38.5 year military career retired aged 55 vowing to never work again and I haven’t.  Retired here in 2017, zero stress, never bored and happy living out in the sticks. I have a great life and no regrets.

 A friend used to say that retirement was like a big, long orgasm that never stops. I completely agree.

5 hours ago, gargamon said:

Retired at 45. Been with around 1500 different women since. It sure beats working.

Anyone here that's flown in or out of Swampy has been around 1,500 women in the same building, at the same time, and all at once. 

5 hours ago, gargamon said:

Retired at 45. Been with around 1500 different women since. It sure beats working.

Also retired at 45/46 yrs old, now 69, and if had say, about 5 happy massages a month (5.2 exactly), that would be knocking on 1500.

 

Sad part would be if retired, living in TH, and actually had to P4P.  Nothing I'd be bragging about 

When to retire can depend on many things - age, finances, family, health, work situation, attitude.

I believe when you have sufficient funds and income to last until infirmity and beyond, it's time to start the "self" stage of life.

Retirement for me was easy, when the opportunity arose, I was out in 3 days. I disliked what my job had become, and many of the people around me and my finances were sound.  I retired at 53 and have not worked since. I have sufficient money to live very comfortably in Thailand without relying on my government's pension. Not everyone can, or wants, to make the same choices.

Of course, you need to be certain on the financial aspect, you don't want to be the guy mentioned above who wished he had worked for 10 more years. 

There are also many people who can't imagine life without putting on the work boots, or shirt and tie, every day and some who simply dread the uncertainty of life without the safety net of a job. Some are so ingrained with the habit of slaving away at a desk they can't imagine what they'll do with themselves if they stop. Others think they have to work until they drop to build a legacy for their offspring to spend.  I consider these concerns to be unwarranted, if you do your sums. 

If you love your job and want to keep at it forever, you're fortunate, but will miss out on most of life's exciting last chapter.

 

17 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Also retired at 45/46 yrs old, now 69, and if had say, about 5 happy massages a month (5.2 exactly), that would be knocking on 1500.

 

Sad part would be if retired, living in TH, and actually had to P4P.  Nothing I'd be bragging about 

You get free happy massages? How nice for you.

 

And it was in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia. And, of course, Thailand. Oh, and Mexico and Costa Rica. I probably forgot a couple.

1 hour ago, gargamon said:

You get free happy massages? How nice for you.

 

And it was in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia. And, of course, Thailand. Oh, and Mexico and Costa Rica. I probably forgot a couple.

No, I don't do massages, free or paid, and don't do P4P, as simply don't need to.  Paying for sex doesn't interest me at all, and takes away half the adventure, experience.   Enjoying the company of a like minded person is much more enjoyable ... IMHO

 

I guess P4P has it's place for many, and sampled myself 2X, and that was enough to realize, it's not really for me.  Might have it's place for introverts, or on a short holiday and having the urge.

Interesting subject. I will retire at the end of this month at 61.5 years old. If the office would keep me on, I'd probably continue as I am only working 3 days a week now, working from home (upcountry). It's not so much the money, but just to keep me occupied. Obviously, I'll have to adapt as the office has had enough of me after 31 1/2 years with them. I'll just have to do more cycling and really get back into fishing.   

I retired at 55.  Never looked back.  Get up what time I want to.  Don't have to ask for permission to take trips.  Etc...

9 hours ago, Jingthing said:

If you have a choice to stop working, it depends on whether you enjoy your work and the purpose of your work matches your values. 

Retirement is a relatively modern concept.

well I retired at 58 as I maxed out...if I continued working, I would be earning about 25 cents an hour... I had seen others hang around even in that situation and recalled how they everntually regretted not leaving earlier.  If one wishes to continue working go for it...I loved my job but some of my co-workers were of the younger generations and I am not a particular fan of those groups.  Wonder how the changing society of many western countries affects the younger generations in such a negative way - one may disagree with my opinion but if so please advise me why people are no longer happy and want to violently disagree with us older folks.  Peace to all, be happy, be healthy, SMILE

Interesting ..topic ..I suppose as mentioned its individual choice ...and what job you did or proffesion ..I am still working off n on in entertainment business on ships ..I feel lucky ..at 72 I still get few gigs..I hv to say I also spent ten years at butlins from redcoat to mc @  ..holiday complex ..and I never got near 1500 ..even though red jacket was a p..u s..y magnet 🧲...

