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Post by ntsf on Apr 7, 2023 22:42:41 GMT
we also still have a mortgage.. it is a low amount and low interest and it is not worth paying it off early. you really need to talk to financial planner to check things out. we have no pension, just 401K's and investments.
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Post by taylortroop on Apr 7, 2023 22:47:01 GMT
We love retirement! Our plan was always to retire at age 55 and we achieved our goal. I worked in the recreation field for 33 years and although I miss the social aspect of the job, I certainly don’t miss the work. I retired in June 2021 during the pandemic. It wasn’t the ideal time but things were so uncertain with respect to the world that I felt it was the right time for me. Hubby retired a couple years before me.
We are debt free - house is paid off, vehicles paid for and only have our day to day living expenses. My husband is receiving Canada Pension but I don’t qualify for 3 more years. We contributed hard to our investments over the years to allow us to do the “Freedom 55” plan.
I enjoy spending time with my 3 grandchildren, reading, walking, spending time with friends, crafting and generally doing what I want, when I want.
And just to add to our calm, carefree life, we got a puppy a month ago. Our retirement got busier but the puppy has quickly become part of our family.
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scrapngranny
Pearl Clutcher
Only slightly senile
Posts: 4,826
Jun 25, 2014 23:21:30 GMT
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Post by scrapngranny on Apr 7, 2023 22:54:52 GMT
My DH and I are both retired. It has been a mixed bag of ups and downs. We did some of the things we had looked forward to. Due to some issues we had to give up the traveling we looked forward to doing. Now we are more tied to home than e planned. On the other hand, our issues aren’t life threatening so we are thankful for that. Our children live close and we are able to see them and our grandchildren often. Watching our family grow and follow their own dreams has been a blessing.
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Post by ss on Apr 7, 2023 23:02:59 GMT
I retired at 62. It is the best. My first year was quite busy, sold the house and our two DS got married 6 weeks apart. Found out that DD was having our first grandbaby! She is due late May. Then the DS and our new DIL announced they are pregnant too! Due September and IT’s A GIRL!!! In December, our youngest DD got engaged, wedding in September. My head has been spinning. One thing on my bucket list was to volunteer in the NICU, and I have been doing that for over a year. Second on the list is to start beekeeping, but that will have to wait! Maybe next year?? I meet up with my retired friends monthly for lunch. Attend weekend crops 3-4 times a year. So lucky I still have 2 friends that scrap. Still have boxes that need emptied and my craft area is a mess. Eventually it will get done! If you can retire, it is highly recommended!
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Post by Texas Scrap on Apr 7, 2023 23:22:51 GMT
We like to call it chapter 2 because we’ve figured out for us it’s really just shifting what your work is (and not getting paid)! DH resigned and essentially retired at 49 due to some circumstances and it was the right time to leave. I am 52 and probably 3-5 months from retirement. Company is doing lay offs and I’d rather get a package out of it than leave on my own so timing will depend on that. I’ve worked for 28 years and we’ve spent our marriage living off one salary and saving towards this goal. Spent the last 3-5 years working with a finc advisor and doing a lot of soul searching to be prepared not just financially but also emotionally and mentally for the changes that come with stepping away from a life long career. I am excited. I went part time 2 years ago due to health issues, but it’s been a good way to step away and adjust to less work. I’m ready for a different chapter - more time for the people in my life, to focus on my health, hopefully for hobbies and travel. I definitely think staggering our retirements was wise to well with the adjustments. im enjoying this thread
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Post by hop2 on Apr 7, 2023 23:26:07 GMT
I am assuming that I will never retire. With the economy in an uproar & social security constantly at risk I assume I will never be able to retire.
No point in dreaming
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Post by silverlining on Apr 8, 2023 1:08:06 GMT
I am assuming that I will never retire. With the economy in an uproar & social security constantly at risk I assume I will never be able to retire. No point in dreaming I'm so sorry. I desperately wish we had a better system to support people who are ready to retire.
