What is retirement?

**sv2007** · 05-16-2016, 04:26 PM

Originally posted by TexasHusker View Post

A lot of talk here about the holy grail - retirement. But what is retirement ?

Is it something for people of a certain age? Does it mean they aren't working any more? If you are retired at say age 40, do you still need to save for retirement? Does your retirement income have to be supplied by the conventional wisdom sources to be considered legit? (IRAs, SS, 401Ks, etc)

Retirement by choice is not to depend to a job as source of income to live.
Of course, there are forced retirement when people get too old to work.
I think these 2 are different.

I actually like my job, but it is still taking time from my family so I quit. I call it a retirement on survey forms (i.e. when people ask I do for a living) since that describes the situation best. I work enough to contribute max into IRAs. I live comfortably within my investment income. In fact, last year was one of our higher tax years (and we are retired).

**97guns** · 05-16-2016, 05:35 PM

for me reirement means not working, not having to punch a clock or answering to a boss, you dont have a schedule and you dont even know what day of the week it is, no worries about money or anything for that matter. i called myself retired when i was laid off at 39 and was able to maintain my income through investment returns, i continued to save for another 6 years but recently came to realization that i dont need to physically save anymore instead savings comes effortlessly to me now through equity appreciation.

**TexasHusker** · 05-16-2016, 06:06 PM

Originally posted by 97guns View Post

for me reirement means not working, not having to punch a clock or answering to a boss, you dont have a schedule and you dont even know what day of the week it is, no worries about money or anything for that matter. i called myself retired when i was laid off at 39 and was able to maintain my income through investment returns, i continued to save for another 6 years but recently came to realization that i dont need to physically save anymore instead savings comes effortlessly to me now through equity appreciation.

That's similar to where I landed. I could keep busting my hump and pinching to save, but reality is other people are doing most of my heavy lifting with their own money.

**disneysteve** · 05-17-2016, 04:10 AM

This question comes up periodically, and it's a good one.

I've learned over the years that different people define retirement differently.

I've always been old-fashioned and felt that retirement meant no longer working, but that's not really true any more. Many people work in retirement but on their own schedule at a job they really enjoy and would probably do even if they weren't getting paid for it.

The key is that being retired means not needing to work, having sufficient passive income to support your lifestyle whether you work or not.

In retirement, I would not be waking up at 6:30 every morning and spending 9-10 hours/day in the office. I could certainly see myself working part time, a couple of days per week, seeing a couple of patients per hour. Our old family doctor worked until he died in his mid-90s. He loved what he did. He couldn't imagine giving it up entirely. It didn't stop him from enjoying life, traveling the world, and more.

**Fishindude77** · 05-17-2016, 04:37 AM

Different things for different people.
I'm there at year end, just going to work a little part time to help the people in the business I've spent much of my life in. Work will be consulting and helping out where they might be short handed, +/- 700 hours per year or something like that. Will probably do this for a couple years, then bail completely.

I'm really looking forward to a lot more free time to pursue my hobbies, spend time at our lake home and the hunting cabin, take on a lot of projects that I previously didn't have time for, see the kids & grand kids more, tinker around and fix stuff, stay up late and sleep in if I want to, etc. Also looking forward to getting away from the day to day people problems and drama, and the financial risk associated with owning a business.

Have my fingers in a couple other smaller businesses that don't take much time or effort, so I will continue with those and possibly give them a bit more attention.

The money has been accumulated, and there are multiple streams of income, so we can pretty much do whatever in the heck we want, assuming good health prevails. My recently retired buddy, says every day is Saturday.

**corn18** · 05-17-2016, 04:41 AM

Originally posted by disneysteve View Post

This question comes up periodically, and it's a good one.

I've learned over the years that different people define retirement differently.

I've always been old-fashioned and felt that retirement meant no longer working, but that's not really true any more. Many people work in retirement but on their own schedule at a job they really enjoy and would probably do even if they weren't getting paid for it.

The key is that being retired means not needing to work, having sufficient passive income to support your lifestyle whether you work or not.

In retirement, I would not be waking up at 6:30 every morning and spending 9-10 hours/day in the office. I could certainly see myself working part time, a couple of days per week, seeing a couple of patients per hour. Our old family doctor worked until he died in his mid-90s. He loved what he did. He couldn't imagine giving it up entirely. It didn't stop him from enjoying life, traveling the world, and more.

^^^^This.

**clatoden99** · 10-26-2016, 12:21 AM

Retirement is a state of mind. I think it means different things to different people: some people call themselves retired, and are still working. To me, retirement happened when I decided I was never going to work again, and adjusted my lifestyle and made a new set of goals that I couldn't accomplish while working.

**Singuy** · 10-26-2016, 06:46 AM

Retirement to me is financial independence. After you have reached financial independence, punching in and out, working overtime, and pinching pennies become a matter of hobbies. You are technically retired..you just chose to live a life as if you are not. Technically my wife and I retired after we paid off our house/student loans and we have a business that can produce 6 figures without working much. But we are still working..and myself still picking up overtime whenever..but we are no longer enslaved by corporations and bosses (as in I could care less about all the drama at work..trying to protect my job or whatever). We are pretty much doing it for the sake of being a productive member of society (and not working at age 33 just feels like a complete waste of our education).

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 10-26-2016, 04:00 PM

Retirement is not having to work. You can still be working but not needing too.

**Outdoorsygal** · 10-26-2016, 06:23 PM

It is a mindset that can involve working but it always accompanies a feeling of finality regarding one's future. I
I'd consider myself retired when I can sustain my livelihood thru working only one 24 hr shift per week. That is perfect.

I worked 115 hrs last week
This week it is 36.5 w/ no relief in site.No one to cover me to take time off.

What is retirement?