Retirement: My Honest Advice To Anyone Working Past 60... RETIRE NOW

Ray G. watched the previous video I sent out, then this one popped up for him. He thought it was pretty good, and so do I, so passing it along.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDuB-Yx-6LY

I have some personal experience with the health aspect of waiting to retire.

I retired in October 2024. Age 65. In November, the day before Thanksgiving, I was replacing the rear brakes on my wife's Honda CR-V. Disk brakes are something I've done several times. During one of the torque wrench steps with a high-torque bolt, something popped in my left elbow. I said to myself, "that didn't feel normal." I was able to finish the job, but had a hard time. Even picking up tires to put them back on was difficult. I had a scheduled doctor's appointment in December, and he diagnosed it as tennis elbow and gave me some stretches. By then my elbow was feeling better, and as I write this, I'd call my elbow healed, other than a slight tremor when I do certain things. Today I could do the brakes again, but I'd try to be smarter about certain operations.

My doctor reminded me in December that he'd like to see me walk more. He wanted 3 miles per day, 4 days a week. I like walking at Halyburton Park, which has a 1.3 mile loop. I've walked 2 laps here without an issue, so that's what I started with - 2.6 miles 4 days a week. We had some snow days in there but otherwise I made this goal.

In February I decided to go from 4 days a week to 5. Still 2.6 miles each day. This also went well in my opinion. I listen to podcasts that I enjoy, so I look forward to the walk.

In March I decided to try a week at 3 laps, or 3.9 miles per day. This seemed to go ok, but by Friday night, my ankles and feet with pretty uncomfortable while I laid in bed. I decided to back off to 2.6 miles per day, 5 days a week.

In early April, mid-week, I was taking my walk when my right ankle started to hurt. It got progressively worse until I stopped and sat on a bench. I manipulated my ankle in various ways, then decided to hobble through the end of that 2nd lap and go home. I went to a walk-in doctor's office. Diagnosed as some sort of tendinitis. Lay off for 3 days. Stretches. Doctor said, "don't baby it." The next week I did just that, but added the first lawn mowing of the season. This was very aggravating to my ankle and I stopped walking completely. I was worried my inability to walk might impact an upcoming trip to visit family.

One of the vacation visits included a home with lots of stairs, which was agony for me. Then one day at my mother's house I used a step ladder while wearing my bedroom slippers. Another mistake.

When I got home, I decided I should refresh my walking sneakers because I was sure that would be "on the list" of things to do to sort out this ankle problem. I've walked a couple of days this week without significant pain, but I mowed again yesterday and decided I should not walk today. Had to ice my ankle last night. Very uncomfortable.

My point with this long story is that the declining health part of retirement is real. It's especially real for me because I'm trying to do things I had not done during my working years. Simple things like walking. It's hard to "dollarize" your retirement years but it's something to consider.