Charles: Hi, I'm Charles Parker, and this is "The Art of Retirement Podcast," a show about life in retirement and the challenges, opportunities, and unique stories related to it.

Peter: I've enjoyed retirement so much. I spend much more time with my wife, which is a very nice thing to do. And I see the kids, everything is really good.

Charles: Today, we are speaking with Peter who, after being offered early retirement from the fast-paced television industry, has now found joy in traveling the world.

Peter: I was in television programming for about 33 years in Los Angeles.

Charles: Oh, wow. Any particular station you can tell me about?

Peter: Well, I started as the only baldheaded page at CBS with a master's degree, believe it or not. And then I worked for ABC for 21 years and CBS for 10 years. And in between did some work for...I was vice president of Jimmy Komack's company. We did "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "Chico and The Man."

Charles: Very cool. So, about what age did you start thinking about retiring from television? It sounds like a dream job to me.

Peter: Well, I always thought that I, you know, I was in programming and I was getting a little older. I was like 55, which doesn't sound old, but in the business it's starting to get there. And I decided that at age 59, I would leave CBS programming and go back to being a unit production manager, which was the first thing I did at ABC. I was the unit manager for the "Lawrence Welk Show" among others, but that was my start at ABC. So, when CBS came along at age 58 and said, "There are 800 of you that would like maybe to have early retirement." I think, I thought, "Holy cow, you bet." So, at age 58, CBS said, "Okay, the way we're gonna do this, we're gonna pretend you're 65. And that you worked the next seven years, age 58 to 65 at the salary that you now have." So, I didn't have to go back to work at all. I could just retire. It was a nice retirement.

Charles: Wow. So, it sounds like it came up suddenly, or is this something you heard about for years leading up to?

Peter: No, no, no. It came about suddenly. It was interesting in that we had been skiing at Lake Tahoe, my wife and I, and said, "Boy, wouldn't it be fun to retire and move to Lake Tahoe?" And a month later, that was in January of '88. In February of '88, CBS made that announcement and in August I was at Lake Tahoe.

Charles: Sounds like serendipity.

Peter: It was.

Charles: Wow, so it came about suddenly. So when did it really become real for you? When did retirement become real? When they said it, when you left?

Peter: You know, when I left Los Angeles and moved to Tahoe, first of all, I had always been teaching in Los Angeles. I worked at Cal State Northridge. I taught one course a semester early in the morning, I would teach television writing, television programming, history of broadcasting. Those were the three subjects. And I would alternate those for 20 years. So, I started in 1968, left in '88 to move. So, I taught at University of Nevada, Reno, two semesters, television programming, and then I also worked at a local radio station. I went back to radio, and discovered that I really wanted to travel with my wife. So, I had to leave radio. I couldn't commit to a permanent schedule, and instead, I went to work for a guy writing infomercials and also doing the voiceovers on them.

Charles: Okay. So, even though you retired from the television industry, you seemed to be keeping busy.

Peter: Yes. You know, it's funny, I can only say that if you're happy in what you're doing, that's the key. And I love broadcasting, in fact, I made a deal with the local ski resort. I would announce their commercials and their ski races, and they would provide my wife and me with weekday passes. And I did that for seven years.

Charles: Oh my goodness. Wow. So, has there been a time where you stopped working at all?

Peter: Yes.

Charles: Okay.

Peter: Good question. So, at age 70...Remember I retired at age 58, so at age 70, I thought, "You know, I've really done enough now." And we started traveling more and just enjoying life.

Charles: Fantastic. Is there any particular places you traveled to, or enjoyed

Peter: Mostly Europe. Yeah, we took a lot of cruises, we took one fabulous trip in the year 2000. I had a small inheritance from my uncle, and so we spent five months in Europe. And that was a once-in-a-lifetime dream, and it was really super.

Charles: If there's one place you would tell people to go, like they must go in Europe, where would it be?

Peter: You know, that's really tough because...

Charles: Okay. Maybe the top five.

Peter: There's Southern France, there's Austria, there's Italy, there's the Romantic Road in Germany, and then there's Paris and England. And we did a lot of time in those places.

