I think your golden rule is a good reason why mariners should have aggressive, practical early retirement plans even if they don’t plan on retiring early just in case. Almost all of us can be forced to retire if we are ready or not at any given time due to injury, unforeseen medical issues or economic downturn. I’ve known more than a few wealthy-working-poor mariners who unexpectedly went to just being poor once they quit sailing.
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my father had the money he just had no plan on what to do next.
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I feel a long way from retirement, but I worked with 3 Chief Engineers who were working a 6 week on 12 week off rotation. It sounded the perfect transition to full time retirement. A dream come true!!
John wrote
Now if you are at an advanced age you might have a lot of FYM and your health or something may limit your FYO. In that case just enjoy life the best you can and just spend a few hours a week learning something or developing friendships that gives you FYU because, as the stoic’s said, the secret to a good life is to “Live as if you will die tomorrow and study and learn as if you will live forever.”Blockquote
Advanced age isn’t the death sentence some would think. If you have the newer skills the market is in a scramble for you may be surprised.
Recently I went looking on the net for FREE education with certificates issued on completion of the course. I was shocked to see what all was offered. I knew from the last time I did that search that there were many but with Corona
and so many people out of work and at home it has really grown.
The innermodal & multimodal transportation courses appealed to me but you can Google for any particular opportunity you are with interest.
Many of these programs are from known reputable Colleges & Universities too.
Others from Tech Schools of acclaim. Just a matter of signing up and taking them.
Of these courses, some allowed you to have the course for FREE but they wanted $50 dollars for the certificate. (some just included the certificate) Still
the $50 dollars to get the certificate would be a value as you could include a photo scan of it in an application for a job. If one was willing to have himself a employment resume website these certificates could appear there. (and a link to the site be included in the online application for the job) I’ve done this myself.
I’ve even taken the Jung Typology Test (free) to include my Type in my web-resume. It blows a lot of HR people’s minds that I would do it.
It may keep me from being considered for some opportunities but it
more quickly gets me considered for the ones HR would be interested in placing me. (I tend to test as an ESTJ executive or ESTP entrepreneur)
I’ve had some HR people explain that although I may not fit in well with their organization they wanted to pass it along to some of the recruiters that they used. It led to their calling me and offering job leads if I would respond.
I hope to retire within the next 12 months and begin working elsewhere, even part time. This may not be in a maritime field but who knows. I also enjoy drawing and painting, and plan to build some longboard skateboards, maybe sell a few a year just for fun.
Life does not end at retirement. There is always something to do.
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Good foresight Catherder. I’m thinking you are more than prepared to walk when you want to. Good for you. My bride and I enjoy talking to the parents of athletes and give advice on how to get their sons/daughters on the radar for scholarships. A gentleman that I sat with in the stands watching my sons team play had one son in D1 football at Maryland., the other son was on my sons team that went D1 at UNC . My son went D3 at USMMA and had a blast. Hiawatha Hughes showed us the ropes, just paying it forward to the parents with a kid that has marketable talent and don’t know how to get recruited. Retirement is not the end of your life. Long boards and art sound very interesting. Go for it Catherder.
Great for you catherder! Are you more anxious, excited, nervous or all of the above? Have you thought about how you are going to work it on your license for one more renewal in case you want to keep sailing?
that should be a quote.
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I am renewing my medical early next year. My MMD renewal is in three so that may be it- will have to see.
There is gig work out there and I may pick up a relief job here and there.
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Our brides have been holding down the fort for a long time. I just agree with her to a point. 40 + years, and scars to prove it. My John Deere gets massive oil changes and my bear dog helps. Self imposed therapy is a great tool.
Prehaps one of the reasons so many people buy new homes or hit the RV’s shortly after retiring? Probably easier to start fresh somewhere else compared to trying to figure out how to rewrite the process that was in place for 40+ years?
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Very true. I’ve known a few retired military guys, especially Navy, who got divorced not long after retiring. Trying to alter a routine their wives had established for 20 years didn’t go over well. Madam had run things for years and had a job too. Divorce happened, wife got 50% of the pension, kids were gone by then so half the divorced couple lived happily ever after.
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with a couple hundred acres, a shop i’m building and 15 vehicles around and a saw mill that all need work i haven’t time to use my camp trailer or go fishing but 1x this year. sometimes i long for the regular work day and the screw off time but then i guess i can grab a can of beer when i get tired of sawing wood or whatever i’m doing.
For what it’s worth, even in this pandemic, a few more kids in our small world have been recruited to play football. Perhaps that is not your cup of tea. The D1 talent guys have coaches chasing them, We focus on the ones that are overlooked with talent and above average in the classroom. P.S. I don’t get paid nor seek any to help the parents understand how to help their kids get in the system. It is my pleasure to pay it forward the same grace I was afforded early on by a great mentor. That these young athletes get to play and get scholarship money is reward enough.
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My retirement story
The wife came home from work the other day and said what have you done today.
Nothing I replied.
Next day she comes home and said what have you done today.
Nothing I replied.
She says but you did nothing yesterday.
I said I know - I hadn’t finished.
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On leaving deep sea many years ago I moved into ferries. Initially two weeks on one week off, then week on week off and eventually having been transferred to the Dover to Calais run, day on day off with a week of nights and a week off each 28 days. No domestic problems for me!
I fill in some of my time by driving around Kent on my friend’s traction engine. Until fairly recently I drove standard gauge steam trains on a preserved railway but at 75 I decided that it was a bit too much like hard work!
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Hard work driving a train? Was the steering getting to you? 
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Many years ago I took a lady radio correspondent on a trip and after a while she turned to me and said “You’re not steering this are you?”
The hard work was in the very early morning oiling round and general preparation and the evening shovelling out of the fire and smoke box and raking out of the ashpan. The vibration during the day took a toll too. I eventually discovered that I needed a day to recover after a day of driving. On my last driving turn one freezing December morning I was lying under the boiler and across the crank axle and connecting rods while pouring oil into the valve spindles, with rainwater dripping down my neck and the odd spurt of steam or hot water assaulting parts of my anatomy while thinking “I’m glad I’m not doing this again!” I taught the trade to a number of people and have an open invitation to come back and ‘have a go’ but Covid is in the way at the moment.
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I like the idea generally of playing with fancy toys. I have my eye on a couple of floating prospects.
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