All You OMYers and "Afraid to Jumpers" Read On

[Teacher Terry]

O2BFree: has your brother applied for SSDI? He should also qualify for Medicaid and low income housing and or low income senior housing. I have a lost a few friends early and agree that you can't get the time back. You also don't know what is in store for you health wise either. Marko: truly hoping that your brother is able to fight his way back to a good quality of life. My Dad had a massive stroke at 59 and my Mom and I spent the next 14 years caring for him. We bought the house next door to them and I could help with my DAd and she could babysit when I needed it. We also were good emotional support for one another. They never got to travel like they had planned together. My Mom got to but not my Dad.

[CaliKid]

Very sorry to hear about your brother. My best wishes and good vibes going his way.

Also, thank you for sharing. Definitely a good reminder to us on the fence.

[ExFlyBoy5]

Thank you for sharing that...even if it helps JUST ONE PERSON so stop with the OMY madness, it will be worth it.

I had lunch today with a good friend from HS. He was just amazed at how I was able to retire as young as I did. Of course there was some luck and good fortune in my case, but no reason others can't do it too. He would *love* to retire as well, but he just has "way too many bills!"...of course, the man also has 6 cars in his driveway. Anyway...I relayed to him that my biggest motivator was the simple fact that our days on this earth are finite and I would like to maximize MY time enjoying it.

Another thought that crossed my mind was my ex-wife's father (haven't thought about him in a long time). He really *could* have retired fairly early, but LOVED spending his 6-figure income. Well, that all came to a screeching halt when he was in his early 50's...he had a stroke while having breakfast at Shoney's. It affected his mind more than his body and after his stroke, he never spoke anything that made any sense. He made life a living hell for his wife and she was forced to work in a factory...until it closed. Their life was miserable. He lived that way for almost 10 years. So...if you can pull the trigger NOW...then you should give serious consideration to doing so.

[Teacher Terry]

Strokes can change a person's total personality. My Dad was fun loving, outgoing person until he had his stroke. It didn't effect his body but it sure did his mind. He was grumpy, very unpleasant, etc for a very long 14 years. But it was the part of his brain that was damaged and he could not help it.

[bclover]

And if you need another cautionary tale. I give you my wonderful late hubby.

The absolute finest guy on the planet, lol sorry guys.
Anyhoo, started his own company with 2 other guys and kept saying one more year we'll retire.

Took me to Vegas for my 50th birthday (January) came back with a cough and tiredness which we attributed to a bug from the plane. actual Acute myloid leukemia. October 1 of the same year he passed away. 55 years young.

Interesting thing though, He kept talking about retiring and everyone around us kept saying "You're too young, what will you do".

I do wish we had "balanced" more when we were younger, a number of times we had some extra cash that we thought about doing a family trip but put it off saying "let's wait one more year".

I don't do that anymore. I don't care how big a dent it puts in my wallet, I take a family trip once a year and since I use to drive over 100 miles a day for work, I brought me a luxury car.

[pb4uski]

My sympathies to marko and bclover... a great lesson to those on the fence. The fact that each time I read obituaries there were people near my age that were dying was one factor in my deciding to retire early. While we are healthy... you never know and since we could afford it why not get the the getting is good.

[48Fire]

sorry to hear, but thanks for sharing

[ElizabethT]

DH was just told he needs to go on statins to lower his blood pressure and prevent a possible stroke or heart attack. Our lifestyle is already active and healthy, and DH is already very lean (6' and about 155 lbs), so there is not much more we can do lifestyle-wise. He's 61, FIRE'd since 55, and recently turned down a request to return to his former employer for a whole lot of $$$ to help them out of a bad fix. His rationale for doing so, and this was before learning the news about his blood pressure, was that life is finite, and that a few more dollars in the pot (3% of whatever he earned post-tax) was not going to have any significant impact on our already very satisfying lifestyle.

The five years we've enjoyed since FIRE'ing cannot be quantified, and no amount of salary, bonuses, 401k matching, or stock options would be worth not having them. We have seen and done things that couldn't have been done while w@*king due to time constraints, and that may not be possible in the future due to physical/health constraints.

'Postpone nothing' someone wiser than me once said.

[Turn_the_Page]

Nice thread. Hoping the best for your brother. My A-Fib seems to be gone now, but not until I had a valve replaced. It's not something to take lightly.

