I hear you Abaco,
I built a company from scratch in the 80’s to 5 branch locations in 3 states and sold it in 2009 after I saw what resident Zero was doing and bought a 1000 acres of undeveloped land in the middle of Tx. Spent a year building my Gulch and got enticed to running a large wind turbine facility (wind turbines suck btw). Did that for 3 years until they talked me into going into their solar division. Wound up installing systems on literally every continent on the planet the next 3 years. I got back from Capetown 2 years ago this month, and my wife asked me if she could see my passport. She took it into her office here at the house and shredded it.
( a subtle hint I figured).
But I have been clobbered with offers, including a head engineer job running Powerwall, from corps eager to hire 68 year old codgers who know their ass from a hole in the ground. I stay busy running this ranch and livestock and maintaining collectibles like my copper jacketed lead assortment, plus I install solar powered water wells for ranchers and preppers. I could make more $ going back to work in the corp world or starting another company, but as the the old saying goes
“how much money did he leave” when he passed away?”
The answer is, “all of it”.
So I’m happy with what I planned for all these years.
Gone fishing…..

This is very interesting. My wife and I both semi retired when we moved to our current location a few years ago. Just last week, we went back to our former stomping grounds to see old friends etc. it was the first time we had gone back since we left.

Before we left on our trip, we were discussing how bored we both were. We are both very productive people and we had both enjoyed our careers, me a software engineer and she worked at a large utility.

Cutting to the chase, while on our trip last eek, my wife mentioned to a former colleague over drinks how she may want to go back to work. This colleague apparently made a few calls and my wife has had 4 interviews since we got home last weekend. She has another one tomorrow.

I had a similar experience with a former colleague as well. He has a couple of large projects and would hire me in a minute.

So this thread is indeed serendipitous. We are 66 and 64 (I’m younger) and after dealing with know-it-all young engineers that really didn’t know much at all and certainly had a tough time getting any project to the finish line, it gives me a warm feeling all over that these companies realize that they need us older guys to actually get anything done. Yes, I’m generalizing, but that has been my experience over the past 10 years or so. Funny how the pendulum swings back when the rubber meets the road.

Thanks for this thread. Good luck to everyone stepping back into this.

Yes, absolutely. This very same thing happened with my engineer husband, except he's not really all that happy unless he's contributing, so it was a no-brainer for us to pull up roots and head West to Tucson, when he got the offer.

Mind you, this is the SAME company that flew him out here 8 years ago for an interview and "found a better candidate," who was, probably, 40 years younger. So, he was 64 then, 72 now, and NOW he's a very valuable, SENIOR level employee. They spared literally NO expense moving us here, paying for house selling and buying expenses. You name it, they did it. They did, along the way, mention in "passing" that they had discovered they needed "more capable" (aka more experienced) employees. And he tells me he's not even close to being the oldest one there.

Hiring recent kiddy kollege graduates just doesn't work all that well in the end, unless it's a company that does nothing more important than Amazon does. When it comes to national security, we actually need people who know what they are doing.

We of course know it's not permanent. Can't be - we're in our 70's, so we are making hay while the sun shines, and hoo boy does it ever shine in Arizona these days!

This calls for self examination no one here can give you, Abaco. Are you happy now or is happiness within grasp with what you are doing? Will your happiness increase with a return to former vocation?

I had a similar choice years ago. If I'd "gone back" my bank account would be fatter, but already having one "fat enough" turned out to be good enough. I'm busy all the time, just not busy doing what I'm told by others. My job would have me flying all over the country and world living out of hotels working 12 hours a day 6 days a week and I'd already missed out on the people I loved more than the average bear. For me, I would not increase happiness going back. I made a good choice for me. You need to decide for yourself.

With Age comes Wisdom. Most companies prefer people who do not try to reinvent the wheel. "Been there done that" is the motto. In my profession I think I have seen most all of Mother Natures curve ball and I am sought out for the suspected weird cases. Right. Just another day in paradise. I have been told by many people that I am not allowed to retire. I am 78 and tell people when my hands, brain, and back stop working I am done. Time will tell.

not yet retired
do not plan to

saw what it did not my parents

Is this a job you could do outside the US?
If so, I'd move to a country that doesn't tax world wide income immediately.
You could then get about $120,000 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
against your taxable income living overseas, and up to about $120,000
more write-off against US taxable income for living expenses overseas.
(iirc, you must live outside the US for 330 days of 12 consecutive
months to get those reductions of income.)
So you can still avoid supporting your enemies in D.C.

Assuming i'd enjoy the work experience, I'd only be interested in a big pile of gold off-books secretly delivered to a Cayman bank held by a nominee. ;^)
After many years of long hours, I stopped working to support my enemies (D.C.) in the 90's. Thanks, Ayn.

Productive and smart. It's a hard combination to find these days.

Peter Zeihan who is like a broken clock. Right twice a day...

Mentions that as the Global World Order Collapses, we (USA) will have to be self-reliant again.

I think many companies are realizing that they don't need warm bodies. They need actual brains making decisions.

I think this is the beginning of the shift over the next 10-20 yrs when America either FAILS, or becomes a willing isolationist country that succeeds...

FWIW, I've had a few of the biggest quotes I've ever put out in the last 2yrs and it's increasing. I am not even looking for new/more clients. Although I am over a decade behind you.

I'm still a few years from retiring but both my wife and myself don't anticipate there being anything left of my 401K to retire on. And certainly nothing from Social Security. So I'll be working until I drop not because I haven't tried to save my pennies, but because government STOLE my retirement from me through taxes, inflation, and greed.

