Not Working

[MikeB]

After more then 25 years working in one form or another of IT (Information Technology), I retired last April just before I moved to the Philippines. I walked away from a very good paying job where I worked from home, didn't have to deal with a demanding boss, and pretty much called my own shots - up to a point. At times I hated and despised it and at times I found a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure from resolving issues and the camaraderie of my coworkers. After not working for several months I have found that I miss it quite a bit. Not all of it but some, especially the technical aspects and working with others. But it's also nice not to have to deal with all the bs and I think we tend to remember the good times and forget the bad. I suspect a lot of people dream about the day they don't have to work and then find themselves missing it. I wonder how many other expats and retirees feel this way.

Edited January 24, 2012 by MikeB

[Dave Hounddriver]

Many, many times I miss it. I have been retired for 4 years and still remember all the good times. But when I start thinking I should go back and work a few more years (I retired early so could still go do a few more years) I start to remember all the bad things and all the reasons I retired early.Quitting work is a bit like quitting smoking. All the withdrawal symptoms remind you of the good feelings but they pass quicker as time goes by.

[United Army]

Well not me!!!I do not miss working at all and I really do not want to work again.

[Art2ro]

Well not me!!!I do not miss working at all and I really do not want to work again.

I'm with you on that, because I don't miss working for a__holes! I couldn't process my voluntary walking papers fast enough when the U.S. government offered early voluntary retirements during the Clinton administration during the draw down of military bases, military and civilian personnel in the mid and late 90s! The last voluntary early retirement that the U.S. government ever offered to Civil Service employees was way back I believe was in the late 50s! Fortunately I had 30 years time in service at age 49 in 1997! After retiring, my pension at that time was just enough to live on in the Philippines! 13 years later, we're still here in the Philippines, doing fine, my pension has doubled, we own our own home in a nice area and we're still enjoying our retirement! Can't ask anything more than that, but maybe hit the Super Lotto! Yeah right!

[Jake]

Retired from the US Navy in 1990 after 21 years of active service. I guess my two minute retirement speechsummarizes how fed up I was about my last skipper of a nuclear powered missile cruiser: I detest leadershipby fear and leadership by arrogance. The only thing I miss about the Navy was my young techs. Shortly after retirement, I worked at a local casino (about 5,000 slot machines) as a slot E-Tech or bench tech. The learning curve was a bit steep since I never worked on gaming and commercial electronics before. Workedindependently on both swing and graveyard and had the best time of my life. Got terminated after 6 years dueto positive drug test. Long story...... Now the only thing I love working on is my backhand slice down the line. Completely drained physically after 2-3hours of rallying from baseline to baseline but eventually became quick enough to hang with the young guns onthe court. Tennis is a great stress relief!

[Old55]

The down side you retired guys suffer is the hours. 24-7! :tiphat:

[Art2ro]

:wt-hell: :as-if: I was born and ready for the 24/7! :tiphat:

[i am bob]

I"m pretty well the same as all the above... I was able to retire from the Canadian Armed Forces at 36 - actually stopped work almost a full year earlier with full pay. I spent that entire year setting up my business and working for the next couple years 14 to 18 hours a day - for what I thought was to be my real retirement fund. That went down the tubes 5 years later in a divorce. I moved back to my home town of Niagara Falls from the east coast and tried to get something going there... But here nobody knew me anymore and all I could get into was bottom line work (9/11 killed it for me with the IT world) such as driving taxi (again), call centers, retail manager of a small electronics store, that sort of thing... Very disappointing! So for the last year or so I have been pretty well retired again until I could figure out what to do with my life... And then it hit me! GO SOMEWHERE WARM! STAY RETIRED SO LOOK FOR A BETTER ECONOMY FOR ME! Hmmm... Looked at Costa Rica, Belize, Thailand, and then... PHILIPPINES!!! So now I am ready to move - once I get a job and clear all the rest of my debts. Only a couple thousand so I'm looking at being retired in the sun and living the good life by September!Now you are going to say that the OP wanted to know if we miss work when we retired... If I didn't, do you think I would have gone through all the crap jobs before deciding it was time to do it for good? Well, actually, there is this one thing I still want to do after.........

[sjp52]

I went on a full disability 4 years before my official early retirement. I lucked out as I will keep building my pension until i,m 65 ( 54 now ). I don,t miss the work as the technoligy at work kept getting more advanced and was hard on the brain and the paper work was never ending, but I do miss my coworkers. My only down fall is I have a lot of stock in the company which I cant touch until retirement time. I also miss the big paychecks which came with the overtime that was available. I love the freedom that comes with being retired.

[Jake]

.......Well, actually, there is this one thing I still want to do after.........

Pray tell, I wonder what that could be?? It's too early in the morning to get me all wet with curiosity!DOM forever -- Jake