i dont remember him working a real job in my lifetime. I mean I guess raising 5 young kids in your 50s and 60s could be considered a tough job. He is now 84. My mom retired 2 years ago. She gets a pension also for her 40 year teaching career. She does not have or want a part time job. She is done. They have traveled more these past two years than i can ever remember. They probably have been on at least 15-20 vacations in these two years. That is what retirment is to me.
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Your dad is living the dream of the public school funded retirement pension. Good for him. 

 
Frott Scost said:
My dad took early retirement in his 50s from being a school counselor and still receives a pension to this day. Im 31 and i dont remember him working a real job in my lifetime. I mean I guess raising 5 young kids in your 50s and 60s could be considered a tough job. He is now 84. My mom retired 2 years ago. She gets a pension also for her 40 year teaching career. She does not have or want a part time job. She is done. They have traveled more these past two years than i can ever remember. They probably have been on at least 15-20 vacations in these two years. That is what retirment is to me.
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My dad was a guidance counselor too . He retired at 60 . Between his Air Force retirement , teachers pension , and social security he had a comfortable income and lived 25 more happy years with no job . I think it’s great they got to do that , sadly my situation will not be the same . 

 
When I'm old people stuff, like complaining about the football team to no one in particular.

Or maybe just whatever Merrill Lynch tells me.

 
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Big Red 40 said:
I would define retirement as getting to a point where i had enough money i didn't HAVE to work any more. Every day would be lived on my terms, and my way. The only reason I work is for money , and I have plenty of interests to pursue if time/money allowed it. I cant imagine being bored or needing to work at all.

As far as a party, I think that's a thing of the past. People used to work the same place for 30 +years to receive and pension/benefits for retirement in return. The party was to celebrate that accomplishment, show respect, and say goodbye to coworkers/ friends you'd worked with most of your life. None of those things apply much  any more 
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Well, the person has worked there 29 years :)

 
Big Red 40 said:
I would define retirement as getting to a point where i had enough money i didn't HAVE to work any more. Every day would be lived on my terms, and my way. The only reason I work is for money , and I have plenty of interests to pursue if time/money allowed it. I cant imagine being bored or needing to work at all.

As far as a party, I think that's a thing of the past. People used to work the same place for 30 +years to receive and pension/benefits for retirement in return. The party was to celebrate that accomplishment, show respect, and say goodbye to coworkers/ friends you'd worked with most of your life. None of those things apply much  any more 
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Really?  I've threw two retirement parties last year for people who worked here 20 years and 37 years.  This year, I will have three retire that have worked here 17, 28 and 40 years.  If find the parties very important and people appreciate them.

 
We used to have them here all the time too . As the older guys left the parties have died way down . With no pensions any more 30 years of service means nothing . Older guys are looked at as liabilities not respected , and the influx of foreign (often short time ) workers makes  long time friendships more difficult . 

 
Frott Scost said:
My dad took early retirement in his 50s from being a school counselor and still receives a pension to this day. Im 31 and i dont remember him working a real job in my lifetime. I mean I guess raising 5 young kids in your 50s and 60s could be considered a tough job. He is now 84. My mom retired 2 years ago. She gets a pension also for her 40 year teaching career. She does not have or want a part time job. She is done. They have traveled more these past two years than i can ever remember. They probably have been on at least 15-20 vacations in these two years. That is what retirment is to me.
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My brother took retirement about 5 years ago and he and his wife do at least 2 big overseas trips a year.  He works a little part time at a local CC in Houston taking tee time reservations.  If he wanted to they said he could work 40 a week.  He doesn't miss his real job at all.  My dad was the same way never missed working.  He had lots of hobbies and liked  to travel a lot. 

My FIL is the complete opposite he is 78 years old and still wants to keep his hand in his business.  We have 3 branches and he basically travels between the 3 in Nebraska, Indiana and Idaho all year long spending winter's in Arizona still working.  He has no hobbies all he thinks about is Ag tires, which I think is sad.  I truly think he feels if he quits going to work he will die.  

I myself want to start traveling a lot when my youngest is out of HS.  He is a freshman right now.  I will be 56 and want to see some of the world when I am young enough to enjoy it.  I won't be retired but I think we can be away from the business a week at a time for a while every now and then.  

Retirement means different things to different people.  Guys that built their own business, like my FIL I think have a hard time walking away from it.  Guys like my dad and brother that work big corp.  find it easier

 
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In college I worked at a donut place, in the mornings the same 5-7 old dudes would come in, get a coffee, eat a donut, read the paper, smoke and solve America's problems...for about 2-4 hours...every single day.  

I would rather work.

 
Big Red 40 said:
I would define retirement as getting to a point where i had enough money i didn't HAVE to work any more. Every day would be lived on my terms, and my way. The only reason I work is for money , and I have plenty of interests to pursue if time/money allowed it. I cant imagine being bored or needing to work at all.

As far as a party, I think that's a thing of the past. People used to work the same place for 30 +years to receive and pension/benefits for retirement in return. The party was to celebrate that accomplishment, show respect, and say goodbye to coworkers/ friends you'd worked with most of your life. None of those things apply much  any more 
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Interesting. Around my part of the country it is still really common for people to stick it out at the same place for a long time, especially in manufacturing. I worked overnight-shift manufacturing until my business took off, and it seemed like there were always retirement announcements on the company portal for people that had been there for 30-40 years....My father-in-law retired a couple years ago after 46 years in the same manufacturing plant, and he wasn't the longest tenured employee up until his last couple years.... Retirement to him, thus far, has been farming. He has talked about opening a pawn/gun shop. He had his firearm arsenal appraised right around his retirement and it came back at $350K. :blink:  So, if he chooses to go that route, inventory shouldn't be a problem. :lol:

 
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