Going to do it before Christmas

[l2ridehd]

I have made the decision to retire before the end of this year. Wish it was early retirement, but was having so much fun at work time just passed by very fast. And I robbed the cradle when I married so need to plan for that as well. I am financially OK as my retirement income will exceed my expenses by a good margin. At least using my planning. I think my gross income will be around 180K with around 120K in expenses including taxes. So will be OK until inflation takes off which I expect it to do.

I have a fairly diverse set of investments. Stocks bonds, CD's, rental property, land, wine and a few other things.

I just turned 66, am in good health and have lived many places (NH, MA, NY, NJ, VA, CA, DE, VA again) and traveled the world for work (everywhere except mid-east) and vacation. I currently live in Virginia and have already purchased a retirement home in Florida after lots of research.

l2ridehd stands for "love to ride Harley Davidsons" and have a 2006 Road King. Just back from Ocean City Bike week which was mostly rain, but still fun. Play lots of golf, love to cook, have a significant wine cellar, ski, manage my own investments and enjoy life. Was a pilot in the Air Force, worked 30 years for IBM and 15 for other computer companies. Grew up in Conway NH and graduated from the University of NH.

 

[GregLee]

... investments. ... wine ... have a significant wine cellar, ...

I think some of us would be interested, if you could go into detail about the wine.

 

[obgyn65]

Congratulations.

 

[FreeAtLast]

Welcome. I am glad to hear that your last years at work were fun.

 

[Finance Dave]

Great news and congrats. Sounds like you were having fun, and will continue to do so in grand style.

 

[l2ridehd]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

GregLee, about the wine. I have been drinking wine for a long time. Started to notice how certain wines grow in value over time. As an example in 2000 I bought a case of 1997 Silver Oak for $20 a bottle. Today the wine is worth around $400 a bottle. Sold 4 through a wine club for $375. Will drink the rest. I built a wine cellar that holds 1200 bottles and started out just buying wine I liked and enjoyed. Bought a few by just dumb luck that really grew in value. Dedicated half the cellar to higher end investment wines. Do it more to support my wine drinking then to make money. I focus on high end Russian River wines from California and Italian Brunello wine as those are the one's I like best.

I have developed a business model to sell wines to restaurants that will save them money, provide them higher quality wine, better wine sales, and make me money. Have tested it and it does work. Just not sure I want to jump back in a work type rat race again.

 

[militaryman]

HAHA I thought your name stood for "I Tried Hard" until I read your explanation ...

 

[ohyes]

Wow, you have been having fun! Sounds like a great life you have going.

We used to spend summers in Harrison, ME - and would drive to North Conway, NH a few times each time.

Where in FL are you retiring? Forum discussions on retirement places down there has me looking at these - pretty overwhelming from all the choices.

Keep us posted.

a wine cellar---very cool.

 

[l2ridehd]

Florida home and two rental properties are in The Villages. Central Florida about 1 hour North West of Orlando and South of Ocala.

 

[MichaelB]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

GregLee, about the wine. I have been drinking wine for a long time. Started to notice how certain wines grow in value over time. As an example in 2000 I bought a case of 1997 Silver Oak for $20 a bottle. Today the wine is worth around $400 a bottle. Sold 4 through a wine club for $375. Will drink the rest. I built a wine cellar that holds 1200 bottles and started out just buying wine I liked and enjoyed. Bought a few by just dumb luck that really grew in value. Dedicated half the cellar to higher end investment wines. Do it more to support my wine drinking then to make money. I focus on high end Russian River wines from California and Italian Brunello wine as those are the one's I like best.

I have developed a business model to sell wines to restaurants that will save them money, provide them higher quality wine, better wine sales, and make me money. Have tested it and it does work. Just not sure I want to jump back in a work type rat race again.

Isn't the heat and possibility of electrical loss risky for a wine cellar in Florida? DW and I enjoy wine but are reluctant to accumulate any because of we've lost power a couple of times.

 

[l2ridehd]

My current wine cellar is in my Virginia home actually in the basement. I have not yet made the move to Florida full time. Yes heat can be a problem if it is a long duration. In VA it has never been an issue as power is not down for any long period of time. We did lose power for 5 days during the last major snow storm, but it was not an issue as it was cold outside and I was able to keep the house warm but certainly not hot. So the wine cellar temperature only got up to 62 from a normal temperature of 56.

In Florida I am looking at different cellar options and will probably have to go for a stand alone 400 to 500 bottle unit. A long outage in the summer heat would be a problem so will probably get a small generator to maintain the cellar temperature. An outage of 24 hours or less would not be an issue as it takes more time for it to impact the wine. I have one spot in the home where I could build a cellar that would hold around that number so may do that if I can't find the right unit. When you build a cellar you insulate it extremely well and include a vapor barrier so it does take some time for the temperature to rise.

The benefits of putting wine in a temperature controlled environment can not be understated. Even some fairly mediocre wines can get very good when laid down for 2 or 3 years in the right temperature. I have some that I have had for 15 years and the difference between when I bought them and now is incredible.