18 Months Into Retirement, This is What Surprised Me Most | Retirement Reality

Summary

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Ready For Retirement – Episode Summary

Episode Title:

18 Months Into Retirement, This is What Surprised Me Most | Retirement Reality
Podcast: Ready For Retirement
Host: James Conole, CFP®
Guest: Christian (Retired Regulatory Specialist)
Date: December 24, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host James Conole sits down with Christian, who is 18 months into his retirement after a 30-year career in a demanding, global role. Christian shares candid reflections on what retirement truly feels like, both the expected and, more importantly, the surprising realizations—especially how stress dissipated in unexpected ways. The discussion is rich with personal anecdotes, practical insights about the financial and psychological transition, and heartfelt advice for anyone contemplating or planning for retirement.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Surprising Relief of Stress

• Physical and emotional transformation:
  Christian describes the profound relief he felt as he shed decades of accumulated work stress after retirement, comparing it to "taking off a 30-pound jacket you forgot you were wearing" ([00:37], [06:21]).
• It’s not instant:
  "It's not like all the stress automatically lifts off your shoulders. It took a few weeks for me to finally realize—I don’t have to get up at 6am anymore, or respond to emails at 11:30 at night..." – Christian ([00:00])
• Healthier habits:
  Christian notes that coping mechanisms, like overeating or overdrinking, faded as the underlying stress disappeared ([03:58]):

  "After I retired and all the stress was gone, I didn't feel like doing those things that were helping me cope... I could actually focus on living a bit healthier, a bit cleaner, and just be at peace with myself."

• Liberating but gradual:
  "You just didn’t turn it off, you just pulled the plug entirely." – Christian ([03:58])

2. The Path to Retirement – Planning and Timing

• Early and diligent financial tracking:
  Christian tracked his finances for three decades, working in sync with his wife ([08:38]).
• Reaching 'the number':
  In 2017, after his father's passing, Christian realized he had reached the amount he and his wife considered sufficient for retirement—but he waited until 2024 to actually retire ([10:14]).
• "One more year syndrome":
  Even after hitting their target, he and his wife considered moving the number higher for extra safety ([12:40]):

  "Once you get to a big point in your life, you think, 'Oh, gosh, if I do a little bit more, I can do more later...'"

3. The Retirement Transition – Financial and Emotional Practicalities

• First month logistics:
  The initial phase involved managing health insurance, pensions, and income streams, likening it to temporarily becoming his own financial advisor ([14:31]).
• Ongoing adaptation:
  The feeling of liberation grew slowly, “like letting air out of a balloon slowly, not a big pop” ([16:16]).

4. Redefining Daily Life and Relationships

• Spending time with loved ones:
  Retirement freed Christian to spend more quality time with his wife, something he cherishes above all ([18:12]):

  "My favorite thing to do: just hang out with my wife, cook dinner together, and be present. That was lacking when I worked."

• Learning from family history:
  Christian shares how his father's repeated postponement of retirement, especially after his mother’s illness and passing, taught him to prioritize time with loved ones over an extended career ([20:13]):

  "The relationship you have with the people you love is by far the most important thing... I wanted to make sure I didn't repeat that."

5. The Importance of Identity Beyond Work

• Avoiding an identity crisis:
  Christian stresses that work was what he did, not who he was ([25:19]):

  "I work, my job was something I did, but it's not who I am... My goal is to be the best husband in the world."

• No boredom yet:
  "I’m always going to find something to do... I'm waiting for the day I'm bored, but it hasn't happened yet." ([25:32])

6. Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Retirees

• Prepare financially and emotionally:
  Educate yourself on the financial side and then explore the "life" side—what you want each day to look like ([28:51]).
• Try new things, don't be afraid to quit:

  “If you try one thing and it's not working out, it’s okay to quit and try something else. That’s something my mother taught me when I was seven…” ([31:20])

• Prioritize what's truly important:
  Don’t let work ambitions encroach on precious time with loved ones—health, relationships, and personal fulfillment matter more than one more year of work ([32:54]).
• Final advice:

  “Do your homework... Have a good financial education as a base. Make sure you have something you love—whether it’s a person, a thing, or your dog. This is the best stage of life; you’re free to explore anything you want.” – Christian ([34:22])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On stress and relief after retirement:

  “Retirement is like taking off a 30-pound jacket you forgot you were wearing…” – Host James Conole paraphrasing Christian ([00:37])

