Author Topic: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?  (Read 26466 times)

starman

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #15 on: October 30, 2017, 10:05:10 AM »
Quote
I get $1,306 in Social Security

Quote
Safety net? NONE

 :o  :o

Weasels wake

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #16 on: October 30, 2017, 10:09:02 AM »
The thing is, the things that I love to do are ski, surf, and windsurf. Teaching those are my careers (well skiing and windsurfing anyway). I have been teaching skiing for 48 years, and windsurfing for 35 years. The people that I teach are all pretty skilled, and many would be considered to be experts, so being on the snow or ocean with them does not really hold me back from enjoying myself. My students are also my best friends, so in fact it adds to my enjoyment. At 66 retiring does not really have much appeal. I did make a change when I hit 60. Up until that point, I taught all day every day all winter, and 6 days a week all summer. At 60, I cut back on my hours by about half, and now can spend more time skiing, surfing, and windsurfing with my wife. It feels a lot more balanced, but fully retiring sounds like less fun and less rewarding than what I have going now, so I don't look forward to it in my future anytime soon. I suppose that sometime in my 70s my body may force the issue, but hopefully not for a long time.
You don't have a job, when you love what you do, it's not work, so you've already won, which is excellent. 
This goes very close to my life's motto, "a little bit of vacation everyday", how you define "vacation" is up to you, but if you can achieve it, you're winning.  For me it was lots of surfing and living like a happy cheapskate.
My motto has allowed me to work in the design/construction (residential) industry as long as I have, I didn't retire until the beginning of this year at the age of 67, "a little bit of vacation everyday".
But, now that I'm retired, I'm getting really busy.  My work has always had me working on other people's houses, neglecting mine in the process, now it's my turn, but I don't have all the paid for help that I used to have.  So even though everyday is Saturday, I find myself wishing I didn't have so many solo projects facing me.  Then I think of PonoBill, and then my projects don't seem so endless.  ;)
It takes a quiver to do that.

SlatchJim

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #17 on: October 30, 2017, 10:35:25 AM »
I love the concept of early retirement. However, at 54 and in the prime of my earning years, and still enjoying what I do, there isn't the pressure to hang it up.  Since my wife enjoys SUP surfing at least as much as I do, every weekend and vacation is a really enjoyable holiday for us.  We both have our ailments, but so far it hasn't kept either of us out of the water for any serious time.

We've planned for an exit around 62 to 62-1/2 (for me).  The industry knowledge I've built up over time will still have value, so life may look more like semi-retirement, cutting back the daily grind and working more on projects or marketing.  I may actually do better in retirement than I am now, with all significant cash outlays being eliminated.  We've both been pretty adept at making extra cash when needed, and I don't expect that to end. 

I've saved for retirement starting at (gasp) 14, listening to my mother's advice.  I generally stop adding to the 401K during downcycles, and jump back in at the bottom.  I'll have enough when 62 rolls around, to live a modest and enjoyable life, somewhere in between Creek and Pono I suppose, though both lives sound fantastic to me.

SUPcheat

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #18 on: October 30, 2017, 11:04:58 AM »
Retired by my 62nd birthday.  I just couldn't stand doing it any more, got tired of being target practice and being on the hamster wheel.  The evolution of the professions has made them a chronic, stressful misery full of fleas, parasites and predators that is a bit strange to experience.

I think the answer lies between resources, whether you like what you are doing, and projected health based on genetics.  I have known guys who seem to KNOW that they aren't going to live much longer who retired early.

In retrospect, I could have done it earlier, but that is only in retrospect because I retired into a bull market and rising real estate prices.  I did not make a lot of money in spite of a nominally lucrative profession, but my wife worked and we saved like bandits.  It has been hard to shake the habit, so we have had the experience of becoming significantly better off after six years of retirement than we were when we retired.  That could change with market conditions, but it would take a massive downturn now and we would still be able to stay retired at this point.

