What to Write in a Retirement Card for a Friend

As your friend approaches the exciting retirement milestone, expressing your warm wishes in a thoughtful retirement card is a perfect way to celebrate this significant moment. Writing a retirement card for a friend requires a unique touch—a blend of shared memories. 

However, knowing what retirement message to write on a retirement card that best commemorates your friend’s professional accomplishments and retirement can be challenging. Don’t worry. We’ve compiled a list of retirement wishes that will help you convey your retirement sentiments to your friend.

What to Write in a Retirement Card for a Friend

A meaningful retirement message can be as short or as long as you wish because the main objective is congratulating them on their retirement. However, what you write in a friend’s retirement group card is a chance to express your appreciation and love for your friend. Whether you write an in-depth retirement wish, leave a retirement quote, or simply congratulate them on this milestone does not matter. What matters is that it is a sincere message from you. 

If you are unsure where to begin, here is a collection of topics and examples you can write to inspire the perfect message for your friend’s retirement card.

Express Congratulations

After decades of dedicating their lives to their career, their retirement is well deserved. They made it through many challenges and changes in their profession and adapted by learning new skills. You should celebrate their determination to reach a place where they can retire. A retirement message is the perfect place to express congratulations for their accomplishment. 

Examples of congratulatory retirement wishes for a friend:

• “Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement! Wishing you all the best in the new chapter ahead of you!”
• “Congratulations! Your years of hard work have paid off, and I’m so excited for this next part of your life. Enjoy everything you may not have had time for when working 9-5. Happy retirement and best wishes!”
• “Congratulations on reaching this incredible milestone of retirement! May this chapter be as fulfilling as the ones you’ve left behind.”
• “Congratulations! You have no more meetings left to attend. Now go ahead and get started on the rest of your life.”
• “Congrats on retiring—now you can do everything you never had time for! Enjoy it!”
• “Congratulations on your retirement, friend—your leadership and guidance will be greatly missed. I hope you have a wonderful retirement!”

Highlight Your Friend’s Professional Achievements

What better time than a signature in a retirement greeting card to point out all your friend accomplished throughout their career? Highlighting their achievements can demonstrate how their hard work impacted their field, company, and community. The key to this message type is to be specific in one or two examples. Here are examples to help you get started:

Examples of retirement messages that point out their achievements:

• “In the many years you have been with [company], you have made an undeniable difference. I am proud of the dedication and passion you brought to work each day.”
• “Reflecting on your remarkable career, it’s clear that your hard work and dedication have left a lasting impact. Your achievements speak volumes, and it’s time to celebrate them.”
• “Your hard work, dedication, and achievements may never be matched. Thank you for setting the standard for everyone at [company].”

• “You’re a true professional who’s shown by example that excellence is something to aim for daily. You inspire everyone around you to be more, and I know that will only continue in your retirement.”
• “Happy retirement! I’m so excited for you! You’ve worked hard for your team, family, and friends for many years. Glad you’ll have more time to spend with us and more time on your favorite hobbies. Here’s to the many years of camping, reading, and gardening!”
• “You’ve had such a long and successful career. Well done! Enjoy your retirement.”

Share Humorous Anecdotes

The best thing about writing a retirement wish for a friend is that you have more freedom in what is said. Therefore, you can have more fun without fearing it being unprofessional. Because of this, you might write a funny sentiment that will usher in their new phase with a little bit of joy. As a bonus, these are the best messages to share as part of a retirement slideshow at their retirement party.

Examples of Funny Retirement Wishes for a Friend:

• “Who would have thought the day would come when you traded in your work attire for flip-flops and golf clubs? Wishing you a retirement full of laughter, relaxation, and maybe a few wild stories to share!”
• “Your new quarterly goal: avoiding anything that resembles work! Congratulations on your retirement!”
• “Retirement—the only time in your life when spending your entire life’s savings is okay. Congratulations, you made it!”
• “What do you call a person who is happy on Monday? Retired. Congratulations!”
• “I can’t believe I will be working as you nap. That’s not what friends do. Enjoy your retirement.”

• “You won the retirement race first, but I still get to earn a salary. How about a weekend outing before you leave the city? All bills on me.”

Express Gratitude

Take a moment to express your gratitude for their friendship, mentorship, or other meaningful impacts they made on your life. Their retirement can be the perfect time to let them know how much their companionship and support have meant to you over the years. 

Examples of Retirement Messages for a Friend that Express Gratitude:

• “Beyond the workplace, your friendship has been a source of strength and joy. I feel fortunate to have had you as a colleague and friend.”
• “Your kindness and camaraderie have made life’s challenges more manageable and the triumphs more enjoyable. Thank you for being a true friend.”
• You are such a gem! I will be forever grateful for the great relationship I have with you. You have challenged me and helped me grow into who I am today. Here is to some much-deserved rest. Happy Retirement!”
• “It’s wonderful to see someone as deserving as you retire. Thank you for always finding ways to support me even when life was busy. Now it is time to put the same effort into your free time as you put into your career. Best wishes!”
• “I cannot imagine the past 20 years without you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. Happy retirement!”