• On family and purpose:

  “My goal was, number one, I want to be the best husband in the world... making sure she’s happy and fulfilled, that’s my main goal in life.” – Christian ([21:30])

• On not postponing what matters:

  “Don’t let something that’s important shift to the wayside because there are other things—like making more money—that aren’t actually the true things you value.” – James Conole ([32:54])

• On the freedom of retirement:

  “A seven-year-old kid inside of me is out now in this 56-year-old body… I hope everyone on their retirement journey has a blast.” – Christian ([34:22])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00 – 06:21: The invisible burden of work stress and its relief
• 08:38 – 12:40: Reaching the retirement “number” and dealing with the “one more year” syndrome
• 14:31 – 16:01: The month-long administrative slog after retirement and gradual realization of freedom
• 18:12 – 23:04: Renewing the relationship with his wife and lessons from his parents
• 25:19 – 26:27: On boredom, routines, and redefining identity
• 28:51 – 34:22: Advice for prospective retirees and the importance of exploring passions

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Final Thoughts

This episode delivers an honest, nuanced portrait of what it really feels like to cross the retirement threshold and live on the other side. Christian’s story is both inspiring and practical, reminding listeners not to underestimate the weight of work-induced stress, the value of strong relationships, and the fulfillment of spending time (rather than just money) on what truly matters.

Transcript

[A]

You know all that they talk about when you retire, like the stress just falls away. And for me it did. And you don't realize how much stress you're under until actually you know, you're done. And it's like, and even then too, it's like, it's not like all the stress like automatically lifts off your shoulders. It's basically something. It's like it took a few weeks for me to go ahead and finally realize. I'm like, wow, I don't have to get up at 6am anymore. I don't have to respond to emails that 11:30 at night because my colleague in Asia Pacific is having a problem. It's was great to go ahead and not be able to have to worry about that.

[B]

What if retirement feels less like a number and more like taking off a 30 pound jacket you forgot you were wearing? Today you'll hear from Christian, who spent 30 years on call 247 and had no idea how stressed he was until he retired and that stress alleviated. So if you've ever wondered what the first 18 months of retirement actually feel like, liberating, different, maybe even a little bit surprising, this episode's for you. Thank you for joining me today. Christian, how long have you been retired for now?

[A]

I've been retired now about 18 months. I retired in March of 2024.

[B]

And what did you do for work prior to retiring?

[A]

I worked for a major chemical manufacturing company. I worked in the regulatory department as a system specialist to help generate and process documents needed to ship chemicals globally.

[B]

All right, so a career there, 18 months of retirement. If you could describe these first 18 months of retirement in one word, what would you use?

[A]

Different is something I would go ahead and use as a word. Obviously retirement for me was, I was fully prepared to go into it, I was ready to retire. But it never, like life, it never works out exactly as you think it's going to go ahead and work out. So I'm going to say different is one word, but also liberating is also another word I would use. And that was the word I was going to pick until you phrase the question that way. And I'm like, yeah, it's been different for sure.

[B]

Okay, let's double click into both those different and liberating, starting with different. Different than what you expected it to be. Different from your working years. Different in some other sense.

[A]

Just different. And just in how I felt after I was done working. It's like for over 30 years working in the industry that I work in and doing the work that I did. I was on call pretty much 24 7. I work for a global company and it was like there was very few hours a day where essentially there's any downtime and if there was an issue or a problem, you know, it needed to be addressed right away or else we couldn't ship our products. And so it needed to be taken care of right away. And then after I retired, it was like, you know all that they talk about when you retire, like, the stress just falls away. And for me, it did. And you don't realize how much stress you're under until actually, you know, you're done. And it's like. And even then too, it's like, it's not like the. All the stress, like, automatically lifts off your shoulders. It's basically something. It's like it took a few weeks for me to go ahead and finally realize. I'm like, wow, I don't have to get up at 6am anymore. I don't have to respond to emails at 11:30 at night because my colleague in Asia Pacific is having a problem. It was great to go ahead and not be able to have to worry about that anymore.

[B]

I hear that quite a bit and I want to hear it in your words, of people saying, I had no idea how stressed I actually was until I retired and that stress started to dissipate. What, what was the moment where you realized, oh, my goodness, I did not even realize how much stress I was under. Was there, was there something that hit you? Like, what did that feel like for you to realize, have that epiphany, that the stress is starting to fade away?

