I can take short walks with my dog but I have a spinal cyst that interferes with more than that. Am considering whether to attempt to get it fixed but my Neurosurgeon says it is technically tricky. Doesn't hurt much at rest so lucky there. Still good enough to build a railroad though.
62 now. Plan on retiring the day we are required to return back to our desks or the new year. Last November I discovered my childhood 2349 in my parents basement. It was a mess but since it was part of the family I decided to get it restored to its original glory. The basement find kicked off my total emersion into the hobby. Retirement can’t come quick enough. Track is operational but I have landscaping.
Very early in my career I was provided with some very sage advice, “Everyone prepares for retirement financial but you also have to plan for it psychologically”. One the many benefits of our hobby is that it causes the further development of neuronal networks. We can look at our creations and immediately consider something we can do differently or problem solve a situation. We can begin a new layout from start to almost finished. We can read related material and pose and respond to questions on the forum. It all helps to keep the brain working. So, by working on our layouts, investigating new purchases, handling the transactions, discussing possibilities, etc. in reality we are protecting, and enhancing, our cognitive abilities.
Jay
Jay, You are absolutely right about the many benefits of the hobby that we now need in retirement!!
Less than 4 hours away.....I made it!
Peter
Count down is closing in Peter.
@Putnam Division posted:Less than 4 hours away.....I made it!
Peter
Congrats, Peter- has to be the happiest of New Years!!! The first law of retirement... an alarm clock is no longer a fact of life 
Peter,
Congratulations. It could not happen to a nicer guy. 
Also, please take notes. I hope to be less than 2 years behind you. 
Tom
@Putnam Division posted:Less than 4 hours away.....I made it!
Peter
To quote my favorite Yankee the great Yogi, who watched my Pirates' Bill Mazeroski's 1960 World Series home run go over the fence, "It ain't over til it's over!"
Kidding aside, Peter! Congratulations!!! Welcome to the club!!!!
Congratulations Peter. I wish you a long and happy retirement.
Putnam Division, Peter, Congratulations on retirement, your going to love it once you get used to it. Retiring from the medical field is actually similar to the sales field, it’s a people business, one needs a doctors care, others need a ride, so to speak, to get to the doctor. So, your going to miss the people, but, now you can focus on your family, friends home, and Hobby. It took me a few weeks to realize I was not on any real schedule. I joined the gym, got into much better shape, it gave me energy to do all the yard work, home renovations, wiring my layout when free, simply made a new man out of an old body. I retired at 73, now at age 76 I feel great. Enjoy your well deserved retirement and have fun. Happy New Year...
@Putnam Division posted:Less than 4 hours away.....I made it!
Peter
Peter,
Congratulations and best wishes!
Now you'll have time to perfect the train room, layout and train collection. In my retirement, I have come to appreciate those things and wish you the same.
MELGAR
I’ve been retired 3 months. Still working 3 days a week on contract. 4 days of the week are just awesome!! Congrats!
Putman Division - Who knows, you may soon be like me when your non-retiree friends ask "What's retirement like"? My standard reply - "Every day's Saturday except Tuesday, it's garbage day and I've got to get up early enough to be sure to get the trash out in time!" (That's also the only way I can keep track of what day of the week it actually is - lol)
Congrats Peter and welcome to the club!
I put my garbage can out in the evening so I don’t have to get up early Thursday morning either! What’s an alarm clock?
ALl the best Pete, The best part about being retired'.. On these cold rainy, ugly days at 6:AM when you visit the latrine. You look out the window and watch everyone else driving to work'. But you get to back to bed until you feel like getting up'... And when you do'. You can run your trains or anything else you want to do'... Retirement is the payoff of a lifetime of work, and aggravation. Now it's your time', and a beautiful thing. You'll also find you'll be busier than a one armed paper hanger, when the bride gives you your list'.....😁 Happy New Retired New Year'... 🍸
@chinatrain99 posted:I’ve been retired 3 months. Still working 3 days a week on contract. 4 days of the week are just awesome!! Congrats!
This is what I plan to do 3 days. 61 right now. Working a few days makes the time off feel better. Trains is by far my number 1 interest. My second one ,riding my racing bike is not a favorite of my wifes. John
Four more weeks
Peter congratulations on your retirement. I wish a long and healthy next phase of your life, full of trains of course!
Congrats Peter @Putnam Division
A well deserved milestone for sure. IIRC you are in the middle of major renovations, including the new train room. I'm sure you will find that you have too much to do and not enough day to get it done in.
The best I can do at this point is say I'm one year closer. 
Bob
Congrats to all the recent retirees. I'm eligible in February ("next month" - that sounds nice). Planning to pull the trigger in late April - if we have York, it will be my first trip for which I don't need to schedule vacation time. Looking forward to golf season, and lots of time in the basement.
