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.
What I failed to do was invest in a Roth. I have around a 14-16% effective tax rate in retirement. Nothing sucks more than to pay Uncle Same $1600 bucks for every $10K you withdraw from your IRA.
From what I understand they can only tax the GAINS in an IRA since you contribute to it with after tax money. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TinyEvel:
From what I understand they can only tax the GAINS in an IRA since you contribute to it with after tax money.
A Roth is pre tax dollars. So there is no tax on withdrawals. Your money grows tax free. A traditional IRA is pre tax dollars so every withdrawal is taxed. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mosbonian:
Just thought I would bring this one back up to the top in case anyone new has retired lately.
The really nice part about retirement? When you have the Sunday Night and Monday Night games, there is no real rush to get up early in the AM to have to get to work. :-)
And you can get in an afternoon nap so you can stay awake until the end. :-):-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by GloryDayz:
I'm one year and four days retired and LOVING it... Trips to Roatan to dive, Green Bay for Chiefs, Northern Iowa to teach Ice Diving, Cozumel for diving, Cayman Brac for diving, Cozumel #2 for diving, Roatan #2 for diving, Sint Maarten/Saba/Saint Kitts for Diving, Egypt/Red Sea for diving, Cozumel #3 for diving, and about ready to leave for Bonaire for five glorious weeks for diving... Then I have dive trips scheduled for Cozumel (kinda my 2nd home), Hawaii/Fiji, The Maldives, and Roatan setup for Jan-July 2025. While I'm retired I LOVE leading dive trips (saved a LOT of my nest egg...), so I guess I'm not 100% retired.
No matter what, I LOVE my retired life...
My nephew came down here about 4 years back to get some dive courses....he takes his diving seriously just like you seem to. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mosbonian:
My nephew came down here about 4 years back to get some dive courses....he takes his diving seriously just like you seem to.
For me it's a trip to my past, my current and my future (for as long as I can do it). It's my thing, Mrs. GloryDayz gets it and supports it, so I do it. Everybody who retires should "do their thing" and love every minute of it. In my case I do it and teach it, I'm giving back and hoping to share my passion with others who might find the ocean as wonderful as I do. But if a person is into, let's say, trains, I pray they share their passion in their latter half/third of life and let others find their passion.
Originally Posted by Mosbonian:
Just thought I would bring this one back up to the top in case anyone new has retired lately.
The really nice part about retirement? When you have the Sunday Night and Monday Night games, there is no real rush to get up early in the AM to have to get to work. :-)
I'm feeling it right now, late game is so much more enjoyable!
I retired in May at 62 and I've never been so happy. My favorite thing is having time to go at a slow pace with no set schedule. Especially time and energy to exercise and go hiking. I'm running 3 miles a few times a week and often doing mountain hikes on other days. Physically I feel amazing, and being outside and exercising so much is great for my mental health too. Can't recommend it enough! [Reply]