Retirement

I have worked 37+ years with a major oil company and 14 of those years have been working and living outside the US. It's been an incredible experience, both for me and my family. However, retirement is getting near. Fortunately, engineering is a profession where numerous consulting positions exists and I will likely do that part time for a while. Sort of a transition into full retirement.
 
I had a client who sold his oilfield services company some time around his mid 40's and retired with plenty of money to last until he no longer needed any. When I met him he had started another company and was once again making a killing. I asked him why he quit retirement to work again. He said; "Retirement in your 40's sounds great. Then you realize all of your friends are still working and you can only golf and fish alone so much".

I told him I would be glad to test his theory when I reach that age.
 
Retired at 52 don’t miss putting up with idiots I had to deal with at all. Stay active and enjoy what you do. I just went to Moab for the first time and in 7 days hiked 84 KMs
 
Keep working everyone! Pay into SS! What I get from SS pays for my hunting trips:ROFLMAO::LOL::D!
10 days before I turned 52, I decided I’d had enough. Been saving and investing since I was 12. My blood pressure was 156/98. Two months after retiring and a 10,000 mile drive to and around Alaska, my blood pressure was 124/76. Today almost 20 years later it’s 118/72.
Work can kill you! JMO&E
Best of luck in your decision! As long as you’re happy.
 
I retired in December of 2003 at age 60 from The Ford Motor Co. Several days later I was working as a Consulting Engineer which I did for the next five years. In 2008 when the Construction Industry flop I decided I could live on what I had so I retired again. Then in 2012 I talked to some old but still working friends and they asked me to think about going back to work. Several months later I was back on the job again. Two years later the project I was working on was completed and I retired for the third time at 72. I was fortunate to really love my job and like they say "I never felt like I had to work a day in my life." The following year I went to Africa for the first time. Two years later I went on my second safari. Next year I hope to hunt Red Stag in Argentina. I know I'll have to hang it up sometime, but I'm not in any hurry.
 
He said; "Retirement in your 40's sounds great. Then you realize all of your friends are still working and you can only golf and fish alone so much".
This has been my problem so far-- only I dont play golf anymore so that ones out-- it gets frustrating calling guys up to go fish and they cant because of work -- so you end up not doing anything or going by yourself all the time. At the ranch its the same-- I try and practice my shooting/get in better shape by walking with sticks and shooting pigs, rocks-- I am going to build some gongs I can shoot at on the walks I think when I go back later this week. I am also going to look into some volunteering and I have a couple of business ideas still to run down.
My problem is that I wasnt planning on selling out-- in the span of 3 months it just happened, so I never got to prepare as it were to retire.
You always run around with 'the number" in your head (or I did) If I was to sell out and get this... I'd be gone-- well it happened. I was elated for a month, then met with a profound sense of depression and loss -- like the death of a family member-- hard to describe if I am honest-- but a constant companion and responsibility was gone. I had nurtured and cared for and worried about and planned for 12 years from infancy to sale. I was always thinking about my business, working on it/in it talking to customers, employees and it in the span of 3 months it was gone. People are slapping you on the back telling you they envy you-- but in all honesty you dont know what its like till it happens to you or I didn't until it was me. I am not sour graping here, but I would say I lived a little of the be careful what you wish for. I am for the most part over it and slowly matriculating back into the slacker lifestyle, but it has been a bumpy ride for me. If I hadn't had my ranch, to pour my energy into--I am not sure what I would have done.
I am a poor writer at best and maybe this is sort of cathartic for me to confess this ina forum where I dont know anyone-- I dont know-- but it helps to talk about it. And its helped to read the stories on here and set some goals to realize some s=dreams I have always had and now have the time to pursue.
Mostly I am marking time till my wife retires and trying to get into shape and become a better shot. I have a few trips on the slate -- fishing the FADS in Costa Rica, a buddy is taking his boat to Bermuda for the Tourney season and I may go fish one of the Tournaments with them as well as Chub Cay after the season. I will start hunting the axis on my place (free range) starting this week and I have some buddies I have promised a few big bucks too so locating them and getting that stuff set up should =take me through the summer-- after that.. I honestly dont know.
I figure I just need to look at retirement as my new job-- opportunities dont just happen you work hard to get lucky-- so I have decided that I am going to work hard to get lucky with fun stuff to do if that makes sense.
This has been a great thread -- thanks to all that have posted-- Carpe Diem!
 