Share Excitement for the Future

While retirement is the end of their career, it is also a new beginning to a new chapter of their life. They have worked so hard to get to a point where they can simply enjoy life as they wish and on their schedule. So, use your message in their retirement card as an opportunity to share in the excitement of their chance to pursue passions, embrace new adventures, and enjoy the well-deserved leisure time that lies ahead.

Examples of Retirement Wishes that Express Excitement for the Future:

• “I wish you good health, delight, and success as you progress in life. Thank you for being an amazing coworker and even better friend!”
• “As you embark on this new journey, may your retirement be filled with joy, relaxation, and all the things you’ve been looking forward to. Here’s to a well-deserved break and endless adventures!”
• “As you begin this new life, I want you to remember that you are not too old to make new goals. Go for the things you want because you deserve them.”
• “Retirement is about spending less time with colleagues and more time relaxing with friends and family. I am glad our friendship allows us to be together even after you retire. To more happy times and enjoying retirement life!!”
• “Your retirement marks the end of a successful career and the beginning of a peaceful new chapter. Enjoy it!”
• “Happy retirement! Here’s your chance to spend all day doing nothing in the name of relaxation.”
• “Let’s clarify some matters before you go. It is you who is retiring and not our friendship. I still expect more visits, meet-ups, and golf games, as long as it is not on working time.”

Share an Experience You Had with Your Friend

To go beyond the standard message for a retirement card, you can find somewhere on the internet, consider sharing a personal experience you had with your retiring friend. You could write about the first time you met them, your first impression, or a funny memory concerning their employment.

Examples of Retirement Wishes that Share a Memory

• “It’s been a pleasure to know you these last 15 years. We first met when we worked as community volunteer coordinators in 2006. You immediately impressed me with your attention to detail, dedication, expenses, budget management, and sincerity when working and getting to know our volunteers.”
• “We met at Stanford as freshman roommates in the summer of 1982. I was moving in; it was my first time away from home, and I was a bit scared to live with someone new. As soon as we met, I knew we were going to be great friends, and I was a lot less nervous. Who would’ve thought my freshman roommate would end up being one of my lifelong best friends? So happy for your friendship and so happy for your early retirement.”

• “We first met as older adults at the age of 53 when our kids married and our families came together. We instantly hit it off, and I knew we’d be fast friends. It’s always been such a pleasure discussing literature, working on retirement planning together, and going on runs to keep our physical activity up as we enter the age of retirement. Congratulations on your retirement!”
• “I will always remember the time we stayed up late to finish a school project together. Even in college, I admired your dedication and passion for your future career. I am proud of all you accomplished after graduation. Here is to years of staying up late because we want to or maybe going to bed early because we are old now.”
• “Congrats on your retirement! You are one of my best friends, and the yearly Yosemite backpacking trip you plan is one of the things I look forward to most every year. I still remember the year when we all hiked to the top of Half Dome to watch the sunrise. I’ll always cherish that memory. I hope we can keep having so many more adventures like that now that you’ll have more time on your hands to plan. Happy retirement!”

What is a good quote for a friend retiring?

The thing about quotes that is so fun is that you can customize them to the person and situation. So, if you want something motivational or funny, you can find a quote to match. Plus, a retirement quote is a good starting point that will help spur ideas and cure writer’s block if you struggle to know what to write. 

In order to pick out the correct retirement quote for a friend, identify the purpose you wish for it to achieve. Do you want it to be emotional? Do you wish for it to be funny? Or is it a quote from one of their favorite public figures? Once you know what the quote is to accomplish, you will better understand what the best quote is for your message. 

Retirement Quotes for a Friend:

• “Often, when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”
• “You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.” -C.S. Lewis
• “Don’t simply retire from something; have something to retire to.” -Harry Emerson Fosdick
• “There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.” -Bill Watterson

• “Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it to the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.” -Jonathan Clements
• “The joy of retirement comes in those everyday pursuits that embrace the joy of life; to experience daily the freedom to invest one’s life-long knowledge for the betterment of others; and, to allocate time to pursuits that only received, in years of working, a fleeting moment.” -Byron Pulsifer
• “If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles.” -Doug Larson
• “The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.” -Abe Lemons
• “Retirement is not the end of the road. It is the beginning of the open highway.” -Unknown
• “There is a whole new kind of life ahead, full of experiences just waiting to happen. Some call it ‘retirement,’ I call it bliss.” -Betty Sullivan

Reflections on Retiring Friends

Authenticity and personal touch are key when crafting a retirement message for your friend to put in a retirement card or with a retirement gift. Tailor your message to reflect the unique bond you share, celebrating both the professional accomplishments and the cherished friendship that has enriched your lives. 

Your words have the power to make your friend’s retirement even more special, marking the beginning of a new chapter filled with joy, fulfillment, and the promise of lasting connections.