Going on 25 years of being retired. Never been busier. I like to say "Every day is like waking up in Disneyland". at***ude
I retired shortly after I turned 61, 22 years ago, so I've just started my 23rd year. Had a couple hiccups along the way but have to say I'm still having a great time. I'm currently tending to 3 projects and go out in the shop almost every day for 6 to 8 hours. Probably not as productive but I'm still fabricating and cutting **** up. Someone on here recently said, "Funny, I thought growing older would take longer." Ain't that the truth!
Truth... you sometimes realize how the heck....We worked every day, yet managed to work on all these cars.
Congrats! 10/1/2018 was my retirement date, the 1st month after my 62nd birthday. I built a truck. Rebuilt my coupe. And then built a 2nd truck, after I sold the first one. These days, I just enjoying life. Good thing I retired, I don't have time for a job. It won't take very long before you start to wonder how you ever got anything done before you retired. That means you are doing it right, I think....
I made a list of all the stuff I wanted to do, a few months before I retired. I remember looking at it and figuring it'd take me a couple of years to get everything done and wondering how I'd keep busy afterwards. That was 24 years ago. I came across the list a week or so ago, and even though I've been out in my shop & busy almost every day since I retired, I still had only about a third of my pre-retirement goals met!
I also had a retirement list of things to do and places to go. Don't know whatever happened to it but we did cross a lot of things off of it. The first 2 months we traveled the Pacific Coast Highway and Highway 1 from San Diego to Oregon with a lot of side trips along the way. Turned around, made it to Pebble Beach, met Clint Eastwood and his wife at that time, made a side trip to see the giant Sequoias and eventually made it to Las Vegas. We flew the entire length of the Grand Canyon by helicopter and before returning to Vegas, we made a stop at Area 51 for fuel. Didn't see anything there. Each of the following 5 years we planned trips of about 2 months every spring. Did the east coast of Canada twice and the eastern US states. Dozens of other excursions. I started to feel like Johnny Cash ( Been Everywhere Man ). I'm glad we were able to travel early on in our retirements because we each have had our share of health problems since and my wife can no longer fly. I would suggest to anyone not to wait and don't put off those retirement plans.
Don't work your life away.... Nobody is guaranteed a tomorrow. Set up your SS before 62, you may find that your good to go. I worked for a great company, after 20yrs, you keep your medical plan. $125/mo allowed me to leave early.
I have three more years; just had a couple coworkers retire last week, and a few others retiring in time for summer. My uncle is 85, retired at 70 when the company he worked at eliminated his engineering position when they got bought out. Between his involvement with the town, the local conservation organization, and time in his shop building and fixing things, he says he is too busy to retire!
I pulled the plug in August of 2025, it took a little time to get into a rhythm but it’s been great. Enjoy your retirement…
Between work and working in the shop after work on projects and others people projects, I was doing 80 hour weeks for 30 years. To think I wonder why I'm tired more now, even after 11 years of retirement.
Funny, after reading this thread. No one retired and said they are bored or went back to work because they were bored. But you hear about people doing that often. How sad. Or they retire and die shortly after, maybe bored to death? I will retire in the next few years and people at work ask won't you get bored? I say never and list my 3 hotrod projects, house and cabin projects. I tell them to get off the couch from watching sports and get a hobby. Some of these people wouldn't know which end to hold a hammer. I pray to still be in good health when I do.
Congrats on retiring, the important part is you have something to retire to, just not a job to retire from. Just wait, pretty soon you will be saying "I don't know how I ever had time to work" as you are busy working on house and car projects.
The Jalopy Journal
