What retirement looks like, 18 months in

More than 100,000 federal employees retired in 2025, according to Office of Personnel Management numbers. So a lot of you are in the same retirement phase as me: more than a year, but the idea of retirement not sunken in fully.

November 1 marked 18 months since I stepped away from fulltime work. I’d like to share some observations and, if you’ll indulge me, some advice on navigating what can be a fraught time, mentally and physically.

Let’s presume your financial house is in order. You’ve got a decent Thrift Savings Plan account. Your federal annuity has started, after OPM calculated it. Social Security has come through. Unless you’re an uncannily skilled investor (unlike me), you’ve pretty much cast your financial die (like me).

Therefore worrying constantly about money will needlessly sap your energy and maybe even your looks. Don’t do it.

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We’re lucky to have worked either in the federal government (you) or connected to it in some way (me). If you’d like part time work, you can find that consulting or advising gig. Or even go back as a contractor on some level for your old agency. I’m not talking about people going onto a second fulltime career, but rather to those who want to keep a hand in their field.

Pursue it. You fulfill two needs you’re likely to feel, namely a little additional income and, perhaps more important, the feeling of being relevant and needed. That latter loss, of identity and relevance, is many people’s biggest fear of retirement. It was for me, yet it hasn’t happened.

I’m still a W-2 part-time employee of Federal News Network. I do regular but decidedly part-time work on the sponsor side of the house. It keeps me in the market and interacting with people. And, when I visit my former fulltime offices, I’m not just an old fart hanging around to say hi. I do say hi, but I go in with a business purpose and leave afterwards.

This arrangement also earns me the minimum required income to maintain membership in the Screen Actors Guild, the union for FNN and WTOP broadcasters, writers and web editors. That in turn keeps me and my wife on the SAG healthcare insurance plan. In other words, I still haven’t had to sign up for Medicare Part B and an expensive supplement.

Feds have merely to choose a health insurance plan and, if retired, a supplement each year, but if you don’t let your Federal Employee Health Benefits plan lapse, you are better off for life than most other people. But do take care in that plan and supplement selection. In fact, Federal News Network’s upcoming Open Season Exchange will be chock full of great information on that very topic.

The axiomatic advice for retirement always boils down to this: Do stuff. It’s true. A recent New York Times story surveyed the many studies done of mental and physical decline in the retired. Those retiring to the sedentary life tend to shrivel faster. So stop making excuses. Retired you can fit better into your grown kids’ schedules. I just hung new window blinds in my pregnant daughter’s living room during one of her work-at-home days. As for friends, you don’t need to find some Saturday night far in the future to make plans for dinner. Restaurants are open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays too. A made man, the boyfriend of a long-ago neighbor, once told me, “Tommy, only schmucks go out for dinner Saturday night. They’ve got $25 left over. The good people go out Wednesday night, Thursday.” Now I can follow advice from a mafioso.

On the physical side, find the things you like and can do consistently. Walking, running, weightlifting, cycling, whatever. I know one old duff who claims to have swam a thousand kilometers this year, or maybe he said 10,000. Whatever the figure, he swims several days a week for hours. I ask how many times he can stand going back and forth and seeing the same Band-Aid hovering in the water. For him it’s a passion. Swimming for me is controlled drowning. I love lifting weights, running/walking, using the Pelaton bike acquired when we were all stuck at home during you-know-what in 2020. Just find your thing.

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Many feds find the time in retirement to apply their experience unpaid for non-profits that align with their sense of mission. A religious organization, maybe, or one dealing with a social issue like food insecurity. Just a word of caution: Like universities, such organizations, regardless of size, often have political cross-currents rivaling those of the largest agencies or companies. I’ve found that out personally. Don’t go into it thinking you’ll encounter moonlight and roses.

Avoid the compulsion to be so busy you crowd out your ability to do the personal things you love. For instance, I happen to like target shooting with pistols, and I never seem to have a couple of hours to get to the local range. When sitting for too long in the garage, my Harley’s headlights seem to give me a doleful look as if to say, “Bro, are we ever gonna go for a ride?” Find the time to help friends or family going through rough periods, if only coffee and an empathetic ear.

Be sure to set rules in retirement. For us, that means cocktails only on the weekends. (Well, that one gets broken, but not before 5 p.m.) No TV during the day. I’ve never seen the Today Show in all my years, and I don’t want to start now. Do something physical every day. Don’t go to sleep or get up too late. Keep up with the news, but don’t feel guilty if you ignore the noise when you feel like it.

So what is retirement? More than an absence of work, its a glorious kaleidoscope of things that bring fulfillment, meaning and fun. May the Lord grant you the type of post-career life I’ve been so far blessed with.

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