They say hindsight is 20/20, so here is my question to you retired folks. And this is all in today's dollars
A little background, I am 54, if I retire at 66 my income will be as follows. This counting I never save another dime.
About 60K per year with zero debt and a paid off house. And about 200k in savings, And an office Bldg about 350K, but I am counting on renting it forever, and passing it on to the kids.
So here is my question from now until I retire I feel I should do what I want, Take lot's of vacation and not worry about saving too much more.
What I am deathly afraid of is, I continue to work very hard and drop dead before I ever do retire.
Should mention I do love my job and it fairly low stress.
So for those of you that have been there done that is my thinking correct? Or should I worry about saving more, or do something in between? Want to do stuff now while we are in good health.
My observation of friends/relatives who have retired is that for about seven years they get along well. After that, inflation and expenses start to take their toll.
My husband was offered early retirement when he was 59. He took it and has played around ever since. The only thing that makes our present life okay is that we have a small apartment rental in a very desirable location. Our health is good and we are able to manage and do many of the repairs on the rental ourselves. The rental value is essentially in the land. At some time, we will accept one of the many offers we receive for our building, but I don't want to outlive our resources.
You situation sounds good because of your income producing property. After about six months of leisure, my husband needed something more meaningful to do and began doing volunteer work. You may discover that retirement will grow boring if that is all you have going on. Whatever you decide, good luck.
rvdogmom40 wrote: My observation of friends/relatives who have retired is that for about seven years they get along well. After that, inflation and expenses start to take their toll.
My husband was offered early retirement when he was 59. He took it and has played around ever since. The only thing that makes our present life okay is that we have a small apartment rental in a very desirable location. Our health is good and we are able to manage and do many of the repairs on the rental ourselves. The rental value is essentially in the land. At some time, we will accept one of the many offers we receive for our building, but I don't want to outlive our resources.
You situation sounds good because of your income producing property. After about six months of leisure, my husband needed something more meaningful to do and began doing volunteer work. You may discover that retirement will grow boring if that is all you have going on. Whatever you decide, good luck.
It's not that I want to retire now, I would be bored to tears I think.
My question is, until I do retire, I think I should really enjoy life and not worry about saving a whole lot more. Money in the bank won't do much good if you are sick or dead JMHO
What I am deathly afraid of is, I continue to work very hard and drop dead before I ever do retire.
So for those of you that have been there done that is my thinking correct? Or should I worry about saving more, or do something in between? Want to do stuff now while we are in good health.
Keep in mind that HEALTH IS THE REAL WEALTH.
Why not do both - keep working AND do some extended vacations. You will know when it is time to retire - the "burn out" will hit you.
"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane"
GMC Duramax/Allison (LBZ)
Komfort 277TS Our Rig Picture
Reese Dual Cam HP
Lots of other stuff nobody cares about
I had an assistant chief that was giving me fits. I was on my way to a heart attack, trying to do my job and part of his. One of those, "when you get through with that, this is what I need you to do", situations. This was a daily thing and I never got caught up. Anyway, I saw the writing on my tombstone and decided to get out at 55. You would not believe how easy it is to be retired. We travel about 3-4 months per year and basically do what we want to.
If you have no health issues and enjoy what you are doing, then by all means continue to work. However if you are stressing then take the short road out the door. It does not take a lot of money to be retired, even if you don't do any P/T stuff to get out of the house. (I deliver automobiles for a couple of the local dealerships)
Unless you have a huge demand for a rich lifestyle, your finances will be great.
Enjoy while you still can get around and do a lot of physical things.
see you on the road
Too much of a conundrum for me to try an answer. If I could have seen the future when I was your age, I would not have retired early, would have put much more in my savings (and lost less in the two massive downturns the market took)and would still be holding on to the cash cow business I owned.
No one can give you advice based on the terms you use--you don't know how long you have to live/be healthy, none of us know either. We cannot know what our needs will be ten to fifteen years down the line or the reality of our existence.
I will tell you what I tell my kids--keep everything paid off and save as much as you can, invest wisely, and pray for good luck in those investments. In my experience, you cannot have enough in savings--there is no "too much" in that regard.
Old Saying: "I never met anybody on their deathbed that said that they wished they had spent more time at the office."
I retired at 53 because I could, but I worried that I would get bored, especially because I liked what I was doing. That was 12 years ago, and I haven't regretted it for one minute. I go where I want, when I want, and stay as long as I like. I play golf when the weather permits, or go where the weather is better.
Is there a downside? You bet. Those Monday holidays that I used to love, now cause problems trying to find a place to park the rig.
Like you, I worried that I would be bored, but I now realize how much of my life I wasted while working. I haven't been bored once. I'm just doing things that I didn't have time for when I worked. When the time is right, cut it loose - you won't regret it.
for what it is worth;
I retired at age 67. I am now age 73.
I have no debt and no mortage and a goodly amount of stash.
My wife and I live month to month on our social security and are having a ball.
We race both canoes and kayaks and also paddle them in the wilderness.
I honestly don't know how I got my home chores done when I was in the work force, since now I never seem to be able to keep on top of them.
There is nothing that I want that I can't have.
Am I happy? -You bet your sweet bippy I am, and I hope I never have to get off the train, although I know it is inevitable someday.
Every day is a gift. Enjoy today and take those vacations but do not waste money. Still try to save some of your cash but you can probably ease up on it a little. I wish that I had spent more on toys instead of putting so much in the market to get crushed in the down turn.
I just retired at 60 because the challenge was taken away and I was very very bored with it. I love not going in to that place and staring at the wall.
Retirement to me is doing what you like to do without giving up family time. If that's where you are today then keep working.
I might go back to work someday, but not in the near future and it will be a job that does not follow me home.
We both retired at 55 and never regretted it. Each of us did something part time for a few years just to keep our hand in, but not on a regular basis. Neither of us understands how we had time to work. No boredom whatsoever.
I don't think your 200K is enough of a cushion, to be honest, and the 350K for your building is not liquid. You don't mention health insurance and if you can carry it into retirement. That is a biggie. You won't get Medicare until you are 65, and you can't take SS until you are 62. Even with Medicare you will need supplemental insurance.
I'm all for retiring early and doing things while you are healthy, but I don't know that you have enough financial protection. My 2¢.
Pat
May the road rise with you, the wind be always at your back.
Offline
