Everyday It’s Retirement…what do you do to pass the time?

Have you ever heard that question – or asked it? Seems many of my acquaintances who are approaching that milestone have nervously voiced that concern. Do they really mean it? Have they lived 62 to 65 years and don’t have a plan for the next most important milestone in their lives. Do they not already have special skills developed over those many years that they can use in ‘retirement!” Is the current fiscal “downturn” possibly blocking normal age retirement (55, 60, 65, 66 years old), or is this a rhetorical question aimed at gathering information to formulate their own plan?

I’m not certain there is an absolute answer to the question, or that one could be fabricated to fit each person who asks the question so I’ve decided to record my observations from where I sit. Maybe, just barely maybe, someone will be able to isolate and use some experience I’ve encountered and worked through to help them fulfill their needs.

First, a quick review of Webster’s New World Dictionary definition or retirement to shed some light on possibly why this question is on so many minds, i.e., 1. retire – to go away, or withdraw; 2. retired - having given up one’s work, business, career, etc., esp. because of advanced age; 3. retirement – being retired’ specif., withdrawal from work, business, etc. because of age; 4. retiree – a person who has retired from work, business, etc. WOW! That sounds more like an “ending” instead of what’s been my experience – a new beginning or era of life. Let me expand this a bit more. I took my initial retirement from the corporate world with little planning and many loud hallelujahs. After a short while I found that hunting, fishing were a lot more satisfying as a short vacation or weekend getaway vs. pursuing it full-time. Additionally, I had a spouse who was still working (not retired) and couldn’t join me in playing at doing only fun things. Also, reading and watching TV only goes so far. And after 37+ years of being involved with the “work, business, etc.” (see definition above) I missed having the structure and comradeship of my daily business associates. So with some gentle prodding from my spouse I examined several ways to become reengaged while still defining myself as a “retiree.”

Dolores and I have had several business during our fulltime employment in the world of the corporate enterprise. Most were small business involvements and I had become very knowledgeable on Federal Taxes. I took several courses at H. R. Block, joined their staff and eventually became a Store Manager. That led to a gig at two Tax software firms as a functional tester for annual updates. Third party testing of software was just arriving on the major software development scene, and I continued into a new path - software testing with several companies, eventually becoming somewhat of a local IT guru in the field. Being a “retiree” I was able to combine my skills earned in the years of enterprise work with the new skills learned after retirement to become a productive consultant. When the internet startup bubble burst I once again “retired.” Then Sarbanes Oxley came on the scene and I once again entered a new career field as an IT Auditor. Whee!

Not needing to work, I felt no pressures or work anxieties and really enjoyed learning new career paths; however, I finally realized I was spending a lot of time for other people, pinned to their time schedule and on their terms. After Dolores finally retired from her career at Boeing it took only a couple false starts before I finally decided to join her and live to my (our) time schedule. Not bad, it only took four tries. Since that time I’ve never looked back – enjoying another new career path – being an official ”retiree.” That sets the stage.

What will follow in additional blogs will be an informal collection of observations and comments “from where I sit” in retirement. Most will be mine; however, I might include excerpts from others who at the moment have better expressed my thoughts. I don’t know if this will be of any interest to the reader – if not simply delete the updates; let me know and I’ll remove you from the email update list. If you think others might be interested, intrigued, or have nothing better to do, please forward or have them forward their email address for inclusion in the updates.