retirement finances... I wish I had a "real" local fish store...

[Magnum Man34 149]

so, full retirement is only a few months away, and a visit to the social security office, and my investment manager reassures me, that I'll be comfortable, but not as liquid as I've been the last of my working years, so I'll need to slow down on the money spent on the hobby...

my tanks and fish are pretty stable now, but like many, the thought of breeding some fish to trade at a local shop seems the easiest way to bring in new fish, as my non breeding fish slowly dwindle... however my only semi local shop, ( basically a dog grooming shop that has a couple aquariums ), that has taken fish from me before, for store credit, doesn't have many fish I'd be interested in, and their tanks are such, that anything most definitely requires quarantine...

so with my morning caffeine, I'm having a vision of my tanks as they slowly get less and less fish in them, or they get taken over as grow out tanks ... and the mixed community tanks I love so much, slowly die out... makes me feel old, and sad... maybe turning 55 gallon tanks into breeding tanks, or grow out tanks will become interesting, out of necessity???

 

[GaryE]

Retirement is interesting. Mine was unplanned and sudden, due to a health crisis in the family during COVID. I went several years ahead of the plan I had.
I had the advantage of selling a house in the city for more than expected, and moving to a less expensive region. That let me build a fishroom and put aside money for these trips I take. This wasn't in my plans, but I'll enjoy it!
I was able to finance my hobby with writing for many years, but that economy is gone. I can't get fish like I used to, and have had to adjust. Since I like breeding fish, I do that. However, I can tell you that unless you focus on boring to breed, ultra easy fish, no small store can sell them. You would think that breeding rare, hard to get species would make them easy to sell, but there is no market. The fish hobby in North America is conservative and stagnant right now, and the number of people willing to try new things is tiny. You can pay a good price for rare fish, but if you breed them, even at a dollar or two they won't sell.

I'm breeding Parananochromis brevirostris, and I'm probably the only North American doing so. It's a nice looking fish. I've offered pairs for free to local aquarists, and they've said no, they don't know what it is, but do I have linebred rams?

I've been looking into part time work. My basic needs are covered, and there's no fear there. But extras? When I was younger, I figured retirement would be a tiny apartment and dog food on the plate, and it's far better than that. But I developed very expensive tastes in fish, and have had to rein it in.
There is no money in breeding for local markets. That's especially true for you and I, @Magnum Man , as we aren't in a concentrated population centre. Someone like Two Tanks is near a huge urban centre with potential buyers for rare catfish species, but out here in the sticks, the stores carry 20 species and nothing sells in numbers that would pay for much. Guppies are too common,and the tetras stores want cost them very little. Because of shipping, I can compete with the wholesalers if I want to, but at $1.50 a fish, forget it.

I've learned to treasure what I do get to watch in my tanks. I've learned to step back on the wish for novelties, and really get to know the fish I have here now. I breed them. I try to maintain species for multiple generations. I buy carefully and get fish shipped rarely - maybe twice a year at most.

Most people here on the forum won't have gotten into keeping things there's little info on as you have. You buy a lot of fish, and many are rarities. I did the same for a long time. Now, while I have the luxury of fishing trips and lots of space, and I do things very differently. It's still fun.

 

[Magnum Man34 149]

exactly... after having single fish tanks for larger cichlids, and I did the rift lake thing, because of the colors, and our naturally hard water... the soft water species I found most interesting, when I got back into fish 4 ish years ago... I have spent a lot of money following that interest the last few years... now I find I'm heading back towards hard water species, as they are easier to breed... I don't think I've had any soft water fish breed, mostly because of the crowded community tank set ups I'm running... maybe as tank numbers diminish, something will breed successfully in one of those tanks...

I'll admit, that the wild type swords I picked up, recently, I found more interesting, than I expected, and with one male, and a pair of females I think as they mature, there will be more fry there... if they become available before the slush fund dries up, I'll buy more... which would be a good thing, as the sail fin mollys have become an unexpected money pit, I had high hopes for...

