After the positive responses and congratulations on my Retirement thread, the idea came to me that there should be a thread that helps everyone prepare for the eventuality of retirement.
There were many great ideas, comments and great suggestions that came out of the conversation. What I would like to do is put this here as a repository for information for anyone who is:
Ready to retire
Close to retirement
Beginning to plan for retirement
One of the things I came to find out is that no matter how much I had thought I was prepared for retirement, there were still things I had not pondered or prepared for.
So this thread is for all your questions, comments, advice to help others that are close to retirement.
I mean....this board is about a year and a half away from being around for a quarter of a century, and many of us who have been around are there already.
Originally Posted by ChiTown:
I’ve been thinking about retirement a lot lately. It’s different when you work for yourself. You keep telling yourself that you can do this another year, or keep a few clients of whatever. I’m 57 and could have easily retired at 50 - so $$ is not the issue. It’s the what’s next. I’m not afraid of dying, but I am afraid of growing old.
Working keeps my brain active and inspires me to get out of bed and get moving. I’m wrestling with the idea of what will motivate me everyday going forward when work can no longer be the motivator. I think the answer might be to never fully retire, and to keep a client or two (or a project) for as long as my brain and body hold up. Lots to think about in the coming years. I have a project I’m committed to for the next 3 years that will require about 10-15 hours per week. My thought is to maybe just do that and nothing else and see if that satisfies my need to stay busy/relevant. :-)
I have years to go for retirement, but I've thought about a semi-retirement plan... just getting by on something I really want to do that will either get me out of the shitty parts of IT or out of IT completely.
OTOH, I've already seen that backfire for my dad, who went back to work part time/remotely and now complains just as much about all the BS he gets roped into after saying he'd only come out of retirement do so much and only the things he wanted to do, and it would only be on his time, etc.
OTOOH, people tend to think you are who you are by the time you're 40 or 50 or even 60, but studies have shown you change just as much or more as you get older... so, you never know what you could pick up as a new interest, and trimming down hours in one thing may open the door to acquiring new passions elsewhere. And of course it wouldn't feel as jarring in terms of figuring out what to do with life. [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
I know many here have wonderful wives and kids but I never wanted kids.
The single life has allowed me to experience a great deal.
I saw a lot of older guys I worked with in the newspaper pressman's union back in the 80's work their whole life in the business from 15 or 16 years old until mid to late 60's, retire and then drop dead within a few years. It always made an impression on me to not get cheated in life and try to do everything you want in life AFTER you retire.
Sometimes people don't make it that far.
You're not wrong, but I certainly wanted kids, was blessed with two wonderful sons, and made sure my work/life balance was balanced enough to be the father I wanted to be, make the salary to provide for them while experiencing many wonderful things while they grew up, and retire early enough to be able to do my passion at a reasonably high enough level to have no regrets.
I think everybody makes the choices that are right for them and I've been blessed throughout life to have been mentored by great parents, great military and civilian leaders, and a family that has little moss growing on it.
Live your life and never worry about anything others might say about it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
I think sometimes, or at least in my case, you have to force that mindset onto yourself. After 40 or 50 years of work, there's a habit built up to work, and like any other long-standing habit, it's hard to break. That's not just from a work perspective, but also a financial perspective. I've been running on positive cash flow for a long time, and have defined progress as a larger amount of savings at the end of each year. It was hard for me to tell myself that I had enough, and that I need to switch to a "spending it down" mindset. That's always been a sign of a bad year to me in the past, but now it's the new normal, and it's not a bad thing.
I've been retired for a month, so I'm actually still in positive cash flow since I got some vacation pay and a few one-off windfalls. I'm sure I'll be a bit traumatized the first time I have to move money from savings to checking. But I just need to recognize that that's what the money is for.
Retirement is a big deal because I think it involves three major changes: no longer working, shifting one's financial mindset, and figuring out how to use the sudden flood of free time. I've tried to prepare for these changes, but it's going to take a little time to learn how to navigate in these new waters.
I did not have a pension plan at work. Just the typical 401k. I was so obsessed with accumulation to be able to retire early and have a nice long financially secure retirement. You are absolutely correct the transition from Accumulation to spending down is disconcerting.
I would fret every time I made a withdrawal for my accumulated pile. The funny thing is the first 3 years my net worth continued to grow. I am tracking to have a decrease this year as we spent a pretty good chunk of money on our property.
But after 4 years of livin the dream I am plenty confident that we are good to go. [Reply]
