Howdy,
On 6/13/26 15:53, Sandhya via Silklist wrote:
Are you retired? What are you doing post-retirement? On hindsight, would
you give your younger self some advice about what you would do
differently?
In a few weeks, I'll be retiring for the third time. Yeah, it gets
complicated.
In 1998, I escaped a particularly bad work situation, and discovered
that my wife and I could afford to discontinue full-time employment, so
we retired and moved to Florida.
I lasted ten months.
It wasn't proximity to my wife (she was still trying to sell our old
house), it was just the lack of focus to my day. I had hobbies, but
wasn't able to focus on them sufficiently to fill the time.
So I took on a part-time job. It was a lot of fun, if physically
miserable at times. The pay was but a pittance, but the benefits were
outstanding, and we made good uses of them.
But being financially independent meant I could call bullshit when
management tried it without concern. I also became a union shop steward,
which made it nearly impossible to fire me. That role led me to read the
fine print in the contract, and I discovered in 2015 that I was eligible
to retire, retaining full benefits. Took the company eight months to
figure out how to retire a part-timer, and I understand I triggered a
change in the rules, but I was out with my second retirement.
Starting in 2007, I accepted responsibility for a non-profit with a
healthy publication program, a substantial library, and multiple worthy
programs. The cause was the death of that organization's founder, and
his were larger shoes that I could hope to fill, even today. Working for
a non-profit board is never entirely safe, even when they trust you
(perhaps too much). It reached the point last year that all but one of
them stopped responding to my emails, which is a problem when I'm
supposed to be editing the magazines.
They finally found another sucker, er, volunteer, and this week the
library and records were shipped to California, with three tons of junk
discarded. All I have left is a storage unit filled with library
shelving and file cabinets (which are cheaper to repurchase than move).
Finding homes for that, I'll be retired for a third time.
I plan to spend a lot more time and energy on my hobbies. I just built
seven Ikea bookcases to allow me to pull books out of boxes, and some
general housekeeping (i.e.: junk trashing) is also in order. My wife's
health has also declined in the past decade, so I'm taking on more
household chores, more driving to doctors, and indulging her hobby,
which is taking world cruises (January thru June next year).
Will this hold, or will I go back to work in some form? I can't say for
sure, but given my track record....
Cheers,
/ Bruce /
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