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What are your thoughts, expectations, or experiences of retirement?
I retired at 48 years of age due to health reasons, & I'm positive the I'm still alive & enjoy life, because I did.
Since retirement, it's come up in conversations & there's been a very broad spectrum of opinions like, "Oh yeh, can't wait", "Haven't thought about it", "I thrive on challenges, so NO WAY", & "It'd be like dying".
I don't know their outcomes, but of them, hopefully the Fish & Chip shop owner is still alive, because I worry, he's not there anymore, & he didn't leave a message. 
Was a nice enough shop too
@Brad, you've been retired since the age of 32??? 
The odds that it was from winning X Lotto are slim to zero, so I hope you're managing OK, comfortable, and gifted with a positive attitude.
@Kermit, I see what you're say'n, & it's definitely something that needs to be looked at on an individual basis.
My Dad paid extra into his Super Fund to retire at 60, instead of 65 (65 was the norm back then). The first thing that they did when he retired was go on an overseas holiday, & when they returned, he was thankful that he didn't have to go through it at 65, as both Mum & Dad found it to be an exhaustive experience.
I took it on board, & kept my retirement fund (I was on wages, so it wasn't a Super Fund) contributions at the max, & I'm glad that I did.
Job promotions came out of nowhere (* I'll explain later), & I progressed up the ladder to positions that I hadn't dreamt of, where Super was a reality. In that time, 55 became the norm, so I set 55 as my use by date. I was adamant that it was the thing to do, & said to workmates who'd crunched numbers & figured that 57, or 58 gave the biggest payback. I didn't interfere, but said if I come into work the day after I turn 55, do me a favour & throw me off the top of the powerhouse boiler (a 6 storey high structure).
Wouldn't you know it, I got promoted again, but to a smaller building.
Long story short, I had an accident which made it extraordinarilly hard for me to cope with the new position, & I struggled for years. I was later seen as a liability, so was taken off of shift, & given a full time day job doing a menial part of our work, one which we'd normally have to cycle through, but though important, it was seen as a menial task. I was happy to drop pay as a dayshift permanent, but opted to keep my Super Fund payments at the shiftworker rate. 55 retirement meant retiring at 49% of final year salary, & opting to maintain funding at the shiftworker rate, was seen as a no-brainer (to all).
Two serious health issues followed, later being identified as stress, brought on by the imminent move to privatisation, so called it quits. Hey, I hadn't planned on a Pulminary Embolism, or later heart surgery driven by Angina symptoms, but I was lucky that I'd heeded what my Dad had told me.
The punch line, don't get swamped by meaningless trends, plan long-term.
*The promotion factor, "If you're good at what you do, you don't have to tell anybody, people will notice".
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