Modern Vespa

I believe that's the definition of "Commuter Scooter"

I truly do work to support my scooter habit. It is largely because riding the scooter has led to so many other endeavors.

But my work is good. It is rewarding to have a several prominent local families call regularly to design new houses or add to or improve existing homes.

I work by myself now after having as many as six or seven employees in the early 2000's. But they all left for one reason or another, leaving just me.

But this lets me choose projects carefully and control them better, as I work closely with the clients and draw every line.

One recent project was for a young married couple. The husband's parents became clients of mine in 1990, when the son was just starting elementary school. The family has let me design five major house projects over the years.

It is projects like these that keep me coming to work on my scooter at 7:15 every day, leaving after 6:00.

I do hope to retire in a few years, but am pleased with the work for now.

Bill

I am beyond the accepted retirement age in New Zealand 🇳🇿 but there is no compulsion or even pressure to do so. I was fortunate to study a general interest area as a young guy, being a Technical Engineer in Civil Engineering. I stumbled upon a real interest in concrete and have spent nearly 40 years in the industry. It is an industry I love and really enjoy the people I work with - generally. In recent times I started looking towards cutting down the number of days I turned up, and after about a year of negotiations I was comfortable that I would be working 4 days a week this year. Then a bombshell was dropped by my boss, the offer was no longer on the table. Going to work isn't quite as much fun but my wife and I still have some things we want to do and my decent salary and free company car mean I'm prepared to keep doing the best I can in the meantime. If the bad starts outweighing the good then it will be time to walk and spend more time fettling the scoots.

I work for the insulin. Insulin costs money.

My favorite job was working for the library. The pay was peanuts, there was no healthcare. But every now and then, a couple kids would come by when it wasn't busy and I got to read them a book or three. That wasn't work though. I wasn't paid to sit down and read books to those kids. Though, I did take the money for the hour

My labors are mine. My tiny house is--well, not "done"--dried in and livable. My scooter runs and looks good enough to get praise from strangers. My collection of witty T-Shirts cracks smiles. And if I decide to build another computer, write another story, or go into metal craft, and woodworking, I suppose I won't miss my thumbs too much.

Its been my experience that people work for money. But they labor for love. I do not love my job. But every now and then I get to help someone. And that's pretty damn cool.

Interesting thread. Thanks to those that have shared.

I entered what I termed "interim retirement" nearly 7 years ago shortly after my 50th birthday. I had a blessed career that let me consider retirement. My thinking was "I'll do retirement until I find something I like better". Nearly seven years later, I haven't found anything I'd like better than retirement.

I dabble in a few investments that let me feel I'm involved in the business world, but carry no real responsibilities for me. Hard to imagine reentering the business world again. Only real angst is health care coverage costs - I'm still a long way from Medicare. Not sure how many more 30-40% annual premium increases I can absorb.

Hi Gloria,

So the challenge will be finding a new purpose - one of your choice and not out of necessity. A combination of what you like or love doing and what is important to you.

Perfect description.... put as much time planning your day to day activities in retirement as you did in planning the financial aspects of it. Successful retirement means being busy enough that you have stuff to do, people who depend on you, but you're taking on these responsibilities because it's what you want to do, not because there's a paycheck attached to it.

My dad never really got to retire, by the time he was old enough to think of slowing down, he was already dealing with ALS. But I know his plan was to keep busy with volunteer work that he felt was satisfying. This would include the local Blood Bank, the library, food pantry, the synagogue, plus making time to ride his motorcycle and do odd jobs around the house.

If you put off retirement because you have to pay off the mortgage, want to buy a new car, have an addition to the house that needs to be done.... then you'll never find the time that's "just right" to retire. It's similar to when I was a new Dad years ago... my friends would make excuses that it wasn't the right time to have kids because they traveled for work, or they wanted to buy a new house, or they were up for a promotion, or they wanted to go to night school for a masters degree, or their parents/dog/cat was sick or old.... they would find any excuse not to make a decision, because there was no perfect time to have a kid. Sometimes you just need to jump in feet first, and figure it out as you go.

I tell my daughter that life is an adventure. It's not going to go right all the time, and you're going to make mistakes. But you'll have a big book of stories to tell about it...

