You wanna live into your 90's? Retire early! [View all]

[at140]

When I was 57 years old, the symptoms began with high heart rate, feeling faint at work in
the morning. My HMO doctor was actually good and had many tests ordered to find out why
I was experiencing those symptoms. First I had high blood pressure and secondly I was
border line diabetic.

So I retired at age 57, and began retirement and soon was bored out of my mind. My wife is a
dozen years younger than me, and was working at a full time job. I had a great job at a lab
funded by department of energy, but what good is having lots of money if you retire after 65
and the body is in bad shape. You will be spending lots of money on healthcare, which is #1
cause of bankruptcy in USA.

To keep busy, I joined a cheap private golf club and began playing golf 5 days a week.
At first I had a real hard time walking the 18 holes which is 5 miles minimum if you hit
straight, 7 miles for me because I was rarely in the fairway.

But I kept at it, and played 18 holes five times a week. I played with the senior group
who teed off every week-day mornings at 10am. Every one chipped in $3 and whoever
played best that day with handicap got most of the money. It was lot of fun. Golf is more
fun once you begin to break 90 every round.

Living cost is very cheap in retirement IF ONE STAYS HEALTHY. I get senior discounts
every where, including property tax breaks in Florida. Now at age 78, I have no health
problems, no heart attacks, no strokes, no back pain, no knee pain, no hip joint pain,
no arthritis, good blood pressure, good blood glucose level etc. Before I took up full time
golf, I was border line diabetic, had high blood pressure, had hip joint pain, got chest pain
after eating a good restaurant meal of red meat, and used to get panic attacks.

That 6 to 7 miles of walking 5 times every week has done wonders for my body. Now at age 78
my legs are still good enough to walk several miles every day. Reaching Age 100 is looking possible. I rarely see a doctor and last time I was in hospital was at age 50 to remove my gall bladder. My healthcare costs at age 78 are near zero. Actually my Humana Medicare advantage
plan pays me $55/month!

Moral of my story is....exercise (just walking several miles) is the best medicine. Retire early,
begin any exercise routine which does not bore you, and live a long pain free life!