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Why 55 and older


Wayfairers
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We couldn't have children, both had good careers, saved at least 50% of our total income for 18 years and made good (lucky) investment choices. We realize we are in a fairly unique situation. Helps that we are both frugal and careful money managers. Many have asked how we did it but we have yet to find another couple willing to make the financial sacrifices we did to make this happen.

 

Maybe this forum would be more appropriately named "retirees". Wonder if I would be welcomed on this board because I am retired or shunned because I am 49 years old?

 

 

I too was very lucky. I was able to retire from the corporate world at 49.

(Thank you Ma Bell for that amazing buy out).

 

"Retirees" would be a good name in addition to "55+". The more threads the better.

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  • 2 months later...

I retired at 62 and my wife will retire in the next few months.

We love to cruise with our closest friends and my sister & brother-in-law.

We also love meeting new people and age isn't a factor.

The cruise critic "Meet & Mingle" parties that you can sign up for through the cruise roll call are a great way to discover new friends, share experiences and get pointers from more experienced cruisers.

None of us are beach people, but we love to take in excursions that allow us to explore the islands we visit, meet the locals and experience the culture.

We want to continue this as long as our health allows.

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  • 4 months later...

Interesting discussion! I peaked at this thread because DH & I both turn 50 this year (me already). Like the original poster, we don't have kids, and although we are not retired (well, DH kind of is b/c he left his law firm back in 2008 to pursue writing, but I work full-time as a psychologist and part time as a yoga instructor), not having children tends to put us in the same category as people older than us.

 

Our last cruise was in 2008 (40th birthdays/5-year anniversary), on HAL Amsterdam. Although I think I saw one infant during the lifeboat drill, we were among the youngest on the ship. In fact, one night we were exiting the elevator, and a woman with a British accent said "I've spotted the young couple!" :D

 

We also decided to sell our 4-bedroom house in 2012 and move to a townhouse community with a HOA--there's not an age limit and it's not a retirement community, but again, we are among the youngest there! We do find most older people to be very friendly, and we tend to get along with them very well. I expect that the crowd will be a bit more mixed next month when we sail Celebrity.

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Very few people can retire at 40 or under 55. The 55+ group is the usually retirement age . Many people can't afford to retire especially , if they are raising kids. We couldn't afford to cruise until our kids completed university and had steady jobs.

^^This^^

 

Financial priorities are different when there are kids in the home.

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This is an interesting thread for sure. We are all different people and all live different lives/lifestyles/wants and needs.

 

As for retirement age, to be totally honest with you, I think that number has totally changed over the past (say 10-20 years). There are many, many people who simply cannot retire at 55......for many reasons but usually it due to finances. 55 might have been "the age" a long time ago but it (in my opinion) is not as relative today.

 

I am 60 and still work full time. I live on my own and have for many years. I love to cruise (2 to 3 times a year) I have several accounts for savings/IRA's/Annuities/401k and they just continue to build up but right now I could not retire, live the normal life I am accustomed to and continue to travel without having normal income.

 

I admire those of you who could retire early and can do whatever you want without any financial stress.

 

I am hoping to be able to within the next 6 or 7 years...….if it is sooner than that, it would be great:)…….but it never even crossed my mind to have retired 5 years ago:eek:……..just not in the cards for me.

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Retired the first time from the Army at 44 and became a house-husband following my wife around for 8 years until she retired from the Army. Retired the next time from a different job to go overseas and do contract work. After my last trip overseas, my wife (now retired from another job also) took a cruise to Alaska and, through an odd occurrence, began working for a cruise line seasonally. Now we work at a pier for the simple reason that it is a fun job and we meet all kinds of interesting people and it helps pay for our cruises!

 

Working at the pier is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on! ;p ;p

 

Tom

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Retired the first time from the Army at 44 and became a house-husband following my wife around for 8 years until she retired from the Army. Retired the next time from a different job to go overseas and do contract work. After my last trip overseas, my wife (now retired from another job also) took a cruise to Alaska and, through an odd occurrence, began working for a cruise line seasonally. Now we work at a pier for the simple reason that it is a fun job and we meet all kinds of interesting people and it helps pay for our cruises!

 

Working at the pier is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on! ;p ;p

 

Tom

 

 

Hi Tom, thank you both for your service. And working at the Pier? Sounds very fun to me!:)

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Retired the first time from the Army at 44 and became a house-husband following my wife around for 8 years until she retired from the Army. Retired the next time from a different job to go overseas and do contract work. After my last trip overseas, my wife (now retired from another job also) took a cruise to Alaska and, through an odd occurrence, began working for a cruise line seasonally. Now we work at a pier for the simple reason that it is a fun job and we meet all kinds of interesting people and it helps pay for our cruises!

 

Working at the pier is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on! ;p ;p

 

Tom

 

Tom --

 

What an interesting thought. Johnny's semi-retired - but I have a number of years yet b/4 I retire. He's officially in the 55+ club, I'm tagging along at the moment. We've talked about having part-time/seasonal jobs in the future to stay active, engaged & keep our spending down (we find we spend more when we have time off...). Certainly working at a Pier would be fun! We'll have to keep that in mind :cool:

 

Thank you to you & your wife for your service. Johnny is former Army Green Beret, Johnny IV (John's Son) is a Marine Fighter Jet Pilot (Harriers), plus our father's & grandfather's served.

