Has anyone actually retired??

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!

tunes4046

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Jul 24, 2008
5,217
9,031
53
Fennimore Wi
Jan 1 2023 I made the decision to cut way back on shows, even when working two or more shows per week my DJ income had become significantly less than my other business adventures, at 53 I realized it was time to leave late nights behind and put even more focus on other things. I have about 7 events to complete for the year, that have personal importance to me the rest have been passed onto colleagues I have great confidence in. This is one of the best choices I have made in life, so much more time with family and friends
 
I'l be 70 July. It is time
I am close to retiring. Only booked five events this year 2023.
My wife & I are in washington state visiting family. Yellowstone Monday.
RV ing from Ohio . Left on tax day, April 18th.
BE home First of June.
 
I always planned to work as long as I possibly could. I will be 60 later this year and I am slowly feeling less and less connected to the younger crowds. So if the wedding market dries up for me, I will simply do more events that match my age. When THOSE gigs start drying up, then I will know it's time to pack it in. The odd part is, my body is feeling younger than ever...so it's not an issue with my age.
 
I retired twice already. Once from my day job and once as a DJ. I got blessed to still be alive and come back to doing what I love. I don't know when I will hangup the headphones. I'm 64 and will be 65 June 2nd. I guess when I don't love doing it anymore is when I will retire.
 
Hobbies don't count!
I still stand when I'm behind the mixer
At my old age
 
Last edited:
Obviously this is very speculative... but my goal is to start the retirement phase in about 15 or so years (early 50's). Financially, I've been planning for that... and God willing, there are no major curveballs that throw that way off. The goal is to maintain what I do and the standard that I have set until I'm 50... which at that point I expect to begin the process of scaling back on the events I do. This may be because like Mike and others I know, I too may no longer connect or appeal to the future 25-35yr old couples... or because I want to decrease the workload myself. At the same time, I see many in their 50's working as full time DJ's and commanding top dollar and still being sought after, so I'm hoping that's the case with me and I'll be in control of how many events I do. Regardless, once I start scaling back I expect that up until I'm 60 or so I'll still be doing events to some extent... perhaps some weddings or smaller events from my network of past clients... but the goal will be to not rely on the big weddings I do now as much once I hit 50. The ultimate goal is by 60 to be fully retired, and if I'm working, it'll be because I want to and not because of need. Again... God willing! Check back in ten years lol
 
At 58, retirement is in view. I still have $1400/mth going on my ex-wife's mortgage. I may go back to court to try and sell that property which, if I can get rid of that monthly obligation, I could go ahead and take an early retirement from the day gig. My plan is to continue with the event biz until at least 62, at which time I'll start shifting it over to my son. I can identify with what Mike said. Over the past several years I'm feeling more and more disconnected from the 20-something brides. Not sure when I'll throw in the towel.
 
My wife talks about retirement more than I do. She says 5 years but there could be some extenuating circumstances that will allow us to move that forward significantly or a major market crash that could move it in the other direction. The funny thing is that just last night I was actually looking at purchasing a new digital mixer (QSC Touchmix 16 or Yamaha DM3). I certainly don't need one. And I know that if I bought one, I would probably look for opportunities to use it. An additional factor in getting such a mixer now is the realization that my ability to get below market pricing is diminishing as my connections retire themselves.
 
My wife talks about retirement more than I do. She says 5 years but there could be some extenuating circumstances that will allow us to move that forward significantly or a major market crash that could move it in the other direction. The funny thing is that just last night I was actually looking at purchasing a new digital mixer (QSC Touchmix 16 or Yamaha DM3). I certainly don't need one. And I know that if I bought one, I would probably look for opportunities to use it. An additional factor in getting such a mixer now is the realization that my ability to get below market pricing is diminishing as my connections retire themselves.
What you described with the purchase of the mixer you don't need, it's called an addiction.
 
Complicated question. I retired officially from my Aerospace career in 2000 but keep in touch with people in the business as Aerospace is also a personal interest. For my business I started to make changes in my 50s, getting rid of stuff I knew I wouldn’t need. CD player, huge bass bins, records, old lighting. Five years ago I decided to stop DJing with anything with dancing & current music. So no more semi-finals, Dances, or stuff like that. I do still all my other events where I do play some of the current but dancing isn’t involved. I did leave the door open for doing Throwback Parties. I figure I have another 10 years or so depending on how I feel health-wise. I still have two states in the Northeast I haven't worked in yet, Vermont & Maine. Now here is where it gets funny, I’m down in Maryland doing karaoke. Usually, I don't rush out after a performance, I like to stay and talk with students. We got on the subject of DJing & entertainment. They have no idea how old I am, I am thinking you need to catch me 40 years ago. Anyway, I told them I don't DJ anymore except the maybe if it's throwback stuff. A month later they are bringing me back, they need a DJ to play International music from 9 & 20 different countries. Go figure, I never thought about that aspect of my abilities although it makes sense as we were one of the first to play Spanish & Reggae at the colleges in the early 1980s. That event happened already, I will have to do a gig report on it. The event went perfectly but some crazy stuff happened beforehand. As I tell people you never know where life takes you.
 