Well, I am retired, no fat bank account and barely scraping by thanks to the inflation, oops, sorry, upwardly adjusted outgo, set income. I moved to lower my outgo for things like like rent and utilities. Anyway, not an engineer but a Technician who knows Engineering. I keep busy, sometimes hard but I try. I know what you mean by kidding college, I see them all the time and it seems as if they are in over their heads in whatever they do. I wish you guys well and I hope you find the happiness you are seeking, I am still searching for mine.

Go woke; Go broke

I am in agreement with mhub; I too have that experience in my background. I also do not intend to retire.

I am in medical software: sold a company I co-founded to a bigger guy during Covid. Work is not so fun any more.

Wm (ex-co-owner, also in Gulch) and I intend to start another company, with complexity added by the fact we now live 3K miles apart. Also by the fact that I intend to go back to school and get a PhD in Genetics (entry level quals) and seek work in that field.

I talked to a fellow Med Tech a couple of months ago and she is unable to get a job that is not management. She wants to go and do bench work part-time, but when they see her resume, they only offer her management positions. So that is happening in another field than engineering.

I am 71. The major input I can add to this conversation is that I reasonably expect to be able to work for another 20 years. (I can still do quasi-full-contact Medieval broadsword fighting against all types of opponents, which I did not expect I would be able to do at my current age, when I thought ahead, 40 years ago.)

I really like the feeling of 'stretching the universe' with the work that I do and do not want to consign myself to the rocking chair.

Jan

Sounds similar to my story. My original plan for retirement involved going part time at an auto parts store (for a good employee discount on my hobby of restoring old cars).

But before I got out the door of my engineering job, I was offered a work-from-home consulting position (and this was in 2009, before it was so popular). I also taught some classes, and even did a couple of gigs at my former employer, who suddenly discovered I knew something after all.

I did that for about 6 years, made way more money than the original plan, and "fully" retired.

Remember, time is irreplaceable. If you have things you want to do in retirement, (hobbies, travel, etc) you might want to do that while you are still fit. However, far too many people get bored in retirement and would actually be happier working.

Right now my time is split between traveling, and planning the next road trip. No time for boredom!

Good luck with whatever you decide. Since you are here in the Gulch, you will obviously think it through and make a thoughtful decision. That puts you way ahead of the pack.

My husband reitred as a CPA for a natl. firm just as things tightened up, but we still have an acct. practice at home. We also did quite well investing for retirement. It takes getting used to how it all works, but become enjoyable, even in bad times. Everything apid for, thank goodness. Got a new Camaro this year, paid cash. All to avoid the EV takeover, whch now GM has cancelled. We stay busy with husband in civic org. and we have regular coffee pals for good ole rousing alk each mroning, quite diverse and all hating Biden's lying and ignorant policies. So we share, then we go out and share what we all larn. We are the guardians, we ae the last age who grew up knowing that capitalism ws good and how to make it work. Young people are so uninformed and do not seem to care. Now companies find they cannot do things, cannot communicae and so need AI, but as we said when I originally got my first degree in computers, "Garbage in, Barbage out!" Such is what AI will be, only as good as the access to all learning without the liberal limitations it is likely to be taught. I was lucky, my cad was a retail mgr. weho tlaked business at the dinner table, and taught me to save up and how capitalism owrks, and well, if you do as you should.

Sounds like my brother's thing at NASA. They don't want him to leave because he is one of a handful who know anything. The rest are typical, useless, GS, HR placeholders.

Unless your hobbies are real good, why not keep going a bit? Need to keep mind and body active!

I really have to get out of the full-time grind. Pay and IC are really good, but am responsible for too much scope. It is consuming my mind all day & night. Consulting or part time sounds REALLY good.

My husband a CPA, retired at 80 from a Natl. corp. Six months later they called and asked if he would like to come back part time. No Way! We did not need the money, it had become way to high pressure, and as they hired more young folks, it got worse. I worked in finance at a natl. tool and die company hdq. for years, but as people left or retired, the young folks wee clueless how to do the work. I knew all the jobs from payroll, to accts. payable, but my job was accts. rec., collections, sales tax for all divisions, reconciling all accts to gen. ledger, doing adjustments. But they hired people who could not do hose tinks, so when I walked out tired of it, collections ent undone, taxes were not paid for several months, and they had a bar maid doing accts. payable, who I told the Treas. had no clue what she was doing before I left. I used to do the payrolls when the plant closed for vacations for the local crw and our other divisions, not sure who had to stay and do that. I decided to go back to college at that point and besdie having college in computers and accounting, did something for myself, major in English, but soon had also a mjor in philosophy and loved it, and the also one in biology. The head of science dept. came to me twice to get me to go into cince, but I new that would be a big city job, and I loved my country wooded retreat with lots of wld animals, and my husband was still working also. So, I stayed with majores in all three, and just did it for myself, loved every minute of every class.I stupidly went to work for the local paper, and became the person who worked over 50 hours a week and covered all areas from business, schools, to obits and human interest. My doc said I should give it up as my BP was up and I rarely saw my wonderful woods. Best thing I ever did, just give it up, and let the morons who cannot tell if a person is qualifed cover the slack!My health went back to very good and I started enjoying life, even the debates of the political nature, as that is actually fun for me.Having once worked in a Congaressional office, I know how flawed the employees are even there, and that they need to be held accountable, and that is fun.

Me too, but don't want to go back to high stress/away from home jobs.