I am pulling the trigger on July 10th!

G

Greathusky74

Dryer sheet aficionado
Joined
Jun 4, 2015
Messages
27
Location
Plantsville
After spending 39 years in the IT industry, I have decided to FIRE at the age of 57. I will be living off of my ATT pension and a monthly withdrawal from a small company 401K till I hit age 59 1/2. That's when I start drawing from my IRAs to supplement the pension. I also have a retiree health plan. I won't go into the financials but it is doable thanks to my voracious savings over the years. No debt. My two kids are done with college. My wife may go next spring and do the same.

My whole working life has my brain been half filled with work stuff. When is this code due? What useless documentation is required for this project? What meeting do I have on Monday morning? How n the hell can I get that done by this ridiculous deadline?

Now that half of the brain is empty waiting to be filled with new adventures. Volunteering, bicycling, sporting events, travels, house projects and on and on.

I am so at peace now!
 
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your retirement.
 
Congrats. I'll be the same age next year when I get out. I've also spent my career in IT.
 
Congrats, but too bad you couldn't pull it off 6 days earlier on Independence Day.
 
Congratulations on the soon to be retired status. Living your life as you have enabled this day to get here now vs later. Have fun.
 
Congratulations,
Thirty-nine years in IT, that's an accomplishment! Retirement is much more fun. Glad you are here.
 
Congrats, I hope you continue to post here so that we can hear more about your experiences.
 
What will you do all day?
 
What will I do all day?

1. Volunteer at some local animal rescues.

2. I am attempting to complete all the bike rides in a book titled "50 Short Bike Rides in Connecticut".

3. Daily jog.

4. Exercise class at the YMCA.

5. Reading novels.

6. Many home projects to complete.

7. Work towards completing #Operation351. My lifelong goal is to attend a college basketball game at all 351 Division 1 campuses. I did 16 last year and started a blog to chronicle my travels

8. Traveling with my wife.

9. Complete binge watching Arrested Development, Cheers and Parks and Recreation.

10. Hiking the many beautiful trails in Connecticut.

11. I am the sole care provider for my 88 year old mother who lives 40 minutes away. I have many projects there as well.

12. Continue volunteering as a board member for the YMCA and local land trust.

And I'm just getting started....:dance:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Congratulations! Way to go... My personal target is July 2018.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
Congrats! Since you were such a voracious saver in the past, I hope you
don't experience the difficulty in spending some of that hard earned
cash like I did when I first ERed.
Took 4 months before I started to adjust.
 
I'm glad you're able to retire on your terms. My company "retired" everyone 55 years and older in 2008--overreacting to the downturn in the economy.


You'll soon realize you never had time to work anyway. I'm 6 1/2 years into retirement and have yet to catch up on all the Spring Cleaning. It's never ending.
 
Welcome and congrats on your retirement.

We're going to run out of IT help with all the early retirees in that area that we hear about on this board! :D
 
Yep it has been a long career.I have gone from punched cards on the old IBM 370 to laptops. A lot of IT knowledge is going down the drain as we dinosaurs exit for greener pastures.

Regarding expenses, my pension check covers all my fixed expenses plus an extra $150 left over. I figure that I will need a $1000 a month for beer, golf, dining, medical expenses, sporting events, beer, gas, beer and what ever is not covered as a fixed expense. :) I will draw from my company 401K which will allow me non penalized withdrawls because I am over 55. At age 59 1/2, I will start drawing on my IRAs. I also have an AMERIPRISE annuity (I know.. don't throw barbs at me) coming available at age 65.

I have no debt other than credit cards which I pay off each month.

I do something a little wierd with my paycheck. I have figured out the monthly costs for all my annual, quarterly and semi-annual bills. I put away money each month in subaccounts that represents my bills. So when the bill comes up, I will have the money in hand. One could make the argument that squirreling away for example the real estate tax of two payments each year for $3500 is not putting your money to work in the best way. However, I have peace of mine that the money is there. I could earn a little more with money market accounts or short term bonds but it is easy doing all of this in my credit union savings accounts which do earn a small interest rate.

I also use subaccounts for expected purchases down the road. For example, I get mulch for the yard every two years. I put away $15 a month for that.

I downloaded an app that keep track of expenses during the month offfset from an initial balance. I do this on the fly for cash stuff. I input my credit card expenses from QUICKEN afterwards. This is for expenses not covered by my pension and subaccounts. As I get closer to the $1000 budget for the month, I can have the option of avoiding some discretionary spending. As a reward to myself, any money left over at the end of the month goes to one of my VANGUARD accounts.


Large payment such as vacations will come from other savings that are not part of this.

This is my plan for expenses after July 10th.
 
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If you start missing the job after you retire, just have someone page you at 3am. I won't miss that.
 