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Friendswoodmatt, do you reload? If not, maybe you should try it. There are a couple of serious reloaders in your area that are members of AH. I'd bet they'd be willing to help you get started.
 
I do not-- In fact my dad was a huge reloader -- after he passed I had tons of his old stuff -- I gave it to a reloader I know -- it was 2 full pick up loads of rock chuckers, dies for anything under the sun, scales, trimmers-- Shotgun shell reloaders-- tumblers, brass, bullets and other stuff. I have just never had the patience to do it and I get sloppy or distracted -- my father drummed into me this is NEVER an option when reloading or piloting a plane -- consequently I dont do either.
 
No retirement here at all, Will work till they bury me.
I could not wake up someday and not do what I do......
60 years old and working 70-80 hours a week, Less than I used to 100 hours before the 2 heart attacks. Slowed me down to just a little.
Enjoy your retirement, I'd be back full-time at work in less than 30 days if I did it.
 
I'm just about 64, but can't afford to retire. I'm planning at least one more trip to Africa, and maybe a mid Asian ibex.... after that I'll probably be divorced and will have to work till I can't.
 
I figure I just need to look at retirement as my new job-- opportunities dont just happen you work hard to get lucky-- so I have decided that I am going to work hard to get lucky with fun stuff to do if that makes sense.
This has been a great thread -- thanks to all that have posted-- Carpe Diem!

Sounds like you need a hunting wife. No, not a wife that hunts, but a good hunting buddy who you can plan a annual trip or two with. I am fortunate to have one. Our friends coined the phrase “hunting wife” because they can’t understand how we can go hunting together in Africa for 2, 3 or 4 weeks at a time and not get tired of each other, or wind up hating each others guts. I can’t explain the relationship other than we just both enjoy every aspect of the hunt. We are friends outside of hunting, but it’s not like we spend an inordinate amount of time together from a social aspect. But when planning a hunting or fishing trip, we just seem to jive. Find that kind of a buddy and cultivate that specific relationship. Talk about your dream trip, location, or game to pursue and then book a trip. Sounds like money will not be a big issue, but finding someone who thinks and travels the way you want to always helps(ie flying business class vs coach - if I can’t afford the business class fare, we just wait until I can). I do the planning and logistics( he can’t stand doing that and that is something I love so maybe you own that part too). Bottom line is just as there is that special someone we are married to( we both married our wives 32 years ago), there is a friend somewhere that will become your hunting wife, and who will help you live out your retirement hunting and fishing on all those “once in a lifetime trips”. Besides, you can continue your writing therapy by posting trip reports and trying to explain to the AH community what exactly a hunting wife is. Best to you in your retirement! You earned it!
 
Mort, you and I are blessed with our wives. I couldn't sneak away to Africa without mine and we absolutely love being on safari together. We will be in RSA, Zim and Namibia this year for my retirement bash.
 
I retired when I turned 50 due to health issues, and was basically "invited onward" to borrow a cultural phrase from elsewhere that is pretty analogous. The last 10 years of my life have been astonishing in the number of genetic and other issues I've had since birth that only were officially and properly diagnosed over the past 10 or so years. Amazingly, but only through my extremely focused self-advocacy, I was able to obtain corrective surgery for an issue before that issue would have practically guatanteed at least one stroke before my autoimmune blood clotting disorder raised it's head three years later. Second most life threatening was insisting on corrective surgery for what turned out to be Stage 1B Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer through biopsy immediately after surgical tissue removal, after two inconclusive prior biopsy write-ups (one a needle biopsy inserted through my back, the second CT guided while intubated), plus an inconclusive PET scan writeup. I have an attitude that I'm now in my third lifetime so to speak. My current issues aren't imminently life threatening, but they impact quality of life, and I've grudgingly accepted that I'm simply unemployable at this point, especially in my career field. Fortunately I never had an ostentatious lifestyle, and my wife is still working currently.

