Late in March, Tanya, over at Our Next Life ran a couple of posts about using the term “retirement” honestly. If you continue to make some money on the side, through blogging or other means, are you truly “retired?” Tanya makes some good points about being honest with young people, who may get the impression that if they just save, they can retire early and presto…everything will be both hunky and dory!
As I mentioned in a post long ago, I had friends who told me, “You didn’t retire…you just quit.” , So when we met with our financial adviser last month, I asked her if she considered us retired, even though we continue to make some money. Here’s what she said:
If you don’t NEED to make money…If you can live comfortably on your retirement income (pensions) and investments,
then YES…YOU ARE RETIRED!
She went on to say that if we continue to pursue other activities which we enjoy, and by chance make a little cash on the side, well, that’s just the icing on the cake. We can pick and choose how we spend our time (another element of retirement.)
But here’s the rub…
In my little side hustle, I do some administrative support gigs for a few clients. Document production, organization management, event coordination – things like that. They are jobs that I can generally do from anywhere, on my own schedule.
Except that I forgot to pace myself…I kept saying, “Sure, I can help you with that!” And before you know it, I was missing from my blog. For almost a month. Because I had work to do…..
Almost like a real job! Ewwwwwwwwww! Enough of that nonsense. I’m retired! Remember?
An Encore Voyage 
You can never have enough money tucked away. And you can never have enough time to spend it all. As the years go by, invest more of your time in spending the money on all those things you have been meaning to do, if you ever got the time.
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Boy is that the truth! And I almost forgot that how I invest my TIME is the most important thing! ~ Lynn
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I met up with an acquaintance a few months ago who relayed words of advice from her investment advisor. In your 60’s spend your money, forget about saving.
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The older we get, the more we are realizing that it’s the experiences that count!
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I’m collecting Social Security but I don’t consider myself retired since I still am doing my medical transcription. I tried working for six months at Michaels to see if I could hold out until 66 but I just couldn’t do it. Semi-retired is what I call myself.
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We do the same…One third Frank Lloyd Wright, one third Warren Buffett, and one third Jimmy Buffett! – That’s what we’re shooting for!
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I’ve always felt that if you CHOOSE to work, not because you need the money but because there are elements you enjoy, than you can call yourself retired. Both my husband and I thought we might dabble in consulting work once we retired (there were multiple opportunities from where we retired from and from people/businesses we dealt with while working) but, once we settled into our retirement, we decided that we enjoyed not working too much. It can be difficult to switch from acquiring and hoarding mode to spending mode, but we are getting better… and having a lot of fun.
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I’ve heard it’s a hurdle to go from accumulation to distribution…but I’m pretty sure we’re about ready to go there! We’ve got lots of plans!
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Same thing happened to me last May. And I didn’t like it. In November, life circumstances “encouraged me” to stop all work, completely. I needed to focus energy elsewhere. I’ve yet to pick anything consulting-wise back up…and in fact am beginning to wonder if I will! I’m liking this feeling of (almost) complete freedom everyday.
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Glad to see you back again, Lynn. I like your Financial Advisor’s definition of ‘retirement.’ And I love the endless variety of options and choices that retirement brings. When I was planning my retirement, I thought I might work a little on the side. But the moment that I actually retired, that desire quickly faded.
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I enjoy doing a little something once in awhile…but I let it get completely away from me! And now with golf season upon us, well…that nonsense must STOP! ~ Lynn
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Okay, I could retire financially, but chose to continue to work two days a week, so I am going to declare myself retired! And luckily no one is asking me to work ‘extra’ or I’d probably say yes. Glad to see you are back, Lynn.
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Thanks, Molly! Just don’t let yourself be the victim of “extra work creep” like I did! It creeps up on ya, and next thing ya know… ~ Lynn
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I will be on the lookout for ‘extra work creep!’
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I spent my first year after retirement spending as if I hadn’t retired. It took me some time to come to grips with the idea that I was retired. I thought for a while that I’d do work of some other kind, but it has been 3 years now and I’m no longer interested in paid employment. I’ve got way too much living to do!
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So very true, Karen! And I’m getting anxious to pare down on these odd little jobs, especially with summer coming! ~ Lynn
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You have to be careful with that work stuff. It can be addicting. I’m glad to see you back at your real job – that of being retired.
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I’m planning on honing my skills from here on in, Dan! I’m going to try to obtain “expert” level! ~ Lynn
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That’s good! I may need your advice in about 18 months 😉
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Haha! Yes, you are kind of retired. But, as long as you enjoy what you’re doing… Right? Saying “no” is not an easy thing to do, I know from experience, and from reading about it on a fellow blogger’s website recently. 🙂
Here is another interesting tidbit, to me anyway. The more money you make, the more taxes you pay… It might sound weird, but we felt much more comfortable making minimum wage and not paying any taxes (apart from self-employment tax), then working harder, making a little bit more money, and ending up giving it to the government. Which, I know from Janis’s blog and from experience, uses it wisely. It’s a mental thing…
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…oh I hear you! We are now in a delicate balancing act – being careful not to make “too much!” Maybe it’s better to just put our feet up and relax! ~ Lynn
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Who needs labels? You are living your life, doing what you want when you want. Now, having said that, I confess that I occasionally tell people I,m a “lifestyle manager”. Of course, the only lifestyles I manage are mine and my husband’s, but that’s a full time job. 😉
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I LOVE that! “Lifestyle Manager” – I am sooooooo gonna steal that phrase! And I’m gonna start managing a little more relaxation in the future! Thanks, Shelley! ~ Lynn
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Haha yay for retirement and slow(er) living :)!
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Not yet at “retirement” age, but close enough to be trying to figure out what the concept will mean in our household. I’m in the interesting position of being a freelancer (back-of-the-book indexer), which I envision keeping doing as long as it’s still fun and interesting. Glad I found you blog, looking forward to reading more.
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As a virtual administrative assistant, I understand the concept of “the world is flat.” I checked out your blog today. I never realized that indexing was NOT done by computer! I can’t even imagine how daunting that task must be! (I imagine there is a system.) Hubs and I have struggled with the definition of retired – We imagine we’ll continue to do something a long time! But that’s OK! It’s all about reinvention! ~ Lynn
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