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Posted on 08/21/2025 8:36:31 PM PDT by Cronos
The fifties are when retirement gets determined. Not financially—most boomers figured that out—but existentially. It's when patterns solidify, relationships either deepen or atrophy, identity either expands or calcifies around a job title.
1. They let their entire identity collapse into their job title
2. They believed retirement was a reward rather than a transition. You can't flip a switch from workaholic to fulfilled retiree.
3. They stopped making new friends Somewhere in their fifties, they closed the friend roster. The social circle became fixed—college buddies, work colleagues, couple friends from the kids' childhood. No new applications accepted.
4. They ignored their health until it was crisis management The fifties send bodily invoices for decades of neglect. But instead of paying attention, many worked harder, ignoring the check engine light. The cruel irony: the fifties are the last decade when you can build reserves rather than just slow depletion.
5. They avoided difficult conversations with their spouse Parallel lives seemed sustainable in their fifties. She had book club; he had golf. They'd "reconnect in retirement."The gray divorce rate has doubled since 1990, largely driven by couples discovering their marriage was held together by busy schedules, not connection.
6. They dismissed therapy as weakness
7. They abandoned learning "I'm too old for new things," became their fifties refrain, usually about technology but eventually everything. They stopped reading challenging books. They stopped being curious.
8. They never developed interests that weren't productive Every hobby had purpose. Golf for networking. Reading for professional development. Nothing for joy.
9. They ignored their changing relationship with their children
10. They thought money would solve everything
(Excerpt) Read more at vegoutmag.com ...
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What do you mean by “AI Lab”? Just curious.
Vocatio = Grk. for “calling”
I have never re-tired, from my calling.
Firefighters are able to retire at 53 without penalty. I goofed off for the first couple years, then I spent the next eight refurbishing a house originally built in 1900. It was intended to be our dream house, but by the time we finished the job, we had spent so much money that we had to sell it.
None of the points in the article actually applied to my situation.
Well, I am a tail-end boomer, and I made none of those mistakes. However, I won’t get to retire because I never made enough money to make enough of a nest egg to store past repeated costly family/medical/layoff emergencies.
I’m 74, and among other things, I’m studying for my General class ham license and standing up a second reloading rig. I don’t understand the the helplessness that leads so many to just sink into the vegetation.
p.s. he had no clue what I did. I assure you I didn't often handle sht, you cleaned equipment before you worked on it, spent 90% of my time in the lab, and a healthy sewage treatment plant smells like a freshly tilled cornfield. IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST JOBS I EVER DID. I rotated between that and power plant operations and maintenance.
The lab is air conditioned, outside you worked in snow, sleet, frozen rain, inside it was often 110f. Or more. Gimme lab work any day..
This evening I have been evaluating whether to replace my 2017 vintage SharkRF openSPOT with an openSPOT4 Pro or ditch the DMR radios for the M1KE device from SharkRF. I'm leaning strongly to the M1KE device because there are no DMR or YSF repeaters in my area. Simply no interest in Pocatello. The M1KE does all the protocols with just access to a WiFi connection. Less complex, more connectivity.
I'm toying with FreeDV, but I'll need to put that on the Ubuntu Linux box to match where the FreeDV developers release their code. Ditto for OpenWRTX+ for an SDR dongle. My HF antenna is good from 40 to 6 meters, so lots of opportunity to try out FreeDV.
If you're inclined to trying out digital services in the microwave range. the AREDN services might be of interest. It's is much more localized. Mesh networked messaging at a city or county level.
I'll turn 69 on Tuesday. I need to recharge the battery on my Suzuki DR650SE. I did a supermoto conversion on it a couple years ago. There is still some good weather left this Summer.
I have the same issue with friends. Week by week I'm checking off the passings and shortening the Christmas card lists.
One of the 10 items applies. I was healthy as a horse until my life insurance rates jumped to $600/month. I applied for less coverage and a medical was required. The blood test results sent me down a rabbit hole that discovered cancer. A Whipple procedure "fixed" that, but my digestive processes no occupy too much of my time daily. It's better than being dead, but steals too much time.
1. They let their entire identity collapse into their job title. “I was a cane cutter, deckhand, roughneck, geologist, pilot,and lastly pharmacist.”
2. They believed retirement was a reward rather than a transition. You can’t flip a switch from workaholic to fulfilled retiree. “For some yes but not me. All my jobs were about supporting my family.”
3. They stopped making new friends Somewhere in their fifties, they closed the friend roster. The social circle became fixed—college buddies, work colleagues, couple friends from the kids’ childhood. No new applications accepted. “I do not understand this.”