 

[Ed Pursell13 18]

Well Magnum, only thing I can say is listen to the advice your Advisor gave you.. I recently retired this January after 47 years as a Buyer at one of the worlds leading Pet food company’s .. I Was going to a financial advisor for appx. 3 years before I picked my official date(Jan 2nd, 2026) making sure I was financially ready and we are constantly in touch since I dumped my funds into their recommended IRA’s..They make money from my money, so I did/do trust them. My habits and spending now are pretty much the same, I have no plans on changing what I did forever, but even while working, I watched what I did even when raising the Kids.. So between a pension, SS, and a nice 401 plan, I”m pretty much in line for now at almost 67. It’s a huge change from the daily working life, but slowly getting used to it. Wife was always telling folks I got a honey do list, but it’s not on my list right now. Get your things in order, the next few months will go real quick! Good luck and stay busy.
Ed

 

[Magnum Man34 149]

we have a farm ( wife's families century farm ) that we rent out the crop land , and we raise all our own meat right now... I have never been a traveler, raising animals, but I have a dozen hobbies, and I think the only sacrifices will be trimming back on some of those, and dedicating more time to others, I plan on selling a few collector cars, and a few firearms, to make those hobbies more self sufficient... it would be nice to breed a few fish to trade for new interesting, but I'm looking at at least an hour drive to get to a fish seller with really anything interesting to my hobby, at it's current state... we weren't able to have kids, so I'm not looking at setting aside any 401K money for inheritance, so just to figure out a realistic spend down on those accounts...

 

[GaryE]

Two things to add to your retirement plan are Xiphophorus montezumae and X. nezahualcoyotl. Everyone with hard water should have those in hand on retirement day.

 

[Back in the fold]

Being retired is like being a kid again and your allowance has to stretch . I figured that out right away . My needs are few and simple so I have no problem making my allowance stretch . It helps being a natural tightwad and cheapskate too , which I am .

 

[Magnum Man34 149]

I already have the montezumae, on a notification list..

turns out I already have both on a couple notification lists...

 

[fishorama30 5]

Maybe you can learn to ship fish? Not something I've ever done, & rarely had them shipped to me. Not a winter or hot summer activity but may open up new opportunities for hobby funds?

Take some time to get a grip on retirement income & expenses. It's a whole new world!

 

[Magnum Man34 149]

shipping would be an excellent option, but alas I suffer the same fate as fish shops, I'd have to find a place to drop them off, other than the farm... I think there are some local businesses that allow drop offs, but I don't think overnight is available at the business drop off locations.z

 

[GaryE]

If we put our cards on the table, retirement is a dangerous time for people who have worked all their lives. It very often triggers depression, rather than joy. A lot of people find their self definition in their jobs, and retirement can make them feel useless.
Dangerous times create anxiety, and a lot of my friends who are a little younger than me are very anxious now. They aren't sure what they're going to do with themselves.
I don't think a person with as many interests as you is going to be bored. Even if your interests don't do it, you have a farm.

Part of what I think you have to do is scrap the concept of hobbies. It's a lightweight word. Somehow, we believe working 10 hours a day to make a faceless corporation richer is great, but working a few hours a day to learn about fish, or birds, or gardens is a hobby, a nothing. I think one important thing we all need to to respect our interests and grow them. This is a time of education.

When you aren't working but have a retirement set up, you have less money. You also have fewer expenses. You eat out, dress up, gas up less. You get by. My day to day out of pocket expenses dropped when I retired. No more coffees. No more buying lunches for myself or for hungry kids in my class. No more school supplies. No more commutes. Every job has its version of what you spend.

But the spending is minor. No more mortgage payment to the bank meant a lot more.

If you're set up decently, you can't be as much of an impulse buyer. You do have to limit yourself. But it isn't catastrophic for things like your aquarium hobby. I can still buy a few interesting fish. I have more time to explore why they're interesting. I'd love to be able to buy all the new corydoras being found, but I can't afford them. That's how it goes - I never could anyway. But I can occasionally pick one up that's new - to me. They all pose the same puzzles.

