Retirement

At 70 I’ve given some thought to retirement although I firmly believe as the Amish do in 

Celebrate  work.  

There will come a time in everyone’s life that real work is no longer possible.  I’m hoping for me that will be more than 5 years in the future.  

In my working career I’ve only seen one person retire.  In fact my late wife worked up to 45 days before her passing and only applied for social security a week or so before she passed.  

Is there anybody here who is retired, no longer  working  for a paycheck, either full or part time?

When do you plan on retirement.  What provisions have you made for income besides Social Security?  

By the time I'm 70- I should be retired for 15 years.  I don't plan on defining my life by work.  And I would like to enjoy life outside of work.

In other words, I'm working to live, not living to work.

If I do what appears to be "work" when I retire, it will be for fun, not for the paycheck.

I plan on retiring at 50.  Hoepfully sooner.

The provisions I've made include heavily funded retirement accounts and taxable investments.

If I get tired of the rat race before then, I may 'retire' in my early/mid 40s to a part-time gig.

My parents and inlaws all retired in their late 50s.  I can't imagine waiting until 70

At 39, I am not retired but I certainly intend to.  I have been saving at least 17% of my pre-tax income to work toward that goal and intend to live primarily off passive investment income.  Virtually everyone I know has retired (at least partailly) by their early sixties if not sooner.  Most of my older family members (parents, aunts, uncles) have very good pensions from government work, but that has become less common for people of my generation.  Or maybe I just messed up by not going into public employment...

At our current rate of investment, with average market returns we'll be done by age 55. Raises, surprise windfalls or better than average returns will bump that up. Job loss, unexpected medical issues etc will delay it. That's still over 20 years away, so we'll see what goes down  between now and then and remain flexible.

To make that happen, we fund retirement accounts well and make sure we remain diversified.

We keep expenses pretty low.

The house will be paid off by age 42-43.

Social Security will be gravy when/if that happens.

I doubt I will ever completely retire. I'll stop doing what I do now eventually, but I'll always have some kind of gig going on that generates income. 

I would love to retire at 60 (12 years from now) with the hope I'm still young and healthy enough to do a lot of the outdoor hobbies I'd like to do.

The elephant in the room of early retirement is health care.... 

I’m one of those government guys.  So a mix of pension, TSP, and social security will fund my golden years.  Probably at around 60 but that isn’t written in stone.  (I do wish i’d Stayed active duty back in the day, there would already be a retirement check coming in.  Sigh)

I don't have a thing to worry about. By 70 I'll be dead. 

If you only have social security to fall back on, you may be working for a long time.

I hope to retire when I'm 57.  I have my 401k, my Air Force pension, rental income from my building and income from the sale of my business, along with stock accounts.  And social security, if its still there when the time comes.

Ian F said:

I would love to retire at 60 (12 years from now) with the hope I'm still young and healthy enough to do a lot of the outdoor hobbies I'd like to do.

The elephant in the room of early retirement is health care.... 

One has to hope that many have access to the company health care from the early retirement to when Medicare is fully in place.  I know I do.

The other issue for that is where- some places have better hospitals and doctors than others.

Barring hiccups or windfalls, I'll be "ready" at 49, which is in 7 years. But I'm not sure what my brothers and I will decide to do with the "day job" business which we own together. Maybe we'll hire management to run it for us, maybe we'll keep on doing it. I'm fortunate in that many of the things I enjoy doing happen to generate income. A lot don't, and some cost medium-to-large sums of money (racing), so even in "retirement," I'll probably keep doing some of the income generating activities so I don't feel like racing is eating into my retirement income too much. Of course, some would argue I'm already partially retired, given that I'm only working 3 days a week. Not exactly a grueling schedule.

For retirement income, since I'm planning on being ready early, I don't count on Social Security. I use index funds to invest as much of my take-home pay as I can. Some years it's over 50%. My business is also valuable but it's not going to be sold given the family history here. I plan on being able to fund my family in retirement from stock investments.

