Retirement Review(s) (pension, supplement, weather, moving)

[Dave_n_Tenn]

I'm interested in hearing from the retirement community about how's it working out. I'd like to break it down into years retired;

1-5 years
5-10 years
10-15 years

... and so on.

Share as much or as little as you care to. Point out the traps and the unexpected, both good and bad. Not interested in the financial part, but if you chose to... that's fine.

I'm 4+ years in and it's working out WAY better than I imagined. Retirement is way under rated. Wife is retired now too (she's <2 years in). We have a boat, RV (27' travel trailer) second home, so we are on the move a lot. We travel internationally too at least once a year.

Health is generally good, for both of us but we both have some age related issues I'm 68 and shes 61... nothing life threatening. That is one thing I didn't "plan" for or think a lot about. 4 adult kids who live on their own (all good jobs) but none are married ... no grand kids (damn). I do not see my kids enough and only 1 of the 4 live close by. We have dogs... well down to one now, the ole girl (14) passed away.

My trap seems to be maintaining all my crap. I'm probably busier than I want to be, but glad to be busy. I don't fish as much as I want too since I travel a lot. I'm thinking about just one home and selling the other. My stress level is zero... that's something I didn't realize would happen before I retired. Wow!

Lots more but that's it for now.

[sweetana3]

We are both 12 years out having taken early retirement. Absolutely nothing to complain about except for the virus limitations. Hubby has great volunteer organizations that keep him occupied, when they are running, 6 days a week. I do what I want around the house mostly sewing and such.

Finances are actually much better than we ever expected. But we live on a fraction and do not feel the need to spend for the sake of spending. We recently had our bathroom demolished and rebuilt so we could stay in this house much longer. Love it.

We are in an urban area but with a small town feel and do not need to get in our car for anything. Great neighbors so a newer house is not on the radar.

We stream almost all our entertainment and enjoy eating at home. So if we maintain our health, nothing much is going to change. We had 5 different trips planned this year and 3.5 of them are cancelled. We may still go to Italy later this year but are watching Italy. Our trip in Dec. is driving distance and will depend on whether the group can organize it around health requirements since it is in an enclosed space with others and a community based atmosphere.

[jean_ji]

I retired 8 years ago and DH retired at the first of this month, we are both 66.

Maintaining of things became an issue early on for us. With DH still working and traveling, two homes and a 29’ sailboat quickly became too much. We were spring cleaning two houses, closing two houses, launching the boat and winterizing the boat each year. After five years, we sold the sailboat and I knew once that sold, DH would want to sell the NY house and that’s exactly what happened. It was fun and exciting, until it wasn’t.

We bought a sailing kayak and put in a pool with pool cage, which makes the summers in FL better. We bought the empty lot next to our house and love the space. We are replanting natives and making it a place for wildlife in the suburbs. There’s always something to do out there.

Our two grandkids, 8 and 11, live two miles away. One was 3 years old and the other 3 months old when we moved here. They are why we moved here and I retired early. It’s been nice to be a part of their lives and watch the changes as they grow up. Luckily, we love and like both of their parents too. We would have missed out on so much with them if we waited until DH retired.

I held down the fort when I retired as DH’s work involved travel and he wasn’t around. Our lives changed for the better without the conflict of two careers. DH is setting his own hours and days for contract work for his former employer now. We’ll see how it works out, but for now a work from home gig is a paid cake walk for him and a nice transition during the pandemic.

We make plans, but go with the flow as things unfold. That attitude makes it easy for us to be content and happy.

[jim9251]

I've been retired since 2009. No one is trying to kill me. That's good.

[Spuggy]

My husband retired just after I had a major health scare , breast cancer. He wanted us to enjoy our lives and spend time with our son and grandchildren in a new state. It’s been a harder adjustment for me as I gave up a very busy art life professionally and a huge circle of friends BUT I don’t regret the move. It’s been 3 years almost and it’s been a whole new wonderful adventure.

[MTSilvertip]

I'm just over a year into retirement. I retired 8 years early and bought a small ranch for my retirement home.

I LOVE IT!!!!

It's a lot of work, but my stress levels are gone, I've lost a lot of weight, my health has improved exponentially, this latest crap with the lockdown hasn't really effected me since I only have one neighbor within 5 miles.

I did my travels on the Uncle Sam plan and got to visit all those wonderful 3rd world paradises, so no need to go back.

I live in a destination state for hunting and fishing, I don't even need to leave the ranch for deer, elk, bear, antelope and several species of game birds. Some of them I can hunt from my living room couch.
Good fishing at a blue ribbon trout river just a couple miles down the road, 12 miles to a fantastic reservoir with state record size tiger muskie.

I gather a lot of wild edibles from the place, raise my own beef and a great garden. I trade with my neighbors for whole hogs, chicken, turkey, ducks and geese. I was a trained chef as a young man and worked in that field for 12 years, but now I have the time to really cook, so the wife and I eat pretty dang good for really cheap since I raise my own fresh meat and produce, or hunt/fish/gather/raise or trade for premium ingredients.

