Retirement grows closer

[allisji]

Don't wait to retire.

There are no guarantees you'll get to enjoy what years and health you have.

How would I know?

I retired at 45 and I'm in my 70's now and every moment of every day has been great.

Now, my health is fading fast, but it's been a great ride!

so what's the key to retiring early? I'm 33 and I don't want to work past 50.

[Abraham]

allisji,

First a golden parachute.

My company got bought out and I could've stayed on. I was offered a job in management I didn't care for or I could take the golden parachute.

I took the chute.

Secondly, a wife who absolutely loved her job (she's just recently retired) and made a fabulous income to help support me in my accustomed life style...

So to sum up: Luck and Love!

[Sidro]

I started my working life as a cowboy for $150.00 a month. Still love that work but too old and banged up to enjoy it anymore. Switched to the oilfield in the 70's and never looked back. Since 1979 I have been the production superintendant for this company working my way up from the very bottom. I think it is time to slow down and enjoy life for a few years. Thanks for the advice and good wishes from everyone I appreciate them very much.

[Oldgringo]

allisji,

First a golden parachute.

My company got bought out and I could've stayed on. I was offered a job in management I didn't care for or I could take the golden parachute.

I took the chute.

Secondly, a wife who absolutely loved her job (she's just recently retired) and made a fabulous income to help support me in my accustomed life style...

So to sum up: Luck and Love!

That would certainly help. A must in our case was having more coming in than going out; e.g., no mortgage, no car notes, no RV notes, no other notes.

[allisji]

Luck and Love!

Well at least I have a chance...

[RPBrown]

Retirement is great but it is also a big change so be prepared for some bumps.

Mrs. Anygunanywhere and I had never spent so much time together. The first 3 months were interesting. I annoyed her and she annoyed me because we interfered with each other's routines. We eventually worked through the issues and settled into a comfortable zone.

Good luck on your retirement. I hope you have a long and healthy retirement.

I can relate to this. My wife came to work for me full time after I had been in business for a year. Prior to that she was just here one or two days a week for half a day to do payroll and pay bills. As we got busier, we decided she should come on board full time (or almost). On one hand it was a God send and on the other, well, lets just say we worked through it. Now we have hired a girl to come in part time to do filing and such. Wife's goal is to teach her the book work so she can go back to her old routine. I look to turn the reigns over to my son in 2-3 more years as soon as I can get him well trained on the office side of things and then the wife and I will be together again and on a new learning path.

Congratulations on your retirement

[carlson1]

Don't wait to retire.

There are no guarantees you'll get to enjoy what years and health you have.

How would I know?

I retired at 45 and I'm in my 70's now and every moment of every day has been great.

Now, my health is fading fast, but it's been a great ride!

so what's the key to retiring early? I'm 33 and I don't want to work past 50.

You find success and can retire early if you will work 1/2 days six days a week.






















Oh and don’t for get that our days are 24 hours long.

[allisji]

allisji,

First a golden parachute.

My company got bought out and I could've stayed on. I was offered a job in management I didn't care for or I could take the golden parachute.

I took the chute.

Secondly, a wife who absolutely loved her job (she's just recently retired) and made a fabulous income to help support me in my accustomed life style...

So to sum up: Luck and Love!

That would certainly help. A must in our case was having more coming in than going out; e.g., no mortgage, no car notes, no RV notes, no other notes.

That's a goal of mine. I would like to have my debts all paid off before my kids go to college. Right now I'm pushing my money towards investments rather than making extra payments on my mortgage, but when the stock market slows down I will probably shift back to making extra payments...

[Jay2121]

Retired at 59 never looked back. I did not want to waste one more day of life working. I now work on my ranch and travel with my bride and enjoy my new grandson. Truly blessed.

[txglock21]

First, congratulations on your upcoming retirement! I still have about 5 more years before I am retiring. I will be 55 and have 30 years in. My house will be paid for in a little over 2 years from now. The best thing about working where I do is for every one dollar I put in my retirement, they put in two! Although I won't be getting as much as I do now, I won't have the expenses I do now either. I have already talked to a retirement planner and they said I could live comfortably on just my retirement alone. I asked when I should take my Social Security and he said if you can tell me what date you are going die on, I can tell you when to take it. In other words, take it as soon as eligible. My mom retired at the same age as I will be and still says it's the best decision she has made. Again, Congrats!

