Good retirement day

[old time rider]

Retirement is great.July of 012 after home from the June DeadHorse trip went in to full retirement a little after. Main thing in getting old about any day just not as good feeling as say twenty years ago. [emoji2] . Today rode V-strom to meet old bunch and good time.Rode home ate a bit of dinner then took a nap. Still so hot stayed inside most the day and then looked old truck over.After supper wife needed a few things so drove the 37 to town with windows down,vent up,and windshield cranked out.Fun and got lots of waves and thumbs up.After home got on the big old loud RoadStar a little after seven and rode it a hour in the lots cooler with no sun air.No stress day. [emoji106] Got home a few minutes after eight and had a shot of Williams buorbon on ice . Old age can be ok.

[jonnycando]

Cheers! I got ninish years left...may I have some energy left by then! And may you still be hoisting bourbon by then!

[Damumz]

Retired last June 23rd. Spinning wrenches for over 40 years was taking it's toll on me. Aleve was my best buddy last couple of years. Play golf 4 days a week now and take lots of naps. Retirement so far is wonderful and you all should do it!! [emoji2]

[Herb]

Been fully retired for just over a year, my wife keeps me so damn busy I don't know how I ever had time to work.

[m2h]

Been fully retired for just over a year, my wife keeps me so damn busy I don't know how I ever had time to work.

Bin 3 1/2 yrs for me. Like you Herb i got a wife with a far too active creative streak. She gives me her list but it's so f@#king long she writes it on a toilet roll and i just rip of a sheet now an then I got a couple shoulders with tendon tears so i can't do as much as i'd like to. Tried drinkin more beer but am getting too bloody fat now. Life sucks and then you get old!
Not really it has its benefits. [emoji2] Wish our winter rain would piss off long enough to get riding a bit tho

[Suzuki Johnny]

Geez..... I feel like the old guy now.....I hung up my cleats in '05...after working in the construction arena (Sheet Metal Worker)...At one time if someone could draw it on paper I could make it out of any type of metal known to mankind....
Retirement has treated me well...12 years and holding.....I'm one of the lucky ones for sure....of the 9 riding buddies that rode together for many many years, only 3 of us are still riding.. the other 6 all have health and physical problems that prevent them from riding..I feel blessed to last this long.
Next month I turn 74...I was always told by my parents and close friends that I would not last this long at the then current pace I was setting for myself I guessed I fooled them eh? But my wild child days are over with now...But I still long for the days when we would just pack the bikes up on Wednesday and be gone for 10 to 12 days meandering around places we ain't never been before...

.... But I am really enjoying this phase of my life. Still ride and I play golf 3 times a week

I have very few complaints at all....In fact I went to my personal physician yesterday and he gave me a clean bill of health.....
my A1c was 6.8 ( Type 2 adult diabetes)....blood pressure was 122/68.....bad cholesterol was... believe this... "39".. yep
total cholesterol was 138 [emoji106]
And Thank the Good Lord everything else checked out copacetic ...

On a not so good note though I had my bi yearly eye exam and the prognosis isn't too good.... cataracts in both eyes and will need surgery sooner or later..
But the eye doc was astonished that with cataracts in both eyes I could still read the bottom line on every chart with each eye, he did mention that in all his years of practice that I was the first that could do that with the present condition of both eyes...

Life is good here in Cajun Land...

[Tbeck]

Retired like Randy from the military, .in was 96. Way too young to be retired so I went back to work in HVAC for about 6 year's. I than went back to college and into teaching which I have done for 12. I thought I was done when they furloughed me in May, but appears I will be going back the end of the month.
I am not in any hurry to retire. I teach from the end of August until the beginning of June. That gives me the summer to play golf and ride. I could retire again any time I would like, which has always been a nice thing to know.
The mrs's has a few more years to retirement, so I will likely keep going until she's done.
One thing is for sure, I have said from the beginning of my teaching that I would go if my students no longer benefit from my teaching, I just wasn't sure the past 2 year's. That's no longer a concern. When I was informed of the furlough, the entire high school student body went out on protest for 3 day's in front of the administration building. Parents and students packed the school board meeting. We were the top news story for 3 day's, unheard of response. It's nice to know that your work had a lasting impression

[lonerider]

Retired at 55 some 19 yrs ago and haven't been bored for even a second!