I only go to town for supplies when I need repair parts, so maybe twice a month.

Retirement is a dream come true!!!

[GWoodle]

Second year of retirement. Spent most of first caring for elderly Mom. With Covid now she is under lockdown in a assisted living facility. Can't visit PTB allow no visitors yet.

So you get 4 sources for income. Pension + Annuity + investment 401K + Social Security. Get adjustment to SS make a few dollars more than guesstimated. Find out how cost of living adjustment works. Hope most hear are healthy enough to work thru Full Retirement Age.

Sign up for Medicare + Supplement plan +Part D drug plan. Figure if you made the right choice. Learn to balance diet, exercise, meds, doctors. Learn how Advantage plan can be advantage to insurance co not you. Hope you get more income in COL before Part B + Part D take it away. Then you can afford Supplement plan with most coverage (Get & stay on Plan F if you can get it).

No stress level, get up when you want. Learn to cook. Be creative find other projects to do.Turn off the TV, computer, go for long slow walks. When it's bad weather, snow, ice, cold rollover. Find the local library, find the eatery where the oldsters meet for lunch.

Call in or use Facebook for old friends, those still working, family.

[TaoistDude]

I retired less than a year ago. We sold our house, moved from FL to NV, had a house built, and just finished settling in. We don't have much stuff, other than household items, and just one car. We always knew we wanted to avoid the work and costs of maintaining extra vehicles, etc. - we once lived in an RV full time for two years, and know how quickly they depreciate. We'll rent, not buy, if we want to use an RV or boat. Better yet, we have friends with both! Some have vacation homes they're willing to share, too.

The coronavirus is the biggest unanticipated pitfall. My portfolio has taken a hit, as has my income, but I built in a cushion of 50% more than I need, and will start receiving social security soon, which pretty much solves that problem for now. Fortunately, we got established here while travel and hiring contractors were still possible. We've had a lot to do at home these past couple of months, so we're doing well and enjoying ourselves for the most part.

The pandemic has also greatly impacted our travel plans, as we also like to travel domestically two or three times a year, and occasionally internationally. That's on hold for now (but cuts our expenses).

[volosong]

Now starting my fourth year of retirement living. I miss the work I did for NASA. It was exciting, challenging, and cutting-edge stuff. I also miss teaching at the community college and helping shape young lives as they enter the adult world. Alas. Moving forward into the next phase of my life.

I'm loving the outdoor paradise I moved to. Mountains, lakes, rivers, "wild" animals. Every day brings something new and unexpected. Plenty busy with volunteer work, at least before everything shut down the other month. Not bike riding as much as I expected I would be doing, but that is probably because of the two rescue pups I adopted. They get me out walking for a few miles every day.

Travel and exploration plans are on temporary hold due to being elected to the local city council. Those duties will tie me down for a few more years. Probably not running for re-election because I'm learning how little influence I actually have in shaping the direction of the city. In politics, even at the local level, you can't please everyone and there is always someone unhappy with whatever decision is made. A retired person doesn't need that stress.

Surprised at how little television I watch. Didn't turn the thing on at all yesterday. Finances are fine. Not too much nor too little. Just enough to afford a comfortable lifestyle. No regrets. Things have worked out as well as I could have expected.

[athena53]

I just passed the 6-year mark 2 weeks ago. One week elapsed between the day I called DH from work and said, "I think I'm going to quit my job on Monday" and my last day in the office. The politics got toxic and I'd been over the numbers (it's what I did for a living) and retiring at 61 instead of 65 looked feasible. DH's input: "I know this is selfish of me but I'd like it if you were home more". He was 75, so already retired.

It's been a real gift. The market co-operated nicely up till now, we downsized into a house that I love more than any other I've lived in and we got in a lot of good travel (which we'd been doing all along). I was there for DH in his final illness. Now, freed form counting vacation days, I can take as many days as I want to visit DS, DDIL and my 3 grandchildren 3 hours away (haven't seen them since February but looking forward to it soon), visit my siblings and widowed Dad in SC, and travel to more exotic places. I've left bits of DH's ashes in India, Nepal, France, Scotland, the Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Iceland, Mexico and Bolivia as well as a few places in the US. (DH knew this was the plan. he liked it.)

The only real shock was ACA- premiums went from $440/month in 2015 to $900/month in 2018, my last year before Medicare kicked in. Every year the network got crappier. The good news was that I never had anything more serious (or expensive) than a raging case of poison ivy during the ACA years.

The "when to take SS" decision was easy for me- I'm getting a Survivor benefit on DH's record and letting mine grow. I'm 67 and hoping to wait till I hit 70. I still haven't recovered from the market crash in March but right now my invested assets have gone up by 1.5% annually since I retired so my withdrawals are sustainable. That includes a very expensive year in 2016 when we downsized

Originally Posted by GWoodle

Hope most here are healthy enough to work thru Full Retirement Age.

Fortunately, I didn't have to!