now that i am getting older, i see the error of my ways.
 

nobody to blame buy myself. i hang out with a bunch of coworkers my age. most of them were good students, and came out of college with a plan. work, save, buy property, etc.

they are retiring at 55. happy, healthy, comfortable.

i joke that dating ballet dancers derailed my early college days, but really that is just an excuse. i just didnt take life seriously. i started my career at age 29, not 22.

now? i'm just going to retirement parties, making killer goodbye speeches. i just found out one of my coworkers retired quietly. she filled out her papers and left..just quit showing up. she was 55. damn it!!

damn ballet dancers..they were so flexible!!

my brother is 4 years younger than me and he will retire before me. nothing better than a well laid out plan, executed properly. FAACK.

somebody invent a time machine. i just want to send back a note to myself.

but no regrats. none. :)

I feel ya. I'm right there with ya. (well, other than the ballet dancers, unfortunately)

In that note put in message to buy lots of Microsoft and Apple stock!

My dad got his commission into the Air Force when he was 24. He retired at age 51. His retirement pay was a very comfortable package and with great health insurance. He put in 27 years, traveled the world, and did his part in serving the country.

After being retired for a few months he was bored to tears, and went back to school and got another degree and worked as a drug and alcohol counselor trying to help people beat addiction.

My retirement plan is getting shaken to the core at 56.5 years old. As of 7-1-2022 The major Japanese corporation that I work for will be selling our division to a competing major Chinese manufacturer. I am a prototype engineer, and not sure of my future with this new company, because they are building a new R&D facility 2 hours North of me that I'm not really enthusiastic about commuting to. They froze our pensions, and offered everyone older than 58 a buyout (missed it by that much). hopefully I can milk the job I currently have for another couple years to make it to 59.5, or even 62, and then retire, but have to pay my own insurance. ARGHHHH !

I turned 57 in October and retired dec 31. so for it has been a glorious 12 days. had planned on a couple more years but the numbers worked out to leave now.

Going to retirement parties is a wake up call, when you start going to funerals you missed the boat.

I work in an industry where 14 hour days/ 80 hour weeks are not uncommon. Deadlines/ schedule changes add stress to the mix.

There's the typical "rumour" that the average retiree in our biz collects 9 paychecks!

On the plus side we have very good health insurance and pension plan. On the minus side, even though you have the years and hours they still want you to work until 65 to receive full pension.

I have seen friends and relatives retire that are younger than me. In fact, I have a nephew in the Air Force (E-9) who does nothing but talk about retirement and he's 42 y.o. GMAFB!

I think retirement is much more than just $$$ numbers.... for me its a decision of how I want to live, what I want to do, and have I accomplished what I want to in my career. I too have the friends that have retired young, and like to boast about it, but then I watch how they live.....and its not for me.
I like having a lot of expendable cash to do what I want, and frankly I want to do more in my career. Also, I must continue to support my Porsche fetish......

I should have bought Apple stock when the random stranger on a ski lift in 1999 said LISTEN TO ME! BUY APPLE STOCK! (true story... I didn't listen).

(also should have studied harder at UT and not partied my way through a 4 year degree in 5 years only to realize I wanted a different undergrad degree and started over at UH 5 years behind on life)

I have noticed that a lot of my fiends have either punched out of the"traditional" full time workforce or are planning too soon.

I have some theories concerning the link to CV in the BLS chart below, but no hard data.

A lot of what I am seeing and hearing is that many people realized just how little they have to spent to live well, and that a lot of the traditional post military career jobs these folks were in required a lot of travel and sacrifice: During CV, there were a lot of revelations concerning work/life balance.

The story behind the numbers will be interesting. I do wonder how many will re-enter the workforce.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1642007372.jpg

BTW, Vash, the only thing that saved me (I may have had a couple of cups of coffee in the dancer cafe and grill) was I stuck with the financial basics I was steeped in as a kid.

Dumb luck.

That and I got very lucky, as did you, marrying the right woman.

