Anyone close to retirement? / when do you start counting the days?

I retired 3 years ago, but my wife just retired yesterday after 44 years with the same employer. We'll be on a plane Tuesday and get on a cruise ship on Friday. Yahoo !!!!!

Just stumbled across this thread this morning. I just turned 57 in March. My husband will be 60 this June. I am an RN who has bad psoriatic arthritis and have already had one hip replaced twice. Although I am on medication, I continue to have pain in one joint or another. This morning I am waiting for Aleve to kick in so I can start on my Medical Transcription course I started which involves hours of typing. I currently work full-time in an operating room which is physically and mentally stressful. I plan on doing medical transcription from home after I retire.

 

Currently, my plan is to retire which I turn 62. Last year this would have been impossible. But, we were living in New Hampshire paying a huge mortgage and property taxes. Last October, we moved to Bradenton Florida and bought a mobile home in a 55 plus community for cash and had it remodeled from top to bottom. After we pay off a few bills, we are going to squirrel cash away for retirement. My husband works from home for a huge broadcasting corporation. If he can work until his is 68 (when my medicare benefits kick in), I can retire at 62.

aml that has to be incredibly difficult to be on your feet with your arthritis. One of my co workers is 62 and still works full time to pay for her husbands medication for his psoriatic arthritis. Our employer subsidized health plan changed their formulary and only cover 20% of his medication!:( I've been an RN for 41 years and still work full time. I dream of retirement daily, but I'm not sure if I'll completely retire at 65 or work PRN. One day a week might be good if I can. It's funny, because until last year I didn't even think too much about it, now I'm a little obsessed!

I'm curious about the medical transcription plans. I didn't know that was still a viable option with the electronic medical record systems in place now.

Congrats to all who are closing in on their retirement date, and good wishes to those who have a ways to go yet.

 

As of today, I'm officially 8 months away from leaving the office for the last time. However, if some incredible cruise deal comes up, I might consider delaying my departure by a week or so. Maybe, but probably not. :p

Congrats to all who are closing in on their retirement date, and good wishes to those who have a ways to go yet.

 

As of today, I'm officially 8 months away from leaving the office for the last time. However, if some incredible cruise deal comes up, I might consider delaying my departure by a week or so. Maybe, but probably not. :p

Congratulations! I'm sure the health care system there helps:).

I am about 16 months out. I think about it every day! Does anyone else do that? I have had a very fun and rewarding job working with our 4-H Youth Development as an Extension Educator and teach health and nutrition also. I like my non-traditional teaching....but the paperwork, rules, regulations and stress for the University make it just.....difficult. My kids have been in 4-H all their lives and I promised the last one of 6 that I would wait until he was finished to retire...so we send child #6 to college and off we go! That will be an odd month - finish work (after the county fair - some would retire before but I want to say goodbye to all these families I've worked with for years!) and retire and then take last child to college....and then a 10 day Quebec City to NYC cruise!

I am about 16 months out. I think about it every day! Does anyone else do that? I have had a very fun and rewarding job .............

 

Yes! Same thing here. I have had a very rewarding career, but look forward to setting my own schedule and not having to attend meetings, complete reports, etc. etc. They are all necessary aspects of the workplace, but I am looking forward to being free from them.

 

Each day I wake up and ask Alexa how many days are left until my planned retirement date. It is fun to hear the answer as it decreases. :)

Yes, I think about it every day. I have a count-down calendar and I try so very hard not to check it more than once a week but it's too tempting. I also have a count-down clock...which tells me I've completed 96.2% of my work life.

 

Up until the last year I truly enjoyed my work, however that has changed and it takes more and more out of me to get up every day to go to work. But I do have some good friends there so they help me get through the days. Surely this last 8 months will fly by.

9 months & 12 days!!!

 

(Not that I'm counting!!) I'm also an RN, almost 65 yrs old and still working full time in a hospital doing12 hr shifts. Getting so hard physically to walk 3-5 mi/day. I also work part time teaching nursing at a college, but I plan to continue that just a few hrs a week.

 

It's been a wonderful career (mostly in labor and delivery), but as someone said, one day I just realized that it was time to call it quits and start a new chapter in my life.....travel, hobbies and time with family. :D

This may be my new favorite message board - the 55+ group.....

It has been great to read through the recents posts and I think we all have the same thoughts as the clock ticks by. My countdown clock tells me I have 412 days (May 2019) but like many others, my work is no longer the place it was and it is now 80% admin crap and 20% actual design (I am an Engineer) and it is all about dates and targets etc and less about the actual product!

I intend to stick it out but if I get seriously hacked off between now and then, then I will throw in the towel. We have a fabulous cruise out of Australia booked followed by time in Hong Kong so lots to look forward to.

 

 

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I wonder if, as we get closer to a possible retirement date, that things which we previously were willing to live with (policies, procedures, required trainings, etc.) now become more of a burden and we have less of a tolerance for them.

I wonder if, as we get closer to a possible retirement date, that things which we previously were willing to live with (policies, procedures, required trainings, etc.) now become more of a burden and we have less of a tolerance for them.

