Retirement Thread

[Mosbonian]

After the positive responses and congratulations on my Retirement thread, the idea came to me that there should be a thread that helps everyone prepare for the eventuality of retirement.

There were many great ideas, comments and great suggestions that came out of the conversation. What I would like to do is put this here as a repository for information for anyone who is:

• Ready to retire
• Close to retirement
• Beginning to plan for retirement

One of the things I came to find out is that no matter how much I had thought I was prepared for retirement, there were still things I had not pondered or prepared for.

So this thread is for all your questions, comments, advice to help others that are close to retirement.

I mean....this board is about a year and a half away from being around for a quarter of a century, and many of us who have been around are there already.

So, please feel free to contribute!

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

Had to fix something here....I had too many 0's on the Resistance Band Pull Down's.....I only do 30 not 300....my arms would have been jello if I had done 300.

It's bad enough my arms are jello after doing the push ups.

Not to worry, just keep up the good work. Like you, I know that as we age the body has ways of telling you it would rather not, it's a struggle to say the least.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by philfree

That's a lot. I find at 63 going on 64 that life is a constant state of rehab. I've been getting in some workouts and one thing I see on your list is Step Ups. I do those to strengthen my legs and hips and it really helps with the issue I have there. I'll hold a kettlebell in each hand and I add about four inches in height. It really gets my heart rate up.

Keep it up!

What do you do the Step Up/Step Down on? For now they have me on the One Foot Step.....I place the left foot on the Step and step up then back down with the right leg 30 times. When I am done I switch legs and do the same motion.

Next week supposedly I move to the taller step at 20 reps to begin. I will say it has helped with my legs...both the calf muscle and quads....I no longer get muscle cramps at night like I used to.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

Not to worry, just keep up the good work. Like you, I know that as we age the body has ways of telling you it would rather not, it's a struggle to say the least.

For sure.....like this morning my body was telling me to take it easy, but I knew if I did I would get out of my rhythm.

Don't want to lose momentum....but I also know the body needs rest in between so I am doing lighter exercises meant for my cardio today....no strength lifting or something that would wear me out unnecessarily.

[philfree]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

What do you do the Step Up/Step Down on? For now they have me on the One Foot Step.....I place the left foot on the Step and step up then back down with the right leg 30 times. When I am done I switch legs and do the same motion.

Next week supposedly I move to the taller step at 20 reps to begin. I will say it has helped with my legs...both the calf muscle and quads....I no longer get muscle cramps at night like I used to.

I do my step ups where I'm standing closer to perpendicular to the step than parallel. I step up on the step with my left foot at about a 45 degree angle and so it's more of a sidestep. Then as I bring my right foot up to the step I turn my hips a little and my right foot taps at a straighter angle then the left. I tap the right foot then step down with it and then the left follows. The left foot taps the ground and then I do the next rep. Rinse and repeat on the other side. 4 sets of 8 reps and because my issue is more on my left side a do extra reps on that side. It's important to maintain your posture keeping your abbs engaged. I don't rest in between sets I just go back and forth from one side to other until the exercise is completed. Besides the lead foot/leg/hip getting the exercise the following side also gets some work as well especially in the hip area as it pushes up and to the side. Golf related this a great exercise to help with climbing out of the sand trap

[philfree]

I also do some medicine ball slams and that really jacks my heart rate as well.

[RedRaider56]

So I'm 12 days into this retirement thing and I find myself getting a lot of things accomplished around the house. Primarily all having to do with landscaping chores that have been put off the the last 2-3 years.

I find myself sleeping better, calmer demeanor, less stress & worry. (taking stock market fluctuations out of the equation).

The funniest thing about the whole situation is I heard that the person that was hired to replace me, quit after 10 days. Underestimated the amount of work that had to be done AND had enough of my old boss already

That made me laugh....

[threebag]

I’ve been at this since 2016. When I see people from my old job, it’s nice to bullshit. I’ve been offered 5-6 times to come back. The first couple times it was $90/hr. Now, they are offering $100/hr. I’m selfish and don’t really think I want to give up my freedom, time at home and my relationships with my family. I’ve already had enough 12-15 hour days to last me.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by RedRaider56

So I'm 12 days into this retirement thing and I find myself getting a lot of things accomplished around the house. Primarily all having to do with landscaping chores that have been put off the the last 2-3 years.

I find myself sleeping better, calmer demeanor, less stress & worry. (taking stock market fluctuations out of the equation).

The funniest thing about the whole situation is I heard that the person that was hired to replace me, quit after 10 days. Underestimated the amount of work that had to be done AND had enough of my old boss already

That made me laugh....

