Is Retirement your Friend?

Unless you can make retirement your friend then maybe you shouldn't retire. Why?
Because people who can't make retirement their friend often are gone within 5 years.
I was lucky looking back now because it takes about 5 years to adapt to retirement anyway.

When I was forced to retire at age 50 because of a heart virus I was very lucky looking back because I was still young enough to actually adapt to retirement. I'm thinking the older you are the harder it's going to be to retire successfully (unless you are naturally a very intelligent and adaptable person). Or if you are partly retired this might work too. Often people who have their own businesses aren't fully retired but go down to 20 or less hours a week and often this works well too. For example, a lawyer my wife and I know only works now 1 day a week and plays golf and travels the world with his wife the other 6 days. So, there are many ways to survive retirement but you have to be a person who can successfully retire.

For example, my father retired in 1980 to a home on 2 1/2 acres of land on the high desert above Palm Springs on the way to Joshua Tree and 29 Palms. We had spent from 1968 until 1980 on weekends building this house and building his garden along with my mother. He was gone within about 5 years after retiring.

Maybe I better explain. My father didn't like or have faith in doctors at all. His father was the same way.  So, when he started peeing pink from prostate cancer and had it diagnosed he decided to do a macrobiotic diet to cure it. That didn't work. So, it metastasized to  one of his kidneys. By the time he had his prostate, and one kidney removed it had also metastasized to bone cancer too and that is what killed him. So, I learned from this and my wife is very knowledgeable about doctors and medical practices and we have had health insurance since I was about 48 years old. Before that, mostly I never had health insurance before that much. But, mostly I didn't need it before then either. If I hadn't had health insurance at 50 I would be dead now by the way likely.

So, one of the most important things to your survival (on average) is health insurance after your 40s. Also, health insurance is incredibly expensive here in the U.S. between age 50 and 64 when Medicare kicks in. I was paying $1400 a month for full medical coverage (just for me) at age 64 before Medicare kicked in the next year. Luckily, when I had a burst appendix that operation was covered by Medicare so the whole thing instead of costing me $40,000 to $60,000 was only about $1500 total payment by me. So, like my doctor neighbor once said "Isn't' Medicare amazing, Fred?"

So, unless you are medically, and financially covered to begin with: "How can retirement be your friend in the first place?"

So,   starting by putting "Your ducks all in a row" you create the possibility of a happy retirement.

Another point I made earlier is that your psychological adjustment to retirement actual works the best the younger you retire.

However, if your whole identity all your adult life has been your job or business then you might be in trouble unless you work at that business or job at least part time on into your retirement. For example, a friend owns a law business and still works 4 days a week and is around 75. He could retire but enjoys working 4 days a week. How he did this is his job now is to interview new clients to see if they are worth having as clients. This is what he does. He weeds out difficult people that he knows he and his other lawyers cannot successfully work with. It's important to choose your clients carefully in any business. Otherwise, you soon won't have a business.

Of course this depends upon the kind of business you own, too, doesn't it? if you own a 7-11 store for example, this wouldn't work.

But, in the end unless retirement is your friend, or you think you can make retirement your friend, why retire?

I tend to be a very outdoors and contemplative person. My identity was never really wrapped around any one career. My identity was sort of as a natural priest or shaman or minister and being a father. Marriage wasn't what I liked that much but being a father and raising kids was my yoga. And having a companion that is my best friend is great too in a wife.

I never expected to be as happy as I am at age 70. At 20 thinking this would have been impossible for me. However, the happiest time of my life has been since I almost died at age 50. This hasn't been the physically healthiest time of my life but it has been the happiest.

Generally, as people get older they get happier (or they die) one of the two.

This is what you will mostly see in people over 40 or 50. They either get it right or they die. There doesn't seem to be much in between after 40 or 50.

So, if you want to live a long time it might be important to make retirement your friend.

By God's Grace