Picking the date

[elliotgb]

Originally Posted by selhars

I know that right!! Only GOD can help me get through the next 9 1/2 years.
MAYBE I'll be able to swing it at 62...but even that is 7 1/2 years.
I try to just take it day by day. But most days I just don't want to be there.
If anything I'll waffle and move UP the date.

Well, I am 63 and "planning" to go out next April after my birthday.

If I could go back 9 1/2 years, I would definitely do a few things differently:

- no major purchases (cars, etc.) unless I really had to, then probably not brand new, but good, used.
- contribute more to the 401K and max out everything if I could afford to
- pay off the mortgage
- convince the soon to be ex wife that we don't need multiples of everything, including ironing boards ( I found 3 or 4 already), brooms (7 or 8), vacuum cleaners (6 or 7), irons (4), coffee makers (6 at least), well.....you get the picture
- have a target age for retirement in mind
- plan for continued health/dental requirements post retirement
- get rid of the millstone apartment house that she took over from her deceased father, overpaid for, and is continuing to funnel good money after bad into.
- save, save, save, save, save and possibly have consulted a professional financial planner much sooner.

Ah, you get it.....think about money now so you won't have to worry about it later.
It's not everything, but it sure does help you live a bit better.

[orngkat]

I would definitely do a few things differently

Your list is what we have been doing the past five years by design. I have been stashing away my paycheck and we live off dh's. Stopped buying "stuff" we don't really need. We did however recently buy our hopefully forever car (used) but with only 12K miles and saved up so I could pay cash. Living very frugally save for eating out a bit more than I'd like. No other debt except a small mortgage but with the equity from house value rising so quickly, we can pay cash for the next one when we move. Health insurance and pension when I retire and if I add DH about $250 a month at present. We have a very average income and will in retirement too. It all seems good on paper but still nervous about letting go...

[Cali BassMan]

I planned on retiring at 55 the day I started working, my company had an age 55 minimum and a points system for retirement, 85 points is full retirement. 1 point for age, 1 point for years of service. So if you are 55 with 30 years service it's 85 points..
The day I turned 55 I retired with going on 36 years service, started at 19 years old....
So Yes. I had a date, and stuck to it

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by Cali BassMan

I planned on retiring at 55 the day I started working, my company had an age 55 minimum and a points system for retirement, 85 points is full retirement. 1 point for age, 1 point for years of service. So if you are 55 with 30 years service it's 85 points..
The day I turned 55 I retired with going on 36 years service, started at 19 years old....
So Yes. I had a date, and stuck to it

I kicked in an extra 3 months to mine "just in case" so no one could ever come back and say "our revised calculations indicate...."

[Cali BassMan]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

I kicked in an extra 3 months to mine "just in case" so no one could ever come back and say "our revised calculations indicate...."

I was just waiting on age, had the points for a few years

[jrkliny]

Approaching retirement, I did not have any second thoughts. Instead I had another big issue. I wanted/needed to sell the house before retiring. Downsizing was really hard for my wife, the packrat, and it took a long time before we were ready to list the house. Unfortunately we then had to deal with a disaster of nature. We had a heavy, heavy winter snowfall that did not melt until it was hit with abnormally very heavy Spring rains. The water ground water table level rose in an area covering several hundred houses around my neighborhood and all the basements leaked. We had to add 4 sump pumps and still had a wet basement for months and months. All of this also happened after the housing bubble burst. We faced trying to sell with depressed prices, very low real estate activity, very reluctant lenders and living in a neighborhood with a water table above the level of the basements. In fact at the worst the water table was higher than part of my lawn for several weeks.

Eventually the water table subsided and we sold the house making some money but losing at least $150K over peak levels.

Pardon me if I don't have any sympathy for someone who can't make up their mind about retiring.