Retirement Countdown 2025

I’ve been planning this trip for months. The last time I was in SE Asia was 24 years ago. Times have certainly changed about what’s required for a month-long trek. Years ago, we had to be much more resourceful. Once you were in 'travel mode' in Asia, certain essentials weren't always obvious. They weren't easy to find. Today, I imagine many things are much easier to prepare for, even with the distance and time frame involved. To settle my anxiety, I'd like to share some action steps. These steps will help me be prepared when that plane takes off. Confirm Flight and Accommodation Bookings First off this one would be a great stress reliever when you double check on your flight arrangements . I made reservations months earlier. However, confirming the flight dates and times will help you adjust to any changes. Whether it's the departure and arrival times reviewing this information will make your life easier. Also, I would check on seat confirmation. These days, som...

  Angel Island, San Francisco, Old Post Office Building Structure  It's been what, almost 9 months since I retired from my position with the University. Worked there for almost 23+ years. In that time, I've promptly eliminated any notion of work related communication, i.e. emails, subscriptions, and any communication with my old colleagues. But with the exception of colleagues who've moved on to the retirement world. We try not to talk about work, but simply the commonality of why we left the building to this day.  In addition being "checked out" from work, I've started my favorite thing to do which is travel local and international, also visiting friends and family at an extended amount of time. I don't have anywhere to go, so why the rush to get back home? Which leads to this question. How am I spending my days since retiring? There's only so much traveling one can do, or spend time with friends and family. That may be a third of the time, what about...

Move your body!  As I navigate retirement, I try to find ways to maintain my health and find ways to keep my workout regiment interesting, worthwhile, and effective in keeping yourself in good health.  This past Sunday, I signed up for an exercise class at the local 24 hour fitness gym. I signed up for Zumba. 24 Hour Fitness describes as  "Zumba® fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms with easy-to-follow moves to create a dynamic fitness program. The goal is simple: to want to work out, to love working out and to get hooked. Zumba® fanatics achieve long-term benefits in one exhilarating hour of calorie-burning, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements."   Getting ready for class workout I couldn't agree more. As a first timer, I was met with a warm welcome applause as the instructor asked if anyone's first time. It was early Sunday morning, I didn't realize quite of few attendees were up and enthusiastic at a 9:00 am start time. The attendees appear to be mostly women, old...

  MILESTONE RETIRE 2025 has certainly been an adventurous one. I knew that this was the year I planned on retiring from my job of almost 6 years -  regardless of the circumstances of our economy or political upheaval, (what's new? ) But as 2025 arrived, I wanted to make sure this was the year filled with adventure!  Office gang, School of Pharmacy, PharmD Program  I chose to leave on July 1st, and that it would be a great time to take off and travel. My job was fulfilling for the most part. I made some impact as an college admissions coordinator. I helped see many perspective pharmacy students navigate their career path to enter in a world class PharmD program as future pharmacists. This I will never forget.  Graduation Ceremony  TRAVEL  Travel is my current relationship. My fellow solo traveler, a sense of discovery is my guidance to living on my own and making the best of it. Upon retiring, I stepped on to a plane to fly across the atlantic for my f...

A new haircut Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving. I'm assessing how I feel since leaving the building 5 months ago. When I walked out the door on July 1st. I was filled with joy and at the same time sadness. Joy in the fact that I feel more liberated from my day to day tasks of "work". As for the sadness, it's surreal. I've enjoyed the years of working and to finally "stop" with what I've been doing. And another feeling is also strange. Sadness. Surreal. Strange. (Three "S" notations.) Yes and no, I will not miss my colleagues or the work, but at the same time, I've elected to break free from the daily rigors of work to celebrate MY TIME at this stage in my life. I've been working since I was a preteen. This I can verify through  SSA.Gov  which tracks my first paycheck and tax deduction since I first started working.  First time at Wimbledon! It was wonderful to clean my desk, take in my surroundings, and really take in the moment that I...

*I'm revisiting a challenging predicament, hear me out on this.  This has been such a common and important question many soon to be retiree(s) need to make a decision. Do I stay or should I go? Sounds like a song lyric, but the truth is, yes where do I decide to live after retiring?  The Thinker, Artist: Auguste Rodin Here's my predicament, I live and work in the city where my job is. It makes sense to be centrally located to where my job is - right? But, when you decide to leave, should you relocate? I live in an apartment in the city that has rent control. Many say once I leave, I can't come back as the cost of living for housing will never be the same. On the other hand, I also have real estate property outside of the city that will be paid off soon. I could live there and forego any additional rent paying in the city. But I don't want to live in a remote setting. For me, I'm a city slicker, I love the city vibe, the convenience of walking out my door and getting...

