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View Full Version : That's it, I'm retired



Leigh Betsch
06-30-2016, 9:27 PM
Retired today. Decided to get out at 58 before the stress takes anymore out of me.

Keith Outten
06-30-2016, 9:45 PM
Leigh,

Welcome to the ranks of the recently retired. I can attest to the long term negative affects of stress, it can reduce your lifespan considerably. I hope that your new status in life is as good to you as it has been to me.
.

David Linnabary
06-30-2016, 9:46 PM
Congrats! Right behind ya come Sept. (57) As the date approaches, I seems I must visitthe shop before heading out to work in the morning wishing I didn't have to leave. :)

David

Leigh Betsch
06-30-2016, 9:53 PM
My first project is to get a shop built. All my tools have been mothballed when I moved to MN to finish my career. Now that the career is done we'll sell the house we bought in MN and move back to SD and get a shop built at our retirement lake home. So I'll be hanging out in the workshop forum for a while. Gonna be great!

Ken Fitzgerald
06-30-2016, 10:11 PM
Congratulations Leigh! Here's wishing you the best!

Von Bickley
06-30-2016, 10:39 PM
Retirement = Best job I ever had..... Finally found something I was good at.

John K Jordan
06-30-2016, 11:10 PM
Congrats to you! I retired at 56 about 10 years ago and while I had the most amazing job in the world (and loved it) I like the retirement work more! Busier than ever with farm and kids and teaching and shop but it keeps the energy level up.

JKJ

Mike Henderson
06-30-2016, 11:55 PM
Congratulations. I hope it proves to be a good decision for you.

Mike

Bruce Page
07-01-2016, 12:06 AM
Congrats!! It's been 5-1/2 years for me and I'm loving every minute of it. I retired from a great job but I couldn't imagine going back and doing it again. It gives me the willies just thinking about it!

Frederick Skelly
07-01-2016, 6:41 AM
Congratulations Leigh!

Wayne Lomman
07-01-2016, 7:22 AM
Half your luck, Leigh. Not long ago, our government raised the mandatory retirement age to 67... Cheers

Lee Schierer
07-01-2016, 7:44 AM
More time for pheasant hunting and time on your bike. Congratulations on your retirement. It sure beats working.

Dennis Peacock
07-01-2016, 8:17 AM
Congrats on your retirement!!!!! I'll be there one day. I hope.

Joe Bradshaw
07-01-2016, 8:24 AM
Congrats Leigh. I'm going on 8 1/2 years now. But, retirement isn't everything its talked up to be. It's even better. Enjoy.
Joe

Al Launier
07-01-2016, 8:56 AM
Way to go! I retired at 55 & after 18 years haven't looked back. Retirement is a great stage of life. Find interesting things to occupy yourself with & you'll discover how fufilling life can be.

Barry McFadden
07-01-2016, 9:51 AM
I retired 3 years ago after 42 years with the same company and love every minute of it!...recently I was asked if I would work a day or 2 a week contracting for them...said yes... still have plenty of time for myself and why not get a pension and a paycheck???

glenn bradley
07-01-2016, 10:13 AM
Its official, I hate you :D. Seriously though, congratulations; my envy knows no bounds.

Malcolm McLeod
07-01-2016, 10:20 AM
Its official, I hate you :D. ...

Me too. Nothing like twisting the knife once it's in. I hope you.... ahhh, dang it! I'll have to finish this later, I'm late for work.

Bill McNiel
07-01-2016, 12:06 PM
Leigh,
The absolute best thing about retirement is......SUNDAY NIGHT!!!!

Ever since we were in Middle School and they started giving us weekend homework assignments Sunday nights became stressful (Do I try and do/fake it now? What illness can I fake that will get me out of going in tomorrow but still allow me to have fun? excuses- My dog ate my homework, etc). It just got worse as the years rolled along. After graduation most Sunday nights brought on thoughts about the upcoming work week (What went wrong over the weekend?, Did Friday's issues go away? What will the world throw at me this week? OMG- five more days until my life is mine again? Why didn't I do all those chores over the weekend that I planned on?, etc.)

