CitizenK
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2012
- Messages
- 63
Hello everyone,
I'm seriously thinking about joining the class of 2012.
I waffled twice in 2011. I set a retirement date for myself in May 2011, and then again in September. Each time, inertia and fear did me in. I'm ready for a new phase of life, but it's damn scary. Hopefully you guys will talk me down from the ledge this time.
With no defined benefit other than eventual Social Security, I'll be doing this on my own savings. I'm lucky that early on, I somehow always distinguished between needs and wants, because I didn't really know what I was doing in the stock market most of the way. I just signed up for every savings opportunity at work, maxed them out, and randomly picked funds. I've never made a six-figure income, but somehow I now have enough saved to meet my expenses with 3-4% withdrawal rate, without counting Social Security. Autopilot worked for me. I was never consciously planning for retirement until the last 10 years, and only had any clue what I was really doing the last five. Right after I realized that ER might be possible, 2008-09 knocked the wind of of my sails, and I gave up the dream pretty quickly. I avoided thinking or reading about retirement for quite a while. But now I'm back and determined.
At some point I read a little on asset allocation, and now am an index fund investor. For my age (56) and situation (no pension), I'm too heavily invested in stocks, and need to work through reallocating everything appropriately. I had hoped to have a new asset allocation figured out before retiring fully, but I'm not there yet. I have two years of expenses in cash to live on, so I think I'll go ahead with retiring, move most accounts to a Vanguard target date fund, and then work on a more sophisticated allocation as an early ER project. Crazy?
I've had two substantially different careers. I was in a creative but low paying job field for 23 years, including 16 at one company. When I left that firm in about 1997, I had $125K in the 401K. In the exit interview, I remember the HR rep opening her eyes wide and saying "that's MUCH more than most people have." I really had no idea if it was a lot or a little.
I then was self-employed for a few years, "reinvented" myself, and have been at megacorp in an IT job for 12 years. It's been a good place to save money, but I never bonded with the job, I'm burned out and won't miss it. I can stay on their health insurance by using Cobra for the next 18 months, after which I can rejoin the group plan at exorbitant rates, paying the full cost, until I'm eligible for Medicare.
I don't intend to pull the rug out from under my coworkers, but have read some of the cautionary tales here of providing too much advance warning. I intend to give six weeks notice, which is a compromise between not torturing myself, and providing a reasonable transition period at work. I'm thinking of timing this so my last day just before my birthday.
Occupying my time is the least of my worries. I can't wait to live life on my own schedule. I'm not a morning person, and have struggled to get to myself to work on time for 35 years. I'm looking forward be able to stay up late to finish watching a movie, grocery shop at off hours, and not deal with arbitrary work deadlines.
There are very few people I feel comfortable discussing ER with, so I'm grateful this group is here and look forward to learning and sharing with you.
I've never used dryer sheets. A little static never bothered me.
-CK
I'm seriously thinking about joining the class of 2012.
I waffled twice in 2011. I set a retirement date for myself in May 2011, and then again in September. Each time, inertia and fear did me in. I'm ready for a new phase of life, but it's damn scary. Hopefully you guys will talk me down from the ledge this time.
With no defined benefit other than eventual Social Security, I'll be doing this on my own savings. I'm lucky that early on, I somehow always distinguished between needs and wants, because I didn't really know what I was doing in the stock market most of the way. I just signed up for every savings opportunity at work, maxed them out, and randomly picked funds. I've never made a six-figure income, but somehow I now have enough saved to meet my expenses with 3-4% withdrawal rate, without counting Social Security. Autopilot worked for me. I was never consciously planning for retirement until the last 10 years, and only had any clue what I was really doing the last five. Right after I realized that ER might be possible, 2008-09 knocked the wind of of my sails, and I gave up the dream pretty quickly. I avoided thinking or reading about retirement for quite a while. But now I'm back and determined.
At some point I read a little on asset allocation, and now am an index fund investor. For my age (56) and situation (no pension), I'm too heavily invested in stocks, and need to work through reallocating everything appropriately. I had hoped to have a new asset allocation figured out before retiring fully, but I'm not there yet. I have two years of expenses in cash to live on, so I think I'll go ahead with retiring, move most accounts to a Vanguard target date fund, and then work on a more sophisticated allocation as an early ER project. Crazy?
I've had two substantially different careers. I was in a creative but low paying job field for 23 years, including 16 at one company. When I left that firm in about 1997, I had $125K in the 401K. In the exit interview, I remember the HR rep opening her eyes wide and saying "that's MUCH more than most people have." I really had no idea if it was a lot or a little.
I then was self-employed for a few years, "reinvented" myself, and have been at megacorp in an IT job for 12 years. It's been a good place to save money, but I never bonded with the job, I'm burned out and won't miss it. I can stay on their health insurance by using Cobra for the next 18 months, after which I can rejoin the group plan at exorbitant rates, paying the full cost, until I'm eligible for Medicare.
I don't intend to pull the rug out from under my coworkers, but have read some of the cautionary tales here of providing too much advance warning. I intend to give six weeks notice, which is a compromise between not torturing myself, and providing a reasonable transition period at work. I'm thinking of timing this so my last day just before my birthday.
Occupying my time is the least of my worries. I can't wait to live life on my own schedule. I'm not a morning person, and have struggled to get to myself to work on time for 35 years. I'm looking forward be able to stay up late to finish watching a movie, grocery shop at off hours, and not deal with arbitrary work deadlines.
There are very few people I feel comfortable discussing ER with, so I'm grateful this group is here and look forward to learning and sharing with you.
I've never used dryer sheets. A little static never bothered me.
-CK