Not Working

[Jake]

Nice Dave!Once I was finished with my training and hit my first Air Base full time, I used to watch the old guys retire. And you ALWAYS went to their retirement party because the odds were that was the last time you would see them alive. These poor saps were putting their entire lives into defending their country and for right vs wrong and then dying weeks - sometimes days and even hours - after they were retired! After one old guy I was close to passed away during the night after his last day at work... That was my wake-up call! I was on a contract for 20 years and that was all I was going to do! And sure enough I didn't even do that! I was approaching 17 years in when my trade was offered the chance to retire early... I jumped at it and for good reason! The benefits were great, I could sneak another year onto my pension for free and, most importantly, I knew I was going to be released under a medical discharge within the next year or so... Hey! I was not going to drop like so many others I knew!!! And thus my first retirement... !

When I attended my retirement seminar in 1990, the US Navy medical officer flatly told us that 20% ofus will pass away within 5 years. That was scary -- hello, reality check!Jake

[i am bob]

Nice Dave!Once I was finished with my training and hit my first Air Base full time, I used to watch the old guys retire. And you ALWAYS went to their retirement party because the odds were that was the last time you would see them alive. These poor saps were putting their entire lives into defending their country and for right vs wrong and then dying weeks - sometimes days and even hours - after they were retired! After one old guy I was close to passed away during the night after his last day at work... That was my wake-up call! I was on a contract for 20 years and that was all I was going to do! And sure enough I didn't even do that! I was approaching 17 years in when my trade was offered the chance to retire early... I jumped at it and for good reason! The benefits were great, I could sneak another year onto my pension for free and, most importantly, I knew I was going to be released under a medical discharge within the next year or so... Hey! I was not going to drop like so many others I knew!!! And thus my first retirement... !

When I attended my retirement seminar in 1990, the US Navy medical officer flatly told us that 20% ofus will pass away within 5 years. That was scary -- hello, reality check!Jake

Yup! Moral of the story is work only as long as you want to and then stop and smell the roses... hopefully on somebody else's grave and not your own!

[Tukaram (Tim)]

This is something I never think about. And I don't think I will miss work at all, but you never know. But there are two thing this thread has confirmed for me. 1) Stay healthy and active. Get your share of exercise everyday because without your health, nothing else really matters, and 2) Don't get pets!

Ah, we all need a pet.... Cute little pet with nice dark eyes and soft soft hair and... :no:

And a...... nice tail?

I like that cute little heart shaped tail.

[Art2ro]

Let me give you a brief history of how I was able to retire at age 49 and didn‘t regret my decision. In 1997, the U.S. government offered early retirements to U.S. Civil Service employees, which only came once in a blue moon!Their criteria requirements were, 25 years of service regardless of age! I was 49 at the time with 30 years of service, 12 years of active military duty and 18 years of Civil Service time combined! I took their offer, but with a $250 a month penalty deducted from my pension monthly net, which came out to 42% of my annual gross and I was also collecting a 20% V.A. disability Compensation from my prior military service, which was adequate to live on in the Philippines, but no way enough to retire on in California in 1997 before the bubble burst due to the recession that followed! 13years later after arriving in the Philippines in 1998, I've turned 60 3 years ago and started collecting my military USAF Reserves pension and at age 62 just last year my Social Security pension kicked in, which all quadrupled my total monthly net income and all of the COLA increases in the past 13 years helped a great deal too! So now, I’m a “Happy Camper” with my 4 U.S. Government pensions directed deposited into my U.S. bank and I'm smiling all the way to the bank! We’ve now been retired 13 years, living in the Philippines since 1998 and still loving it, for now that is, but so far, so good and hope it will get better not just for myself, but for all who decides to jump over the pond and stay for a while! Miss working? No way, no how! Hated working for a bunch of a__holes and in my 30 years of my working career, I've taken alot of sh&t from them!