[Liberty]

I loved my job, but a long commute made for long 12 hour day's My wife sat down with me and we looked at our expenses, What it cost to live and our resources we decided it was time. Some of the things that changed since retirement are: My wife and I share more responsibility together for things around us, We are more of a team. We get to travel and visit family more and I have been able to address some health issues before they got serious. I was a little reluctant, but It has worked out wonderfully for me. My life is more varied. I get to do some volunteer public service stuff that I feel good about, and I love the feeling that my time is mine.
I retired 2 years ago at 64, and haven't looked back.

[Lynyrd]

Congrats on being able to retire. I'm looking forward to the day when I can. It will be a few more years before my savings are big enough. I spent my 20's, 30's, and 40's raising kids and didn't put nearly enough away or I would be closer to the day when I didn't need a paycheck.

Enjoy the freedom!

[AF-Odin]

Thinking about this next summer. Already 67 and still working. Did 30 years active duty AF and have been working for the Army for last 15+. Getting tired of working weekends, holidays, long hours, and being on call 24/7 (and even getting calls while on leave). Have a part time LTC and firearms training business that has been a bit of a hobby for the last few years that I would like to expand plus have a patch of about 60 acres with a range and a few beef critters on it. Slowing down sounds nice, but not sure about the reduction in stress. All the grand kids live too far away to do more than see a couple of times a year......

[PUCKER]

My Dad is 76 - he has had the means to retire for quite some time but he is Typa A / GO GETTER all the way. In other words, the day he retires may be the day he passes away. He has built an amazing business that his Dad, my Grandfather, started. I would *love* for my Dad to retire but I'd rather have him around. Hey, I'm 3rd gen, it's my turn to screw up the business...at least that's what I tell people!! He told me once that the reason why he works so much is that it is directly tied to his self worth. He was once without a job for 3 days many moons ago and it drove him crazy.

So - he and my Mom travel quite a bit, they take off in the moho/coach, hop on a plane, ship, etc. and go have fun but they are still involved. Some folks need that mental stimulation to keep them mentally fresh. I often thing about my own retirement, I'm 46, but I have no plans on slowing down...I get bored REALLY quick, sure I've got hobbies, but I just cannot sit around for too long, I get stir-crazy really easy! And my hobbies are pricey....so, I'll keep on plugging away but work when needed. We have a great team in place but I'm still getting the right folks on the bus/in the right seats. Gotta tell ya, I am not used to being in the office this much...my last business trip was 2nd week of this past December...next one scheduled is a few weeks away....being around the wife/co-workers too much...need to get back on the road! Last year I was out 121 days for business travel and 33 days for racing and then a few weeks here and there for other vacations. This year is starting off slow travel-wise but financially it's starting off better.

So - for those of you that have "truly" retired - what do you do all day/every day? I have no plans of living out of our coach and "seeing the USA" as a lot of folks do when they retire...I dunno what I'm going to do when that time comes...

[The Annoyed Man]

So - for those of you that have "truly" retired - what do you do all day/every day? I have no plans of living out of our coach and "seeing the USA" as a lot of folks do when they retire...I dunno what I'm going to do when that time comes...

So, I retired “officially” on 12/31/15, but really, I spent all of 2016 trying to be retired while winding down my business affairs. Here it is early 2018, and I still have a couple of action items to take care of......but it is small stuff, like when do I shut down my QuickBooks account? It has been handy to have it for my CPA, but I think I’ll be able to get rid of it once my taxes are finished this year.

At first, I mostly spent the time just goofing off, doing whatever I wanted to. That meant stuff like range trips whenever I wanted to during the weekday, or going for long walks or bike rides. It also meant buying a small travel trailer and taking some trips with it. This past fall, my wife and I bought a large home in common with our son and daughter in law, and we all live under one roof now. We have become full-time daycare for our grandkids during the work week. Our granddaughter will be 4 in May, and our grandson will be 2 in March, so they’re both a lot of fun AND a lot of work. There are days when when by the time our son and daughter in law get home from work, my wife and I are just whipped.

What’s next? I haven’t figured all of that out yet, but it will almost certainly involve some travel - although it won’t all involve RV travel. We’ve found the hard way that the travel trailer we bought is really too small for us to be very comfortable in. It’s a really nice little trailer, it’s too small for us for extended use, even with the slide out deployed. At the time that we bought it, the decision was driven largely by the fact that we had no room in the budget for acquiring a heavy duty tow vehicle, so the size/weight of the trailer was determined by what our existing vehicles could tow. So at some point down the road, we’ll probably trade that trailer in on something larger - whether that is a larger trailer or a motor home remains to be determined. Some of the things we would like to do - including the purchase of rural land to change the arc of my family’s legacy - depend on impending estate issues, so we are in kind of a holding pattern for some things. But, time is the great resolver, so it will be sorted out eventually.