DUers age 70 and over, are you still working?

[Stinky The Clown]

If yes, is it by choice or necessity?

If by choice, are you working full time or less?

If by choice, do you intend to retire at some point?

[Walleye]

1. Retired at 65. My company offered me a deal. Newspapers weren't doing too well back then

[rzemanfl]

2. Not working. I would work part-time if something came along after the plague.

I worked 3 full days a week for a while and enjoyed it. Perfect mix.

[Celerity]

20. hey rzeman!, I hope all is going well for you

[rzemanfl]

36. Just holed up at home, waiting for the vaccine and watching DeSatan

misgovern the state.

[SarasotaDem]

3. Yes

LMT by choice

[tblue37]

4. Retired from teaching college in 2019. Now I tutor part time at all levels in all subjects in

the humanities, and math up to and including 8th grade.

I have cut back a lot, though, because of covid.

I could get by without it, but it's nice to have a bit extra socked away in case of an emergency.

[NoMoreRepugs]

5. Yes. 71 and starting my 18th year of day trading.

[Ms. Toad]

6. Not there yet -

but my plan for the last 7 years has been to work until I hit 72, then retire and travel. I switched jobs at 58 and committed to staying 5 years (dollar for dollar, what I lost from my old job was replaced by joining the state retirement system again and wiping out low salary years (defined benefit plan).

After that - it's "only" 1.5%/year added income. We can live off what we have saved and what I would get as retirement inome nownow - but I like the idea of maxing out my regular income since I had fully expected to live to close to 100.

But 72 is 7.5 years away now - and with a recent sarcoma diagnosis I'm considering retiring early to make sure my spouse and I have time to travel post-retirement. I'll rethink the target of 72 once the possibility of travel opens back up.

I won't work more than a few months past 72 (enough to get to the end of the semester). I might volunteer after that - but on a part time basis as I feel like it.

[former9thward]

14. That is fine and I hope all works out.

The problem with waiting to travel after retirement is age and health. Sometimes people are just not in a position to travel because of those factors. A lot of people wait for retirement to travel and then they just can't do it.

[Hamlette]

7. 70 here, not working

helped out for a few months at the unemployment office this summer but didn't need the income so I gave every penny of it to Dems for 2020 election. Plus a bit more.

[k8conant]

8. Yes, by choice (I think)

I will be 72 in June.

I worked for the 2020 Census (July-September 2019 and March-October 2020).
I was on UCFE (Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees) from October 15, 2020 until this month so I had to keep looking for a full-time job. I just took a full-time job as tax preparer locally. That may last into February or maybe April if required.

I've been paying down our HELOC (including our year-old solar panels) but look forward to retiring again or something part-time.

We would survive without this work but it's made things easier.

I used to work from home through our LLC but my only client died in October and his business died with him.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. 74 and still working full-time by choice. I love my job, I love my boss.

I work for a general contractor with a work crew of 12. Very laid back. I don't have any plans to retire soon. I'm afraid boredom would overtake me.

[Liberal In Texas]

10. I was until covid.

It was a job I enjoyed doing and paid rather well. I am in the legal support field and when the pandemic hit everything sort of just went away. Even if it hadn't I'm not going inside any public place (especially rooms with a bunch of strangers for hours at a time) I don't absolutely need to until it's safe to do so. Some of it went virtual with Zoom etc., but I'm not really interested in gearing-up to do that.

I don't know how long it will be until this plague ends and so I may end up not working again.

[tavernier]

12. 74, and yes, by choice.

I’ve tried to retire five times but just don’t like it at all. I’m a retired nurse by vocation, but the last five years I have been working as a substitute lunch lady at the high school, which means that I’m pretty well full time because they just can’t keep staff. It doesn’t pay much. But it is quite physical, great exercise, so the 5 hours daily is like going to the gym, and they pay me. Also the staff is friendly and fun to work with, and the kids are such a hoot. My boss calls me Cher because she laughs at my past attempts to retire unsuccessfully. I feel active and appreciated and the bit of extra money has paid for school books for my grandkids in college.

[LastDemocratInSC]

13. By choice.

I love what I do (Java systems architecture).

I love the company where I work (a major international technology consulting company based in Montreal).

I have been developing commercial software systems since 1971.

They pay me a very good salary.

I can work wherever I want to. I've spent the last 13 years on 20 secluded acres in the woods in the northern Shenandoah valley in Virginia.

I have no complaints and hope to continue this challenging and creative life for many more years.

[lunatica]

15. I retired and do not want to work

I’m enjoying my retirement and dedicating myself to do exactly what I feel like doing. I’m also an artist so I always have that. I’m quite self reliant. And I’m also pretty much of a hermit. I’m just fine.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. I'm 72, not working by choice.

Personally, I've never had a job that was better than not working.

There are so many things I'd rather do than get up and go to a work place.

[mbusby]

17. Will be 70 in June...

...and currently not working. Software engineer for 45 years.

[WyLoochka]

18. 18 to 28 hours per week - varies

Continuing on longer than planned in order to have something to do while waiting out Covid.

Nice to have the extra dollars as well.

