Retired at age 52

[tabs]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Honestly that all sounds like good old common sense conservative money management. Live below your means, save all that you can, invest wisely. Of course as the saying goes, common sense isn’t so common....

Again, well done! It’s not easy to swim upstream and ignore what “everyone” else is doing. As Dave Ramsey says, “live like no one else so you can live like no one else”.

Yeah and so fking what?

Honestly I know what that life style is..that is the way I was brought up, so this ain't no BS platitudes for me.....and you wana know what it ain't gona save you in the end. I would say 20 30 years ago it was great and sound advise, the way to go...but it is a joke now...you have one foot on a banana peel everyday...and it keeps getting slipperier everyday fking day...

I have been watching this stuff for 30 fking years...I know what they are doing or not doing...

Mostly it has been that Americans just don't want to fix it, they don't want to bite the bullet and suffer the pain that it would take. The politicians are not stupid they just go along to get along...

Now I think it is past the point of no fking return. I keep asking myself the question is it really that far gone???? Is there something I am missing??? I just don't see it????

[tabs]

Well well well the SP 500 is down 12 today...it will have to make a comeback and close above the previous high of 2914...for this rally to continue..or it will retrace its steps in a sell off to take profits..then it will make another run..which will have to make a new high or....

You see I have mastered the Zen of being one with the collective herd.....Moooo!!!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by tabs

.....

You see I have mastered the Zen of being one with the collective herd.....Moooo!!!

Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabs .....wrong herd !

[aschen]

Its amazing how much you save buy doing stuff yourself when you can. It is very satisfying as well. I cut my own lawn, my wife cuts whats left of my hair, no maids, etc. We are youtube certified in car mechanics, appliance repair, plumbing, HVAC repair, etc. My clothes are mostly from costco. We live quite cheap as well, at least well below our modest means. I know many of y'all are the same.

If you haven't invested heavily in the market, where is your retirement income coming from? Multiple rental properties?

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by KC911

Thanks for sharing McL! I bet a lot of us here share the same fiscally conservative principles..but lots of ways to get there!

Tabs, if it all goes "poof" tomorrow, and it could ....then I've had a blast for nearly six decades...baaah

Definitely lots of ways to get there! I've seen it done any number of ways.

I'm with you on it possibly going "poof" tomorrow. It's actually a huge part of my decision to pack it in, and take the time that I have left to really do what I want, and live the life I want to live.

Part of being fiscally conservative and responsible is having a "live for tomorrow" attitude. Being willing to sacrifice today, for the benefit of tomorrow. But nothing is guaranteed, some of us may not have a tomorrow.

I do have a sense of self satisfaction, as tabs points out, but it's not a sense that I've "beat the world" and have a guaranteed future. I don't think that at all. I do feel that I've put myself in a position where I can start living more in the present, rather than being so focused on the future. It's a mind shift, and for me a positive one.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by aschen

Its amazing how much you save buy doing stuff yourself when you can. It is very satisfying as well. I cut my own lawn, my wife cuts whats left of my hair, no maids, etc. We are youtube certified in car mechanics, appliance repair, plumbing, HVAC repair, etc. My clothes are mostly from costco. We live quite cheap as well, at least well below our modest means. I know many of y'all are the same.

If you haven't invested heavily in the market, where is your retirement income coming from? Multiple rental properties?

Saving money by going to COSTCO to buy your cloths...ohhh come on...if you really wanted to save money you would be shopping at the Thrifts....like a lot of formely MC Americans are now doing...lets get real here!

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by aschen

Its amazing how much you save buy doing stuff yourself when you can. It is very satisfying as well. I cut my own lawn, my wife cuts whats left of my hair, no maids, etc. We are youtube certified in car mechanics, appliance repair, plumbing, HVAC repair, etc. My clothes are mostly from costco. We live quite cheap as well, at least well below our modest means. I know many of y'all are the same.

If you haven't invested heavily in the market, where is your retirement income coming from? Multiple rental properties?

Right. "A penny saved is a penny earned" isn't exactly right. A penny saved is much MORE than a penny earned, because in our modern world you have to earn a penny and a half, pre-tax, to save a penny post tax.

Yes, multiple debt free income properties.

[aschen]

I can't wear Draggin Azz jeans and I am too busy cutting the lawn to make a hobby out of finding the good stuff.

I guess we can call the $19.99 Kirkland pants an indulgence then. I quite like them though.

[WPOZZZ]

Congrats on the retirement! We're the same age (I'm 53) and I think it gets boring at times. My girlfriend keeps me busy always wanting to go somewhere. If we were married/living together I don't know about seeing her 24/7. Your spouse okay with you always being around? She might tell you to go back to work. lol

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by aschen

I can't wear Draggin Azz jeans and I am too busy cutting the lawn to make a hobby out of finding the good stuff.

I guess we can call the $19.99 Kirkland pants an indulgence then. I quite like them though.

The $14.99 skinny Izod pants are better. lol

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by aschen

I can't wear Draggin Azz jeans and I am too busy cutting the lawn to make a hobby out of finding the good stuff.

