Life after service??

[Spoilerv2]

This month has been a bit weird for me, as I have bump into several soon to retire, retired and ex-LEOs. It got me thinking, is there life after service? For a majority of us, we are working for that 3% at 50 (many agencies have steered away from).

I love to see what people are doing and listen to people's dreams (hmm I mean plans). Helps me put things in perspective to see there's light at the end of the tunnel.

[gorn5150]

[Jonathan Doe]

I told my wife that I want sell peanuts at the Dodger Stadium when I retire.

[TrailerparkTrash]

I have plans to retire and do everything I want in the wilderness. Hunt/fish, 4x4 exploring, camping in the deserts, mountains, forests etc.... I currently do all of the above about every 3 months. When I retire, I'll be able to do it monthly.

I'll probably cash out my deferred comp retirement and go pay cash for a class A motorhome. The house will be nearly paid off and all of my cars will be paid off.

I am looking soooo forward to retirement. I started planning for it literally when I hit my first year of college.

[yzErnie]

I have 8 months remaining until I retire. After a lifetime of this job and putting things off like traveling, fishing and whatnot, I have a master plan for retirement. I have the gun business that I can dedicate more time to and I have the above things planned to keep me busy.

I know there will be some seperation anxiety but staying active and busy is a must for me. I've never done well with boredom!!

I'll miss the good people I work with but I sure won't miss the petty BS we have to deal with on a daily basis.

[yzErnie]

I told my wife that I want sell peanuts at the Dodger Stadium when I retire.

LOL...the Dodgers will probably be relocated to Mexico City by then!! LMAO

[yzErnie]

I am looking soooo forward to retirement. I started planning for it literally when I hit my first year of college.

Excellent advise. The wife and I have had a master plan for retirement since we got together. We will be debt free by the time she reitres in 2.5 years. A wise financila plan for retirement should be mandatory.

[BigDogatPlay]

I am looking soooo forward to retirement. I started planning for it literally when I hit my first year of college.

Best advice... right there. And staying as debt free as possible while you go is a huge plus. The only debt we've carried for many years is our mortgage. Credit card balance gets paid off in full monthly.

3%@50 may not last, for all any of us know our retirement systems could falter or even collapse. But if you've handled your money smartly and avoided large debt during your working career, you'll be even farther ahead of the game.

And you'll enjoy the hell out of retirement.

[FLIGHT762]

Working toward being debt free is a very good plan. By the time I retired, I became and still am debt free.

In the morning, I'm going to take a nice 5 Mi. walk, then meet a L/E buddy who just bought a Kimber .300 Win. Mag. We are going to load up some lead free test loads for the Rifle.

In the late afternoon, off to Half Moon Bay to meet another retired L/E friend for a BBQ in the evening.

At the end of the Month, I'm going to Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula for a weeks worth of fishing with a bunch of friends.

So far, I keep busy enough not to feel the need for a part time job. It Took a long time to get here and I hope to have enough time to do some of the things left on the bucket list.

[lavgrunt]

I have about 4 to 5 years to go.........I have no kids, no wife and don't owe any of my ex's (Yes, plural.......) a dime !!!

That monthly PERS check is gonna be mine and mine alone !!!

My 29 year old girlfriend and I are gonna have a great time !!!.............LOL !!!

[5shot]

Next month will be my 7th year being retired. I've enjoyed every minute of it. It sort of started like a vacation where I tried to do as much as I wanted, anytime I wanted. Started going to the gun club on weekdays, fishing on weekdays, hunting on weekdays. All without the usual weekend crowds. Then the best thing happened, I realized the vacation was not going to end.
When I started in 1972 we had 2%@55. In 1978 we got 2%@50 (gave up 3 years of pay raises for it). In 2001, we got 3%@50 (gave up more raises and benefits for that).
In 2004, I retired at 92%. Got 6 years of 3% cola raises, and 1% this year in cola raises.
When I was a 19 year old cadet, retirement seemed a 100 years away. But the years sure seemed to pass by fast.

[SVT-40]

This month has been a bit weird for me, as I have bump into several soon to retire, retired and ex-LEOs. It got me thinking, is there life after service? For a majority of us, we are working for that 3% at 50 (many agencies have steered away from).

I love to see what people are doing and listen to people's dreams (hmm I mean plans). Helps me put things in perspective to see there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe I have a skewed perspective, because I never viewed my career (29 plus years ) as a "tunnel" to which a light needed to be added. I am one of the fortunate who was able to retire at 50 with relatively good health.

During my career I chose to look upon each day as a challenge and chose not become darkened by the horrific things I saw and was involved in.

Retirement was the natural end to a wonderful career, however not a end to my involvement in law enforcement. I still liaise with my ex LEO friends and am still consulted for firearms related opinions and information. I'm still active in my old POA through assisting them with MOU negotiations as a consultant.

I stay active in matters related to various fund raising activities sponsored by the POA. In fact earlier tonight I attended a "tip-a-cop" event at a local eatery to benefit and raise money for the Special Olympics.


Yeah sometimes I miss the "thrill of the chase", and the satisfaction of putting the cuffs on a good felon. However there are many great young cops whom I now get to mingle with who share their stories, so I'm not to far removed form the action.

I work part time in a gun shop and firearms auction company so I get as much gun related work as I want.

Basically retirement is just a platform upon which you can choose to do as much or as little as you desire.

Personally I feel it's best to get involved in what benefits not only yourself but what benefits your old organization and your community.

In addition you can't beat staying up as late as you want and sleeping in as late as you wish...

Life is as good as you decide it will be, or as bad as you make it.

It's up to you...

[psango]

Try something new, find a hobby relax.

After retiring I stayed away from law enforcement. I went back to school and learned computing. I worked for 11 years in computing and retired again.

Now I work as an RA for a few days a month for my old agency as a communications analyst. I get to hang out with the young kids and visit my old cronies that are still working.

I work on my hobbies and spend time with my family.

[Notorious]

My buddy who started way early has about 2 years to go before he gets his 20 and out. He's LAPD so they have that city retirement, not PERS, so he can get out in 20, even if he is not 50 years old.

Me? Heh. I have another 15 years to go until I hit my PERS retirement age before I can collect on it. I am vested, but won't be eligible to collect, so that does me no good.

As for plans? If it's enough, I am retiring to a small town and not doing JACK SH1T other than sitting on my porch and yelling at the young teenagers that speed by in their little fast n furious cars.

[1-M-42]

Every Monday morning I have coffee with some of the best friends I've ever had, I'm the last one still working. We all pretty much started together and drifted off to different agencies and then we got back together a couple of years ago. I can go any day, just pushing the envelope since my wife has to teach for several more years. The plan is to purchase a house and a couple of acres in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, within the next year. That's going to be the destination, highest ratio per capita of retired cops in the nation....