Will the class of 2010 please rise...

[FinanceDude]

30FIRE (32)
Alan (55)
Bikerchick
Billin
Birdie Num Nums (55)
Chalupadrop (58)
Chemist
Chinaco
Class of 2010 (58)
Class of 2010's DW (57)
crayman (48)
davidr04 (57)
Dreamer's DH
extm
FIREdreamer
flyfishnevada
Getoutearly
gomac
Gone4Good
GregLee (68)
hogtied
JacqJolie
Jeeper
JJac (36)
KanDo (50)
Katsmeow
Ken11
Nanannjen (54)
Max Power (62)
MBAustin (53)
mbooth (56)
Melion
metabasalt(61)
MissMolly(56)
Mmm Rrr (58)
Moscyn (50)
MsDonheff
MsTeeRuh
msully76 (56)
nanannjen's DH
Onward (46)
powerplay (55)
queeneev (48)
Rascal
ratface (51)
Rich_in_Tampa (61)
roadkill
ronin
Skyline
sn2792
Stevewc (55)
tesaje
thinker25 (62)
tractor guy (58)
want2xplore
willywonka
Xman
zinger1457 (52)


Congratulations Davidr04 on his retirement.

Its NO WONDER the unemplyment rate is so high!!

 

[Alan]

Its NO WONDER the unemplyment rate is so high!!

Now that you point it out, it does look like a load of lemmings throwing themselves off the cliff, or rats leaving a sinking ship.

I think I fit into the rat analagy 'cos in the last couple of years it looked very much like we might not hang onto the DB pension, and a LOT of us ER'ed from where I worked over the last 2 or 3 years.

 

[FreeOutdoors]

I've added myself as well - retired just before the holiday.

Alan (55)
Bikerchick
Billin
Birdie Num Nums (55)
Chalupadrop (58)
Chemist
Chinaco
crayman (48)
Dreamer's DH
extm
FIREdreamer
flyfishnevada
FreeOutdoors (38)
Getoutearly
gomac
Gone4Good
GregLee (68)
hogtied
JacqJolie
Jeeper
JJac (36)
Katsmeow
Ken11
Nanannjen (54)
martyp (54)
Max Power (62)
MBAustin (53)
mbooth (56)
Melion
metabasalt(61)
Mmm Rrr (58)
Moscyn (50)
MsDonheff
MsTeeRuh
nanannjen's DH
Onward (46)
powerplay (55)
queeneev (48)
Rascal
ratface (51)
Rich_in_Tampa (61)
roadkill
ronin
Skyline
sn2792
Stevewc (55)
tesaje
thinker25 (62)
tractor guy (58)
want2xplore
willywonka
Xman
zinger1457 (52)

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I've added myself as well - retired just before the holiday

Congratulations and welcome to the board. Care to share your story? FIRE at age 38 usually has some interesting angles.

 

[freebird5825]

Mr Boston retired in May 2010 at age 59
He is not a forum member, so add him or not as you see fit.

 

[Alan]

Congratulations and welcome to the board. Care to share your story? FIRE at age 38 usually has some interesting angles.

I agree, I'd like to hear your story.

Congratulations.

Mr Boston retired in May 2010 at age 59
He is not a forum member, so add him or not as you see fit.

Mrs Alan retired Jan 2010 as well, but I didn't think it right to add her either, as she is not in the members' club.

 

[FreeOutdoors]

Thanks -

I'll create a proper "Hi, I am..." post when I get a chance so I don't hijack the thread. In the meantime, I added a few words in my bio.

I've been a LONG time reader, so I'm familiar with most of the really early retirement stories on the forum.

 

[kbst]

kbst

I need to add myself before the year ends. My wife retired in Febuary and after I finished a kitchen remodel in March I quit looking for work. As a contractor this is an easy time to retire. I'm 50 and may still do the occational job to pay for cool vacations. We've been taking a week a month at a time down to our beach place at Kure Beach with the kids (A Maine Coon cat and an American Eskimo Dog). We took a[Meditranian] Cruise last year and have booked a northern European Cruise for May. I stay busy working on my house and yard and training my dog in agility. We're having fun in Chapel Hill. I couldn't get the spell check to work so sorry about the misspells.
Best

 

[Alan]

I need to add myself before the year ends. My wife retired in Febuary and after I finished a kitchen remodel in March I quit looking for work. As a contractor this is an easy time to retire. I'm 50 and may still do the occational job to pay for cool vacations. We've been taking a week a month at a time down to our beach place at Kure Beach with the kids (A Maine Coon cat and an American Eskimo Dog). We took a[Meditranian] Cruise last year and have booked a northern European Cruise for May. I stay busy working on my house and yard and training my dog in agility. We're having fun in Chapel Hill. I couldn't get the spell check to work so sorry about the misspells.
Best

Congratulations, welcome to the club.


