Why Retirement Can Be Over Rated:(

So you reach financial freedom.... great stuff..... what next....

The good news is you are no longer are a slave to the alarm clock, that's nice The bad news is your sleeping patterns can change and you always bugged out... damn it.

Travel whenever you want..... not limited to a short holiday of weeks, bad news.... only if the budget permits, your options may be limited to travelling off peak, crap weather and your budget may limit where you travel.

What do you do all day????Doing nothing all day wears off very quickly. What if you retired young and your friends are all still working. Damn

Also money can disappear faster than you think?

My conclusion from all this financial freedom stuff/retirement is its great to buy time but......if you don't have purpose in life its not much of a retirement.

If you don't have the funds to provide a sufficient lifestyle then perhaps its too early to retire. Perhaps look at options/trade off where you can cut your working hours and balance it out between work and retirement.

MTR

 

@MTR did you retire at some stage?

I think you are right though, retirement phase should be planned to suit your expectations as much as possible. I think it’s something we tend not to think about unless we are forced to. Just my opinion though.

Kassy

 

at 47, but I really never retired as I continued to move on and learn new skills, started with buying and holding property, then diversifying across Australia, then USA markets and finally a developer and starting a business..... never stop learning I guess

 

This is probably where other goals could be very useful. I recently set a personal goal. It requires a little bit of money, but mostly just time and dedication. What financial freedom really does for you is gives you more time. It's up to you what you want to do with it.

 

Yes, and that is the point of this thread.

You have all this time but if you don't set goals or find purpose then what do you really have. Watching TV all day long will wear thin and wont be great for the old beltline.

 

To me retirement is a state of mind... To me what it means is I dont have to work for Money, or Bosses. Freedom of choice is important: I can choose who when how I want to work with, no longer a Slave or Yes Woman. I still want to be useful and be able to share my knowledge and experience, to those who are willing to ask questions.

I have seen many people who retired only to find themselves in the babysitting routine, of the grandkids. Dont get me wrong, they are cute. But 3-5 times a week? Also, too much travelling can become a chore too.

Routine is what I like, and work does give me that.

happy New Year all.

 

All I need to achieve my goal is to stay healthy and have about 4 hours a day, 6 days a week for the next 4 years. A bit of luck wouldn't go astray either. Unfortunately time is my most scarce resource.

@Pumpkin my parents are part time babysitters since they retired. They do have a spectacular rose garden as well.

 

How long does it take to wear off? I’m on one month break to sort out the new house and really enjoy the doing nothing part so far, and going to the beach every several days

Financially free means you can choose what to do with your days, soncan do nothing or can do something

 

I think the key is to not do this. If someone is going to do nothing all day, they may as well stay at work. People need to have goals and hobbies outside of work, or they'll have pretty dull lives i think.

 

Had a colleague who returned back from retirement. He doesn't have to work because he is financially free and receives two pensions, but he is extremely sharp for a man in his 60s.

 

Some good points raised thus far. This interests me as I am currently in the wind down phase from initially 6 days per week in a partnership business to 3 days from April this year. Currently doing 4 days.
I feel it is imperative to have structure built in to your down time. As said, becoming idle will wear thin pretty quickly. Just as in investing, goals need to be set so that the mind and body remain active. Scaling down work commitments is working well for me as it has given me time to focus on other interests I have, and to prioritise them. I feel that if I just completely stopped working 1 day and rolled over into retirement I may have been a little overwhelmed by all that free time. The gradual wind down is proving beneficial.
To add, an extremely practical financial plan needs to be in place to make the transition satisfying.

Cheers.

 

So give your life greater purpose. Easy.
Start getting passionate about growing roses, vegetables etc or go fishing or travelling.
Also plenty of charity work you can get involved in. Meals on Wheels need drivers, charity shops need sales assistants. RSPCA wouldn’t mind if you rocked up occasionally and took some of the homeless dogs for a walk. Just commit to the level that suits you.
I’ve started helping out at the Bunnings sausage sizzle fundraisers for Qld Cancer Fund. Very humbling meeting some of the great people that help run these types of organisations, and they certainly appreciate the help.
So I think there will be plenty to do if I can just assemble enough funds to stop working lol.

 

This is a post about an observation what I see can happen and how important it is to plan and have purpose.

My life is busy. ie PC, investing, travelling, foster dogs, dogs and dogs, started a company in USA, watching Suits, spending time with my daughter in Melb.

At the same time its also easy to do nothing, its choice.

MTR

 

I have several friends who would love to retire but simply can't afford to. Planning is the key I believe.

 

I love Suits!

Purpose, I think, is the main thing. Lots of people plan to retire but don't plan beyond that. Retiring is more than just financial goals, it's about personal goals and what you want to achieve out of retirement.

Semi retirement suits me. Gives me enough time to not be a wage slave and do what I want, when I want but still earning money through my own ventures and clients to keep my brain occupied.

 

I’m currently working part time and toddler wrangling. I love the toddler wrangling but am still reliant on the first to enable the second. I couldn’t see me not working at all but would eventually like to replace the part time work. DH and I are working on our planning.

@MTR would love to retire by 47, DS will still be a little man. We’ll keep working, planning and see what pops up.

 

I'm retired for the rest of this week (Christmas holidays) kids are in the next room killing each other and my wife has the $hits with me. Retirement is overrated, I will go back to work tomorrow!

 

I absolutely love retirement, after 42 years of working. We start our day at a cafe, a reason to get up in the morning. Sometimes we do exercise class, sometimes we go swimming, sometimes we go walking, sometimes we do nothing. Errm, I like doing nothing the best. I liked working because I liked routine. Now I’m retired I still like to have a bit of routine in my day.

 

Love this

 

just keep working it, something will eventually stick....