Software developer joins class of 2013.

[bamsphd]

Hi Folks,

Sorry I didn't get around to introducing myself earlier, since I've certainly been around for awhile. I think I lurked first, but the board says I joined and posted on November 25th, 2005. The board statistics say I have already posted 203 times, which works out to 0.07 posts per day.

What I really wonder as I write this is will my posts-per-day increase or decrease going forward. Thursday, June 6th, 2013 was my last day with MegaCorp. I'm not sure I've earned my last dollar. However, I hope I'm done with full-time year-round Megacorp employment.

I'm a [-]wee[/-] bit concerned about retiring as the market makes new highs. Though I don't suppose many people decide they finally have enough at a market low! My portfolio hit a new high the day I warned my manager I would probably be giving my notice soon. (Yes I was fishing for a counter offer.) My portfolio hit a new high the day I gave Megacorp's electronic HR interface my resignation. It went up for two more days as I told coworkers, friends and relatives. Since then my portfolio has lost more than half a year's salary. For the moment I'm hoping my spending projections are fairly accurate, and that a slightly less than 4% withdrawal rate will cover them.

The retirement experience is proving a bit more emotional than I really anticipated. I'm a bit melancholy. I'll miss many of the people, and don't expect to ever see most of them again. However, I probably will see the few I'm closest to again in the future. Thanks to LinkedIn and Facebook, I'll probably also be able to find many of my former co-workers in the future.

I do not have any big immediate plans. I hope to unwind a bit, begin work on deferred chores around the house, and start getting back into shape. My next big task is to figure out what I want to do to make my life have meaning going forward, to contribute to society, create a new network of friends, and generally start the next phase of my life. It will probably be a lot harder than going to work, it probably won't pay as well, but I expect it to be more fun and rewarding.

 

[REWahoo]

Sorry I didn't get around to introducing myself earlier ... I joined and posted on November 25th, 2005.

With procrastination skills like this I'm surprised you retired before age 100.

But I digress - congratulations on your retirement!

 

[mpeirce]

It gets easier over time.

Watching the value our portfolio change by so much over short periods of time can be "difficult"! But honestly it goes up just as fast as it goes down sometimes.

The best thing is to not watch it daily, but that's really hard to do at first.

 

[bamsphd]

Sorry I didn't get around to introducing myself earlier... I joined and posted on November 25th, 2005.

With procrastination skills like this I'm surprised you retired before age 100.

With [-]procrastination[/-]/prioritization skills like this I'm surprised I retired [-]before[/-]/after age 10.

It gets easier over time.

Thanks.

The best thing is to not watch it daily, but that's really hard to do at first.

I tried that while still w*rking, but found that the bigger changes a week or month made bothered me more than multiple days of relatively tiny stings.

I'm mainly just amused by the timing of the change in market direction. I could hardly believe it as the market kept going up and up and up as I considered retiring. So I was amused that it had changed direction right after I finished telling "everyone."

That said, I'm still a [-]Whee![/-]/wee bit worried about possibly retiring right at a market top, since that is arguably the worst time to begin portfolio withdrawals. Time will tell if my timing is that impeccable. Fortunately, I'm only around 60% equities this time, for the Bush crash I had let the portfolio drift above 80% because I did not want to pay the capital gains, and because I was SO CLOSE to being able to retire.

 

[ERhoosier]

Congrats!
And I understand the mixed feelings about retirement. Close to ER myself and must admit that some days I feel like I'll miss certain things about the j@b. But it's usu not long before something happens that reminds me my BS bucket is full

 

[Live And Learn]

Welcome back ! I feel your anxiety all too well. I was ready to ER when my portfolio was 8% lower and now that it is higher I am MUCH more worried because I am "counting on" a 20% pullback that makes FI less realistic (with my over engineered budget). I do suspect that things will work out for both of us. Getting over the anxiety will be a learning experience.

