Old Folks Thread

[Harvey]

You guys are a wealth of info. You are schooling me in key areas, like siding.

Now I'm pushing it to the next level.

I realize that those of us who aren't ancient might think this is a ridiculous thread. And you are probably right.

Still I am very curious about what lies (16 months) ahead.

For example, I have been paid weekly for my entire working career. And since I was 28 I've been saving a percent of that for retirement. In the future I'll only withdraw. I'm guessing that will be weird, but it won't be a surprise. Maybe it won't be weird and that will be the surprise.

I guess I am wondering, what was the biggest surprise for you about retirement? What thing that matters, wasn't even on your radar before you retired?

Anything else? Don't preach, just tell me what you learned.

BTW I was going to go with Old Dudes Thread, but while we are all folks, we are not all dudes.

 

[tirolski]

I guess I am wondering, what was the biggest surprise for you about retirement?

Everyday is Saturday, but then ya let the worker bees have have at it Saturday recreationally.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

And since I was 28 I've been saving a percent of that for retirement.

Whoa! Good on ya, Harv. I guess that's why I'll never retire.

 

[Peter Minde]

Harv, you're good at what you do, what about part-time consulting?

A friend had a solid buyout from a Fortune 500 company in his late 50s. Did consulting work in his field for several years before retiring fully.

The other thing is, you don't know how busy you can get sans job.

PS you're not old.

 

[Harvey]

I wasn't trying to make this about money. It would be easy to know how much is enough if you knew how long you'd last.

I was more wondering about surprises. Like I'm thinking I will ski every day there is snow.

 

[Peter Minde]

@Harvey Rather than money, I was looking at the "what do I do with my time?" angle. Once I'm settled in Saranac Lake, I already have a part-time job lined up. There's skiing and ski prep. As my kiddo has her own job and is enrolled in county college, I'll likely be driving back to NJ to visit her more than she'll be coming to the north country.

I also have to figure out how I can keep going with this band I joined. I auditioned to see if I could cut it (I did), and the music sucked me in. Solid, original tunes. Only problem is, they're based in Asbury Park. I've day tripped 250 miles one way for ski races, I figure I can go in the other direction.

Lastly, my aunt in Massachusetts has been going thru some stuff recently, and I will be traveling there periodically as she has no children of her own to help her.

My point is, if you're retiring, there's gonna be stuff filling your schedule before you know it. Sorry about the oversharing.

 

[Harvey]

what about part-time consulting?

This is not out of the question.

 

[MarzNC]

My point is, if you're retiring, there's gonna be stuff filling your schedule before you know it.

Yep.

I guess I am wondering, what was the biggest surprise for you about retirement? What thing that matters, wasn't even on your radar before you retired?

The surprise when my father retired and moved from NYC to Chapel Hill, NC was that he got interested in trying to grow vegetables. My mother and I moved there six years before he retired. He was a professor of chemistry at Brooklyn College for about 25 years. Never showed any interest in the houseplants my mother had on the enclosed porch at our apartment on the 11th floor.

The surprise for my husband when I stopped working when we started a family was that I wasn't at all interested in going back to work for pay. I knew it was an early retirement since we didn't need the money. Having time with my daughter and my aging parents (lived close by) was far more important.

My husband was pushed out of IBM just as he made it to 30 years (traditional monthly pension). While he did a little consulting for a few years, didn't take long for him to settle into just being retired. Having an older house means there are always surprises of stuff that need to be fixed.

Becoming someone who takes multiple ski trips out west and gets in 50+ days of skiing per season was not part of any retirement plan. Especially after confirming that my husband has no aptitude for skiing at all, even though he was a good athlete growing up in the midwest. Couldn't guess that our daughter would love skiing.

 

[Harvey]

trying to grow vegetables

This is definitely in our plans. I used to do it all the time, but life got too busy.

If @Cork can have prize winning tomatoes at 1300 feet, maybe we can grow something at 1900.

 

[Green light]

Cork has LOTS of sun. You, not so much..