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now it is getting exciting , finally i am stopping waking up in the middle of the night and having all these thoughts about things i need to do at work or issues i have to deal with.
now at least i can dwell at night on whether the markets are crashing ha ha ha
I read through these threads 'bout counting the moments until retirement is finally actualized after working all those years at jobs/professions that people simply couldn't countenance any more than they had to.
and I wonder why they did so.
For me, after 35 years in one business, I went into another line of work ... manufacturer's rep. In more recent times, my product lines fizzled or internal politics and/or mergers/acquisitions forced me out. So be it, I still had my prior line of work to fall back upon.
Having learned to live frugally from parents who were a product of the Depression, I was able to invest a sizable portion of my average wage-earning income through all these years. Most went into real estate in resort areas of Colorado, which has done remarkably well over the decades ... I got in at a good time. Still other investments in REIT's and mutual funds have done OK, not as good as what I read others here have accomplished, but OK over the long run.
At 68, I've finally shifted my thinking from wealth acquisition to capturing what I've got and spending a bit of it while drawing the monthly income. Should be able to capture a six-figure take home post taxes, and my farm/ranch is paid for.
Right now, have left Colorado and with the crazy real estate market there, am cashing out my investment properties. Thanks to a major shift in the political and regulatory policies there and social aspects, am seriously reconsidering ever living there in retirement, although I still would want to visit for a couple months each year.
But for the moment ... here's some typical days at the farm/ranch. Saturday, had to round up some stray cows, use the dogs to herd them home to our place. Found where they'd gone through a fence, and decided to rebuild some of it ... strung 2 strands of barbed wire 1/2 mile and secured it to the fence posts and t-posts. Neighbors horses were tearing down the fence to reach our grassy pasture there since their pasture is depleted. Sunday, we had the shearers here and sheared 50 sheep; more work than it appears to bring them in, get them sheared, and then herd them out of the barn. Got a place to fix about 100' of corral fencing, bought the materials (posts and planks and fasteners) to do so on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon, I cut 40 acres of Alfalfa with the swather, a nice looking 2nd cut on that irrigated field.
Monday ... raked the other 40 acres of irrigated Alfalfa I'd cut a few days before. Had to borrow a rotary rake from a neighbor, 7 miles away via my JD4020 tractor to bring that home (at 12 mph) and then fix the rake to make it field ready ... a couple of missing bolts and a bent frame to straighten didn't take too long. Only took 2 hours to rake the field. Lined up a big round baler, and we baled that field until the tractor broke the exhaust system. Got parts located 120 miles away, and sent the neighbor boy to fetch the parts. Have baled all but the last 8 acres. Got the bale spears onto the 4020 and retrieved the bales off that field to one of my hay storage areas, stacked them 2 high; about a 3/4 mile trip from field to storage, 2 bales at a time (front bale spear on the loader and a bale carrier on the three-point in back).
In between raking and baling, I went into the local farm equipment repair shop where I work part-time and finished a carburetor overhaul on an antique JD tractor I'd been working on for them. Had a 5" hydraulic cylinder that I'd taken apart on last Friday and cleaned up; the parts arrived and I reassembled that. Got another carb torn apart and into the carb tank, parts on order. We've got a 40 tractor antique collection coming through the shop that the owner has decided to restore all and put them in an auction, cashing out. I've got to get them all running, most haven't run in 20-30 years and the owner wants them running and functioning properly. The shop owner has volunteered that he's got an "expert" available to do this work and we'll knock it out as time permits between the tractors/equipment that folk depend upon to make a living; I foresee a couple years to get this project completed so I've got plenty to do for awhile. I've no doubt that some will require engine overhauls, some will need clutches, some will need rewiring or other electrical repairs. At least I don't have to do the tires and paint work, but I've had to straighten bent seat support brackets and battery boxes to get the electrical systems working with new batteries. Doing the engine overhauls and clutches requires splitting these tractors, which is major work for me.
I saw a big M-F self-propelled swather sitting outside the shop today. The owner says the engine blew up and I've got to diagnose and repair as needed, project starting tomorrow now that I've got the one antique JD tractor out the door. Of course, we custom fab hydraulic hoses on site and it's not unusual at this harvest time to have 6-12 to do each day, too. Just a routine interruption of the other work.
I've got another 2 miles of barbed wire fencing to redo along the creek pastures, due to the exceptional amount of rainfall we had earlier this spring/summer. The flood tore out a bunch of fences and water gaps (areas where the fences cross the creek). I try to do my farm/ranch chores in the AM and spend the afternoons at the shop 5-days/week; the other 2 days I'm traveling for recreation and business. Mrs Sun does the greenhouse operations and sales, which tends to be a daily bunch of work before she heads into her town job. She also does most of the livestock chores here except for the tractor and skidsteer work which I do ... clean-ups, mostly.
