Recent content by howdidigetthisold

Hi - I finally pulled the plug and quit my j*b on December 2! Thank you to all forum members for all the great advice over the years! So good to be free! This was me as a I ran from the building after submitting my resignation letter:

You guys are the best! Such great advice from all of you. Thank you so much. It really is about time vs money, isn't it? Thank you for the reminders and sage advice about time. I laughed a long time when I read this quote -- it's funny but so true:

My j*b s*cks and I want out (like everyone else on this forum). But, the longer I stay, the higher the pension gets. My COLA pension offers three payout date options: 1) 55 years - eligible to take the pension but at a reduced rate; 2) 57 yr and 8 months - 30-years of service increases pension...

What stops me from freezing or requesting credit reports is that they want your SS number, birthdate and everything else about you that could be used to steal your identity. We're only as secure as the weakest link. I don't trust the minimum wage workers at the credit companies to not steal my...

BOAT means "bust out another thousand."

As most know, Zvi Bodie has advocated investing in TIPS for a secure retirement. Q&A with Zvi Bodie | Zvi Bodie But, things have changed. Just read the Vanguard prospectus on its VIPSX fund (inflation protected securities). The long-term manager is retiring in March 2014, among other volatile...

Great job at such a young age. Agree with everyone about getting an emergency fund first. Then, max out your retirement funds. What's leftover you can split between your mortgage and taxed investments. When do you want to retire or at least be FI? I wish someone would have shown me a...

One more year started at 49. 50 came and I kept working hoping to quit at 55; actually, desperate to quite at 55. 55 came and went. Did some calculations and cross calculations of the pension and found out that I'd get a big jump in pay if I made it to the 30-year mark. So, I'm sticking it...

We just signed up for an umbrella policy. Didn't even know about it until we talked with a new insurance agent who happened to mention, "If your assets in retirement, property, etc. are higher than your home/auto insurance coverage, you should have an umbrella policy." We hesitated because of...

Don't you have to give your SS number to the credit report company to see your credit report? Who are these credit report companies? Who monitors them? How do they protect our personal info? After a security problem, I was offered a 1-year free credit report monitoring. But, to get that...

Thanks for sharing the info on the 3% 5-year CD from PenFed. We've not banked with them before and don't know about PenFed's reputation, reliability, security, etc. Has anyone had any problems with their accounts at PenFed? Specifically, regarding security, fraudulent access, etc?

This is the hardest decision about ER for all the reasons described in each posting, including the archived post: The closer you get, the harder the decision gets unless life knocks you upside the head and makes the decision for you. For me, the decision became clear when I ran the numbers...

Add me to the list of 2014. My FIRE date is December 1, 2014 -- that's the day I'll have put in 30 years at the state j*b. The difference in my pension is over $3 grand/yr between November 30 and December 1! That's how the formula works -- put in 30 years and there's a reward. I'm already...

Question about FIRECalc spending models. Is the default inflation assumption the same as Safemax? At the top of the page on the Spending Models tab, FIRECalc says the following, but I'm not sure if I understand it correctly: "If you leave this section alone, FIRECalc assumes you will continue...

Thanks for all the great comments and for sharing your stories! It's encouraging to see that recovery from burnout can happen in "nanoseconds"! This will help me every day as I plod through this last year before ER. Thank you!