Don't Quit Your Day Job & Other Advice from Retirees

I laugh when I think about retirement. Why? a) I love working, especially writing and reporting, which is good because b) I'll be working for a long time as I fatten up my anorexic retirement account.

But keeping your day job is a bit of advice offered by some retirees in this piece about happy retirements from the Wall Street Journal.

"First, no matter how much you hate your job, it is likely providing you with far more than just a paycheck. Work gives a structure to your day, lets you exert influence and garner praise, offers friendships with colleagues, and provides a sense of purpose and identity." --WSJ

I also received this email with advice from retirees. Some of it made me laugh, but all-in-all here are a few valuable comments from a book How to Love Your Retirement.

PREPARE FOR IT AHEAD OF TIME. Use your vacations to try out
retirement ideas. Visit communities you think you might like
to live in. Meet happily retired people, find out how they put
their lives together in new ways, and learn from them. I took
a sabbatical in my 50s and rode my bike in New Zealand,
England, and Ireland and led bike tours for Vermont Cycling.
I loved the tours so much I knew that I had to do more of
them in retirement. My sabbatical helped me figure out
things I wanted to do and didn't want to do in retirement. It
also influenced me to retire while I was young enough to do
these ambitious things (60) and to save every penny so I
could have enough money to do them.
-EMILY KIMBALL
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
52

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I DID BEFORE RETIREMENT was
pay off my condominium. I have no mortgage payment,
which means that my housing costs are only the condo fee
plus property taxes. I also was frugal, tracking my expenditures
and cutting back in creative ways. This enabled me to
retire with sufficient savings to travel and have adventures. I
know how to live solely on my pension. I am spending my
first year trying to figure out what I can do when I grow up!
-DALE SUSAN BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. ........

YOU ARE ALLOWED TO USE THE MONEY you're saving in an IRA
to pay for certain expenses that your kids might be running
up. But if the grandkids need money, they should talk to their
parents.
-PEGGY WEHR
WOODWORTH, OHIO
YEARS RETIRED: 7

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