Could you share your Plan B and C with us ? My Plan B, which I will implement immediately, is to get a part time job. Plan C is to move into the condo community where my mom lives; inexpensive but not as nice as the community where I am moving to. I will also try and leverage the 0 tax on qualified cap gains and investments by keeping to the 15% tax bracket and an Obamacare subsidy by using cash to stay below 400% FPL .

 

[eytonxav]

With procrastination skills like this I'm surprised you retired before age 100.

Don't let REW's currmudgeoness bother you. I joined in 2003, retired, unretired, retired again, unretired yet again and finally retired for good this year. I understand the melancholy and felt that way myself, as I basically enjoyed my job and co-workers, but got fed up with commuting. No reason not to stay in touch with some of the work friends in retirement.

 

[Which Roger]

I do not have any big immediate plans. I hope to unwind a bit, begin work on deferred chores around the house, and start getting back into shape. My next big task is to figure out what I want to do to make my life have meaning going forward, to contribute to society, create a new network of friends, and generally start the next phase of my life. It will probably be a lot harder than going to work, it probably won't pay as well, but I expect it to be more fun and rewarding.

Congratulations! I am also a software type who intends to soon join the class of 2013. Regarding figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life - as a software developer, you are likely a creative person. If you are anything like me, the key may be for you to find some new creative outlets. This has been happening for me the last few years even though I'm still working, since my company has been struggling for a long time and the job just ain't what it used to be. So I've had to replace a lot of what I was getting from my work back in the day (people and creative fulfillment and the sense of making a difference) with sources outside of work. You can do the same, although assuming your job hadn't gone downhill near the end like mine has, it makes perfect sense that you've deferred a lot of this.

 

[bamsphd]

Could you share your Plan B and C with us.

The plans are not formal, may overlap, are not necessarily in order, and some require consensus with the wife.

• Be more frugal.
• Try to ride out a market crash by eating the five-year bond ladder.
• Part-time work in my field. Part-time work outside my field presumably at lower pay. Full-time work in my field. Any full-time work.
• Move to a smaller house on a smaller lot in a cheaper town. My wife does not like this one at all. It is the extreme version of "Be more frugal." It does have high up-front transaction costs, and thankfully is just a contingency plan in my head at the moment. However, it could definitely cut

 

[bamsphd]

With procrastination skills like this I'm surprised you retired before age 100.

Don't let REW's currmudgeoness bother you

Fortunately REWahoo managed to hit my funny bone.

 

[Katsmeow]

The plans are not formal, may overlap, are not necessarily in order, and some require consensus with the wife.

• Be more frugal.
• Try to ride out a market crash by eating the five-year bond ladder.
• Part-time work in my field. Part-time work outside my field presumably at lower pay. Full-time work in my field. Any full-time work.
• Move to a smaller house on a smaller lot in a cheaper town. My wife does not like this one at all. It is the extreme version of "Be more frugal." It does have high up-front transaction costs, and thankfully is just a contingency plan in my head at the moment. However, it could definitely cut

That is sort of how I see this. I was telling DH about that ridiculous NYT article that if you have only a million net worth + SS then you should work until 70. Right now I am planning giving notice this week and he was joking that I should ask to work full-time (I'm semi-retired now and he is retired) again so I can work until 70.... But, after that hilarity, we again reminded ourselves that if things go wrong we still have all the above options. My biggest fear is the sequence of returns issue since we have larger withdrawals for the next couple of years (kids in college). If we survive then I'm not too worried. But, the ace in the hole so to speak is to be willing to change the cost of our lifestyle if we needed to. I've become more and more convinced that we could change the cost of our lifestyle without seriously lowering how our lifestyle felt. We've made some changes in the past 3 months that have reduced our expenses by over $1000 a month and yet I feel no change in lifestyle at all.

 

[eytonxav]

Fortunately REWahoo managed to hit my funny bone.

I realized his comments were in jest, but I couldn't resist. REW is a specialist at out giving punches, but he also takes them well.

 

[REWahoo]

And I have the scars to prove it!