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My goal is to retire with sufficient income I don't end up dining on Alpo Beef Stew Dinners….
You're knocking prime cut beef stew?? Have you even tried the newer "extra gravy" stew yet?? That there is some good ett's!

You some kinda Merrick stew snob or somethin?




:s0140:
 
I semi-retired last October at 63.5 and work 3 days a week at a gun shop and I love it but it did not come cheap and it was not an easy choice.

I was lucky as my wife is 7 years younger so I am on her insurance but at 65 I have to get Medicare so that will come out of my SS funds.

I have no retirement income (I made poor life choices) and what funds I did have I paid off the cars and bikes and retiring early really reduced the SS payment by several hundred dollars a month in fact

My house is paid off and I have no real bills as my last job I worked so much over time I was able to do this.

I retired early because of the Mandates Washington state and my employer was forcing on us at the time and I was not really ready for it. I could have looked for another job but like you I wanted more time with my family and grandson. So, I jumped into it with both feet and so far, so good.

Down side:

Because I retired early I am only allowed to make so much a year and then anything over that it is taken out of my SS at a rate of 1 dollar per every 2 dollars over that amount I make. So, keep track or it will bite you.

I will not be buying any new cars real soon as a car payment really cuts into the budget and in this economy a budget is important.

Credit card debt is a bad thing so I have one card for emergency's only and pay cash for any gun/toys I buy. So, the impulse buys are out.

I had a good paying job and extra cash to spend now I do not.

I could not have done this if I did not have my wife's income as well. My income alone would have gotten me a card board box down by the river, maybe an old car.

Pros

I see my grandson almost every day now as he just started school and I get to pick him up at the bus stop.

I see my family more as I am not working 50 plus hours a week with overtime and some holidays.

I am not as stressed and feel much healthier.

So, for me it was well worth it but down the road who knows it may have been the worst mistake I have ever made, but I doubt it I have made some stupid mistakes in my life.

I work 3 days a week for spending money and my SS pays the day-to-day bills. My wife's pay check goes into the bank for emergencies like car repairs and maintenance.

Just a simple life
 
I emailed my boss this morning and requested that he allow me to use PTO in 4hr increments. If that request is denied I have another idea that would allow me to get more productive hours at the property.

I typically leave the cabin property very early on departure day. This requires that I start packing up the night before I leave. I always leave on a morning where I have to work that evening. By leaving early I can get home, unpack a few things and get a decent amount of sleep before my shift starts. I could leave later on departure day which would net me more productive hours at the property at the expense of sleep time before my shift starts. It would not be ideal but would serve as a back up plan.
 
I had a meltdown on my jackass boss three weeks ago, told the company owners I was taking a week off, ended up taking two then was going to go back yesterday but found a much better job, today was my second day there. Way less stress.

Eff them. I'm way too old to take some jackazz's shizz.
 
There's a saying something along the lines of "Too soon old, too late smart"... There's a lot of things I wish I'd learned much younger, about career, investing, preparing for retirement.

I have a long ways to go before retirement too, but am at the age where I really need to start thinking about it. I have a single blue-collar income, my wife is effectively disabled (no income), my oldest is starting college this month, with three siblings behind her. Yeah, I'll be working til I die too. We've probably spent close to $100k on medical, out of pocket after insurance in the last decade.

We live cheap. No expensive cars, toys, or vacations for us. We haven't had car payments in nearly 20 years, no debt besides the mortgage. My 401K savings would be awesome for a 30 year old, pretty good for a 40 year old, but not so great for a 50 year old. :( Better than nothing though. My plan is to eventually move to an area with cheaper housing and buy a nice place for the equity we have in our current house, then live cheap. Maybe. If I live long enough.

On the plus side, I have a good job with flexible hours and plenty of time off, and a short commute. I spend lots of time with the family. I have tomorrow off and my boys talked me into taking them to a Comic Con in Portland. Really not my thing, but I've dragged them to enough gun shows over the years, I suppose the least I can do is endure a Comic Con.
 
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If you can retire or work part time, I vote to do that if you can. You can never get time back, but you can always go back to work and earn money as long as you are physically capable.

I worked long hours for over 25 years in my previous job and in that a 70 hour work week was more common than a 40, but it did pay the bills and allowed my wife to stay at home and raise our kids. Now my wife takes care of her mom who is 92. We've been a one income home for the last 30 plus years. Budget for us will always be tight and we've found no matter what your income is you somehow manage to squeak by. As long as you don't spend beyond your means.
 
If you can retire or work part time, I vote to do that if you can. You can never get time back, but you can always go back to work and earn money as long as you are physically capable.

I worked long hours for over 25 years in my previous job and in that a 70 hour work week was more common than a 40, but it did pay the bills and allowed my wife to stay at home and raise our kids. Now my wife takes care of her mom who is 92. We've been a one income home for the last 30 plus years. Budget for us will always be tight and we've found no matter what your income is you somehow manage to squeak by. As long as you don't spend beyond your means.
I believe you are right. Regardless of age and health it seems most older people can find work, if they want to. But finding youth, vitality, etc is likely much more difficult for an older person to find.
 
A life-long friend of mine is an engineer with Intel, has worked very long hours for 20+ years. It's not as bad now, but I remember him talking about sleeping in his office sometimes, and working lots of long weekends. A 40 hour week was practically a vacation, and his wife referred to herself as an Intel widow.

