[fintstone]

I may have waited a bit longer than I needed to retire, but it was hard to walk away when I was finally making a good deal of money (peak earning years). That said, it is tough getting old (although better than the alternative) ...and tougher if you are broke. I would not really want to go back to the grind but do miss it a bit as I really don't have a lot of friends outside of work and few hobbies. I have a lot of delayed maintenance and "chores" to do...but they really do not interest me all that much (after my initial period of playing lumberjack, brush clearer, landscaper, and house renovator right after retiring). It is not fun anymore (even wrenching cars) and wish I could find reliable people to pay to do them for me. I have not had a lot of luck with that.

My wife retired a few years before I did and had already settled into a pretty sedentary and dull (for me) routine...so she really is not motivated to do a lot of the things I would like to do. I wish we had made adjustments so that she waited, or I jumped sooner (or a combination) so we were more on the same page. That said, it is a comfortable life although sometimes I feel like I should be doing largely kind of run themselves at this point.

We are waiting for 70 to start social security as the amount is significantly higher...about 8% er year after minimum retirement age (but does not increase after that). If we had something that we really wanted and needed more income sooner, I think we might change our mind since being past the full retirement age (66 and a few months for us) seems like a reasonable point. Currently we seem to not need SS or our 401K (living on pensions and rental income) ...so thinking those are more "insurance" for future long-term care needs.

The one thing I was shocked about in retirement was the cost of Medicare. I had never realized that the amount you paid (once covered at 65) was based on annual retirement income. In my case, my wife and I already had full coverage from the military retirement (Tricare) and subsidized coverage by Blue Cross...but both required I take Medicare (to reduce their expenses as Medicare pays first) ...but we each have to pay a significant additional amount for Medicare (due to adjusted gross income). This plays an issue if you take money from a 401K retirement account as not only do you have to pay taxes on it as if you are employed (non-Roth), but it drives up the Medicare payment for both of you the next year. Worse yet, when you are 73, you have to start taking required minimum distributions RMD from that 401K which drives that cost up every year. While these are good problems to have, I had not really planned for them.