[A]

Just the way I felt physically, honestly, it was like I always felt when you're working, it's like, you know, there's stuff you have to do, you need to do to get done. You're always, no, I need to always be on. And so once I got off, it was kind of like I didn't feel the need to go ahead and have to do things, even the stuff I wanted to do for a hobby, like my hobbies. It's like, you know, when you're working, you try to go ahead and fit in your hobbies in the time when you, you're working and around family stuff and whatever else you got going on now, even with the hobbies, it's kind of like, I know I don't have to do this particular thing now because, you know, I'm not going to be required to really be anywhere tomorrow or the next day or the next week. And it just basically physically you just feel different. And then like a lot of time when you're dealing with stress, you do things that, you know, honestly aren't the best for you. It's like, you may eat too much, you may drink too much. And then, honestly, after I retired and all the stress was gone, it was like, I don't feel like doing those things that were helping me cope with the stress because the stress is gone. And I can actually focus now on trying to live a little bit healthier, live a little bit cleaner, and just be at peace with myself. Which was something. When you're working, especially in a high stress environment and everyone's depending upon you, it's, you know, really hard to go ahead and, you know, just, you know, it's hard to turn it off. And, you know, once you retired, it's like you just didn't turn it off. You just pulled the plug entirely. So it's like it's completely gone. And so it's like. And then you just realize that's like, man, I didn't have any idea, like, how much stress I was under. Now it's gone. It's free.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. A related question, and I agree fully with what you just said of the we're people, we naturally cope. Is it eating too much? Is it drinking too much? Like, what do we do to try to find that elusive piece that maybe we can't find when there's heavy stress, heavy deadlines, heavy responsibilities on us? To what extent did that play a role in your decision to retire? Did you feel yourself saying, I just can't get there. I'm doing things I don't want to do, or was that totally separate from your decision to retire?

[A]

That was completely separate because I had a clear indication actually back in 2017 that I wanted to retire. So I took a long time getting ready to actually go ahead and retire. And I think I kind of mentioned previously, you don't realize how much stress you're under until actually after the stress is gone. It's kind of like walking around with like a 30 pound jacket on. It's like you walk around with a jacket on for a long time. It's like after a while you fail to notice it's there. You're just carrying it. And once you realize I'm like, oh, I can just take this thing off, you know, you're like, well, I feel a lot better now. It's like, you know, granted that stress probably strengthened me to some things, but honestly, it's like it was still weighing you down. But honestly, it's like my decision to retire was completely separate from that. It's like I had a. Even though my job was a lot of stress, it was a great job. I was very blessed and very fortunate to work for the company I've worked for. I had a great team, a great team of people who I've worked with. And when I told them I was going to go ahead and retire, everyone was excited. Everyone was very happy for me. It's not like we hear about some people saying, like, oh, don't tell them you're going to retire because they'll just, you know, they'll lay you off and they'll not let you have your benefits and whatnot. My place was not like that at all. They really just, you know, they appreciated me, I appreciated them. They appreciate everything I did. And it allowed me to go ahead and have a very long transition from worker to retiree and without. And it made me at peace where essentially once I left, I knew everything would be fine. It's like, you know, everyone was trained, everyone out and knew, take care of stuff that I was doing previously, and I had no concerns about it at all.

[B]

Let's go through that transition a bit. I'm going to start with the financial side and then kind of the emotional side. At what point did you actually start? Everyone knows at some point they're probably going to retire. But a lot of people, there's this, I want to retire. I know I want to do something, but for whatever reason, they don't bring themselves to that first piece, which is create a plan. Just create a. Can I do this? Do I have the. The assets, the income, the whatever. When did you start the financial planning piece? Even if it's just back the napkin numbers?

[A]

Well, I've always been very diligent about tracking my finances. I know I've tracked my finances for over 30 years, pretty much ever since right around the time I got married. And, you know, my wife was great. We're always on the same page financially. We always coordinated well. And honestly, it was. I mentioned before 2017, in 2016, my dad unfortunately passed away. And so. And it took about a year or so going through everything for the assets in the state to go ahead and be, you know, settled. And then, you know, at that time, after everything was all said and done and I had all. Everything kind of settled, and even before that, I was taking a look at the numbers at the time, and this was in 2017. So it's like I'd been through the 2008, you know, crash and everything and went through all that. But looking the numbers. I was looking at numbers, I'm like, wow. It's like, I actually have enough now to where it's like, work is optional. And that was back in 2017, and I was like, well, now I can go ahead and actually start planning ahead for it to go ahead and make sure that when I do get to the age I want to retire, you know, I'm really fully ready and ready to go. And then I kind of shift it to where it's like, okay, I got enough. So let me go ahead and structure it to where essentially when I'm ready to retire, all the other pieces are in place to go ahead and make sure I can actually, you know, pay myself regular income.

