Retirement Messages for a Friend
You are not writing about their career, because you were never in it. Write about them — what they have been carrying, and what they get back.
Short and warm
- 1
Happy retirement. About time, and thoroughly deserved.
- 2
You made it. Enjoy every single day of it.
- 3
Congratulations. Now the good part starts.
- 4
Happy retirement to the only person I know who actually has a plan.
What they get back
A friend can say this; a colleague cannot. It is the whole difference between the two cards.
- 5
Thirty years of getting up at half five. You never have to do it again and I am delighted for you.
- 6
You have given that place an enormous amount. Take the rest of it for yourself.
- 7
No more Sunday evenings with that face on. Congratulations.
Funny, between friends
- 8
Happy retirement. You are going to be unbearable about it and you have earned that.
- 9
Congratulations. I give it four months before you take on something unpaid and stressful.
- 10
Retirement suits you already and you have not started.
- 11
Enjoy it. I will be working for another decade and I would like that acknowledged regularly.
Making an actual plan
The most useful thing you can put in a friend’s retirement card is a date.
- 12
Wednesday lunches are now available to us. I have started a list.
- 13
Happy retirement. The walking thing we have talked about for six years — March?
- 14
Congratulations. My diary is now the only obstacle and I am working on it.
When they are not sure about it
- 15
You do not have to know what it is for yet. Take the first month off from deciding.
- 16
Big change. You are allowed to find it strange.
- 17
Whatever you end up doing with it, you have options for the first time in decades. That is the whole prize.
From a group of friends
- 18
From all of us — congratulations, and we are coming round to celebrate whether you like it or not.
- 19
The whole gang says happy retirement and asks that you now answer your phone.
Questions people actually ask
What do you write in a retirement card for a friend?
Write about them rather than the job. A friend can say what the work cost them and what they now get back, and that is the message a colleague cannot send.
What is a good short retirement message for a friend?
"About time, and thoroughly deserved." Short works between friends because the warmth is already established and does not need restating.
What do you write if your friend is unsure about retiring?
Give them permission not to have a plan. "You do not have to know what it is for yet" is more use than a list of hobbies.