I don't know his financial situation, but knowing him I suspect he'll be able to retire early. I sincerely hope so. He's worked far harder than I have for the last two decades, and definitely deserves to be able to enjoy life.

I'm not sure where the typical American ideal of working long, hard hours originated. We're a very productive nation because of it, but I have to wonder about the wisdom of it, on a personal level.
 
Interesting thoughts on here. I'm on the other end of the train at 32 years old. Insightful listening to you folks. Luckily I grew up pretty poor so had to learn the core stuff to be financially smart early. I often find if I can just get outside, be active, and hang out with my wife/kids, and build things, I am usually pretty satisfied and happy. Just getting outside and looking at nature is a reward in and of itself. I try to not forget that. But I purpisefully chose a career path with a pension and insurance, and I put money towards a personal retirement plan as well. House is about 50%paid off and we are under 3% on the mortgage rate. But I try to still live frugal to cover my future butt.

I vote for full time at the cabin with some sort of side cash flow. Possibly advertise any skill sets you have. My parents have a small cabin in Idaho and pretty much everybody is old and poor, but they usually all have some sort of skill they can barter. Or better yet, if you don't, spend some time looking for a part time gig you can do remotely from your computer. My uncle lives half of the year deep in the mountains, but has Starlink internet at his cabin, and works a buisness job from New York. My Dad just retired, and similarly is going to start doing some accounting (via his laptop in the Idaho forest), for his brother's construction company in Alaska. There is alot of remote work out there, and that could be a cool side gig, especially if its part time.
 
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I emailed my boss this morning and requested that he allow me to use PTO in 4hr increments. If that request is denied I have another idea that would allow me to get more productive hours at the property.

I typically leave the cabin property very early on departure day. This requires that I start packing up the night before I leave. I always leave on a morning where I have to work that evening. By leaving early I can get home, unpack a few things and get a decent amount of sleep before my shift starts. I could leave later on departure day which would net me more productive hours at the property at the expense of sleep time before my shift starts. It would not be ideal but would serve as a back up plan.
The more thought I give this idea the more I think staying late on departure day would be better than arriving early on arrival day. I could get up around 4 or 5am and pack up what I wasn't going to need for the day. As soon as enough daylight was availble start working and keep at it until early afternoon. Eat some lunch, finish packing and close up cabin. As long as I was on the road by 3 or 4pm I could drive the 300 miles to work and arrive in time for my evening shift. I would be one tired sob by the time my shift was over. The advantage is that my more productive hours would have been spent at the cabin property. If I work a half day at my job and put the extra hours in at cabin on arrival day, I will be less productive at cabin.
 
There's a saying something along the lines of "Too soon old, too late smart"... There's a lot of things I wish I'd learned much younger, about career, investing, preparing for retirement.

I have a long ways to go before retirement too, but am at the age where I really need to start thinking about it. I have a single blue-collar income, my wife is effectively disabled (no income), my oldest is starting college this month, with three siblings behind her. Yeah, I'll be working til I die too. We've probably spent close to $100k on medical, out of pocket after insurance in the last decade.

We live cheap. No expensive cars, toys, or vacations for us. We haven't had car payments in nearly 20 years, no debt besides the mortgage. My 401K savings would be awesome for a 30 year old, pretty good for a 40 year old, but not so great for a 50 year old. :( Better than nothing though. My plan is to eventually move to an area with cheaper housing and buy a nice place for the equity we have in our current house, then live cheap. Maybe. If I live long enough.

On the plus side, I have a good job with flexible hours and plenty of time off, and a short commute. I spend lots of time with the family. I have tomorrow off and my boys talked me into taking them to a Comic Con in Portland. Really not my thing, but I've dragged them to enough gun shows over the years, I suppose the least I can do is endure a Comic Con.
My kids are all young adults now. Spend all the time with them that you can. Eventually, their lives grow to a point that everyday interaction isn't possible.
 
The more thought I give this idea the more I think staying late on departure day would be better than arriving early on arrival day. I could get up around 4 or 5am and pack up what I wasn't going to need for the day. As soon as enough daylight was availble start working and keep at it until early afternoon. Eat some lunch, finish packing and close up cabin. As long as I was on the road by 3 or 4pm I could drive the 300 miles to work and arrive in time for my evening shift. I would be one tired sob by the time my shift was over. The advantage is that my more productive hours would have been spent at the cabin property. If I work a half day at my job and put the extra hours in at cabin on arrival day, I will be less productive at cabin.
If 4 hour ETO blocks end up ok by your employer, use the 4 hours for your first shift back. Go home from cabin, see the family, take a nap then go to work half a shift/partial shift.
 
On and off I have had thoughts about voluntarily reducing my employment from full time to part time. I have child support obligations through the end of 2024 but could probably consider reducing my hours in early 2025. Cutting back hours would allow me to spend a lot more time at my cabin property. I would lose my ability to accrue any more vacation (PTO) time. It would also require significant spending restrictions.

A big benefit of spending time at the cabin property is that I usually don't spend a lot of money on firearm stuff like I do when I am home. That could help offset the increased fuel expenses that I would incur traveling back and forth. Ideally I would like to cut my hours back from 40hrs to 24hrs a week. This would give me a lot more four night wknds to visit the property.

Has anybody else done this before retirement? Did you regret it?
I'd check how it will impact your Social Security.
 

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