I consider myself to be incredibly lucky. 61, same great wife for 42 years (yes, we were young and it is STILL working!), two grown successful kids, three grandchildren, we're all healthy. Kids both work overseas, which is awful when it comes to remote grandchildren.
I took my government retirement last year at just over 60 and then returned to private sector. I'm miserable but just can't seem to commit to leaving; if I do it will likely be the end of my professional career which I'm frankly tired of (engineering: water supply). Money isn't the issue, or it shouldn't be. We've always lived WAY below our means; house paid for and spend about $70k a year to lead what I consider a nice lifestyle. That includes trips to London and Africa to see kids.
I currently get $72k cola'd pension and we have $1.85mm invested, a bit more than half in IRAs. If you run that through the Fidelity calculator it says that with SS after tax we can spend over $144k a year till we croak at 92. So why on earth am I still working at this job I don't like? It pays over $160k a year and has insurance (which I can get from former government job at about $10k a year). The life long "save all you can" guy finds it hard to turn my back on it, even though the way we value money we likely can't spend what Fidelity says we can already.
To end the story we care for the mother in law, which makes relocation or travel very difficult. I didn't expect this new job to not work out, so I'm not really prepared to hang it up, but am about ready to just do it and figure it out later. I've read a lot of books on "following your passion" and all that, but can't seem to put my finger on it; the caregiving boat anchor is a big negative to whatever I come up with.
So I guess I don't really have a money problem, it's a commitment to a plan I have yet to identify problem!
I took my government retirement last year at just over 60 and then returned to private sector. I'm miserable but just can't seem to commit to leaving; if I do it will likely be the end of my professional career which I'm frankly tired of (engineering: water supply). Money isn't the issue, or it shouldn't be. We've always lived WAY below our means; house paid for and spend about $70k a year to lead what I consider a nice lifestyle. That includes trips to London and Africa to see kids.
I currently get $72k cola'd pension and we have $1.85mm invested, a bit more than half in IRAs. If you run that through the Fidelity calculator it says that with SS after tax we can spend over $144k a year till we croak at 92. So why on earth am I still working at this job I don't like? It pays over $160k a year and has insurance (which I can get from former government job at about $10k a year). The life long "save all you can" guy finds it hard to turn my back on it, even though the way we value money we likely can't spend what Fidelity says we can already.
To end the story we care for the mother in law, which makes relocation or travel very difficult. I didn't expect this new job to not work out, so I'm not really prepared to hang it up, but am about ready to just do it and figure it out later. I've read a lot of books on "following your passion" and all that, but can't seem to put my finger on it; the caregiving boat anchor is a big negative to whatever I come up with.
So I guess I don't really have a money problem, it's a commitment to a plan I have yet to identify problem!