Search results

Medical insurance by far with food coming in second.

Count me among the semi-retired, although I retired from the Corp. ~ 2 years ago at 55. DW and I knew we would probably have to make a little on the side to, how shall I put it, improve our chances longterm. After 6 months completely retired I floated my availability to a few folks back at the...

Downsizing is fantastic! Semi-Retired...went from 2200 sq. ft Townhouse in Museum District in Houston to 1400 sq ft. rent house. 18 mo. later we bought 750 sq ft house on 1.5 acres in the country-2 hrs from the city. OK, $1400 mo reduced to $320 mo (although we put ~ $25 K into upgrades and...

Reality bites! My wife and I pay ~ 1300/mo for medical insurance alone through our former company's retirement plan (and they kick in some on top of that.) No dental included. It is our single largest monthly expense by far.

For what it is worth, we adopted a modified bucket approach. We retired in August 2007, right into the maw of the recession. This has wrecked havoc with our bucket 3 portfolio of stocks, mutual funds, etfs, and some fixed income(designed to mitigate volatility of bucket 3). It should be noted...

Yes, at least this time there are no more "uncompensated overtime" hours donated to a $35B+ corporation.

Yes, mine dropped to 117/72 from not too far from your high reading. That's all meds same-same "just" no longer in the workforce. Mine are typically taken manually. I concur with the above, that serial blood pressure readings are important to really zero in on accurate results. You had a...

We're down ~11% since Oct 07 high. But this is just our index funds allocation. We have 8-10 years before we need to tap into that "bucket"

7 months into FIRE the old Corp. is interested in me providing some support as an independent contractor. The work they are dangling is that which I truly enjoyed, but seldom performed late in career. I will be providing proposal writing and compliance reviews at several domestic sites. Other...

The health benefits have been amazing in just 6 months. I've lost 20 pounds, cut out fast food (since I'm not having to grab and gulp driving between meetings), blood pressure has dropped to 117/72, and I am starting to reduce dosage or eliminate 4 medications. I have plenty of time to cook...

I was a teen during the 60's and as P.J. O'Rourke has said, "If you can remember the 60's, you were not there!"

"Very cool!! Of course now you will probably live longer due to your better health, so don't forget to adjust your life expectancy in firecalc:D" I appreciate your optimism! I used 30 years originally and believe that will still hold, albeit at a higher quality of life. Not a bad deal...

SRV by Town Lake, Austin My hearing in my left ear is still damaged from being in Austin at one of his outdoor concerts (nanometers from a speaker on stage)

Well, Over the last 20+ years in Houston I can think of several clubs that had excellent music( blues and roots rock): Rockefellers; Satellite Lounge; Club Hey Hey; Big Easy; Continental Club; Mucky Duck; Fitzgeralds; Bon Ton Room; Verizon Theatre(recent); and I'm sure I'm forgetting...

Over the years I have read numerous posts herein describing the positive benefits to one's health during retirement. After 4 months in, damn if I'm not seeing some pretty positive changes. These would include losing ~ 20 pounds, reducing dosage on two meds and eliminating one completely, blood...

From Mattress Mac Late to bed Early to rise Work like hell and advertise Sure worked for him! Gallery Furniture, "makes him money!"

As has been stated before, there are numerous ways to approach this issue. However, almost all ultimately deal with what is the minimum amount of money you need annually to support your lifestyle(either that to which you've become accustomed or that with which you can reasonably tolerate). Put...

Yes, You all are right on! While I do not miss work (the old job) I have not rid myself of the worklife habits deveoped over 30+ years. I was always a results oriented, somewhat driven personality. Hopefully nothing that kicking back and following Vonnegut's theory, " Our purpose here on earth...

clarification I do not believe I accurately portrayed my situation... My question is better formulated as: " What are your experiences in transitioning from reaching retirement to getting to the business of being retired", that is, going from "wow, I'm retired to, ok, these are the things I...

Well, I've now been retired since September 1st. And frankly, it has not set in as yet. Right now I feel as if I'm engaging in a long vacation, certainly not retirement. A friend who has been retired over 8 years says it takes at least a year to get into a "retiree" groove, where one "revels" in...

My wife's and my five year plan has come to fruition. I am relaxing into my second day of retirement (as I do not count Labor Day.) This may end up being a quasi-retirement as I have had a few offers to come back next year and work on a casual part-time basis. We will see... We are both 55 and...