5PM OFFICIALLY SEMI-RETIRED - Page 3

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

you are not fully retired until you can do nothing at all and feel great. Perhaps you do not know how to relax,. I suggest a yoga class or meditation class.

Quse · ‎09-05-2014

@Shanus wrote:
@Kachina624 Yes, you're right. Kinda depressed tonite trying to think about my next step. Jewelry on a daily basis is out. At 68, I've been bent over a jeweler's bench for 30 yrs. & it does take its toll on neck & shoulders. I have several painting classes lined up and my studio is set up w/ jewelry making at one end & painting, etc. at the other. I will continue to make jewelry for myself, family members & gifts. If I really miss it, I can do special orders only. Producing enough one of a kind pieces for galleries and shows is a chore now. Thanks for your thoughts.

@Shanus What about Etsy? Make what you want, sell what you want, enjoy life too.

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

I think you should relax, take a breath, do nothing for a while and then decide what the next chapter will be. I'm only 56, years and years away from retirement but it's not something I am looking foward to. Several years ago an older, retired friend gave some great advice. She had to learn the hard way but her advice was to start planning the "next chapter" in my at least 5 years before retirement. She didn't and she had some hard times because she's the type who needs a reason to get up in the morning. I've actually been thinking that it would be fun and very satisfying to have design and make jewelry. Sell it online or through some of the small boutiques in my area. Or at the beach in the summer. This is a huge tourist area. That's the type of thing I could do until I'm 90 if I wanted to. The ideas are rolling around in my head...

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Quse wrote:
@Shanus wrote:
@Kachina624 Yes, you're right. Kinda depressed tonite trying to think about my next step. Jewelry on a daily basis is out. At 68, I've been bent over a jeweler's bench for 30 yrs. & it does take its toll on neck & shoulders. I have several painting classes lined up and my studio is set up w/ jewelry making at one end & painting, etc. at the other. I will continue to make jewelry for myself, family members & gifts. If I really miss it, I can do special orders only. Producing enough one of a kind pieces for galleries and shows is a chore now. Thanks for your thoughts.

@Shanus What about Etsy? Make what you want, sell what you want, enjoy life too.

Excellent suggestion IMO.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Shanus · ‎05-17-2010

@chrystaltree. Go for it. If you can make your own schedule, it's not limiting. I was contracted to galleries which meant keeping a certain amount of stock on display and also accepting special orders. At certain times of the year, I was working in my studio 10 hrs. a day and trying to design new pieces. It started not to be fun at 68. After a few months of taking it easy, I do have painting classes lined up & can always, since it's my business, put my toe back in the jewelry waters.

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

@Shanus wrote:
@hckynut Hi. Semi-retired is retired as a jewelry designer/metal smith. An artist is always an artist. It was a rhetorical question. I know I'll still be involved in the arts. I have my teaching degree as well if I decide to "sub" parttime. There are options. Just thinking out loud.

@Shanus

Thanks for your reply, now I think I get it. I do a lot of "thinking out loud", guess I never have a typing gadget with me when doing it. My wife however sometimes asks, " are you talking to me"? Nope, 1 of our cats, or Lily, our Maltese. Think she buys that excuse, maybe!

hckynut(john)

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

@chrystaltree wrote:
I think you should relax, take a breath, do nothing for a while and then decide what the next chapter will be. I'm only 56, years and years away from retirement but it's not something I am looking foward to. Several years ago an older, retired friend gave some great advice. She had to learn the hard way but her advice was to start planning the "next chapter" in my at least 5 years before retirement. She didn't and she had some hard times because she's the type who needs a reason to get up in the morning. I've actually been thinking that it would be fun and very satisfying to have design and make jewelry. Sell it online or through some of the small boutiques in my area. Or at the beach in the summer. This is a huge tourist area. That's the type of thing I could do until I'm 90 if I wanted to. The ideas are rolling around in my head...

@chrystaltree

I retired at 52, no planning as the company offered a buyout. After 33 years of working hot/heavy lifting and dirty jobs? It was an offer I was no way going to refuse.

Did some math, and had I kept working my hourly paid job? If I turned down this buyout, I was essentially be working for less than $3 an hour. That made it easy to say, "when do I leave".

That was in 1991 and I have never regretted by decision. I think the fact that I had so many after work outside activities in which I was involved, nothing for me to plan. Would have been very easy for me to get a part time job working at our City ice rink, and for much more than $3 an hour. Never took a job?

My Adult Hockey League, I turned into a Pension Supplement, in lieu of just one of my very time consuming 8 months of keeping that running smoothly for 52 years.

Some of my co-workers who took the buyout? Without their job, they were lost. They had very few if, if any, outside of work hobbies. Some of them worked other jobs to have something to do. Did they plan? I doubt it.

Hey, whatever works, everyone looks at "life after employment" differently.

hckynut(john)