I make no money from my hobby now. I don't see any any way to make pennies an hour off breeding. First, that assumes the fish you want will breed in numbers. That's a big assumption. Second, it assumes you can ship fish out. Third, it assumes you can create some sort of co-op with other local breeders, which really is the only way forward. It also leaves aside the issues of energy costs, tank space etc you need to breed for money.

Fish are an expense to me. My big discretionary expenses are travel, then fish, then music. I don't collect any objects to look at them, and travel will end if I'm still alive in ten years or so. With fish and music, I find a way. It works out. Worrying about impending losses is part of approaching retirement. In many twisted ways having to suddenly retire because coming home from work with covid would have killed my partner, who was deathly ill and facing surgeries and chemo put things into focus. On my last day at work, I had no idea that was it. I went home expecting a lockdown for a couple of weeks, and that was that - a relatively different angle on anxiety!

You're staring it down now, but interest expenses are the small stuff. It works out. You'll find a way to get the things you really need, some of which are interesting fish.

 

[Gertrudae]

I miss the "I feel you" emoji here.

 

[Magnum Man34 149]

one of the biggest things I'll need to continue to learn / work on, is patience... being a manager , I'm an idea guy, weather we are talking aquariums, the farm, or camping... I know how I want something to look, or function... in the old days, we went to the store, and bought it... now, most stores don't stock "the good stuff" so it has to get ordered, or a compromise made... with aquariums, plants, most can have cuttings made or divisions, but that sacrifices the look I'm after, both in a new set up, and the tank I have to rob from... I obviously can't do that with fish, unless I wait for them to breed, and raise the fry to maturity...

I know people who worked, and went to the bar after work, went home and watched TV, and really had no hobbies... hobbies are trophies or representations of our lives, if we have none, we just work and die... that old Styx song "too much time on my hands", was definitely not written about me... I rarely sit down... this is my "sitting" season, where I watch 1-3 hours of TV a night, with my feet up, because it's too cold, or dark too early... during the other seasons, I'm in motion from sun up, to well after dark...

as I go forward, I'll have more time than money... perhaps time to organize my tools, more than in a huge pile on my work bench, time to maybe sort out all my spare hardware, from big mixed totes, into the pigeon hole cabinets I bought during my working years... and maybe more time to stop and smell the roses...

 

[GaryE]

The funniest, corniest thing for me is I honestly don't know how I had time for a job (or at times, several jobs). I'm busy. Am I doing something useful? Was I doing something useful when the boss made me write reports never read or acted on, or when I manufactured products no one really needed?

I did a lot of satisfying, socially useful things in my working time, and I made a living to raise my family and live a little - not as much as I'd have liked to.

With that perspective, what I do is valuable. I did those past things to make a living. Now I walk to keep living. I take trips to stimulate my mind (each is worth taking intensive courses for my brain). I learn about fish and tanks. I type away here. I enjoy myself.
I'm a drop out now. I'm watching the sea sparkle while a blizzard moves up the coast. You'll have equivalents, as you like where you live.
I rarely turn the TV on. That, to me, is a dangerous activity, though I waste time online. I don't go to bars anymore. Very few of the local restaurants would tempt a starving man. I was quite results oriented, and patience has taken time. At first, we tend to feel like it's laziness, then if we're smart we realize the pace of life has dialed down and there's much to be gained by seriously looking at things.

If you knew how many ideas have come to fruition here, not always in a good way, since I've had time to work on them... I've reinvented wheels and tinkered away endlessly, and have made things I would have only been able to think about doing someday pre-retirement.
We need some money in this society, for certain. But as we get older, we come to better understand the value of time.

 

[gwand33 150]

I love retirement. I had a successful career that lasted 40 years. It allowed me to travel the world, publish over 200 research paper papers, and treat people with rare medical diseases. But while some of my colleagues continue to work at the university into their 80s for me, I knew it was time to step aside. Fortunately, I’ve had no problems adjusting to retirement, even though I used to work 60+ hours a week. I treasure my newfound time. My only regret is that I found this hobby very late in life. I started my first tank at the age of 70 while many of you started the hobby in your childhood. I am now three years into the hobby and still feel like a novice. I hope the gods in Mount Olympus give me another 20 years of life so I can become an expert aquarist.