Retirement Thoughts

Now that I am fully retired I thought I'd share a few observations that are relevant to me. They might be relevant to you too if you are nearing retirement. In no particular order:

• Unless you are willing to do your job for free, it is good to retire as soon as you are financially comfortable.
• You don't have to accomplish something every day and that is alright.
• There is no need to go cold turkey, I'd encourage you to start slowly with working 4-days a week, then 3-days before you retire. It will help your company and get you into a new mode. 
• Doing things during the week when everyone else is working is a joy.
• There is no good reason to give your company too much notice when you are about to retire. Every situation is different but you will get treated differently after you make the announcement.
• Retirement does not mean sitting around all day and doing nothing, my wife and I have been very active:
• Volunteering in our local community
• Spending time with our grandchildren
• Traveling and planning our travels
• Fishing & sailing (for me) and gardening (for Ruth)
• Hiking
• Bicycle Riding
• Kayaking
• Working around the house
• Spending time with friends
• Sailing
• I started my own company and did what I wanted to do for a few years, that was extremely satisfying.
• You can never save enough money for travel if you like to travel. 

This is no means a comprehensive list but a few random ideas that came quickly to mind. I plan on becoming active with this blog again and will be highlighting some of our travels and activities. If you followed our cross-country adventure, thank you and I hope you find the change in content interesting.