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Post by Neisey on Apr 8, 2023 4:08:43 GMT
My house will be paid off in less than a year and I will probably retire then at 56/57. I just got a nice raise so if I’m still enjoying work I may hang on another year to add to the retirement plan. I’ve had a finance guy for years and despite some bumpiness the last few years my portfolio is holding on. When we were first married exDH and I read the Wealthy Barber (essentially pay yourself first - build for retirement).
Long term SO and I do not live together but the plan is we will both sell and downsize into one home hopefully using the remaining funds to travel and/or snowbird in our winter months.
SO is worried about keeping busy but I’ve got plenty of hobbies, interests, volunteer plans.
Something we look forward to is being able to do things (hiking and touristy stuff) on weekdays vs weekends when so many more people are out.
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 8, 2023 4:19:33 GMT
I retired at 50 in 2015. I was really bored and started 20 hours a week a non profit. I loved being done by 11 am each day and had a ton of time to do whatever. I did miss my summers off though and every Sunday night would stress about what wasn't done for Monday. Covid eliminated that stress. I had 18 months to spend a lot of time scrapping, taking walks, doing whatever I wanted, but all of my friends were still teaching, my husband was working, and I really don't have any family other than my kids who had already moved out. I was bored. Now I work about 600 hours a year and it is really perfect.I work with low readers and I really enjoy it. I get home by noon, have summers off, have all holidays off and have time to volunteer and still do whatever I want. We moved in 2021 and I could spend all day every out in the yard doing yard work, but I do it in small amounts and spend a lot of time on a swinging chair watching the deer and turkeys eat the bird food that drops. We have a few black bears that visit as well as a few raccoons and a skunk that visits every night (when the weather is nice). Neither one of us has living parents, so we aren't in that sandwich generation.
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snyder
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,293
Location: Colorado
Apr 26, 2017 6:14:47 GMT
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Post by snyder on Apr 8, 2023 7:43:45 GMT
I wasn't planning to retire quite as soon as I did, but I was not digging it any more. One day I looked up what I woudl draw on my pension and I said, I'm out of here, I can live on that. Gave my 2 week notice and never regretted it one day. This past February makes 11 years for me.
I did get a wee bit worried when health insurance kept increaseing. When I retired, my medical premium was $280, then $340, then $660, then $990! That didn't include dental or vision either. I hated wishing my life away, but it was a blessing to turn 65 and go on Medicare. My employer supplements supplemental and I only pay $30/mo for that. If it wasn't that darn health insurance, I know others would retire in a heartbeat. Some of my friends have retired from the grind, but work partime in a "fun" job so they can pay the high premiums until that miracle age of 65 comes along.
I agree with other posters, if you can get rid of that mortgage, you will be so glad you don't have that huge hunk to dish out each month.
I'm not extravagant, but have enough to do fun stuff and some travel with, and am anxious to get back on the road, but for the time being, it will probably have to wait awhile as I take care of elderly mother. I'm working on trying to get someone to fill that role for 3 weeks or so, so I can take off someone this fall.
I have totally enjoyed spending time with my grandson. I took him and picked him up from highschool all 4 years. Attended wrestling and scocer events, and assisted with homework. Because I was available, I became the go to person for many things for my family, so I have kept busy, but I do enjoy helping others.
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Post by sawwhet on Apr 8, 2023 12:55:14 GMT
We like to call it chapter 2 because we’ve figured out for us it’s really just shifting what your work is (and not getting paid)! DH resigned and essentially retired at 49 due to some circumstances and it was the right time to leave. I am 52 and probably 3-5 months from retirement. Company is doing lay offs and I’d rather get a package out of it than leave on my own so timing will depend on that. I’ve worked for 28 years and we’ve spent our marriage living off one salary and saving towards this goal. Spent the last 3-5 years working with a finc advisor and doing a lot of soul searching to be prepared not just financially but also emotionally and mentally for the changes that come with stepping away from a life long career. I am excited. I went part time 2 years ago due to health issues, but it’s been a good way to step away and adjust to less work. I’m ready for a different chapter - more time for the people in my life, to focus on my health, hopefully for hobbies and travel. I definitely think staggering our retirements was wise to hell with the adjustments. im enjoying this thread My husband ended up with a buyout package. He was going to retire in Jan '21 but didn't say anything because they were in contract negotiations. They typically offer "buyouts" to older employees. Once the negotiations were over, the union rep approached my dh and offered him a package including a $50,000 cheque, enhanced benefits, bridge money until he collected his gov't pension etc. Dh was 62. He took the package and gave notice.