I get called out once a month always at some ungodly hour. Yes I have been on call since day 1. There has been a trend to let off shoring take the phone calls since they are usually 8 -10 hours ahead of us. But in the end, I usually get called because they can't figure it out.
 
Greathusky74 said:
......I figure that I will need a $1000 a month for beer, golf, dining, medical expenses, sporting events, beer, gas, beer and what ever is not covered as a fixed expense.....

I do something a little wierd with my paycheck. I have figured out the monthly costs for all my annual, quarterly and semi-annual bills. I put away money each month in subaccounts that represents my bills. So when the bill comes up, I will have the money in hand....

This is my plan for expenses after July 10th.
Click to expand...

So long as you keep the beer sub-account fully funded, you should be good to go! :LOL::LOL:

Congrats!
 
Greathusky74 said:
Yep it has been a long career.I have gone from punched cards on the old IBM 370 to laptops. A lot of IT knowledge is going down the drain as we dinosaurs exit for greener pastures. Regarding expenses, my pension check covers all my fixed expenses plus an extra $150 left over. I figure that I will need a $1000 a month for beer, golf, dining, medical expenses, sporting events, beer, gas, beer and what ever is not covered as a fixed expense. :) I will draw from my company 401K which will allow me non penalized withdrawls because I am over 55. At age 59 1/2, I will start drawing on my IRAs. I also have an AMERIPRISE annuity (I know.. don't throw barbs at me) coming available at age 65. I have no debt other than credit cards which I pay off each month. I do something a little wierd with my paycheck. I have figured out the monthly costs for all my annual, quarterly and semi-annual bills. I put away money each month in subaccounts that represents my bills. So when the bill comes up, I will have the money in hand. One could make the argument that squirreling away for example the real estate tax of two payments each year for $3500 is not putting your money to work in the best way. However, I have peace of mine that the money is there. I could earn a little more with money market accounts or short term bonds but it is easy doing all of this in my credit union savings accounts which do earn a small interest rate. I also use subaccounts for expected purchases down the road. For example, I get mulch for the yard every two years. I put away $15 a month for that. I downloaded an app that keep track of expenses during the month offfset from an initial balance. I do this on the fly for cash stuff. I input my credit card expenses from QUICKEN afterwards. This is for expenses not covered by my pension and subaccounts. As I get closer to the $1000 budget for the month, I can have the option of avoiding some discretionary spending. As a reward to myself, any money left over at the end of the month goes to one of my VANGUARD accounts. Large payment such as vacations will come from other savings that are not part of this. This is my plan for expenses after July 10th.
Click to expand...

Greathusky74; Congrats to you. Your method of accounting describes our approach almost to a tee. On the first of the month, (today as a matter of fact) after our various pension checks have been deposited to our primary checking account, I transfer a sizable set amount into a separate savings account, which incidentally I don't include in our investable assets. I maintain a spreadsheet on this account that has perhaps 25 sub categories for all expenses that are not monthly, from real estate taxes to insurance premiums, medical copays, dental, eye, pet care, lawn care and grounds maintenance, charitable giving, travel, gifts, kennel, etc. Part of that monthly transfer also includes an escrow for car replacement and big ticket repairs such as roof, furnace, house painting and appliance replacement. You get the picture. The rest of the monthly pension checks cover our regular monthly expenses with money left over. At the beginning of the following month I transfer the amount left over into a miscellaneous category in the same savings account. Rinse and repeat. We inevitably find reasons to raid the miscellaneous category and I'm glad we have established that category. For example we discovered we had to replace our five skylights last month. We hadn't realized that skylights have a fixed life. It was good to be able to dip into that miscellaneous category to partially cover the sizable unplanned Capital expenditure. Many would say that these machinations I go through monthly are just a shell game. It's all just one big pile of money however I find that when the irregular bills come in I am serene in the knowledge that the money is already set aside and will not diminish our Net Worth. Sounds like you have a similar approach.
 
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Greathusky74 said:
1. Volunteer at some local animal rescues.

2. I am attempting to complete all the bike rides in a book titled "50 Short Bike Rides in Connecticut".

3. Daily jog.

4. Exercise class at the YMCA.

5. Reading novels.

6. Many home projects to complete.

7. Work towards completing #Operation351. My lifelong goal is to attend a college basketball game at all 351 Division 1 campuses. I did 16 last year and started a blog to chronicle my travels

8. Traveling with my wife.

9. Complete binge watching Arrested Development, Cheers and Parks and Recreation.

10. Hiking the many beautiful trails in Connecticut.

11. I am the sole care provider for my 88 year old mother who lives 40 minutes away. I have many projects there as well.

12. Continue volunteering as a board member for the YMCA and local land trust.

And I'm just getting started....:dance:
Click to expand...
Stop! You are making me tired. :facepalm:
 
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