20 years Retired.

Friday yet?

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PHIL! Congrats! I don't know why, but I thought you were already retired? Maybe i's just the volumes of sage wisdom and knowledge you have about Ford Trucks. EEGADS What are they going to do now?

Hope you enjoy your WELL EARNED time off now.
He is retired. He was marking his 20 year anniversary of retirement.
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RedlandRanger

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You are very fortunate. I'd wager damn few of us can express those sentiments about our employer. I know I can't. Even at my age I still have occasional periods where I find myself thinking "MF, jail time is the only thing stopping me from whipping your ass right now." But out loud the response is more like "sounds great. Wonderful idea!" Actually, I stay fairly silent but you get my drift.

Excuse me folks for my pissy attitude about this subject "work." Just venting. This week has been particularly bad. Really bad. Company leadership just keeps discovering new levels of stupidity. I seriously need to hit the lottery. ?
I feel (and share) your pain. While I don't mind working on things I enjoy, the last few years I've gotten REALLY tired of corporate politics and the idiotic decisions being made. If I could afford to, I'd retire today. My financial guys says I could retire today but he didn't recommend it. I've got 3 years to go and I'm counting the months at this point.

After I retire I wouldn't reject the idea of doing some fun project for pay, but otherwise I have a whole host of projects I want to work on myself.
 

Dgc333

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Phil, congratulations! ?

I never really thought about retirement until I turned 65. I wasn't ready to pull the plug entirely and my manager was very accommodating so at 66 I went part-time, worked Tuesday - Thursday with Fridays and Mondays off. I had planned to pull the plug at the end of June 21 and work announced they were going to close the plant by the end of Oct 22.

Again my manager approached me with an offer of casual part-time (no set hours, work when I want) to help with the transition, I cut my hours down to Wednesday and a couple of conference calls from home each week. The carrot was a hefty bonus to stay available to the end. Well the end was October 27th and I got my bonus.

I am now busy building my Factory Five Racing Speedstar hot rod.
 

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Hi Folks,

Today I achieved 20 years in retirement from Ford Motor Co. 2/3 of my Ford career...last 5 were Head of Ranger Vehicle Engineering. December 1 of 2002 I closed the door on my career and started a new adventure called retirement... It has been such an underrated adventure and I highly recommend it.

best,
Phil
Congratulations! Seems that there's a lot of retired guys here. I'm one of the group too. I am on my 4th retirement now. I tried it the first time when I turned 55. Every time I try it, I wind up getting bored and looking for something else to do.

I decided to try it again in May 2022. I'm not really "loving" it, but I'm not feeling the urge to do anything full time any more.
 


FunInTheSun

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Hi Folks,

Today I achieved 20 years in retirement from Ford Motor Co. 2/3 of my Ford career...last 5 were Head of Ranger Vehicle Engineering. December 1 of 2002 I closed the door on my career and started a new adventure called retirement... It has been such an underrated adventure and I highly recommend it.

best,
Phil
Thanks Phil! We are grateful for all your years of hard work!
Now we are enjoying the new generation of Rangers! Thanks!
 

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I'm "retired retired".
First was in 1996 after 25 years as a cop. Started a business, success, sold it. Started a second business, success, sold it. Worked part time at Lowes to keep busy, left in 2013, and now employed by my wife for a constant supply of "honey doo's".
Also "suffer" thru days and weeks of camping, playing with the Ranger, and keeping my recliner warm.
Retirement isn't all it's made out to be...IT'S BETTER !!!
 

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My earnest sympathies for those of you unfortunate souls still working in the dreaded malaise that prevades the corporate environment, I admittedly didn't have much success dealing with it. My customers though demanding were an order of magnitude easier to deal with than office bs. Son is astute and handles politics well, but daughter takes after me and won't pass on an opportunity to speak her mind, I'm amazed at some of the stuff she says she tells her boss, I suggest that she tones it down but to no avail. It's a horrible and frustrating experience when you work for someone incompetent and their agenda is mostly self promotion.
 