My mum died when I was 15 so I knew life was finite and didn't necessarily end well. So I decided very deliberately to live as many lives as I could. I emigrated took jobs and worked them till bored and switched and moved and didn't have kids or buy real estate get alimony or anything.
I even met a permanent wife along the way. Then in our mid 40s we lurched into secure government jobs with pensions and benefits. Now we mark time till pension day.
I have absolutely no fear of retirement aging or death. I have lived fully and I am ready to walk the dog ride the bike take the photographs and return to the family I fled 40 years ago until the grim reaper comes for me. No ATTGATT needed.
Weirdly enough they seem to want me back.
I work for the defined benefit pension. There.

Like many Americans, I too am ready to go live with the family Conchscooter left 40 years ago.

But since I don't speak Italian, I may have to settle for someone else's family, in Spain.

I'm retiring effective June 1 after 22 years working for the union, and a total of 31 years in Railroad Retirement. I had planned to retire last year at that time, but I didn't feel things were settled enough in my job to leave at that time, felt I owed it to everyone to stick around a bit longer. Then, this January, I woke up one morning and realized "I'm 67, I'm done. It's time the younger folks took over and had their own successes and failures. You're not indispensable, you just kept the chair warm from last guy and the next guy will find it warm from you."

I'm looking forward to much more scooting. Photography, traveling, other hobbies yet to be discovered. Looking forward to visiting old friends and comrades located all over the country. Next year, several months in Italy with my wife and a trip to the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix with my son after he graduates from law school.

Work was great and rewarding, I expect retirement will be even better.

I was indispensable once, then got fired. I never made that mistake again. I enjoyed my 20 years in IT; the semiconductor industry pays well, but the last few years were filled with outsourcing and layoffs. Finally, the way a merger was going showed me I was out of a job soon, so i beat them to it and retired.

To help keep the world supplied with beer. Oh, and for the free beer of course!

I don't work.

Let me clarify, I'm a stay at home mom, so I do mom stuff as needed. When not doing mom stuff, I do bike stuff and chill.

You will be welcome to visit...and Spain isn't so far away. I have no desire to work for pay in old age. People who get bored baffle me.

Would love to work but can't. ...... it's nice having time off but not being able to do shit n feeling too ill to be arsed is crappy ....... at least me last work let's me call in whenever for a chit chat

I still work because I want a second home where it is cooler in the summer.

Aye, that puts it all back into perspective.

I take it that selling the first home doesn't kill two birds?

But then it would be cold in the winter. PHX is beautiful in the winter.

Phoenix is fantastic in the winter!

I suppose you see what I meant by to each his own? Every post here has a common thread to some degree yet each varies too. It's a matter of what you can choose to do or not do during ones work life and the same words apply to retirement.
I had a counseling class called Advanced Human Growth & Development-taken in the mid 1970's our seniors even then had begun to live longer and the class was about the variable of later stages of human life.
I will suggest that if you happen to enjoy time spent in activities that require a premium state of athleticism (e.g., mountain climbing) you might want to retire as early as possible.
Also take stock of your life style, food habits, the whole enchilada and decide if the pkg. will get you into a senior life? Watch the Netflix doc. flic "Forks & Knives" to catch part of my drift. HA!
For some of us lots of non-negotiable factors figured into the time into the work force and afterwards. My wife has that common duty of late to be in her senior years while caring for a 93 yr old mother with , you guessed it-Alzheimers. They keep her in her home on her money (knock on wood) my wife drives a 150k RT 4-6 times a month , her brother does a twice that commute but 4 or less days. I have made a solemn promise to all 3 of my kids that I'll come back and haunt them if they don't ship me out in that same situationOur darling KY guv says retired teachers don't need COLA. Our legislators passed what's been called the "sewer bill" but guv vetoed it. Our pension improvement plan was attached to a sewer bill-go figure.
The new and improved tax plan he also vetoed and it made my retirement check taxable for the 1st time.
I have a same aged friend who retired on a union pension with no COLA and his income is now below his cost of living, so his wife works. Never say never on having enough money?

Our son who did 7 yrs @ ASU getting a PHD-he went from Tempe into the mtns on every summer weekend to hike, fish & ride bicycles, where it was possible to remain alive. He said everybody else was inside or in the mtns with him.
Our "only" home is a self-built from scratch log cabin ~ 1/2 mile down a private gravel road in mature woods on acreage, with critters for neighbors. So it's much like many 2nd homes given the structure and the location. I have never had a true mortgage in my life-I did borrow materials money a few times but build whatever I live in with exception of a few rental interludes. We travel with expendable time & money.
Yeh, it's cold again! today...