Charles: Okay. Sounds like they should just go everywhere.

Peter: Yeah.

Charles: So, once you officially retired, sounds like 70, were there sacrifices you had to make in order to have the traveling and the life that you wanted to have with your wife?

Peter: You know, it's an interesting question because what happened was that while we lived in Los Angeles, we bought a condo in Hawaii on the island of Kauai. And so because of our traveling, there was a little bit of...we were beginning to tighten our belts, and what we decided to do in 2006 was to sell Lake Tahoe. We're only spending two months a year there, and that didn't seem like, you know, why are we doing this? We could sell the place and then rent for a month, a year, which we've done. But selling and only having one house, that really gave us the opportunity to have the money to travel as much as we wanted. And we were very fortunate in that we sold before the housing crash, if you will, and that really started in 2006. A month after we sold in April of 2006, the realtor called and said, "You know, Peter, I could not get you the money that I got you for your house today because of what's happened in the market." So, we were very lucky.

Charles: Very lucky. Wow. Yes, I remember all too well the recession.

Peter: Oh, yes.

Charles: So, you retired from television, but you kept working. Did you have reservations or concerns as you got closer to just stopping work entirely? Did you think that you wouldn't have enough to do or?

Peter: No. You know I enjoy doing things. So, for example, at Lake Tahoe I went on the board of the Lake Tahoe Summer Music Festival, I joined Rotary, which was community-oriented as well as international, good things that they did internationally. So, I joined groups that were doing fun things and good things. And yeah, my wife just was listening to our conversation, and she said when we sold Tahoe, one of the reasons that we decided to be full-time in Hawaii was that we had taken courses from a Master Hong from China in a discipline called qigong. And we started teaching qigong and we still do.

Charles: Can you describe what that is?

Peter: Qigong, qi is energy and gong is exercise. So, there are exercises in converting energy for your health and longevity. There are movements like if you know Tai chi, Tai chi is the warrior offshoot of qigong. So, it's a way of keeping healthy and passing on healthy disciplines to other people.

Charles: That sounds remarkable. So, it's the more metaphysical version of Tai chi, maybe?

Peter: Right. Exactly, well said.

Charles: Okay. So, tell me a little bit about your transition from working to retirement. What was that like?

Peter: Well, it was very happy. Practically, you know, I loved CBS, the accountants had taken over and they were making decisions based on what shows are making us money, what shows can be let loose so that they're not bringing in enough money. So, that's, for example, "Archie Bunker" was let go. And a lot of the shows that I had worked on in comedy were no longer money-makers for the network. They were rating successes, but not money-makers. So, things had changed. When I started in television, it was like a family business, individual owners of the television networks made it a family affair, which was great by the way. But then in CBS when it was sold, then the people that took over and it was finally Mr. Tish, Larry Tish, who came in and took over CBS. He saw that he could make a lot of money, and so he was more interested in having his accountants figure that out and not the programming. So, I was ready to leave, and it was a happy exit, if you will, from CBS. Today, they're still a great network and I enjoy my retirement. It was very generous, the way that they did the retirement. So, I'm happy.

Charles: Did you have any concerns about money when you were retiring? Were you financially confident?

Peter: I really didn't think it through. I was frankly counting on retirement money from ABC, the 21 years there, and CBS the 10 years there. So, between those two and that worked out great. And then my neighbor in Kauai had worked for the Social Security people and at age 62, I said, "Do I take my Social Security now or should I wait?" And he said, "You take it now because statistically at this age you've got 14 years of life left and after 14 years, you'll be making less money. But for 14 years you'll be making more money than if you had waited till you were 65." Well, truthfully, now that I'm 88 I wish I had waited until I was 65. And I would say to people to think carefully before they take that age 62 Social Security.

Charles: Gotcha. Is there anything you would've done differently?