Life is endlessly odd when it comes to savings habits, and I know a lot of guys in my profession who have gone bankrupt TWICE.  Divorce(s), chemical dependency, and just living beyond their means top the list. I knew one guy who made piles, always looked turned out like GQ, bragged he never wore a tie less than $100 or stayed in a hotel less than $300 a night, drove the latest status car, but never had two cents in cash because he spent everything and stiffed all his creditors.  He was one of the twice bankrupt.  Another I knew was also a con artist and a lush, who older managed to snag a rich widow in Lafayette as his retirement plan.  Another married a younger woman with a money burning habit, and she convinced him his children were his enemy.  To disinherit them, she convinced him to sign over everything to her.  She then kicked him out of his own house and started divorce proceedings, leaving him elderly and poor.  He had some issues with his license, and struggled with what money he had on litigation to re-instate it so he could continue working, and failed.  Last I heard, he went into a publicly funded nursing home.

One of my oldest friends is still working at 70, presumably because he is an inveterate gambling addict and day trader, and I gather has lost piles that way.
« Last Edit: October 30, 2017, 11:14:12 AM by SUPcheat »
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SUP Leave

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #19 on: October 30, 2017, 11:06:52 AM »
Great thread. Enjoyable reading. I am not quite 40 years old yet and am probably about to enter my peak years of earning potential.

I am in the expensive phase of life. 3 school aged daughters, a wife who loves to spend money, and we all love vacation. Big house, oppressive mortgage, finishing out my wife's school loans, etc. Nothing left at the end of each month. We have been saving for retirement since our early 20s and for our kids' college 3 years before we had our first kid (all through automatic withdrawals). I've always known that we will probably need more for our retirement goals, not quite there probably by about a third.

So i have tried to reason with my wife about curtailing her spending and looking more at the future. She is always like "We are not going to be young forever, our kids are going to be gone before we know it." And I can't disagree, so its another vacation and another vacation after that.

I run/own 2 businesses. One is a Civil Engineering company the other is a Land Surveying company. My birthright is a commercial Cranberry farm, which I have just started working towards figuring out how I will run when my Dad can't anymore (6-10 years ish). So I guess I am saying that my lifestyle is forcing me to work my ass off (American Dream). The mortgage will end about the time the kids are all 3 in college. I am looking at spending a lot of money these next 15 years, and see no way out of it.

I'm pretty tolerant of business risk and in order to fund this lifestyle I don't have a choice but to increase my earning (or get a divorce, but my wife is awesome). Just in the last few days two companies have approached me to buy them out. They are both my local competition and I have plucked their clients already as well as some of their key people. The plucking of clients and staff did not happen as a focus of mine, just a natural consequence of providing better service and expertise. Now they are just asking me to finish the job of killing them off. In both cases the principals want to retire, hand over the keys and staff to me and get a monthly payment. I have already done a take-over (the surveying company) and know I can expect 2 years of stress and late nights getting the thing running smoothly. I will probably take an additional $4k per month to my salary as a result of the mergers. Not really worth it for the stress, but again I feel like it is my only choice.

At any rate, my goal is to have only one job by the time I am 59 - a cranberry farmer. The key is of course to build prosperous companies with executable exit strategies.

How many of you have exited a business you built? How did you do it?

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Dwight (DW)

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #20 on: October 30, 2017, 11:49:51 AM »
Retired at 61.

They key for me, was talking the wife into working part time to make health care affordable until Medicare kicks in. 20 hours a week working at the hospital gets us dirt cheap insurance.

Then moving to the retired folks state (Florida) where we have tons of play mates because everyone is retired. It’s a hoot having so many friends like us.

I’m better off financially retired. It’s crazy how much money you waste when living in the rat race.





