thomas

Each of us must decide for ourselves when it is the right time to retire. During my last several years of high school teaching I taught Photography and Advanced Placement Art History. Photography was quite physically taxing in that I had to work with students in the dark room, in the classroom and at times out on the campus. As those of you who have attended one of the Palm Springs Weekends know I am VERY high energy. During my last year of teaching, I was finding that, at the end of the day, I was going home physically exhausted. Additionally, many of the normal things high school students do were beginning to annoy me. As much as I had loved teaching it was time to go. I made that decision over spring break. Upon returning to school, I informed both my principal and my vice-principal that I would be retiring in June. Both were shocked and attempted to talk me out of doing so but I held firm. Frankly, it is better to go while they still want to keep you rather than to wait until they are attempting to push you out the door. I have never regretted my decision.
 
P.S. I retired at 62 1/2

At 63 which will be in two months...

I retired last September at 66 while I’m still healthy enough to enjoy it. Burned out from working. It’s fabulous to be freed of the grind. The whole Covid thing put me over the edge when my employer insisted that I come into work and mask up all day

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I began watching this HBO crime thriller which takes place in a close knit community in Pennsylvania. Kate Winslet stars as a police detective Mare) assigned to investigate the murder of a young mother while under increasing pressure by the town to solve the disappearance of another young girl. She is insulted when the higher-ups in the department call in another detective to help her with the two cases. Of course, her own home life is in shambles despite the fact that her mother (Jean Smart) is trying to help her as best their personalities can allow them. While all this mess is transpiring she meets a handsome, semi-successful author (Guy Pearce) who wants to pursue a relationship with Mare while she realizes the limitations of her present circumstances.
I have really liked the series so far and actually look forward to its progression. Some have compared it to the BBC series Happy Valley which I have not seen so I obviously cannot compare them. The only small complaint that I have is that the writers seemed to have tried to insert a very large number of characters into the story in a short amount of time so that it has been hard for me to keep track of who is who and what relationship they are to other characters.
Kate Winslet is great so far. I am always amazed how British actors/actresses seem to be able to master an American accent for a role. For instance, I first saw Emily Mortimer (perhaps the name should have tipped me off) in Lars and the Real Girl (a great movie) and saw a very great American actress speaking a Minnesotan accent. I then saw her on some talk show and heard her speaking her native British accent. I was amazed. Any way, in Mare, Winslet masters a specific accent spoken in a certain area of Pennsylvania.

I liked Nomadland quite a bit and only think it's ending is depressing if you consider the nomad lifestyle to be the lesser of those choices. To Fern, being a nomad is the choice of freedom and autonomy...her way of burying the past grief over her husband and truly becoming her own person. The ending to me is powerful because it questions the conventional ways we think of "happiness" in favor of a different path. I doubt I would choose the same, but thought it was the best way for that movie to end and was in many ways a "happy" ending.
 
I do really want to see Minari. It looks really good. I think maybe I will rent it on Amazon this weekend.

I was lucky to get a union job at a local utility in the remote area where I live. I had a family and the company had good benefits - health & life insurance, 401K, pension, sick leave, good vacation time. Not long after I was hired the great downsizing started and as one of the last hired my job always ended up being cut and I would be places in a new department - I never was in a position for more than 5 years and was always the junior man. I came to really dislike working there and decided that I would retire at the first opportunity which turned out to be at age 57 (I would have had to work 7 more years to increase my pension). To make some extra money after I retired I did substitute teaching at the 7/8 grade level mostly with kids who had minor learning disabilities - I loved it! Am I rich? No - but unless something catastrophic happens I have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life and I am content with that.

Rather than set an arbitrary age for retirement long in advance, I retired when I felt it was time to do so and the circumstances were appropriate. I never planned to retire at 59, but a lot of things that I could not have predicted happened at about the same time--changes in my job, changes in my private life, unexpected opportunities--and I realized that the time was right, so I did it almost on the spur of the moment, and I have never regretted the decision.

Just make sure your "quit number" doesn't assume everything continues to go right physically. You get some chronic condition that inhibits your ability to work, your burn rate goes up, and you could be in a lot of trouble unless you have a cushion. How you feel at 45 and 55 can sometimes be VERY different and not necessarily predictable Part of the reason when the opportunity presented itself, I went back to full-time work after a few years off in my late 40s. I realized I'm not sure how long I will be physically completely self-reliant - I'm already paying people to mow the lawn and shovel because I can't. So...back at the corporate grind, maxing out the 401(k) and HSA, and letting my other stuff grow a few more years. And strategizing about my next home and what I will require to age in place.

Joan Rivers used to say "Whoever says money can't buy happiness doesn't know where to shop." Having said that, I've known a few folks in my lifetime who believe that being "rich" is more than just a question of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. I had a roommate in college, a brilliant young man, good-looking, great personality. For most of the last half-century he sold snacks at a major sports venue and made subsistence wages. For entertainment he goes to free concerts, socializes with friends, visits parks, museums, and other low-cost attractions. He rarely watches TV as he considers it a waste of time and spends most evenings reading books he has borrowed from the public library. For most of the past 50 years he has immersed himself in various organizations and movements that attempt to make life better for the less fortunate. I can attest that he is one of the happiest, best adjusted, most contented individuals I know. Epictetus, a stoic philosopher said that “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

I have 5 siblings. I made the median income for my family and am far and away the "wealthiest" of us. Largely because I didn't have kids who turned out to have special needs, or crippling depression that doesn't respondvto treatment, or a disease that took my ability to walk and care for myself, or a spouse who got one of the deadlier cancers but lived several years longer than most, costing quite a bit during that time, etc. We need to be more aware of the fact it's not JUST doing the right things, there's a substantial amount of chance involved in our society in "making it." I really can't say I worked harder for my better outcome.

Located between the SPA & ASK AN ESCORT is a new Forum called “The Sports Desk”. It’s for the sports enthusiasts amongst us. Now you can post about your favorite sport or share news stories. And, if you like, post images of some of your favorite players.
 
So, here’s a question for you, name an Olympic event where men & women compete against one another on equal terms. ?

Would have voted for MINARI, if I was a voting Academy member.

As a long time lurker I want to thank @Orin & @RadioRob so much for getting things back "up". Bravo!!

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Viola, as Ma Rainey, was wonderful and riveting as always (IMO). Though for me, when I think of her, I always go back to this bravura monologue from King Hedley II - which in watching it again now, seems more timely than ever.