winnietrey wrote: 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.
I think your thinking is correct.
I am retired at age 60.
I worked for the Tennessee State Department of Corrections for 20 years before I retired.
I am glad to be away from it.
From the figures you gave us, you will be fine if you do not save another cent.
Enjoy it.
IMHO, you have no problems now and are worrying about the future.
You love your job. So only cut back 50% of the job and enjoy yourself.
I would much rather spoil my kids while I am around to see them enjoy it.
Good luck to you and stay healthy.
The only issues you have are the ones in your mind because the rest seems to have been well managed.
You could be a multi-millionaire and not know it when you get ill. You could also be very poor and not know it when you get ill and enter community care services.
Enjoy what you have built and share while you can enjoy seeing the results.
Beyond these 'off the shelf' one liners I am not qualified to offer more.
a Post Employment Recreation and Leisure Specialist that believes "The best part of doing nothing is resting up afterwards!".
You should plan on a retirement income of about 80% of what it currently takes you to live. The only expenses that really go away when you retire are the extra clothes and commuting expenses that go along with working. If you retire before 65 (medicare) you may need quite a bit more to buy health insurance (unless you're currently buying it direct now).
The real wild card is inflation. Who knows what things are going to cost in 10 years. I would certainly try and enjoy yourself now, but I would be adding to the nest egg at the same time. Retirement can be great if you have some money to do the things you want to do. However, the past 18 months has caused a lot of grief for a lot of older people as their investments went down the tubes.
Mark
2000 Itasca Suncruiser 35U on a Ford chassis
2003 Ford Explorer toad with US Gear brakes,
ReadyBrute tow bar, and Demco base plate.
I retired at 57 (about 3 years ago) and have not regretted it one bit...and I loved my job. I just saw that 33 years of doing it was enough and wanted to have a "weekend" all seven days of the week. My wife retired 14 months after I did. We both have pensions and have a bit more than you in our deferred compensation plans. We haven't had to touch those funds thus far. Home, vehicles, and RV are all paid for. Not sure if I'll start collecting social security at 62 or wait a couple of years.
I haven't been bored for more than a few minutes yet. We've traveled, read more books, worked in the yard a lot, had more time to stay fit and healthy, tried out new recipes, finally took guitar lessons, and just plain found ways to enjoy our lives together.
I get together with other retirees from where I worked on a monthly basis and I'd say we're all pretty much in agreement....we don't know how we found the time to work before.
My advice to you: If you can afford it retire soon. There's no guarantee that you'll be healthy or even alive to enjoy your "golden years."
One other thing: A lady that worked for me and retired well before I did volunteers for Hospice. She told me that every one of her patients either says "I wish I would have..." or "I'm glad I did..." Once they find out their health is failing they know that they cannot go back and do those things they always wanted to. Or they are happy that they took the time to do whatever it was they wanted to.
winnietrey wrote: 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.
I think your thinking is correct.
I am retired at age 60.
I worked for the Tennessee State Department of Corrections for 20 years before I retired.
I am glad to be away from it.
From the figures you gave us, you will be fine if you do not save another cent.
Enjoy it.
Thank You , you think 60K with no debt I am fine? Seen half the world on my own and half thanks to US army, so don't really have any big desires for trips etc, just kind of RVing, kids, grand kids few brews little fishing etc. pretty low ball stuff
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