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Congratulations Phil. That in itself is a major accomplishment. I’m almost 2 years into it. For me the mindset change of retirement has been a transformational journey. Having to unlearn the habits of employment and embracing the new lifestyle opportunities. I concur with your statement that if you have the chance to retire take it.
I had the chance when I was 43. Sold my company that was in operation for 11 years and very successful. Just burned out. Took the money and ran as they say.

4 1/2 years later the wife one morning said we needed to have a talk. Poured my first cup of coffee and sat down at kitchen table. That when she said to me, ether you’re getting another job or I am. Otherwise someone is going to die around here! ?

Well I started looking but not very hard. Weird how it worked out but a business owner locally was looking for someone to add some automation to his business. It was a 3 month contract job. Awesome I thought, gets me out of the house and busy! Well that was 18 years ago. Still with the same company that when I started was 50 employees. Today we’re 1050 at 4 different locations. They just asked me when I want to retire! Um, you want me to go? No no no, we want to know how long we can keep you here. Door is open for as long as you want! Here’s more money too ? Ok, see you tomorrow then!

Edit: Totally blew why I posted to this thread! Congrats Phil and please continue to keep us as your part time employment! This is definitely a better place with your involvement
 
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dtech

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I had the chance when I was 43. Sold my company that was in operation for 11 years and very successful. Just burned out. Took the money and ran as they say.

4 1/2 years later the wife one morning said we needed to have a talk. Poured my first cup of coffee and sat down at kitchen table. That when she said to me, ether you’re getting another job or I am. Otherwise someone is going to die around here! ?

Well I started looking but not very hard. Weird how it worked out but a business owner locally was looking for someone to add some automation to his business. It was a 3 month contract job. Awesome I thought, gets me out of the house and busy! Well that was 18 years ago. Still with the same company that when I started was 50 employees. Today we’re 1050 at 4 different locations. They just asked me when I want to retire! Um, you want me to go? No no no, we want to know how long we can keep you here. Door is open for as long as you want! Here’s more money too ? Ok, see you tomorrow then!
hey regards your experience with wife - when I lived in Denver married couple next door, his wife retired, hubby was an electrician, soon after she retired my wife, another neighbor and I began to see this guy's truck parked in various places, always with him sitting in it, often times for hours. I used to intentionally drive by one of his favorite spots as did my wife and we were both stunned at how frequently we'd see him parked. Pretty strange dude but if you ever saw his wife can't say I totally blamed him. This was going on for several yrs, then we moved.
 

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Congratulations on that milestone, Phil, over the hill...and pickin' up speed!
SUNGLASSES.jpeg


I left the car biz in '95 and drove semi. I hung up my CDL in 2020 after 25 years and ~3.5 million miles. Now I've got more time to hit the road!
 

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Congratulations! Seems that there's a lot of retired guys here. I'm one of the group too. I am on my 4th retirement now. I tried it the first time when I turned 55. Every time I try it, I wind up getting bored and looking for something else to do.

I decided to try it again in May 2022. I'm not really "loving" it, but I'm not feeling the urge to do anything full time any more.
When I moved out here I was 51 and was going to fully retire. I tried it for 6 months but like you I got bored. Funny because some people don't understand how you can be bored but after working many years 6 & 7 days a week then moving to an area where I knew hardly anyone it was easy. Self employment doesn't mean you get many days off IF you want to be successful.

The first few months were great doing things with my other retired friend out here but I needed more. I started another business and found myself working more than I wanted to again. Once Annie was able to move out here and work from home (only good thing that came from Covid) I decided to cut back so we could finally spend more time together as we were doing the long distance thing for years. Now I pick and choose certain jobs and after we took our month long vacation back in June I doubt I've worked 30 days. I'm liking it more and more now. lol
 
 



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