I retired 24 years ago with $1.3 million saved. Joy in retirement isn't a given — we made sacrifices to get here. (2025)

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bill Bengel, 84, a Michigan retiree who stopped working 24 years ago. After spending most of his career at General Motors, Bengel retired and lived the next two decades at a lake house in northern Michigan and in Florida. However, after developing a vascular disease, his left leg was amputated two years ago, and he's learned to reevaluate his retirement goals. His words have been edited for length and clarity.

I tell my grandchildren that joy in retirement isn't a given. You've got to plan for your retirement, starting with the first paycheck you get. There are sacrifices you have to make, but you also have to hope your health holds up. I did go through a bout of colon cancer, but it was detected very early.

I started working in the peppermint fields at 10 years old in central Michigan. I got my first Social Security number at 14, working in a bowling alley. After high school, I volunteered for the military. I went to Michigan State, got married, and completed my degree in business education with a minor in accounting and economics.

I was going to pursue a career in education, but I had an opportunity to join General Motors in 1963. I made sure replacement parts were delivered on schedule, but I moved through the organization and eventually became the material director for the Oldsmobile division in 1977.

When I joined General Motors, from the first opportunity I had for a wage or salary increase, I always took 10% of whatever the increase was and put that toward my retirement, whether it was a cost-of-living adjustment or merit promotion.

I really enjoyed my career, but it was very demanding. It wasn't a 40-hour-a-week job; it was a 24/7 job. My typical day was to arrive at 7 a.m. and hopefully get out of the office by 5:30 p.m. I usually worked Saturdays for five or six hours.

We enjoyed a lakefront property in northern Michigan but didn't get to use it very much while I was working. It became our permanent residence in 2000 when I retired. I wasn't sure if I was going to live two years or 10 years — you know not the day or the hour.

A year before I retired, I knew I couldn't just golf and fish and travel, so I took night classes in woodworking at the local community college. I figured this would help us transition to our northern Michigan home.

A fulfilling retirement is not much different than before

I don't think there's anything my wife and I would have done differently. We jointly planned for retirement. My wife was the homemaker and cared for our three children until they got out of high school. She took a job doing crafts as a hobby. I retired with $1.3 million at retirement, and it's $2.1 million today. I took Social Security early because of a little blip with my heart.

Our goal was that when we retired, we wouldn't change our lifestyle. The transition fromwork to retirementturned out just great. We had no credit card interest ordebt, and that's because throughout our lives, we didn't go to the best restaurants in town and didn't do extravagant things. Still, we didn't penalize ourselves either.

When we transitioned our vacation home into our permanent home, I had all these opportunities to be busy, whether it was golf, woodworking, or walking. I had offers to go back as a consultant, but I decided not to. It was such a great joy on the first day of retirement not to answer 40 emails or voicemails.

Since I retired, my income has been greater every year than what I made when I was working. We're very comfortable. I didn't get caught up in any bad investments. I had good, solid investment advice, and Fidelity has managed all of my investments since I retired. We have not touched any of my 401(k) in over 20 years. I followed the market closely, and whenever I turned over property, I made out pretty well.

Other than a small percentage of increases to Social Security, my retirement from GM hasn't changed one penny since I retired. My income increase is all from Fidelity. However, I'm not very confident about the future for people who didn't plan.

When I retired, we did exactly what we wanted to do. We've been to Europe several times and taken manycruises, including to Alaska. And we went to Florida between January and March for 20 years. I belonged to a very nice golf course and country club, but it wasn't exclusive or highly expensive. I also coached youth basketball.

Adjusting expectations after a health crisis

We stayed in northern Michigan until two years ago. I had a major health issue from a vascular disease, and I had to have a partial amputation of my left leg in November 2022. I remember I lay there for 31 days just thinking, what am I going to do when I get out of here? My wife was my absolute strength and helped me through.

We moved back to central Michigan because we had family here. I couldn't enjoy all the amenities up north. If you're in Michigan from January to March, you may get bored.

My life changed drastically because of the amputation. If I hadn't had it, I would still be playing golf and doing all the physical things I always had. We would still be going to Florida for three months. I'm restricted because I can't walk without assistance. I either need a cane or a walker.

I now read all the news for about an hour or so, and I do physical therapy two to three times a week. We have access to a gym. We do a lot with our family because we have eight grandkids and 14 great-grandkids, and they're all within 70 miles — some within three miles. We still do pretty much what we want.

I want to get back into a position where we can do more traveling, but I don't want to be a pain or problem for someone else. I'm trying to avoid boredom. We just purchased a new vehicle last month, only because I wanted something I could manage better after the amputation.

Advice to younger Americans

No. 1, when you're young, you need to think financially about where you want to be later in life. Do you want to have to work part time when you retire? You can't count on the government for anything. Life is not free. The future is not free. This probably comes from my upbringing, where our family members all had to work jobs when we were young.

The second thing is you've got to keep yourself in physical shape. I was a runner right up to the day I had my amputation. You can't give up, and if you do, you're done. I'm still trying to learn how to walk with a cane.

Third, if you hang around negative people, you're going to become negative, and that's not our lifestyle. We ran into lots of people in our careers, and we accentuated the positive. Still, I knew too many guys in my younger years whose whole life was strictly their job. When you do that, you're physically and mentally going to shut down.