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Anyone else not focused on retirement?


ChrisL

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At 55 YO retirement is not something I think about at all. Now I’m financially planning for it, but I am in no way mentally ready to retire and have no finish line age in mind.  65, 67, 70... who knows...   I’m even mentally planning on one more job change.  Not that I want to but sometimes shit happens beyond our control or situations change.

I get the feeling most here are either retired or nearing retirement. Same in my family, my siblings are either retired or counting the days...   I often feel like the odd ball for not wanting to count the days...

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17 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I get the feeling most here are either retired or nearing retirement. Same in my family, my siblings are either retired or counting the days...   I often feel like the odd ball for not wanting to count the days...

I think it is all about what you want to do.  If you want to work as long as you are able, then do it.  To hell with what others do.  Some people, like my brother, practically live for their work.  If my brother ever retired, he would probably die soon after.  Others have big plans to travel and/or pursue their hobbies.  Whatever turns you on.  

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2 minutes ago, Clark said:

I think it is all about what you want to do.  If you want to work as long as you are able, then do it.  To hell with what others do.  Some people, like my brother, practically live for their work.  If my brother ever retired, he would probably die soon after.  Others have big plans to travel and/or pursue their hobbies.  Whatever turns you on.  

Right, and I realize I’m not working in a forge or doing hard work.  Physically I can do what I’m doing for another decade easily.  I also have unlimited PTO and the flexibility to do the things I want to do when I want to so that makes it easier to not think about pulling the rip cord.

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4 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

I, too am 55.  I max out my pension in 5 years, so that (35 years service) tends to be a finish line for a lot of people.

Not sure where my mind will be then, I will jump off that bridge when I come to it.  

I feel for my brother in that in 2 years he’ll be in a similar situation. It will just make more sense to retire than to continue working.  

Except he doesn’t want to be home as his wife will put his azz to work and they have a deadbeat son & his young daughter living with them. He doesn’t want to be the kids full time care taker. 

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I started planning for early retirement when I was 20. I was able to retire from the factory life at 58. My sister and brother have different plan.....blow all your money now and complain that your brother is retired. 

I tried to explain to them about IRAs and Roth IRAs and that you can have over a million dollars in a retirement account with saving as little as $8 bucks a day.

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28 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I often feel like the odd ball for not wanting to count the days...

Before I retired...   I asked a guy I knew who retired..  "How do know when it was time to retire."   He told me, it's different for everyone, but YOU will know when it's time. 

Sure enough... one day...  I just 'knew'.   I went online to the HR part of our web site, and retired.   I had 'enough'.   Then about 10 minutes later, my boss calls me... WTF you are retiring and you didn't tell me???    I told her..   You can't complain... I haven't told my wife yet.   Both of my 'bosses' could not believe that I retired.   I was just DONE..  

So... you will 'know' when it's time to retire. 

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14 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I feel for my brother in that in 2 years he’ll be in a similar situation. It will just make more sense to retire than to continue working.  

Except he doesn’t want to be home as his wife will put his azz to work and they have a deadbeat son & his young daughter living with them. He doesn’t want to be the kids full time care taker. 

My wife figures two weeks and I will have her drove nuts.  At our scene yesterday I was chatting with the investigator from the Coroner's office.  With my background, that might be an interesting gig for a few years

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2 minutes ago, BR46 said:

I started planning for early retirement when I was 20. I was able to retire from the factory life at 58. My sister and brother have different plan.....blow all your money now and complain that your brother is retired. 

I tried to explain to them about IRAs and Roth IRAs and that you can have over a million dollars in a retirement account with saving as little as $8 bucks a day.

Well done sir...    Yeah... we lived WELL below my means, and saved.   

WoBG's best friend has a sister.  Her and husband spend all of their money.   Correction...  they spend way more than they made, went bankrupt, etc...  and now they are retired with $0 saved, trying to live on Social Security.     And of course complaining about not having anything.  

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6 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

My wife figures two weeks and I will have her drove nuts.