I've kept active to a degree doing volunteer and humanitarian work, both officially and unofficially. I will say accepting that I was not only no longer employed, but had become unemployable, was a huge struggle for me. I simply cannot predictably keep a schedule any more. I've been unemployed temporarily at various points in my life, but never unemployable before. Our plan had been to retire together when my wife would turn 50, my body got to veto that plan distinctly.
 
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@Mr. Zorg Many times, I hear of retirement plans interrupted with situations such as yours. Wish you the best with your health.
 
Wow! Good luck @Mr. Zorg ! In the immortal words of your avatar: "Sometimes if you want something done right..." etc.
BTW: you write very well. Perhaps there is an avenue there for you to use that skill...
 
Thanks y'all, and for the extra comment on my writing. I was a very atypical engineering student & engineer. I was always able to make top grades in my English classes, but struggled with higher level pure math classes. My SAT college entrance exam scores were 690 verbal, 710 math - an almost even split. But when I got into my science and engineering courses, where I was taught practical uses of advanced math techniques, I got top grades eventually graduating Summa Cum Laude with 3.83/4.0 GPA. I always worked for manufacturing companies, not engineering companies. I stayed in the technical branch, I was too blunt & apolitical for supervision, and stayed at the refineries, as such traits are not well appreciated at corporate HQ facilities. I was a good design engineer, but my real forte was troubleshooting and correcting. The largest design project I worked on was $3.9 Billion, and was the largest construction project in North America at that time with a peak labor force of 10,000 workers. I was the lead design engineerof the section producing multiple grades of jet fels, and then was the comissioning engineer for a complex design safety and environmental control system.

https://www.fluor.com/projects/marathon-refinery-engineering-construction

My local firearms store owner joked that with my background, I could binge-watch Breaking Bad for a new career. I joked back that I'd have to hire him & his staff for muscle!

FWIW, I watched some of the same health issues in my father, who retired at 60 when continuing to work became too much of a struggle. My clock ran out about 10 years sooner on those issues, disappointingly.
 
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Thanks y'all, and for the extra comment on my writing. I was a very atypical engineering student & engineer. I was always able to make top grades in my English classes, but struggled with higher level pure math classes. My SAT college entrance exam scores were 690 verbal, 710 math - an almost even split. But when I got into my science and engineering courses, where I was taught practical uses of advanced math techniques, I got top grades eventually graduating Summa Cum Laude with 3.83/4.0 GPA. I always worked for manufacturing companies, not engineering companies. I stayed in the technical branch, I was too blunt & apolitical for supervision, and stayed at the refineries, as such traits are not well appreciated at corporate HQ facilities. I was a good design engineer, but my real forte was troubleshooting and correcting. The largest design project I worked on was $3.9 Billion, and was the largest construction project in North America at that time with a peak labor force of 10,000 workers. I was the lead design engineerof the section producing multiple grades of jet fels, and then was the comissioning engineer for a complex design safety and environmental control system.

https://www.fluor.com/projects/marathon-refinery-engineering-construction

My local firearms store owner joked that with my background, I could binge-watch Breaking Bad for a new career. I joked back that I'd have to hire him & his staff for muscle!

FWIW, I watched some of the same health issues in my father, who retired at 60 when continuing to work became too much of a struggle. My clock ran out about 10 years sooner on those issues, disappointingly.

I was one of those 10k workers. I worked on the GME project for 2.25 years.
 

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