Practicing Retirement Before Retirement.

[nwslopoke]

I think the real plan for retirement is financial. Time will take care of itself. The finances dictates everything. Not foreseeing the future I found myself semi retired. No social security but not working or looking for work.

I think if you are in your late 50s to early 60s, if your company offers stock or 401k deals where you can consult with a retirement fund planner, definitely do. It should be free and you'll know how far behind or if possibly you can retire early.

Sometimes you don't know what you think you know. Given the opportunity I thought I would be shooting a ton more but I have found other things to do in the short term. I'll officially retire later this year.

 

[Colt Carbine]

The best part of retirement is watching my wife get up for work and tell her have a great day at work making me some money.

Funny thing about plans and schedules in relation to retirement. Life sometimes has a way letting you know your plans have just changed and you don't actually have a choice in the next chapter of life.

Careful what you wish for at this point in life, especially if you aren't financially prepared.

I was forced into retirement due to medical reasons at the young age of 60 years. If I didn't have a Plumbers pension to collect while I waited for my Social Security Disability claim to be Approved I would've been screwed. My claim was just approved and it took 9 months for this process take place. I won't see any benefit payments for at least another 60 days. All in all it'll be about 1 year to receive any benefit payments.

One saving grace that got me through this financial difficulty was I wasn't heavily in debt.

I'm not going to lie, it was hard at first wanting to work but couldn't work a physically demanding career anymore. My career kept me in great physical condition but at the same time wore out most of my joints and especially my back.

My mind says YES but my body says YOU'RE DONE.

I miss working and some of my coworkers but I don't miss the fast paced scheduling, all the egos, a$$ hole General Contractors, the political correctness I never adhered to, waking up at 4am, the commute to the jobsite, working in Oregon's rainy outdoor conditions, hot mechanical rooms, performing Yoga exercises in every imaginable position while on a ladder carrying heavy material to install overhead......I know I'm missing something to list.

I didn't wake up to an alarm this morning.

 

[The Heretic]

I think the real plan for retirement is financial. Time will take care of itself. The finances dictates everything.

Despite some significant ups and downs in the stock market/etc. (and therefore, my IRAs), me withdrawing $ from my IRAs the last 5 of my six years of retirement, and putting very little into it (the last time I "earned" income and was able to add to my IRAs was 5 years ago, and adding to it has limits by law) - my IRAs have grown by ~40% from when I was laid off and therefore retired.

Several times I had to withdraw some chunks of $ to pay for unexpected medical bills and car repairs. I also recently bought a pickup with a larger chunk and now I am considering buying a camper for it.

Add to that having a decent SS benefit due to above average taxable earnings before retirement, so far I am doing okay financially. I am able to pay my bills, the only debt I have is my mortgage, I can spend $ on my hobbies/preps and not worry much about finances.

 

[The Heretic]

I'm not going to lie, it was hard at first wanting to work but couldn't work a physically demanding career anymore. My career kept me in great physical condition but at the same time wore out most of my joints and especially my back.

My mind says YES but my body says YOU'RE DONE.

I miss working and some of my coworkers but I don't miss the fast paced scheduling, all the egos, a$$ hole General Contractors, the political correctness I never adhered to, waking up at 4am, the commute to the jobsite, working in Oregon's rainy outdoor conditions, hot mechanical rooms, performing Yoga exercises in every imaginable position while on a ladder carrying heavy material to install overhead......I know I'm missing something to list.

After 50+ years of working (and that doesn't count working on the farm/etc. before I was an adult) I don't miss working at all. I never liked working, not when I was able, certainly not my last couple of years before retirement. If I somehow had the $ to live on and support my family, without working, I would not have worked at all.

I worked hard and I earned what I was paid, but even though I found my later career work interesting and at times enjoyable, I much prefer being able to afford being lazy as I am now.

 

[nwslopoke]

Despite some significant ups and downs in the stock market/etc. (and therefore, my IRAs), me withdrawing $ from my IRAs the last 5 of my six years of retirement, and putting very little into it (the last time I "earned" income and was able to add to my IRAs was 5 years ago, and adding to it has limits by law) - my IRAs have grown by ~40% from when I was laid off and therefore retired.

Several times I had to withdraw some chunks of $ to pay for unexpected medical bills and car repairs. I also recently bought a pickup with a larger chunk and now I am considering buying a camper for it.