Peter: No, actually, I enjoyed, I still enjoy life, so I would do nothing differently. I know that there were people who retired at the time that I did, part of the 800 who came and said, "Oh my God, I don't know what to do with myself. I've got a great big R on my forehead. And, you know, I'm now eating breakfast at Denny's and life is not really exciting anymore." And I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, you know, you do what you like to do." And so I had no trouble. I really enjoyed life, I enjoyed going to Lake Tahoe, enjoyed skiing, enjoyed teaching, and doing my radio stuff. I mean, it was a very enjoyable retirement.

Charles: Great. You're one of the lucky ones, it sounds like.

Peter: I think so. I think I was blessed, really.

Charles: So, what advice would you give someone transitioning into retirement?

Peter: I would say to them, first of all, do plan ahead. I mean, don't just think, "Oh, everything's gonna be great" and not prepare for retirement. But when you retire, remain active, I mean, frankly, I'm still active at Rotary here in Hawaii, and it's a service organization. I strongly recommend for people to get involved in an organization like Rotary, a community-oriented, internationally oriented service club because by going out and doing things for your community, you're really also helping yourself. And it's a great place to make new friends and like-minded friends. So that's one of the things that I would strongly recommend.

Charles: So, are there other things that you've done in retirement that you wouldn't have been able to do while you were working full-time?

Peter: Well, travel of course was one of the big things, but the second thing was, you know, working in television, particularly, I spent my first seven years as a unit production manager and my hours were pretty horrendous. I'd work 60-hour weeks, and then I'd get off, you know, two weeks a year vacation for the first 10 years until I got three weeks. And because of that, I really didn't have time to do anything much outside of work. I did do the teaching, which was very gratifying, but other than that I really didn't have time to do community work, etc. The shows that I worked on, the comedy shows, for example, that I worked on both at ABC and CBS, I would take my wife and children to the tapings or filming, and we'd have a family evening that way. But I'd love to spend time with my kids, and I'm, you know, looking back, I know that by including them in my work, I did spend time with them and they have good memories of that. But as far as doing outreach community stuff, it just wasn't there.

Charles: Okay. So, it sounds like early on you went to Tahoe immediately after retiring, you did five months in Europe. What are the big things you did in the first few years of retirement?

Peter: Well, of course, the first thing is joining Rotary. I think that was very important. When we moved to Lake Tahoe, we were fortunate to get a motor boat and we joined a group that did get-togethers on the lake, and overnights on the lake, and that was a lot of fun. As far as travel goes, in retirement we always traveled at least two months a year, sometimes three months, and the river cruises were unbelievably fun. We got hooked on Viking River Cruises that had about eight of those before we took on other cruise lines. But travel was really, really big, and expanding our worldview was important.

Charles: Oh, sure. Where do Viking River Cruises go? Like the Seine and the Rhine and...

Peter: Just as an example, we went from Paris to Honfleur and stopped at the Monet home where he painted. And so that was one cruise, Amsterdam to Basel was another cruise, a cruise to Russia, you know, etc. They were all interesting places that are fun to visit.

Charles: So, did you continue doing, are you still doing two months a year travel? Have your activities changed recently?

Peter: They have changed. Not a lot, I mean, things are a little unsettled in Europe at the moment, so we have not been in Europe. We didn't go last year, we've started looking at the United States. We'd never been to Washington DC, so two years ago we spent time there. We went to Yellowstone Park last year and had never been there. So, we've been looking at America and doing things in, you know, around here. We also did do Viking, not Viking, we did National Geographic Lindblad Cruises, we took our daughters, two daughters to Alaska, and we're going to take them to Costa Rica next year. This year, my wife and I went to the Galapagos. So, we've continued traveling, but not necessarily as long as two or three months a year. We still take a month at Lake Tahoe. So, Lake Tahoe a month, and then for example the Galapagos this year is with Tahoe and stuff. We might have been gone seven weeks.

Charles: Wow, okay. So you mentioned staying healthy, and health is important especially when you're traveling as frequently as you do. Does that keep you active, that healthy mindset?

Peter: Well, I think so. I mean, this qigong we do, I mean, I do qigong every day at home, and we teach two classes on every Thursday afternoon here on Kauai in Lihue. So, yes, that keeps us active, and I swim and play golf and, you know, and walk and hike. So, it's really important to keep active, I think, to get all you can out of when you become an older person. Not old but older.

