Ready
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Hello everyone. I've been reading your posts for a few months now but have not participated in any discussions. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's perspectives and would like to thank everyone for making this such a valuable forum.
As for me, I'm in my mid forties, and have a life partner who is a few years older than me. We live in California, so we still can not get married here. I don't think I recall seeing any acronyms for life partner, so I guess I will just refer to him as LP. We both work in careers that we've invested in for quite a while, and we've been fortunate to have some good success in each of our careers. Both of us have always practiced LBYM, and we've been able to put away some money to help us plan for a nice eventual retirement together. We've been fortunate enough to pay off our home recently as well, which has helped to reduce the monthly budget quite a bit. We've never run a balance on credit cards or taken on any other type of debt, always preferring to pay in cash if we needed something.
There are days when I love my career and think it's the best job in the world, and I can't believe they pay me to do this. Then there are other days when I'm so exhausted that I pull out my iPad and begin reading through this forum and seriously thinking about early retirement, as in next week or next month. I don't know that I'm financially ready to go there, but more significantly, I don't know that I'm emotionally ready to leave the work force either. We have no kids, and our careers have consumed much of our adult lives. Thinking about what I would spend my time doing if I was not working is a bit scary for me. I've been doing some reading to try and learn more about how people planned for this, and I've ready many of your stories in this forum.
I also give a lot of thought to my household expenses. Because I work so much, and travel much of the time, I pay very little for food and entertainment. Company perks cover a substantial amount of my expenses, leaving me with very little that I pay for out of pocket. Even without these perks, if I were to continue living the same standard of living, my expenses would be quite low. However, I suspect that only works because I'm so busy with work that I don't have time to spend much money. I don't know that I would enjoy trying to live the same life style if I had so much free time on my hands. Fortunately, I'm not a materialistic person, so I don't have a desire to buy any major purchases. I do enjoy traveling, eating out, and spending money on experience type luxuries. How much I would increase this if I was not working is still a real unknown to me.
One think I do feel I've decided after reading all of your posts is that I have no desire to work until 65. I know I want to have more years to enjoy life, and likely will not work past 55 or so, even if I do continue on in my current (or even a new) career.
I look forward to contributing to some of the ongoing discussions and just want to thank everyone again for making this such a valuable and insightful forum for me. It's really nice to be here.
As for me, I'm in my mid forties, and have a life partner who is a few years older than me. We live in California, so we still can not get married here. I don't think I recall seeing any acronyms for life partner, so I guess I will just refer to him as LP. We both work in careers that we've invested in for quite a while, and we've been fortunate to have some good success in each of our careers. Both of us have always practiced LBYM, and we've been able to put away some money to help us plan for a nice eventual retirement together. We've been fortunate enough to pay off our home recently as well, which has helped to reduce the monthly budget quite a bit. We've never run a balance on credit cards or taken on any other type of debt, always preferring to pay in cash if we needed something.
There are days when I love my career and think it's the best job in the world, and I can't believe they pay me to do this. Then there are other days when I'm so exhausted that I pull out my iPad and begin reading through this forum and seriously thinking about early retirement, as in next week or next month. I don't know that I'm financially ready to go there, but more significantly, I don't know that I'm emotionally ready to leave the work force either. We have no kids, and our careers have consumed much of our adult lives. Thinking about what I would spend my time doing if I was not working is a bit scary for me. I've been doing some reading to try and learn more about how people planned for this, and I've ready many of your stories in this forum.
I also give a lot of thought to my household expenses. Because I work so much, and travel much of the time, I pay very little for food and entertainment. Company perks cover a substantial amount of my expenses, leaving me with very little that I pay for out of pocket. Even without these perks, if I were to continue living the same standard of living, my expenses would be quite low. However, I suspect that only works because I'm so busy with work that I don't have time to spend much money. I don't know that I would enjoy trying to live the same life style if I had so much free time on my hands. Fortunately, I'm not a materialistic person, so I don't have a desire to buy any major purchases. I do enjoy traveling, eating out, and spending money on experience type luxuries. How much I would increase this if I was not working is still a real unknown to me.
One think I do feel I've decided after reading all of your posts is that I have no desire to work until 65. I know I want to have more years to enjoy life, and likely will not work past 55 or so, even if I do continue on in my current (or even a new) career.
I look forward to contributing to some of the ongoing discussions and just want to thank everyone again for making this such a valuable and insightful forum for me. It's really nice to be here.