This really gives me pause. 7 weeks FIRE'd and I just applied for a PT job at a college 5 minutes from home. Really excited about yesterday, now not so much.

[bclover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn_the_Page Nice thread. Hoping the best for your brother. My A-Fib seems to be gone now, but not until I had a valve replaced. It's not something to take lightly. This really gives me pause. 7 weeks FIRE'd and I just applied for a PT job at a college 5 minutes from home. Really excited about yesterday, now not so much.

Nothing wrong with that. I have a part time job working in a bakery. I love to bake and went to culinary school, after college. got a job working mega corp, yada yada yada.

One of the cool things about early retirement for many, it's a chance to pursue those alternate realities. I thought I always wanted to own a bakery, lol until I saw how much work went into being my own boss.

Now this is the best of both worlds for me. I only work 3 days a week, I get to play with dough and make a little dough. the only drawback is like most bakeries you are up at dawn.

and look at it this way, the great thing about working in retirement is that if you don't like what you are doing you can quit.

7 weeks you're just getting your 'sea legs" under you. Enjoy your p/t job, if you find you'd rather be doing some thing else or nothing at all. no problem

[bclover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski My sympathies to marko and bclover... a great lesson to those on the fence. The fact that each time I read obituaries there were people near my age that were dying was one factor in my deciding to retire early. While we are healthy... you never know and since we could afford it why not get the the getting is good.

Thanks Pb4uski (and everyone).

And health was another factor, when I decide to leave I hated my job. Mega corp was doing what mega corps do.
I was losing sleep, getting migraines and the stress added 40 lbs to me. My doctor seriously wanted to put me on antidepressants.

I think the one thing I caution ladies know is that believe it or not I was (and still am to a small degree) was one of those wives who let the "old guy" as I affectionately called him handle all the retirement/savings stuff. He loved it/ I hate it. so we fell into a comfortable role.
So when he passed it took me a while to figure out what to do.

[JoeWras]

Thanks for sharing. I need this.

My planning date is 5/1/18. I want to reach 55. I'm thinking of moving that to 1/2/18. Secretly, I'm hoping to be laid off ASAP. I'd lose early access to the 401k, but so what.

But on the other side, my friends ask about the layoffs at Megacorp and ask if I have a plan to find another job. I say "no", and they start offering all their ideas why I need to keep working. Get behind me, you devils!

Thank you OP, again, for the reminder.

[Closet_Gamer]

Sorry to hear about your brother. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Thanks for sharing. Tho I'm a few years short of FIRE this is very much on my mind. It's easy to imagine FIRE in 10 years being the same as now but easy to forget that health (myself or DW or her parents) may radically change the backdrop.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras Thanks for sharing. I need this. My planning date is 5/1/18. I want to reach 55. I'm thinking of moving that to 1/2/18. Secretly, I'm hoping to be laid off ASAP. I'd lose early access to the 401k, but so what. But on the other side, my friends ask about the layoffs at Megacorp and ask if I have a plan to find another job. I say "no", and they start offering all their ideas why I need to keep working. Get behind me, you devils! Thank you OP, again, for the reminder.

This thread is reminding me what went into my decision to retire earlier than my official plan.

Like you, I'd been working towards an age 55 retirement. I started thinking about the arbitrariness of that age related date when I considered my brother and my mom. My brother died of a very aggressive cancer before his 50th birthday. He went from super healthy to dead in less than 5 months. My mom retired at 62, only to find out 9 months later she had stage 3 ovarian cancer. She spent her remaining years trying to squeeze travel in between her chemo rounds. Not my idea of a dream retirement.

With this on my mind I increased my savings (which in turn forced me to reduce my spending to divert the money to savings)... and was able to pull the plug 2.5 years earlier than my arbitrary age 55 date. I would not exchange the past 2.5 years for anything.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bclover and look at it this way, the great thing about working in retirement is that if you don't like what you are doing you can quit.

Exactly. After I retired from my main job of 29 years I stumbled into a new job that was low stress and had a 3.4 mile commute that took ~6 minutes or so. Never any traffic jams. And to boot it paid almost as much as I was being paid before I retired because they wanted the experience that I had.

All good things come to an end though, and they were going to reduce the pay by ~40% so I quit. Or actually, just did not apply to the new contracting company. I heard later that working conditions went through the floor, no meal/bathroom breaks, lots of 12-hour days, and the like so I would have quit in a day or two anyway.

