What's a better term for 'retired'?

[VictoriaF]

A player.

Victoria

[Garco]

Free at last.

H/T to Martin Luther King: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

[22twain]

Discretionarily occupied.

[heyyou]

Re: What's a better term for 'retired'?

Happiest years of my life

[sschullo]

Lucky and happy to be "retired," no matter how the experience is labeled.

[mptfan]

Fund manager.

[3504PIR]

Taylor, what age did you retire?

57 (now 89).

Best wishes.
Taylor

Excellent! Well done.

[Mr Grumpy]

I like the term "retired" : verb - "to withdraw, to remove oneself". Has a nice self-absorbed vibe to it.
No good?, how about "x-j" or ex-j": without job.

[Latecomer]

"Re-purposed"

[EternalOptimist]

Taylor, what age did you retire?

57 (now 89).

Best wishes.
Taylor

God bless Taylor, you are my hero

[EternalOptimist]

Fund manager.

Or 'fun' manager

[Don Christy]

Lifestyle coach

[Don Christy]

Private Wealth Manager

[desertbandit442]

Couldn't resist. How about Private Investment Management Provider (PIMP)

[Dandy]

rat race observer

[umfundi]

I'm done. Your problem now.

Keith

[ResNullius]

I have no problem saying that I'm retired. On the other hand, my wife can't stand it when anyone suggests that she's semi-retired. She works three mornings a week, that's it. She doesn't need to work, she likes for people to think she's working heavy part-time. I don't understand it, but she'll be fully retired in a year or two whether she wants to or not. Other than saying retired, I sometimes tell people that I'm a "rcovering lawyer." They usually catch the humor.

[Rodc]

I think "financially independent" for when I retire. Really that is the goal. That is the goal is to get to a place where I do not need to work rather than not working. I can work if I want. No work, full time, part time, paid, unpaid, all my choice.

I won't be wealthy so I won't be independently wealthy (seems to me the independently in that phrase is unnecessary anyway) and that is not may goal, even if somehow it happened.

I do like the suggested addition of "free spirit" that was suggested early in the thread.

[chaz]

I also like "financially independent".

[Abe]

How about: "I'm re-tor'-ded"

[Jay69]

Couldn't resist. How about Private Investment Management Provider (PIMP)

I vote for this one!, I need to write this one down.

[texasdiver]

Coasting...


It's what my 75 year old Dad says he gets to do now that he is "over the hill"

[NAVigator]

At a company where I worked, they held "pre-planning" meetings. I just figured that concept came from Dilbert. Now that I am no longer employed, this must be the post-planning phase. Since I retired due to a disability, perhaps this is the unplanned phase?

Jerry

[CABob]

How about "sequeller"?
Sequel definition - What follows that continues the story of an earlier one.

[cheese_breath]

I fired my boss?

[graveday]

Unemployed.

...you can say you are a consultant.

I prefer a student.

Victoria

They are younger.

[graveday]

Just say retired. It is short and sweet and everyone understands. Then you can start telling lies.

[thebogledude]

if you play golf, you can say you're a golfer.
-or domestic engineer.
but at the end of the day, it's really about how you spend your time
rather than what people think.

[lindisfarne]

Why do you have an issue with saying you're retired? It's not the word that's bothering you.
What you do depends on what your interests and skills are ... could you help out neighbors who can use it (advice on maintenance, lawn care, finance)? Teach something in a community ed. program? Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity (they are very good at working with people with no home building/repair skills & you'll learn valuable skills along the way).

If you don't like not doing something formal on a regular basis, there are plenty of ways to use your skills as a volunteer. You might be able to provide mentorship to someone/some people who would benefit from the knowledge you've gained in your field.

[Levett]

Ordinarily, the exchange I have with new acquaintances goes something like this:

New acquaintance (very politely): "What do you do?"

Me (no less politely): "I don't work."

New acquaintance: "Oh, you are retired?"

Me: "Yes. I am a man of leisure--perhaps a gentleman" (in the old sense of the word).

And then the conversation either moves on to how I spend my day, what did I formerly do, or would I like to have coffee or, better yet, a beer.

I must say that in the years I have been retired it has always seemed to me that the word "retired" elicits envy. So why would I want to avoid the word "retired'?

Lev

[scrabbler1]

"I'm retired" works just fine for me whenever I am asked what I "do."

[EternalOptimist]

if you play golf, you can say you're a golfer.
-or domestic engineer.
but at the end of the day, it's really about how you spend your time
rather than what people think.

Right...at the end of the day who cares about what others think, it's what I think of myself

[wilson08]

Freelance Engineer

Wilson

[ThatGuy]

This reminds me of the common refrain never to call someone an ex-Marine. But is former really all that different?

Or in this case, what is so insulting about the word retired?

[VictoriaF]

The problem with the word "retired" is not that it is insulting but that it brings up certain stereotypes, emotions, and even physical reactions. In a psychological experiment a test group of college students was primed by having to unscramble words "retirement," "Florida," "bingo," and alike. A control group of students unscrambled some neutral words. After the unscrambling part, the real experiment started when the students had to walk a long corridor to collect their reward for participating in the experiment. The members of the test group walked significantly slower than the members of the control group.

Victoria

[at ease]

....i'm a restaholic.....(at least according to my wife..)

[lindisfarne]

The problem with the word "retired" is not that it is insulting but that it brings up certain stereotypes, emotions, and even physical reactions. In a psychological experiment a test group of college students was primed by having to unscramble words "retirement," "Florida," "bingo," and alike. A control group of students unscrambled some neutral words. After the unscrambling part, the real experiment started when the students had to walk a long corridor to collect their reward for participating in the experiment. The members of the test group walked significantly slower than the members of the control group.