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Post by cindyupnorth on Apr 8, 2023 13:56:53 GMT
Yes! I’ve started to dream about retirement! I have been at this job, same job for 39 yrs! I hope to retire in the next 5 yrs. Our house is paid off, we bought a new car 3 yrs ago and that will be paid off and I’ve paid off all but one cc. I will hopefully have a good pension, but I worry about insurances. Medical and dental. That is what keeps me working. I look forward to sleeping past 6 am! Reading, scrapbooking and gardening. I hope my body holds up though to do things. I have arthritis in my hands and knees. So that doesn’t help. We would love grandchildren, but one dd isn’t interested and the other one has been busy with a career and hasn’t found a partner.
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Post by hop2 on Apr 8, 2023 14:33:59 GMT
I am assuming that I will never retire. With the economy in an uproar & social security constantly at risk I assume I will never be able to retire. No point in dreaming I'm so sorry. I desperately wish we had a better system to support people who are ready to retire. I was going to apologize for being a downer. And I do. I shouldn’t have brought my pessimism to this nice thread. I didn’t mean to be obnoxious. But then when I wrote my apology & explanation, my explanation was even more depressing. So I erased it. Let’s just say I have a decent job with decent healthcare and I feel stable. With all the national financial & political things going on I can not envision a retirement where I have that kind of stability. I tend to like feeling secure. Can’t envision a way to do that.
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Post by disneypal on Apr 8, 2023 14:53:14 GMT
I am retiring soon too! I have actually been thinking about it for 2 years but was just worried about it financially since I am single and in my 50s. My house is paid off and my car will be paid off in June. I have no other debt & just normal utilities. I decided to retire August 1st. My boss asked if I would consider to work as a consultant after retirement and I will, that eases my financial worries a bit, plus it kind of eases me into retirement. I plan on spending more time with my mom, who lives in another state. I will do some traveling but no big trips, just places I’ve always wanted to visit in the U.S.
I am really looking forward to having less responsibility. I work about 60 hours a week, directly manage 20 people and oversee $33 billion of revenue each year, it is going to be nice just to relax and not have to deal with that on a daily basis.
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Post by mikklynn on Apr 8, 2023 15:21:37 GMT
I retired a little earlier than I planned due to DH's health. I was 61. I spent the next 3 years caring for him and my MIL. Add in Covid, and it wasn't quite what I planned. They both have passed away now.
I moved to our dream townhome almost a year ago and am now finally feeling like it's time for me. I took my first trip with a girl friend! It's finally hit me that I can do whatever I want.
EXCEPT, my almost 15 year old grandson moved in with me to play hockey! He will be here all 4 years of high school. He's nearly completed his freshman year. Hockey is a big, big deal here in Minnesota, so he has better coaching and a higher level of competition. The deal is one of his parents will come stay with him if I want to travel. It's a big change, but he's a great kid and easy to live with. Although he did refer to me as elderly!!! I'm 65.
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hannahruth
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,687
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Aug 29, 2014 18:57:20 GMT
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Post by hannahruth on Apr 8, 2023 18:37:27 GMT
I will be excited when I retire, but will miss my work colleagues. I left the work force when I was 48 so I don’t say retired as I was so young! however the only thing I miss not working is the people I worked with. Life goes on, we have travelled Australia and have bought a Winnebago to take shorter trips and now we are able to take our little dog with us. He is getting too old to have to be boarded. He loves travelling with us. we travelled to the UK before Covid - would love to return there but DH is not in the best health so it is better we stay closer to home. I have been scrapping since leaving work and am still enjoying doing so. I am currently making a quilt for our DD which is taking longer than I thought but is on the way. have friends that we lunch with regularly. We keep busy and there is always something to do around home. Since being at home our DD has given us the joy of three grandies and we have absolutely loved being part of their life journey. I can honestly say that life is different not working but in all the years of being at home have never woken up in the morning and thought “I wish I was going to work today”.
