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IS IT TIME TO RETIRE?
There are many factors that influence when each of us is going to quit. Financial stability is perhaps the most dominant one – and we will discuss that later – but there are many others: health issues, forced retirement, love (or dislike) of job, family concerns, burnout, and the list goes on. We’ll address each of those in future blogs, but today I’d like to consider ATTITUDE towards how and when you are going to retire.
Forced retirement for health or other reasons may take our own desires out of the equation, but let’s assume for the moment that you do have the luxury of choosing not only the date, but also the manner in which you will retire. I have asked a number of my friends and colleagues who are in various stages of semi- and full retirement to comment on this question, and several of their thoughts are posted below.
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A lot of success may be relatable to the way you felt about life prior to retirement. I loved my career, but it became onerous and stressful towards the end. I knew when I was going to retire at least 3 years in advance. I was ready to give it up.
ReplyDeleteYou have to be ready to retire. If you’re not, don’t do it.
L.S. Phildadelphia
I belong to the “slow quitters,” which means that I plan to continue working till the end of my days, in some capacity. I work only one full day a week. All others are half days. I have a need to get up early every day and have a place to go where I am needed, but I have cut the number of hours I work, the number of patients I see, no longer do emergencies, and try to delegate the more tedious or long surgeries to my younger associates (even though I believe that I can still do surgeries as well if not better than my partners).
ReplyDeleteJ.T. California
As a tenured full professor I could have stayed forever, but Tulane policy provided a one year “buyout”. Instead of leaving with a year of guaranteed pay, I negotiated two years at half pay. This quite conscious decision forced me to supplement my income with consulting, something I thought I could do, but was not certain. In fact, for about 6 years or so I kept quite busy doing consulting work which I found very challenging and satisfying, and which more than made up for my lost income. During recent years, however, I have gradually reduced my consulting activities to a minimal level, so that now I am essentially fully retired
ReplyDeleteB.C. (Formerly of New Orleans)