Posted on 07/14/2017 3:48:57 PM PDT by Eagles Field
I felt guilty retiring as I felt I had a lot to give. However, I attempted to get jobs all over the world. It is very hard to do that when you are 59. Nobody wants you, despite a very good record of turning organizations around with reengineering and implementing cost saving quality initiatives. Finally, well past my 63rdm this year, I filed for Social Security. The delay cost me $12000 which I now regret.
Take the money and enjoy life if you can. Me, I am modestly successful as a low-end landlord. But I am doing much of the work on houses myself. Not sure how long I can keep that up as the only parts that don’t hurt are really not that useful.
Spend time with your family while you and they are still in a good enough condition to enjoy it. Go help the kids if they deserve it and you can.
I’m planning on working until the day I drop dead, because that will mean I was a healthy, functional human being until the day I dropped dead.
Kind of in the same boat with you... left the corporate world at 49 (12 years) ago and am 61 now. Had some consulting income until a couple of years ago, but pretty much just rely on investments now.
I'm hoping to hold off on taking SS until 67, or at least 65 though... I'll just play it by ear I guess and see if I need it or not. I have to get through 4 more years of paying my own health insurance, and that's a big unknown as to how expensive that will be in the next few years (already bad enough!).
Funny.
Quit work at age 32 and “retired” for eight years, and did all the things I knew I wouldn’t be able to do at age 65.
Been back to work since, and I don’t feel any need to “retire” again because I done it already.
My advice is to go for your dream.
Several years from now when I turn 62, I’m going to retire and head to the hills. Life is short and I’m tired of paying taxes.
Much Thanks for the replies all, I’m very grateful. I think I might do it. So for about 3 years I’ll be a 50K guy, after that no limit where they penalize. I can live with that, I have no debt. Heck I’m only a 50K guy now. I’ve made more than that working part-time for myself in the past, why wouldn’t I do that in the future. What is the point in holding on for a few more years to make a few hundred dollars more a month in the future none of us has guaranteed?
Retired at 45 years old after a 27 year Army career. chase your dreams, you will not regret it.
Retire early, die young.
Pre-Medicare health care is my biggest concern and problem. You seem to have that licked compared to a person who has been self-employed.
Health care insurance now eats up fully 1/5th of the money I budgeted for retirement. Premiums have gone up 50% in just the last year from a manageable and planned amount plus what I thought was a realistic but very high 12% inflation as it had for several years. I expect now it will continue to go up at an unsustainable rate. I have three more years to go before getting to Medicare and then I plan to go see the doc even if I just want to visit. I can hardly wait and hope I can make it before busting the budget all to hell. Early time increased costs are very serious for a finite retirement amount.
First we get hammered by no growth in the economy, then high capital gains rates, then stratospheric healt care costs. What next? I’m about out of the ability to compensate.
I don’t miss one thing about the clanging alarm at 0500, the rush to get out of the house to beat the split second traffic schedule, trying to get work done that should be easy save for unwilling people, the 10 to 12 or more hour days at the office for any of a multitude of reasons, capricious regulations and rules, the fear of another layoff or something related, the office politics and the who hit John crap or the cruelty of man to other men.
I would like to work on some problem solving assignments similar to the ones I was able to call on semi-retired guys to do when I pushed the pencil and hope some of the young people I mentored will remember me as I remembered others. Hopefully in good time. Meanwhile I have some projects, inventions, and can continue as head yardman, herdsman and mechanic.
If you do retire before 65 and are currently getting medical coverage from your employer, this is a really big one - plan for the gap between now and 65, when Medicare is your primary, and then plan for supplemental after that. This, in these wonderful days of 0bamacare, can cost you a bundle if it catches you by surprise.
Make a plan with milestones for the last year. Make sure you hit those milestones. These include the above, plus a will, advance interface with pension providers if any, your savings, which you may wish to reconfigure to a retirement profile (less risk, more annual yield). Run a countdown timer so you can hit the milestones. Treat it as the biggest project you'll ever run. And if you find yourself missing milestones, not getting out of debt on schedule, anything like that, be ready to delay it another year, but have a plan in hand for doing that.
You can do this. My last six months, i.e. the first six months of "retirement" have been some of the busiest in my life. It doesn't look to decline much for quite a while. I'm loving it. Best of luck and God bless.
Retire early, enjoy life more abundantly.
Great post; thread. I’m still working and healthy at 67, but lately feel that I’m hitting a physical wall. Tired but not retired. Onward. CONGRATS to all who have retired. Many never make it.
For the first ten years of our lives, we explored the world in wonder with those we loved. Seems only right we spend the last years of our lives doing the same after 40 years of cubicle warfare. Keep in mind the average lifespan of an American male is about 80, that includes invalid time of 0-5+yrs. Clock is ticking. Go Galt. Enjoy the world and your spouse before the arthritis really gets going. It’s a reward worth more than money. And if you live longer than 80, that’s just bonus fishing time.
I bailed at 55 with a modest pension & some rental property.
It’s been 2.5 years and so far have not touched my IRA.
The doggie loves it.
2017 Social Security earnings limit under full retirement age is $1410 per month ($16,920 per year). Social Security looks at the monthly earnings (not annual earnings). The definition of earned income is wage income and net self-employment (self-employment income - self-employment expenses). Keep good records of your monthly earnings just in case. SSA uses calendar months but most pay periods for W-2 workers cross over calendar months.
If you earn extra self employment income on the side where there is no 1099, report the income as “Other Income” on your tax return (1040 line 21). SSA does not look at “Other Income”.
There will be a 2.2% COLA for Social Security in 2018. The earnings limits for the next year are usually announced around November.
Retired at 58 after 30 years at a fortune 100 company.
Reasonably healthy, debt free home owner, signed up for VA medical to meet Obamacare requirements. (6 Year USAF Vet)
I’m 62 now, my modest IRA remains untouched. (Will likely go to my son.)
Left CA for a State Tax Free state (NV).
First SS check expected next month.
Pension is paying the bills, SS on top will be gravy.
Building an awesome 18” diameter reflector telescope with my Dad.
Happiness is!
Life is good!
Every Day is Saturday!
No regrets.
That’s a good raft. It’s a big river. I believe I have most of the ducks in the rows necessary. And as many have said to follow the dreams, that is a part big. We all have them, they may change from time to time. Usually they’ll fade away slowly with a justification that seems to fit apologetically to a hope that felt firmly in your hand just yesterday . Most are put off, wrapped in mothballs for maybe someday that never comes. Time is often the obstacle. And as you come closer to the end of that they nudge a little more than before. A slight kick under the table asking why not and if not now, when.
I am retiring early - two weeks from today. I gave it a lot of thought beforehand, and Trump’s positive effect on my 401K helped me decide. Between SS and a pension, it should be fine — and not having to worry about so many things related to work is worth a few dollars less per month.
Here is the Social Security website if it helps.
https://www.ssa.gov/retire/?gclid=CMOJyOiCitUCFQGmaQodICsCHA
Haven’t retired yet. May once my daughter buys a car and moves into an apartment. Good Luck!
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