Is anyone else sick and tired of working?

[Trek420]

Trek - I suggested to my honey this morning that when her telecommuting contract is done (1-2 years from May 2015), we should load up a van and hit the road for six months to a year. We would be existing on our tiny little pensions, but what an adventure; she was thrilled with the idea!

Good idea. I've made an appointment with a financial planner to see if I can retire from Ma Bell in 2018. Would like to keep working till I'm 67 but do something, most anything low stress. Knott's younger than I am so will have to work longer. At 67 I'd have pension, social security if it still is there (probably will be) a little invested and should be good. I'd get higher social security if I can wait to take it till then. So I may have a few years with pension and some manner of part time work till at full retirement it's pension and ss.

[rocknrollgirl]

We are about 2.5 years out from retiring as teachers. We have worked really hard to pay off our house and live debt free. I can't go until I turn 55, but I still love my job, so it is ok. We teach at two neighboring schools, 10 miles apart. It might as well be a million miles apart. My school is AWESOME. Great admin, strong union, great kids. My hubby, not so much. So we will go when we can.
I lost both parents to cancer before they were 70. From where we are sitting, that is looking pretty darn close. It has made us very aware of how precious time is, and we want to go and do while we are still very fit and active. I still think at some point I may want a part time gig. I have a feeling there is a second career lurking in there somewhere. Hopefully it will not involved spending 6 hours a weekend grading papers!

[smilingcat]

If you enjoy what you are doing, then the drudgery of work is just not there. I lost my job four years ago. At my age and payscale, there is no way I would find another job. "Besides, its that well you are woman..." fill in the blank. They don't say it, but you get a feeling its there. That "you've got a man to take care of you so you really don't need a job kind of thing" NO! I never remarried. Once was enough.

I'm not bitter about it. I was really happy and really sad that I lost my high paying job. It took sometime to pick up the pieces. I still have my days of doubt. I worried most of my working life that eventually I would lose my job, so I squirreled away as much as I could. Didn't go on a Safari, or buy a new car every two years or go on an annual vacay to Europe (never been there). Lucky I saved all those years.

So just recently, I was able to buy a farm. Hope to make a modest income from it. Farm has a house on it too so now I have two houses and all paid for. I don't have a pension and not sure what social security will be when I reach the magic number. It keeps going up. Anyway, I always loved gardening and it just got out of hand so I don't see "working" on a farm as work. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time. No terrible commute. I'm okay with getting soaking wet from the rain in the cold. Roasted from the hot sun in middle of the summer. My worries these days is will I make it in vegetable (row crop) farming? Running a truck farm aka market farm.

I hope my magic touch of pulling a rabbit out of a hat continues. I've always had a knack of the magic trick in the past. (roll in a pile of poo and still come out smelling like rose is what one of my co-worker said about me) Some of my vision has been disturbing and others fascinating.

So when did I start work? My father said, your work is to excel in school. That was my #1 priority growing up. This was told to me when I was around 12 or 13. No baby sitting job for me. Then it was my job to get into one of the top uni then grad school. Because of it, I'm not suffering financially now.

[OakLeaf]

Smilingcat, I'm glad to hear you say that. It was starting to sound like the stress and doubt of starting up your farm was getting overwhelming. I sure wish you the best of luck with it. Though, when it comes to vegetables, putting rabbits back IN hats might be a better magic trick!

[Crankin]

We told our kids their work was school, too, but, we also made them get small part time jobs. Believe me, in our affluent area, they were outliers. It paid off for both of them. Very few kids today have any work experience of the labor type variety, experience with budgeting, or knowing how to handle a bank account. They both started babysitting at age 11-12, after taking the Red Cross course. Both were teacher assistants at Hebrew School (paid) starting at age 13, for a couple of years. Older son worked at Rite Aid for one year, and then was a barista through his last 2 years of HS and college. He painted houses for 2 summers in college. Younger son worked at the LBS for a year and then the natural foods grocery store in town in HS.Somehow, that was enough to prepare him for the military!

[shootingstar]

So just recently, I was able to buy a farm. Hope to make a modest income from it. Farm has a house on it too so now I have two houses and all paid for. I don't have a pension and not sure what social security will be when I reach the magic number. It keeps going up. Anyway, I always loved gardening and it just got out of hand so I don't see "working" on a farm as work. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time. No terrible commute. I'm okay with getting soaking wet from the rain in the cold. Roasted from the hot sun in middle of the summer. My worries these days is will I make it in vegetable (row crop) farming? Running a truck farm aka market farm.

Hope you stay healthy smilingcat..farm will do that but hard work too. Maybe one day soon you'll have a market stall or supply to a restaurant or 2? My partner's son, bought his greens for sandwich shop, from a small farmer who had a stall beside his at the weekly farmers' market.

I haven't quite reached burning retirement envy yet --even though my partner has retired for awhile. We'll see when my closest friends around my age take early retirement. 1-2 of them are eligible within the next 3 years or less.

Because I've had some periods of long unemployment, maybe it's because I appreciate some extra change ..