Hey y'all...retired in the Deep South.

[John0019]

I’ve been an occasional lurker on this board for a few years, and much of the knowledge and experiences from this community has helped to reassure us about diving into retirement. So DW (53 yrs) and I (58 yrs) took the proverbial plunge and retired back in June of 2019.

The biggest regret over these past 7+ months of retirement is why didn’t we do it even sooner. We love that every day is now like a Saturday, especially Sunday evenings when there is no longer the anticipated “dread” of having to get up Monday a.m. and make the painful trek into the corporate world. It is absolutely refreshing to wake up every day with a big smile and not worry about the drudgery of the impending w*rk day! Do miss some of our co-workers though, and we try to keep in touch with some of the closer ones.

Overall, our investments are ~60% tax deferred/ ~40% taxable and AA is about 50% equities, 30% bonds, 13% annuity, 7% cash. Vast majority of our equities and bonds are in index type funds, but do enjoy dabbling with a small % in individual stocks. Primary residence is paid off and have a SFU rental with a small mortgage left on it.

Cost of living down here in Georgia isn’t too bad and we’ll more than likely remain. Have two sons, one already with decent job and the other soon to graduate college with a good job already lined up…hurray, we’ll get a pay raise when graduation happens in a few months!

Have several hobbies, interests, along with family and friends that help keep us busy (but not too busy), with the main premise being doing what we want, when we want, and if we want.

Again thanks to all for spreading much of your knowledge and wisdom. Looking forward to reading about and/or interacting with you fellow retirees and others in the future!

 

[Sunset]

Welcome.
Things sound great down there !
Funny to read a first post that is NOT questioning "can I retire?"

 

[WyomingLife]

Welcome.
Things sound great down there !
Funny to read a first post that is NOT questioning "can I retire?"

+1

OP: Congrats. And please post more about what life is like -- from a "purpose" sense -- on the other side, if you are willing. It would help me, at minimum.

 

[Bamaman]

I too lived in Georgia, and moved to NW Alabama 4 years before ER. I simply couldn't hack it living in Atlanta area with such severe traffic. And I was wanting to get our cost of living down knowing nobody ever worked for our MegaCorp until full retirement age.

Glad things are going well in ER for you in Georgia. It's a great place to retire to. We still keep a RV up at Helen, so we do get around NE GA Mountains often.

 

[38Chevy454]

After the event congrats on retirement. Sounds like you have had a good 7 months. Also the "something to retire to" is covered, have fun and welcome to the forum.

 

[Red Badger]

Welcome!

We're almost neighbors. DW and I just relocated back to GA after 13 years in NC (Charlotte area). We're now in the NE burbs of Atlanta. Loved NC, but GA is our adopted home. As Bamaman said, traffic can be "different" but Charlotte was no cake walk either.

Anyhoo, enjoy your time here and being retired. I was retired too, for over 2 years. Moving has made me unretired for the past few months , but that too shall pass.

 

[John0019]

Welcome.
Things sound great down there !
Funny to read a first post that is NOT questioning "can I retire?"

Thanks!

Trust me we did not retire without much consternation and a few years of trying to ensure we were in a very good position financially. What was a key driving force was having a really close family member and a friend pass away way too early and each kind of suddenly. It certainly hammered home that you can't buy time...

 

[Bamaman]

We moved to where my parents and relatives lived. Almost immediately, they started dying off. Just a couple of cousins are left.

We moved over to Huntsville recently, and it's the fastest growing medium size city anywhere with 4000 FBI employees and 4000 Mazda/Toyota workers coming in. Such an interesting place--The Rocket City.

 

[atmsmshr]

John - congrats on your retiring! A lot of parallels between us.

Funny, you live north of me in 'the deep south'. Here in mid Florida we are all transplants or snowbirds.

Mike

 

[John0019]

+1

OP: Congrats. And please post more about what life is like -- from a "purpose" sense -- on the other side, if you are willing. It would help me, at minimum.

Thanks Wyoming.

For one it has only been 7 months so I guess you could say we are still feeling things out, and so far so good. I am easily entertained though so boredom (so far) has not been an issue. I love to fish and hunt and living in Georgia offers up plenty of opportunities for that. Investing in individual equities (probably less than 5% of our NW though) is kind of a part time hobby of mine too. Always been intriguing to me and like the challenge of cherry picking stocks to augment our situation...but it's not a necessity for us to get by in retirement. Love sports, especially college football and living in the heart of the SEC (Go Dawgs!) is great for that...camaraderie with friends that enjoy the same is a regular occurrence in the fall as well as attending a game or two. DW and I love the beach too and Fla panhandle beaches only 3 or 3 1/2 hrs away so convenient to hit those for a couple days or so on a whim. Atlanta just a little over an hour away so convenient activities happen there all the time and I don't live there and have to deal with the traffic, etc. Mountains are also just 3 or so hours away so we can always head that way when we want. We do some modest traveling, and can do more or less depending on how we feel. We both grew up in this area so we have a network of friends and family for social interaction...but some love giving us grief for retiring so early.

DW and I have also made a commitment to get in better health...trying to eat better and making sure we walk and exercise often, etc.