Alan (55)
Bikerchick
Billin
Birdie Num Nums (55)
Chalupadrop (58)
Chemist
Chinaco
crayman (48)
Dreamer's DH
extm
FIREdreamer
flyfishnevada
FreeOutdoors (38)
Getoutearly
gomac
Gone4Good
GregLee (68)
hogtied
JacqJolie
Jeeper
JJac (36)
Katsmeow
kbst (50)
Ken11
Nanannjen (54)
martyp (54)
Max Power (62)
MBAustin (53)
mbooth (56)
Melion
metabasalt(61)
Mmm Rrr (58)
Moscyn (50)
MsDonheff
MsTeeRuh
nanannjen's DH
Onward (46)
powerplay (55)
queeneev (48)
Rascal
ratface (51)
Rich_in_Tampa (61)
roadkill
ronin
Skyline
sn2792
Stevewc (55)
tesaje
thinker25 (62)
tractor guy (58)
want2xplore
willywonka
Xman
zinger1457 (52)

 

[ladypatriot]

Whew! Got in just before the door closed! Tomorrow (12/31/10) is "officially" my last day, but my last day of work was 12/22/10 when classes ended. So, please add me to the Class of 2010! DH will be in the class of 2011 (March, to be exact).

Doing the happy dance!

LadyPatriot

 

[Alan]

Congratulations ladypatriot, welcome to the club, and your DH will soon be joining you in this next, hopefully exciting, phase of your life.


Alan (55)
Bikerchick
Billin
Birdie Num Nums (55)
Chalupadrop (58)
Chemist
Chinaco
crayman (48)
Dreamer's DH
extm
FIREdreamer
flyfishnevada
FreeOutdoors (38)
Getoutearly
gomac
Gone4Good
GregLee (68)
hogtied
JacqJolie
Jeeper
JJac (36)
Katsmeow
kbst (50)
Ken11
ladypatriot
Nanannjen (54)
martyp (54)
Max Power (62)
MBAustin (53)
mbooth (56)
Melion
metabasalt(61)
Mmm Rrr (58)
Moscyn (50)
MsDonheff
MsTeeRuh
nanannjen's DH
Onward (46)
powerplay (55)
queeneev (48)
Rascal
ratface (51)
Rich_in_Tampa (61)
roadkill
ronin
Skyline
sn2792
Stevewc (55)
tesaje
thinker25 (62)
tractor guy (58)
want2xplore
willywonka
Xman
zinger1457 (52)

 

[Moscyn]

What a great list! Congratulations to everyone. My high this year is definitely my ER. Hope to hear from you all in the Forum for LIFE after FIRE.

 

[Alan]

What a great list! Congratulations to everyone. My high this year is definitely my ER. Hope to hear from you all in the Forum for LIFE after FIRE.

I thought I'd be making lots of posts to "What did you do today?", but after 11 months I still haven't found the time.

 

[Sue J]

Mr. Sue J retired in June. I didn't add him since he's not a member. I'm still working 10 hours a week bringing in enough money for a Roth IRA.

We're living like we're retired.

 

[Tadpole]

Today is my official retirement day.
Alan (55)
Bikerchick
Billin
Birdie Num Nums (55)
Chalupadrop (58)
Chemist
Chinaco
crayman (48)
Dreamer's DH
extm
FIREdreamer
flyfishnevada
FreeOutdoors (38)
Getoutearly
gomac
Gone4Good
GregLee (68)
hogtied
JacqJolie
Jeeper
JJac (36)
Katsmeow
kbst (50)
Ken11
ladypatriot
Nanannjen (54)
martyp (54)
Max Power (62)
MBAustin (53)
mbooth (56)
Melion
metabasalt(61)
Mmm Rrr (58)
Moscyn (50)
MsDonheff
MsTeeRuh
nanannjen's DH
Onward (46)
powerplay (55)
queeneev (48)
Rascal
ratface (51)
Rich_in_Tampa (61)
roadkill
ronin
Skyline
sn2792
Stevewc (55)
Tadpole (62)
tesaje
thinker25 (62)
tractor guy (58)
want2xplore
willywonka
Xman
zinger1457 (52)

 

[W2R]

Congratulations, Tadpole! Congratulations, ladypatriot!!

