Hello everyone! I have a success story to share. My primary care doctor is retiring early next year! Wow, another reader escaping the rat race. This is amazing. In 2012, I retired from my engineering career and had to find a new doctor closer to home. Surprisingly, Dr. C recognized me as I was of retirement age at 40 when I entered. FIRE was at its peak at the time. We talked a little about early retirement, but we quickly turned to health care. Dr. C was a great primary care physician, but the health care system has made life more difficult for family doctors over the past few years.
Primary care doctors are overburdened with patients and compensated less than specialists. They are also burdened with paperwork and red tape. As a result, medical students are reluctant to become a family doctor. They have a lot of loans to pay off, so they better specialize. This is too bad because I would love to have a primary care doctor. Dr. C is knowledgeable about my health care history and has maintained my health for many years. I hope I can find a good PCP next year. I hear it’s harder than ever to find a new doctor. The United States faces a significant shortage of primary care physicians.
Anyway, I want to give Dr. C some tips for a happy and successful early retirement. Dr. C is frugal, has no children, and has a working husband. We can safely assume that Dr. C is well prepared financially. I think the bigger issue will be the transition to retirement. Retirement can be stressful at any age.
Stay busy
My best advice to Dr. C is to stay busy after early retirement. Most people think they will enjoy a comfortable retirement, but this is a fallacy. It sure is fun to watch Netflix and play video games all day on the weekend. However, you will get very bored if you do it every day. Most of us would feel useless and dissatisfied if we didn’t do anything productive. This is especially true for early retirees. We are still young and want to be useful.
It is good to relax and unwind for a few months after a stressful career. However, early retirees need to plan for the future as well. You need to pick up some passion projects when you have more unstructured time. Staying busy is essential for a happy retirement. That’s what I’ve done for the past 12 years.
SAHD, blogging, and side hustles
When I retired in 2012, I was very busy with my son. He was only 18 months old and required a great deal of supervision. Being a stay-at-home dad to a young boy was stressful, but for the most part I enjoyed it. The RB40Jr and I had a lot of fun exploring Portland. (It was much nicer back then). I continued blogging, but it was on the back burner until RB40Jr started school.
Once school started, I had more time to myself and focused on blogging. You have kept me busy and inspired many readers. I enjoyed sharing my journey. It is possible to retire early if you are frugal and invest consistently.
I also did some side hustles whenever I had extra time. I’ve shipped scooters and delivered food on and off for years. These side hustles have kept me busy and reduced withdrawal. Working part-time after retirement can be very beneficial. It keeps you from getting bored and even a little income helps a lot. Although I’ve become more selective lately. These days, I don’t leave the house on less than $30 an hour.
He is slowly approaching full retirement
All of these activities have kept me busy since I retired from the engineering profession. However, they are all slowly making their way up.
The RB40Jr is a teenager now and doesn’t need me as much. I spend a lot of time taking him to different activities. But he is becoming more independent every day. Next year, he will be in high school and can ride a bike there. In less than 5 years, he will be off to college and my time as SAHD will be over.
Blogging is my favorite project, but it has slowed down significantly over the past few years. I’m also less keen on fire these days. We hit it off and don’t stress about money anymore. I’m less keen on being frugal and earning extra income. We are grown up now and want to enjoy life more. Fire is not the primary consideration now. I think readers enjoy reading about conflicts more.
Eventually, I started to get lazy at side gigs. These app-based side hustles pay well at first, but the pay declines after they get established. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to make good money from Uber, DoorDash, and other app-based services. They have to be profitable to put pressure on gig workers. These days, I only take food orders. That pays anywhere from $20 to $50 per delivery, but you usually only get one order a day at lunch. This is good because one hour a day is enough for me. However, I have been receiving fewer requests recently. I declined anything under $30 and the algorithm would likely blacklist me. Last week, I only delivered one order and got $40. I wouldn’t mind working less.
Staying busy after retirement
What will I do after completing all these activities? Will I finally relax and cool off by the pool? impossible! I know that staying busy makes me happy. Moreover, we do not have a swimming pool.
This quarter, I make pottery and play the ukulele at the local community center. Both of these activities are very fun. They keep me busy and out of trouble. I would like to start a ceramics studio one day. Unfortunately, our house doesn’t have the space. This will have to wait.
I am also interested in bonsai. I made a few bonsai pots in my ceramics class and will start planting some seedlings next spring. Life is full of possibilities. You just have to try new activities and see if you enjoy them. You’ll have a happier retirement if you have more things to do.
This is my advice to Dr. C. Relax for a few months, then find some new activities to try. You need to grow and learn new skills to have a satisfying retirement. I will bring a list of classes at the community center with me next time I see Dr. C. There are many activities you can try. They even have weaving classes and a metal shop for goodness sake. Volunteering is also a good option.
Do you have any advice for Dr. C? What do you think is the key to a happy retirement?
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Passive income is the key to early retirement. This year, Joe is investing in commercial real estate with CrowdStreet. They have many projects all over the USA so check them out!
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