well about to start down a new and unexplored (for me) path

[littlewolf]

I am 66 and 1 month .. signed up for social security today
and giving my resignation effective 30 Sept.
I have had 3 jobs in my life (after leaving the farm)

Navy
DOC
and a DoD contractor

so this is a new and slightly scary development.
want to do things my life mate and I want to do
and not worried about how much time it takes.

gonna be interesting ....

[Walleye]

1. Best of luck, and let yourself have time to get used to it

[spicysista]

2. Congrats and good luck to you on this part of your journey!

Also, thank you for your service!

[blm]

3. Welcome.

((littlewolf))

[Biophilic]

4. Best of luck to you. Enjoy your retirement.

[snowybirdie]

5. Good for you

Soon you won't have enough hours in a day to get all you want done. This time it'll be what you want not a boss. Happy Retirement.

[multigraincracker]

6. Good luck and learn how to

slow down. MC was best part of turning 66. No more denials from my health ins company.
By slowing down, I don’t mean to quit moving.

[Karadeniz]

7. Yay!!!!

[2naSalit]

8. Congrats!

Don't be scared, just go do it. Well, look a little before you leap but...

[a kennedy]

9. Good for you......

I hope you can enjoy whatever and wherever you now will travel. Congratulations.

[badhair77]

10. Best of luck! Great decision!

Enjoy every minute.

[Moostache]

11. Godspeed and good health on your journey...

I hope to one day get there, but sadly I have at least 15 years to go and the rate of decay in this society and around the world has me scared that I won't see a peaceful end of my journey but a war-torn and savage planet at war with its pesky hominoid inhabitants and their proclivity for stupidity, waste and greed.


I'll have to settle for a vicarious retirement by proxy!
So get to travelling and post frequently!

Seriously, though, congratulations on your new path!

[UTUSN]

12. You'll never look back!!!!!!!!

[calguy]

13. Retirement is your reward for working your entire life.

I've been retired for five years, and I highly recommend it.

[TNNurse]

14. It is a big adjustment,

but that effort is worth the rewards. Retirement is wonderful.

Congratulations.

[Ferrets are Cool]

15. I am so happy you are able to retire.

Enjoy every moment. They are fleeting for all of us.

[iluvtennis]

16. Enjoy your retirement! Like all major changes in life,it'll take time to adjust, but it comes.

[Mr.Bill]

17. If you want to do some traveling,

do that as soon as you can. Health problems that develop can make travel difficult.

[Evolve Dammit]

18. Just went through it all. Seize the moment and do what you really want. Best wishes!

It is definitely a weird adjustment but it opens lots of doors (I think)!

[Rocknation]

19. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life

Took early retirement five years ago, but not without a game plan. Rather than stop working "cold turkey," I turned what I had enjoyed doing when I WASN'T working into a part-time venture (and adventure).

Congrats on crossing the rat race marathon finish line AND on being in position to determine how to live out your life on YOUR terms as long as your health (and wealth) permits. Most important, always keep in mind that "life is too short" from now on!

Rocknation

[rubbersole]

20. Pretty soon you might wonder how in the hell did I have time to go to work...

Congratulations!

[babylonsister]

21. Have a blast!! That's what

retirement is for. Spread your wings!

[mountain grammy]

22. good luck.. have fun!

I love being retired!

[Meadowoak]

23. I retired 2 years ago, never been happier.

[Joinfortmill]

24. Enjoy! Retirement rocks, been at it 8 years. Became an Indie Writer - wrote 6 little mysteries.

[Stuart G]

25. Congratulations. Please enjoy your retirement. I've been retired a long time. Please enjoy it.

[calimary]

26. COOL!

Welcome to the wonderful world of "you-can-sleep-in-when-you-feel-like-it!" land!

Enjoy, and make the most of it - whenever it is that you feel like getting up outta bed!

[yonder]

27. Congratulations and good luck! Big step but worth it.

For the most part I liked (so I thought) what I was doing and was fairly competent but as it turns out, I never looked back......to the extent that I doubt I could go back and do it again.

The other thing is time. I'm amazed at all the other things I could get done when working a FT job. Now it seems there's not enough time. Maybe I dont manage it as well as once did. Dunno.

Again, good luck and have a blast.

[Emile]

28. Not being a wage slave is enjoyable. Enjoy

the rest of your life you earned it.

[slightlv]

29. I had to take early retirement due to a disability

and thus quit cold turkey. Wasn't really ready. Two years of searching and feeling "non productive" (I mean, You get tired of cleaning the house all the time!) I finally put my resume out and have had tons of offers. Accepted one on Saturday and started today part time. I'm a little scared; more of being taken advantage of, as in being phished than anything else. So far, everything seems on the up and up, but still... the world has become big and bad and scary, ya know? So much more complicated and mean since we used to sit down for an interview one on one with an individual doing the hiring! (LOL)

[WinstonSmith4740]

30. Congratulations!

Trust me, it's fun!!

[Heather MC]

31. Welcome to you new Journey

Making money without getting out of bed💜💜💜🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂

[MiHale]

32. Retirement yeah! .... work is overrated

[DFW]

33. Don't forget to give progress reports!

I just signed up for Social Security this year too, though if I understand correctly, after all deductions are taken out, I am left with something like $9.06 a month. Paperwork for nothing and regrets for free.

