59, ready- (guess that's not early) but dam golden hand cuffs.

[rayinpenn]

My oldest (daughter) is in college, will be a sophomore. My son will also be a sophomore but in HS. I am sooo ready to retire.

The motivation.....
1. I can't remember exactly when did I start hating the cold? actually loathing is a better word.
2. MY sister in law just built and retired to a luxury condo in Florida. Pool in the 'cage' in the back with a tile surround to die for. Oh and that kitchen my god' that island must be 15 ft long. The walk in shower is glorious!
3. My sister just retired to florida they just sent me pictures of their new pontoon boat that they cruise the river on. Did I mention I just love to fish in the Florida dun.
4. These old knees, 2 hours sitting in the cube farm and I get up a cripple

What's holding me back...
1. Three more years of high school - kid for sale!
2. The retirement funds grow by $3,000 a week. How would like to hand you kid $150k as a down payment on his/her . Or maybe 2 years at a top tier grad school.

 

[travelover]

When will you die? I've known several people that one-more-yeared their way into the grave with zero retirement years. They left lots of money, though.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

My oldest (daughter) is in college, will be a sophomore. My son will also be a sophomore but in HS. I am sooo ready to retire.

The motivation.....
1. I can't remember exactly when did I start hating the cold? actually loathing is a better word.
2. MY sister in law just built and retired to a luxury condo in Florida. Pool in the 'cage' in the back with a tile surround to die for. Oh and that kitchen my god' that island must be 15 ft long. The walk in shower is glorious!
3. My sister just retired to florida they just sent me pictures of their new pontoon boat that they cruise the river on. Did I mention I just love to fish in the Florida dun.
4. These old knees, 2 hours sitting in the cube farm and I get up a cripple

What's holding me back...
1. Three more years of high school - kid for sale!
2. The retirement funds grow by $3,000 a week. How would like to hand you kid $150k as a down payment on his/her . Or maybe 2 years at a top tier grad school.

They have schools in Florida, don't they? Kids can adjust.
And . . . no, I wouldn't put off my life 3 years to hand a kid $150k for anything. (Of course, I only have dogs, so I probably don't understand this impulse.)

Keep the kid and move to Florida.

Carpe diem.

 

[fh2000]

What's holding me back...
1. Three more years of high school - kid for sale!
2. The retirement funds grow by $3,000 a week. How would like to hand you kid $150k as a down payment on his/her . Or maybe 2 years at a top tier grad school.

You sound just like my DW: grad school for 2 kids, down payment for them. I have to remind myself that my old boss died at 61 with a lots of fame, money, but no retirement.

 

[Another Reader]

You waited until your 40's to have kids. You probably had a lot of fun in your 20's and 30's, though.

In your shoes, I would tell the kids that because they were born later in life, there will not be enough time to be able to hand them $150k down payments. Then I would start seriously planning my exit today.

 

[Fishingmn]

What does DW want? What would son think about moving now?

These are questions you need to answer more than the money one.

 

[NanoSour]

Different strokes for different folks I guess. My path is quite different than OP. Retired from job I loved (and miss) at 49 with 3 kids (10, 11, 15) to move to a city we wanted to live in and have the kids call their home. Retirement family spending is $75K/year with $20K/year allocated towards college costs when the time comes. No plans to provide any other assistance to the offspring. Of course, we'll help if we can, but it's not in the planning packet.

 

[38Chevy454]

Agree that kids can move and adapt to new location quite easily. Yes it is an adjustment, but guess what? Life is a constant adjustment and look at this as one of those.

Your choice about giving kids money or other school support. If your health and attitude are just not into the work, time to consider the real costs. Money can't buy health, it may make it better and help improve it, but to what degree of improvement?

Do not have details on your net worth and financial picture, so only you can decide if you have the required assets to retire and move.

 

[aja8888]

Take a Florida vacation and visit the relatives......pick out you new house and boat and move. Case closed.

 

[rayinpenn]

Yes I know all this but the HS is superb, oldest is deans list - applied mathematics at a major university. It is all because the school district pushed her and now him...
1. As resident I pay under 30 grand 'all in' for no 1s tuition.
2. I moved her 10 years ago for school.

Maybe answer is to retire here for now...or so I hang in there another year? When I get up from my cube and stumble the first few feet I think to myself it is time....

 

[rayinpenn]

Oh one more thing my older brother retired early ~52 and was gone in maybe 2 years...

 

[rayinpenn]

You sound just like my DW: grad school for 2 kids, down payment for them. I have to remind myself that my old boss died at 61 with a lots of fame, money, but no retirement.

Man your killing me...while I don't give a hoot about fame I do want my time in the sun...

 

[daylatedollarshort]

DH retired from a megacorp job when one of our kids was still in high school. We cut our expenses on stuff we no longer needed or used (land line, cable, commute costs, disability insurance, life insurance, etc.), took pensions early, lowered our taxes, and work part time from home, which has allowed us to have the same lifestyle only with a lot less work hours and much more free time.

With more free time we have made it a project to really review our expenses and adopt many sustainable living practices. Our electric and gas bill used to be up to $500 a month and our last bill was $90. We shop at warehouse stores now and cook more from scratch, so that cut our food bill in half. I think we have saved more by cutting our expenses than if he had worked another year or two, but we had a lot of wasteful spending to cut.

We plan to downsize to a retirement condo when the last kiddo is launched or close to it. Right now we have a house to fix up to sell and a lot of decluttering to do. Getting rid of all this stuff has been a job in itself, but it feels good. We have gotten rid of a ton of stuff that so far no one has missed.

We had 4 friends die this past year so DH has no regrets he left the office job when he did.

 

[robnplunder]

They have schools in Florida, don't they? Kids can adjust.
And . . . no, I wouldn't put off my life 3 years to hand a kid $150k for anything. (Of course, I only have dogs, so I probably don't understand this impulse.)

Keep the kid and move to Florida.

Carpe diem.

Sell the kid. Move to Florida.

 

[MRG]

Where in FL. are you moving to?
MRG

 

[rayinpenn]

Sarasota is where we own already...love siesta key!