4. They ignored their health until it was crisis management The fifties send bodily invoices for decades of neglect. But instead of paying attention, many worked harder, ignoring the check engine light. The cruel irony: the fifties are the last decade when you can build reserves rather than just slow depletion. “I agree.”
5. They avoided difficult conversations with their spouse Parallel lives seemed sustainable in their fifties. She had book club; he had golf. They’d “reconnect in retirement.”The gray divorce rate has doubled since 1990, largely driven by couples discovering their marriage was held together by busy schedules, not connection. “Not me.”
6. They dismissed therapy as weakness. “I did not do that one.”
7. They abandoned learning “I’m too old for new things,” became their fifties refrain, usually about technology but eventually everything. They stopped reading challenging books. They stopped being curious. “I never stop reading.”
8. They never developed interests that weren’t productive Every hobby had purpose. Golf for networking. Reading for professional development. Nothing for joy. “Flying a glider at 25000 feet over Colorado alone and cold was incredible.”
9. They ignored their changing relationship with their children. “Not ignored but difficult.”
10. They thought money would solve everything. “It goes a long way as lack of such make things tough at home if you are the breadwinner.”
PS
My grandparents raised me with old time values though I was a baby boomer.
I’m 70, retired at 60, currently 4500 miles into a solo motorcycle trip from Texas with a turnaround of Glacier National Park. Doing a Super Tramp (Taking the Long Way Home).
In 2023 did a 23 state, 11,000 mile solo.
Excellent. Extra class here and finally having time to enjoy it. The Dillon 550 will resume operation when I can get a fresh stash of primers. The range is 53 miles north, so we go infrequently. It's just as time effective to buy a box of 9mm for those trips. The "550" was purchased to reduce the cost of the big bore revolver rounds. I've recovered the initial investment a few times over. Before leaving San Diego, I went through 1200 rounds of 38SPL per week. 1999 when a 1 lb can of Win231 was $20, 1000 primers was $20, 500 127 gr .38 cal bullets was $27. My competition rounds were built on 148 gr DEWC from West Coast Bullet over 3.8 gr Win231. Like a paper punch at 25 yards.
Therapy? hah! ;-)
I enjoy lab work and did fine at UCSD as an undergrad and SDSU in grad school for microbiology. The lab isn't always the nicest smelling place. In 1985 I encountered a man with a PhD working at Genentech around the corner from my office at the PacBell data center. Curious about salaries for a PhD in my field, I inquired. He was making $36k annually with 3 years experience. That same day, I was making $44k in an air conditioned data center as a systems analyst. I left PacBell in 1991 for my next employer and topped out at $226k/annually. No regrets leaving the lab behind.
Resurvey, or redo all of these bullets in the article the next time the market is down 30% or 40% or 50%.
These bullets would have been replaced probably 8 out of 10 in 2009 before money printing began.
Money is not important in retirement until you don’t have enough of it and that’s what happens when the markets down 50% and pension funds outright fail, and the government pension plans start announcing one time suspension of inflation adjustments which becomes two times or three times.
We didn’t have 37 trillion in debt in 2009 so we could print our way out of it. Not next time.
Congrats on your 11,000 mile journey. That takes a lot of fortitude.
That Dillon is one fine piece of gear. Might be able to afford one one day. I'm still single staging it with my pair of Rock Chucks. I've got more incentive to run those presses since I just acquired a Tisas Tank Commander. It's a surprisingly well shooting pistol and it's fast becoming my new EDC.
You nailed it.
accountability is their kryptonite
I’ll second that...
sounds like he didn’t work too hard to come up with his list.
Therapy? Really??
Happy after 9 years and the to do list gets longer than the time to do it. Somewhat neglected health applies but that is managed now. I will die one day but can still do most of what I want and need to do.
Summer is brutal here and I would have liked to retire someplace cooler in the summer but then it would be cooler in the winter and I get enough of that too. I promised myself I would drag the Airstream as far as the New Mexico mountains for August but I lost my hired hand and can’t get away now. Maybe one day. Failing that I’ll continue to hibernate for those miserable 45 to 60 days of summer. Next year I hope to have an air conditioned lawn mowing tractor to give up the three evenings a week it takes to mow in the hot time.
I ended up here as a practical concession to help take care of my Momma and don’t regret that. She is gone now but I am not interested in all the folderol to move.
My circle of local acquaintances is small and my cronies still survive but are distant and we still converse frequently. I’m not ready for volunteer work and may never be. I sure don’t want to enter the workforce in any way. Demand for my skills is about nill here and I don’t want to work remote or travel even if I could, not after being a platinum card carrier for three airlines for many years.
I started a new company in my early 40’s and in my 50’s I was busy adapting, inventing and overcoming what lay in my way. I was hardly slowing down.
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