Posted on 07/20/2020 9:47:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I was forced in to retirement as of today due to a lay off at the health insurance company i worked for.
I lot of projects to keep me busy, house is paid for, car is not.
I retired at 55, three years ago. My wife is retiring at 56 this year. Only have a mortgage and a car payment that’s almost done. Our living expenses have massively gone down and I just purchased a new for me 2011 Corvette. Life is good. We’re going to enjoy life and travel. Have Tricare so medical is nice. I don’t regret retirement a single bit. Saving money pays off in the end!
As for being on their own for university all my kids were and it did them
No harm.
We co signed necessary loans, very few. And we provided room and board and utilities for anyone living at home.
They are thriving.
One thing I learned after getting forced into early retirement is that the amount of money you have coming in matters less than what you’ve got going out.
My house is paid for.
My car is paid for.
My monthly utility expenses are less than $400, usually.
I have no wife or girlfriend to spend money on. Don’t want one either. My mother, may she rest in peace, always said: “Son, always be a gentleman.” Well, I’ve always respected her advice — even after I realized that most women go for the “bad boys.” Now, at 62, I’m too old to really care.
I live alone with about 5,000 of my best friends — BOOKS! Mainly military history.
I like to eat out once or twice a week but I detest traveling. Neither do I have any expensive hobbies like golf — although some people have take me to task over all the books.
Any day I don’t have to go to work for cheapskate bosses and backstabbing co-workers is a good day.
I'm 62, no debt except for small mortgage (7 years left).
Moved into a low-stress job three years ago (after 20 high-stress years with this company) - I like what I do and can cruise like this for another three years.
Company puts 10% of my salary into a 401K, I also put in 15%.
We live frugally, am already getting monthly pension annuity, and have 2/3 of savings in stocks and bonds, 1/3 in cash.
We do have a 19-year old special-needs child that will be with us forever, but factored that into savings four years ago - we are still good-to-go.
Looking at maybe 65 or 66, head to a Red-state (if they still exist in 2024).
Rule No. 1: GET OUT OF DEBT!
As for being on their own for university all my kids were and it did them
No harm.
We co signed necessary loans, very few. And we provided room and board and utilities for anyone living at home.
They are thriving.
My kids pay half wanted them to have skin in the game. I think dropping this on her at the last minute was not right. They had paid for her older brother and as he goes into his senior year has been told the same thing with no warning.
It’s pretty easy actually. What you need to determine is how much do you think you will spend per year during retirement? once you know that, you know what you need with one additional piece of information (interest rate on savings account or CD).
Soo.. lets say you think you will need 50K a year to do what you want to do.
Then if interest rates are 5% on CD’s you will need 1 million. At 2.5% you will need 2 million. The trick is to never spend the capital, only the interest.
I retired at 58 and did the same thing, but, we are in South South Carolina,for a few weeks. We were heading to the Cheasapeake for the season, but, pronbably won’t make it this year.
We live a life of unplanned freedom and are usually too busy with boat projects to be too bored.
We’re on a 36ft Tashing Tashiba and the only real stress is are we gonna touch bottom in these southern shallow waters. And we only draw 4.5feet!
Kind of forced into an early retirement due to elder care and now “spousal” care.
I went back to work for two years after being out for four. I HAD worked for myself so I hadn’t been in the W2 world for 14 years.
I managed for 27 months. What a nightmare it has become. I guess if you are steeped in work, every day, you might not realize what a mess it is.
I left in January 2019 and I don’t miss it at all. My wife and I have enough savings, social security, low debt that we can pretty much make it until 100% vesting in 5 years.
My wife loves her job. So, we have her insurance.
I don’t miss working for other people at all.
You and my wife are probably about equal on the number of books. She has tons of all kinds but almost no military stuff.
I broke my back moving them.
Zero desire to touch a book.
The time of the wun pretty much destroyed a lot of things so probably work until I drop.
I loathe that person so much.
I finally retired last Dec 2019. Now I have the time to do all the stuff I have been wanting to do for the last 15 years.
I have tons of movies, books and projects around the house to keep me busy for about 2 years.
Then, I plan to travel around the world (at least to places that I can)! After that, well lets just see what happens between now and then.
I am the 2nd happiest in my life at this moment. I do what I want to do, without anybody telling me what to do!
I would have retired sooner, if my $$$ would have let me!
He must have wrote this article a while ago because this article from June, 2020 paints a very different picture of his “retired” life: https://thinksaveretire.com/steve-adcocks-2020-update/
For starters the already bought a house, so much for living out of a trailer for the rest of their lives. I knew that sort of lifestyle would be unsustainable over the long run, trailers are uncomfortable and very few people would choose to live in one permanently. I didn’t expect he would give up so quickly though. Next they lost $200k in the recent market downturn and had to cut their spending. Finally the guy seems to be working pretty much fulltime writing and speaking about how he’s “retired”. Don’t follow in this guys footsteps, I don’t think he knows nearly as much as he thinks he does.
You are absolutely right.
My EX got Everything except the Bills
At 65 I figure by the time I make 90, I’ll break even and then be able to comfortably live under a bridge (if I acquire a Van between now and then)
;^)
It’s worked out well for us even though the *retirement* was not a matter of choice.
You know what I miss about working? Nothing.
I agree that last minute is not cool.
I feel bad for those who think money makes for a great retirement. Quality friendships & Relationships in retirement are what make for a great retirement.
“her years in Australian social security now counts for ours! Crazy.”
Please explain.
********************
Crazy is right.
I first read about this over 35 years ago. There is some kind of Social Security “totalization agreement”. Credit earned in one country counts toward benefits in another country.
Can you say “one world government”? It was mind-boggling to me back then, and it had been around for maybe 20 years when I heard about it in the 1980’s.
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