I guess we can call the $19.99 Kirkland pants an indulgence then. I quite like them though.

Haha. I have to admit I get a subversive sense of silent pleasure wearing my $8 tee shirt when I'm at a BBQ with my broke friends in their $150 shirts.

My wife gives me a hard time and asks "Why are you dressed like a hobo?"

(Of course my answer to that is obvious!)

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

Congrats on the retirement! We're the same age (I'm 53) and I think it gets boring at times. My girlfriend keeps me busy always wanting to go somewhere. If we were married/living together I don't know about seeing her 24/7. Your spouse okay with you always being around? She might tell you to go back to work. lol

My wife works. She has a job she loves, plus she's needs a formal job to stay busy (we're very different that way). Also, she took around 15 years off to be a full time stay at home mom to raise our kids. So she doesn't have near the "workforce mileage" on her that I have. She'll work at least another 7-8 years.

[fintstone]

Was thinking about retiring...but then came across a 997 that looks awfully nice. Maybe work is not so bad.

Congrats.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Definitely lots of ways to get there! I've seen it done any number of ways.

I'm with you on it possibly going "poof" tomorrow. It's actually a huge part of my decision to pack it in, and take the time that I have left to really do what I want, and live the life I want to live.

Part of being fiscally conservative and responsible is having a "live for tomorrow" attitude. Being willing to sacrifice today, for the benefit of tomorrow. But nothing is guaranteed, some of us may not have a tomorrow.

I do have a sense of self satisfaction, as tabs points out, but it's not a sense that I've "beat the world" and have a guaranteed future. I don't think that at all. I do feel that I've put myself in a position where I can start living more in the present, rather than being so focused on the future. It's a mind shift, and for me a positive one.

Since I became 60 I am aware time is running out to...that is part of it...

I used to send emails to CNBC in the morning which they would read in real time while talking to their guests...One morning Ken Langon (Home Depot) and Drunkenmiller (capital mgt) were the guests talking about deficit and debt..you know Tea Party kind of stuff..Simpson Bowles stuff. ...I wrote them that they stood to lose everything that they had worked and sweated for, for their entire lives...Langon couldn't lift his head up and stop staring at the desk after he read what I wrote to them. It struck an emotional cord as he knew what I was saying was true. It is a sad thing...to have to say. But it is reality.

[Hugh R]

congrats, I retired at 64, five months ago. Its don't that I didn't enjoy my job, or that I couldn't do it, it was because I could.

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by McLovin

My wife works. She has a job she loves, plus she's needs a formal job to stay busy (we're very different that way). Also, she took around 15 years off to be a full time stay at home mom to raise our kids. So she doesn't have near the "workforce mileage" on her that I have. She'll work at least another 7-8 years.

She's covering your medical, right? That's a big chunk. A few years ago I was paying $14k in medical premiums a year. I change plans and now it is about $10k a year and creeping up.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Haha. I have to admit I get a subversive sense of silent pleasure wearing my $8 tee shirt when I'm at a BBQ with my broke friends in their $150 shirts.

My wife gives me a hard time and asks "Why are you dressed like a hobo?"

(Of course my answer to that is obvious!)

I buy those $150 shirts for less than $8. I don't get real excited about 150 shirts..when I get to 300 shirts then I smile just a bit....at about 600 shirts is when i get excited and find it hard to contain myself.

When I walk among all the rich swells with their Gucci and their Ferragamo's on they don't know that I paid about $25 total for my same brands ensemble that they are wearing... Shoes, socks slacks, belt, shirt and watch.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by aschen

I can't wear Draggin Azz jeans and I am too busy cutting the lawn to make a hobby out of finding the good stuff.

I guess we can call the $19.99 Kirkland pants an indulgence then. I quite like them though.

You can buy better than Kirklkand Jeans all day, everyday at a Thrift for less than $8.00. I know you are just a big spender...throwin your cash around like you is a millionaire or sumthin.

[ckelly78z]

At 53, I would love to retire anytime, but will most likely have to wait until 60 when I can pull from the large 401K, and collect my 25 year company pension. My issue has been, and will be health insurance. I have no house or car payments, and have cash in bank accounts, but I have also hit my insurance out of pocket limit almost every year.

I live in a flyover state on a 10 acre homestead farm, and wear Wrangler Jeans with t-shirts, we fix all of our own healthy meals, I pack my lunch to go to work, I drive a $3000 2004 Mustang GT, we go camping for entertainment with friends, and we both wear clothes out rather than buying new seasonal clothes. No reason to buy from thrift stores when you get good mileage out of Costco clothes.

I see so many friends and aquaintances playing the "beat the jonses" game by buying/leasing new cars/trucks/toys/boats/campers at the limit of their income, wearing designer clothes, and going on extravagant vacations/entertainment venues. I just shake my head, and chuckle to myself about their future.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

She's covering your medical, right? That's a big chunk. A few years ago I was paying $14k in medical premiums a year. I change plans and now it is about $10k a year and creeping up.

At 65 the whole game changes....you is on the govt cheese....MeDiCare..