If you dread going in each day, you made the right decision. There’s a lot of jobs out there to be had if you get in a money pinch, and all of them are much safer than what you are doing. Back the Blue!

Your retirement should be with TMRS! (Texas Municipal Retirement System). They are one of the best. They have retirement staff on hand to answer any questions that will concern you. Give them a call and go over your plan. You might also want to leave your police retirement alone and start drawing it out on a later date. Call them! They will give you the best advice.

Wish you all the best, I’m so close I’m giddy

I'm at work. You are at home. That seems like a good decision!

THIS. IF you can get a gig that covers your expenses try not to touch the retirement. My Wife left the Bexar County DA's Office in 1995 after ten years and has let TMRS account keep gaining compound interest ever since.

Agreed. Not a mistake if you've worked enough years to draw retirement. Depending in your current age, you may want to find a second career, or at least a decent paying job to keep you busy until full retirement age.

One unknown (if it even applies in your situation) is paying for health insurance. It's an unknown increase every year. Our safety retirement system (CalPers) has a minimum retirement age and also a maximum years of service. The earliest I can retire is age 50 and the maximum service credit is 30 years. At 30 years is 90% of my highest annual income divided by 12 for the monthly. The plan is to retire here in a few years, but I do agree, the times they be a changin'.

Healthcare is a major issue if retiring before Medicare age, also the rampant inflation

Congrats on getting away from the day to day misery.

I was at Longview PD for thirty years and experienced the same discomfort. I was far too young to retire, so I took a position at a rural Sheriff's Office and have been here for five years. Two more and I'll be able to draw social security. I am looking forward to becoming a "homebody".

I don't think you're doing it too early. I watched my dad be miserable at his job for four or five years before he retired, but he wanted that full railroad retirement so he stuck it out til age 65. He didn't last long once he retired and most of that time was spent taking care of my mom's medical issues. I feel like those last few years at his job took a lot out of him. I'm pulling the plug at 62 come he11 or high water.

I "retired" from career work early, then did "fun" work for a couple years. It helped ease the transition to full retirement and allowed time to see if I had enough retirement income to make a long retirement possible.

As mentioned above, healthcare seems to be a big stumbling block. Lucky for me I have both VA and military retirement coming in and left my regular job 6 months prior to drawing social security. I'll likely draw in June and just put the money in a safer IRA Fund. According to my financial planner we should be ok until 90 years old at our current budget. There are no guarantees.

Selling insurance, primarily Medicare I see how a lot of people live in their "Golden Years". Most are anything but "Golden."

So, my "retirement", will be dabbling in Medicare. The annual certification process is a major PITA, but most I work with are good folks trying to get by. I don't enjoy insurance, I DO enjoy meeting new people and working on commission I can do as little or much as I choose. My wife and I started the agency three years ago. Every single one of my buddies told me how crazy I was for starting a C Corp at 58 years old.

My brother was in LE but his last 10 years or so was overseeing other officers. He hated that part.

He retired for a couple years then went back to work for the county DA as a investigator. He says that is an interesting job. He is 72 now and hopes to retire in a couple years when his wife is eligible to retire from nursing.

Whatever you do, keep busy. I gained 40 pounds sitting around before starting to exercise. All it took was getting up and exercising and I have lost 60 pounds so far, headed for 100.

I retired at 63,Health Insurance only issue I had,I was stuck with Obrandon care for two years...now that I'm 65 plus..I'm Good!! Every day is a Saturday....Go for it!!!

Shouldnt be on TFF at work, now do your job.