Autism, Asperger's and Retirement

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I realize there are many people on the Spectrum that due to no fault of their own cannot work or work regularly. But those of us who can - I wonder how disruptive it would be to just stop?

Knowing that if left to my own devices and if I followed my own impulses - I would tend to withdraw into my own world. I might seldom go out, seldom get any exercise and frankly I might hit the bottle a bit. If I could afford it - I might move into a hotel and just have everything delivered to me.

Even many completely Neurotypical people who retire end up doing very little and as a result their health deteriorates. Of course some people are naturally active without working at a paid job. That sort might be very happy and healthy with retirement. But I wonder if the tendency of people on the spectrum would lean all the more toward just withdrawing and becoming less healthy and happy both physically and mentally?

The thought of retirement down the road scares me a bit becuse of the reasons you mentioned. This may sound selfish but I hope my wife outlives me as the thought of being a senior without her scares the crap out of me.

My husband is for all purposes retired, and he has totally derailed. If it wasn't for me and our child, he would decompensate to where he would almost need to be in a group home. His executive functioning skills have tanked. What is sad, nursing home patients do more activities than he does.

Yes, my husband is depressed and has chronic anxiety, and those don't help. And he refuses treatment.

It's also doesn't help that two 60 year old men are getting divorced in his support group. The wives just up and left after the last kid left the house. So a lot of that is on his mind. The men function lower than my husband (hard to believe), but I can see if you are an attractive, active 60 year old women, sitting home with someone who isolates, doesn't sounds like a stellar way to spend the rest of your life.

I think if you aggressively pursue your special interests, that can keep you from vegging.

I am fortunate to have a civil service job with a pension. I won't live like a king--but I'll live okay in my old age.

I got 8 more years to go before I retire.

Even if I wanted to, I can't leave the job just yet. If I leave at 55, I'd get a 2/3's pension which would be minimal.

One of my closest friends who I have known for more than 32 years retired a year ago March on his 60th birthday - For as long as I knew him he seemed to dream of retirement - as if that would be the day he could finally truly live. He had the good fortune of retiring with a pension of at least $5000 per month - not counting the Social Security that would kick in later and assets of close to a million dollars..

Unlike most of my friends he was amazingly normal - he never gave the slightest impression of ANY mental health or serious depression problems whatsoever. Then on September 28 of this year - he left a note in his house in Santa Fe, he dropped off his two cats at the shelter and drove out into the desert and committed suicide.

The sad fact is and this I can say with 99% certainty if he continued working - perhaps decided he would wait two more years until he was 62 or perhaps five more years until he was 65 - I am 99% certain he would be alive today.

Now if the most normal and emotionally stable person I know (at least I thought so )- could do this - what about someone like me with all the natural instincts to hibernate and hide from the world? I must say that before that tragedy I always assumed that the minute I had enough money to do it - I would retire - Since that tragedy I probably will give it some time to figure out what I will do with my time if and when I do retire.

Very sobering post, R2D2.

I have lots in mind when I retire. My first priority is staying healthy.

I possess that tendency to turn inward, similar to what you've described.

I'm fortunate that the only requirement for a hotel room is not too many bugs--so I could travel the world and stay in accommodations which sometimes don't meet "Western" standards. Then again...air-conditioning would be nice if I were to go to someplace tropical.

Ideally, I would like to stay in peoples' homes--so I could contribute to the local economy and get to know a bit about the culture where the home is located. I would do the dishes and all that stuff--but I wouldn't do "spring cleaning."

I'm happy to say that at 70, I'm happily (as much as is possible for a depressive type) retired (since I took Early Retirement at 63), and plan to live in my own home as long as God allows me to do so. The stress of having to socialize and earn a living is off, and if I feel like pulling back into myself and my turtleshell home, I can, will, and do, damn well do so, no matter whether or not anyone else thinks I should be more sociable. I'm just not, I never was, and when I was younger, I did what was necessary (for my daughter, too, who is now old enough to take care of herself and her own family), even when I didn't want to, and it was stress and strain. Now I can pick and choose how much, and what, I feel like doing, and if it looks to those outside me that I'm not doing enough activity, that's their problem, not mine (well, I guess it is my problem when somebody I love gets on my back about it). I'm doing what I want to do (and getting enough exercise, which was mentioned, because one of the things that I want to do is gardening). ALONE, for once in my life! And if I get downhill old enough that my daughter manages to stuff me into an "Assisted Living" or Nursing Home, where socializing full time is required, which is my idea of Hell, I probably _will_ kill myself. But I'd rather stay here, and die here when it's my time. Between Social Security and income from my parents' life savings, I have enough income to do as I please (as long as I don't "please" to do a lot of traveling or cruises or such expensive stuff, which is not my idea of pleasure anyway.

I'm actually more sociable since I retired than when I was working. Retiring when I did was one of the easiest decisions I ever made. I'm not obsessed with money like other people are, as long as my money lasts and I can continue to live in my own house. The key to retiring is planning when you're going to retire (and not have that decision taken out of your hands by your workplace) and working out how you plan to utilise all the free time you are going to have. If you had a good job, maintaining contact with the people you worked with is a good idea.

I know what you mean.

If I were to outlive my wife I could easily end up on the street or at least in some small room alone somewhere because I couldn't keep the house. There are many things that are difficult/impossible for me to do and I depend on her a lot.

It may sound selfish but it's just the reality. Plus, I really don't think I could be alone again...I don't really like myself that much. Without my wife I pretty much lose my purpose for living. At my age all of these kinds of thoughts are really frightening.

I retired 7 years ago due to serious illness. The first few years were hard. Losing contact with work-related associates, and being alone and ill with little contact except from family members (my best friend of 25 years standing chose to distance herself from me on the grounds that she was "too busy") and I almost settled into a sad way of life. Almost. But after recovery and better medical care for other chronic health issues which I had been born with, things turned around. Though I had to get out there and make and effort to connect with new people, which was very hard for me to do initially, and frightening. I had to move through those fears and find the right places and right people for me. It was a trial and error process, though it ended really well.
Now I can say that this is the happiest phase of my life, with the least worries and more happiness on a daily basis than ever before.

PS Owning my own home, and having a guaranteed income makes a huge difference too. New Zealand pays universal superannuation to every citizen aged 65 and over for as long as they live, and it is a fairly generous provision compared to most countries. So with these basics in place, I could deal with other bridges I had to cross. It must be tough in countries that ignore the senior population and treat them as undeserving and useless.

Note to all.

As you all know, the Global Economic Crisis has superficially receded secondary to your gov'ts printing money to force the Stock Markets to go higher worldwide. This has resulted in all of our gov'ts achieving all time record debt levels(eg. USA approx. 18 trillion USD in debt). They have kicked the can down the road by printing trillions of dollars, euros, etc.... Soon, the global economy will crash again and most pensioners will lose a large percentage of their pension.

How have you prepared for this?
A number of gov'ts have simply confiscated entire private and/or public pension, what do you plan to do when this happens in your country?
I welcome your advice.

Thanks.

I grow food in my garden and have a fresh water stream, have lots and lots of trees for firewood for cooking if the power supply fails, and live near the sea where fish come to spawn and are easy to catch. Should be ok for a while...

you are very wise

+1

Until governments want you to pay taxes over everything you grow yourself.. .and that's the sad truth I see happening.

At that point, I will become a radical anarchist! They already tax everything we have to buy to grow a garden at 15% goods and services tax, and they tax the ground we grow it in (property tax) and the water that we use on the plants. They are figuring out, no doubt, how to tax the oxygen and sunlight the plants use and the air around them. Bloody governments!