Weasels wake

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #21 on: October 30, 2017, 11:51:26 AM »
SUP leave, don't try to guide your daughters towards formal college, unless you see some honest dedication towards a specific goal, college now days can easily wipeout a retirement savings, it's so overpriced with no guarantees.  Trade schools are the future which can offer almost immediate employment, and put them on a ladder towards success.
It takes a quiver to do that.

surfafrica

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #22 on: October 30, 2017, 12:10:44 PM »
I feel lucky to hear the stories and experiences of people on this forum.  Some real life perspective here.  ...and wisdom.  This thread is timely for me as I've been really starting to think a lot about this.

I'm 44--a spring chicken compared to some you geezers!  ;)  I watched my friend die of brain cancer when I was 35 (first real wake up to mortality), lost my vestibular system at 39 (years of hell...still dealing with it), broke my back at 41 (I'll never be the same), and am watching my 53 year old brother-in-law battle a stage 4 cancer as of two weeks ago (gonna be a rough ride over the next year).  So ya, I've kind of been forced into really evaluating perspective over the past while.

I worked really hard in my 20s and early 30s building a couple small tech companies (10-20 employees).  Things are good now and I'm not working nearly as hard as I used to in the pure startup days (but still work full-time...just reasonable hours now).  I get to leave my office at 2:30 to pick up my kids from school (and work from home after that until no later than 5pm).  I coach both my son and daughter's ice hockey teams (and love every minute of it).  I feel quite lucky to have the time I do have available while working full time. But, I'm starting to crave more time and flexibility--the ability to choose projects strictly out of interest.  Live life at a slower pace. Exercise more. Enjoy friends and family even more.  Surf more (which is not close by).

I've always lived by "pay yourself first" (reading the Wealthy Barber as a kid had a profound effect--thanks Dad).  Over the past 3 years, I've been trying to line things up so I can retire at 50, 55 at the very latest.  The stories here just confirm that that goal is worth aiming for.  Great thread.  Thanks.
« Last Edit: October 30, 2017, 12:18:58 PM by surfafrica »
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supthecreek

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #23 on: October 30, 2017, 01:14:02 PM »
Quote
I get $1,306 in Social Security

Quote
Safety net? NONE

 :o  :o

Pardons starman.... as you correctly adduce, I do live off the "Safety net" called social security. I acknowledge my grammatical transgression.   

For my purposes, I was merely pointing out that if something major happened, I have no savings, retirement account or rich Uncle to fall back on... as in "safety net"

Semantics aside...my post had only one purpose:
to point out that it is possible to live with a LOT less.

I am playing "beat the clock" with my body....and, the clock will win.
What I do between now and then, is my focus.

 surfafrica's post above, highlights so much of why I am a peace with all that I DO have!

 


TallDude

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #24 on: October 30, 2017, 01:42:18 PM »
I want to try everything I can and learn as much as I can till the day I die. I look forward to working some part time job into my 70's. I've screwed around plenty in my life, and look forward to more of it. I've had more work than I could handle since I've been in my teens. My dad was a custom home builder who had a good reputation, and because of that I was fortunate enough to fall into very high end clients to build for. After 15 years of 24/7 at my clients beck and call, I decided to slow things down and spend time more time with my (at the time) grade school kids. I've spent the past 15 years reinventing myself, and now work for an architect managing all the cad work and teaching construction and drafting part time at a local junior college.
I've worked hard since I was a little kid. Working on my dads jobs, mowing lawns, frik'n paper routes, warehouses, etc. and I've always made money. Always had a nice truck and or car. Have almost never been in any debt, I own properties, and made sound investments. My crazy work ethic is something I've recently been trying to shake. It's like a bad drug addiction, you have to quit before it kills you. Paddling got me back on the water, and showed me life from a different vantage. Being a mile offshore, looking back at the rat race and noticing that there are dolphins following me put my life in a new light. Someone I paddled with regularly, asked me one time if I was 'semi-retired'? I liked the sound of that.
So at 54 'semi-retired' it is, and will be as long as I can maintain this ideal balance. Next year my daughter will be off to college, and my son a few years after that. We planned for their college, so it shouldn't cut to deep into my semi-retirement. We'll see :)
 
« Last Edit: October 30, 2017, 01:44:13 PM by TallDude »
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dingfix

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #25 on: October 30, 2017, 01:59:51 PM »
Great thread. I'm 2-3 years off and still working 12 hour days.  My biggest worry is what I'll suddenly  do with all that free time.  Sup lots for sure, but need to find a new interest!

