A Great Feeling of Retirement
Yesterday, my wife (Mrs. Ex-Fed) said to me that we had not gone anywhere for a while and since it was a slow day around the Ex-Fed household, she suggested that we drive up to Charlestown, West Virginia, to play the slot machines for a while. It is only about an hour drive from our house so I agreed and we took the larger Lexus (the RX-300) for the short trip.I was thinking on the way up there that we are actually being paid to go to gamble! Yep, these government annuities are just great! On the first of the month, it is grand to look at the banking statement on the Internet and see that a sizable hunk of money has been placed automatically into the account - and all for doing NOTHING!!
The casino was not jam packed but there were a lot of people - and not all retired - playing the slots. Some of the West Virginia rednecks playing the dollar slots looked as though they had to mortgage their trailer to get the money to play the machines for the afternoon. They were pouring $100 worth of tokens into machines in just a few minutes and I did not see any big winners. Some were griping about the payoffs that seemed to be getting less and less each time they came to the casino and that the casinos in Deleware paid off better. The free booze is not a big enticement for people to come to the casino because the cocktail waitresses are so doggone slow. I ordered a beer and never received it! Well, that waitress lost out on my 25 cent tip!
I played a few different slot machines and really like the new ones that are almost like video games. They are interactive when you hit certain combinations on the electronic reels and a bonus screen pops up. You can win bonus money by playing the different options. Slot machine manufactureres are really pretty smart. Coins do not automatically fall into the tray after a win anymore. They are shown as "credits" and you just keep on playing. A lot of the slot machines do not even take coins anymore but only bills. It is so much easier to spend a lot more money in a slot machine in a lot less time than 20 years ago. I came out a few dollars ahead and Mrs. Ex-Fed came out a few dollars down so we basically broke even for the afternoon and just a great outing for the day.
What is the point of this posting? The point is just to say that RETIREMENT IS GREAT! It is a wonderful feeling to be able to just pick up in the middle of the day and do whatever we want to do. We do not have to plan and request annual leave. We do not have to call in for one of the "slick leave" days. My advice is very simple. If you are of the retirement age and are able to do it - RETIRE NOW! Do not feel guilty about "who will they find to do my work" or "my office depends on me being here or the work will not get done". My job has not been filled in 5 months and I know that my remaining co-workers (Jimbo and Ruby) have picked up as much as they can. If the work does not get out in a timely fashion, that is just too bad. They should have prepared with succession planning but this was not done due to a lack of foresight on the part of leadership of the group. Once again - if you are able to retire now - DO IT!!!
posted by Ex-Fed @ 9:22 AM
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