 

[John0019]

I too lived in Georgia, and moved to NW Alabama 4 years before ER. I simply couldn't hack it living in Atlanta area with such severe traffic. And I was wanting to get our cost of living down knowing nobody ever worked for our MegaCorp until full retirement age.

Glad things are going well in ER for you in Georgia. It's a great place to retire to. We still keep a RV up at Helen, so we do get around NE GA Mountains often.

Thanks.

That Atlanta traffic is definitely a bear! We live a little over an hour away so it is close but not too close thank goodness.

We love the overall convenience of where we are located...within a few minutes to the outdoors (fishing, hunting, etc), a little over hour from ATL, 3+ hrs from beaches, 3+ hrs from mountains, etc. Ten+ minutes from MIL...oh well some things a little too close.

 

[DawgMan]

Love sports, especially college football and living in the heart of the SEC (Go Dawgs!) is great for that.

You had me at Hello...

Lot's of good stuff on this board... welcome!

 

[John0019]

John - congrats on your retiring! A lot of parallels between us.

Funny, you live north of me in 'the deep south'. Here in mid Florida we are all transplants or snowbirds.

Mike

Thanks!

Yeah originally we were going to wait until the end of 2020 in which youngest son would be graduated and I would be 59.5...but we couldn't take Mega anymore and just decided to go ahead and pull the plug...much to the shock of my work family.

 

[John0019]

You had me at Hello...

Lot's of good stuff on this board... welcome!

Thanks DawgMan! Glad to see the Red and Black here. Youngest graduates from UGA in May.

 

[DawgMan]

Thanks DawgMan! Glad to see the Red and Black here. Youngest graduates from UGA in May.

We are a Dawg House... Myself, DW, and our 4 kids all ran thru Athens. I caught the tail end of Hershel, so I have been hurting for a long time!

 

[John0019]

Welcome!

We're almost neighbors. DW and I just relocated back to GA after 13 years in NC (Charlotte area). We're now in the NE burbs of Atlanta. Loved NC, but GA is our adopted home. As Bamaman said, traffic can be "different" but Charlotte was no cake walk either.

Anyhoo, enjoy your time here and being retired. I was retired too, for over 2 years. Moving has made me unretired for the past few months , but that too shall pass.

Thanks Red! I get up the NW burbs of the Atl to visit DS and BIL from time to time. Good luck on getting "unretired" moniker removed hopefully in short order.

 

[John0019]

After the event congrats on retirement. Sounds like you have had a good 7 months. Also the "something to retire to" is covered, have fun and welcome to the forum.

Thanks Chevy, and yes we have! Glad to be aboard.

 

[cyber888]

Congrats! I suppose you have a low budgetary need in the South.

 

[Bamaman]

Congrats! I suppose you have a low budgetary need in the South.

Living in the Deep South is not necessarily a money issue. It's a quality of life issue. And the ultra LCOL region allows us to live in larger houses that many of those in HCOL areas can only dream of--and still retire early.

And having great SEC or ACC football to follow on Fall weekends is also a big plus.

 

[John0019]

Congrats! I suppose you have a low budgetary need in the South.

Thanks.

Really the main reason for me is that I was born and raised in the South and prefer the life style. Now I enjoy traveling around to other parts of the country and world but haven't seen anything that would compel me to pull up my tent stakes here and permanently relocate.

 

[gtweath]

Another UGA grad here. I live in the southern suburbs of Atlanta (Peachtree City) and like the accessibility of the big city without the traffic of the northern suburbs. The Atlanta airport is only 30 minutes away so we can easily go anywhere in the world. Last week I did a 20 mile backpack trip in the mountains of the Cheaha wilderness of western Alabama (2 hours away) and currently finishing up a long weekend in Hilton Head, SC (4 hours away). Have thought of moving to other places but probably won't.

 

[John0019]

Another UGA grad here. I live in the southern suburbs of Atlanta (Peachtree City) and like the accessibility of the big city without the traffic of the northern suburbs. The Atlanta airport is only 30 minutes away so we can easily go anywhere in the world. Last week I did a 20 mile backpack trip in the mountains of the Cheaha wilderness of western Alabama (2 hours away) and currently finishing up a long weekend in Hilton Head, SC (4 hours away). Have thought of moving to other places but probably won't.

Yeah we definitely like the easy access (a bit over an hour) to the Atlanta airport when we need to fly somewhere.

 

[LRDave]

Welcome to the class of 2019! There are at least 56 others in the same class as you and DW.

 

[kimcdougc]

Welcome. Sounds like your retirement is just what you want it to be. I was born in Atlanta and then was an army brat until 12 years old. Family moved back to Atlanta. Married and had 2 kids there.



Husband got transferred to Seattle area in 1997. Needless to say we miss our family and friends in the South (we visit often) but when we moved to the Pacific Northwest, well...we are here to stay. DH retired in 2015. Sold the house and rented our daughters house, now we are buying our dream home on the western most part of the state on a lake. It is expensive in the Seattle area, but where we are moving is way less expensive.





Just couldn't get back to the heat and humidity. Wouldn't mind having a place in the fall in Ga, but not enough retirement money for that though.



Can't wait to hear more stories about your retirement.

 

[John0019]

Welcome to the class of 2019! There are at least 56 others in the same class as you and DW.

Thanks...glad to be a part of the 2019 class!