Retirement

[PigButtons]

At 49 I moved just outside of Huntsville, AL with my wife. She was a pharmacist and made good money, I was a computer geek and had a small nest egg. She agreed to work on and I'd take a few years off to build our house in the country. We received our Certificate of Occupancy 17 years later, that was 2 years ago. We were debt free and her job was going down hill so we both retired. We built our house debt free and it's a doozy. We love being retired and life is good.
I had never built a house before and I chose poured in place concrete with a concrete hyperbolic paraboloid roof. I would do it differently now but I persisted and we love where we live. Had stage 4 Lymphoma in 2009 and two years ago the clinic released me from their care cancer free, Praise God. I hope to live a few more years to recoup some of that Gov't confiscation savings. Wouldn't want to go back to work even if I had the chance. I'd rather spend my final days serving the Lord, shooting, and playing golf, in that order.

 

[hoz53]

Yeah, then you'll be able to afford that thousand dollar walker, the ones us early takers can only dream about.

The only reason I didn’t take it at 62 was you have to pay it back after you earn a small amount (to me) each year. Ive got a year and a half to go. Ive survived okay so far. Like you I don’t seem to have time to shoot all my bullets, powder ect up. The stuff I’ve got to do never ends, so I just do the stuff I wanna do. And don’t forget your daily range trips.

 

[JimT]

Yeah, then you'll be able to afford that thousand dollar walker, the ones us early takers can only dream about.

Without a doubt early takers are justified based on their health and financial circumstances. In my situation that is not the case. I was just trying to point out another aspect that should be taken into account.

 

[AWS]

I retired in 1980 for 7 years I was 34 and found it difficult to make ends meet after the drop in the fur market and no other income, but I did have fun hunting, fishing and trapping across northern WI and MN. I decided to put together a grubstake for the second retirement. Retired in 2008 at 62 with our home and vehicles all paid for a fair bit invested and my SS plus wifes SS and we live great in a very inexpensive part of the country that has great hunting and fair fishing plus we can travel anywhere. There are never enough hours in the day and momma always has projects. Last year was two pergolas in the yard and her sewing room over my shop. This year was exposed beams in the ceiling and an irrigation system for her flower gardens so we can go and spend a week in CO at the hotrod show and fishing with my daughter. Then it is time to get ready for coyote hunting, duck hunting and quail hunting and throw in some doves for tacos. Then it is carp shooting with the bow, bass fishing and large catfish, getting the garden in and the list goes on and on and there is no time clock. If I go back to the shop for a tool and get interested in a reloading project the reason I went to the shop for a tool for will wait until tomorrow.

Life is GOOD, retirement is WONDERFULL.

 

[Old Navy]

I can sum all 6 pages up in one sentence. When to take SS is not a one size fits all decision.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

I can sum all 6 pages up in one sentence. When to take SS is not a one size fits all decision.

I hate, a smart asszz ,.. LOL !

 

[JimT]

Another variable you need to account for in calculating a break even point are Federal and State taxes you might owe.

 

[284winner]

I have retired twice, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

I think retirement happens only once. When you leave a job for another job or leave one and start another, that's not retiring. Retiring IMO is never working again after leaving your last employment and collecting a pension or able to draw your 401. I worked with guys that said they retired 4 times. I suppose it's each person's definition but retirement is the last chapter in a person's life. The golden years they say. Last chapter and the shortest of them all. Even tho retirement comes early for many, time passes fast at that point. Seems like triple the speed of the career years. One thing I will say is, retirement opens up your schedule 100% with zero commitments and only your (or the wife's) choice of priorities. That alone is worth retirement. To me, it's all what it's cracked up to be.

 

[284winner]

Retirement, is GREAT IF,.. you know how to,..
Hunt, Fish, Camp, Kaiyak, Hike, Reload, Target shoot, BBQ, take Grand kids to Park and BS on, the Internet !
The rest of you Guys,.. NEED to,.. keep Working !

With an itinerary like that, either your pension is incredible, your 401 is busting at the vault door, you married a bank or your Jeff Bezo's. In any case, all those take $$$ and while I do many of them, I can't do them all. I didn't add or subtract any of what I did while I worked but I do them all about the same. If I did them alot more often, I would need another job.

 

[762willdo]

My doctors have made it clear that I will never see 65 and maybe not 60 so I retired at 55, a year ago, been bored but shooting is the only thing I have the energy to do any more, though walking a hundred yards to hang the target takes it out of me. I worked a good job and my wife has health insurance for life and 7 figures in the bank, my injures occurred in the military fighting Reagan’s war on drugs in Central America, I regret nothing.........

 

[jackieschmidt]

Stop your SS filing, right now. Wait another 13 months. Age 70 is the max for SS, and you're almost there. You'll get about 8% more at age 70 than you will now. I'm not saying to put off retirement; just don't file for SS so quick, unless you need the money. An 8% increase, for the rest of your life, is not to be taken lightly.

I have paid up my SS every year for the past 25 years at around mid June. So you can amagine how much I have paid in through the years.

I waited untill I maxed out at 70 to start drawing. When I went down to the local SS office to get the paperwork filed, the Lady behind the desk looked amazed when she asked me….”sir, do you know how much you will get every month”?

I look at it as free money. Never Ned it, never really thought about it. The downer is the IRS takes out their share before my check is deposited.

By the way. It is amazing how many people still think you have to ”retire” to start drawing your SS.

 

[hoz53]

I have paid up my SS every year for the past 25 years at around mid June. So you can amagine how much I have paid in through the years.