I quit working Jan 1.
Started traveling and spending more time with my kid.
I am not wealthy by any stretch, but the life of leisure has its perks.
Become money savvy and sell things you dont need.
I do more than just survive. Now I am living the life!

I haven't worked since my employment of 30 years service was terminated by my employer for being off work sick for too long. I received a payoff which I still have.
Unfortunately my mother died a couple of years ago but with my inheritance I paid my mortgage off.
When I reached 50 years old last year I claimed my pension from my job (actuarially reduced as normal retirement age is 60). I am slowly eating into the capital I have but the pension is a reasonable amount.
I don't miss my old job tbh. I may get another job sometime but only part-time as I've become used to having so much free time.

Weirdly, I actually enjoy what I do. I know computers aren't everyone's cup of tea but I find it a bit like doing crosswords for a living. I got into it when I was really young and I'm still doing it now in my mid 50's. Currently I contract as that allows me to work for 6 months and then take time off but I'll be the first to admit the work I get these days isn't as interesting as what I used to do. Hey, ho.

I certainly have enough interests to keep me going through retirement: tennis, chess, backgammon, reading etc though my real thing is writing old style arcade games - if I could make it pay then I'd stop tomorrow. If I could live in the mountains and write arcade games then it would be close to paradise for me. I also head a smallish charity which I really enjoy and it certainly keeps me grounded. I suspect I could retire if I wanted to but I quite like chatting with people at work, and it also gives me an excuse to ride somewhere.

I'm remembering from my childhood the old retired guys who'd sit and whittle around the courthouse and a few other collection spots in the late 40's & early 50's. Some of the buildings in downtown of that KS, one horse town's main drag had those brass bullet shaped things on window ledges to keep them off the sitting spots and the displays open to viewing by window shoppers.
Here in KY they collect in cafe's, country stores and farm supplys.
Too much sitting is not in my plan-other than my web conversations on some nasty days.

I find the summers uncomfortable here in the valley and just need a getaway once in awhile when it really heats up, otherwise I find the Phoenix area very nice, even sometimes a little cool in the colder winter days.
So I will most likely keep the Phoenix valley my home and find a smaller place to escape to when it gets hot; I might even try to ski again if I the new place is near a lift.

I wish I was able to do carpentry but I am no good at that so I'm going to have to buy.

Many years ago as an apprentice working in a large company, we had a foreman who would always be the first in work every morning and would spend the whole day running around like a demented bumble bee.

The old guy that was training me would stand and look at the foreman who was running around making out that he was all important and the company couldn't survive without him, the old guy told me something that I will always remember.

"Look at that prick 50 weeks a year he runs around, then he takes 2 weeks off for holidays,,,and surprise surprise the business is still up and running when he gets back, it didn't shut down and half the staff didn't even know he wasn't here"

So dont take your job as the, be all and end all, of your life, most of us are all just numbers in a very large machine, a machine that takes us in at one end and spits us out at the other, in between try to make the best of it and try to get prepared for a soft landing when it's your turn to be spat out.

I served an 8,000 hour apprenticeship. One of the great values of that learning environment over any other in education is the actual hands on being there aspect. The other in the design of the one I served in was that we changed craftsmen every 6 weeks. Of the 400 skilled tradesmen in our plant (~10% of the total workforce, most blue collar and semi-skilled production workers) there were a few who signed off on having an apprentice at all. We all worked around whoever was on a particular job no matter of app. or not and quickly saw that some were cantankerous, others patient, yet others meticulous, some flat out stupid or dangerous to work with, etc., etc.. The fact that we were able to sample all those work styles was worth gold, not counting that we shared in a realm of experience that varied but each had their "goodies" to share. Given that most all were from the "greatest generation" of WWII vets and most having been trained as aircraft or vehicular mechanics in the war was an added boost. Many at our plant had also previously been apprentices in the Sante Fe Railroad shops in the same town or in car dealerships so they carried forward a broad wealth of job setting experiences.
Learning how how to work can surpass knowing what to do in many ways.
Knowing when to quit and go fishing is also good.

Ah, we may plan on being "active seniors", but sometimes life gets in the way... or smoking 3 packs a day.

Either way, these "old guys" did have a major part of their retirement satisfied. They had a place to go (out of the house), and they had social contact with friends. You cannot say enough about being part of a community.