 

[Alan]

Congratulations, Tadpole! Congratulations, ladypatriot!!

+1, congratulations to you both.

 

[chemist]

Added my age to the official list. This has turned out to be quite a year for ER's, no doubt in some measure due to the stock market's recovery.

Alan (55)
Bikerchick
Billin
Birdie Num Nums (55)
Chalupadrop (58)
Chemist (55)
Chinaco
crayman (48)
Dreamer's DH
extm
FIREdreamer
flyfishnevada
FreeOutdoors (38)
Getoutearly
gomac
Gone4Good
GregLee (68)
hogtied
JacqJolie
Jeeper
JJac (36)
Katsmeow
kbst (50)
Ken11
ladypatriot
Nanannjen (54)
martyp (54)
Max Power (62)
MBAustin (53)
mbooth (56)
Melion
metabasalt(61)
Mmm Rrr (58)
Moscyn (50)
MsDonheff
MsTeeRuh
nanannjen's DH
Onward (46)
powerplay (55)
queeneev (48)
Rascal
ratface (51)
Rich_in_Tampa (61)
roadkill
ronin
Skyline
sn2792
Stevewc (55)
Tadpole (62)
tesaje
thinker25 (62)
tractor guy (58)
want2xplore
willywonka
Xman
zinger1457 (52)

 

[Onward]

And the class of 2010 is now written in stone. Congrats all.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

Yesterday marked my one-year anniversary being ER'd. Wow, the year went by quickly! I've de-cluttered and thoroughly cleaned my home, exercised much more, read a ton of books, worked on my hobbies, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast almost every day. So far, so good. As someone else said here some time ago--which became my motto (after repeating "Life is short" while deciding whether to ER): "Everyday is Saturday."

How's it working out for you, my fellow classmates?

 

[GregLee]

How's it working out for you, my fellow classmates?

You're ahead of me by two months, but I'm doing okay, too. I've upped my daily exercises by about 20 minutes. I'm practicing increasing my puttering time -- today, I just set out 6 pots of tropical seeds, repotted 3 pretty little plants from the garden store, and started 2 pots of plumeria cuttings.

 

[Alan]

This last 18 months for us has been everything we hoped for, and more. In 2010 we had some great vacations. A month in Colorado, 10 weeks in England, and a month in Canada. This year we are in the middle of a 6 month vacation in England, including a couple of trips abroad to Ireland and Madeira.

When not traveling our exercise regime is fairly extensive, going to the YMCA every weekday morning, doing a wide variety of exercise classes, plus we often ride our bikes the 6 miles to the gym. At weekends we usually play tennis with our son and friends and/or go on bike rides.

This long vacation is England is great as we are situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors and can get up and do whatever we want depending on the weather.

 

[chemist]

10 months for me on June 6th and I can say retirement is even better than I had imagined.

I am playing duplicate bridge 3x a week and competing in regional and national bridge tournaments. Just got back from a tourney in Richmond VA that was a lot of fun.

Did a rim to rim hike of the Grand Canyon last fall which was a blast.

But the absolute best thing is I am exercising more, eating better, have lost 22 pounds, and my physician took me off my Hyzaar (blood pressure) and omeprazole (GERD). Don't need either any more due to weight loss, exercise and loss of stress from job at Megacorp. In fact I was nearly passing out every time I stood up from hypotension until I went off the Hyzaar.

 

[Alan]

But the absolute best thing is I am exercising more, eating better, have lost 22 pounds, and my physician took me off my Hyzaar (blood pressure) and omeprazole (GERD). Don't need either any more due to weight loss, exercise and loss of stress from job at Megacorp. In fact I was nearly passing out every time I stood up from hypotension until I went off the Hyzaar.

That is absolutely awesome - well done indeed !!!!

 

[MBAustin]

8 months for me as of this week. The time has gone amazingly fast. Best thing is 95% reduction in stress level - DH confirms I am a way nicer person to be around now. Haven't traveled as much as I expected but it is really nice not to be rationing vacation days and going pretty much when we want to. Also a bit surprised that I watch no more TV than before RE. Definitely reading more books, though. All in all, absolutely glad I pulled the trigger when I did.