Yeah...  I've totally have screwed up WoBG's retirement.  She retired about 7 years before me.   I've heard "You should get a job." more than once.    I guess that must be how @BR46 feels now... 

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I didn't seriously consider retiring until I turned 62 YO and could start collecting partial Social Security. WoJSTL and I both contributed to 401ks and 403 plus IRAs over the years. I even have a few savings bonds maturing soon. Plus we both were receiving retirement checks from past employers. WoJSTL stopped working at 62 YO but didn't draw SS. I worked until 66 then both of us started drawling full SS. In many respects, I wish that I'd retired sooner but in other ways I'm glad that I waited for full SS.

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3 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

Yeah...  I've totally have screwed up WoBG's retirement.  She retired about 7 years before me.   I've heard "You should get a job." more than once.    I guess that must be how @BR46 feels now... 

Does she look for jobs in the classified adds, I think my wife still looks for jobs for me. 

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3 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

Correction...  they spend way more than they made, went bankrupt, etc...  and now they are retired with $0 saved, trying to live on Social Security.     And of course complaining about not having anything

This would be my mother, my sister is the age that I retired at right now..she told me that she has $3,800 saved for retirement. 

At 60 my brother was living in his friends basement and just got a apartment a few months ago. 

I paid off the house about 25 years ago and when my brother found out the first thing he said......why don't you buy a bigger house. I took the money I saved for paying off the house early and put the money into IRAs, Mutual and Utility funds. 

He said that I was nuts 

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I didn't want to retire.  The work was very very interesting and they pretty much let me work my choice of hours.  I was forced into retirement because the parent company always lays off oldest people when the chance comes.  My immediate boss was candid.  "Of course you can fight it but they will go after your son if you do"  He was right.  They were just the people to do it.

 

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14 minutes ago, BR46 said:

I paid off the house about 25 years ago and when my brother found out the first thing he said......why don't you buy a bigger house. I took the money I saved for paying off the house early and put the money into IRAs, Mutual and Utility funds.

We paid off our first home about 20 years before I  retired.   We saved a lot of money.  

28 minutes ago, Clark said:

Financially speaking, I recommend you pay off everything before you retire, if possible. 

We did that.  Had zero debt for many years.   If we needed a car, we'd pay ourselves first, then write a check for the car.  

I kind of disregarded my plan when we built our new home just when I retired.  We told our daughter... we are spending your inheritance, so you better be saving some money. 

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22 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I didn't want to retire.  The work was very very interesting and they pretty much let me work my choice of hours.  I was forced into retirement because the parent company always lays off oldest people when the chance comes.  My immediate boss was candid.  "Of course you can fight it but they will go after your son if you do"  He was right.  They were just the people to do it.

My ex-FIL was "retired" by the Norfolk Ford Plant (now gone).  He had been there many years, so I guess they didn't want to pay him at his wages and benefits.  Probably a lot cheaper to hire someone right out of high school for assembly line work. 

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8 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

we'd pay ourselves first, then write a check for the car.  

Wo46 and I always did this. 

8 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

We told our daughter... we are spending your inheritance, so you better be saving some money

I have some shareholders stock that I plan to sign over to our son.....I think he will shit a brick when he finds out what it's worth. 

It's worth 20 times what he thinks its worth.

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56 minutes ago, Clark said:

Financially speaking, I recommend you pay off everything before you retire, if possible.  You might be surprised at how little you can get by on if you have no house or car payment.  I know I was.  :)

That’s our plan. House will be paid off in under 10 years, we carry no other debt other than our mortgage. 

My mom lived comfortably to her passing by not having any debt in retirement.

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1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

At 55 YO retirement is not something I think about at all. Now I’m financially planning for it, but I am in no way mentally ready to retire and have no finish line age in mind.  65, 67, 70... who knows...   I’m even mentally planning on one more job change.  Not that I want to but sometimes shit happens beyond our control or situations change.