My Dad NEVER Officially retired. He was still deejaying. Albeit, he stopped doing weddings unofficially in 2008. So he was 64 when he chose to stop doing weddings. He did still do some weddings after that though. However, they were for past clients who he looked at as friends still. They were also basic weddings in terms of equipment. So he only ran 1 single sound system and no lights, and he used a pair of 10" Alto speakers that weighed 26.7 lbs each. He was still deejaying local elks lodge club events, and local hand dance club his final 2 years in life.

As for me, I DO NOT want to be deejaying into my 70s AT ALL. I WILL retire completely by age 67 at the latest. My wife says she will force me to hang it all up and retire from deejaying when I turn 60. So If that is the case...then I have 19 more years left as a DJ lol.

I do have plans to cut back, and not be a "Professional Business" DJ at some point in the future. I do plan to scale back, and become strictly a hobbyist who just DJs maybe 5 to 10 (maybe 12) events per year for extra side income, and then keep my career in that status until I do officially hang it all up when I am older.

I don't know when I will make that big change, BUT I was just talking with my brother kinda about this over the phone. I am planning to NOT renew the current website in 2025 when it comes due to renew again. He is also planning to make a switch to becoming more of a TALENT AGENT as he ages and slow down on the deejaying in the coming years. So I believe the current DJ Business the way it has been set up with my sister, bro, and I will be coming to an end, and that end might be in 2025. I might move more towards having my own website in 2025, and scaling back to more of a hobbyist status shortly after that. This is not set in stone, and this process could be delayed for a few more years for any sort of reasons, BUT I do believe this change is going to happen during this decade. 2025 or 2026 seems to be the most likely year at the moment.

When that change does Happen, I am going to sell off roughly 50% of my equipment arsenal that I currently have. I will only need 1 full sound system, and my battery powered Bose S1 Pros once I make the big change. Any equipment that I don't like to take the time to set up and use will be sold, and my equipment storage foot print will be kept to a minimum
 
My other incomes are more hands off and don’t require day to day attention per say, I have built a 2 bedroom “cabin” with a 40x40 pole shed on the family home farm which I now own, have nearly zero debt, and think I would be happy puttering my days away with old farm machinery and hobby farming
 
I often think about when I may retire from DJing. Currently I am thinking it will be when I turn 55. I just recently turned 48, so I have a few more years left. I beleive the RCF sound system and Mackie Thump Go set that I purchased last year will be my last sound system purchases. I still have two other systems that I rent out if needed but they may soom be parted out and sold. If I had to pay for storage then they would have been gone a long time ago. I have a bunch of other gear that I could stand to get rid of but as long as I am accepting gigs I think I will hold on to them because you never know when you will need a specific tool for a special job.

I've already stopped taking any highschool graduations, proms, and school dances. They don't appeal to me at all even though I could do them well enough. I'm becoming more and more picky about the gigs I take. At the same time I've found other clients and types of gigs that appeal to me. For instance I now a have a tracvel agency for a client and they pay me to entertain the guests for thier trips. Next month I'm going to Curacao and the month after that I'm going to Jamaica all while being paid to DJ. They pay well and cover my tracvel and hotel costs. If they can keep me working a few gigs though out the year then I may never retire. :) I guess you really have to find a good niche and sometimes adapt your business if you want to stay inthis game for the long haul.
 
I've always done this full time, and I still do teen dances at 60. But I also grew my skills well out of DJing and into full AV and events. I just did a Country Club member event on Friday, 2 Galas on Saturday, the Symphony on Sunday, and I'll do another gala on Thursday. I'm taking the weekend off and will do a Graduate School commencement on Monday morning.

More of my work is Mon-Fri now and so much more diverse than the DJ gigs. Yet, having the DJ skills just adds another benefit to clients that have events with that dimension included. Frankly, I'm more interested in doing high quality sound for wedding ceremonies than I am being the DJ for the reception.

I was actually looking at purchasing a new digital mixer (QSC Touchmix 16....

PS: Not a fan of the QSC Touchmix 16. I've owned both the TM-8 and TM-16 but ultimately found them kind of clunky and the build is not as robust as other QSC products. Never ended up using them at anything other than low-risk K-8 school graduations. I have one subordinated to a DSP on an installation (despite the customer wanting full control) because the user error potential is too high, and the mixer itself has limited routing capability.
 
To me, retiring means leaving the job/profession you've been working full time that has provided an on ongoing sustentance, paid the bills, provided for the "golden years", and beyond.

If you're a school teacher, letter carrier, fork lift driver, etc, and DJ as a suppliment to your income as reported on your W-2 regardless of how professional at it you might be, then you don't "retire", you simply stop doing it.