Or at least not check the boxes birth, school, career, then retire to do absolutely nothing but sit and wait for death.

You can check all the boxes the way it's supposed to be done and still be miserable.

It's not "supposed" to be anything. It's what you make it, but I get where your coming from.

It must be a personal problem and may need professional help.

Retirement doesn't equal sit and do nothing. At 55 I was done, couldn't continue my profession. Even at that I took painkillers every day for the last couple years. Now I hunt, trap, build traps, lobby for the trappers association, bee keep, do what I want to do but far from sitting doing nothing.

Some folks save for retirement just to keep saving.

Retirement is great if you have money and insurance

I can relate. My Financial Advisor told me I should spend more money.

Is that a problem?

Most folks that retire without some kind of hobby die within a few years. Its like boredom sucks the life out of them.

I hope not i plan on dieing with more than I enter retirement with if things go right.

I prefer to leave the kids and grandkids a capital advantage to go along with financial education.

Never understood how people are comfortable planing on spending down to 0 upon death financial planning.

Seems like they are doing it wrong to me?

No, I just about had a belly full this week. The biggest mistake dad has made imo, other than me in his opinion, is officially retiring. His mind is still sharp, and his tongue is even sharper. Sitting and staring at walls hasn't done him any good at all. Maybe if mother was still with us.

He's a trained accountant and used to take on side jobs keeping the books for various small businesses, doing taxes at tax time, kept the books for the church for thirty years in addition to his county job.

He's quite comfortable in retirement and no worries there, even gets out in the woods come hunting season as long as a grandson is along just in case.

I don't expect him to buy the RV and travel as that ain't never been him, but dang it, if only he would mellow out a little.

I'm sure you know he isn't going to change. Hopefully you guys can find some way to coexist and enjoy whatever time you have left together.
I know, that's easy for me to say not being involved! But I do hope it works out for you.

if you work to 65 and say I am done and set on the couch , you collect 3-9 SS checks before the heart attack.

if you never quit moving you might find your down sizing your garden for the 20th time and your 99 years old , that would be my parents neighbor

or you could die tomorrow and end up leaving your kids all your savings , you get little control over the day you die (there is that way but it tends to cut things short), you can have a lot of control over the the way you live

do what you love as much as you can for as long as you can

I told my folks I was going to pizzed if there was a pile of money left when they died. They worked hard all their lives and I expected them to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

My dad got on social security disability back in 1979.never had a job after that.he did have a very small garden and cut the yard other then that he watched tv.he passed away in may of 24 at the age of 87.

Any of you guys own land? What if you have a couple kids - or more - and one wants the land and the other doesnt. That means the one who wants it may have to come up with half a million$ - or more - to buy the other one out. As the parents, having a nest egg available for the kids to split could make it a LOT easier for one kid to buy out the other and keep the land in the family

I use the word retire for my exodus from my career. I have zero intention of quitting work. Life should be a full time job, IMHO.

this is why I don't like the idea of equally inheritance.

Typically one child stays on the farm keeping it and mom and dad going in old age. The other kids go off have jobs family#, vacations, retirement accounts. While one is always on the farm and always under mom and dad's rule.

But when mom and dad pass here come the siblings with their hand out wanting their rightful chunk of the farm. You know the farm they wanted little to do with the farm that would have allowed been sold off if the one didnt stay and run it.

Now the one has to sell enough off to buy them out but there is not enough left to running it efficiently so now he is out. And unlike the rest has nothing to fall back on.

Equal inheritance is a fools game for farms.

That problem has been avoided. Living trust, dad technically owns nothing the trust does. Got that set up long before mother got sick. My only request is lifetime access.

And if it must pass to sole ownership Dad, my brother and I are in agreement on the grandson that'll get it.

I am looking at retiring in the next year or so. I want to be healthy so I can still trap and hunt plus a little fishing. There might be a month or two during the year that I won't be real busy but am not going to be afraid of finding a little jobs for a short while if I need to. They are out there.

Well warrior, if you ask me 3 years ago, I would have said, I don’t plan on retiring!! I like what I do!! But now, I’m starting to have grand kids! That changes my perspective on retirement! Right now I’m starting to slowly cutting back on my work so I can focus on my time with my family and grandchildren!! Some of my best memories are with my grandparents! So, that’s what I plan on doing for my grandchildren!! Make memories!!!

I believe a person should enjoy life no matter their age, I’ve watched a lot of people work and never do anything because they’ll do it when they retire and never make it, one guy just died last year he retired 20 years ago and was going to travel, him and his wife went on one trip and then the dementia diagnoses came and he spent close to 15 years in a home.

I can't wait to retire from the day job. I'll be much busier doing the things I enjoy. It will happen fully in six years.

And, it's my honor to accumulate land and wealth for my family. I started at zero and I'm happy they did not.

The whole concept of "going to work", having a career, retiring, etc is very new in the history of humanity. Our modern concept of work didn't originate until the industrial revolution, and before that, people mostly worked at home. And what we'd call "work" or a "job" has only existed since the neolithic revolution (and then you just worked your job until you died). For almost the entirety of our existence we lived as hunter gatherers, where work and life were one and the same.

A self motivated person has no problem in retirement. The ones that I know that struggle with retirement are the people that need people around to get anything done and need help with everything they do. They are followers in life and those characteristics can lead to boredom.