Charles: Well, even when you're young, I think it's good to stay active, but yeah, I understand what you're saying. There are plenty of really lovely waterfalls out there in Kauai.

Peter: There are. It's a beautiful place and we chose Kauai because of the beauty.

Charles: Yeah. That's one of the smaller ones, isn't it?

Peter: Yes, it is.

Charles: So, what's stayed the same since you've been retired? Is there anything that you've consistently done in your working life and now that you've retired?

Peter: I still once in a while do voice work. Yeah, I mean not often, and a friend of ours had a touring show on local television and asked me to do the narration of that. That was maybe five years ago, maybe three years ago. I haven't done much since, but so that's one thing I do, I do not teach college-level courses anymore, just the qigong, but I also have taken up playing ukulele because that's, you know, that's really big in Hawaii. So, I've also started dancing Hula, and our ukulele group, it's a senior group, we do outreach once a month, we'll go to a hospital or to a retirement village, whatever. But every month, once a month we do an outreach program. So that's good.

Charles: Can you send us a video of you doing Hula?

Peter: I could.

Charles: I'd love to see that. Now you mentioned that you took Social Security at 62, and you wish you hadn't at this point. Now, have you had to budget things differently? Clearly, it sounds like you have.

Peter: Well, yes and no. I mean, again, we've been very fortunate, the house that sold at Tahoe was, you know, like six times more than what we paid for it. Those are things that have definitely helped as far as retirement goes.

Charles: Okay. What do you enjoy the most about retirement?

Peter: Good question. I would have to say that I'm not on the clock, and I think that's one of the big things, is that you don't have to be at work at X o'clock and you don't have to work until X o'clock. In television, I worked from 10 in the morning until when they tape shows till 10 at night. So, they were long days, and so I don't do that anymore. So, that's really nice to have time on your own. The one other thing that, by the way, that I wanna mention is that I'm on the board of the Garden Island Arts Council, and we do, for example, 10 weeks of music, Hawaiian music with well-known Hawaiian singers or players. Ten weeks is starting in January, and we've got some of the top artists in Hawaii coming. We usually have about 500 people a week that come to see these shows.

Charles: Can you name-drop anybody for me?

Peter: Makana who is well known on Kauai is one of the artists.

Charles: That's very exciting. Wow. So you mentioned not being on the clock and I've heard the expression out of Hawaii, "being on Hawaiian time." I think everybody's a little relaxed about it.

Peter: It is more relaxed if somebody says, "Hey, we're gonna start the program at 4 in the afternoon," if you're lucky, it'll start at 4:30.

Charles: So, is there anything about retirement that you don't particularly enjoy?

Peter: You know, there really isn't. I've enjoyed retirement so much. I spend a lot of time, much more time with my wife, which is a very nice thing to do. And I see the kids, so everything is really good.

Charles: Fantastic. Is there anything that's come as a surprise once you retired?

Peter: Came as a surprise. The only thing I can think of is that I've gotten a lot of artificial body parts. That came as a surprise. So, yeah, but other than that, no, there are really no big surprises. You kind of make your own enjoyment and you kind of live your life as full as you can.

Charles: Sure. What advice would you give somebody that's set to retire in the near future? What would you tell them?

Peter: I would tell them not to be scared. Really, there's a lot of fun out there, get involved in community work, make new friends, and stay active. I mean, that to me is really what are the keys. And plan ahead, do plan ahead for retirement so that you will have enough money to do those things that you want to do.

Charles: Fantastic. Thank you so much, Peter. It sounds like you've had a very fulfilling life, a lot going on, and I wish you the best.

Peter: Well, thank you so much.

Charles: Thanks so much for listening to the show this week, you could subscribe to our program at iTunes, or on our website at allworthfinancial.com. If you have a retirement story you'd like to share, you can also write us at theartofretirement@allworthfinancial.com. I'm Charles Parker, and you've been listening to "The Art of Retirement Podcast" from Allworth Financial.

Man: This podcast has been brought to you by Allworth Financial, a registered investment advisory firm with the Securities and Exchange Commission.