Last night we were at some friends for Thanksgiving dinner along with 3 other families. Two are retired military and the other is a govt civilian under the old retirement plan. After dinner there were a series of discussions. One was the market tanking, another was debating the make-up of various ETFs between two of the guys (mine is better than yours), paying off a mortgage and having a mortgage, and the last was on long term planning. CINC house and I was very quiet and just listened. Everyone seemed to be an expert and their view was right.
One guy is going to retire next summer. He is 62, no debt, and about a $20k military pension. He and his wife talked about talked about how they had planned, and even had a spreadsheet which includes, mandatory IRA withdraw dates, optimal time to take SS and their estimated demise dates. IMHO he has really thought thru his path ahead.
Another wife went on and on about planning. She thought long term planning was a waste. She said she only knew what her vacation was next year and didn’t plan for anything else. There was also some discussion about how she viewed investing the market etc. Essentially all her money is in her mattress.
Then she turned to me and said “so what are you going to do when you retire from the AF in two years?” Her husband looked at me and kind of grinned because he knows the deal as we have discussed it many times. I said well I am going to retire, spend time with the family and then maybe do something or not I haven’t decided on that one yet. She looked at me like I was from Mars. And said “YOU CAN”T DO THAT you have two small kids and will be in your early 40s, you have to work another 20 yrs. I know my husband is because he has to pay for this house.” Then the rant began.
I have never had anyone attack me that way on this subject. I was stunned and felt like someone punched me in the gut, thought about doubting myself, thought you are right I do have two young kids and that is the reason I need to RE to spend time with them, and then mentally switched to the “watch my tracers” mode all in about 60 seconds.
I know we can do this. Earlier that morning I had set down with CINC house and laid out where I thought we were going to be financially so I had a pretty good feel that we will be ok. She kept on and on about “you can’t do that.”
Has this ever happened to you and how did you deal with it? I am sure the critics will come out of the woodwork closer to my ER date. I am still stunned about this.
Tomcat98
One guy is going to retire next summer. He is 62, no debt, and about a $20k military pension. He and his wife talked about talked about how they had planned, and even had a spreadsheet which includes, mandatory IRA withdraw dates, optimal time to take SS and their estimated demise dates. IMHO he has really thought thru his path ahead.
Another wife went on and on about planning. She thought long term planning was a waste. She said she only knew what her vacation was next year and didn’t plan for anything else. There was also some discussion about how she viewed investing the market etc. Essentially all her money is in her mattress.
Then she turned to me and said “so what are you going to do when you retire from the AF in two years?” Her husband looked at me and kind of grinned because he knows the deal as we have discussed it many times. I said well I am going to retire, spend time with the family and then maybe do something or not I haven’t decided on that one yet. She looked at me like I was from Mars. And said “YOU CAN”T DO THAT you have two small kids and will be in your early 40s, you have to work another 20 yrs. I know my husband is because he has to pay for this house.” Then the rant began.
I have never had anyone attack me that way on this subject. I was stunned and felt like someone punched me in the gut, thought about doubting myself, thought you are right I do have two young kids and that is the reason I need to RE to spend time with them, and then mentally switched to the “watch my tracers” mode all in about 60 seconds.
I know we can do this. Earlier that morning I had set down with CINC house and laid out where I thought we were going to be financially so I had a pretty good feel that we will be ok. She kept on and on about “you can’t do that.”
Has this ever happened to you and how did you deal with it? I am sure the critics will come out of the woodwork closer to my ER date. I am still stunned about this.
Tomcat98