I was one that never wanted to be the old guy still working and I sure as h*** was going to die in the harness. Life is so short I make every minute of every day like it will be my last. I usually have to many things to do there isn't enough to do. Much much to do so little time here on earth.

I don't waste my time what I have left being bored!!!!

I know a legitimate billionaire, had lots of interests and could afford them all... but kept working...cause apparently you can't have too much money.....

but.....he now has dementia , 76 years old and they can't let him out of the house alone....All the money in the world and he's stuck being driven around like Miss Daisy....

Do what you can, as long as you can, enjoy your life as best you can......cause nobody gets out of here alive, and it can happen at any moment.

You Got That Right gcs!!!
I see nothing wrong if you want to work till you drop or expire all the good years in your life at a job. If it makes you happy do it!! I for one would want that because life is short all the money in the world won't matter in the end. I know when I'm on my death bed I will not wish I spent one more day at the office.

For some, collecting money is their hobby.

Have more than they need so then they collect for their kids, then to donate to charities, ect.

All good points. Take my MS as another example to go along with this. Bam out of no where now im not comfortable getin in a tree, geting to far back in the woods exct.

But the you only live once mentality is also a trap. YOLO for short. Its an excuse for irresponsible spending and lack of planning for the majority. Then they end up crying about being broke and why it's all someone
and something else's fault. Its never the poor decisions they made.

Almost every single American can be a millionaire. Regardless of income.. It only takes steady investing and time. Very small amount become large with compounding and enough time. But few are willing to save and invest. Want it all right now and use credit/debt. Robbing themselves of the ability to build wealth.

I myself have a problem with the work life balance. But working is my hobby. I enjoy building things, being productive. I would much rather bush hog than play golf or watch a sporting event.

I also know on the other end its a trap of no mater how much $ you have it will never be enough for some will always want just a little more. To combat that my simple goal is have enough assets producing cash flow to cover my basic living expenses. At that point by my definition I will be wealthy. That will be having true freedom.

I May never make it to that point or I could blow past it. Nothing is guaranteed except decline and death comes for us all.

YOLO is not for me.

A huge percentage of generational wealth is lost by the 2nd generation. Kinda sad.

I retired at 62. Our pensions and social security were enough to keep us in groceries. ‘Got a job offer as a consultant and teacher a year before I retired. That morphed into a very favorable contract with a big catering company where I did similar work.

Now I trap, garden, do a lot of stuff with my wife, don’t get out fishing as much as I’d like, and so on. Oh yeah, we bought a POS cabin adjacent to my in-law’s place. Over the first 6 years of retirement, we spent many hours remodeling it. If nothing else, it PROVED we could work together without killing each other.

This year, we’ve sold it. Most of the summer was spent cleaning out the memories and mowing the lawn. Retirement has been good to us so far.

Retirement is the end game,..who cares what others may think! Enjoy the time.

I’ll never be able to retire. There’s something about being married 4 times that puts a damper on that lol ! That’s ok I like what I do. I’ve setup my company doing mostly online sales so as long as I’m clear minded i can work from home for many years !

Dammit boy …. That’s some living right there

… hey Sharkhunter … you homegrown or a transplant…. I helped out a member on here from up towards riverside one time… expecting to find a Texas hand … turned out he was a Yankee transplant

… helped him just the same … but it was disappointing lol

Excellent.

I guess if you have anything, do your kids a favor consider a trust to avoid probate and spell out how you want it split if at all. - reminds me of a Corb Lund song - The S Lazy H https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yb3dRyLMB8

My kids are still living ar home but regardless dont get a say. I may ask them as they get older and I see how they develop, and choices they make, and interest and lifestyle they choose.

My farm is in a trust. Asset protection is the reason. Its easy to look uo and see what people own. If your successful or have assets you make yourself a target. It adds another layer making it hard to see what im worth.
If searched I own a small house on a few acres and 2 used vehicles. Not much to attempt to go after vs cost to do so with legal expenses.

When i was hit by the kid that ran the light and killed my son. He was not insured very well and even with the addit 300k in under insured insurance I had it looked like I was going to have to go bankrupt. I found out what they could and could not come after and set myself up so I limit that type of situation in the future. I was lucky eventually the medical providers took a settlement where each of them got the same % of their bill and it wiped available funds to zero. It was an uncomfortable 2 years and added a lot of stress when trying to deel with injuries and the loss of our child. So I had a trust made before we bought the farm and the trust bought the farm. I control the trust the trust owns the farm.

the other part of keeping the government out of it already stated no probate ect... Probably some protection against looking things to long term care places also but I really need to look into this further since it was not on my mind 9 years ago. But im geting ready to pay off moms condo in the next month or two And its a concern with her cancer. Hate to end up giving the condo to a nursing home if she ends up needing long term care. But it was an independents and tax thing to have the condo put in her name when we bought it for her. Made her feel good and saved on taxes.

I retired at 55 12 years ago. No way I was going to work until I die. Some people never make it to retirement age. That's a real shame.
It doesn't mean you have to sit around and rot away. There is PLENTY to keep me busy and active even at 67 years old.

I'm doing just fine money wise. Health wise not as good but not too bad for now at least.

We deserve some time to do what WE want at the end of our lives.