[BlacktopTravelr]

hmm, retired? I don't think I worked for anyone other than Wrangler long enough to retire from. I did get a retirement check from the asphalt company I worked for as they had set up a retirement fund account and matched what the employee put in it. I got a check from them for $10,000 for the 4 years I was in it. I am suppose to receive a retirement check from Wrangler for the almost 5 years I was a supervisor for them, but they keep giving me the run-around for a lousy $125 month check. So the last time I talked to the lady at the main office and got the run-around I told her to keep the stupid money. Now as everyone knows I live, get by, on my SS, which equals in a month what I used to get in a week when I was working.

[Tbeck]

BT, it's definitely something one had to plan for, but often worker's can't afford to implement the plans they have because of their work situation. Life throws us curves

[BlacktopTravelr]

Tee, people like me don't/didn't really think about retirement until it was time to retire or way too late to make plans on retiring. Like I've said before I would have tried harder to find a job except the lady from SSA told me I could retire at 62 and draw a $1,000 a month. I figured I could live on $250 a week so I signed up and then found out I got $300 less a month than what she said. I looked around for a job but nobody wanted to hire a 62 year old man drawing SS. I've told everybody I can to make plans to work as long as you can before you draw your SS, drawing it early really sucks.

[jeffcoslacker]

I looked around for a job but nobody wanted to hire a 62 year old man drawing SS.

You just described 90% of our employees at the driveaway transport company. And at least that for the courier fleet at the bank, the one I used to service their cars.

If you like to drive, look into those. Companies that run drivers really like older guys that are easy on the vehicles and show up on time and ready to work. You'd be amazed how hard that is to find in younger people now. We essentially had a revolving door going there...young people generally didn't last three weeks before they got fired for either not showing up or wrecking stuff...

[RoadKing]

Worked in building trades tha majority of my life and then retired nine years ago at 65. Truth told, I miss it. Strapping on the tools at 6:30 each morn, the comaraderie of the crews, looking at the building day to day with a feeling of pride and accomplishment, the motorcycle waiting for the bell and the ride home to a cold beer. I miss it.

[Tbeck]

RK, and that my friend is how it should be. If you're going to work daily hating it, you're doing the wrong job.
There are other considerations, like health, but I have found that many folks are counting down day's until they can retire because the job satisfaction isn't there.

BT, you and probably 2/3's of workers. Folk's either can't afford or simply don't plan for where the money will come from when they want to retire.
Considering SS is not retirement, it's not much to retire on.

[BlacktopTravelr]

BT, you and probably 2/3's of workers. Folk's either can't afford or simply don't plan for where the money will come from when they want to retire.
Considering SS is not retirement, it's not much to retire on.

But yet there is this idea, culture, whatever you want to call it that people have that says you can retire on SS. I don't see any ads, messages, or groups out there telling the people you can not retire and live on SS. You can get by if you also get the EBT card (food stamps) and any other help (not a handout) from the government you qualify for. You can get by, but you can't live on SS and gov. benefits. This is why so many older people are living in motor homes, tiny houses and down sizing to smaller houses and even apts.

We need to replace congress with people that really want to help the older people (actually the true American citizen) that have already pay their way thru life, get rid of the free loaders that sit on their asses and ask for more freebies and hold our representatives accountable for everything they do or don't do to help America become the great nation it once was. I'm tired of congress saying we don't have the money, but when Jan. rolls around they take a pay raise without even voting for it.