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Post by Leone on Apr 8, 2023 20:01:56 GMT
My best advice is to be mortgage free before retiring. Also, consider whether you will have health insurance. We were lucky to be mortgage free and my insurance was paid by my school district until age 65. However, my DH retired at 52 and we had to buy his insurance…it was $1200 a month and kept going up…and he was healthy. Once we hit 65, Medicare Advantage has been free and excellent. We have traveled extensively and moved to an age restricted community with lots of activities.
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leeny
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,759
Location: Northern California
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 1:55:53 GMT
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Post by leeny on Apr 9, 2023 0:10:06 GMT
I am saving for retirement also, every penny I can (except what I spend on scrapbook/card supplies!). House is paid off, no car payment, just living expenses. I can retire now, but the thought of not having an income is causing me heart palpitations. How do you know when you have enough saved? I thought I had enough, but lately my grocery bill has doubled. The cost of supplemental insurance and dental/vision is also making me think twice. I will be excited when I retire, but will miss my work colleagues. If you can, try living off an amount equal to what you think you'll need for retirement and put the rest in savings. That may show you that you are actually ok - or not!
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MDscrapaholic
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,589
Location: Down by the bay....
Jun 25, 2014 20:49:07 GMT
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Post by MDscrapaholic on Apr 9, 2023 1:34:07 GMT
I am saving for retirement also, every penny I can (except what I spend on scrapbook/card supplies!). House is paid off, no car payment, just living expenses. I can retire now, but the thought of not having an income is causing me heart palpitations. How do you know when you have enough saved? I thought I had enough, but lately my grocery bill has doubled. The cost of supplemental insurance and dental/vision is also making me think twice. I will be excited when I retire, but will miss my work colleagues. If you can, try living off an amount equal to what you think you'll need for retirement and put the rest in savings. That may show you that you are actually ok - or not! That's what I'm trying to do now, but the unknown cost of Medicare insurance and dental/vision - I'm not sure what those will be.
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,086
Jun 26, 2014 13:42:47 GMT
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Apr 9, 2023 8:57:13 GMT
DH (66) has retired four times, but it never sticks LOL. However, since he has been off for a little over a month with his broken back, I think he has finally relaxed enough to maybe finally enjoy retirement. I think all of his “I can’t wait to be up and about so I can _____” thoughts have been about non-working activities, so maybe the job doesn’t look as attractive anymore.
I (61) could retire now, but I want to wait until my 10-year anniversary in May. My retiree health plan rates are based on years of service, and mine will drop significantly at the 10-year mark. The next reduction doesn’t happen until 15 years, and I don’t want to work that long.
I may work a year or so longer, depending on the economy next year, but things would have to be pretty bad for me to stick it out much more than that. I’m not too worried about losing my job—no one else in my office can do what I do, and with a recently-announced hiring freeze, they aren’t hiring anyone for me to train as a replacement. I doubt we have any “buyouts” on the table this go-round to encourage older workers to leave, but even if they did, I wouldn’t be eligible as a “key employee.”
Another thing that will determine my retirement date is when I get my knee surgery. I want to do it before I retire to take advantage of some of my banked sick leave. I have almost 120 accrued days, and if I were to have complications with surgery, those will come in handy.
We are 10 years into our mortgage, but we have no plans to pay it off. We are paying 3.2%, and we won’t draw the payoff money out of investments that are paying far more than that.
The only bills we have other than the mortgage are the monthly utilities, taxes, etc.
We may travel a little, but mostly domestic.
