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If you look at all the luxuries people have, retiring is easier if you calculate the cost to have all the gadgets, bells and whistles. You dont need cable, iPhone 7, his and her cars, etc etc. And cooking at home saves a bundle.
Being treated like a child at work, being pushed to hard because management
underbid, just sux.
Our pay has not increased over the past 20 years as it should have for the work you do. Not talking minimum wage, but labor rates have not kept up with inflation...
Paying bills off increases your quality of life too.
We have an appointment with a Financial Planner that specializes in my husband's line of work. He'll retire when SHE says he should. /lol
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"Rat race" and I had more than enough money to live on if I lived past 90, by even the most stringent calculations. Oh, I misjudged - but only by about $400,000, living quite conservatively (Food For Less, and Aldi instead of Stater's; and Hometown Buffet instead of Outback); lost $0.00 in the 2008 crash, btw. At least the rat race is a distant memory.
I'm of the opinion that there is no such thing as retirement; you just change what you do every day.
Why would you say this, SportyandMisty? Surely for many people, the fact of not needing to commute into work every day and have the regimented 8 to 5 existence, and be under the jurisdiction of your boss and workplace all day every day constitutes a radically different existence from working.
Is your statement true for you? Although true for some, most retirees start living a radically different life than what constituted their work life. There are few things that must be done in retirement, one sets one's own schedule, one can be as propelled or unpropelled by tasks, activities, interests as one chooses.
I'm curious what you are thinking by stating "there is no such thing as retirement, you just change what you do every day." Are you saying that many people choose not to be idle in retirement, which can be similar to working a job where one is not idle?
Are you saying that being retired from a job, from a career or profession, or from work in general is not being retired from life, so that's why retirement is just changing what you do every day?
"Rat race" and I had more than enough money to live on if I lived past 90, by even the most stringent calculations. Oh, I misjudged - but only by about $400,000, living quite conservatively..... At least the rat race is a distant memory.
So how long ago did you retire? And how did you decide you are now $400k short? Did that force you to live more conservative or are you saying even living conservatively you are not as well off as you thought you would be?
I retired because I was burnt out from my health care job. Memories of coming home with aching feet, too tired to even cook dinner, and not wanting to converse with my husband or friends. Granted, I feel a bit more socially isolated now, but I am surprised how little I miss ANYTHING about working. I waited until our finances allowed it with a nice cushion of a safety net. I think I picked the perfect time for myself to do so and I do not regret it at all.
I'm enjoying reading these stories now that I CAN retire anytime (as of a couple of weeks ago). But I am choosing to stay another year for the extra money and time to plan my retirement. I find that now that I can leave, there's no urgency. It's a great feeling!
I became eligible in November, but will probably pull the plug in spring 2018 at 61 1/2. The extra year and a half will boost my pension, social security and savings. But unlike your great feeling, it still feels far away and I am anxious to get there. Maybe in May, when it starts to be less than a year, I will feel that it is finally getting close.
In just over 3 years I'll hit 61 and all the ducks should hopefully be lined up.
At that point there will be 2 things that affect "when". The first is a financial incentive. If there's an offer or potential downsizing, the severance package would be to good to pass up. I'd be out the door regardless of the second issue. But I'd also stick around if an offer was on the horizon or rumored.
That 2nd issue is my wife is 2 years younger than I am and she says she really isn't sure she wants to retire at 59. I really don't want to be at home without her, but then again she's only at work approximately 180 days per year and home by 3:30. The good thing is we like our jobs, we're not stressed, salaries and benefits are excellent, our commutes range from her 5 minutes to my 25 minutes.
If all goes according to plan our reason for retiring will be because we want to, time is right. That and the 30+ years of planning, saving and investing worked.
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