Retirement Anniversary

I almost missed it this year!  I retired 13 years ago March 1st.   I haven't regretted a day of it!

I retired the first day I was eligible for a full annuity.  Many co-workers were surprised, for various reasons.

1.  Because I seemed to really enjoy the work I did.  And I did.  It wasn't routine work.  I wasn't following old procedures every day.  And it allowed me to solve new and different problems.

2.  I was allowed great freedom in what I chose to do.  Most office workers aren't.  Apparently, many co-workers were envious.  I could say a lot about being a "self-starter", and bringing "solutions to Management rather than problems",  but I bet most of you reading this are like that and don't need it explained.  But I had many co-workers who were not.  I recall reading a humorous collection of (probably fake) personnel evaluations and one said "Works OK if watched constantly and trapped like a rat in his cubicle".

3.  A number of co-workers asked how I could retire financially at 55.  Well I had carpool members who lived paycheck-to-paycheck and they didn't have to.  They talked about vacations, new cars, moving to larger houses, eating out a couple times a week, movies, etc.  I didn't do a lot of those things.

Now, I didn't grow up poor.  My Dad had a good Government salary (GS-15) and while Mom and Dad were careful with money (grew up in The Great Depression), we kids had what we needed, good food, and nice Christmases.  But once I left home, I spent years in poverty myself (refusing to ask for help).  And I mean roach-infested apartments I shared with several other guys, minimum-wage jobs, and Hamburger Helper...

But I saved as much as I could.  Every promotion meant half the increase went into savings and finally into index stock funds.  When I could finally buy a house, I had to borrow the down payment from my parents (at market rates and a firm repayment schedule).  But I paid that early, bought a new car 2 years later, refinanced the mortgage to 20 years, then 10, and finally paid off the original 30 year mortgage in 14 years.

My average car has lasted about 10 years (current one 12 and likely to go to 15) and 2 of them were cheap junk (a Chevette Scooter and a used Chevy Vega Hatchback, and my first 2 cars were rather old, so they didn't have much left to give), so the average lifespan would be higher otherwise.

So back to my co-workers' question about how I could retire at 55.  They bought new cars every 3 or 4 years.  I kept mine 8-10.  They spent money as fast as they earned it.  I saved and invested.  They went to restaurants once a week for $20 each; I learned to cook.

4.  The other question I got was "but what will you DO all day"?  That was my favorite question!  I had so much I wanted to do, I couldn't do it in the time I had off work.  Too few people have a life outside of work (other than going out on the town).  I had too many hobbies and interests I couldn't wait to do more of.

Subject and replies:

Gardening:  "But you can just buy food at the grocery store".
Yardwork:  "So just hire someone".
Woodworking:  "You can just buy furniture, you know".
Cats:  "They just ruin your furniture".
Computer Games:  "Yeah, I like Angry Birds (or whatever was popular in 2006)".  But I was stretching my mind with complex strategy games.
Cooking:  "Pizza Hut delivers".
Fishing:  ""Icky".

Etc...  I went bowling, I went golfing, I went fishing.  I gardened, I worked in the yard, I built small furniture, I enjoyed staying up late at night to see things on TV I had never been able to see before, listened to long pieces of music and watched weird DVDs (Heavy Metal, Fantasia, and Wizards, and bought science/history/nature ones.

I played Civ2 a lot (a game where you you start with a primitive Settler and built until you can hopefully launch a spaceship.  And then there was a multi-player version where you could play other people from all over the world.  After a YEAR of learning how to play it properly, I learned how to design new worlds for other people to play.

Then I organized the one and only worldwide Civ2 Tournament.  That didn't come from nowhere.  In college, I was the President of the University Chess Club for my last 2 years there.  It didn't mean that I was the best player (I was nearly the worst), just that I could keep the meetings organized and I also learned to manage campus tournaments.

So I took that old chess club organizing experience and managed the Civ2 tournament.  It was one of the most difficult things I ever organized.  Just try to imagine the negotiations involved in getting some player in Australia to play a person in Italy, or Japan with England.  But I finally got 12 of the 16 best players to play several rounds to get to a Final Two.

They played (and as always, I was a non-player viewer), and it was a close game.  As I promised, I made a small trophy of shaped wood painted red with a rearing horseman on the top with a small plaque announcing the winner.  The other players of the game followed the games and cheered the Winner.

The individual players only had to be there in their local time (like the Japan guy was up early to play and the English guy stayed up late), but I had to be available 24/7 for all games.  It was worth the effort; something new, something I had not tried before, something no one had done before.  But I also announced that I would never try it again, LOL!

All this is mostly a reminder to myself about what I've done after retirement, and why.  A lot of this blog is just me talking out loud about things that may not matter to others.  It doesn't HAVE to mean much of anything to other people.  But if it does, that's good.

I've enjoyed my retirement, and I hope to for a long time.  I am suited to retirement.  And this might sound odd, but there was never anything in particular that I ever wanted to do in life.  Just do some job well, and enjoy my time here usefully.  I've done and am doing that.

If nothing else, celebrate my retirement time with me...