My problem was that it took them 18 months to find someone who had the breadth of knowledge/experience that I had because I had assumed some additional roles that extended beyond my normal job position.

In the end they took a person who was in Accounting and slid that person into my job.....and they agreed to take the additional duties I had assumed and put them on a different team member.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by threebag

I’ve been at this since 2016. When I see people from my old job, it’s nice to bullshit. I’ve been offered 5-6 times to come back. The first couple times it was $90/hr. Now, they are offering $100/hr. I’m selfish and don’t really think I want to give up my freedom, time at home and my relationships with my family. I’ve already had enough 12-15 hour days to last me.

It's a trap! (LOL)

[RedRaider56]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

My problem was that it took them 18 months to find someone who had the breadth of knowledge/experience that I had because I had assumed some additional roles that extended beyond my normal job position.

In the end they took a person who was in Accounting and slid that person into my job.....and they agreed to take the additional duties I had assumed and put them on a different team member.

Yeah. I had given my notice in December to retire at the end of Jan. They came back and asked me to extend and I did, for another 60 days

A week before my final day, my boss came back and made me an offer to extend another 60 or 90 days. This being after I had told him I had no desire to extend for that long. 30
Days maybe. He and HR never came back with an offer for 30 days and the 60/90 day offer wasn’t worth me losing my sanity.

They basically had 48 hours for me to train/educate my replacement on customers and upcoming contract renewals

The poor kid was destined to failure.

I even asked my boss why they didn’t start serious extension talks earlier. He had no answer
Bottom line they figured I would do, being a nice guy etc

They are paying the price for their lack of long term vision now

[cdcox]

I ran across this comprehensive guide to the financial side of retirement and retirement planning. I'd seen a lot of this info before, but it brings it together in a very digestible format. You'll need about an hour to skim through it.


https://am.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/...irement-us.pdf

[philfree]

Originally Posted by cdcox

I ran across this comprehensive guide to the financial side of retirement and retirement planning. I'd seen a lot of this info before, but it brings it together in a very digestible format. You'll need about an hour to skim through it.


https://am.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/...irement-us.pdf

If I try and read for an hour I fall asleep. I'm retired!

[KC Dan]

Originally Posted by RedRaider56

Yeah. I had given my notice in December to retire at the end of Jan. They came back and asked me to extend and I did, for another 60 days

A week before my final day, my boss came back and made me an offer to extend another 60 or 90 days. This being after I had told him I had no desire to extend for that long. 30
Days maybe. He and HR never came back with an offer for 30 days and the 60/90 day offer wasn’t worth me losing my sanity.

They basically had 48 hours for me to train/educate my replacement on customers and upcoming contract renewals

The poor kid was destined to failure.

I even asked my boss why they didn’t start serious extension talks earlier. He had no answer
Bottom line they figured I would do, being a nice guy etc

They are paying the price for their lack of long term vision now

Haha, they tried the exact same thing with me. I gave them 30 days extra after they offering me 60 extra days pay and 90 days extra health coverage. I only had about 8 hrs to turnover to a new guy. Needless to say that they are suffering mightily now.
All of the senior engineers under my charge have left the company since except two. The also called me and asked me if I had my files that they could obtain after I wiped my computer hard drive. No to that, lol.
We were in the black for 20 years and this past year, they are around 20 million dollars in the red and screwing their employees to clean their books up enough to get loans. They got rid of PTO, reduced 401k match and forced all to use at least two weeks of previously earned vacation and are cashing out the rest. Really sad to see what we built be dismantled. If it weren't for TSMC, they would be in more horrendous trouble than they are now.

[Tundra Scout]

I've been retired for 10 years now. Retired at age 53. With that said I help a farmer buddy of mine with harvest every fall and still coach the great game of hockey for the last 35 years. Just started doing Meals on Wheels this year. Talk about a rewarding thing to do. I'm the only human some of these folks see all day so I make sure if they want to talk for awhile I stick around and listen. Anyhoo life is good

[Mosbonian]

Well gang ....I think I hit the brick wall today....

I was really having to push myself to get all my workout in today....it was really kicking my but today.

I felt like I was struggling to make it thru....we didn’t change the workout time for each exercise nor did we change the metrics....my BP stayed pretty normal as did my heart rate and oxygen content....but I could tell I was not myself today.

The therapist said that it was normal and will happen from time to time. He said muscle fatigue is common so as long as I am not struggling for breath or having chest pains I shoul be OK.

Have any of you ever had the same experience when doing rehab?