[B]

Mm. So. So you have been tracking the financial piece to some extent from the early years of work, and that wasn't anything new. But 2017 is when you. You realize I'm at a point where work is optional. 2024 is when you actually retired. So it's full seven years later. Was that seven years because, as you said, you did enjoy a large part of what you did for work, or was that because even though you're financially ready, there was the what do I do in retirement? The psychological side of it.

[A]

Well, I wasn't really too worried about what I was going to do in retirement. One thing nice about the company that I've worked for is if you retired at or a little bit after 55, but before 65, they gave you additional benefits to go ahead. And really, the main thing was it helped cover health care, where essentially they provided a service, find you healthcare. And actually, my company actually does give me a subsidy to help pay for health care, which is, you know, when you're retired, is one of your major expenses that you're going to have to go ahead and deal with. And so I pretty much decided that time, I was like, well, I want to go and wait till 55, because not only do I get this benefit, but then also then too, you know, I have my 401k, my work, and I knew then I could use Rule 55 to pull into those. Pull off on those assets. Assets to go ahead and, you know, provide income. And so that's why I kind of decided to go ahead and wait until I was 55. But when actually, when I realized that, it was like, even though I was ready in 2017, it was like, you know, it was like, I kind of mentioned this to my wife. It's like, you know, because we had that Number. You know, everyone has their number in their head that they talked about. And they said like, well, if you get to this point, it's like, we don't have to work anymore. And then I told my wife, well, we're actually at her number. She's like, really? And she's like, yeah. And I'm like, well, we might have to rethink the number. I'm like, well, if, you know, hey, we talked about this. And so, you know, we're there and actually now we're actually at that number and we're way past that initial number and we're doing pretty well.

[B]

Yeah, I. I'm interested in that piece right there. So you hit your number, you and your wife had the conversation where they are, and then part of that conversation was, well, do we move the number? What was that? Simply because it felt safer to have a larger number? Was it because, okay, no, we have to budget in for some buffer or merge and if things don't go well, was it what led to the pushing back of that?

[A]

Well, it's like, if anything else, when essentially when you get to a big point in your life, you're kind of thinking, it's like, oh, gosh, we worked so hard to get here when we're finally here. And it kind of relates into the one more year syndrome. It's like everyone thinks like, oh, I'm there, but if I do a little bit more, you know, I can do more stuff later on in life. And, you know, I've always been the guys who's run random numbers and I look at all the stuff and so I always knew we were going to be in a good shape no matter what. And so, but, you know, a lot of times, you know, you have, you know, your partner where essentially it's like, you know, they may not be into as much of numbers as you are, and, you know, it's just something to where, you know, once we talked about it and then once I finally said, we started going over it and we actually do work with a. Another financial, you know, service, and we actually work with producer for a while, basically ran the numbers and it's like, yeah, everything is good. And once they go ahead and they see it's like, no, it's just not you explaining numbers, but you actually have a third party explaining how the numbers look. It's like, like it looked. It's like more comforting.

[B]

There is that extra layer of comfort there to know you're not just at your number, but you're a bit beyond your number. And have some outside validation for that. So that happened in 2017. Fast forward 2024. You enjoyed those years, you enjoyed your work. But also has taken a heavy toll on you to, to, to use your words, there's a 30 pound jacket you were wearing that you just didn't even fully appreciate. The fact that it was weighing on you that heavily. Liberation was the second word that you use to describe retirement. Walk us through that. What that was like, what, what was day one of retirement like for you?

