Adjusting to retirement: Five Georgians, five different realities
Retirement is supposed to be the payoff. More time, fewer obligations and the freedom to finally do the things work left little time for. But ask people who have actually retired what comes next, and the answers are less predictable.
For some, retirement means traveling, spending time with family and enjoying the rewards of decades of saving. For others, it means learning to live on Social Security, finding ways to stay busy or confronting an unexpected question: If work was a big part of who you were, who are you once you leave it behind?
The reality of retirement can look different from the dream.
A 2025 report from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, based on a survey of 2,690 retirees conducted by The Harris Poll, found that 89% of retirees consider themselves generally happy. At the same time, retirement has brought mixed experiences: 44% said they are enjoying life more since retiring, while 33% reported a decline in their overall health and 28% said their financial situation worsened.
More than half of retirees — 52% — said they retired sooner than planned, with employment-related issues and health problems among the leading reasons. Sixty-five percent said they wished they had known more about saving and investing, while 44% said they waited too long to worry about it.
So what does retirement actually look like once the working years are over? We asked five Georgia retirees to share what they’ve learned, what surprised them and how they’re spending this next chapter.
Living modestly
For Hall County’s Joe Martin Brown and his wife, Lydia, retirement is built around a simple philosophy: Don’t spend what you don’t have.
Lydia retired from a private school system in 2013, and Joe retired in 2020 after a roller-coaster ride in residential home construction and real estate in which he says he went bust three times but never filed bankruptcy.
The couple lives on Social Security and Brown’s small military pension. Both had been divorced and came to their marriage with their own savings accounts, but neither had a 401(k). They combined money from the sales of their previous homes and paid cash for their three-bedroom, two-bath ranch.
Brown said they live frugally, clipping coupons and putting their purchases on a single credit card that they pay off every month.
“We drive two nice older autos with high mileage, but they’re paid for,” he said. “We live modest but don’t lack for anything.”
They each contribute to a travel account and take trips when they can afford it, Brown said. For him, the lesson is straightforward.
“The only way you can retire on Social Security is being debt-free and not buy anything you can’t pay cash for,” he said.
Feeling ill-prepared
Sugar Hill’s Barbara Hood had some of the basics covered when she retired. Her house was paid off, and her credit cards were paid down. Still, she quickly discovered she wasn’t as prepared for retirement as she had expected.
Hood has been living off Social Security since she turned 65, but the transition into retirement required her to learn a lot on the fly.
“I had no idea what to expect,” she said.
When would her first Social Security check arrive? How would she transition from private insurance to Medicare? Which Medicare plan should she select? How would she spend her days or pay for vacations?
She said she wondered about dipping into the 401(k) she had accumulated while working for the same employer for many years. Hood said she decided her answer was “a big No.”
Instead, she has taken part-time and temporary jobs, which she said have helped her stay busy while padding her checking account. Her dogs, the local parks in Sugar Hill and good friends have helped her stay active and connected.
A scary chapter
Marilyn Hartline of Gainesville found the idea of retiring “kind of scary.”
After 23 years of marriage, she found herself single and supporting herself and two teenagers. Sometimes, that meant working two jobs, one full time and one part time.
Still, Hartline made preparing for retirement a priority. She paid off her credit card debt and car, eliminating the monthly payment, and built a six-month emergency fund to cover her expenses.
She also owned a four-unit apartment building, living in one unit and renting out the other three. She cooked at home, kept entertainment expenses to a minimum and focused on saving and investing.
Her careful planning gave her options when retirement arrived. She eventually moved to Georgia and found love again.
“I’m now 82, living a great life, married a longtime friend from high school,” Hartline said.
Today, she has 16 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and two more on the way.
Her life has also included significant loss. She lost her only son to cancer and faced “many other hardships along the way.”
“But God knew my path, and I trusted my faith,” Hartline said.
Feeling lost
For Nina Jackson of Dacula, the biggest surprise of retirement wasn’t financial. It was personal.
Jackson spent 49 years building a career in the hospitality industry, eventually reaching a top position before deciding she was tired, burned out and ready to retire.
But once she stopped working, she realized just how much her career had shaped her identity.
“Meaning, I felt lost this past year,” said Jackson, a divorced mother of two. “I’ve almost had to reinvent myself. That’s the way it feels.”
Looking back, Jackson wishes she had started preparing for the personal side of retirement years earlier. She said she could have explored possible pursuits, such as going back to school, attending culinary school or getting into event planning.
“I wish I had more things planned for after,” said Jackson, 67.
For now, she works part time at a major retailer and recently helped the company open a new store. The job has given her something to do while she figures out what comes next.
Saving early, enjoying later
Ray Lunsford took a different approach.
From the beginning of his working life, he made saving for retirement a priority, putting 10% to 15% of his salary into his 401(k) until he retired at 65.
That meant making sacrifices along the way. At one point, he lived with one or two roommates to keep expenses down.
He married at 34, and he and his wife were careful not to take on expenses they couldn’t afford.
“We didn’t breed like a rabbit when we couldn’t afford it,” Lunsford said. “Kids cost.” They had one daughter, who is now grown.
The family lived within its means. They took modest vacations, drove used cars and continued putting money into retirement savings. They also invested consistently, Lunsford said.
“Invested, invested, invested,” he said.
Now, he said, those years of discipline have paid off.
“Now, we do what we want to do.”