6 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I had the good furtune to be offered an early retirement at age 46 due to a Navy base closure which I jumped on. What this afforded me was to think about what adventures I'd like to try. I worked a contract for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines which I'd probably still be doing except you had to work 7 days a week. We all need a weekly day off. After that, I decided after over a decade of being a scuba Divemaster that I'd get my Instructor certification. Thailand reportedly had one of the three best courses, so I came to try that. Nice for a few years but working so hard for NO money (not even tips) didn't set well.

 

OK, I want to stay in Thailand, what am I qualified to do? Teaching English was a logical choice. And I'm STILL doing that now, though I fell into a sweet gig - part time, and I am my own master at this school. Works well for them, works well for me, and I plan on staying at this school as long as my body will allow it.

 

Bottom line - I've had periods of complete retirement and found myself bored to tears. I really believe having a reason to look forward to weekends instead of EVERY day being a Saturday is the way to go.

WELL, I was always told by those that did retire that the saying is "the first thing one must think about upon waking is "whether today will be a Saturday or a Sunday""  I realize if one practices certain religions, the  actual day of the week might change.  To me, I always refer to the dictionary if I am uncertain about the meaning of a word - retire/retirement is defined as quit work/no work! and I believe in that!

I was forced to retire at 55 due to physical disability. I tried for five more years to find something I could reliably do but no luck.Finally applied for SSI and was almost immediately approved. The five years with no salary did hurt.

i do have good days when I can do fun stuff in the kitchen, but not reliably enough to make a business of it. Besides Mrs Kwai gets irritable if I mess up her kitchen.😜

As retirement gets close for office workers like me you see life without the office bureaucracy and can be tempting to retire. Working from home 3 days a week thanks to post covid work rules made life easier though. Some work mates have left and gone to less brain intensive work to extend their work life. I am on leave and can continue through to retirement. Think I won't go back. 

2 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

As retirement gets close for office workers like me you see life without the office bureaucracy and can be tempting to retire. Working from home 3 days a week thanks to post covid work rules made life easier though. Some work mates have left and gone to less brain intensive work to extend their work life. I am on leave and can continue through to retirement. Think I won't go back. 

My last 10 yrs was usually a 2 day work week (back to back), leaving 5 days off.   Only reason I lasted as long as I did there.   No way could I do 9-5/5 days a week, for my last 10 yrs of employment.  Bennies helped also for keeping me there.  That was 33 yrs ago.

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Also retired at 45/46 yrs old, now 69, and if had say, about 5 happy massages a month (5.2 exactly), that would be knocking on 1500.

 

Sad part would be if retired, living in TH, and actually had to P4P.  Nothing I'd be bragging about 

Try retiring in an expensive country. The cleaner tried 6 weeks in a cheap city and was bored so it is not for everyone.

8 minutes ago, susanlea said:

Try retiring in an expensive country. The cleaner tried 6 weeks in a cheap city and was bored so it is not for everyone.

That was a lot more about the cleaner, than the city, expensive or not, as didn't complain about cost.

 

If retiring in a more expensive country, then have more funds.   If I planned on retiring in the USA, I would not have liquidated my RE, or stopped trading in the market.

 

Which would have provided steady income, and much bigger oops fund, in just a few year, as in 3 maybe, if not less.

 

If not such a LPOS, and having so much fun the last 10 years of 'employment', could have retired much earlier, just didn't see the need or desire to.

12 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

That was a lot more about the cleaner, than the city, expensive or not, as didn't complain about cost.

 

If retiring in a more expensive country, then have more funds.   If I planned on retiring in the USA, I would not have liquidated my RE, or stopped trading in the market.

 

Which would have provided steady income, and much bigger oops fund, in just a few year, as in 3 maybe, if not less.

 

If not such a LPOS, and having so much fun the last 10 years of 'employment', could have retired much earlier, just didn't see the need or desire to.

I can see what he is getting at though he didn't make enough effort to do more. 20 years of gym, beach walks and cheap massages could be 19 years too long. 

Worked with my best mate (price-work brickwork) for 25 years.It was fun all the way with decent cash plus lots of ale.

He retired at 50 to go live in Portugal and i came here a few years later.

I reckon i could have worked on but a lot of the fun went when my mate fxxked off.

Retired at 50 been here 15 years.

I slept with hundreds of beautiful women, drank gallons of wine, and visited all over Asia many times.

Regret retiring?  what are you on? 

2 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Retired at 50 been here 15 years.

I slept with hundreds of beautiful women, drank gallons of wine, and visited all over Asia many times.

Regret retiring?  what are you on? 

You are proud of sleeping with houndreds of thai/asian women? You must be one kind of a rock star, aint you ? 