[A]

Well, unfortunately, when you retire, it's like, even though you're no longer working, you still have stuff to do. It's because when I retired, it's like, well, number one, when you retire, it's like, well, you don't have health care anymore, so you have to get health care. So I had to go ahead and we had to work on that. Actually. My job actually had a pension. And so I decide what to go ahead and do with that and then to go ahead and do all that administrative stuff and then actually had to go ahead and it's like, well, now I retired in March, it's like, and I'm no longer pulling them. I was going to get one more paycheck. I have to go ahead and decide like, okay, how much money do I want to pull out of my retirement funds or out of my brokerage account to go ahead and pay for, you know, the remainder of the year. And so there's still to go ahead and do. So all that stuff, all that stuff is going on. It's like, you know, I felt like I was like, I kind of changed it. Where I think you and Ari mentioned before were essentially, it's like, if you're not working with a financial advisor, you get to become a financial advisor yourself because you're managing all your money on your own. And so I wish I started doing that stuff and then once took about three, it took about a month before you finally got everything kind of like done that needed to get done. And then after that, basically it's like, okay, I can actually just, you know, let me sit on the couch for a while and relax. And so it was probably like a month after I retired. And it's like, okay, it's like started like settling in that I no longer have to be, you know, on the bicycle every single day, you know, you.

[B]

Know, riding around and what was that feeling like? So was it just simply the, the weightlessness of the jackets gone and you feel free or did. Do you remember feeling any other emotions or feelings around that?

[A]

I just, I Just really, really felt essentially. It's like, like I said when I was working, it's like you always get, you feel the need to do something. It's like, you know, you're trying to get to the next goal, you know, trying to get to even whether it be, you know, personally, you know, financially or spiritually or something else you have to go do. And then I got to the point where it's like, you know, I don't have to do anything. It's like if I just want to have a day where it's like I just want to get up and read or watch TV or, you know, go for a walk, go to the gym, do something. It's like I had complete freedom. It's like my day was like, you know, completely open and it wasn't something that happens. Like, it's not like a switch that goes off. It's a gradual transition. And honestly, it's like I've only been retired about 18 months. Honestly, I think I'm still transitioning. They always talk about the vacation phase and it's like, okay, it's like I'm still kind of going through the tail end of the vacation phase and I think I'm getting to the next point of it. But I just felt that essentially after about a month or so, it's like it was something that's like, it's kind of like letting the air out of the balloon slowly. It's like, it's not a big pop, it's just like something you feel slowly over time and you start to feel, feel really just kind of like lighter overall, not just physically, but also spiritually because it's like you don't have this, you know, like I said, you don't have that 30 pound jacket weighing you down.

[B]

So what does life look like now? You don't have that 30 pound jacket weighing you down. You, you, you know, you took some time to get the actual mechanics in order of where am I pulling money from? Getting health insurance set up, getting the pension, that stuff, you know, and you're, you, you played financial advisor for that month to get everything done. And now you're at the point where there's still things that you have to do, there's still financial decisions to be made, but they' more or less, maybe somewhat on autopilot at this point. With the time that is freed up. What does life look like?

[A]

Honestly, it just gives me time to spend. Actually it gives me a lot more time to spend with my wife, which I really love is like, because my Wife left the workforce a few years ago to start a new career as a writer. And so she works from home, which is great. And we're always around each other. We like being around each other, and we just get to hang out. And I think that's really, like, my favorite thing to do. It's just, you know, you know, talk about redating your spouse, and it's like, no, me and my wife always been very close. We've been. We're together all the time. We love being around each other. And, you know, a lot of times we have some days where essentially it's like, what do you want to do today? And she'll be like, well, I don't know what you want to do. It's like, well, I don't know what you want to do. And she's like, well, I got these few things I got to go ahead and do. I'm like, okay, that's fine. And then, you know, we'll be at home and, like, she'll be off doing her thing, and I'll be, you know, somewhere else in the house doing my thing. But then we come together, like, we cook dinner together almost every single night. And it's, you know, that's one thing I really love about retired is just, you know, being around her more often than not. Because that was something that was kind of lacking when I was working, because I'd be. Even though, like, during the pandemic, it was like, I got two weeks off because the country was shut down. But since my industry was declared essential, I got called back to work two weeks after the pandemic hit, and I needed to go ahead. And even though I work remotely, I still need to go back in the office a couple days a week. And then that was just, again, another thing of stress, especially during the pandemic. But now we just get to hang out, you know, all the time. I think that's really my, by far, my favorite thing.

[B]

Yeah, let's. Let's talk about that. How has your relationship with your wife changed? Giving. You said, yeah, we've always loved hanging out with each other, but we just don't have that freedom and that time. And now being retired, you do. What does your relationship with your wife look like today that maybe you didn't have the ability to have it look like while you were working?

