Congratulations on a great, outstanding career.

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After my mom’s untimely passing at age 52, pa stuck it out until retirement age to just drive around the country trying to figure out what to do.  Got as far as San Diego where he met a widowed travel agent and they spent the next 25 years traveling the world.  

However, same as Leslie, I don’t think I’d get along very good with retirement.

I tried early retirement from a state government job in 1996 and immediately went out on my own doing for me what I used to do for bureaucrats who often couldn’t care less about what they were doing and where they were doing it, if not hating it, just biding their time until retirement.
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Problem with retirement for me is that I don’t like traveling that much as I’ve been lucky enough to live in interesting places I love on their own with so many things to do for work and play such as Alaska, Japan, Singapore, etc. and travel so much with work over the last 50 years to the East Coast, London, Canada, China, Korea, etc. that I usually don’t want leave where I am at the time (Seattle since 1996) and miss everything that’s going on there,  . . except when I to go back to (a) Alaska for doing stuff with GS I used to do too when I was his age (now eight-and-a-half, or which I would’ve done in those days if I could’ve) and (b) Japan for hire for someone who needs someone who’s fluent in the local language and culture to say nothing of loving the food. <<<(fish/fish/fish)>>>.  

However, as long as I’m luckily married and not alone, I really can’t imagine just going somewhere for my own personal gratification/satisfaction without doing it for or, at least, with someone else who appreciates it too. About the only traveling I can imagine wanting to do I were alone and in the unlikely event there was nothing else to do would be to go back East to swim across Walden Pond and schuss down Tuckerman’s Revine on Mt. Washington but it’ll never happen on these legs anymore so someone else please do it for me.  Thanks.   

Good luck.   

ps - you’re a good example of timely retirement. It’s too bad so many other people, though, don’t move on and let the younger generation have their turn, e.g. broadcasters, etc.

I agree with surly Bill that part time work is a good stepping stone to full retirement. I switched to part time about 3 years ago, not by choice but because my company lost a big client and didn't have enough work. DH and I both fully retired this year at age 60.

I sometimes feel a bit aimless - not bored exactly, but with not enough to do. I do like being able to run more, and have also been running with friends more because my schedule is so flexible. That's one of the best parts about retirement! Volunteering sounds like an interesting option, but it would be hard for me because I live in such a rural area, and giving up the long commute to town is another great thing!

As most of you know, DH and I bought a Sprinter van and outfitted it as a camper. We travel and live in the van for large parts of the winter, mostly spending our time at climbing areas, since that's DH's passion. I climb some, and also explore the trails wherever we go. It's working out we'll so far but not sure what we'll do when we get too old for this lifestyle.  We also love foreign travel, although with 2 old dogs our options are a bit limited till they're no longer with us.  When they're gone I expect we'll travel the world!

Good luck with whatever you decide. Thanks for a thoughtful post - interesting topic!

Congratulations, Ilene!  That’s a big step and I know you will make the most of it.

I am 67 now, and I feel like it is time.  I have crunched the numbers and we will be okay. 

You know, I've always been surprised when you say how old you are. You are the youngest 67 year old I've ever seen! And I haven't even seen you IRL for a few years, so there! You and Fastforward will be fine, and I hope we cross trails again sometime!

Carolyn, you too. You and your DH are so active it's great. I don't think we could ever do that sprinter van thing but I love it that you guys do it!

One other thing to consider is health insurance, if you retire before you're eligible for Medicare. We no longer make enough to qualify for the ACA subsidy, so we're on Medicaid. At first we felt bad about it, thinking that's for poor people, which we clearly are not, since we're retired at 60. But we paid into the system for many years, and the Colorado ACA system put us on Medicaid as our only option. Now we're just hoping the Medicaid funding lasts till we turn 65. Otherwise I guess we'll have to buy insurance without any subsidy!

I remembered this conversation thread out of the blue last night and hunted it up to review it. Thanks to all who offered advise. Well, things didn't progress as quickly as I expected...took another 14 months pull up from Having-a-Job utlra and DNF.

I'm going with the plan of taking a few months off while trying out some volunteering opportunities to see if anything clicks.