I waited untill I maxed out at 70 to start drawing. When I went down to the local SS office to get the paperwork filed, the Lady behind the desk looked amazed when she asked me….”sir, do you know how much you will get every month”?

I look at it as free money. Never Ned it, never really thought about it. The downer is the IRS takes out their share before my check is deposited.

By the way. It is amazing how many people still think you have to ”retire” to start drawing your SS.

My dad never filed a Fed tax return the last ten years of his life because his income was low enough. Ive looked into it and I know you dont have to make much to have to pay fed tax on SS. Looks like ill be paying it for my days. I guess thats upward progress of the family.

 

[hoz53]

My doctors have made it clear that I will never see 65 and maybe not 60 so I retired at 55, a year ago, been bored but shooting is the only thing I have the energy to do any more, though walking a hundred yards to hang the target takes it out of me. I worked a good job and my wife has health insurance for life and 7 figures in the bank, my injures occurred in the military fighting Reagan’s war on drugs in Central America, I regret nothing.........

i am sorry to hear this and thank you for your service

 

[Bamban]

When our 1st grandkid was born, my wife went to work and told her manager she.is retiring to be a fulltime granny. She was 55 then, now at age 67 she is still happy she retired early.

I retired retired 10 years ago, I am about to turn 69 in September, I have no regrets either. Six years ago I started filling up the garage with machines and started to learn how to run them. Now have 4 lathes, a BP, and other stuff to keep me busy. I am not a gunsmith nor a machinist, just learning something new every day in the journey called metal machining. Learning and doing something you've never done before is good for the soul.

Here is one of the best parts of being retired, - do whatever and whenever you feel like doing.. Seven years ago after having coffee with the wife I asked if she would like to go for a ride. She asked where, I said, "I don't know, we'll just point your car West" Asked her to pack enough clothes for a week, and off we went. No plans, no reservations, I just made reservations on the fly for where we stayed for the night and where we would have dinner. Smart phones are great. We traveled through small towns and through big cities. There were times where we would stay at one place for a few nights, sometimes just for a night. Spontaneous is what I love about it.

Over a month later we were back home.

 

[rjtfroggy]

My dream was to buy a self contained smaller motor home pack it up and go see this great country of ours.
My reality, at 43 fell down a flight of stairs while fighting a fire and broke my lumbar spine 3 surgeries later the city forced me to take disability at 1/2 pay and I no longer had the flexability to work on furnaces, and SS said no to payments. At 62 SS let me file but reduced my benefits by 2/3rds and at 65 reduced it again for Medicare. Neither pension gets COLA.
Now at 69 I have had a total of 8 lumbar surgeries(fused tail bone to L3) 2 hernia surgeries, both elbows repaired for torn tendons, both hands done for carpal tunnel, and I am recovering from a complete bladder and prostate removal.
I can't walk to hundred yard to hang targets because both knees and my right hip are shot from back being out of line, but I still attempt to do all the maintainance around the house. I still shoot because I can drive down to targets but hunting is a no go because my state doesn't allow hunting from motorized vehicles.
The Lord must have a plan for me but my dreams were not part of it.
The saying about your older years being Golden isn't true, for many the only thing golden is your PEE.

 

[hogpatrol]

The cautionary tales in this thread cause me to wonder how many persons that were waiting until they were able to take the maximum have gone on to the shooting range in the sky because of the virus. I bet it's more than a few.

 

[284winner]

Been kicking that around myself. At age 62 taking the SS check or waiting ? Considering my father died at 38, mother at 53, I'm living on borrowed time. Think I'll take the check at 62. Never know what the big guy has in store. I did get a job offer a taxidermy studio for a couple days a week. Coming out of retirement isn't really appealing but I'm still pondering. It's not really work when I'm getting a great pension check covering all living expense. Doing something I love while putting extra cash in my pocket sounds appealing also. I'll do some more thinking and maybe when hunting season ends, it'll sound a little better. Winter does have it's draw backs

 

[JimT]

The cautionary tales in this thread cause me to wonder how many persons that were waiting until they were able to take the maximum have gone on to the shooting range in the sky because of the virus. I bet it's more than a few.

Less than 4% of people wait till 70 to claim. You can imagine the demographic we are talking about. Probably good health and intelligent. Most likely vaccinated against COVID by now to make sure their bet pays off.

 

[JFrank]

If you can afford it, I highly recommended it.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

With an itinerary like that, either your pension is incredible, your 401 is busting at the vault door, you married a bank or your Jeff Bezo's. In any case, all those take $$$ and while I do many of them, I can't do them all. I didn't add or subtract any of what I did while I worked but I do them all about the same. If I did them alot more often, I would need another job.

I've been IN, Mutual Funds and CEF's, since I was 31 Yrs old ( Now 74 ) Owned a couple of Businesses ( self employed, since 1971 ) owned some " good" Real Estate. Death and Divorce by 2 wives, "Got me", a couple of Times in my life ( Bankrupt & Poor,.. TWICE ! ),.. been trying to avoid that, "chit", ever since !
Now "Live" on, SS and, "can" spend those Monthly Dividends,.. IF, I "want" to. Mostly, just letting it, "Snowball" for, the Kids / Grand kids as, I live / spend, modestly. PS; most of that, "itinerary" doesn't cost that, much to do, when you live, close to IT, like I do. Good, Fishing, Hunting, Camping Target, Varmint, shooting, is all within, a Hundred Miles or,.. less ! OH, and my Parents were from, the Greatest Generation ( lived thru, the Depression and were "Savers" ) and they, left me "some", too ! God,.. HAS Blessed, me !