I retired as an O-6 11 years ago and really do not need to "work" (my wife is a GS-15 set to retire in a few years) but I enjoy working on fun projects with people I like. I get asked all the time to do consulting work for big defense firms but I won't. I like my little company and have an executable growth plan based on what my partner and I LIKE to do. The GP has a cap and an exit strategy.

When I retired from the AF, it just meant starting another job (but having a retirement check to invest). Most are just too young and too poor to stop working. In fact, I worked harder after I retired as I did a full-time job similar to my AF job but longer hours and was called back into the reserve where I worked until I aged out at 60 (ate up my weekends and vacation time). All paid off in the end though.

I worked part time, went to school part time and partied part time in my 20s. I was without a goal and discipline and finally graduated at 29 and went into the home building industry. My degree was in management, but I knew absolutely zero about building a house. I started from scratch, at the very bottom, sweeping houses and picking up trash. Moved my way up over the years, making great money, but residential construction has ups and downs and I’ve paid the price for that.

I will either work until I die or retire, living in a trailer in the middle of nowhere.😂

Edit: my mom is 93 and in the early stages of dementia/Alzheimer’s. It’s been very difficult and it’s not getting any better. I do NOT want to live my life like that or be a burden on my kids.

Think of it this way. The next few years will fly by (They seem to be speeding up for me), and when you're hanging out with others your age, you'll have the memories of those ballet dancers, and they wont.
My brother is 5 years younger than me, retired a couple of years ago when he was offered early retirement. His wife is quite a bit older than him and is also retired. The last time I talked to him, he said he was bored and was thinking of going back to work.

My original plan was to retire this April, but I think I need to wait. Not for the money, but the wife is younger than me, and I'm counting on being on her health insurance until I'm eligible for medicare, and if I quit she's going to want to as well. She's in healthcare and burnt out, so I get it.

older filmworkers drop like flies, when approaching retirement here, as well. Grips don't last long. Lotsa carps suffering/choking from medite dust. 17 hour days for many of the drivers - certainly not pretty. lotsa them die at work, in the cab. 1 so far, this year. 3 or 4 last year. i saw a driver drop - in the lunch line-up (on Psych) they covered the body, start yelling "walk around him, get thru that lunch line, we're losing the light"

I had to edit:)

Please do. I just went through the TRICARE to Medicare switch (interesting in that I didn't have to based on my wife's GS insurance, which is incredible) and I was very impressed with that agency and their advice.

The Social Security folks as well...I'll be 66 later this year and plan on getting the benefits, if available, at 66 and 6 months.

Sorry Vash!

I'm sorta in the same boat, but doing pretty good with assets. I don't want to sell our home on the water to cash in, but will probably have to at one point.

Time is going so fast now .......

Me too. I met the girl for me when I was still a teen. No oats to sow after that. We married young and started investing early as I did not expect to ever make a very large salary (came of age in the 70s recession where even dishwasher jobs were not available in my hometown). After enlisting, I was suddenly wealthy with money to save. E-1 pay was $4,492.80 a year ($374.40 a month plus benefits) and the wife and I could live on less...as we already had everything we needed (each other). Everything else had to fit in the trunk of my old car as the military did not pay to move folks under E-4 (over 4 years) back then. "If they wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you one."

An opposing argument is this. While my buddies went skiing, drinking, and bought new cars and stereos, I worked on my rentals and remodeled my home(s). I burned YEARS of free time in my side-gigs.

Today? Things are pretty peachy. I am still working but sort of "on the fence" about whether to continue or not. The only thing that is any sort of issue is housing cost. I live in a home that is larger and more costly than makes sense for a retired person.

My career was launched in the Oregon Recession of the 1980's. I was a super low earner for many years.

If I had to do it all over? I could have worked far less and had similar results. But since we can't go backwards, all we can do is re-assess and go forward.

Parting thought: Financial independence is all about balancing income with expenses.

If I move to a lower cost location I would be wealthier. Extreme example, I was in Turkey in October. It felt like being a Billionaire.

There are options.

My wife retired a few years ago. I now own my own business, and we are making money, but not super busy.

I have never worked at anything except photography since I was 15 and I shot my first wedding for $20.