Maybe that is what I need to do, start a non-profit to get the word out to the younger generation that you can not live on SS alone, but need a retirement account of some kind. There are way too many older (non-retirement age) people of working age that are unemployed that will never have a retirement account due to congress, the presidents we have had and our greedy CEO's that only care about themselves. Ok, that was way too long to stand on my

[jeffcoslacker]

BT, you and probably 2/3's of workers. Folk's either can't afford or simply don't plan for where the money will come from when they want to retire.
Considering SS is not retirement, it's not much to retire on.

But yet there is this idea, culture, whatever you want to call it that people have that says you can retire on SS. I don't see any ads, messages, or groups out there telling the people you can not retire and live on SS. You can get by if you also get the EBT card (food stamps) and any other help (not a handout) from the government you qualify for. You can get by, but you can't live on SS and gov. benefits. This is why so many older people are living in motor homes, tiny houses and down sizing to smaller houses and even apts.

We need to replace congress with people that really want to help the older people (actually the true American citizen) that have already pay their way thru life, get rid of the free loaders that sit on their asses and ask for more freebies and hold our representatives accountable for everything they do or don't do to help America become the great nation it once was. I'm tired of congress saying we don't have the money, but when Jan. rolls around they take a pay raise without even voting for it.

Maybe that is what I need to do, start a non-profit to get the word out to the younger generation that you can not live on SS alone, but need a retirement account of some kind. There are way too many older (non-retirement age) people of working age that are unemployed that will never have a retirement account due to congress, the presidents we have had and our greedy CEO's that only care about themselves. Ok, that was way too long to stand on my

Seriously? Because pretty much every commercial or show I've ever heard on radio or TV about investments or retirement loudly beats the drum of "You cannot survive much less live the life you want on Social Security benefits"...and I've been told that from relatives and others all my life.

I may have backed myself into a corner, but it's not for lack of understanding the reality. I find it hard to believe anyone just somehow totally missed that message.

But I will agree that if some of the things I've heard are correct, yeah, we need to change it NOW. I've heard things like people coming here from other countries, become a citizen, bring older relatives, get them hooked up with SS/SSDI even though they've never worked a day in the U.S...if true, that's NUTS, and needs to stop. I have a hard time believing it, because it sounds like the kind of half-truth some radio hosts and websites like to throw at you to get you spun up about things.

But even that aside...I know many people on SSDI, and only a few are what you would actually think of as disabled. One doesn't work because working "gives her anxiety attacks"...LOL...

[BlacktopTravelr]

You may be correct, but I have never seen an investment ad that says you can't live on SS. I have seen them pitch the idea that you can't live the life you are living now on SS and need to invest your money in a retirement fund of some sort, but that isn't the same thing. Hell, I didn't make enough to invest in a retirement fund. And I really doubt if there is anyone that believes they can live the same way they are living now on just a SS check. I know a guy that takes his SS check each month and buys a bottle of expensive wine with it and I'm read/heard about a rich guy that does the same. Why not give that check to someone that lost his job and would use it to feed his family?

[old time rider]

Had two more great retirement days in a row [emoji106] Friday drove the old truck out to eat with another MC couple after a bike ride.Then him and I rode in the 37 with windows all the way down and windshield out to max. Pushed the old gal down to passing gear once when he asked. He loved it and had never rode in anything older than a 48 Ford sedan he had when young. The wives were behind and we went to a out door music deal with three bands. Left early around 9PM.
Sat. still so hot on ride on Vstrom to meet old coots. After went home and went to a cruise in car show by myself in 37 ,Started at 10AM. Way too hot for the wife. 90s and after walking a lot it drained this old coot .Won a $25 entry prize drank a lot of water and got home about a hour after the 2:00 end of show. Wife wanted me to go to church with her so after a shower we headed out.I all most fell to sleep! Did sleep good last night with no wake up over six hours and that's good for me! Man that heat bothers me more now.O to be 55 again