Couldn’t agree more.
I turn 66 early next year and will take full SS while continuing to work. I’ve been in IT since 1983 and contracting most of those years. It means I didn’t take many vacations and mostly did three day weekends, etc.
But next year I’ll start taking more time off to visit relatives around the country. And that’s because, in preparation for retirement, we moved from Seattle to A 32 acre “hobby farm” in central KY 8 years ago. It is 8 acres of “lawn” and the rest is woods, valleys and streams. I love to create paths and bike trails. It’s what I alrady do in much of my spare time. And I also can play bass in any band for any kind of music (except rap) and I teach Sunday School. I also am finally working on a large shop (I can build anything I want without a building permit in this county) and can do furniture refinishing, speaker building and other custom wood work. Once the mortgage is paid off (it should be pretty quick) I’ll quit my day job altogether and focus on all this other stuff that I greatly enjoy doing.
We’re even looking at getting a mini-van to tour the country for a month at a time. The fun part is that this is all very CHEAP.
You lucky duck. In my county in Oregon, when you submit a building permit application, you must put down a $750 application fee. Nonrefundable.
On the bright side, code enforcement people say that they look the other way unless they are forced to look at something.
An example: My sister and family built their dream house on top of their hill. They got the needed permits, and an inspector came out. He took one look at the old house on the property and said he knew that house never had a septic tank permit. It backed onto a swale which is the headwaters of a stream leading into the nearest towns water supply.
“I turn 66 early next year and will take full SS while continuing to work”
Unless you are unhealthy i.e. you expect to die young, don’t start taking your SS until you are 70. The increase in payments far outweigh the missed checks between 66 and 70. Unless like I said you expect to die young. Additionally, you will be paying income tax on it at a very high rate because you still have your regular paycheck coming in. I just turned 68 and I’m waiting till I’m 70 to start collecting. A little more comfortable when I’ve retired and a hedge against inflation. Best of luck to you.