Add to that having a decent SS benefit due to above average taxable earnings before retirement, so far I am doing okay financially. I am able to pay my bills, the only debt I have is my mortgage, I can spend $ on my hobbies/preps and not worry much about finances.

Great to hear for you. I stopped working just before the end of 2024. It wasn't totally planned but my company was letting people know layoffs were coming. I was among the older employees and longest workers. Take the offer or risk getting nothing.

I didn't really know how retirement works. People don't talk about it. What's taxed. How an IRA (IRAs) really work. Hopefully most of your possessions are paid off so you don't need as much as you think you do. One unfortunate part is, you don't know what to ask and some planners only discuss what you ask.

Luckily, the 2nd lady I talked with shared a lot of game and I can be satisfied that I won't starve or be homeless. Had I talked to someone earlier, I may have been secure enough to take more financial risks while I was working to set myself up better for retirement.

 

[CountryGent]

What's your target amount for your Roth and is your retirement income going to be strictly your Roth IRA and social security? Any other investments income?

I think the real plan for retirement is financial. Time will take care of itself. The finances dictates everything.

This. There are many aspects to retirement planning, but the financial simply cannot be ignored.

On retirement vehicles, get in early, put in everything you can, rise and repeat, and watch that nest egg grow.

 

[The Heretic]

This. There are many aspects to retirement planning, but the financial simply cannot be ignored.

On retirement vehicles, get in early, put in everything you can, rise and repeat, and watch that nest egg grow.

I only started to really push earnings into 401Ks about 15 years before I had to retire (at 65-66 - my FRA) due to being laid off. Over my adulthood I was laid off many times, back in the early to late-ish 70s I was laid off more often than I was employed and often did not have enough income to support my family. After the military, then college, I got more serious about work experience/skills to earn income, but still didn't set aside $ into 401Ks until late 90s/2K, and even then I had to deal with unemployment, but I was very serious about paying off debt and then saving as much as possible.

If I had it to do over again, I would not have gotten my GF pregnant (I wasn't trying to, but I should have been more careful), been serious about going to college earlier and staying single, not taking on debt and saving. If I had done that, I would have been in much better financial shape today. Ten years of saving/investing can double your results.

 

[Jay Walk]

Fifteen (calendar) days.

and

Nine (work) days.

to go

 

[The Heretic]

Fifteen (calendar) days.

and

Nine (work) days.

to go

Being a "short timer" is nice. I only had about 4 hours notice to wrap up my stuff - literally; I was working from home (early COVID) and got a phone call to return everything to the office. I sent out some emails, drove to the office (fortunately traffic was light), then got all my gear from the two offices (I worked on two teams) and barely made it out in time.

Would have been nicer if they had given use more time (DTNA laid off about 200 people that day from what I have heard).

 

[Ballardguy]

I made a plan today to form up some .303 British brass into .40-50 Sharps Straight brass. And easy task compared to some cases I have to make, but like many plans I try to do in retirement, it failed miserably! While test fitting the brass in the chamber my old Ballard rifle locked up and wouldn't budge. I thought the firing pin was catching in the empty primer pocket, so cocked the hammer and removed the pin. No luck, and then the hammer was also stuck at full cock! Could it get any worse?
Eventually had to remove the set trigger plate and trip the sear to get the hammer down, and finally got the block out. Tore it apart to discover the hammer had cracked at a weak point on the hammer, so took it to a young welder friend and he quickly tig welded the crack and I was ready to reassemble. While it was all in pieces I did some lightening of the mainspring, and got a softer hammer strike I wanted. All back together and working now. Maybe tomorrow I'll plan to make up more .40-50SS brass if nothing else gets my plans changed. Just take it day by day in retirement, and no big deal.

 

[The Heretic]

 

[nwslopoke]

Yes, resume building by leaving a company after a few years is big. There isn't much loyalty benefits for either party. I worked with people that left and came back a few years later to bigger salaries than I had maintaing my employment.

I prefer the stability over moving and jumping from state to state. No one got rich in the end.

 

[Hemlock]

Fifteen (calendar) days.

and

Nine (work) days.

to go

Being a "short timer" is nice. I only had about 4 hours notice to wrap up my stuff - literally; I was working from home (early COVID) and got a phone call to return everything to the office. I sent out some emails, drove to the office (fortunately traffic was light), then got all my gear from the two offices (I worked on two teams) and barely made it out in time.

