I retired

[danlb]

Retirement can be quite good. My wife retired somewhere around 1995. She was sure that we "could not afford it." when the company offered an early retirement package so we did the math. It turns out that she was working mainly to pay off credit card debt and to pay interest on an adjustable rate mortgage. If we refinanced to a modern mortgage and took less than 1/5th of her 401K to pay off the other expenses the amount we needed to live on fell to less than my salary. So she retired at 49 with a nice 401K balance.

I, on the other hand, waited till '98 to take my retirement on a different "early out" package with 25 years service. The next day, at 43 years old, I started work at a different company for 50% more and a nice signing bonus and healthy 401K match. That lasted until the Enron debacle cause my company to shut down the division I was working in. So I retired again. And the next week I was hired back as a consultant. That lasted till I went to work for another big company. I retired from them in 2012 at the age of 57.

My wife says that it took me 3 tries to get it right. I have not worked for pay in the last 9 years. I know the day of the week because of my pill box. I have a calendar that warns me of birthdays and holidays in time for me to respond appropriately. Most days, I have no idea of the month, day or year simply because they don't matter. We record any TV that we want to watch on our DVR AND we skip all the commercials, so we are not even slaves to the TV schedule.

Life is Good.

Dan

[fjk]

My wife retired about 5 years ago.

I semi-retired about two years ago. Our savings hit a threshold we set with our financial advisor based on our actual expenses. We finally hit that number and then the company I was working for showed that they “valued diversity” only if the physically diverse employees all agree with the official wisdom as received from on high... too often a “thank you for your 40 years of experience in the field, including helping to invent it, but we do it differently”.

So I had the means, motive, and opportunity to retire

I walked out & ended up taking a consulting job with some friends. I “work” 16 hours a week. It’s stuff that I can do in my sleep, I can do it from anyplace/any time, and it covers about a big part of our living expenses so we don’t have to dip into our savings that much.

Otherwise we spend a lot of time doing whatever we want, when we want - basically diving into hobbies with a vengeance, taking care of our granddaughters, and so on.

frank

[strokersix]

I retired 5 yrs ago. Took a buyout offer. Finances were tight for a couple years for various reasons. It's all good now. No regrets whatsoever.

I sleep much better at night. Nap during the day if I feel like it. Funny things going on with my heartbeat have all but disappeared (stress response to work and divorce).

I'm as busy as ever but it's on my terms now. Company called me back on contract part time working from home so a little cash flow is nice without the full time stress, commute, etc.

Recommend retirement as soon as you can possibly do it! Or even a little sooner than you think you can.

[Jonesy]

[QUOTE=Tundra Twin Track;n1940531]

I will be leaving the rat race in 2025, the year in which I turn 60... and retiring to the countryside. My wife and I have done all the maths and although it will be tight financially it will be do-able.

When you say countryside is that a Rural setting or out in small town area in UK?I live in a Rural setting with closet neighbours being a mile away in 2 directions and 3 miles the other 2 direction.

I would love that but my wife wants to be closer to a village. And over here we're crammed in a little tigher than over there. A few hundred yards to the nearest neighbour is as good as I can hope for in the areas we're looking at.

I must have fields on all sides. No sharing anything. Must be minimum 1/3 acre and feel like the countryside in my front and back yards, We're finding suitable places now but won't be enough money left over right now. In a few years we'll be in just the right position financially.