not THAT is awesome! I’m looking at 53 as a target and thought I was doing quite well…but 48 is pretty sweet.
7 years between posts…another impressive feat
Well, I don’t think I’ll have ANY issues with the transition to retirement - the oil field downturn put things in to perspective both emotionally and financially so that was the silver lining with that (and we aren’t out of the woods yet so…). I was really busy after I got laid off - I found new interests and tried all sorts of things. I look forward to the day when I can do that full time (retirement). I listened to people alot smarter than me and accidentally on purpose made some smart financial decisions - I continue to do that. The down turn also forced me to realign my priorities - beer, ballgames, travel, concerts - so I guess I’ll just have to figure out how to squeeze all that in between newly discovered hobbies and etc. I CAN’T WAIT!
Come join us dear, it ain’t that scary. Getting involved with our community has been very rewarding. Who says us rough and tumble people can’t make a difference in our young people’s lives after we retire?
53 is a rather impressive target too. Someone has done their homework. Good for you.
Retired at 62 about 2 months ago. 40 years at sea. Still processing my situation. Decided to retire from the best job ever because my passion and commitment were beginning to fade and I wanted to retire while still in very good health. Bought a RV and have started to see a bit of this fantastic country of ours. Military retired pay, civil service annuity, social security and TSP made it an easy decision and so far, a decent lifestyle. The only thing I currently miss is the morning coffee with the guys.
Most go from sea to land…a few go from land to sea. 6 months or fewer a year with ZERO work obligations when on vacation, it basically is retired.
I suppose it depends on each ones individual situation. When I was sailing to foreign ports with an international crew I enjoyed my job and if I had continued that work I would have delayed retirement. However, I moved over to the drilling side of shipping into shipyards for the big increase in pay, enjoyed that too until the down turn then it became a chore just to survive the BS. Started dreading going to work so it was time to swallow the anchor. As it turns out I am as busy as I was before and much happier. In retrospect my happiest times sailing were when I was making the least money on some tramp freighter or research boat. Didn’t make much money but had fun, ate well, traveled to interesting places and had entertaining crew members.
What if your former employer called begging you to come back to work?
I understand that in just a few short years 1/3 of the work force in the USA will be people who are well into their 70’s as this trend grows.
Would you miss it enough to go back on the water?
That’s my job now. I work about half or less of a year, I sock away money in my retirement fund, I am paying off debt. I would be gone sooner and doing something else except for some administrative delays in paperwork that I am dealing with. I detest many of the people I work with because this organization does not fire people on the spot for egregious violations of the law especially pertaining to discharges of wastes. I would say more, but I can’t, unfortunately. Do not PM me- I will not discuss.
6months a year (max, sometimes 3 months), full pension benefits (able to collect) at 20 eligible years of service, zero payment on healthcare premiums, no stress at home or late night emails/calls, live anywhere (cheap cost of living), no need to move to chase promotions, 3+ month long vacation trips traveling the world and not being poor (like the travel hippies) 100k+ pay…said almost nobody that works on shore.
You can’t beat it with a stick. I love not dealing with BS 24/7. I can sit at home and be drunk on a Wednesday morning just in time to listen to the crazies call in to C-SPAN. Or go mountain bike or body surf in summer. Hike in the woods. Walk the beach and poke around for seashells. No bitchy knowitall ex-oil patch chief engineer half your age in your face telling you how he’s there to teach you something. When you were already crawling bilges when his daddy made a wet spot on the mattress.
Concerning your problem with the CE, I think that is one of the main reasons we middle-aged/older people need to have the “positive attitude, 6 months of the year is retirement” as a Plan B only. A realistic retirement plan & set date should be Plan A. No matter how broke & positive a persons outlook at work is they’re going to have bad days, weeks & months. If you don’t have a realistic exit strategy then those bad weeks & months will be a living hell because you’ll probably be too broke to retire & too old to start somewhere else.
I worked with a relief/fill-in captain about 15 years ago. The guy only worked occasionally, he played the markets a lot, he owed a small trucking business, his wife was a RN & he always had a positive attitude. He called his retirement savings his, “Fuck You Money”. When shit hit the fan he was as carefree as ever. I know he didn’t feel like he was stuck on that boat like the rest of us because of his “Fuck You Money”. Being carefree & being able to walk away without a second thought is the only way I could work at anything & still call it a retirement job.