It's the reason that "independent senior living" places thrive, as do the people who inhabit them. My wife's grandmother is 95, has lived in independent senior living since she turned 80, and she's like the queen of the place. Everywhere she goes, someone greets her, they chat, etc. She has activities she does regularly, from swimming, light weight training, walking (slower than she used to be, but still feisty), shopping, and her home, the puzzle room. And this is a woman who has a 4th grade education, owned her own family business, and cut her own grass until she reached 80.

Just come back from a ride out to the Malta Aquarium and met up with a mate [Malta Mick on here] we sat in the shade [hot today] and drank coffee and talked a load of bollox.
We met up as arranged at 10 o.clock and parted at 12 30. I took the long way home [if you can find a long way home on such a tiny Island] and got in about an hour ago.....time for my afternoon nap....Retirement MMMMMM

My Alzheimers MIL lives in the country and would never have considered a senior living situation, even when she was "lucid". Her job (a postmaster) and church and large family were her social net. Now it's only the caretakers including several children burdened with it all.
Her only contact is with the constant flow of caretakers coming into her home in 24 hr shifts. Theraphy-Medicare says she only needs it so many days in a certain period. If you have enough money and can find someone to perform that service you'll have it daily-maybe in a senior living place for rich folks but not on the middle class dime.
For a period of time she didn't know her own children but of recent her pills got changed and she can name them.
The later stages of retirement are kind of like deciding when to stop riding. Hopefully we all know when to pull the plug but life can make these decisions for us via profound medical events.
In my own case I'm kinda like driving a beater of a car-I roll on in a lively manner, then breakdown, get fixed, then roll some more and I'll roll until it doesn't happen. Once you can't do stuff that's not retirement to me that's more so like just waiting for the end, morbid as it sounds...

Sorry to hear about your MIL.... growing old ain't for the faint of heart.

And you're right, the senior living communities come with a price tag that puts it out of reach for many. Mildred was lucky, she and her husband made some good decisions along the way.

Well I was self employed for quite a while and was happy working, I liked it.

Never could've imagined not going to the lab anymore, talking with folks, just the routine I'd been doing for years. I was willing to go on as long as health allowed.

I actually retired a while back, just kept up a small work load to keep up with the routine. Then some hand and joint issues kicked in, plus at age you really don't want to listen to the BS like you used to have to....then I completely sold out and now live a happy life with no work. Zilch. I love it.

More time for traveling with the wife, that's nice too.

The wind these last few days has made it "cold" for me, if you can call 80 cold! We are riding to the Tempe In-N-Out tonight to hang with some fellow scooterists and me thinks I should wear my winter gear.

This doesn't sound so bad to me. If you can chat away all day and comment on the life all around you then great. Even better if playing a few games of checkers. It's certainly better than watching the TV in a nursing home. Deep down I suspect my father's plan was to die young and he's still living that way now. He's 80 and crashed his motorbike twice this year alone. He's also still working and married to a girl half his age (now with a daughter aged 10). I find it a bit amusing that fate is keeping him around.

Why do you work?= today"s regimen of an old fart in retirement-
> 40 deg F cold early so BS'ed on MV & ADV then to shop & turned three, 13" chisel handles for new carbide wood lathe chisel shafts. Epoxied shafts inside handles and made ferrules, assembled.
>Installed new back rack on TREK bicycle.
>repaired farm tractor, rear lift arm retainer pin chains
>Mixed masonry cement -repaired damaged stone veneer in 4 places on my foundation
>Picked up wife at house & materials and drove Mule UTV to spring box back in the woods on back side of "mtn" and repaired damaged spring outflow pipe
> cleaned up shop mess
>cleaned up self...
Such is a day on retirement-the why is simple enough- it's because I can.
Our escape mechanism is travel & family & shopping trips.

I recently retired after 44 years basically doing the same job 4 year apprenticeship then 7 years as a qualified gas fitter on domestic then transferred to the industrial and commercial side 14 years on that. Then we had an employee buyout we bought the industrial and commercial dept of British Gas did 5 years with that then went self employed, we have travelled a lot the beauty of not having children ( personal choice) then in Feb 2017 my wife's brother died his partner died 3 years before him, so being the only blood relatives we took on his two teenage children, this and also not wanting to resist my accreditation to keep my gas safe again ( every five years) spurred us to maker the decision that I retire to do stuff like the school run and run the house. Only been retired about 1 month. And not stopped yet.

Don't plan to retire and then take up some new hobbies. That way you will end up spending your time down at the pub getting drunk. You need some hobbies that will occupy a good bit of your time BEFORE you retire.