Author Topic: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!  (Read 6519 times)

BigEasy

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Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« on: September 28, 2015, 08:36:07 PM »

Pulled the plug and retired end of August. Since then, looks like I've been too busy to "Retire!"

Explanation....Retired on a Friday, and Saturday was a technical conference in Boston representing an engineering firm for a week at approximately double my previous salary for a week...some executives from my previous employer were attending the same conference and remarked, "Didn't take you long, did it!"

When I returned, my previous employer offered me some easy consulting work with a 40% premium on an "As Needed" basis. Did 4 days of that.

My band had 2 gigs, I coached my local middle schools cross country team at 2 meets, and announced the play by play from the press box of our High School Football team.

Took delivery of a new Yamaha Viking to use on the farm...barely had time to use it.

Retirement is great so far!

Big Easy


Exflyboy

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2015, 09:52:32 PM »
Nice.. I've said over the last year that I need to go get a full time job so I can have a rest..:)

Congrats..!

patrickza

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2015, 01:18:38 AM »
Haha, congrats on the retirement. I bet you're enjoying the extra cash at the moment to top up on some cheap shares.

Once I pull the plug I wouldn't mind some part time work, as long as they don't try turn it into full time!

Gone Fishing

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2015, 08:13:28 AM »
I'm trying not to sandbag too much for post ER, but the list seems be growing quickly!

EscapeVelocity2020

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2015, 08:56:06 AM »
Glad you're enjoying being busy, but my FIRE is going to be 100% all about me and figuring out how to squeeze in all of my passions (at least for the first 6-12 months).  Time is limited!  I'd be playing on that Yamaha Viking and letting others have fun at the technical conference :)  But you certainly aren't the first person to claim FIRE and still be doing things that suspiciously sound like work 'that you enjoy and pays better', so go for it!

regulator

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2015, 08:21:09 PM »
I am finding that post job exit recovery from burnout can lead to some life craziness.  I spent most of last year recovering from a 20 year sentence in the cube and then ended up in a contract gig.  Along the way I resumed more of the parenting I had been missing out on and picked up a few new hobbies.  Now I find myself still in the gig I picked up last year (goes til end 2015), having picked up a far more interesting and flexible second gig I could not pass up, working on the prerequisites for starting a little side gig business with the kids next spring, trying to keep up with all my hobbies, helping take care of FIL who has advanced Parkinson's, and...

I am eager for the first gig to end so I have some breathing room.

BigEasy

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2015, 07:47:41 AM »

Trust me, I'm being very cautious to not allow these "Part time" gigs to morph into full time. The Boston conference was more like a paid vacation and my wife joined me.

The consulting with my former employer is super flexible and on my terms...All work is requested by  The engineer that replaced me.  It's more along the terms of "what would you do in this situation?" I have a minimum 8 Hour charge once I come in, no matter if my actual hours are less...and they have been.

My wife who's been retired for several years, has a similar arrangement with her former employer, a university.

Paid for the "Viking" just with the part time consulting this month! Now off to the trails today....

EscapeVelocity2020

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2015, 09:26:48 AM »
Sounds good BE.  There's always a bit of miscommunication built in to typing stuff back and forth in a forum, as opposed to having a normal flowing conversation.  And I'll probably also come across tempting offers to 'work' early in FIRE that I might not be able to refuse, even if I don't necessarily need the money.  Nothing wrong with that!

Retired To Win

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2015, 09:17:38 AM »
... The consulting with my former employer is super flexible and on my terms... My wife who's been retired for several years, has a similar arrangement with her former employer...

Paid for the "Viking" just with the part time consulting this month!....

My wife is in a similar boat.  As soon as she left her job, consulting work offers came in without her actually having even thought about it.  She seems to be handling the whole thing very well.  She'll do the work in spurts (all from her home office).  On a day-to-day basis, she still has lots and lots of time for her hobbies and activities.  And the munificent consulting fees have ended up paying for a lot of the costs of those activities... and then some.  The clincher is that she feels no need to hunt for clients and no obligation to keep doing this; one day she'll just say to herself that it's enough already -- and it will be.

Dicey

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2015, 07:22:38 PM »
Nice.. I've said over the last year that I need to go get a full time job so I can have a rest..:)

Congrats..!
LOL! DH is FI, but not yet RE. He loves his job and there are some big healthcare perks for hanging around a few more years. Plus, he walks to work. It's three tenths of a mile, but it's uphill one way, lol. We have taken on a couple of fun projects together (flipping a house, investing the proceeds in a rental that needs some work, etc.) He always jokes that he has to go to work so he can get some rest. As for me, I walk him to work at 5:45 a.m. and then I go home and back to sleep. Nice!

Miss Prim

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2015, 07:00:46 AM »
Haha!  I've said the same thing to my husband about going back to work to get a break!  I am busier with household stuff such as cleaning, organizing, canning and cooking.  I have at least 80 acorn squash and 20 butternut squash I have to do something with!  Have just been giving it away because we will never eat all that in a year!  I am cooking more and that takes some time. 

I find that I need some kind of routine or I just tend to not get dressed until noon and sometimes fritter away the day.  It's that work ethic that makes you feel like you have to be productive or you are a slacker! 

                                                                    Miss Prim

soccerluvof4

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2015, 06:35:55 AM »
Congratulations! I am pretty confident in what you are saying that if you made the decision to retire you will also make the right decisions in when enough is enough. Good luck to you!!!

BigEasy

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Re: Wow! Retired a month now, but too busy to be retired! But love it!
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2015, 03:48:10 PM »
Hello Y'all

Well it's been two weeks without any PAID work during my 6 weeks of retirement....feels good too. Plenty of fun things to keep me busy...Writing to you folks while sitting on my dock...

I guess my issue has been breaking the cycle of regular work for the past 40 years and convincing myself it's OK to chill. Have a week long conference in Long Beach, California mid November. Wife and I will treat this like a paid vacation.

I have friends who retired recently who don't do anything except shop with their spouse and watch TV and surf the web, but that's what they did while working.

Coaching a cross country meet Saturday and Wednesday, then playing music several times more this month....

Adjusting to no set schedule...

Big Easy