Now what?

[briarpatch]

Turned in my retirement papers. The last day will be May 31 What do you old retired dudes do with your selves now?
Got a cruise coming up in Sept. Other than that, nothing planned.

[Slowhanddd]

Well If I ever get to retire it'll be shoot,surf the the Graybeards,shoot and mow the yard.Repeat as nessesary.don't know really what I'd do.probably still work a little.Don't have to many projects that need doing.

[Conan The Librarian]

The guys I know who are doing best in retirement had a plan well in advance, and started a new and rewarding life upon retirement. Other guys spent thefirst year taking care of home and personal projects while developing a plan for their new lifestyle. These guys do well too. Some, and this is not a minority, remained attached to the idea of work and the old way of life and they quickly became seriously ill or died. The record in my personal experience was a guy named Jurgen who retired on a Friday and was dead by the next Wednesday.  Then there are the guys who plan to work forever, but they eventually realize they don't want that and aren't prepared to retire. My old friend Don was like that and he dropped dead of a massive heart attack while walking across his living room.

Good luck!

[Glanceblamm]

The guys I know who are doing best in retirement had a plan well in advance, and started a new and rewarding life upon retirement. Other guys spent thefirst year taking care of home and personal projects while developing a plan for their new lifestyle. These guys do well too. Some, and this is not a minority, remained attached to the idea of work and the old way of life and they quickly became seriously ill or died. The record in my personal experience was a guy named Jurgen who retired on a Friday and was dead by the next Wednesday.  Then there are the guys who plan to work forever, but they eventually realize they don't want that and aren't prepared to retire. My old friend Don was like that and he dropped dead of a massive heart attack while walking across his living room.

Good luck!

I saw a bunch of these same things happening in my 30 years of employment with a chemical industry. It is so accurate that I can place names and faces with each senario.

Myself? Not retired yet and am not sure that they will let me haha, I do remember how to "Play" and aim to keep it that way.

[no guns here]

Retired from the AF, started a new job 21 days later.  We'll see how it goes...


NGH

[oldandslow]

Well, I fished a lot at the start. I also did a bunch of things to the place I had been wanting to do for years and also remodeled my daughters entire house. Then I became bored and went back to work for 5 years. Got too beat up to keep doing that so I retired again. I've done some remodeling on my daughter's new house and an extensive remodel on mine since then. I have spent this year getting repaired by the bone doctor from wear and tear from my working years and am not done yet.  I should be rebuilt by next year. In between times I manage to hunt and fish some and take a pretty good vacation each summer.

I may fall over in my tracks but I'm not going to set down and quit.

I took early retirement. Got out at 58 the first time.

[slim rem 7]

sounds like you are better at retirement than myself..

[Conan The Librarian]

Just had breakfast with my friend Gary who graduated this week from culinary school that prepares him for skilled restaurant work. He's 63. Semi-retired a few years ago. Got his home projects done, then decided he wanted to be a professional chef. Good man. Very dedicated to his new craft, and knowledgeable too.

[OldSchoolRanger]

Been retired for four years. Just did what i wanted the first year. Goofed off, goofed off, etc. 
Then I started to get into bicycling, I bought bicycles off the internet, fixed, repaired, cleaned up, then sold them, made a few bucks also.  I also bicycle a lot when the weather permits (no I'm not the spandex type bicyclist), for exercise.
I also take care of the wife to make up for all the years when I missed out on the family get togethers.  Took her out to Broadway shows, restaurants in NYC.  Spend more time with family.  Went on good vacations that I couldn't go on over the years because of conflicts with my job schedule, and my wifes'. 
Spent more time the years after retirement to really enjoy hunting, fishing, rebuilt the roof on the shed, and of course the dreaded "honey-do" list.  This year I discovered Greybeards. I even went away to AZ & NV with a old military buddy of mine that I haven't seen in years.  Maybe next year, I'll buy myself a bike (motorcycle) and ride, I haven't done that in a few years.
The bottom line, enjoy yourself, and keep busy.  Don't worry, you'll always find something to do.

[rockbilly]

What ever you can afford to do.  If you have ever wanted to do something and didn't have the time, do it now.  Don't wait, as you grow older health issues may prevent you from doing many things you wanted to.

I vbought a truck and fifth wheel trailer, the wife and planned to travel and see the USA, we made several trips traveling the back roads and meeting the people.  It was really nice, there are some wonderful folks in the country.  Then my health caught up with me and the past two years I have been tajing Chemo and radiation treatments for lung cancer. The doctor seems to think we have it in check and if everything turns out OK after the PET Scan scheduled for July we will agaqin try to do a little traveling.

The point is, do it now!  I will never forget my Father.  He was a huge baseball fan, always wanted to atend a World Series game, he had the money and time but kelp putting it off.  Shortly before he passed away he told me, "Son, if I ever get out of this bed I will make the next World Series."  He died before he could make it

Don't let time kick your butt, enjoy life whaile you can.

[Conan The Librarian]

Rockbilly said it best. Very touching, and very true and with the wisdom that only truest experience can bring.

My buddy the bow hunter once told me that he's hunting as much as he can (in his 30s) because some day he won't be able to do it. Very true. Very smart.

My wife is like that now with her mom being in ill health and 94. She spends as much time as she can with her mom.

[Sourdough]

Retired at the age of 55.  Health issues kept me tied up for the first couple of years.  Since then I been so busy don't know how I ever had time to work.  I do a lot of shooting, game calling, hunting,  I'm the one that maintains our fleet of six vehicles, two cars, two trucks, two SUVs.  Two 4-wheelers, two snow machines, one snow blower, one garden tractor, one lawn mower, one gas powered string trimmer, one boat with twin outboards, and two small outboards for canoes.  I only get to mow the grass four or five times during the short growing season. 

But did I say I do a lot of shooting, and reloading.  In fact I'm leaving as soon as I finish typing this to go shooting.  Need to check out the Savage V-24 I bought.  Then I will probably go test it out on game, if I can get something to answer a call.

Now that the snow has all melted I got a mess in the front of the house.  Where did all those soda bottles and trash come from.  Suddenly stuff I have been looking for shows up out there.  Some of it has been missing for six months or more.

[beerbelly]

Do what ever trips your trigger ,but do it don't put it off. Father time waits for no one. For years I enjoyed my sailboat. A 31 foot Almand. but now with my age and poor health I have been trying to clean her up and sell her. I can no longer keep her up.
  Not doing real well at the clean up. What used to take an hour now may take all day.
So enjoy it for as long as you can!

[Graybeard]

Speaking for myself each day I do whatever the heck I want to do within my physical and fiscal limits and both do put a crimp in my ability to do things. I retired on Sep. 28, 1995 and no I've not gotten another job and won't be doing so. If I had wanted to continue to be employed I'd not have retired.

We've done some hunting in and out of state, made some trips to visit folks and do things around the house when the mood strikes. There is always more to do than time to do even now that I'm retired. I just don't have to do anything specific on a given day so my time is mine to do with as I please.