DH and I were chit chatting in the car, seems like we always talk in the car. Probably because the kids are strapped in and can't distract us as much as in the house fighting. Maybe because we're trapped in two seats and not focused on our cell phones, cleaning, work, dealing with kids, cooking.
Anyway I asked him in 5 years at 45 or so would he retire if he could? I was running numbers and it's highly possible if not sooner. We could potentially do it now if we were willing to cut our lifestyle. But seriously 45 is not improbable.
His answer? "And do what? Why would I want to?" I said "follow your zen". His answer "I'm following my zen now. I spent a year finding my zen, moving with you, and finding my dream job. I don't need zen. I really like what I do. If I stop liking it I'll tell you again and we'll talk. Until then I'll work and be content."
I sat there stunned. Here i am on a savingadvice forum/blog, I read early retirement forums and blogs, and I'm not married to a spendthrift. I married a guy who wants to work.
He further goes on to say "LAL your dad is still working at 86! My dad is still consulting at 66. I am not sitting here at 45 doing nothing." I said "do something you like." DH "I am doing something I love. Who else plays video games pretty much all day everyday? Who gets to be a gamer and paid for it? If I had told 10 year old Mr LAL your job will be video games I'd have died laughing and kissed the ground." LAL says "okay when it stops being fun, quit." DH "okay deal."
So back to the drawing board. Seriously I don't know when or how I'll be dragging him away from work. We're about to embark tomorrow on a 3 week vacation, I'll try to post pictures but I won't have a computer just my phone so we'll see. First trip for DH in a year and he's not even sweating it. I'm dragging him away since he hates traveling. He'd rather stay at home and do nothing. Hence retirement is not his cup of tea in that sense. He doesn't want to travel and see the world.
Have you actually planned your retirement? And thought about what you would do?
What will you do?
August 9th, 2017 at 12:58 am
August 9th, 2017 at 01:13 am 1502237617
August 9th, 2017 at 02:09 am 1502240997
The only thing that would cause me to stop 100% and relax would be a disability that was too debilitating for work. At least that's how I feel right now, but maybe as I get older I'll start considering R&R as the ideal.
Traveling, for sure, if I can afford it! But not traveling all the time or anything.
August 9th, 2017 at 02:59 am 1502243994
August 9th, 2017 at 12:37 pm 1502278667
In some respects I lived my "retirement" early, by being a stay at home mom. I homeschooled Daisy and did volunteer work. Now that she has graduated I am doing some different volunteer work and looking at workforce reentry. For a lot of reasons I figure I that once I am back in the workforce I will be there until ill health forces me out.
August 9th, 2017 at 01:06 pm 1502280376
August 9th, 2017 at 03:46 pm 1502289987
I'd love to have a 3rd go round with a RV, travelling on secondary highways, meeting others with different backgrounds, different life experiences and different viewpoints. The various regions of this country and yours are so totally different it's amazing the 'union' holds together.
August 9th, 2017 at 04:21 pm 1502292061
August 9th, 2017 at 06:17 pm 1502299056
For folks who live to work, I can understand why retiring doesn't appeal to them.
I would do more volunteer work.
I would travel more for sure.
I would have time to take care of house stuff that gets neglected now.
Since transitioning my job from office-based family practice to urgent care, my image of retirement has evolved. I used to think I would want to just cut ties and leave practice entirely when the time came. Now, I can easily see myself continuing to do urgent care on a part time or per diem basis for a lot longer than I used to think. That would certainly have a financial advantage since it would make our nest egg last a lot longer if I worked a bit and brought in 50-100K/year working 10-20 hours/week.
August 9th, 2017 at 09:58 pm 1502312305
August 11th, 2017 at 12:07 am 1502406453
Northern Ireland and the former East Germany are on my bucket list, to visit my grandparents' ancestral hometowns.
But if your husband doesn't want to retire early, does that bother you? I guess it could be an issue if you were thinking lots of travel together, but otherwise, you would still be free to do your own thing with money coming in. To me, that's a good thing.
August 12th, 2017 at 08:44 pm 1502567053