Boudicca

Five years after qualifying to join this forum, I'm opening my parachute from work next week after a staggering 26 years. No job to go to, and I'm far from convinced that I want a full-time job to go to, although a couple of days a week would be rather nice, to stop me getting bored.

But I've got an awful lot of biking dreams, from New Zealand to the Rockies to GAP/C+O, to the new Paris-London trek. And after a cancer scare a few years back, I want to enjoy myself while I'm fit enough to do so. The buyout package definitely helped.

It's such a shame that an era when you have so much time on your hands coincides with an era where you don't have the regular pay check coming in to fund those plans.

It's also a shame that Freedom55 comes in December, when the weather is bad and getting worse, and not in March, when I can look forward to improvements. But such is life.

Any not-too-expensive tips to see me through the winter? (Please don't tell me to ride my bike -- I'm too much of a wimp for that.)

DnvrFox

Swimming, hiking, join a singing group, full-body dtrengthening, learn a new skill (skiing, ice skating, whatever).

Good luck and have fun.

NVanHiker

'Staggering' 26 years? 45 and counting, here. You must have had a government job!

Ursa Minor

Good Luck Boudicca. I took me 4 years or so to learn how to handle retirement in a healthy fashion.
Now I love it especially the biking and the freedom to just ride whenever I want to.

Charlie

Boudicca

I am refusing to call it retirement, Charlie. I'm too young to retire.

But then if I'm not looking for another job, what else can I call it?

And I find 26 years pretty staggering. More than a quarter of a century.

rydabent

After 47 years with the same company, and being 70 I retired. And yes retirement is freedom. I describe it as the freedom that a 17 year old has on summer vacation between his junior and senior year.

Besides the freedom to do what you want any time you want there is other benefits. When I was working as a maintence engineer, I got into a lot of company and government offices. I was limited to what I could say and do. Now I am able to voice my opinion on local state and national politics as I see fit. I volunteer at church and a few local groups that rebuild bikes for kids. Yes---you are truly free if you have some money saved, and a fair income like I do from SS and company retirement. Unfortunately that is getting to be the case less and less.

BluesDawg

Ride your bike.

Barrettscv 

Why not spend a few years improving your fitness and seeing the world. Then search for a job, if that's still important. Many people start second careers at this stage of life.

Boudicca

That's sort of the plan. Sadly the spouse is not yet in see-the-world mode, but I have no problem with travelling alone.

Barrettscv 

I would identify and reduce any health risks now that you have time to focus fully on fitness and diet. This can best be done at home. Your wife and you can share an interest in healthy cooking. You might also get her involved in a fitness routine that you both can share.

Then a few times a year, pack up the bike and do some touring. Travel south to the Katy Trail in April or some other destination with mild weather. During the summer your touring destinations will have fewer weather restrictions.

A few years ago, I traveled globally on business. I would travel for as many as 20 days at a time. The wife adjusted to it more easily than I would have expected.

Boudicca

Um...

I'm the wife in this particular relationship. Jus' sayin, coz you peoples always assume that fellow posters are of the male persuasion, which is not always the case.

Dudelsack 

If you want to do crazy stuff on a bike, visit Crazy Guy on a Bike. There's nothing so weird that someone hasn't given it a go. They also break it down by cost so you know what to expect.

If I were retired that's what I'd do.

Barrettscv 

Yes, I should have said "spouse".

Clawed

With a name like Boudicca you could only be a woman, and a powerful one at that. A little tough on your daughters though.

David Bierbaum

Good fortune in realizing your bicycling dreams... though I'm not too sure about bicycling from New Zealand to the Rocky Mountains...

Boudicca

I have a really special bike. It will handle the long ride over the Pacific very well.

(Yes, poor phrasing on my part. Many apologies.)

overthehillmedi

You'll find that one of you greatest pleasures about being retired is being able to roll over and go back to sleep when hubby goes out the door on his way to work. Enjoy the everyday is Saturday gig.

mapeiboy

Good for you on your retirement . I worked 30 years at the same place and retired at 55 also . I could've work for another 5 years and get full pension . Life is too short to wait another 5 years to retire .

Brodie01

Everyone I know retired and myself included says "I have so much to do now that I am retired, I don't know how I had time to go to work".

10 Wheels

True

JerrySTL

We have a group around St. Louis of retirees who ride 3 or 4 times a week on week days when the weather is good. I'm looking forward to joining them more often in about 6 years.

However just yesterday I submitted my retirement paperwork for a part time job that I had for 16 years. I taught night classes at a local college. It cut into my riding time, but I could afford nice bikes from the paycheck. I'll get about $200 a month when I turn 60 in June. I already get a military retirement check.

My wife gets to fully retire first in a couple of years. She's a nurse and has to do things like lift 400 lb patients while I just sit behind computer screens all day long.

macjager

I have no interest in retiring in the "old" sense of the word, most people who did that where on a cold slab not that much long after the "big date". On the other hand, maybe I can emulate my dogs...eat, sleep, play, walk, sleep, eat...you get the picture...

gcottay

Do not spend money but rather time, attention and creativity. Every day do what you want to do. If you aren't sure what you want to do try something that might qualify. When in doubt, opt for activities that put you in contact with people you do not know. If still in doubt, try something entirely foreign to your experience. By the time March arrives you can easily have had a hundred new experiences.

nkfrench 

There is always a place where your efforts as a volunteer would be greatly appreciated.

I've told myself that I will become more involved with some non-profit organizations I currently volunteer for when I am no longer encumbered by full-time employment. We'll see -- there is also something to be said for not being tied down.

Brodie01

I have been following retirees for years and it became really obvious that most retirees lived on average 20 years after their retirement date. That made me decide to retire at my first opportunity and hopefully enjoy as many retirement years as possible. I figured the longer I worked the more I worked into that twenty years of retirement.
With that said, I did stumble into a job, I build Motobuggys, which is part time that I schedule as I choose. It almost doesn't feel like a real job. The work is on my terms and it's fun.