I get the feeling most here are either retired or nearing retirement. Same in my family, my siblings are either retired or counting the days...   I often feel like the odd ball for not wanting to count the days...

The question, if you can afford to retire early, is: what do you want to accomplish while working and what do you want to accomplish while retired?

I know people who had so few hobbies and other interests that retirement drove them crazy until they found a part-time job.

I know others who couldn't find enough time to do all the things they wanted in retirement.

I haven't done a lot in retirement but enjoy the lack of tension while missing the interactions. For most of my retired life, I averaged 1 - 3 hours/day on music, about which I knew little before retiring but always wanted to do.

 

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37 minutes ago, dennis said:

I'm reading this now. She recommends working until 70 and pay off all of your debt(house, car, cc).

The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+ : BY SUZE ORMAN by ...

That's what I wanted to do.  Work for a couple of years after starting to collect SS and use the extra money to do any and all work around the house so it was solid for retirement.  But anyway, getting the house paid off is the best way to save for retirement.  No debts.

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I've been planning for an early retirement to be prepared if I suddenly lost my job.  As a single person, there is no other income to rely on if either something happens to me and I can't work or if I lost my job.

In terms of wanting to retire, I'm conflicted.  I would love to have the time and freedom to do some things it's hard to schedule when I'm working.  I would also like to avoid the stress often associated with working.  But on the other hand, I'm a worrier and planner, and even if all the financial calculators tell me I'm fine, the idea of not having any more paychecks coming in is stressful too.  It wouldn't be easy to go back to work once I leave, so it's a pretty final decision, and  I tend to over analyze big decisions.

My former boss loved his work and enjoyed interacting with people at work.  He was able to work remotely, so he had his own schedule and he knew he was financially set to leave at any time, so he iddn't feel much stress.   Ultimately, he retired to help support family through some health issues, but he worked well after the point there was any financial need.  If you enjoy your work and don't find it too stressful, I think you are very lucky.

 

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Here's why I started saving early in life. 3000 per year starting at age 18

Screenshot_20210301-140126_Chrome.thumb.jpg.13c52972e0f4218f920c48b262011c77.jpg

Starting at age 40 with saving 5,500 per year 

Screenshot_20210301-140207_Chrome.thumb.jpg.d56418a3a8b92534857ef747d7e7fdef.jpg

A difference $3500 in contribution will gain you $703,208 if you start early. 

And I had a high school teacher call me stupid. 

I may not be the smartest person in the room but I understood math. 

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6 minutes ago, BR46 said:

Here's why I started saving early in life. 3000 per year starting at age 18

Screenshot_20210301-140126_Chrome.thumb.jpg.13c52972e0f4218f920c48b262011c77.jpg

Starting at age 40 with saving 5,500 per year 

Screenshot_20210301-140207_Chrome.thumb.jpg.d56418a3a8b92534857ef747d7e7fdef.jpg

A difference $3500 in contribution will gain you $703,208 if you start early. 

And I had a high school teacher call me stupid. 

I may not be the smartest person in the room but I understood math. 

It's funny (strange) how siblings ended up on the opposite ends of the financial bell curve. Why do you think you think so much differently than your brother & sister?

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33 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

The question, if you can afford to retire early, is: what do you want to accomplish while working and what do you want to accomplish while retired?

I know people who had so few hobbies and other interests that retirement drove them crazy until they found a part-time job.

I know others who couldn't find enough time to do all the things they wanted in retirement.

I haven't done a lot in retirement but enjoy the lack of tension while missing the interactions. For most of my retired life, I averaged 1 - 3 hours/day on music, about which I knew little before retiring but always wanted to do.

 

Well I think that’s part of the issue, I do what I want to do now.  I don’t know if being retired would have me riding or fishing more, maybe some.  My hobbies are outdoors things and I do them as much as I like now.  As our kids are grown we travel as we want to (barring Covid). 

No I’m not financially prepared to retire now but working isn’t really preventing me from doing the things I want to do and at this point I enjoy my job.  I’d be bored if I retired now...