Too isolated though - working virtually from home.

[demosincebirth]

19. I'm 81, retired at 59. Haven't worked a day since, my choice.

[lpbk2713]

21. I retired at age 56 for the sake of my sanity.

Working conditions changed and I didn't. That was 21 years ago. I got by okay.

[KentuckyWoman]

22. Yes but...

I handed my business over to my employees years ago. Moved to Ohio recently and live in a senior place. By word of mouth I do a little side work helping my neighbors and people they know do their taxes and plan their finances.

I always make sure I earn $100 less than the threshold to lose any social security.

[argyl]

23. No, thank God. And two weeks after I retired I had the first of two total replacements

Most of the damage was 35/50 a week of
roadwork but I was in total misery for two years until the surgeries. Those were knee replacements by the way.

I took hydro and OxyContin for two years before the surgeries. It was bone to bone agony. And took them again for maybe 1 1/2 years after the surgeries.

I'm sure I must have been physically but not psychologically hooked to the shit.

I saved plenty so I could wean myself off when the time came and had no trouble. And for that horrible shit I guess that's a pretty happy ending.

Wanted to retire at 66 and did. Actually quit working a couple of months before I turned 66. It's not when you quit working it's when you turn in your papers.

[lucca18]

24. Me husband and I are both retired.

We both worked for the same company (20 years each), and were able to retire early with good retirement packages.
I loved the company I worked for! (Levi Strauss & Co)

[DFW]

25. I will turn 70 next year

I have been at the same job (higher rank now) since 1975. It involves a lot of travel to cool places, high pay, as much vacation as I want, and I get mostly left alone to run our European operations as I like, which, to me, means letting all my European employees do what THEY like, as long as it produces good results. Our US HQ keeps a close eye on us, so we can’t just goof off. But other than that, why would I trade that for sitting in front of the TV and playing guitar all day?

[sakabatou]

26. My dad's retired, but he's doing religious studies and does poetry

[mitch96]

27. 71 here, retired at 64 by choice. Or else I would have been fired/let go... fill in the blank.

My mouth was getting me in trouble as the medical establishment did not like it when I called them on patient care. There was also the unwritten age discrimination. The could hire two part timers for less than they were paying me. I did not like where the profession was going so I bailed out. I let my license go, I jumped on my motorcycle and rode up to Alaska. Great trip.
Kinda sorta like a fish out of water for a couple of years and then started to "flip" my house seeing the real estate market in So Fla was going up. Working on the house kept me busy, sold at a profit and moved farther north. No regrets...
My only suggestion is to have a plan on what you are gonna do AFTER you retire. Write it down and try it on. See if you can live with it for a while then if it works GO FOR IT..
m

[panader0]

28. 70 and worked construction since 19.

Mostly masonry but also carpentry, concrete, roofing, drywall, tile and more.
I was asked to lay block the summer of 2019 and it proved too hard, and I used to be the best around.
Sadly, my body can't take the hard work, although I am building a greenhouse and cut and split wood
almost daily. I can work for myself, at my own pace, but not on the clock anymore.
It's a sad thing to realize that you're not as good as you used to be.

[MineralMan]

29. 75 and still working, about half time.

My profession is writing, and I work from my home office. Voluntary? No, but not a burden.

[dware]

30. I'm 73 and still working despite being retired from the USMC,

but it's by choice, I own my own trucking company consisting of one truck and one employee, me.

I do plan on fully retiring in about 5 years depending upon my health and if my DOT card is renewed.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

32. Being a one-man-band owner/operator, how so you manage ...

... to work long hours at the wheel and negotiate/schedule future loads?

[dware]

35. The long hours are no problem,

I'm used to long hours in the Marines and as far as negotiate/scheduling future loads, I have an agent that is really good at getting me good paying loads and he tries to keep me on the I-5 corridor from SoCal all the way up to the Canadian border.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

37. I didn't work many long hours in the Army, but many of them FELT long :) .

That agent sounds like gold.

[dware]

39. As I climbed in rank, my hours got longer and longer,

especially when I made Gunnery Sergeant.

I went through 3 different agents before I found my current agent, who is, like you say, gold.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. Not. Retired at 68.

Not looking for work at this time. Maybe part-time volunteer stuff if I ever get the covid vaccine.

[Johnny2X2X]

33. Very interesting to hear so many working in their 70s

I've always thought I will retire late 60s, but the older I get the more I realize I like work and like having a routine, I'd be bored without it.

[George II]

34. Retired in 2013 at 65. My choice. I had three weeks vacation saved up, so....

....I took them three weeks before my 65th birthday. The day after my birthday I went in to sign the papers, never looked back.

[ananda]

38. No.

I retired for good at age 65.

I play bridge now and just enjoy my old age.

[leftyladyfrommo]

40. I have a small pet sitting business which is pretty

much dead right now. I think it will pick up again once Covid gets under more control.

I am 72

[Tracer]

41. I'm 80 and WAS still working (at home) by choice, but

am dead in the water because all my clients are out of business too. Almost all of them are in businesses that rely on attendance and audiences, and those are impossible for the forseeable future.