Victoria

Is it bad that people walked slower? (We keep hearing how we're overly stressed by our 24/7 society).
Has the result been replicated? Even if it has, you'd need some additional information/data before you could even begin to infer WHY they walked more slowly. Assuming that it reflects the way retired people moves is not a legitimate inference without other data. Perhaps they were thinking about grandparents who are retired. Perhaps they were thinking about the FL beaches where they planned to spend spring break.

Even if they did walk more slowly ... what does that mean? Perhaps they were considering their asset allocation in their portfolios.

[CarlZ993]

An Adventurer and Gentleman of Leisure.

[VictoriaF]

The problem with the word "retired" is not that it is insulting but that it brings up certain stereotypes, emotions, and even physical reactions. In a psychological experiment a test group of college students was primed by having to unscramble words "retirement," "Florida," "bingo," and alike. A control group of students unscrambled some neutral words. After the unscrambling part, the real experiment started when the students had to walk a long corridor to collect their reward for participating in the experiment. The members of the test group walked significantly slower than the members of the control group.

Victoria

Is it bad that people walked slower? (We keep hearing how we're overly stressed by our 24/7 society).
Has the result been replicated? Even if it has, you'd need some additional information/data before you could even begin to infer WHY they walked more slowly. Assuming that it reflects the way retired people moves is not a legitimate inference without other data. Perhaps they were thinking about grandparents who are retired. Perhaps they were thinking about the FL beaches where they planned to spend spring break.

Even if they did walk more slowly ... what does that mean? Perhaps they were considering their asset allocation in their portfolios.

You are making good points. I have to find the source paper for the answers. Here are some thoughts from the top of my head.

A fast-paced walk helps relieving stress, probably more so than it serves as a sign of stress. The speed of walking correlates with the general state of health. In the experiment I mentioned, the students must have quickly recovered from a brief exposure to retirement; but it is possible that truly retired people slow down not due to physical causes but due to a changed self-perception.

Victoria

[Fallible]

The problem with the word "retired" is not that it is insulting but that it brings up certain stereotypes, emotions, and even physical reactions. In a psychological experiment a test group of college students was primed by having to unscramble words "retirement," "Florida," "bingo," and alike. A control group of students unscrambled some neutral words. After the unscrambling part, the real experiment started when the students had to walk a long corridor to collect their reward for participating in the experiment. The members of the test group walked significantly slower than the members of the control group.

Victoria

Is it bad that people walked slower? (We keep hearing how we're overly stressed by our 24/7 society).
Has the result been replicated? Even if it has, you'd need some additional information/data before you could even begin to infer WHY they walked more slowly. Assuming that it reflects the way retired people moves is not a legitimate inference without other data. Perhaps they were thinking about grandparents who are retired. Perhaps they were thinking about the FL beaches where they planned to spend spring break.

Even if they did walk more slowly ... what does that mean? Perhaps they were considering their asset allocation in their portfolios.

You are making good points. I have to find the source paper for the answers. Here are some thoughts from the top of my head.

A fast-paced walk helps relieving stress, probably more so than it serves as a sign of stress. The speed of walking correlates with the general state of health. In the experiment I mentioned, the students must have quickly recovered from a brief exposure to retirement; but it is possible that truly retired people slow down not due to physical causes but due to a changed self-perception.

Victoria

This is not in direct response to the experiment, but it's interesting because this thread and another current one on daily retirement got me thinking whether we significantly change in retirement, in my case mainly whether I, a Type A, had slowed down, but also whether I had become (or always was) a somewhat different person with different interests, skills, etc. After all, by the time most of us retire, some 50 or 60 years of our lives have been pretty much dictated by the demands and routines of school and careers. But is that who we really are? If it is, are we more than that? Better than that? Or pretty much the same? Depends on the individual, of course. Any experiments, research done on this? Maybe this is the subject of another forum topic: how have we, or have we, changed in retirement?

[htdrag11]

This will be my last year paying and filing for my LLC annual report.

I still called myself an IT Consultant, or simply Retired - getting dumb and happy (but not fat - doing 3 miles plus daily)!

[VictoriaF]

Maybe this is the subject of another forum topic: how have we, or have we, changed in retirement?

It would be a good topic of its own. Please consider starting a discussion.

Victoria

[Levett]

"how have we, or have we, changed in retirement?"

My kids asked me a version of that question early in my retirement.

My answer was simple and truthful: I'm more of the kid I was, except I don't have to ask my parents for an allowance.

Lev

[Fallible]

"how have we, or have we, changed in retirement?"

My kids asked me a version of that question early in my retirement.

My answer was simple and truthful: I'm more of the kid I was, except I don't have to ask my parents for an allowance.

Lev

So we "old" retirees can be kids again! BTW, I'm working on a topic on the subject now so maybe you'd want to expand on your comment there, like how your kids responded to your "kid" reply.

[Levett]

Cross my heart and hope not to die (too soon). They loved it.

They think my wife and I are cool (they may be in denial).

But we do have a lot of fun with our grown kids and our grandchildren even though we all live in different states.

Perhaps distance makes the heart grow fonder!

It seems to me essential that you tell your kids and grandkids that not only do you love them but that you've had a good life and that you are lucky to have had a retirement.

Lev

[fandango]

I say that I am "reinvented".

[Braumeister]

Since I keep track of my own finances and plan for my future, I call myself an economist. Practically guaranteed to get the questioner to change the subject.

[graveday]

Since I keep track of my own finances and plan for my future, I call myself an economist. Practically guaranteed to get the questioner to change the subject.

Nice.

"Late to the party" just occured to me.