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I am squarely focused on retirement.  I turn 66 this August.  I have a business I enjoy managing.  I have managers that are in place to take over.  I owe them a plan for my exit - it's due the 3rd week of April.  Right now I plan on cutting back a bit over time starting with one day a week this summer.  I enjoy what I do and will probably set myself up as an advisor to the next president and be there to work on any special projects he wants me to work on.  I plan on being engaged without being in the day to day activity.  What I won't be is that crusty old man that comes into the office once a week and stirs up stuff.

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48 minutes ago, 2Far said:

It's funny (strange) how siblings ended up on the opposite ends of the financial bell curve. Why do you think you think so much differently than your brother & sister?

My brother and I have always been complete opposites. He likes his beer and gambling. My sister loves going to Reno and Vagis and Mexico and never saved for retirement. 

I've been racing for over 40 years and my brother never once came to see us race. I went to give him free tickets for the races and he said....why would I want to go to that. I guess it didn't involve football or gambling. 

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22 minutes ago, BR46 said:

My brother and I have always been complete opposites. He likes his beer and gambling. My sister loves going to Reno and Vagis and Mexico and never saved for retirement. 

I've been racing for over 40 years and never once came to see us race. I went to give him free tickets for the races and he said....why would I want to go to that. I guess it didn't involve football or gambling. 

My brother and I are similar.  He has a well paying cushy Govt job (no I’m not calling all Govt jobs cushy but his is) and a good pension.  But his finances are a shambles & instead of paying off debt he just buys more & more crap.  For example a couple of years be waned to ride more.  Instead of riding his bike more he bought 4 bikes and thousands in accessories in credit.  And he doesn’t ride more...  Then he wanted to hike more, 6 pairs of hiking shoes later & hundreds in accessories...

He likes to say I’m just as bad with all my bikes but none of mine incurred credit debt... 

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I would love to retire now.  But I'd find a part time job in one of my hobbies, because I can't sit still.  I always thought that I could retire once I had $1mil saved, but now I see that isn't enough to ENJOY retirement.  I want to travel, have a busy nightlife, enjoy expensive hobbies.  I have no pension, my wife has one but it's not much at all.  So I'll keep working for a bunch more years and not draw SS until I reach peak.  

Another friend just told us she's retiring from teaching.  With full pension and medical.  At 59.  Why are my taxes so high?  Pensions just aren't sustainable with people living so much longer.

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18 minutes ago, 12string said:

I want to travel, have a busy nightlife, enjoy expensive hobbies

You ever think about taking up motorcycle and sidecar racing? 

You get to drive a motorhome all over the country turning expensive racing fuel into noise. You also get to spend money on expensive bald tires that don't last very long. 

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6 hours ago, ChrisL said:

At 55 YO retirement is not something I think about at all. Now I’m financially planning for it, but I am in no way mentally ready to retire and have no finish line age in mind.  65, 67, 70... who knows...   I’m even mentally planning on one more job change.  Not that I want to but sometimes shit happens beyond our control or situations change.

I get the feeling most here are either retired or nearing retirement. Same in my family, my siblings are either retired or counting the days...   I often feel like the odd ball for not wanting to count the days...

Chris, I didn't even contemplate retirement or even plan towards it until about 2 yrs. ago. I'm 62.  I have to look at financial options and how to structure this in best legit way.  I accepted my current job when I was 51 yrs. after being unemployed for a spell. So I relocated to another province, bought a place...that's how far away pyschologically, I was from retirement. Was I going to be so dumb to turn down a decent public sector job where I could learn more and a job that matched my skills and experience?  Am so glad it wasn't with oil and gas...because layoffs occurred 3 years after I relocated.

My objective was to wring as much learning and giving my expertise to my current organization where they needed it. To me that's a career, lived well. It's a matter of attitude....at any age in one's career.

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5 hours ago, dennis said:

I'm reading this now. She recommends working until 70 and pay off all of your debt(house, car, cc).

The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+ : BY SUZE ORMAN by ...