PonoBill

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #26 on: October 30, 2017, 02:04:18 PM »
I've always worked like a maniac, retirement hasn't changed that except for time in Maui, when I'm simply too tired from playing to do much. I suspect I'm still in the 99th percentile in the narrow category of Nutty Overachievement For No Good Reason, even in Maui, now that I think about it. Steering that neurological tick in the right direction yielded a good sized business. Under lightweight pressure from investors we searched for a CEO to replace me. As soon as that happened my very smart wife and partner Diane, pulled the ripcord at age 40. I had to go back and fire the idiot after he pretty much destroyed the company and then stuck it out for five more years, retiring at 60 (Diane is 15 years younger than me), eventually selling the company to employees.

I never had retirement as a goal. Other than saving for it, I never planned on it. I pretty much assumed I'd fall in the traces. I've been somewhat surprised to find myself functionally retired. But I pretty much work every day--building stuff, fiddling, learning, trying to improve my skills. I'm constantly tempted to start a business, but I generally talk myself out of it. I understand the kind of commitment it actually requires to be successful, and I have a bit of a problem competing with people who are trying to make a living, while I'm just fucking around.

Anyone looking at their retirement goals, or trying to improve the way they've retired might find some value in the book I wrote. The book suffers from the usual problem of an author who doesn't really know much when he starts writing--the act of writing educates quickly. So every editing pass of the first few chapters results in yet another rewrite. The later chapters are just collected thoughts and notes.

The book is here:https://retirement.pressbooks.com/ and will soon be here in a more useful form: http://www.theretirementtrap.com/ 
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Bean

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #27 on: October 30, 2017, 02:26:35 PM »
What I do between now and then, is my focus.

Made me think of this PJ gem:

North is to south what the clock is to time
There's east and there's west and there's everywhere life
I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in between is mine
I am mine

You rule Rick!

starman

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #28 on: October 30, 2017, 03:27:25 PM »
Quote
After rent, utilities and car insurance
I have $100 per week to live on.

That includes food, gas, clothing, auto repair, travel, entertainment....
everything comes out of that $100

Well that is quite a remarkable feat of budgeting Rick considering there are millions of others in America in the same boat one would think you could improve your income by sharing your budget skills. Living on $14.28 a day with all the amenities you describe is incredible. (Actually it's $13.10 a day if one deducts your yearly golf fees.)

What do you do for health insurance? Is that included in the budget? What's the plan when the body gives out considering you have no backup besides SSI?

esskay1000

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Re: At what age did you, or do you plan to retire?
« Reply #29 on: October 30, 2017, 04:15:39 PM »
But I pretty much work every day--building stuff, fiddling, learning, trying to improve my skills. I'm constantly tempted to start a business, but I generally talk myself out of it. I understand the kind of commitment it actually requires to be successful, and I have a bit of a problem competing with people who are trying to make a living, while I'm just fucking around.

Pono hit the point of early retirement on the head here. If you can save enough money that it can support your lifestyle, then you don't need to work for money anymore. But you will work of course. You can just work on things that you want to work on - regardless if they make any money or not because money is now not a worry. Yes, this can also be called 'fucking around' by some. I now spend half of my week working on writing, and starting what might become a new business. But if they don't make me any money - I don't give a crap. I love doing them.  In other words, work is great if you don't need the money

Some days I find myself 'working' on these new projects all day, while others I paddle for a while, ride my bike for a while, and just read and learn new things. Then I play guitar for a while. Life is good in semi-retirement, and I know it's only gonna get better.
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