I did feel sort of bad for the poor guys who had to stay because they were in debt and, y'know, gotta keep the economy fed with those credit cards....

[jollystomper]

I appreciate hearing stories like these. My condolences to those who have shared. As an OMYer, these things are on my mind everyday.

Earlier this year I had a health scare but everything turned out ok. The various stress/nuclear dye tests showed all clear in the cardiovascular system. Still, I think about those sudden things mentioned above. I have seen thing like that happen up close and personal to more than a few few co-workers. Right now I'm just trying to work in "glide path to retirement" mode (which I detailed in another thread). Working from home and not having to commute helps a lot. Lately most of the projects I have are more teaching/mentoring/intellectual capital development, which is much less stressful than those "get on a plane and help a situation out of a ditch" project. And I'm spending more time on things that I hope to be spending a lot of time on in retirement.

For me, June 2017 just seems right... I will have just turned 591/2, the last college expenses will just be over, and that gives me less of an "excuse" for OMY. This time I have a stronger feeling than ever that the date is now my "worst case" retirement date. Megacorp is still in reorganizing/layoffs cycle, still going thru layoffs, and I won't be surprised if I am tapped. My siblings and I (VERY fortunate that the 7 of us all get along very well) are completing settling our mothers estate, and it looks like I will get an additional large unexpected amount. Since all the forecasts already show we are in good shape, that would be even greater motivation to retire.

So... while no one knows the future, and no guarantees abound, hopefully no more OMY for me come next year.

[Options]

I am sorry to hear about your brother and hope he recovers well. Your brother's case of bad luck is an exact example of why I have become so diligent concerning all aspects of my health. I have always had good health habits (diet, exercise, etc.), but two years ago I read the book The Real Age Makeover about making over the internal physical body to improve personal health outcomes. I learned that the three main causes of unhealthy physical aging are cardiovascular, immunological, and stress-related in nature. Based on the book's recommendations, I intensified the degree that my diet is healthy and adopted additional health habits to my regimen at the time. I'm happy to say as of this past Thursday my good, bad, and total cholesterol are the best they have ever been, having trended improvement over the past two years. All other blood markers such as glucose levels are excellent as well.

Health care is the wild card financially in retirement. I believe it is in our best interests financially, psychologically, and emotionally to invest as much energy into our health as we do our finances. You can have all the money in the world, but without good health and particularly mobility quality of life suffers.

[Dawg52]

Hope your brother has a good recovery.

[HadEnuff]

My sympathies to you and your brother. On a smaller scale, as I transition into full retirement, not particularly early (retired 6 months ago at 62, now am 63) I am having a terrible bout of sciatica, looking at the possibility of back surgery.

Who knows what's on the other side? Maybe my normal life back? You know, the one I envisioned all of those years I dreamt about retirement. Maybe not, maybe hobbled up a bit? My wife is struggling with the decision. She'll be 59 this month. I know this episode has removed any doubts I may have had about not OMYing, and I am letting her know that she has my blessing to bag it whenever she wants.

Life, and health, are fleeting.

All of the best to your brother (and you)!

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HadEnuff My sympathies to you and your brother. On a smaller scale, as I transition into full retirement, not particularly early (retired 6 months ago at 62, now am 63) I am having a terrible bout of sciatica, looking at the possibility of back surgery. Who knows what's on the other side? Maybe my normal life back? You know, the one I envisioned all of those years I dreamt about retirement. Maybe not, maybe hobbled up a bit? My wife is struggling with the decision. She'll be 59 this month. I know this episode has removed any doubts I may have had about not OMYing, and I am letting her know that she has my blessing to bag it whenever she wants. Life, and health, are fleeting. All of the best to your brother (and you)!

Yep. I'm with you HadEnuf. We've shared on the other thread. I had my first surgery ever this year, for sciatica. Wake up call! Maybe the best type, since in the scheme of things, it isn't like a heart attack or stroke. My back issues grounded me badly, and I realize that active retirement window may be pretty small, given my family's orthopedic history.

BTW, it is still going well at 8 weeks out and I'm very glad to have done the simple discectomy.

I'd give my notice today if it were not for syncing with DW. She gets medical benefits at 55, and we want to go out together. So, OMY.

In the meantime, at work, I don't let it stress me. I have so-called "FU" money (forgive for writing this on Sunday morning...) I take all my vacation, and tell the boss I'm busy when he asks for overnight support.