[A]

Well, it was always good. And. But, you know, she just, you know, she loves. I love being around her. She loves being around me and just that. Just being in that presence. And I was going to go and relate that to a different. Another story that I had because my dad. I was first introduced to the concept of retirement when I was 18, because my parents had me when they were in their late 30s. And so by the time I'm ready to go to high, go to college now, my Dad's in his mid-50s, along with my mom. And so basically he kept on telling me, like, you know, once you go to college, I'm going to retire. Like, okay, dad, that sounds great. And, you know, he could do whatever the heck he wanted. And then after I went to college, he said, like, well, I'm going to wait until your younger sister goes to college, who's three years behind me. And I'm like, okay, dad, that's fine. Whatever. Do what you're going to do. And then he kept on pushing it off, pushing it off and pushing it off, and I never really found out why. And it was. And unfortunately, you know, at this time, you know, my mother was also very ill. She suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, and she was, you know, very sick by the time I was in high school. She had trouble walking around. By the time I got married, she was in a wheelchair pretty much 24, 7. She couldn't get around on her own. And then she passed away, like, a year after I got married. And I just thought about that. And one reason I wanted to retire early and spend time with my wife is because I saw my dad, who basically, even though my mother was ill, he had all this time in between the time when, you know, I went, he said when he said he could retire and before she passed. And it seems to me like that would seem like an inform in a more than my time to waste not being with the one person that you love more than anything on this planet. So I really kind of learned from that, and I didn't want to repeat that, especially when I realized I got to the point to where it's like, you know, work is optional, work is great, but it's not the most important thing. The relationship you have with the people you love in your life is probably far the most important thing that you'll ever have. It's like, that's the thing that keeps you whole. And so I wanted to make sure that, you know, I maintain that. And I always, like, now people always say, like, you know, you struggle with your identity after you retire. It's like, I work my job with something I did, but that's not who I am, you know? No, no. My goal was like, number one, I want to be the best husband in the world. That's, like, my primary goal. And being with my wife and just being around her and making sure she does everything she wants to go ahead and do and that she's happy and fulfilled. That's my main goal in life. So that's why, number one, why I want to retire early and spend time with her, but also why would happen with my dad. It's like, I want to make sure I didn't repeat. I don't think it was a mistake, but I don't think it was the best choice.

[B]

Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that, Christian. It reminds me, you know, it's. I sent out an email to clients maybe a year ago. I forget exactly when, but something along the lines of, hey, what's. What's one thing that you've always wanted to spend money on but could, you know, you've never done it? And the responses were great. It was like, hey, I want to go see a Yankees game at Yankee Stadium, or, I want to go, you know, whitewater rafting with my grandchildren. I want to. It was typically things that weren't super expensive, just things that have been on the to do list forever. And then one client in particular, she sent me an email. She said, hey, I've always had this dream. My husband and I always had this dream of, you know, taking a train through Alaska and doing these epic things along the way. Unfortunately, he passed before we were actually able to do some of this. And I remember that hit me of like, hey, we all financial planning so much about the things we want to do, the trips we want to take. And it's so easy to keep pushing that off, pushing that off, pushing it off, kind of. These things are important to us, but they never feel urgent. And sometimes we don't get the chance to do the important because we never took the step to retire or to make them happen or to, you know, you fill in the blank. So I appreciate you sharing that because it's that same sentiment of, I didn't want to push off the things that were most important to my life because I could always justify working one more year. I always justify maxing out my 401k another year. I could always justify paying into Social Security one more year. I could always justify one more bonus, but at what cost? And what you didn't want to fall prey to was, well, the cost of not having my wife in this case, or at the cost not having my health with my wife or whatever the case might be. So I think that's a really Important thing for people to realize is we get so locked into our financial goals and what we want to do in the future that we fail to appreciate not everything we have today is going to be there tomorrow. Our health, our spouse, our family finance, whatever the case might be. So thank you for sharing that. Going back. So a year and a half or so of retirement now, do you. And I think you already started to address that. People talk about the honeymoon phase, and it feels like a vacation at first, and you start to feel like, okay, I'm drifting. I don't know what I am, who I am, what I want to do. I think you already said, okay.

[A]

I.

[B]

It didn't. It's not my work. It's so much more than that. But do you ever feel a sense of what next, what do I want to do? Kind of bored, or. Is that not something that ever crosses your mind?