In my view, there's a lot of fun to be had in all the activity. Have never had an interest in being a spectator. Working about 60-70 hours per week is a vacation for me, and the challenges that present in the equipment repairs and farming are fascinating. Can't complain about the income from that, either.
Our long-term plan is to someday lease out the pastures and irrigated farmland. But we're still having too much fun operating this place to give that up yet. And the alfalfa biz is a mid-5 figure income, so it's worth doing for awhile yet.
Simply can't envision not being this busy. But am happy to be cashing out of the active real estate property management and investments for more passive investments.
PS: having watched way too many of my friends and contemporaries pass away shortly after their full retirements in the last decade or so, it was distressing to see them look forward to not working anymore. But there was only so many days of golf and traveling for them before it became a bore. Then they were focusing on their ailments and aging bodies ... which typically turned to serious problems very quickly and the descent into fragility and untimely passing. I think that many of them simply lost focus and interest in the things that were superficially important to them when that's all they had to look forward to each day. A fatal trap, perhaps?
I know that I can't do the physical work or pace that I kept up for decades prior to now, but then I don't have the financial necessity or drive to do so when I had that capability back then. Guess I'll keep pursuing my hobbies ... which some folk might regard as work, but for me it's still all way too much fun. It's a semi-retirement for me. Planning on farming and ranching for a lot of years yet, and flying my plane is still a hoot ... especially when I can fly into the wilderness back country and camp out. My sailboats aren't getting used as much as they used to, but I've finally figured out that racing dinghies are a younger man's game ... will probably only spend time on the Lasers to teach grandkids to sail in the next few years. Spending more time on a friend's 32' keelboat now, kicking back and just watching time go by on the water; racing days for us appear to be over.
our plan was to sell off all real estate for retirement . last thing i want to do is any more land lording . except for 2 remaining property's which we can't sell yet everything is gone and only passive investing for us through retirement .
now it is getting exciting , finally i am stopping waking up in the middle of the night and having all these thoughts about things i need to do at work or issues i have to deal with.
now at least i can dwell at night on whether the markets are crashing ha ha ha
You are brave to be retiring approaching a possible correction! Another reason I am waiting another year or two. But I'm sure you will do just fine.
it doesn't matter . the 3.50% withdrawal rate I need has already survived just fine through every rolling 30 year period including everyone who past through the great depression time frame.
You are brave to be retiring approaching a possible correction! Another reason I am waiting another year or two. But I'm sure you will do just fine.
The market bottomed at 666...people were saying correction after a 50% gain at SPX1000...then after a 125% gain at 1500...then after a 200% gain at 2000...I think you get the idea...
Sure, there will be a correction and a bear market at some point..good luck timing it.
you can never time things and historically being to conservative has resulted in more failures than a 40-60% equity position which has had very few regardless of how bad thing got .
in fact you may be talking 1 or 2 out of 111 rolling 30 year periods and a 1/4% drop in draw rate cured that.
the odds of the income stream being broken by a down turn is pretty slim.
what changes is the amount left over in the pile at the end as the different market outcomes , sequences and inflation act upon us.
if we have to much of a down turn I would just file for ss and cut the amount of my own savings I would have to use.
I'm afraid I'm the one resisting the "buy in." John had no trouble pulling the plug six months before his 30th year two years ago. He's been trying to get me to retire ever since. I actually tried to in January of 2013 when I quit my job because of the 12 hour shifts. They called me back after three weeks and I was the only person that worked the pm shift, but it turned into double shifts on nights and double back days. We lost that manager about three months ago and my "mascot" status ends tomorrow. My new manager told me that I had to choose a 12 hour shift and I told her I would give her my resignation as soon as the bonus checks are issued. I'm going to try to retire again for the second time, but I've been talking to a friend at another hospital I worked for just in case I can't handle staying home. I'm only 58 with tons of energy and the boredom factor gets me pretty quick. Time will tell if I stay retired this time. Tomorrow is my last day at work. I'm on vacation until the bonus checks come next week. John told me once that I was a handful and that I shouldn't retire. He may be right about that.
So many wonderful and insightful comments on here. We have talked and talked about retirement (well for me, because DH has been retired for years)... but I think more notably about selling the HOUSE and downsizing. I guess we are planning to do things in stages at this point as we will also likely move to another area.
I wanted to comment to Gisela that when it all gets over the top overwhelming to think through -------maybe it's not wise but I too think that although we wont be relying on the government, if the market tanks, and if all bad things do happen, it's beyond our control. We try to do things after thinking them through and being relatively conservative- but some things are just out of your hands.
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