Happy New Year, everybody.
First, I want to wish Peter, who I hope to one day meet in person at York, a wonderful, richly deserved retirement. I hold physicians like Peter in very high regard, and consider their work to be the most important on Earth.
I'm going to express a somewhat different point of view about retirement, in order to show that this subject is not necessarily black and white, and that there may be gray areas that might be optimal choices.
I am largely similar to John and Chinatrain, not initially by choice, but pleased with the end result (a form of semi-retirement): working 2 or 3 half days at my law office, another few hours per week at home, and having the rest of the time for my outside interests, including the trains.
This semi-retirement was triggered by the pandemic. I bet others on the Forum have had a similar experience.
I believe that for most of the time, my semi-retirement will continue after the pandemic, with occasional exceptions. An example of such an exception occurred from mid September until October 21st when I worked day and night like Ruth Bader Ginsberg preparing for, and doing, a trial in my law practice. That turned out to be a very affirming and exhilerating experience.
Part of me does not want to ever work that hard again, but part of me does, very occasionally. I think the appeal of doing it again is to prove my prowess at my life work, which has taken me a lifetime to get good at, the prospect of making more money, and to express my passion when doing it.
What I wish for all of you folks is to continue to express your passion in whatever you do, whether or not you decide to retire. The trains are a vehicle for doing that.
No one should ever think they have been put out to pasture, especially a dreamer like a model railroader! LOL, Arnold
Thanks Arnold, well put addition. Ya'll have great thoughts on this.
"MARK", back in the day my alarm clock sounded at 3:00 am ( I am up now days with no alarm needed... habit) Piled into a garbage truck and walked up to your house to fetch your trash..... I knew where the side door was in case you forgot to place it out and I left the area better than I found it. Now days I see the automated behemoths rumble down the street.. with articulating arms reaching out to do the Heavy Lift. That's a good thing.
It was hard work and very gratifying. Found my lovely GG1 in the trash. (Winner - Winner - Chicken dinner)
Worked night school and made my way into the office and then into IT. Managing people is wayyy out of my comfort zone as I was better suited to serving customers, solving problems, growing my route.....
I found that I could drive as a school bus driver when my IT days were done, and I learned to drive all the vehicles they had... with my eye on the Big Rigs, Class A motorcoaches. I enjoyed helping customers and driving magnificent machines. COVID19 put a stop to all that and I miss it.
I miss People, and I miss making a difference.... Like others posting here, I miss putting a smile on faces, giving a helping hand and the satisfaction of a good days work for fair pay.
I am looking forward to doing that again, someday. like Tuesdays with Maury.... I miss Tuesdays with Elliot
@PH1975 posted:Putnam Division - Who knows, you may soon be like me when your non-retiree friends ask "What's retirement like"? My standard reply - "Every day's Saturday except Tuesday, it's garbage day and I've got to get up early enough to be sure to get the trash out in time!" (That's also the only way I can keep track of what day of the week it actually is - lol)
Congrats Peter and welcome to the club!
My old boss had a standard reply to that question that was, "If it was any better, I'd need to hire someone to help me enjoy it." I've been retired 13 years as of December 20th and I agree with him completely. 
Congratulations to Peter and all of the recent and soon to be retirees. It is a tremendous time of life.
I highly recommend being retired.
Bob - It's not "My old boss" it's my 'former' boss. Just remember if the shoe was on the other foot (lol)".
Congrats to you Peter.
Yesterday was my last day. Starting off the new year retired after 43 years working for the Navy. 20 years active duty and the rest civilian. Enjoyed most of it and always enjoyed teaching the new folks how an engineering plant worked (Gas Turbines).
So many spot on comments in this thread. Completely agree with many of them, my wife calls my layout a 3 D crossword puzzle. She likes the challenge of those and I enjoy the challenge of working out projects on the layout. I was lucky that she decided to retire at the same time so we can explore this new chapter together.
Stay Safe,
Scott
I think many of us old timers agree, whatever we decide to do, that these golden years are the best years of our lives.
I think the trains and this Forum have something to do with that. Arnold
Happy New Year to all and congratulations Peter. A well-timed event sir!
I was fortunate enough to retire 10 years ago at age 59. What a liberating experience!!
As they say...every day is Saturday!! 
Peter ... Congratulations on your retirement
@Miggy posted:Thanks Arnold, well put addition. Ya'll have great thoughts on this.
"MARK", back in the day my alarm clock sounded at 3:00 am ( I am up now days with no alarm needed... habit) Piled into a garbage truck and walked up to your house to fetch your trash..... I knew where the side door was in case you forgot to place it out and I left the area better than I found it. Now days I see the automated behemoths rumble down the street.. with articulating arms reaching out to do the Heavy Lift. That's a good thing.