My mom retired more than 20 years ago. Now, at 77, she's still very active. Her hobby is quilting, and she works part time at a quilt shop, teaches classes there, helps run a quilt guild, goes on quilting retreats, the whole thing. I won't be able to retire as early as she did (she was a public school teacher with an actual pension), but I certainly plan on following her example. Just not sure what that will mean yet.

The car habit + divorce and layoffs the last few years, my retirement plan is basically non-existent. 

The way I've lived, I don't see 70 happening. As long as I can continue to save, have fun, and make sure the better half is taken care of, I'm OK with it.

My plan was to punch out at 66.  Now a few months away from 65, I 'm not sure I can make it there at my current job. I hate filling out a time sheet with a purple passion.  I have seen a few too many people retire and then die within a couple of years.   And I have dodged the C bullet 4 times, including he one that got Curmudgeon.   It may just be time.       

Health insurance will probably keep me working longer than I'd like.

I can start drawing from my 401(k) in a little over 3 years, but if I stay at my current employer another 7 years, I can keep my health benefits when I retire.

The upside is that I really enjoy my job, but I'm pretty sure I'd like retirement even more.  

We've been putting away pretty well.  House is paid off and DD#2 is almost out of college.  We plan to spend some money in the near future on some overdue renovations.

We hope to retire as soon as possible.  I like my job, I like my coworkers... but if I could quit tomorrow I'd put in my notice immediately.  I want to enjoy some relaxation time while it's still feasible.

At 53, realistically I am still about 8 years away.  I'd like DW to be able to knock off a year or more before that since she is 18 months older than I am.  She hits her benefits / pension threshold at 58, about 5 years from now.

I have to say I'm pretty lucky, I'm 65, and  I receive a Pension from NYC service after 21 years of employment.  Went to work on School Buses for another 12, been retired for 3.   All went according to plan, as my wife also worked for the Board of Ed.  Time off, etc.....  

But my body started breaking down.   OK, Social Security, here I come!!!  Joint replacements, plates in my neck, arthritis, etc.  Time to bail, and enjoy life, as my wife is also retired.  And to honest, I'm busier now, than when I was "employed".   The beauty of it, is you can now pick and choose, what you want to busy yourself with.

Never had money, never will.  Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.   Life is good.

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desparation."

     --Henry David Thoreau 

Based on current financial projections, I will be able to retire when I am 104.  Assuming of course that I ever find a job in the first place. 

the best I ever saw. I had a 95 year old neighbor who used to work for the rail road. He retired at 60 and lived 35+ years retired. He spent the first half traveling with his wife then the second tending to his garden. One day he came in from taking care of the law, took his usual nap, and never woke up.

seemed like a good retirement to me!

In reply to pinchvalve :

I am blessed. I have enough money to last me the rest of my life.  As long as I die by next Thursday.

I intend to work my whole life. I don't intend to have a job or be employed past 51 unless I can find a great job with good insurance. (Right now I have a terrible job with great insurance) I intend to walk away from this terrible job at 45. 7 years. My house should be paid off. My obligation to my children for school should be fully funded. And retirement should be more than adequate. It's just that insurance stuff.

Johnboyjjb said:

I intend to work my whole life. I don't intend to have a job or be employed past 51 unless I can find a great job with good insurance.

So you're planning on ending it at 52...?  Please don't.

My wife and I have age 40 in our crosshairs for "retirement". It wouldn't be a traditional retirement playing bridge / golf, just a level where I would feel comfortable quitting this life of cubical warfare.  My wife would consider teaching and I would start flipping boats or being a landlord. The critical part is that it would be on OUR terms. The one thing that may put a stick in my spokes is this recent Youtube obsession I have with Maule aircraft. That may mess with the numbers if I can't shake it soon!

As for others there are plenty of retirees, even young ones. You just don't notice it because you're stuck with the other suckers that haven't made it out yet or don't know better.