Retirement. Are you serious?

Yes, it's fast approaching. 30th of January, 2014. My last day of full-time work in the Australian workforce. What was I thinking? Do we have enough money to keep us going until we don't need it anymore? Will we have enough for me to keep getting my hair done every 5-6 weeks as I have for the past, what? 10, 15, probably 20 years! Can we afford to buy all those little things we've taken for granted during our working lives? This time last year I wasn't ready to retire. What's changed?

MY LIFE.

Twelve months ago, I was made redundant, sorry, my role was made redundant. I had been in tertiary education for over twenty years and had been part of the senior management team for more than six. Life was good and I loved my job. Then whammo! No job. That's OK, pick yourself up and get another one. I'd never had any trouble getting jobs; I'd been born one of the lucky ones, a baby boomer. Born in the '50s, in a time of prosperity and growth and "the world is your oyster". And it has been. I've been bloody lucky and will be forever grateful. But, things change.

MY LIFE.

So I got a full-time job on the other side of the country in tertiary education but not at quite the same level. We moved to WA on a 3-year plan to help a family member so the less senior role freed up my time. Oops, the plan has changed; it is now only one year. Back we go to the East, but to what? No job; 60th birthday last November, and do I really want to continue working full-time and probably not in my chosen field. Forget it! So, what do we do? We divest ourselves of possessions and buy a boat; not here but over there. What, my family and friends say, you get seasick! What are you thinking? What are you doing?

I DON'T KNOW!

Yep, that's right, not sure exactly but we're doing it. Gone is the house, gone is the car, gone is the fridge, the mattress, the piano, the mother-of-all barbeques and lots of favourite things. And, we're off. Well, we will be on the 14th of February. But, I've got to get to the 30th of January first, my last day of full-time work in the Australian workforce!

OMG!

Thanks, if you waded through this post and got this far. I'm interested to hear from you if you have had similar feelings approaching retirement or if you also have done something crazy, wild like we will be!

Tags: #retirement, #changingworld, #babyboomer, #redundant