Can we talk about retirement?

[HSS]

I'm 66 and a retired petroleum geologist with a nice family and home, no debt, and a healthy retirement nest egg. In addition to SS and a small pension, I siphon approx. 1% off of the nest egg annually to maintain a comfortable lifestyle for my family. 

 

I pay for my music gear addiction with weekend warrior dive bar gigs a couple of times per month. So far this year I'm about $2000 in the black after spending $1500 on new toys. 

 

My main current old fart complaint, in addition to being a crappy keyboardist, is that when I take a bath my balls float. 

[time4jazz]

I can see retirement (from a technical job not related to music) on the horizon, and one of the major things I look forward to doing is continuously improving my ability to play jazz. 
 

I’ve played piano on and off for much of my life, though unfortunately never had a lot of time to do so. For over a decade I’ve been playing keys in blues and classic rock bands. It’s been fun, but the insane volumes combined with the never-ending fight to be heard finally forced me out of that world.

 

I’m somewhere between a beginner and intermediate jazz player, and look forward to (hopefully) a few decades of significantly improving my skills and making music. 

[PianoMan51]

Man, I forgot about starting this subject. 2 1/2 years!

 

My personal solution was to abandon (with great reluctance) two tightly held beliefs:

    - Always get paid    
    - Don’t join organizations that rehearse regularly.

 

Today I have four regular music projects.

    - 2 big bands, each practice once per week. One very good, where I get to really play and ‘comp’ in the original sense of compose. The other a well intentioned community band where I play the role of training wheels to allow others their chance at self expression.

    - NC Master Chorale. Time to revisit my school days choir experience. Practice each week. Four professional concerts per year. Great fun.

    - Retirement home entertainment. Bassist and I do hour long gigs. Lots and lots of audience banter. Sing a longs. Shake everyone’s hand afterwards. Lots of jokes. Feel great after every performance.

 

And occasional sub gigs. Big bands, jazz groups, variety bands. Ten years ago I would have made these as ‘roll in, role out’ gigs. Now I have time and inclination to take these as opportunities to dive into the originals and make each gig as an interesting challenge.

 

Nothing to write home about. But enough to keep a doable but challenging musical project in front of me on most days.

 

Those other days…

[kpl1228]

2 hours ago, PianoMan51 said:

Man, I forgot about starting this subject. 2 1/2 years!

 

My personal solution was to abandon (with great reluctance) two tightly held beliefs:

    - Always get paid    
    - Don’t join organizations that rehearse regularly.

 

Today I have four regular music projects.

    - 2 big bands, each practice once per week. One very good, where I get to really play and ‘comp’ in the original sense of compose. The other a well intentioned community band where I play the role of training wheels to allow others their chance at self expression.

    - NC Master Chorale. Time to revisit my school days choir experience. Practice each week. Four professional concerts per year. Great fun.

    - Retirement home entertainment. Bassist and I do hour long gigs. Lots and lots of audience banter. Sing a longs. Shake everyone’s hand afterwards. Lots of jokes. Feel great after every performance.

 

And occasional sub gigs. Big bands, jazz groups, variety bands. Ten years ago I would have made these as ‘roll in, role out’ gigs. Now I have time and inclination to take these as opportunities to dive into the originals and make each gig as an interesting challenge.

 

Nothing to write home about. But enough to keep a doable but challenging musical project in front of me on most days.

 

Those other days…

All good food for thought for me.

I turn 60 in two weeks, and none of my other landmark birthdays bugged me, but I have had a feeling for a while that this one will. It's a very reflective age. Trying to keep such reflection in the positive sense for this one.

Wasn't sure if this topic is about (a) retirement from music; (b) retirement from day job and how will that impact music sideline; or (c) if the thread has evolved/morphed into all of the above. So I'll weigh in.

I can retire after next school year (I'm a high school history teacher) and it's been weighing on me, so I've asked my already-retired friends (most of whom are part time musicians) if they recommend retirement.

To a man/woman they've all said yes. Jobs varied in skill from janitorial to mechanical engineer, but all retired as soon as they could, and many said they did so they could enjoy their music and performing more. Most were not happy at their jobs and had a reason (boss, routine, etc) that pushed them towards an exit.

However, after their retirement, what I've seen in truth is this: absolutely none are now fulfilled, absolutely none are particularly more involved with music, (though a couple do play every weekend, though they did before) and certainly none of them seem happy. In fact, a couple of them talk about how glad they are to not be working anymore, but are downright miserable and sad now, though they put on brave faces. These cautionary tales are making me assess how excited I should be about retiring.

I know everyone's different. I proudly identify with what I do, and think one's profession does define them and certainly gives identity. Proud to be a teacher that still likes the kids, and the feeling from kids and administration likes me right back. Playing music also gives me that identity and definition (and I am sure many of you are that way also).

It will indeed be an interesting next chapter...I will "retire" in a couple of years, but only to draw the pension and work at a college mentoring future student teachers, or consult, etc., and enjoy the pleasure of playing with folks in public on weekends on my own schedule, not because I need to pay the electric bill with gig money. But I am definitely, at my heart, a teacher that also plays music. I'm not going to sleep in and whittle for 20 years.

[ProfD]

22 minutes ago, kpl1228 said:

It will indeed be an interesting next chapter...I will "retire" in a couple of years, but only to draw the pension and work at a college mentoring future student teachers, or consult, etc., and enjoy the pleasure of playing with folks in public on weekends on my own schedule, not because I need to pay the electric bill with gig money. But I am definitely, at my heart, a teacher that also plays music. I'm not going to sleep in and whittle for 20 years.

Having a solid retirement *plan* should minimize any sadness or boredom that could be associated with it.

 

The key (no pun intended) is not letting the mind and body atrophy.  Replace the *routine* of working with other fulfilling activities. 😎

[TommyRude]

I retired last summer, and the big game fishing started.  SO GLAD, this is bucket list stuff for me, any older I might not be able to do it.  Really, should’ve started a lot sooner, but better late than never 😁.  After the tuna fishing season wore down, I got into some unexpected music stuff, I put that up in the shameless plug section, thinking about doing that again, really fun!  Thankfully all the retirement financial things are good.

 

[Jose EB5AGV]

I am 55 and self-employed. Here in Spain the retirement age for me will be around 67, so that is still far... But I have around several close family members (one of them my brother) who had retired early (at 55, 57, 60, 61 years). And trust me, none seem to have found their way into it. From deep depression to just boredom.

I have always said that "hobbies can't be improvised". I am an amateur musician (since six years ago), radio amateur and electronics tinkerer (both for decades), programmer (since I was 14), amateur mechanic, ... I work fixing electronics, so you could say I work in one of my hobbies.

All in all, I am confident that the music, electronics and other hobbies can fill all the free time I may have in the future. But when someone arrives to retirement just thinking they will have plenty of time for undefined hobbies... It usually does not work that way. Replacing all the hours you filled with work with something "new" is not going to happen, immediately at least, in most cases. You need to prepare for retirement activities, not only economically.

So I am really glad I found this wonderful hobby and all the others I have. They will keep me busy now and, let's hope, when retirement arrives. And, even if it doesn't, I try to devote as much time as possible / reasonable to them already. You never know what could happen tomorrow!

[JoJoB3]

Ray Brown was playing up till the very end.  Be like Ray.