Trina Machacek: When we retire

My father-in-law had a thought of what life should be. It was that when you are born you are allotted a million bucks and when you ran through that, well it was curtains for you. Of course, that was a very long time ago when a million bucks was a real million bucks. When a million bucks might just last a whole lifetime.

Today I think he would probably up his game and say we could be allotted 10 million bucks. Or 20 million. But! Yes, a million dollar “but.” Life doesn’t work that way, does it? No, we start out with zip, nada, zero dollars and grow our little bundles from there.

I guess if you really looked at life, we probably all start in the hole. I mean someone has to pay the doctor to put on a catcher’s mitt and catch us as we tumble into life. Luckily as babies we don’t have to pay a delivery charge. Probably though in the long run we will pay a shipping and handling fee. As our little bundles of savings grow, we grow too.

Slowly we bump and grind, claw, and scrape, zipping hither and yon our way toward reaping the rewards of a lifetime of work, a.k.a., retirement. That golden time in life that as we work to get there, seems to be nirvana.

Of course, as it has been said, “Don’t count your chickens until they hatch.” In other words, don’t be surprised when what you see is not all that you get. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I expect retirement to be all that and a bag of chips. I just don’t ever see me falling off the working platform. I like to work. I like to create. I enjoy as I am sure we all do, being paid for working.

Retirement hopefully will produce some sort of income. Social Security or a retirement plan check. Of course, more now than in years past companies are not paying retirees for all the years of retirement they live through. Sometimes a payout is offered to “upper crusters.” Mostly it is what we have put in our baskets that will get us all through the “golden years.”

For the most part though we take our little bundles we have saved and invested and live out retirement in the way we all hope to do. Hopefully we haven’t been listening to the words of this person and that person. The ones who say, “Never retire. I knew ole Joe who retired and within six months he was…” Well again it was curtains for old Joe.

When it’s your time, retirement or not, it’s your time. Don’t plan your path by the path of others. If you want to retire and you can I say, “Go for it.” Not really ready yet? Well keep putting your nose to that grindstone until your nose is ready to run off into the sunsets of retirement. If! If, however you find that for some reason the retirement monster knocks on your door before you are ready – the company closes, your health forces you to take it easy, your life is shoving you in a different direction, let me give you a few ideas. Ideas and suggestions that you may not have heard before.

First and a very important thing to put under your retirement hat. You know the one hat that reads, “I’m not only tired, I’m re-tired.” Please have a hobby. One that you can afford to have when your paydays stop. Golf is a great hobby. Building things out of bars of soap is also a hobby. Some can afford golf, and some can slide into retirement on bars of soap.

Oh, you will know within just a short few months if your retirement budget will see you out on the links every week or in the rub-a-dub tub bobbing for little floating soap boats. Just enjoy your hobby whatever it turns out to be. It’s a mental health stance.

Second? Well of course I am going to spotlight the couples who have lived life together. More sooner than later they’ll find themselves looking at each other wondering why the other one hasn’t left the house in days.

Hopefully their retirement plan will be just like falling in love all over again. Learning, after working life, kids, in-laws, broken bones, trials, tribulations, successes, snowstorms, less than perfect bodies, vacations and all the other things that life throws our way, that you choose and were chosen to share life with and get to this next stage together.

Sigh, fall in love again and enjoy it all. There are a million ways retirement can go.

Trina Machacek lives in Eureka. Her books are available wherever you buy books or email her at itybytrina@yahoo.com to buy signed copies.