 

Cheers -- Von & John

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Tom --

 

What an interesting thought. Johnny's semi-retired - but I have a number of years yet b/4 I retire. He's officially in the 55+ club, I'm tagging along at the moment. We've talked about having part-time/seasonal jobs in the future to stay active, engaged & keep our spending down (we find we spend more when we have time off...). Certainly working at a Pier would be fun! We'll have to keep that in mind :cool:

 

Thank you to you & your wife for your service. Johnny is former Army Green Beret, Johnny IV (John's Son) is a Marine Fighter Jet Pilot (Harriers), plus our father's & grandfather's served.

 

Cheers -- Von & John

 

Seeing what you just typed, I'll provide a bit more information that you might like to think about.

 

 

First of all, if you've thought about a part time job after retirement, I'm going to put you onto one that you might find worth thinking about. Go to the Princess website and look down at the middle of the bottom of the page and find the Careers heading. Under that you will see a line that says Alaska-Yukon Jobs and look around that link. Those are all seasonal jobs up there with you in Alaska. The nice thing about those jobs is that it makes you a seasonal Princess employee which has some nice benefits. If you want to know more (which I suspect you do) drop me an email at the email address that I use for Cruise Critic stuff whih is my handle here at gmail.com.

 

 

Another thing to look at at the Princess website is over on the left hand side at the bottom where it says Cruise Deals. Under that you'll find Military Benefit Program which you may already know about. If you don't know, let me know and I'll tell you about that but Princess is one of only 2 cruise lines that offers this benefit and it's a good one.

 

Tom

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Seeing what you just typed, I'll provide a bit more information that you might like to think about.

 

 

First of all, if you've thought about a part time job after retirement, I'm going to put you onto one that you might find worth thinking about. Go to the Princess website and look down at the middle of the bottom of the page and find the Careers heading. Under that you will see a line that says Alaska-Yukon Jobs and look around that link. Those are all seasonal jobs up there with you in Alaska. The nice thing about those jobs is that it makes you a seasonal Princess employee which has some nice benefits. If you want to know more (which I suspect you do) drop me an email at the email address that I use for Cruise Critic stuff whih is my handle here at gmail.com.

 

 

Another thing to look at at the Princess website is over on the left hand side at the bottom where it says Cruise Deals. Under that you'll find Military Benefit Program which you may already know about. If you don't know, let me know and I'll tell you about that but Princess is one of only 2 cruise lines that offers this benefit and it's a good one.

 

Tom

 

Thanks Tom --

We spent a number of years running Denali Lodges - remote, seasonal, wilderness lodges. Princess is in a number of locations - both lodges & of course the ships in Alaska. We have a few years yet b/4 we can think of retiring and seeking the P/T experience...

 

We have utilized the Princess Military rate/OBC on different lines, including Princess, in the past. Thanks for mentioning it!

Cheers -- Von & John

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We retired at 40 in 2006, took our first cruise a few months later and fell in love with cruising. I've noticed over the last 9 years our style of travel has become more relaxed but I attribute that to learning we no longer have to fit everything into the 3-4 weeks of allotted vacation time instead of growing older. I saw this forum a few years ago and ever since I have wondered why does it exist? Does something magically change at age 55 that will change the way I think and travel? I have cruised with people in their 90s that acted and thought younger than people in their 30s so that doesn't make sense. So, what will I get out of this forum in 5 years that doesn't apply to me now??

 

 

You know I was about to ask something similar.

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I like the way you are all open, rather than closed minded. Personally, I think that defines someone's age more than anything. I've now been 50 since September and recently celebrated my first senior discount. The poor bar tender was amazed that I was excited and said you are the first person who has ever celebrated a senior discount. I say why not celebrate your age (and the associated perks) instead of being ashamed of it?! I worked hard to become the person I am today and I choose to celebrate those 50 years instead of try to pretend some didn't happen.

 

We couldn't have children, both had good careers, saved at least 50% of our total income for 18 years and made good (lucky) investment choices. We realize we are in a fairly unique situation. Helps that we are both frugal and careful money managers. Many have asked how we did it but we have yet to find another couple willing to make the financial sacrifices we did to make this happen.

 

Maybe this forum would be more appropriately named "retirees". Wonder if I would be welcomed on this board because I am retired or shunned because I am 49 years old?

 

You and your spouse were fortunate to be able to begin your years of leisure much earlier than others. The age 55 (or 60, or 65, or whatever age) is the more "normal" , for lack of a better word, age for retirement. Some of us have retired multiple times in one way or another and have thus been able to do things that others have had to wait longer to begin doing. I was lucky enough to retire the first time at 47 and begin following my wife around for 9 years till she retired, then I retired a second time at 66 and at about the same time my wife retired a second time and then I retired a 3rd time and now we're both un-retired still another time. Retirement can be a final step or it can be an interim step, it all depends on a person't physical, financial, and/or mental situation (and I don't mean that in a derogatory sense) and also how one views their "retirement. My wife and I, for example, lucked into finding something that we really enjoy doing and even get paid to do!! So, are we retired, unretired, or what? Darned if I know, but whatever it is, we now enjoy life pretty much to the fullest.

 

 

I guess what I'm saying in a not very efficient manner is what's in a name? Or what's in an age? Whether you retire (maybe I should say quit having to go to to work 5 days a week) at 40, 55, 60 or any other age, it doesn't really matter. The fact that you have reached an age when you can work if you want, or when you want, then you have reached your 55, however old you are according to the calendar. Probably all of us have friends or family who were not fortunate to enjoy any such freedom from work so we just need to enjoy our luck.

 

Tom

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