Ready 2 Retire When Ready 2 Turn Cheek

WSJ op ed gave a practical tick list on when best to retire BUT doesn’t it really come down to being honest about how sick you are with your “career” & how readily available (& affordable) your next challenges are calling your number?

Don’t know about other retirees, but after THREE careers over 45+ years as practicing lawyer, national legal journalist & media relations manager for 3 int’l law firms, I KNEW I was ready to pack it in when my last (& worst) employer, boss & other charges made me want to shout “Kiss my butt.” Like the 67-yr-old example used by the reporter for illustrative purposes, my “finances were in order.” Yet, did I also feel some hesitancy, “like a part of my life was being cut?” Well, sort of, BUT with me, my final day felt like an insidious cancer was being cut out of what life I had yet to live. Looking back, I had done all I could do for scores of grateful as well as ungrateful folks & done it well. Moreover, I could now on a full-time basis put to good use my life-long passions for history & current events, then, continue to share my experience & insights for what they were … no small thanks to the technology revolution I participated in during that long career & that paved the way for my website, online publishing & social media postings. Add a Soulmate, home, growing family, an always needy dog, never-ending love of art & new found love of golf … and, I’m busier now than ever.

Says the WSJ piece: “Wait too long & you might regret the extra years you gave to work. Leave too early & you could feel lost in your new life.” Agreed. Preparation & honesty is key. But, disagree with the quoted psychiatrist who cited the old canard that “Work in this society defines who you are.” Maybe he’s right IF you let society & your job define who you are … yet I say the right time to retire is when you realize you can honestly afford to say to one & all at work, “Kiss my butt.”

Davd Soul