What are the differences between "I am retired" & "I was retired"?

Question

In dictionary:

re‧tired /rɪˈtaɪəd $ -ˈtaɪrd/ ●●○ adjective

having stopped working, usually because of your age

a retired teacher

Both my parents are retired now.

So, "I am retired" = "I have just retired", isn't it?

but let say "I retired 5 years ago & I haven't been doing anything since then.", then how do I say?

"I am retired" or "I was retired"

Similarly, when to say "he is dead" and "he was dead"?

Answer 1

So, "I am retired" = "I have just retired", isn't it?

No. "I am retired" just means the speaker no longer works. There is no implication at all that the retirement happened recently. In fact, there's a very weak implication that it did not happen recently, because if it had, "I just/recently retired" might be more common.

but let say "I retired 5 years ago & I haven't been doing anything since then.", then how do I say?

"I'm retired."

I was retired.

Either you used to be retired (not working), but changed your mind and started working again; or, you are referring to a time in the past and saying you were retired even at that past time.