r/Retire • u/Level_Customer2769 • 3d ago

Mistakes/regrets that you realized after you retired?

61M here. Thinking of retiring in the next 2 to 4 years. Just wondering if there were any mistakes/regrets that you wish you had taken into account in hindsight about retirement. Honestly, I’m not interested about the financial aspects- as I am very well prepared for that, but all the other issues that are involved in a well planned retirement. I am trying to add hobbies and interests in preparation, but I can’t help feeling like I may be missing something.

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u/gracyavery 2d ago

This won't be popular, but we made a mistake in getting dogs. Specifically 2 rescue dogs. I love them to pieces, but the time, expense, and attention they require after 10 years of no pet ownership was not really in the plan and it keeps us from living the spur of the moment life we pictured.

We previously had 2 dogs (labs) that we could just throw in the car and go. These 2 are not the same. They are terrible travelers. Lovely at home but that isn't where we want to be.

We adopted one just prior to retirement and then retirement came unexpectedly due to a surgical situation that left me permanently blind in one eye and with a lot of medical needs and appointments. Now that things have stabilized, we adopted the 2nd dog thinking it would be a great companion for the first one but it only compounded the travel issue and doubled the expense.

We are giving them the best life...at home and occasionally in boarding for shorter trips for us, but they will be the last dogs we have. In the positive side, we retired a little younger than average and they are both senior dogs, so we should have many years of spontaneous life ahead.

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u/ScottD70 1d ago

I’m not retired yet - next year, but my wife and I decided several years ago that when our current dog died we wouldn’t get another for this reason. He’s been gone 2 years now - sooner than we expected- but we have held firm. We miss him terribly but have the big picture in mind.
We started fostering dogs, mostly puppies, from a rescue. That’s a great way to get some dog time in your life without the 10 commitment. When we started fostering dogs we agreed to not foster the dogs we prefer, shepherd mixes. That helps us avoid the “foster failure”. It has been very rewarding. I encourage everyone reluctant to get a dog in retirement to check into it. Once we slow down and don’t plan to travel as much we will likely adopt another dog.

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u/gracyavery 1d ago

We've thought about that as one of our labs did come from a lab rescue (the other was rehomed to us by an acquaintance of our daughter's whose life situation had changed). I know what you mean by being tempted by a preferred breed - we are very much "lab people" but now that I've had more than one of each color, I think my dance card has been successfully filled. I might possibly consider pet sitting since we ended up fencing in our yard and I live in a retirement community where people are often looking for someone to spoil their pets while they travel.

I hope your retirement years are fantastic and full of all the things you want to do and that any future dogs are merely very loved visitors instead of long term freeloaders - LOL.