My Thoughts on Retirement

I early retired some years ago, but continued to work full time in the private sector. In the recent 2 years, I have reduced my hours to where I am semi-retired.  This is an ideal situation for which I shall now blog.

I now go into work 1 day a week. That is sufficient. I am very careful about my time and expenses as a semi-retiree.  Here are some pointers...

Time:

• I have essentially retired from all volunteer duties. These days,  I only do small reviews for 1 nursing association.  It is sad that younger generations are incompetent. Hence, many things that I have done will never be performed by others.  Many places have followed the "lynchpin" approach to management.  When that 1 vital person is gone, everything collapse. So sad.
• I give my grateful thanks be to God every day for his blessings bestowed onto me.
• My big focus now, is daily powerwalking for the health benefits.  This has been great, but, after 10,000 steps, an older person can do little else. Ha!
• I continue my learning by going to conferences.  I need to stay up-to-date as I continue to teach weekly.  I have always loved conferences.
• I look forward to my quick getaways to Las Vegas. So much fun. May try to do monthly.  This is only doable for retirees.
• I enjoy attending wine-pairing events in my general and surrounding area.
• I absolutely love the social media stuff including Facebook and Instagram. I just love creating memes and getting on my soapbox to espouse my views and passions.
• My son loves to dine out, so we do this once a week. I also make time for dining with my neiece and nephews.
• I love cooking, watching cooking shows, collecting and sharing recipes. Holidays are family events at my place where I can strut my stuff.
• I visit my sister weekly and enjoy that sisterly time together.
• When relatives have gatherings, I make it a point to attend and celebrate.
• I especially enjoy the casinos.  But, I am very controlled and cautious. Its the fun, the lights and just being around folks that I really enjoy in the casinos. Ain't gonna be any winnings and ain't gonna be any big losses at the controlled penny slots. I am very careful with this type of fun.
• When I go to work on campus, I am in and out.  I have no interest in socializing. I am dedicated to quality teaching and investing my time to ensure my students receive excellent education from me.  Co-workers are users and I have no time or interest with them.

Expenses:
I keep this as low as possible!!!! I am very careful about expenditures. I like being retired, because when fiends approach me to donate... I tell them, I am now retired.  When I worked full time, fiends from the workplace and church always approached me to buy tickets or something.  Good riddance to that bullshit!

Recommendations - 10 Points:
1. I strongly recommend that folks carefully plan out retirement early in their careers.  I have no advice on financial planning.  But, just try to enhance your skill so that when retired, you can find something to supplement your income.

2. Focus on that supplemental job BEFORE you retire. Try not to have any gaps in employment.  Part-time is ideal.

3. Learn about computers programs.  Mainly Office, Word, Excel, and Outlook.  If a retiree knows nothing about these important computer tools, that person is shit out of luck.

4. What will you do for recreation? You got to keep your brain active!!

5. In your older years, how will you get fit and stay fit? I recommend a fitness tracker and 10,000 steps per day.  The health benefits are awesome.  Its hard to exercise AND work.  So, retirement days are the best.

6. I never encourage folks to retire.  So folks post on Facebook they are planning to retire.  I ignore them.  They are just having a hard day at work and retirement is the only way out of that stress.

7. Get a cheap laptop to stay connected with the real world.... at a safe distance.

8. Consider the freebies!!  This is so doable in Chicago. So many FREE things to do... if you are smart.

9. Don't bother contacting co-workers.  Remember, those were co-workers and not friends.

10. Be wary of volunteering! Don't do it!  Folks will feel that you have time to do work.  DO NOT DO IT!!  Enjoy your later years of retirement.