 

I think so too. It's painful to see people trying to reinvent the wheel, and they come up with something they think is new, and you remember when it didn't work the first time!

I think so too. It's painful to see people trying to reinvent the wheel, and they come up with something they think is new, and you remember when it didn't work the first time!

 

How very true! We have a review process at work for reports we write. It used to be four weeks, but then it was "improved" and now takes six weeks! I think we each have a point at which we say "time to go" and then start counting the days..... and hopefully at the end of that time is a wonderful cruise! :)

How very true! We have a review process at work for reports we write. It used to be four weeks, but then it was "improved" and now takes six weeks! I think we each have a point at which we say "time to go" and then start counting the days..... and hopefully at the end of that time is a wonderful cruise! :)

We have so many things that have to be audited, to the point that they are auditing what we throw away and into which trash receptacle! They audit how quickly we administer a medication ( most of the time the pharmacy hasn't even sent it up) how quickly we document assessments ( I've managed my work flow for 40+ years thank you very much) and if we smile and say hello if we meet someone coming within 10 feet of us! 222 weeks for me!

It's painful to see people trying to reinvent the wheel, and they come up with something they think is new, and you remember when it didn't work the first time!

:'):'):')

 

So-o-o true!! The powers to be keep coming up with more programs, more required courses, and more charting for us to do.....to the point that only about 50% of the day is left to do direct patient care!

:'):'):')

 

So-o-o true!! The powers to be keep coming up with more programs, more required courses, and more charting for us to do.....to the point that only about 50% of the day is left to do direct patient care!

I thought it was only in the UK that this was happening. It's the main reason I retired three years ago (and how that time has flown) Present day nursing is not what I signed up for all those years ago

 

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We have so many things that have to be audited, to the point that they are auditing what we throw away and into which trash receptacle! They audit how quickly we administer a medication ( most of the time the pharmacy hasn't even sent it up) how quickly we document assessments ( I've managed my work flow for 40+ years thank you very much) and if we smile and say hello if we meet someone coming within 10 feet of us! 222 weeks for me!

Oh my gosh, Misty. I am a hand therapist at an orthopedic hospital. We are continually be monitored also. Did I make eye contact and say hello at 10 feet away? Treatment is no longer about patient care. It is all about productivity. If I have a patient cancel the day of their appt or not show for their appt, I am encouraged to stay late to get my productivity #'s up. We are 5 years from retirement. I hope I can make it until then

 

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Oh my gosh, Misty. I am a hand therapist at an orthopedic hospital. We are continually be monitored also. Did I make eye contact and say hello at 10 feet away? Treatment is no longer about patient care. It is all about productivity. If I have a patient cancel the day of their appt or not show for their appt, I am encouraged to stay late to get my productivity #'s up. We are 5 years from retirement. I hope I can make it until then.

About 10 yrs ago, the hospital I worked for started an experiment (luckily not on my unit) where they made all the nurses and aides wear "monitors" that tracked their every move all day and showed how long they were in each place....including the bathroom!!!!! This didn't last long because there was a major rebellion and many, many people quit. But some numbskull thought that would be a good way to track productivity. Whatever......:mad:

So the title to this thread is when do you start counting the days to retirement. For me it is Jul 10. so about 89 days left to work full time

So the title to this thread is when do you start counting the days to retirement. For me it is Jul 10. so about 89 days left to work full time

So you started counting the days today :) When did I start counting the days? When I met with my financial planner and decided when it would be most feasible and when my work life became more frustrating.

I started counting when I chose the retirement date. Started at more than 400 days and now down to 80!:D

I would have found it hard to be counting the days for as long as some people have. I didn't feel much interest in retiring for most of my career as I was enjoying it very much. Then around mid-2016, something switched in me and I started to find that the tiresome aspects of my job were out-weighing the parts I enjoyed. There was a corporate change that may have influenced that, but I think more of it was internal - a shift in my attitude after more than 40 years of working.

 

I started to think about retiring but it was hard to decide on timing. I was torn between retiring mid-2017 when I would become eligible for Medicare or staying until March 2018 to get my end of year bonus and deferred compensation vesting which happens in March. It seemed simpler to at least work until I could go directly on Medicare rather than to get some other medical coverage for a few months before switching to Medicare. We booked an Alaska cruise with another couple and for a time I leaned toward retiring just before that. In the end, I decided to stick it out to get the bonus and vesting. I retired two days ago.

 

So since last August, I've been counting the months to go. I didn't set the exact date until a few months ago so didn't start counting the days until then.

 

Now I've got a few weeks to get ready to go on a 27-day cruise.

The 24th of February or last month, it has been a year since I have retired. At times I say I want to find a part time job, and still do, but my husband had surgery around Christmas time and then came home, so I became his nurse too. Other things have been going on to keep me busy, and I just got back from doing the Carnival Magic, coming back on the 7th of this month. It was something else to come back to KC (Gladstone) with 22 degree temperatures, and quite a bit of snow the next day, after having those warm/hot temperatures the week before.:)

Let me clarify my comment above. I decided to retire this July; but only made my decision in Jan; and I have not officially notified my HR department. I told my boss but am waiting until next month to make the official notification to HR.