How did you do it?
I didn’t have kids. Married late (and got 3 step kids). I am naturally frugal. I bought a house 30 years ago and paid it off in less than 20. Two great high tech jobs for last 30 years, some not so great ones for first 10. Cautious investor from 30-45 (stupid) and very aggressive for the next 20. Cautious again.
Five years after a leveraged buyout, the Vulture Capitalists kicked me to the curb & I decided to retire at 60.
What about health insurance?
Medicare + Supplement + Part D costs me $250/month. Same for wife.
What [del]will you do[/del] are you doing?
Before retirement I anticipated I would spend a lot of time still cutting code but for fun & sharing. Nope. Stopped coding and never looked back.
Instead, I play with cars (restored two), help vintage racing buddies, cook a far amount and stay active and in touch with old friends with a lot of walking.
I have a weekly schedule of things I do with family and friends and like many, wonder how I had time to work.
Will do, thanks! In the meantime, this morning’s integration call with my company’s new corporate ownership has me busting out all the calculators again to see if maybe ***today ***is the day.
My little brother is 56, currently off work with a short-term disability (depression) that is 90% imaginary. During this break from work, he has studied his financial situation and has decided he will not be returning to work.
Meanwhile, a good friend who has taught school and been a principal has decided he is retiring soon, at 53.
And here I am, a 61 year old working with no thoughts about retiring.
I am 71 and retired at 62, I should have worked another 5 years. I have a sufficient income to live good but went through most of my savings already so I am having to dial things back a bit. My average spending has been about 1,000 a month over my income.
Our office closed and I was given early retirement at 54. I’m lucky - I have a small defined benefit pension with health coverage, no debt, some savings, and our house is paid for. My wife still works and will have her own pension. So we should be fine, but our standard of living will not get better from here on out.
I don’t have any trouble keeping busy - I’m constantly studying new things, and I have more hobbies than time. But I really don’t like the ‘fixed income’ thing. It’s a big shift to realize that your income won’t be increasing any more, and any money you spend now out of your savings will reduce your future income.
So I’ll probably start freelancing some writing or taking on some short software contracts to bring in a little more money.
I forgot about my uncle, who is the complete flip-side of my Dad. He was a C-suite executive at a sizeable utility that was looking to cut costs. He negotiated a very favorable retirement shortly after his divorce when he was roughly 50. He got to claim his accrued pension benefits immediately, took his 401(k), and he negotiated that they would pay his medical insurance in full until he died (not just until he could claim Medicare, as is often the case). Because he had years to go until full retirement, I assume the pension was greatly reduced from what it would have grown to but not having to wait for it is valuable.
He lives a modest life. First, he lived in my grandmother’s spare apartment for a while paying reasonable rent for the unit but pretty low because it was just a modest place. He’d buy salvage cars to drive and get them rebuilt by his friend. He also owned a small rental apartment building. Eventually, he met a woman and moved in with her. He travels internationally a couple of times per year. He also owned a Harley for a while but otherwise, he has no vices or expensive hobbies. No kids.
He did eventually get bored and started consulting. He doesn’t seem to spend any of the proceeds. He seems pretty happy with his retirement.