It's amazing how this journey has made me think about my choices in transitioning from work to retirement. It's really a moment to celebrating more in life at this stage in my life.  I've created a new blog website to encompass this new adventure. Join me as I continue to celebrate a part of my retirement to more traveling and on my own terms.  Visit my new blog website, appropriately called, Edgar Would Go! https://edgarwouldgo.com/ Tower Bridge, London

I recently returned from a close to two weeks vacation in London and returned home yesterday. I had a hard time adjusting to the time, but made it happen. I turned in early to be in my local time zone. It went pretty well, got up about 2 hours before my alarm went off.  Big Ben and Houses of Parliament  As "usual", I started putting the remaining things back like my toiletries, clothing, and sort for laundry. Done. I just started a load of laundry and hurried back upstairs to do some other things to tend to. But, the funny thing I noticed as that I was cramming everything in to get things done like I had somewhere else to go. But no, I have taken 8+ hours back to do whatever I wanted to do. I constantly paused catching myself realizing, "What's the rush?" I just realized I needed to pace myself now that I have more hours in the day to do things.  Taking a break at the Tower Bridge, London  This morning, I planned on going to the gym, having breakfast before 9am...

I woke up this morning without an alarm going off. It has dawn on me that I’m off the clock. Surreal. Walked over to Capital One Cafe for a latte. Sat down and took in this moment, the R word. Many I imagine can’t fathom of doing, but I’m following many before to do it, “pull the trigger”, “take that leap”, definitely there will be times, I can change things up. The saying goes, “the world is your oyster”, indeed! First step, walking out of my office ……stay tune where I land next.

Last month I submitted my retirement notice and "paperwork" to my company's retirement office and notified my office manager that I'm calling it quits.  My retirement date is July 1. Somehow I feel a little at a loss on what to do in the meantime. I have yet to do a list of tasks as the date nears. The retirement office will send a draft on my retirement choice or actions than I would approve if that is what is needed. From my understanding, all of the processing should be completed by mid June based on other colleagues who have retired before me.  In addition to feeling at a loss, I feel also a sense of questioning my decision to retire, wonder if it was the right move, do I screw up on this decision? All these are questions that are swirling in my head to cause me to be in feeling of being frozen I guess?  Can't Move!  I figured when I get the draft notice that my retirement is moving along, maybe that will trigger me to make my next steps in preparing my final ...

This week I plan to notify my employer that I will be retiring. I've elected to give 3 month's notice as my employer's retirement office asked that we submit our notice to start processing our retirement paperwork. I think this notice is more than generous to allow my office to locate or provide contingency plans for my upcoming departure.  Sadly, as I prepare for this decision to notify my employer, a few outlying events have happened that may affect my employer, but not necessarily me. One, being that my employer relies on heavy federal funding to continue with services and medical studies in the coming year(s), they've decided to implement a hiring freeze. So, no replacement for my position but probably hire a temporary employee in the meantime. I don't know how long a hiring freeze will be in place, but I feel that will be an inconvenience. Two, in light of the economy, my speculation will be that we may head into a recession. People will keep a close eye on the...

Last month was my 60th birthday. I can't believe it arrived. For almost a decade I was dangling around telling people I'm in my 50s. Now that is not the case, I ponder what now? An R&B singer, Aaliyah had a song titled,  " Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number". I thought of this, and say, really is it just a number?  To me, it's a statement that I'm no longer in "that" demographic of individuals who are under 60. I'm with the group now that borders on pre retirement age to full on, no longer working. Well generally. I think of my high school classmates who are all turning 60 this year in 2025. To think just 35+ years out of high school we were young and invincible. As life moves on, we take on our careers, family, and new lifestyle of being adults. i.e. paying taxes, voting, and managing our lives as best as we can. Surreal.  Union Square, San Francisco, CA   Personally, as I prepare my impending retirement from my current employer, I'm a bit a...

I'm literally 5 months away before I pull the trigger. I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel on this retirement journey. Looked at my finances as usual, looks like I'm in rather good shape; budgeted for a couple of trips I'll be taking before my retirement and after.  Next week will be my 60th birthday and that number, 60 is quite large and intimidating. I never thought I'd see myself being 60, I always thought it was someone else, but wow, I'm going to be there soon. What I also looked into was my health. I've lined up a couple of yearly medical routine check in with my primary doctor and also schedule an eye check up.  All usually around my birthday. Cross fingers I won't encounter any significant changes in my health. I do admit I've gained quite a few over the years. Not sure if was due to getting older or I'm less active these days. I've been doing free weights, some running, and strength training but not at the level I was whe...