pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yippee!!!
Today is the one year anniversary of my retirement. At least I think it is.
A year ago, I was on vacation from now (the Saturday before Christmas) to February 1, 2012 (which was my last day on payroll) so I've always thought of this as my retirement date rather than Feb 1.
It has been an interesting year - much better than I expected. I have really enjoyed my new found freedom. I got back into golf and played 2-3 times a week over the summer and won our annual family golf tournament (49th year). We plan to do a lot of skiing this winter. Yet, despite the increase in physical activity my weight/fitness are unchanged so that is something to work on next year.
Financially, the year has been much better than I planned for thanks to Mr. Market's 13.5% YTD investment returns. I feel like a cat eating a canary in that I "sat" home all year and my net worth still increased by over 10% (~13.5% return less ~3.5% WR). It has also been interesting going from accumulation phase to withdrawal phase, but I think I now have things set up the way I want and a withdrawal plan that I think will work well - but time will tell.
One thing that has surprised me is the tax planning opportunities that being retired provides. When I was w*rking it was just filling out the forms and paying what was due in that as a salaried person there wasn't much that I could do to affect my tax bill other than maxing out my 401k and HSA. Thanks to the 0% qualified dividend/CG rate for 15% bracket in 2012, I'll have 0 taxes this year despite realizing some significant gains and stepping up the basis of my taxable portfolio. It makes for a much more interesting "game".
I'll admit to missing my colleagues and clients, though we have kept in touch a bit. While I don't miss w*rk, I'll admit to some short periods of boredom but then something comes up.
Anyhow, a great year - and looking forward to the coming year. One thing we haven't done this year is travel, but DW is getting antsy so I think we'll be doing some traveling in 2013.
Today is the one year anniversary of my retirement. At least I think it is.
A year ago, I was on vacation from now (the Saturday before Christmas) to February 1, 2012 (which was my last day on payroll) so I've always thought of this as my retirement date rather than Feb 1.
It has been an interesting year - much better than I expected. I have really enjoyed my new found freedom. I got back into golf and played 2-3 times a week over the summer and won our annual family golf tournament (49th year). We plan to do a lot of skiing this winter. Yet, despite the increase in physical activity my weight/fitness are unchanged so that is something to work on next year.
Financially, the year has been much better than I planned for thanks to Mr. Market's 13.5% YTD investment returns. I feel like a cat eating a canary in that I "sat" home all year and my net worth still increased by over 10% (~13.5% return less ~3.5% WR). It has also been interesting going from accumulation phase to withdrawal phase, but I think I now have things set up the way I want and a withdrawal plan that I think will work well - but time will tell.
One thing that has surprised me is the tax planning opportunities that being retired provides. When I was w*rking it was just filling out the forms and paying what was due in that as a salaried person there wasn't much that I could do to affect my tax bill other than maxing out my 401k and HSA. Thanks to the 0% qualified dividend/CG rate for 15% bracket in 2012, I'll have 0 taxes this year despite realizing some significant gains and stepping up the basis of my taxable portfolio. It makes for a much more interesting "game".
I'll admit to missing my colleagues and clients, though we have kept in touch a bit. While I don't miss w*rk, I'll admit to some short periods of boredom but then something comes up.
Anyhow, a great year - and looking forward to the coming year. One thing we haven't done this year is travel, but DW is getting antsy so I think we'll be doing some traveling in 2013.
After 3 years of ER, with a PT job, I think I have convinced myself I will be fine, so this year will be it for me. I plan increasing my golfing this year from 1-2 days to 5 days a week. Wish I could be hitting the slopes like you are this year, but I will have to sit it out this year as my GF doesn't have the vacation time this year. The only thing worse than not going for me, is going ahead without her, and catching the wrath from it when I get back.
