I saw a documentary recently that said time literally moves 2.4 times faster at age 60 than at age 20. It seems to be true in my case. I am grateful that we (wife, kids and I) got out Mormonism more than 27 years ago. The monies that previously went into tithing and other corporate ventures went to retirement instead. I shudder to think that I would of had to work perhaps 2 to 3 more years to afford retirement because I had continued to send money to SLC.

No senior mission. I would not of gone anyways as a TBM as my Finland mission experience in the 1970's scarred me.
No temple mission or temple work.
No more useless meetings.
Time to think, read and do as we please.
Time for my musical endeavors.
Time to travel again (hopefully after the virus subsides)
Time for DW to volunteer 3 days a week at the elementary school (again after the virus clears)
Money to worthy causes like the local food bank.
etc.

Please take care of yourselves and your family first. The Mormon corporation, which has over 100 billion dollars in its slush fund, does not need you. I know I am preaching to the choir here, but there may be a few sitting on the fence who look down the road and wonder how will they retire? The church will not help nor take care of you. It does not care. I hope others can be as fortunate as my family has been. Life is not perfect. It is certainly much better outside of the cult.

Has it really been five years? I'm glad that you are enjoying your retirement, and that you got out of the church early enough to build up your savings.

I can tell you as a teacher that your wife's volunteer efforts (when safe) are very much appreciated. I would tell her to hold off until we are largely clear of Covid. A lot of teachers don't trust the new 3-ft. spacing guidance from the CDC. My school system does weekly testing of both staff and students, and I think we've had something like 36 Covid-positive results (for both adults and kids) in the past two weeks. We are following safety protocols (masks, social distancing, desk shields, etc.) but IMO it's best not to take the chance if you don't have to.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2021 10:40AM by summer.

Congratulations on your 5 years!

Hubby and I have been retired for 4 years and so glad that we did.

My husbands former co-workers, who have reached retirement age, keep putting it off with the excuse that they don't have enough money to retire. He told them that no one will ever have enough money and it's better to retire now and enjoy life than to die sitting at your work computer being hassled and stressed by bosses and co-workers. I wouldn't mind working for Done & Done though; he sounds like a wonderful boss!

Your absolutely right; the church doesn't care about you, and neither does the workplace.

When we were active in church, we thought about going on a senior couple's mission; so glad we didn't do that!

We have time now for the nice things in life; animal and bird watching, travel, light home projects, and best of all, family.

neener neener neener
I beat you by 23years and I am still around to be a burden on my children

Congrats Eric! Maybe one day, I too!

I think it really depends on your job. I think Hubby will work as long as he can work from home. He feels needed and productive and from what I pick up he is correct. He has spent 45 years traveling and I hate it. He refuses to get a hobby. His hobby is his job.

We are all different. If I did not have my music I would likely of worked longer to fill the time. I did a little consulting 2 years ago from a former client to train younger engineers. It was an ego boost. I know not everyone can retire comfortably. Much of life is luck.

My boss, who I have worked with in medical transcription for over 30 years, decided to get out of the business. I went to Sam's Club and that was hell. So when I was able at 62, I went on SS.

Somehow, some way I ended up okay financially after all the bad years of being a single mom with very little help from their father and, NOW, so that I won't divorce him and take half and we can keep the house and live here together, I have no bills but my own. He pays all the household bills. He has a pension, but he won't retire for one more year at 65 as we need his insurance.

I actually have been able to go back to transcription as one of my old jobs has a big account with few people. I'm right now working MORE than I really want, but I like this job A LOT--medical transcription. My money I earn is more for doing things for my kids that I wasn't able to do for YEARS. I'll probably be traveling coming up in the years after this as my boyfriend will be spending part of his time in Canada and part in Colorado with his kids, and I'll go and stay part of the time. He plans on keeping his house here and coming here half the year. He has a house on a bench that has views of the whole valley with mountains on 3 sides. He doesn't want to give it up. He is 68.

So I'm basically retired. I'm my own boss. I just enjoy my dogs. Worry about my kids. It is so much more pleasant than those single mother years.

Congrats! Wishing you well throughout.

BcE

Congratulations to Eric and everyone!

Being reasonable and frugal really pays off. For me, it is a challenge that I believe in. Yes, cl2, my divorced single mother years were rough, too. Maybe we appreciate life now even more, because of what we went through.

My kids and I have never felt "deprived", though. We could ski, travel to California to see family and friends, go to the University of Utah, and, as adults, my children have good jobs, marriage, children, houses, and have traveled all over the world. (I traveled when I was 16-29 years old.). I was no longer being abused.

There's nothing that I feel I need to do, when I "retire", except enjoy life, the way it is now. I plan to always work, a bit, as I gradually delegate more and more work responsibility away from myself. Travel might be a thing of the past, for me, like going to movies and concerts. Big crowds have always made me uncomfortable. Ha-ha, a mission would be my worst nightmare--a single Mormon woman usually is assigned tedious "work-mission" tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, grunt-work, and, if she's very lucky, secretarial stuff that the missionaries don't want to do. Being locked away from my family and friends, the lack of freedom, and being told what to do would depress me.

I donate to various causes, wherever my heart leads me, and I consider giving to be a special privilege that I earned by leaving church. Giving to others makes me happy, now that I'm not being coerced into giving more that I ever could afford, and giving blindly. There are lots of ways to help, without having to mix with people, in person.

LOL--maybe quarantine is easier for us introverts. Retirement is easier for introverts, too, probably.