Yesterday marked 9 years since I retired

January 31, 2008 was my last day of work. I retired at 55 and 3 months. Haven't look back and have no regrets. Life is good. We were savers our entire life and now we are spenders.

Medicare starts in November and will be a 50% savings over what I'm paying now. Woo hoo, more money for Vegas.

This is a little preaching...save while you are young and watch it build over time. If you save, you don't have to work until you have one foot in the grave, unless you want to, but then it is your decision.

 

Congrats! My lovely wife just retired in January after 30 years with the county sheriff's department, and she's already loving every minute. She's headed for Vegas already - Super Bowl trip with one of our sons and his family. We also have a June Grand Canyon/Utah parks hiking trip planned. I'm a part time slacker, so I don't plan on retiring for a few years....

 

Congrats, Joe! I'm 4 and a half years into my retirement. Permanent vacation. To quote the immortal Bachman-Turner Overdrive, "I love to work at nothing all day, and I've been taking care of business".

 

Congrats on retirement, Joe!

I find myself thinking (dreaming!) more and more of that beautiful day when I retire. My prayer is that I am financially and physically sound when I do.

 

Love that song!!

 

Joe, I retired ten years ago at roughly the same age as you. Seems like another lifetime, now. Here in Canada, luckily many of us have defined benefit pension plans (which we paid a lot into while working) and relatively cheap health care. Adding Canada Pension Plan (available to all who work) and Old Age Security allows a comfortable income ... and a lot of trips, many of which include Vegas.

Continue to enjoy your retirement!

GG

 

Wow, congrats Joe. Near the end of this year I will have my minimum 30 years so I am eligible for retirement. I will hit 60 this year, I was planning on retiring when I hit age 62 but with work sucking so much I am considering retiring at the end of the year. I will only be making 65% of what I make now (will be about $45k a year) but with my mortgage paid off in a few months (only have 5k on it) I know that I can financially handle it. Plus I have social security to look forward to and when my mother dies my bro and I will get all her properties (1 house, 3 condos) so I should be making enough for the rest of my life, barring any unforeseen expenses like health issues.


Not sure if I am ready for the retirement scene but work is really starting to get to me. Our jackass department head doesn't give us mainframe programmers any respect. He says that he can rewrite our major systems (drivers license and motor vehicle registration) from cobol to whatever in just 9 months each but he can't even rewrite our minor systems in that period of time. We had some small systems, it's been 7 months and they aren't even close to rewriting even one of them, at this rate we anticipate it will take him at least 3 years to rewrite one major system. In the mean time we are losing our mainframe programmers, just lost 2 in the past month so there are only 4 of us left. I got reassigned last year to one of the major systems (and I know nothing about it) and now because of retirements I am the only one left to handle it. The department head is hiring replacement people but they have no mainframe experience (and he is using them for his own stuff) so I am left to fend for myself on a major system that I have little knowledge about. sorry, just bitching now but guess that's why I am seriously looking at retiring at the end of the year. Too much stress since there are continual changes due to fed and state rules or laws coming up every year.

 

im not sure I will ever be in a position to retire...

 

I went out on my birthday in 2004 at 57----so I have quite a few years in retirement now. I collect a pension of 80% of my salary. They pay 90% of my insurance ( although with ACA, my contribution has begun to creep up...*sigh*.) But life and health are good.

 

Me too Bondy..crazy thing is I work in an upscale retirement community and have for 18 years.No company matched IRA plan for employees...You would think that these people would be the first to consider that may be an important benefit to the employees who wait on them hand and foot as they are living off of their pensions and IRA's? No..
They actually made a big deal about giving a few grand to a few of the collegians working there for scholarship money...Really works for me at age 59.
SMH

 

I was the squirrel with the nuts who saved. I started saving the day I got my first real paying job in 1973. There were other jobs all through HS and college, but my first real full-time job with benefits. No IRA or 401-k back then, but still a portion of every check went into the credit union. We did have profit sharing and I maxed that out every year.

When the IRA and 401K eventually came along, maxed out those. I never though I gave anything up while saving. It just takes a little self control on spending.

 

My old man is in his 29th year of retirement....we should all be so lucky!

Don't think he ever made much more than 50k a year, but always saved and always invested smartly, and now continues to enjoy a comfortable middle class life.

 

Congrats on the milestone, Joe!

I'm still punching the company clock twice a day.
We don't have a timeclock. I just like punching the clock.

RICHARD

 

You're my hero, Joe! I wish I had the discipline and foresight like you had in 1973. Back then (before I met my wife) I lived paycheck to paycheck, going to discos with the boys (remember discos?, lol!!) and spending like there was no tomorrow.

Then I met my beautiful wife. She taught me to grow up and be a responsible person. Thanks to her I have a beautiful family and a decent nest-egg. I'm looking forward to retirement in 1 year, 10 months, 14 days, 15 hours, 27 minutes, and 32 seconds. And counting!

There are so many things I'm excited about when I retire. One of them is visiting Vegas more often, hopefully 4 or 5 times a year like you do!

Here's wishing you many, many more years of retirement bliss.

 

That's awesome Joe, and yes, I am jealous. Every morning I wake up and wish I didn't have to get up and go to work.
On the bright side, I 'could' retire at the beginning of December of this year under the 'rule of 90' (I've been a state employee for over 30 years), and I would be on the doorstep of turning 56 years old if I would chose to retire this December.
The downside, is the damn insurance. While I could work and continue to carry the same insurance the killer is carrying the spouse, which adds about another $1200 to the premium. If I did that it cuts a huge chunk into my retirement. Again, I continue to look on the bright side and think that when I become unofficially retirement age, at about 62 I would collect almost about what I am making now with my defined benefit plan, my 457 plan, and SS. Plus, the only bills we continue to carry are those we carry on a monthly basis, such as basic utilities, cell phone, home taxes & insurance, etc. In my frugal mind, I guess there will never be enough money, but I think I am my own worse critic.....who knows....????

 

Congrats Joe, I'm thinking of retiring this year(will be 57), one thing I'm worried about is what will i do all day, did you have that worry or does it all just fall together?

 

That's a good question, Merlin - one I get asked often. My answer is that you find other things to do and really enjoy the ability to do what you want, when you want ... like a last minute trip, to Vegas or anywhere else!

GG

 

After 35 years at the same employer and hating my job for the last 10 years I was there, I just wanted out. I didn't consider the consequences, but it has all worked out well. As GG said, do what you want, when you want.

The one thing that surprised me was I always fancied myself to be a good cook. For years leading up to retirement, I saved hundreds of recipes I was going to try when I was done. Now, we eat out more then we every did while working and those recipes have fallen by the wayside. We still cook, but not as much as I envisioned.

 

I am looking forward to spur of the moment trips, I've even thought about drivng to vegas(in the summer), seeing sights along the way.

 

Congrats Joe
I too hope to retire at 55 (I am 50 now) - but hubby is 5 years younger and will still be working.....could be a good thing or could be lonely. He tells me to go for it - retire early just don't go to Vegas without him!! LOL