I am happily Fired!

[blessed]

I have been lurking over 3 years. I had a disagreeable moment in my former job about that time and started looking at my options. God is good and I was able to call it quits at the end of 2006. I am now 54 my DH has been retired from the govt. for 4 years now and just last night someone asked (WDYDAD) I smiled and said I do things for the church, help my neighbors with their children... you know the good stuff.

 

[Coach]

blessed, welcome to the forum! It sounds like you didn't have any difficulty making the transition to retirement. Thanks for introducing yourself.

Coach

 

[blessed]

Like many on this forum I am a ISTJ and that is probably why it took me so long to post.

 

[bbbamI]

Congrats to you! It's always great to hear a success story.

 

[freebird5825]

uh, oh..I'm an ESTJ. if we answer each others' posts, it could spell trouble...LOL

welcome and post often. and congrats on your FIRE.

i'm only here a few weeks and just loving it. and hopefully not boring you all.

WDYDAD...OH THE LIST CONTINUES. My thing is volunteer work for veterans. And my town's local volunteer firemen. i do minor paperwork jobs and organize their information for them, they fight fires and rescue people. it works. and i got 2 free prime rib dinners out of it already. LOL

go for the perks!!!

 

[blessed]

Thanks all for the welcome! I have settled in nicely to my retirement and doing stuff in an easy going way. When someone turns at a dinner party and asks what I do and I just mention, "Oh, I'm retired" and they just look at you like your kidding... of course you can get roped into a lot of stuff so I guess you could say you are doing a lot of projects......

 

[freebird5825]

Thanks all for the welcome! I have settled in nicely to my retirement and doing stuff in an easy going way. When someone turns at a dinner party and asks what I do and I just mention, "Oh, I'm retired" and they just look at you like your kidding... of course you can get roped into a lot of stuff so I guess you could say you are doing a lot of projects......

kinda like when people (or relatives) want to borrow money, tell 'em "It's all invested".

 

[blessed]

Freebird, You are an extroverted engineer? I did not think such a person existed. I was in land development as a landscape architect, but I did a lot of civil engineering. I worked with many engineers that if you complemented them on their clothes that they would never wear them again. Land surveyors are even more introverted, but a discipline I very much respect; they have to deal with mad dogs, mad people poison ivy. I was not as great a saver as you and my husband likes toys (computers, cameras, a morgan'58 4 seater) other than that we are very frugal in the scottish tradition "never get rid of anything usable and if you can make it save the money and go for it."

 

[Marquette]

You're not retired

You're an...

... investor
... philanthropist
... benefits manager for a small shop
... retirement planner
... retirement fund manager for a small shop

 

[blessed]

Marquette,
I am afraid I don't do my own investing. I do try and keep up on the investment world. There are some very knowledgeable people here on finances but I am not one of them. I am comfy with a pretty high beta so I'm 65/35, but DH does have a pension, so that is cheating a little. I so much enjoy not having to work for someone and deal with all the unimportant office stuff. This FIRE stuff is great. My CPA is at my old work so I had to go in last week, people had a hard time greeting me because I looked so happy. You know the way people look when they come back from an exotic vacation

 

[Marquette]

Well, you still decide who to use to invest your money... investment manager manager!

 

[amy5708]

Very cool, blessed, and congrats. Hopefully we will be joining you soon!

 

[freebird5825]

Freebird, You are an extroverted engineer? I did not think such a person existed.

i know, it's kinda scary isn't it?

I was in land development as a landscape architect, but I did a lot of civil engineering.

a field i seriously considered when in high school...but didn't have the bucks for the tuition to engineering school. i did physics instead for the BS and then took EE engineering classes at grad level. never finished the MS, got bored with school. no regrets.

I worked with many engineers that if you complemented them on their clothes that they would never wear them again.

Can I borrow that line? LMAO
don't EVEN get me going on how my former colleagues used to come to work. Eeeewwwwwwwwww

Land surveyors are even more introverted, but a discipline I very much respect; they have to deal with mad dogs, mad people poison ivy. I was not as great a saver as you and my husband likes toys (computers, cameras, a morgan'58 4 seater) other than that we are very frugal in the scottish tradition "never get rid of anything usable and if you can make it save the money and go for it."

saving was something my mom instilled in me. i used to help her with the budget by adding the bills up in my head. all the credit goes to her.

i had no kidz so i had a slightly artificial situation from most folks. i had more disposable income and went thru finanical planning with a CFP in 2002. they told me to jump right into the bear market and crank up my investing. i lucked out on timing.

 

[bssc]

Hi and welcome

Glad that your FIRE'd part of life is working out well for you. Every success story helps.

 

[Rivrider]

Hi blessed. Congratulations on being FIRE'd. Glad things are working for you.

This is the time when you live for what you want to do. Not for what your j*b requires you to do.

 

[Rambler]

Welcome Blessed.
We all look forward to reading about your ER adventure (especially those of us who only have a little way to go). I know what my folks DAD, and I have ideas about what I am going to DAD, but would love to hear some of you and your DH's adventures.

R

 

[blessed]

The most wonderful thing about ER is that you can be free and easy with planning stuff. "Oh, Thursday doesn't work; well how about Friday, Monday or you pick and day our time... I'm very flexible." Another, lets just smoke this turkey, puts some fish on to fry and invite a whole lot of people over, cause we have all the time in the world to clean up. Let the young people go down to the park.... suddenly the stress of things having to happen in an almost military precision or life as we know it will come to an end doesn't exist anymore. I think you can get healthier if you decide to eat right and exercise a little. My DH and I built over 100 linear ft. of dry stack walls and 2 large patios in the back yard (saves on the health club membership).

 

[madsquopper]

Freebird, You are an extroverted engineer? I did not think such a person existed.

The difference between an introverted and an extroverted engineer is that the extrovert looks at *your* shoes when he's talking to you.

Larry

 

[freebird5825]

The difference between an introverted and an extroverted engineer is that the extrovert looks at *your* shoes when he's talking to you.

Larry

LMAO. good one!!! and oh so true...

i knew a few like that (shoelace worshippers). but sometimes they were looking a bit north of my shoes. i would bend my knees a little and get my eyes down to the level they were looking at me (mid-thorax if ya follow me). i'm bad bad bad but it got the message across. LOL

 

[Moemg]

Welcome ! I've spent my retirement { 15 months } trying out new hobbies . Knitting ,selling on ebay ,remodeling and enjoying my life .

 

[Walt34]

Welcome to ER from another ISTJ. I had to "come out of the shell" to work 29 years in law enforcement but a lot of people had that issue.

DW and I are still enjoying having all the free time we want. She loves having all the time she wants to deal with helping family with some things that take a lot of time. I'm going back to work to buy toys, like maybe a travel trailer.