Red Badger
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
DW and I went to lunch while running some errands. We reflected on this year where she left to her home country while I was still working, but came home to an unemployed layabout. 
Lunch invoice submitted as evidence (free chips and salsa, two waters and two lunch deals) from the best Mexican restaurant in the 'hood. Also, evidence of our "big money."
Retirement at 60 started out badly. June 30 was last day. Monday, July 3 (first real day of retirement), and I was laid up in a bad way. I was in terrible shape with raging salmonella fever and all the biological events that accompany it. On that same Monday, a lawyer was representing me in Charlotte for a speeding ticket I had recently earned.
I had planned (extensively) how I would spend that first day in retirement, but here I was, hobbled with self inflicted medical and legal woes. I've blogged about the ticket, the salmonella - that's another day. If Day One was a harbinger of the retirement to come; well, welcome to retirement hell.
Anyhoo, my ticket got downgraded to a non-moving violation, so no points and a very modest fine. By the end of that first week, my health had returned and I was churning miles on the local greenway and in the mountains. DW returned from a six month sabbatical to her home country (Korea) and decided to apply for citizenship, and that became a reality this month (she weighed renouncing her Korean citizenship for some years, but this most recent trip let her know that her home was no longer Korea). Icing on that cake was sending her 1st class on a brutal 14 hour flight by cashing out a gazillion FF miles.
Our modest portfolio has grown about ~10% since retirement, even though we've made a few small withdrawals. We've built a 2 year CD ladder to get us to the point where we'll both file for SS (dragged my feet on this as the market kept climbing, but had to admit I was market timing, so git 'er done!). I'm a DIY index / whole market investor, but met with my FIDO guy. He ran some good case - bad case scenarios, and (like FIREcalc) the results were positive. So, a good "second opinion" and he didn't try (hard) to sell me crap.
After retirement "hell week," the rest has been blissful. Modest travel, lots of walking and talking. Being able to live in the moment without the stress of w*rking, commuting, deadlines, etc. I like to get up around 6 (DW maybe 90-120 min later). I catch the news, blog, and hang out with the mutt until she joins. Then, most days, I make breakfast. After that, its all free form and awesome.
To the moderators and administrators, thank you for what you have created and maintained.
To the members, thank you for sharing and giving.
To the lurkers, join and share.
To the retirement "fence sitters," if you've run the numbers and you're golden (or even silver), get the hell out of there.
There is a coffee shop near my home (Waterbean). Besides great coffee, they sell great finger food, wine, and beer. There's a lot of fellowship, commiserating, and friendship. This forum is much like that coffee shop.
The FIre = think FI is modest, but solid; the re = at 60, not so early, given that I think some folks here retired during junior high (for you kids around here,
that's what middle school was called when dinosaurs roamed the earth). But for us, being able to pull the plug at 60, and not 62, 65, 67, etc, was fabulous. YMMV!
T-T-T-That's all folks!
Lunch invoice submitted as evidence (free chips and salsa, two waters and two lunch deals) from the best Mexican restaurant in the 'hood. Also, evidence of our "big money." Retirement at 60 started out badly. June 30 was last day. Monday, July 3 (first real day of retirement), and I was laid up in a bad way. I was in terrible shape with raging salmonella fever and all the biological events that accompany it. On that same Monday, a lawyer was representing me in Charlotte for a speeding ticket I had recently earned.
I had planned (extensively) how I would spend that first day in retirement, but here I was, hobbled with self inflicted medical and legal woes. I've blogged about the ticket, the salmonella - that's another day. If Day One was a harbinger of the retirement to come; well, welcome to retirement hell.
Anyhoo, my ticket got downgraded to a non-moving violation, so no points and a very modest fine. By the end of that first week, my health had returned and I was churning miles on the local greenway and in the mountains. DW returned from a six month sabbatical to her home country (Korea) and decided to apply for citizenship, and that became a reality this month (she weighed renouncing her Korean citizenship for some years, but this most recent trip let her know that her home was no longer Korea). Icing on that cake was sending her 1st class on a brutal 14 hour flight by cashing out a gazillion FF miles.
Our modest portfolio has grown about ~10% since retirement, even though we've made a few small withdrawals. We've built a 2 year CD ladder to get us to the point where we'll both file for SS (dragged my feet on this as the market kept climbing, but had to admit I was market timing, so git 'er done!). I'm a DIY index / whole market investor, but met with my FIDO guy. He ran some good case - bad case scenarios, and (like FIREcalc) the results were positive. So, a good "second opinion" and he didn't try (hard) to sell me crap.
After retirement "hell week," the rest has been blissful. Modest travel, lots of walking and talking. Being able to live in the moment without the stress of w*rking, commuting, deadlines, etc. I like to get up around 6 (DW maybe 90-120 min later). I catch the news, blog, and hang out with the mutt until she joins. Then, most days, I make breakfast. After that, its all free form and awesome.
To the moderators and administrators, thank you for what you have created and maintained.
To the members, thank you for sharing and giving.
To the lurkers, join and share.
To the retirement "fence sitters," if you've run the numbers and you're golden (or even silver), get the hell out of there.
There is a coffee shop near my home (Waterbean). Besides great coffee, they sell great finger food, wine, and beer. There's a lot of fellowship, commiserating, and friendship. This forum is much like that coffee shop.
The FIre = think FI is modest, but solid; the re = at 60, not so early, given that I think some folks here retired during junior high (for you kids around here,
that's what middle school was called when dinosaurs roamed the earth).
But for us, being able to pull the plug at 60, and not 62, 65, 67, etc, was fabulous. YMMV!T-T-T-That's all folks!
