visualguy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:34 pmSame with me - I don't see anything all that wonderful that I can (and want to) do in retirement, but can't do now while working. Whenever I think about it, I just come up with things that are also basically variants of work. I actually retired at some point, but went back to work after realizing that I was mostly frittering my time away.JBTX wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:07 pm Thats fair.
I'm just saying it isn't as binary for some people. For many people, retirement is occupying time to keep themselves busy, doing things they generally like to do. But more often than not they aren't monumental things. Puttering if you will. And I don't mean that in a negative way. But in the grand scheme of things if I work a little more doing a job I like and that means I end up puttering a little less on the back side, it isn't as if it is a great loss.
I think there is a lot of truth to this.
Each person has to decide the relative value they put on things. Some may value the freedom to just putter around. One frequent poster here has a goal of playing video games during retirement. You may not find that meaningful, but if that is what makes him happy, who am I to judge?
I also think most people have an inflated view of how meaningful their careers are, after all they have devoted a lifetime to it. But, the vast majority of jobs are not doing "momumental" things, certainly not on a daily basis.
Perspectives also change with time. What you find exhilarating about a career can become stale and routine after many years, and as other interests come to the fore.
There is no single right path, and I doubt any of the discussions here will change anyone's mind, but it is interesting to see other perspectives.