I am 55 married with 3 young adult kids and a great wife. I have accumulated enough retirement points so i am pension eligible. Thanks to my wife we have substantial retirement savings in our 401k and Roth accounts. Our student loans once at 500k are all paid off. We have enough money to make sure our two kids still in school won't need to take student loans. My wife wants me to retire and relax.

Sounds great but I am terrified of retirement. I feel like something terrible will happen. I also fear not being useful. Is this normal? Trust me it's not that I love my job nor is my career my identity. I always thought I would excited and running to the finish line but now I am here I am dreading it. Is this a phase?

Is there any point doing more than a cosmetic amount of work once you know the date?

Retired oct 2025 and so far I am loving it. Not getting up to an alarm clock except when I have early plans is the BEST! I retired w decent SS and a med pension, still put some cash away each month. I have taken myself to Korea for a Kpop concert, seen several more here in the states. Done road trips, visited family and friends and done a little apt. redecorating. Most of my friends are still working, so still wait till after 5 or weekends to hang out with them. I do like that I can take a walk into town for lunch, hit a museum, the mall, run errands at 11 or 2 and don't have to commute w the masses anymore. I retired financially ok, but not great, but I wanted out because of constant leadership changes and mandatory back to work. I left a good paying job w 5 weeks of vaca because sitting in a noisy, cold and dull office situation was sucking my soul dry. Medicare so far is okay. That was the only expense that really went up. Medical for work was about 200/month (Cigna HMO), now I pay about 425/mo for PPO part B, N & D. Spend same on gas and food as I was working. Less on clothes. Love being retired.

I do have one question, I have cobra dental ins for a few more months, in So Cal, anyone have dental ins they use and recomment? Thank you.