I just turned 70 this year, and I'm looking at retirement in a maximum of 12 years, maybe sooner if I get too tired of the routine (of which I have never had any). I've always been fascinated by the concept.

[SunSeeker]

34. I look at "retirement" as anything but that. It is finally having the freedom to live your life!

And live it on your terms, doing whatever the fuck you want, even if that's doing absolutely nothing all day!

Fortunately, as a government employee, you will get a pension check, making a worry free retirement possible. You're lucky that you have this freedom. Many don't. So please use it, and enjoy it!

[childfreebychoice]

35. When that black fella won, in 2008, we made plans to become

Expats. Left in 2012. Got lots of flack fr other black friends who accused us of abandoning the fight. Now, many have followed, surprised at the number who are under 40. Our only regret, that we didn't leave sooner. Loving retirement, wish we had fifty more yrs. Enjoy

[XanaDUer2]

36. Best of luck! Nt

[liberalla]

37. Enjoy yourselves!

[MLAA]

38. Celebrate! Congrats!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

39. Why not keep contracting, but at a slower pace? NT

[Pinback]

40. Retirement has many advantages, and some potential pitfalls.

First the pitfalls. One I've noticed a lot is that you can blow a lot of time doing the simplest things. It's common to hear retired people say, "How did I ever have time to work? I can barely get everything done now!" To some extent in my case, that's because I'm older and slower. It's also because as the old saying goes, "Work expands to fill the time allotted to it." So, for example, when deciding on some product to buy, I can easily get sucked into way too much research, whereas when I was working and had very little spare time, I might just drop the hammer and make a decision in 15 minutes because that's all the time I had that evening.

Also, depending on your personality type, you could end up aimlessly drifting at times. Some of this is desirable, at least in the first year or two. It's just so great to be free of the shackles of employment that you may want to revel in being able to sleep late, bum around, and be unproductive. (I sure did, when I could.)

Ultimately, though, you will want to have some feeling of purpose or accomplishment. This can be as simple as planting a garden, or doing some long-postponed home repairs, traveling to places you've wanted to visit for a long time, learn a new skill (or improve an old one), etc. In my case, one of the first things I did was to replace the garage roof. It's kind of crappy looking, to be honest, but it doesn't leak(!) and nobody can see it except the squirrels and birds on the other side of the garage. It was a great project for me because it was a) low risk, b) low cost, and c) completely different from what I'd done for work for many years (fairly stressful corporate desk job).

The advantages of retirement, though -- oh man! One of the main ones is being able to avoid crowds during the day on weekdays. This may or not be a big deal, depending on where you live. I'm in a busy metropolitan area, so being able to go to a grocery store, restaurant, or movie theater while most other poor saps are working or in school is delightful (although I'm sometimes amazed at how many young and middle-aged people buy groceries on a Tuesday morning!).

When I first retired, I would frequently notice what I was missing at work. (“Oh, man! It’s 10:00 on Monday morning and I’m NOT in a staff meeting! Ahhhhhh...”)

I also took extreme pleasure in doing exactly what I wanted during what used to be work hours. I’ll never forget the absolute bliss of just wandering around my local public library at 2 p.m. on a weekday, randomly browsing and sitting down with a book to learn about something I never thought would interest me. I also spent a lot of time biking to local coffee shops where I could chill and browse the web, write down some thoughts, enjoy the morning sun, or whatever.

Eventually, that initial feeling of getting away with something has subsided, and I don't think about work much any more. (And my dreams are much more creative and much less stressful than they used to be when I was working, which is great!)

Over the upcoming few months, I look forward to more of the things I haven’t felt comfortable doing the past couple of years due to COVID: in-person volunteer work, extensive traveling, and frequent indoor dining to name just a few.

You are also retiring at a great time. Two years after I retired, COVID hit, and many things either ground to a halt or had to be considered very carefully. I still haven't been able to take full advantage of retirement due to having to be extra-careful since Spring 2020. But you're entering your years of freedom as the pandemic is in a much better place.

Congratulations, and enjoy yourself. You've earned it!

[Lonestarblue]

41. The best day ever was the day I retired!

Now I get up in the mornings and have this sense of enormous freedom as I decide what I want to do each day, not what I must do to meet some deadline or satisfy someone else’s demands. It’s a wonderful feeing! Hope you have a wonderful retirement!

[littlewolf]

42. thank you all..

there are home projects that I have had to put on the back burner
for a bit ... now I can do em.
Also wife is in a wheel chair so she needs me to
help her do things she no long can... also I am
her über driver
we also plan to see her 90 year old mom in FL.
(we are tar heels).
The current plan is to do a project and take a day or two off,
undertake another project etc ....
will miss some of the people but looking fwd to the adventure.
and the people are here .. so we can still get together.
thank you for all the kind words and advice ...

[markie]

43. good for you!

[70sEraVet]

44. When I retired, I told everyone at my shop, " You know how you're running late for work work,

and you're stuck behind some old guy driving 5 miles under the speed limit, and you can see him craning his head to watch birds while he's driving? That's going to be ME!"
Its been over three years, and Im still struggling to learn how to slow down. I still look at the birds, though!