It was hard work and very gratifying. Found my lovely GG1 in the trash. (Winner - Winner - Chicken dinner)
Worked night school and made my way into the office and then into IT. Managing people is wayyy out of my comfort zone as I was better suited to serving customers, solving problems, growing my route.....
I found that I could drive as a school bus driver when my IT days were done, and I learned to drive all the vehicles they had... with my eye on the Big Rigs, Class A motorcoaches. I enjoyed helping customers and driving magnificent machines. COVID19 put a stop to all that and I miss it.
I miss People, and I miss making a difference.... Like others posting here, I miss putting a smile on faces, giving a helping hand and the satisfaction of a good days work for fair pay.
I am looking forward to doing that again, someday. like Tuesdays with Maury.... I miss Tuesdays with Elliot
I remember you parking the truck at the neighbor's house carrying a BIG garbage can, getting their garbage, then walking 50 yards to our house and loading up at our side basement door, then back to the truck. Yes, they started using the automated truck here 2 years ago. I'll bet you miss helping customers. The guy across the road drives a small bus part time to take seniors to appointments and such. He is 81!
@Arnold D. Cribari posted:I am largely similar to John and Chinatrain, not initially by choice, but pleased with the end result (a form of semi-retirement): working 2 or 3 half days at my law office, another few hours per week at home, and having the rest of the time for my outside interests, including the trains.
This semi-retirement was triggered by the pandemic. I bet others on the Forum have had a similar experience.
No one should ever think they have been put out to pasture, especially a dreamer like a model railroader! LOL, Arnold
I did a semi-retirement as a contract worker after I was given early retirement from the same phone company. Then a change in management pushed them in a new direction. No, an old direction that didn't work before. 
I didn't find anything I could do, then the pandemic hit, and now I think younger folks need what jobs are available.
I agree with Mark that the younger generation needs a break and to have their advantages over us. After all, didn't many of us buy a house many years ago that was dirt cheap compared to prices today? That is also true with model trains.
The good news is that most of them have a big advantage over us: technology. Unlike us, they were born and bred on it, and they can even use it in their model railroading endeavors.
And, another advantage the younger generation has is that when us old-timers bite the dust, they will end up with our trains, and are likely to get them dirt cheap. LOL, Arnold
Arnold, our first house was a beautiful 3-bedroom 2-story with a front porch, and garage. $37,000! Neither of us had school debt either.
@Arnold D. Cribari posted:I agree with Mark that the younger generation needs a break and to have their advantages over us. After all, didn't many of us buy a house many years ago that was dirt cheap compared to prices today? That is also true with model trains.
I'm not so sure we thought it was dirt cheap at that moment in time. It's all relative to the times and our salaries. I remember my Dad telling me his house was $17,000. But his salary was somewhere around $5,000. I bought my first house for $120,000 and my salary was in the thirties.
30 years from now these young folks turned old will remember their good ole days when they bought their first house for $350,000 and could buy a steam engine for $1,200... what a bargain.
Have Fun!
Ron
I retired from teaching 10 years ago and coaching 5 and I love retirement. I can now do things on my schedule and spend lots of time with my wife and grandkids. It took a few weeks to get use to it but you will really enjoy the time with the trains.
Marty
Congratulations Peter! Head over to your layout and run an engine completely around the layout with the whistle going the entire time!
Dale
Congratulations Peter. I’m sure it was well deserved. You’re reading all these first person testimonies of how great retirement is ...not having to answer to a clock, no schedule, etc. etc. All true. Just imagine how much you’ll be able to enjoy retirement POST-pandemic (whenever that day finally comes) when you’ll actually be able to go places, travel and do things!! 😄
Not fully retired just yet. Still working on my second retirement, I have just under 2 years to go. But, I did retire from the Coast Guard after 24 years, 13 years 4 months ago. I have 2 hobbies, one is classic cars and my trains. Both of which are very expensive! I hope I don't have to pick which one I go with. It'll be very hard.
I retired March 2020 at age 65. I wanted to retire at 62, and could have with 401k. However, I just could not bring myself to pay $18,000 a year for medical for just myself. So I waited
I have never missed work. Only miss my friends. With that being said, I think one needs to be careful. Days can go by quickly, and it is easily noon, and nothing done.
So, I refrain from turning on TV in morning. I get up around 6 -7 am, quick cup of coffee and then off to garage, yard, or train room. I stay busy until mid afternoon. I try not to overtime things I want to get done in train room, as I can be a perfectionist at times. Which can be a bad thing at times.
I have never regretted retirement, and am thankful that my wife and I poured every dime we could into our 401k. It has paid off having a comfortable enjoyable retirement. Trying to instill this thinking into both of of our daughters.
Joe Gozzo
