checking in
Though it's been some time since my last "official visit" I have signed on as a guest to touch base from time to time, to more or less keep up with the subjects I'm interested in.
For those who may still remember my meanderings, season's greetings, and kudo's for staying the course. The forum becomes part of life, and provides a great place to trade and learn... a community that widens our circumscribed lives.
Anyway, an update:
DW and I are well into our 81st year of life, and beginning our 28th year of happy retirement. Health is okay, and we don't dwell on the infirmities that do accompany "old" age, considering the alternatives. Just checked our life expectancy (when we were born) and see were were only supposed to live to age 61, so we beat the plan by 20 years already.
Still living in our Liberty Village home in Peru and still have our lake place at Woodhaven (my "man cave"), and our Florida home in Lake Griffin Harbor, though we'll sell as soon as our kids find a permanent home in FL. They're using our place as a base while they decide. I'll go back for a week or so in January to set plans to sell.
BTW... absolutely no regrets about moving to our LV CCRC home. Carefree living, and every amenity imaginable within 3 miles.
I haven't gone to any of the financial threads, as our die is cast, and we no longer even think about money. Nice part about this is that despite our plans to "spend down" our total net worth has not changed since the beginning of our complete retirement back in 1989. Most of this good fortune has come from our expenses staying below our interests and needs. Many posts ago, on this thread, I listed what we "don't spend money on", and this hasn't changed.
Poking around the recent Social Security thread caused me to calculate how much we have received (today's dollar) since taking SS @ age 62....
DW at 1/2 of mine, the total to date is $785+K. Not an insignificant amount, considering our frugal lifestyle, and definitely the right move for us, while we were getting good returns on our savings.
That said, we were the "lucky ones", the "silent generation", when, despite the wars, it was a time of stability and gentility, and... a much slower pace.
All in all, maybe what we did by taking ER way back when, is not applicable today, but we are eternally grateful for the many years of living in a country where this was possible. I dearly hope my children and grandchildren will have the same opportunity.