Yeah, you got it. Making the switch from large ocean going vessels to tugs (and an ATB) was actually, for me, anyway, not a bad thing. Still deep sea. . . and I kind of liked the smaller crews, to be honest. Well, at least when we had a bunch that was compatible. . . still made foreign voyages, too. Money was always decent. And, while I certainly enjoyed my time off, I didn’t really bitch about coming back to work. . . well, that was until I signed on with Belcher. . . . I can’t say that I ever hated a job more than that one… . .from the vessel, to the crew. . . made the transition to shore side life a relief, to be honest. . . .
I had the opposite deal when I was sailing. . . . I was CE on an ATB in my mid 20s, and would get assistant engineers twice my age with O&M licenses (see another thread posted to just this morning) thinking that THEY were going to teach ME something. . . this isn’t to say that I was not then, or now, for that matter, willing to learn something from anyone, but after spending a couple of hours with some of these guys, well, it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t happening. . . .and as far as having time off. . . I was supposed to be working even time on and off, but usually ended up working about 9 months out of the year. . . .but I also was not lost on the fact that on my time off, I was essentially “retired”. At one point, I was living in South Florida, and could see these fold that spent their whole lives slaving away to retire to the area, to die. . . . and decided then and there that I wouldn’t do that. . . I feel that I have a nice balance between working and doing what it is that I want. . . a recent brush with the Grim Reaper a couple of years ago, has also had its impact on me, too. . . .
Funny. My Father taught the 3 of us to always pay ourselves first which meant putting money in savings. While we were young retirement was not a worry, we figured we’d worry about that later. BUT, the savings idea was pounded into our heads from an early age so it seemed normal. My father’s thinking was this,“Boys, in life you gotta work to make a living and some of these folks aren’t easy to work for so save your money because though we all have to eat a little shit in life you don’t want to live on it because you won’t live long.”
If your father used the phrase, “Pay yourself first” than I suspect he had read George Clason’s 1926 book, “The Richest Man In Babylon”. I think that phrase was coined in Clason’s books. A co-worker let me borrow a copy when I was 19 yrs old & that was the foundation for me. Sounds like your dad was a smart man who gave his kids an inheritance better than cash.
the golden rule I could see about retirement/retirees as I grew up was dont retire till you have a plan and that if possible should be in place and then you work out you dont have time to do your old job so easy step…
that could be hobby or paid work
PS I know far too many in OnG who kept going back for the money as it doubled and doubled again only to never retire…be careful of that one
And that is just it. . . life is strange, and you never really know when it is gonna be up. Coming very close to death a couple of years ago was an interesting experience for me. I have pretty much recovered now. . . but my perspective and attitude have certainly changed. . . enjoy life. . . .
I have been lucky enough in earlier life to do most of the stuff people do when they retire so I am not saving up, happy to keep working in technology as its constantly changes so interesting.
One of my mates from my teenager days just got some rare brain disease, healthy non smoker like all of my friends just around 60 yrs, you never know…
I guess its all about how much stuff you have ticked off the bucket list…
( and keeping your health)
I agree ! I also went thru a scare that may get me yet and it brought things into perspective. As I contemplated leaving this life I worried about what would happen to my family of course but in actuality they will be just fine. No one will go hungry. Then I wondered what would happen to all the stuff I had accumulated, some meant a lot to me but most likely no one else would appreciate this stuff. So…I started getting rid of things. Gave a lot away to those close to me, downsized so to speak. Lo and behold I survived that scare, at least up until this point but I don’t miss a thing I got rid of. There is no luggage rack on a hearse. One of the things that had sentimental value for me was a monkey wrench left to me by my grandfather. It got moved with me all over the planet thru a couple of divorces and a lot of career moves. When I tried to give it away to a young engineer he asked me what it was good for. After some thought I said, “Not much actually, it won’t grip a pipe and rounds off nuts. Really isn’t worth a damn for anything. I’m sure my grandfather is wondering why I keep dragging the thing around as they have better tools now.” I ended up selling it at a yard sale for 50 cents to some guy older than me. It’s all just stuff. The things that matter are the memories you have and values you leave behind. 