Retirement Talk
WHAT to do with the rest of your life? |
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Episode 177 - When Should I Retire ?
Glen never got a chance to retire. He
died at age 39. He
worked with me in Alaska; taught physical education and was a living
example to
his students of good health and exercise. He was fairly short and very
stocky: all
muscle. He came home late from work one winter night. "Where's your
truck?" his wife asked him. “I don’t know”, he said,
“I walked home”. He
didn't remember. Now this was winter in
Alaska
;
it was cold, dark, icy, and snow packed. He had left his truck at
school, pulled
his collar up around his neck; pulled his stocking cap low and walked 7
miles
straight up the side of a mountain.
Three months later he was dead. My friend Glen:
brain tumor.
No warning, no prevention; no rhyme or reason. Of course, things like
this
happen all the time. You probably have a similar story. Lots of people put off retirement. Lots of
people put off retirement until it is too late.
This is Retirement Talk. I’m Del
Lowery. Today’s program is entitled,
“When do I Retire?”
This question isn’t always an
easy to answer. Many of us live as if we
don’t know we're
going to die. Oh, I know, we know we are going to die but we
‘live’ like we
don’t know it. We get a job, go to work, and work until we drop
in the traces. We work like we think we
are going to live
forever.
When it comes to work - and retirement
- and death, I
sometimes wonder just how closely people are examining their lives.
Judging by
their actions it appears that many people rarely consider what they are
doing
with their life. Socrates old quote sticks in my mind, "The unexamined
life is not worth living".
I'm reminded of two other friends in
Alaska
who met
a similar fate as Glen. The
first was a science teacher who worked until around 60. Then he and his
wife
climbed in an RV and headed south to circumnavigate the continental US
for a
few years. They got as far as
Southeastern Alaska
.
Car accident. He died. Ruth, a neighbor of mine, also a teacher, saved and invested for years to make sure
retirement would be great. She talked, she planned, she dreamed of life
after
work. Then she retired. Within two years she died - cancer.
In l987 my employer, the state of
Alaska
, offered me an early
retirement
incentive option. This was in the mid 80’s and the Prudhoe Bay
oil boom was
over. People were leaving the state. Schools needed to cut back on
staff. At
the ripe old age of 44, I was one of the “older” teachers,
meaning I was at the
top of the pay scale and they wanted to get rid of people like me, and
my wife.
Now, I was one of those people who claimed to have
“loved”
my job. During my early years of teaching, I just hated it when the
school term
ended. The kids would leave and I would be left standing in an empty
hallway
wishing I could just teach every day - forever. But by the time I
turned 44 I felt
like I knew teaching. There was another big world out there of which I
knew
very little.
My life experience had probably been very similar to many of
you up to this point. As a child I had played and studied under
supervision of
parents and teachers. As an adult I had worked under supervision of
various
bosses or supervisors. I had never been “free” to direct or
create my daily
life as I saw fit. At the ripe old age of 44, I found myself with the
option of
doing that very thing.
Of course salary increases kept coming
and I was encouraged
to continue on this common pathway throughout adulthood. Next year I
would make
more money. And the next year I would make more money. I started ask
myself,
"How much money is enough?" When will I be able to say and do what I
want with each day of my life?
Working to maintain a livelihood is a
very good reason to
keep your job. But what if that motive is absent? What if you have
enough money
to satisfy your needs? How great are your needs? Do they expand with
every
paycheck or salary raise? Were we kidding ourselves about how much we
loved our
job and really were working for the money? I mean if we quit working
and
receiving a check do you suppose we would still go in every day and
help out
for free? We needed to answer all of those questions.
Well, we sat down and answered them.
Then we retired.
If you find yourself dreaming of doing
something other than
working, then Retirement Talk is for
you. Brenda was 41 when we bailed. What did we do with our new lives?
What
could you do with yours? What have others done with theirs? That is
what
Retirement Talk intends to examine. We just want to think about it.
This is Retirement Talk.
A resource from a listener: Best Free Online Degrees for Seniors guide is designed to assist seniors who aspire to enhance their intellect or consider starting a new career path. It features an overview of the top online degrees for seniors, emphasizing their numerous advantages, and a broad range of subjects to choose from.
A friend's website: Terra Firma Designs: Fine Furniture, Stained Glass and woodworking workshops.
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