I came real close to going to work for a major oil company in the corporate world of the movie Office Space. I ended up staying with what I know. I had to fund my own retirement savings.

My big break in life was finding my wife. She 30 years ago.

I retired 13 years ago after twenty years in the CG...I was 38 when I went back to the family ranch with dandy pension and bene's. When I look at all my classmates and family members around my age I feel pretty good about myself. The Last Crusade you know where the knight tells Indy he chose wisely yup that's me..-WW

This was a difficult decision for me. Wife and I both retire with subsidized Fed insurance (BCBS). We also had Tricare (Tricare for life now which is essentially Medicare). I never expected to spend much for Medicare, but the first year was almost $500 a month each. (plus each of our Fed BCBS payments). I am sort of afraid to drop any as of these as they paid everything when my wife had cancer a couple times (early diagnosis) and the bills I didn't pay were massive. The BCBS pays then Tricare/Medicare (so we generally pay nothing).

Sounds like Hollywood! We had a video playback guy drop on a show at WB. Paramedics pronounced him dead on stage and the producers insisted he be taken away with CPR being performed. Otherwise he would have laid on stage for a few hours until the Coroner could get there and hold up filming.

"i joke that dating ballet dancers derailed my early college days, but really that is just an excuse. i just didnt take life seriously. i started my career at age 29, not 22."

Sounds like you enjoyed yourself and still remember some of it, look at it a different way I had 8 friends that didn't make it to age 30, that changed how I looked at life.

I struggle with this. We have worked long and hard to reach retirement. The last thing I want is to lower our standard of living. If anything, I would like a better house in a better location...or maybe a vacation house in a more tropical climate to winter in.

I saw some of dad's bills near the end of his life. Page after page of extensive care, and the bottom line was always patient owes $0.00.

My wife dealt with insurance companies in her job at the university. She tried to get me to read all the different options and I told her to figure out what was the best option for us as she was the pro, and I will follow her advice, if she has any photography needs, I got that.

Good luck! I'd be concerned if I were in your position.

I get it! I too, aspire to the above. My wife planted a seed regarding a home in Italy a while ago. This is a very seductive dream.

But the question is? How long to enjoy? I ask myself this repeatedly. Every day.

Wow!

the diversity of this group is always appreciated.

thanks for letting me look at this from different angles.

I don't think it's worth worrying about. Make your life wherever you're at in whichever cycle - early, middle, or late. I sort of lived my life backwards, to the concern of my parents & family. I moved around, worked plenty of different jobs, spent a short stint in the army, put myself through school, did a lot of loose life traveling, & started teaching in my early thirties. I couldn't believe they paid me through summers, so I could continue traveling and spending time in the mountains. I didn't get rich, but part of the richness of life was the luxury of free time to do what I wanted in addition to a job I really enjoyed. I've been retired for 17 years now & am happy I had the opportunity to do things while I was young enough to do them effortlessly. I don't feel I particularly missed out on a whole lot, taking into consideration everyone's life is different and it's wasted time wishing you lived like someone else's life.

We have had everything paid off for the last 5 years, and 22% is currently going into my growing 401K. I will have 23 years of earned pension, but that won't be growing any higher. If I lost my job tomorrow, we would survive just fine compared to most of my co-workers the same age.

It's amazing how many folks have given no thoughts whatsoever to retiring, or the planning necessary, they just plan to keep working as long as possible ?!?

Perfect post, especially this:

Yes. Marv hit the nail on the head. It gave me comfort and perspective. Brilliant.

When I started my business my first employee was 17 years old and worked part time for me.

He had just moved here from Connecticut, his parents cashed out of their house and moved to Florida. They were in their early 50's and decided to take a mid life retirement. Take a couple of years off then go back to the grind. I thought that was an amazing idea.

In 2004-2006 my business took off, I was making more money than I knew what to do with. I thought about that couple and said, you know what, lets have some fun now while we are young and able.

There are some exceptions in this thread, your typical retiree worked until 65 then cannot do half the things they used to (cue all the internets awesome guys who still can, I said TYPICAL)

Cashflyer and I call that the great American Lie.