Would have been nicer if they had given use more time (DTNA laid off about 200 people that day from what I have heard).

I never was a short timer before retiring. I went in the boss's office one morning and asked for my 6 weeks of vacation, and never went back.

 

[Jay Walk]

I know three separate people who went to work in the morning like every other morning and were blindsided by a retirement offer that was a deal they could not refuse and came home that day retired.

Buddies' wife was just offered $60,000 to retire one year early. SHE GONE!

 

[Ballardguy]

Yes, resume building by leaving a company after a few years is big. There isn't much loyalty benefits for either party. I worked with people that left and came back a few years later to bigger salaries than I had maintaing my employment.

I prefer the stability over moving and jumping from state to state. No one got rich in the end.

I changed companies every 5-7 years for most of my earlier working years. If things became stagnant or the companies told me I was topped out in my particular job I left and got a job elsewhere for a starting wage usually about where I left the last employer, but with the ability to make more.
But my last employer I spent the last 23 yrs. with started me out at great pay, and I got increases and good pay up until my last year and a half. The company was cutting costs and came to me to tell me they were going to have to cut my pay by 5% to help their profits. I told them my last project was a $750,000 job that made the company 45% profit and they could take that profit and continue to pay me for the next 1.5 years. They decided to go ahead and cut my pay, so I took early retirement and left. I had a half dozen large account customers who never asked me to bid competitively because they trusted me. Three of them left and found a different contractor to use when I retired. I couldn't help but chuckle about their decision to cut my wages 5%.

 

[arakboss]

My financial plan is to retire poor. Filling my time with very cheap to free activities will be the challenge. The sooner I get use to doing that the better.

 

[The Heretic]

I never was a short timer before retiring. I went in the boss's office one morning and asked for my 6 weeks of vacation, and never went back.

I was a short timer in the CG. I had almost 3 months of terminal leave and I took it all. After the leave was up, I breathed a sigh of relief (until then, the CG could have technically called me back to duty - very unlikely but possible).

I really feel for those in the reserve who can be called to duty, and were. Then there were/are the "stop loss" people - that had to suck.

 

[The Heretic]

My financial plan is to retire poor. Filling my time with very cheap to free activities will be the challenge. The sooner I get use to doing that the better.

The problem with that plan is that stuff happens. A roof or car or plumbing or whatever needs repair. Someone has a medical or dental issue. It happens, and the older you get, the more likely it is.

 

[The Heretic]

I changed companies every 5-7 years for most of my earlier working years. If things became stagnant or the companies told me I was topped out in my particular job I left and got a job elsewhere for a starting wage usually about where I left the last employer, but with the ability to make more.
But my last employer I spent the last 23 yrs. with started me out at great pay, and I got increases and good pay up until my last year and a half. The company was cutting costs and came to me to tell me they were going to have to cut my pay by 5% to help their profits. I told them my last project was a $750,000 job that made the company 45% profit and they could take that profit and continue to pay me for the next 1.5 years. They decided to go ahead and cut my pay, so I took early retirement and left. I had a half dozen large account customers who never asked me to bid competitively because they trusted me. Three of them left and found a different contractor to use when I retired. I couldn't help but chuckle about their decision to cut my wages 5%.

Yeah, SchemaLogic laid me and another dev off in 2008, and hired a bunch of sales people (really stupid, what are they going to sell if they don't have devs to create/maintain the product?). They dumped the work of us two onto one H1B dev thinking they had him over a barrel - he eventually left to work for HP (IIRC). They had hired some devs who basically copy/pasted the code I wrote previously.

Two years later, their headcount went down from over 200 to 5 people and they didn't even have an office anymore - everybody worked from home. They hired me back as a contractor for six months, at a rate 30% higher than what they paid me before. Then six months later they sold their IP (at a loss) to another org, and closed their doors.

I've been thru several gigs that had similar outcomes. I've seen more mismanagement that good management.

 

[arakboss]

The problem with that plan is that stuff happens. A roof or car or plumbing or whatever needs repair. Someone has a medical or dental issue. It happens, and the older you get, the more likely it is.

Since I became debt free, I have been living within my means. That is my plan to get through retirement.