CHAPARRAL

Time: the great
non-renewable resource…

The sixth in a series of articles on retirement

by Tom Sweeney, Professor of Machine Technology, emeritus

Here are a few tips in planning for your retirement. Create a plan early and stick to it. What is early, you might ask – well, it is the age you are now. Putting it off will do nothing but reduce valuable time to prepare. Are you planning to move to a new location? Figure out where you would like to live. Investigate everything about the area: weather, social life, but most important, medical services, are they close by? Then, work on reducing your credit card debt, and save all you can spare. As the date approaches continue to analyze your basic expenses and do not get cold feet.

GCC treated me well, but all good things must come to an end. When I turned 57, Jane and I decided it was time to move to the next stage of our life. We made decisions that started the lumbering retirement machine into action. Knowing that the longer I worked, the more I would make, we had to decide what was most important. And, despite the careful review of finances, we soon faced the ageless question – will we have enough?

I looked back over my career and remembered all of those who have gone into retirement. What did they all have in common? Not one of them said that they should have worked longer. During this time of doubt the great cogs of the STRS machine ground silently forward.

STRS functioned just as it is supposed to. It is never too early to make an appointment to see the STRS counselor. These early meetings are like money in your pocket. They do an excellent job of explaining what options are available, and remember to make your option selection as soon as you turn 55. The sooner you make the selection, the higher the percentage you get on certain selections (not much, but everything counts).

I learned that checks do arrive on time, and for the correct amount – after an adjustment period. This adjustment period, in my case, was for several reasons. Namely, I did not send in all of the proper paperwork on time. This was the inevitable part of the doubt phase I mentioned.

After a couple of trips and lying back for a while, what is your retirement really all about? It is about doing all of the things that you enjoy, but that you never had enough time for.

What am I doing in retirement?
For us, retirement means living out our individual dreams, together. My wonderful wife and I are building a new life in Markleeville, California (60 miles south of Reno, Nevada and 20 minutes east of South Lake Tahoe). Jane and I purchased 8+ acres of land and a John Deere backhoe. We figured that would be easier than using a wheelbarrow! We planned to build a new home and a shop (which is bigger than the house) for my projects. We built corrals for the two horses Jane purchased (Pokey and Murphy). Our next building project is a barn for those two gents.

Construction on the 3100 square foot shop began first while I was still working at GCC; I wanted to make sure that it did not get put on the back burner. When completed, we hauled our belongings and our three dogs (Maggie, Bugs, and Bonnie) four hundred miles, and filled up every square inch of that shop. In December of 2000, we sold our house in La Crescenta, and Jane took up temporary residence in our “cozy” loft/shop.

I continued to work for the next semester while we completed the preliminary work for the construction of our new home. We acted as the general contractors on the project, which means that we hired the subcontractors and coordinated all of the work.

Near the end of the project we “hired ourselves” to do some of the finish work. We hung all of the interior doors, built the window casings, and did the final trim on the doors, windows and baseboard. Along with the crown molding, we tirelessly installed the fireplace and flues, the ceramic tile on the counter tops, shower, tub, fireplace hearth and the main floor in the house. Eighteen months after the construction began, we moved into our home, which completed a significant portion of our plan. When we finally started to unpack the boxes, we discovered a lot of “stuff” which was no longer essential to the unencumbered freedom of retirement.

Retire to (not from) something
Ask yourself what you would like to do with your newfound time. Then remember this fact: the longer you work the less time you have for fun, instead of visits to the doctor! Once you have answered that question, the rest is gravy.

If you plan early, you will be able to get up on one of your office chairs and take a couple of years off your retirement date sign.&

To visualize fully the fruits of our (enjoyable) labor, please visit our website:

http://web1.greatbasin.net/~theranch/