Going Out in Style

While the wife and I have planned for retirement in a financial sense, we really haven't done much about the nuts and bolts of it. Are we going to live in this house? Get a condo on the beach or in the city? Will actually finally quit work or just putz around part-time? I know that she wants to retire as soon as possible and be done with work. At some point I would like to just slow down and take on fewer projects. But, when the HB's done with college (note the optimism) we'll probably have a better sense of these things.

I bring this up because we went to a retirement party last night for the husband of a good friend of mine from Rotary. Interesting guy in that he was truly a child of the 60s. He was an Eagle scout, surfer/stoner, joined the peace corps and did two tours and had a career as a teacher. He's one of those guys who comes off as cranky and cynical, where in reality he has a very big heart and is cynical. A guess working in a huge bureaucracy helps you keep the cynical part.

We ate and drank a bunch and met some cool people. I chatted with the guest of honor some and asked the inevitable question, "So, what are you going to do now?" He was pretty drunk, but the gist of things was that he's got a fat government job pension, so they have no money worries. His wife is 15 years younger and she make beautiful pottery, so their schedule is flexible enough so that they can travel. As he was in the peace corps and she's a Thai native, they LOVE to go places. He gardens (they frequently give us lemon grass, Thai peppers and Thai basis) and loves to read. So, I'd say they pretty much have a good head start on spending the next several years.

I look at how my parents spend their retirement and it seems OK. They do a big trip every year or so (they're going to cruise around the Baltic Sea later this month) and they are involved in their temple. My mom reads once a week at a local school and my dad plays a lot of computer solitaire and babysits his investments online. On the weekends they frequently have dinner with friends and they have a great social network.

Boredom in retirement is a bigger fear to me than poor health or lack of money. Perhaps that's why I figure I'll keep working some even after my wife calls it quits. I really enjoy what I do and it's not physically difficult work. I keep telling myself that I'll get more involved in philanthropic work and travel more, but who knows. Do I have enough hobbies that I'll be able to do when I'm older? Are there enough things that my wife and I will want to do together and separately?

Apparently, a little more planning is in order.