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Post by peasapie on Apr 9, 2023 10:32:55 GMT
I seem to be the only one who was bored when I retired. I went back to work because I was bored. At this point, I would still like to keep working, but part time. I don’t enjoy projects, crafting or gardening, so too much free time is not good for me. I do want to volunteer, and am looking into a few things. This reminds me of my husband. He retired during Covid when he had to close down his law office and we sold our house (suddenly worth twice it’s previous value) and bought in a 55+ with no mortgage and a nice amount of savings. I work p/time in my own consulting business and have tons of hobbies and interests. As you described, I enjoy seeing friends, exercising, reading, doing art — I’m never bored. But he isn’t a hobby person and wonders what he’s doing with his life, so he is thinking of opening an office again. We know several people like this who are continuing to work only because they don’t feel they would enjoy being fully retired. I feel fortunate to have a choice and am well aware not everyone does.
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Post by mollycoddle on Apr 9, 2023 10:37:58 GMT
I seem to be the only one who was bored when I retired. I went back to work because I was bored. At this point, I would still like to keep working, but part time. I don’t enjoy projects, crafting or gardening, so too much free time is not good for me. I do want to volunteer, and am looking into a few things. This reminds me of my husband. He retired during Covid when he had to close down his law office and we sold our house (suddenly worth twice it’s previous value) and bought in a 55+ with no mortgage and a nice amount of savings. I work p/time in my own consulting business and have tons of hobbies and interests. As you described, I enjoy seeing friends, exercising, reading, doing art — I’m never bored. But he isn’t a hobby person and wonders what he’s doing with his life, so he is thinking of opening an office again. We know several people like this who are continuing to work only because they don’t feel they would enjoy being fully retired. I feel fortunate to have a choice and am well aware not everyone does. Like you, I am grateful that I don’t have to work. It seems that the problem is that I don’t have hobbies. I am interested in many things, but not extremely interested in any one thing, if that makes sense. I do like politics and genealogy, but I need to be active. I think working part time and volunteering in an animal rescue might be ideal.
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Post by wordfish on Apr 9, 2023 12:11:16 GMT
I guess I am sort of dreaming about it. It's probably roughly 10 years away at this point. I am working on confirming my EU citizenship--I already am an Irish citizen but I have to document it to apply for a passport. The plan for early retirement is to spend about half the time in Ireland, using it as a base to travel in Europe.
We have not yet paid off our house, and that will help determine the timing of retirement. I'm not convinced staying in our current home is what I want to do, though I do want to stay in the area. It's a lot of house, with a lot of maintenance and yard upkeep. We may move to a condo in the neighborhood that used to be a high school. It's magnificent. I have a loose thought in my head that we may be able to sell our house and buy a condo with the profit, then be mortgage-free. The condo fees for the one I am interested in are not prohibitive and are offset by the fact that utility costs are low due to it being on geothermal energy.
Because I have this loose plan to spend half the year abroad at least in early retirement, we are not adopting more animals. This time last year, we had three cats, one dog. Sadly, two of my cats have died over the last year. Our dog is 5 years old. Our remaining cat is about 7. I don't think it's fair to add more animals to the family if I'm contemplating this nomad thing, so we're going to keep it at our current animal family.
I am very much into my career and job at the moment, just got a huge promotion, so right now, I would turn down early retirement if it were a possibility. But I think once I get closer to striking range, I'll be all in. My husband has a couple of pensions, we're too old now to not get Social Security, and our retirement income should be plenty for us. If something happens and we have to retire early, health insurance will be relatively reasonable through his employer until Medicare kicks in. I am pretty sure they also have great supplements.
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Post by smasonnc on Apr 9, 2023 14:20:29 GMT
My husband managed his "end game" perfectly, although he postponed retirement three times before actually doing it. We saved diligently all our lives both for kids' college and retirement. We bought the home that we planned to retire in during the downturn in 2010 and we moved here permanently in 2017. We will be done paying for college when our last one finishes medical school. We love where we live, we have an active social life, and we travel so much we weren't home for more than two weeks at a time last year. I am part of a community service organization which takes a lot of my time so I don't get bored. The only downside was during the gap between when his company insurance ended and Medicare started our insurance payment was crazy, but life is good!