Curious to know why having a mortgage payment into retirement is an issue for her, assuming there’s enough annual income to cover all other needs. I know not having a mortgage is a piece of mind and a way of minimizing needed savings entering into retirement, but I see a mortgage in retirement as simply shifting money from one investment to another. But I’m probably on the minority in this point.

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6 hours ago, ChrisL said:

I feel for my brother in that in 2 years he’ll be in a similar situation. It will just make more sense to retire than to continue working.  

Except he doesn’t want to be home as his wife will put his azz to work and they have a deadbeat son & his young daughter living with them. He doesn’t want to be the kids full time care taker. 

That is tough situation for him.  They have other issues to slowly make change.  For his mental health, hope something improves.

6 hours ago, Zephyr said:

I, too am 55.  I max out my pension in 5 years, so that (35 years service) tends to be a finish line for a lot of people.

Not sure where my mind will be then, I will jump off that bridge when I come to it.  

I find it incredible these days to meet people in our generation who spent 40 years with 1 employer. But in  your line of work, it can be helpful to have years of knowledge to share/teach.  I've been abit of dilettante.

4 hours ago, Kirby said:

I've been planning for an early retirement to be prepared if I suddenly lost my job.  As a single person, there is no other income to rely on if either something happens to me and I can't work or if I lost my job.

In terms of wanting to retire, I'm conflicted.  I would love to have the time and freedom to do some things it's hard to schedule when I'm working.  I would also like to avoid the stress often associated with working.  But on the other hand, I'm a worrier and planner, and even if all the financial calculators tell me I'm fine, the idea of not having any more paychecks coming in is stressful too.  It wouldn't be easy to go back to work once I leave, so it's a pretty final decision, and  I tend to over analyze big decisions.

My former boss loved his work and enjoyed interacting with people at work.  He was able to work remotely, so he had his own schedule and he knew he was financially set to leave at any time, so he iddn't feel much stress.   Ultimately, he retired to help support family through some health issues, but he worked well after the point there was any financial need.  If you enjoy your work and don't find it too stressful, I think you are very lucky.

 

Maybe you'll find something part-time or as a consultant elsewhere afterwards to do occasional gigs.  Of course, consulting for certain firms, has its own demands and stresses depending on the type of consulting and client expectations. 

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I am probably closest to Kirby on this.  I can see me stressing that there are no more paychecks so watching the nest egg dwindle would hurt, even if it is only slightly. SS will certainly help but won’t go far against nj property taxes.  

Having a shitload of vacation days REALLY helps.  But often the demands of the job make it tough to take and enjoy them. So I am sort of going day to day. Most likely I will go another year or two to get my wife to Medicare age.  I have a nice balance in a retiree medical account, so if I use it only for medigap it should last a long time.  At $1300 a month for two years to get her to 65 it would drain a lot quicker. 

I mostly enjoy my job, but I am also sort of tired of it. I also am not really sure how I will do with nothing to do. On one hand it sounds like paradise, but OTOH I can see getting bored. And finally, I don’t like change, so status quo and Otto Pilot is easiest!

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14 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I find it incredible these days to meet people in our generation who spent 40 years with 1 employer.

:desk:  It’ snot really one, but the successor companies have maintained my years of service for vacation porpoises.  Overall I have enjoyed it, as much as you can enjoy work. :)

 

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4 hours ago, BR46 said:

My brother and I have always been complete opposites. He likes his beer and gambling. My sister loves going to Reno and Vagis and Mexico and never saved for retirement. 

I've been racing for over 40 years and my brother never once came to see us race. I went to give him free tickets for the races and he said....why would I want to go to that. I guess it didn't involve football or gambling. 

My youngest sister is thinking of early retirement @55 yrs. I was abit shocked and said so...because her children will be mid to late teens. Abit too early.. She's not absolutely certain...but she just figures it would be a smaller amount they would inherit if she makes that decision.  Clearly she's tired.. she is the primary breadwinner in her family because her higher income.

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