 

Living the dream

Just now, Hummin said:

You are proud of sleeping with houndreds of thai/asian women? You must be one kind of a rock star, aint you ? 

 

Living the dream

 Yea love it - thanks bro

12 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I actually met a guy in Pattaya who told me he retired from the UK civil service at 55 and regretted it ,said he wished he had gone to 65

 

All this media hype about retiring ,like we should !

 

Did you regret retiring?

 

Is there anything wrong with someone who doesn't retire say at 60 or even 65?

 

I'm thinking of just working and taking 2 X  trips a year to Asia instead of retiring 

 

Many countries have now no set retirement age 

 

Do any of you still WORK past 60?

Are you happy to WORK?

All my work-life I've been working hard, and actually had no intention of stop working just because I reached the age of 70, the old time retirement age in my Scandinavian home country.

 

When a friend finally convinced me to take 10 days off from work at age 52 and joining him on a trip to a small tropical island in Gulf of Thailand – he actually had bought a ticket for me and called saying I owed him money for a ticket to Bangkok, as we had talked about a trip to Thailand for several years, but it never materialized – I began to rethink the purpose of working, when staying of this island's Bounty-style beach...

 

Two and a half years later I bought a small plot of land on the very same beach, as my friend had introduced me to, realizing that it was not worth to work hard – even I by working many more years could make little extra savings for later, after paying more than 50 percent income tax – instead I began planning on early retirement and to enjoy life, while I was still fit for joyful living, rather than having plenty of fund later at old age, but not being able to use them due to age and physically worn-out conditions. When is enough, enough?

 

At age 56 I was able to stop working for money, got rid of my small business and sold my property in my home country. That was probably the best decision I ever made, and now 18 years after I don't regret it; I'm sitting under same palm trees on the same beach as in 2001 and are still capable of fully enjoying my life.... 

10 hours ago, gargamon said:

What I said was:

 

I dunno where you get 'being around 1500 women' from. You need to “bone“ up on your English obviously. Maybe read up what the word “with“ means. 

 

Go have a coffee (or tea) in some cafe. You'll be “around“  a few women. You won't be “with“ any of them.

 They are only jealous - rock until you drop! 

5 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Retired at 50 been here 15 years.

I slept with hundreds of beautiful women, drank gallons of wine, and visited all over Asia many times.

Regret retiring?  what are you on? 

Whats that saying and please in all your fine wisdom please correct me 

And who said it ?

WINE WOMEN & SONG 

I worked until recently (63 now). The job took me around Asia few weeks each time - then work from home all other days.

It became harder over time and part time / reducing hours was not accepted - thus I retired.

Financial I am OK and happy to renovate the condo and work around the home upcountry.

Very happy to have more time with the family now. 

Work is to earn money to facilitate a good life. But it's also addictive or hard to let go

2 minutes ago, khunPer said:

All my work-life I've been working hard, and actually had no intention of stop working just because I reached the age of 70, the old time retirement age in my Scandinavian home country.

 

When a friend finally convinced me to take 10 days off from work at age 52 and joining him on a trip to a small tropical island in Gulf of Thailand – he actually had bought a ticket for me and called saying I owed him money for a ticket to Bangkok, as we had talked about a trip to Thailand for several years, but it never materialized – I began to rethink the purpose of working, when staying of this island's Bounty-style beach...

 

Two and a half years later I bought a small plot of land on the very same beach, as my friend had introduced me to, realizing that it was not worth to work hard – even I by working many more years could make little extra savings for later, after paying more than 50 percent income tax – instead I began planning on early retirement and to enjoy life, while I was still fit for joyful living, rather than having plenty of fund later at old age, but not being able to use them due to age and physically worn-out conditions. When is enough, enough?

 

At age 56 I was able to stop working for money, got rid of my small business and sold my property in my home country. That was probably the best decision I ever made, and now 18 years after I don't regret it; I'm sitting under same palm trees on the same beach as in 2001 and are still capable of fully enjoying my life.... 

It wasn't a good decision 

Now you have NO property to go back to ???

2 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Whats that saying and please in all your fine wisdom please correct me 

And who said it ?

WINE WOMEN & SONG 

 

Johann knew a thing or two  🙂 
 

 

Just now, BobBKK said:

 

Johann knew a thing or two  🙂 
 

 

I thought it was Frank Sinatra?

WINE WOMEN & SONG 🍷 

1 minute ago, georgegeorgia said:

I thought it was Frank Sinatra?

WINE WOMEN & SONG 🍷 

 Nat King Cole?