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Post by whipea on Apr 9, 2023 14:46:32 GMT
Very mixed about retirement. I am in my late 60's and already receive one pension and have been at my current job for fourteen years. Plus, we have no children or relatives so that does not figure into the scenario.
The thing is I like to work, like the structure and the income. I am in management where I get to be creative and challenged pretty much set my own hours. I have decent and reasonable health insurance. By no means is the job perfect, but it is fine for now.
D/H retired in his fifties and does absolutely nothing but watch TV, youtube, cook and eat and is not interested in doing more. He says he is really enjoying himself. He is not the high energy type and was never a go-getter so this works for him. Not that he is awful or anything, but the thought of being around him 24/7 is not pleasant.
I could retire. We could pay off our house and not have that expense, but we live in Florida and I like the security of having an additional income. It is very economically unstable here. For example my homeowners insurance has gone from an annual $3800. to $10,500 within the last five years. The last two years have been the biggest increases.
If I retire we could move, but I am a life-long Florida resident and have never driven in snow and despise temperatures below 72F. So far no areas seem very appealing, but I am open and looking.
At this point I have no plans to retire and may revisit at age 71.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on Apr 9, 2023 15:32:28 GMT
My plan is to retire when I turn 65, just under 2 years from now. I cut back to 4 days/week this year, which has been great! I have a lot of hobbies, so I won't be bored. My sister, who is retired, lives 8 hours from me, but we're very close, so I expect we'll be visiting each other a lot more. DH is younger than I am, and is planning on retiring in 6 years.
ETA. We're planning on moving back to BC (somewhere in the Kootenays) a year after I retire. DH works from home, so that's no problem for him.
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Post by chedanemi on Apr 9, 2023 18:09:32 GMT
I was federal law enforcement and therefore eligible to retire at an early age. I've been retired for 12 years now. We knew we wanted to travel extensively once retired, and we planned accordingly financially. Since retiring, we take at least two BIG trips a year and several smaller - generally 2-3 week road trips. My husband calls our house "a place to stay between trips".
When we are home, I have lots of projects I do... sewing, knitting, crocheting, online scrapbooking. We live in a remote area where we can safely lock up our house and go for extended periods of time without worrying about anything.
I had absolutely no trouble adapting to being retired!
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Post by lisacharlotte on Apr 9, 2023 20:40:16 GMT
I retired last fall at 57. I had planned to retire this June at 58, but DH and I talked about it and realized the 9 months really wouldn’t make a difference. I miss the people I worked with, the social interaction, the structure, a paycheck every two weeks, and how much I loved Fridays. I don’t miss not enjoying Sunday because I dreaded having to get up for work on Monday. I definitely don’t miss getting up for work in cold snowy or rainy weather.
I really like not having to shoehorn every project into the weekend. We spent three days getting our flower beds ready by weeding and mulching. Didn’t matter when it happened and we didn’t have to try and get it all done in two days.
I love the freedom of doing as much or little as I want. I’m slowly getting out of the mindset that every hour has to be spent in some meaningful or productive fashion. If I want to sit on my patio doing absolutely nothing but enjoying the beautiful spring weather I refuse to feel guilty about it. My time is my own. (I’m doing this right now!)
I will say that if all your friends are from work, you may struggle. Luckily I scrap with an old coworker, so we meet occasionally for lunch and I see old friends from work. I’m really thankful that I cultivated friends in my neighborhood before retirement. Some are also retired, so I have friends equally available during the week. Before I retired, I made a Monday breakfast date for after retirement with my retired friends so we could celebrate my freedom to brunch whenever. It was fabulous to share that with them.
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Post by silverlining on Apr 10, 2023 3:19:29 GMT
I've loved reading about all the great things you retirees are doing! And lots of great advice here, too. Thank you.
