My First 2 Years in Unplanned Retirement
In the last week of September 2020, my manager called me to his office and gave me the bad news that my services are no longer required by the company. I was 60 at that time. Although there is no official retirement age in Canada, 65 is considered as de-facto retirement age, as the government benefits start at that age. I was considering to retire a year or 2 before 65, but not at the age 60!
Since the middle of 2020, my wife was having some health issues, and in early November, she was diagnosed with a cancer which would require long treatment, including surgery and chemotherapy. And, around the same time, COVID cases started picking up, so my priority changed from looking work to helping my wife and taking care of the house. (After treatment, my wife is back to work.)
The changed circumstances forced me to have a second look at what I want to do with my life — should I continue to work until 65 just because everyone else is doing so, or retire now and enjoy my time (before a doctor gives me a bad news about my health). I analysed my financial situation and found that I am in reasonably good situation — my small house is paid off, both my children are adult and working and my RRSP and other savings, along with the government benefits which would kick in at 65 would be enough for a simple retired life (I don’t plan to travel the world!).
What did I Gain after Retirement?
Time, freedom and peace…
Now that I have lot of time (or free time), I have freedom to anything I like during that free time. As I don’t need to go to work, I don’t have to get up early in the morning and drive on busy highways in a crazy traffic. This is particularly convenient during a snow storm as I don’t need to shovel snow from the driveway at 5 am to be able to reach my office — now I can shovel snow slowly during daytime. When I need an appointment with Dentist, Family Doctor, Lab, car mechanic, etc. for me or my old mother, I can accept appointment on any day of the week for any time, whereas earlier I looked for appointments in late evening or weekend. Now I can do grocery and other shopping in the morning when the stores get fresh stuff and they are not so busy. If I decide to go on vacation, I can choose a period when tickets are cheap as I don’t need to get my vacation approved by my company.
Now I also have more time to take care of my health. I do meditation, yoga, walking/running and play sports on daily basis. As I have the entire day for myself, I can easily switch my walking/running schedule if it starts to rain or snow. I am in excellent health, thanks to my active lifestyle. Now I explore nature more as compared to earlier.
During summer, I spend one to two hours daily taking care of my plants in the backyard and front yard. I also grow vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers, green chillies, green beans, herbs, etc for our consumption. Now, I also have more time to take care of house cleaning, maintenance and upgrades.
The availability of free time has helped me develop new hobbies including cooking, music, reading books and writing for Medium. By profession, I am a software developer and I still keep my brain active by learning new skills and developing software for practice and fun.
It is just over two years since I last worked in an office, and so far, I am enjoying my unplanned retirement. I have not felt a single moment of boredom or have regretted not going to work. My new lifestyle has almost eliminated stress from my life and made me calm.
Did I Lose anything after Retirement?
No, I can’t think of anything that I am missing about the office or office colleagues. (I do miss the occasional unwarranted shit my boss used to give me!) Of course, I am not getting my regular pay cheque, however, if it just used to buy materialistic goods (which are not really required) or increase the value of my investments (that I might not be using), then this is not a loss. Besides, by not working, I am giving an opportunity to someone who really needs that job. By working a few additional years, I might be able to accumulate more money that my children would get when I die, but that is not a convincing reason to continue to work. In fact, I believe that my active lifestyle in 60s in an investment for better life in my 70s and beyond!
Conclusion
Well, by retiring early, even if it was not planned, I am enjoying my life stress-free. I am not advising you to quit your job and retire as everyone’s circumstances are different, but perhaps you may give the retirement a fair chance!
