Did Retirement turn out to be your own heaven or hell?

My husband retired at age 49 and he absolutely loves it. However, he is not the type of person who has difficulty finding ways to fill the day. He landscapes and gardens (a lot!), reads, does home projects like remodeling, building, works on the vehicles, plays on the computer (blogs, downloads music, movies and books, bulliten boards, etc), walks and plays with our dogs, volunteers occasionally at the local animal shelter, goes to lunch with retired friends, works out in our gym, helps clean the house and do laundry, cooks most of our meals, and watches Judge Judy (LOL).

I still work, so between his retirement, my income, gas annuities, and a little selling on ebay, we do just fine financially.

I'm jealous as hell, but happy for him just the same. In fact, I went to school for the job I now have mainly so he could retire early. He was a steelworker for 30 years. I wanted him out of there.

He was never one who depended on his work for self-fullfillment. He has always cherished his time off and was never one to work exsessive amounts of overtime. Many people are just the opposite, finding it difficult to find meaning in anything other than work. He definately is not lazy... most people wouldn't be able to keep up with him... but he knows there is more to life than punching a time clock, too.

The right time to retire is such a personal thing. What's right for one may not be right for another. To some, retirement is the beginning of a new life of sorts. For others, its the beginning of the end, as they just lay around bored and develop very bad habits. Oftentime they get depressed.

It seems to me those people who have developed other interests and hobbies usually do quite well in retirement, providing they can financially get by. One doesn't necessarily need the finaces to travel the world to enjoy retired life-- unless, of course, that has always been your dream.

I know far too many people who have put off retirement for various financial reasons only to be too old, too sick, or too alone to finally enjoy their so-called "golden years." Life is too short, take the time while you're young enough to enjoy it (if you can).

Are you kidding? I LOVE being retired and would never go back.

I worked so hard all my life I never saw much of anywhere, now my wife and I take a vacation every few months and enjoy it.

We bought a Condo System that works on points and go somewhere different each time. We just got back from Lake Tahoe where we did sight seeing, sailing and chartered a fishing boat that bagged a nice mess of fish and ate some tonight!

See my pictures:

So far--neither. I'm still working (7 days a week) and healthy. Haven't had a vacation in years. I just take one day at a time. I don't think I would be happy not working. I am happy.

Well all the people i know say that retirement is a breeze. Slow life, do what ya want when ya want to. All i know is that for the like 12 people i know that retired they love it.