This hasn't been an easy decision for me. I thought that financially we were okay, but we needed to go through the process with a wonderful financial advisor to make sure that we really were. It was good for my dh to hear from an expert that he could retire anytime. As part of that process, we had to talk a lot about things like risk aversion, and the type of life we wanted in retirement and how much it might cost which was good for us to figure out! That was in 2018-2019 and we both continued working full-time. A few months ago, my dh went to part time, and was able to keep doing the parts of his job that he enjoyed most and give up the part of his job that caused the most stress. I have continued to work full time, but I've realized that although my job is incredibly rewarding, it's also stressful, and doesn't allow me enough time to do all the other things that I love to do and some things I really need to do.
Most of my friends are retired, and are really making the most of this time while they are healthy and adventurous and now I can't wait to join them!
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Post by angel97701 on Apr 10, 2023 4:28:30 GMT
When we came to the realization that we needed to move to another state for DS's benefit, I finally looked at my retirement through our state system. I immediately retired when I discovered it wasn't based on the last three years, but the highest 3 years of my career, which was 18 years ago. Sadly I could have been collecting retirement benefits for almost 4 years, and still be a sub due to the shortage etc. But that is water under the bridge. Also applied for SS benefits, as I am 63. Waiting for the magic 65 age for medicare, etc. DH has been self employed for 25 years, so health insurance has always been a challenge. After Obama care we got screwed and went with a medical sharing consortium. We will see what happens in the next few months. We are moving to another state where DS will be safer from drugs, and DH will be able to sail as we are buying a home on a great lake front property. We still have many moving pieces. DH has intellectual/physical property that is worth $$$$ with the right aerospace company, and we finally got word that the acquisition attorney will be talking with DH on tomorrow! This will hopefully allow us to be mortgage free once we sell our current home. That story is a not a fun one to tell, but we are on a much better path now. So much work ahead to get moved though! The goal is to buy our new home, a barn-dominian for recreational toy storage (boats, RV, etc) where perhaps DS23 or eventually DS17 could live. DS17 is on the FASD spectrum, and we still do not know how independently he will be able to live. My goal? After getting through all the stress of the last year (really 6 years of PTSD with both DS's adopted from Russia in 2010), Covid, buying and selling homes. I will just need to rest! Looking forward to designing my sun room/craft room in our new home. I have so many projects I would love to work on craft wise! Skiing at the teeny tiny non-profit resort that will be 5 minutes from the new home. When summer hits in late May I will be on my paddle board on non-windy days, and in the boat on the windier days. My bike will get use in the spring/summer/fall months. Walking the dogs will be on the list too. DH better be sailing, that is why the lake front home was so important for me--He was a contender for the the US 1992 Olympic sailing team, so to say sailing is a passion would be an understatement. I want him on to go sailing on every windy day he can and cancel the work meetings which he can do from anywhere. I can't see him totally retiring, he needs to use his brain on complex engineering aerospace stuff, he will always consult. He will always have some kind of airplane/boat project going in the barn-dominium. I also anticipate visitors to our new home, I was told by a reliable source that if you own a lake home, you MUST have a guest room. The main reason why my craft room will be the sun room? DH needs an office for consulting, and DS a bedroom in the new home. We can accommodate those needs in the lower level. Plus have a second family room for DS's lego building and DS/DH model building. We are down sizing from 4100 sqft to 2600 sq ft, 6+ acres to 0.62 acres. I will not miss taking care of all the property. I am over trying to make things grow in the desert, and keep landscaping from being eaten by the deer and field critters in the raised bed garden. If finances allow we will snow-bird in the winter after DS17 finishes his senior year in a new state and High School. DH wants a yacht (LOL!), but that is highly unlikely . . . . he's always dreaming! But that doesn't mean we won't rent one and meander around the Caribbean for a few months. We'll see. So I'm in the middle of the really hard transition, showing, packing, destashing, donating, garage selling, etc. Plus In-laws are now moving too! Meaning, we need to help them a bit too. They are moving to the same state, SIL already lives there.
Like I said tons of moving pieces!
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