After retirement you may find that you don't actually know what day of the week it is. Pure joy.

Congrats - Bill

Chris Damm
07-01-2016, 12:20 PM
Congrats! I got retired at 52 and have been thanking them every day since (15 years now). I still haven't figured how I ever had time for a job!

Chris Padilla
07-01-2016, 12:24 PM
I think that is great that some of you have set yourselves up nicely to be able to retire perhaps a bit sooner than most folks. Our house will be paid off when we are in our late 50s just in time where we can start pulling from our 401(k)s if necessary although I know there are ways to pull from 401(k) at 55 penalty free. So perhaps in 11-13 years, my wife and I might be retiring although it wouldn't shock me if my wife wanted to keep working as she loves it. Me...I'd rather be in the shop goofing off trying to build something. :)

Leigh Betsch
07-01-2016, 6:51 PM
Thanks for the encouragement fellas. It is a little scary thinking I just quit a high paying job which I'll never get back. But then again it feels GREAT!!

Raymond Fries
07-01-2016, 7:38 PM
Congrats.

I got out three years ago. Retirement is AWESOME!

Enjoy and never look back.

Jim Becker
07-01-2016, 8:43 PM
Congrats! I sure hope I can do that someday. LOL :)

Jason Roehl
07-02-2016, 7:36 AM
Congrats, Leigh!

I jumped off the self-employment ship a year ago (from Wednesday) after over 19 years, and started a second career. Now I might be able to retire in 25 years--if that pension fund is still around then...

Jim Koepke
07-02-2016, 1:42 PM
Retired today. Decided to get out at 58 before the stress takes anymore out of me.

That was also my decision. No one was going to give me any more years to live if I waited until 65. Someone told me of a statistic saying those who retire early tend to live longer. Must have something to do with having more reason to live than going to work everyday.

jtk

Brian Tymchak
07-02-2016, 2:51 PM
Retired today. Decided to get out at 58 before the stress takes anymore out of me.

Congrats Leigh!

I have the same motivation and you've inspired me to check into my own situation more closely.

Leigh Betsch
07-02-2016, 4:08 PM
went for a ride on my motorbike. Just couldn't stop grinning. Got all the time in the world for stuff like that now.

Bruce Page
07-02-2016, 4:33 PM
I bought myself a nice little CNC router as a retirement gift to myself that still makes me grin every time I use it.
It took a little while for me to get past not having that nice paycheck every 2 weeks but if you have your ducks in a row you'll adjust to it quickly.

Myk Rian
07-02-2016, 10:02 PM
I retired at 55. Best 12 years I've ever had since that day. I love it.

mark kosse
07-04-2016, 6:48 PM
Congratulations, it'll be great!

Most every morning I pour a thermos of coffee and head out the door for the 225' walk to the shop where I do what the heck I want to. I'm not retired and don't know if I ever will be but teaching allows me the ability to do a lot of that.

hoping your retirement allows you that freedom.

John Conklin
07-04-2016, 10:17 PM
Congrats! I did the same thing back in February at 55. I love it and am amazed when people ask me if I can find enough to keep myself busy... I'd have to live another 100 years to accomplish everything that I'd like to.

The thing that amazes me is that I've only filled my truck with gas twice since retiring, versus once a week while working.

Leigh Betsch
07-05-2016, 10:25 AM
The thing that amazes me is that I've only filled my truck with gas twice since retiring, versus once a week while working.
I hope to put less miles on my pickup too, but living at the lake in SD everything seems to be 50 miles away.

Jim Tobias
07-05-2016, 3:48 PM
Congratulations!! It's good immediately and only gets better
!

Jim

Chuck Wintle
07-05-2016, 3:54 PM
Retired today. Decided to get out at 58 before the stress takes anymore out of me.

you're lucky to get out....plenty of time now to do other activities. I hope to travel a lot more than i have done up to now.