[A]

Not yet, anyway. Actually, I'm waiting for the day where it comes across where it's like, I'm sitting around and I'm like, I'm really bored, and I just haven't hit that yet. And so I'm waiting for that day, and it's like. And actually, before I retired, my wife just asked, like, well, when you retire, you can, you know, do A, B, and C. And I'm like, okay, I'm working on A, a little bit on B, some a little bit on C. And so I have options, you know, to keep you busy. So I haven't gotten to that point yet to where it's like, you know, I got to the point where essentially it's like, you know, I get up and it's like, you know, I don't have anything to do today, which is like. Which is not me at all. I'm always going to find something to go ahead and do. Even if it is something, it's like, well, you know, now the bathrooms need to be clean, so, okay, I'll go clean the bathroom. It's like, I'm gonna go ahead and find something that gave me busy or at least, you know, occupied for a while.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very cool, being a year and a half in now. If you could talk to Christian two years ago, you know, the version of Christian that was thinking about retirement, having an idea what he was going to do, what would you tell him is the same as what he expected versus what would you tell him is going to be different than what he expected?

[A]

That's kind of an interesting question, because really, it's like, when I was preparing to retire, I was really Keep trying to keep myself educated on what to expect. And so basically I would go ahead and tell them. It's like now when you. Basically, if I went to myself and it was two years ago, I would. Basically, I'd be in the midst of probably setting up all the training programs I needed to go ahead and do to get everyone trained because we had to hire, like, three people to do my job. I would just basically tell them, like, listen, once you get. Once you get there, you're gonna feel so much better. It's, you know, you're gonna feel healthier. You're gonna feel, you know, not as tired as you were previously. And just stick with it. It's like, you know, it's going to be great. Just, you know, keep on going. And it's like. And I'd be like, okay, thanks. And I give myself an odd look and then you walk away.

[B]

Yes, it's. Stick with it. It's going to be great. I think that sticking with it and a theme I hear in talking to people is you don't always know exactly what it's going to look like, but if you keep trying new things and if you keep. Whether it's cleaning the bathroom or it's going on a date with your wife or it's taking a nutrient, just keep doing things. You're going to find that thing that brings you a lot of adventure or joy or contentment or whatever it might be you. I know even I think you mentioned, like, you read a lot or you watch a lot. Like, you. You prepared for this. It sounds like where it wasn't just something you randomly stepped into without thought to. What are the finances going to look like? What's life going to look like? What guidance would you give to that person who may be on the financial side? They say, I've watched a hundred YouTube videos. I listen to 100 podcasts. I know how much I need to have in my portfolio. I know what tax strategies to do. I know where to pull money from first. That's not my problem. My problem is I don't know what's on the other side. I just want to hear someone who's there tell me what I should be thinking about or what I should start doing to prepare for the. Maybe the psychological shift or the emotional shift. Any words of wisdom based on your experiences or those of others you've. You've talked to that you might share?

[A]