You bust your butt for 40 years and when you can finally retire you can barely enjoy life.

Therefore, I decided to have a LOT of fun in my 30's. If I had put all the money I pissed away in retirement accounts I may be considering it now. I have no regrets, we had a blast, we were always on adventures, we were in clubs partying, we were hiking trails in the mountains. I was racing cars (SCCA crap)

I do not see myself fully retiring until I am in my mid 60's, the key word fully.

I have a plan to scale back over the next 5 years (I am 55 now) and then going on more adventures, hopefully my body holds out, I have some damage I am dealing with now.

I also have to consider my in laws are in their late 70's now, my wife and I will probably have to take care of them. I suspect I am going to lose a few years to that as well. Which takes me back to my 30's, I had a lot of fun.

Right, I've known folks that got and went through millions of dollars and have nothing to show for it. Some of those folks were in their 30s and 40s. That sort of extreme lack of forethought is boggling.

We are doing OK, but not great. I wish I'd done a better job when I was younger, the power of compounding an all that.

Glad that you are going to be OK. It's just unfortunate (but life) that your plans may be changed for you.

i wouldnt trade my life for any other version. the "Devil i know".

my youth, was epic. i did pretty well, for a goofy chinese kid growing up in west texas. i had a blast.

i just want to retire while i still have the juice. energy, health, etc. i just KNOW the reason i can't. it was my youth..haha. i played. i'm still paying the cover charge.

This is what has pushed me to retire. It is starting to get a bit harder to do physical things and much harder to find anyone to do them with. I am in much better shape than the handful of folks I know that are my age that seem to struggle to do anything, and it scares the crap out of me that I may be right behind them. In fact, many have already passed in their 50s/early 60s. I would love to play some team or pickup sports, but there is not much opportunity...and not really into individual sports (never really did those). To me, retirement seems an opportunity to get more exercise and sleep...and eat better. Maybe do all the delayed or half-finished projects. I would start something new...but not yet sure what that would be. It is hard to travel and/or make new friends during COVID.

When I was in my early 20s, I always thought that I'd have at least 3 careers. That's because you get too old or lose interest in any line of work eventually, but there is always something else that you can do if you are willing and have a good outlook on life. If you're feeling trapped in your job, then obviously you just need to change jobs. If your friends all have you thinking that you hate your job but you don't actually hate it, then you need to change friends.

I think of retirement as ending one career and starting another one. I don't think of sitting around and doing nothing as my goal. My goal is to stay busy, set and achieve more goals, and not stop until I die.

My situation is a lot like JimS, and 930. But rather than play, I was starting from scratch and what I was doing was very very hard to do. I was like the guy in Steve Jobs' speech - the 1% that did not give up. I was paying my dues and now it's time to boogie. Instead of retirement I take time off, then come back to hit it hard. One of my biggetst accomplishments is to train others, make the business semi-automated, and make myself redundant so that I can think big thoughts and push back from the desk to contemplate it all.

I plan on going at 55, money will be tight. I do have two pensions, but going that early will mean they are only going to pay about half.

I’ve seen too many people working until they are 70 with bad joints and poor hearing- how fun is that? I want to go when I can enjoy it. I have many skills like most people here, we’re very handy and if I need money, I can always do something to fill the gaps; hopefully I won’t need to though.

I started late investing money and knew better, so all blame goes on me... I will for sure have enough money to go 5-10 years at my current lifestyle. After that I still have monthly pension checks and by then maybe SS.

Great line.

My only regret is not pausing more, appreciating the moment. I am getting better at it.

In retirement, I would stay busy in my shop fixing/refurbishing/selling mowers, and tractors that I buy for pennies all throughout the year. There are no titles, or sales tax, and all transactions are cash, so no records to keep. I can easily make a 200% profit in one afternoon, and can walk away from them whenever I want (no customer work). I would finish alot of projects around our 10 acre farm, go camping alot more, and do more hiking/biking/kayaking in neat places.

We would also step up our gardening/greenhouse, and raising chickens.