Yeah, it's kind of weird you mentioned that because it was funny, because right when I was getting to retire, I had another coworker who I work with. She's on my team, and she was about my age, maybe a little bit younger, and she wanted to talk about retirement because she was ready to retire. Her husband wasn't. Her husband was basically, he didn't want to retire, he didn't want to talk about it. And I would go ahead and say, like, once you got the financial thing kind of pinned down, it's like, really, then you have to go ahead and explore what you want to do. It's like. And that's where it's like, you know, once you educate yourself on the financial part of it, then you need to really kind of like, explore the life part of it. You know, what do you want to go ahead and. And do? It's like. And everyone's, you know, choice is going to be different. It's like, for me, it's like I want to make sure I spend more time with my wife. And there are a lot of people out there where, you know, they have, you know, they're married, but they have children and they have grandkids. They want to spend a lot of time with the grandkids. And, and it's. They always say you go ahead and should have like, like, like three or four things, you know, outside of, you know, family stuff, to go ahead and do to help keep yourself, you know, occupied. And so really, you just, like, you know, think about something you love doing. It's like, often I also, I often think about my former director because he was my age and he said he's going to retire 50, and he's a fisherman. So I'm like, I know exactly what this guy's going to be doing once he retired. He's going to be spending a lot of time fishing and will probably be going on some pretty badass fishing trips. Pretty everywhere from, like, Alaska to the Florida coast to go ahead and catch whatever he can catch. And so I know I'm so. I'm not worried about him, you know, at all. But, you know, ideally, it's like, if you're so tied up with your work identity that you can't really get away from it, then it's like, well, maybe you don't, you know, quit working. Maybe you go part time or you get like, a different job, which is less stress. It's like, because some people, it's like, I know some people will go ahead and they worked up until, you know, their 70s. A lot of people in my company, it's like once you got in, you, like, you really didn't leave you kind of like, stood there, stayed there in the entire time. And so I would go ahead and say the people are like, if you're thinking about retiring and the financial thing is kind of like, pin down, you have to go ahead and realize the amount of freedom that gives you. And then if you have freedom to go out and do pretty much whatever you want, you know, if it's something to where it's like, well, I always wanted to learn how to play piano. Like, okay, well, now you can. It's like, maybe I always want to learn how to speak Spanish. I'm like, okay, go ahead and do that. Just find something that, you know, keep yourself occupied. And I would just go ahead and say, you know, find something that you, you know, love doing or something that you find interesting. And if you try one thing and it's like, well, I did this for a while. That's not really working out. It's okay to quit. You know, go ahead and do something else. It's like, that's something my mother taught me, like, when I was, like, seven. It's like. I remember she was. You know, my parents are very insistent everyone in the family learn to play musical instrument. And so I tried, like, three or four different ones. I remember one day, I'm like, you know, I. I was learning to play the drums, and I just, you know, wasn't getting it. I wasn't having a good time, and it was just really. Just a drain. And then basically I was like, are you getting upset about myself? Because I was like, I wasn't doing as well as I could. And, you know, and then my mom said, like, you know what? That's okay. Just quit. We'll find something else. And then eventually, years later, I found a musical instrument that I did like, and I actually wound up playing that for a long time, which was good. And so I would just say, you know, get. You know, find something that you're interested in and give it a try if, you know, you know, like. Like a lot of people play pickleball. It's like a big thing for retirees. It's like, if you want to play pickleball, great. Play pickleball. If you don't play pickleball, you don't have to. There's other things you can go ahead and play. You can play golf, you can play tennis. You can do something else. I would just. I would just say, you know, find something that, you know, interests you and, you know, just give it a try.

[B]

Try new things. Don't be afraid to quit. Lesson From Christian, I'm going to add two things just based upon what I'm hearing you say. One is what I'm hearing you say and what I hear. A lot of people, people who have an easier time transitioning to retirement, it's typically because they haven't placed their whole identity in what they did for work. You said very clearly my identity was not what I did for work. So I think that transition was, was easier because you had other things that where your identity, not that. So you didn't feel like you were losing a giant portion of yourself. The last thing is you, because of your experience with your mom and dad. You saw very clearly there is something that I value more than anything else, and that is my wife. And I'm not going to let this anything get in the way of my potential ability to spend the best years of my life with her, uninhibited from the demands of work, the responsibilities of work. So try new things. I'm hearing you say as much as you can, don't place your identity in work, place it in other things. And then three, understand what's important and don't let something that's important shift to the wayside because there's other things in front of you, like making more money or promoting up or doing other things that aren't actually the true things that you value. So lots of important lessons I think here in your experience, Christian, any final words that you would want to leave listeners with who are wanting to retire, maybe even retire early. Any, any final words of wisdom that you might want to share with them?

[A]

Final words of wisdom. Obviously, if you're planning on retiring, whether it be early or what's called on time, do your homework. Like there's so much resources out there. YouTube is a great resource. I'm a big YouTube guy. I'm a visual learner and so I learn a lot by watching. But if you're not like, there's books and other forms of education out there, there are no places. Local colleges will have seminars every once in a while. Do your homework. Get yourself educated not only about retirement, but have a good financial education as a base before you lead into retirement. And that will go ahead and give you your base on the financial side of it as far. The other side of it is now make sure you have something that you love, whether it be a person or a thing or your dog. And just think about all the time, all the great things you can go ahead and do that's going to be great with them. And I want to go ahead and say who anyone else is watching this. If you're thinking about retirement and you're going to be retiring soon, or if you are retired, I wish you the best on your retirement journey. I think it is by far for me the best stage of life because you get to get to go ahead and do everything that you want to do and you're completely free to go ahead and explore anything you want to explore at this point. So a seven year old kid inside of me basically is out now in this 56 year old body. And so I would just say I hope everyone on their retirement journey has a blast.

[B]

Love it. Well, thank you, Christian. Thank you for sharing your experiences and wisdom and stories of your retirement journey. Thank you for sharing with all of us. Appreciate you coming on the show to do so.

[A]

Not a problem.