Introduce yourself here!

[Momtwo]

Hi,

I am new to your forum and have just started reading all the posts.

My DH and I retired early to AZ about 3 years ago. We are enjoying being our own bosses and doing what we want when we want.

I am hoping to enjoy our retirement as much you people all seem to.

Momtwo

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Hi, I am new to your forum and have just started reading all the posts. * My DH and I retired early to AZ about 3 years ago. We are enjoying being our own bosses and doing what we want when we want. I am hoping to enjoy our retirement as much you people all seem to. Momtwo

Hi Momtwo,

Congratulations on your retirement. I look forward to hearing more about it. My DW and I chose AZ to retire to also. We lived here for about 14 years back in the 80's and 90's, but then let our jobs take us back to the midwest for awhile. We're glad to be back.

[smalltowns]

Hi. Happy to have found you (this site). We live in Connecticut. I'm 54 (my wife is 53) and we are really ready...for ER!

Can anybody point us to some good real world budgeting templates that we can use that will help us think about EVERYTHING we need to budget for in retirement?

Thanks so much.

Quote:

Hi. Happy to have found you (this site). We live in Connecticut. I'm 54 (my wife is 53) and we are really ready...for ER! Can anybody point us to some good real world budgeting templates that we can use that will help us think about EVERYTHING we need to budget for in retirement? Thanks so much.

I think that everyone's budget varies so widely that a template as such would not be as usefull, as you sitting down with your checkbook and a pencil for a few hours.

Most of us here use Quicken and track our expenses month by money and categorize them. After a few months you have a very good idea. After about 3 or 4 years, you can be very comfortable with what you are spending.

I highly recommend Quicken and track everything you spend. Start today, you'll be glad you did.

Smalltowns,

As far as budget planning goes, you might take a look at www.analyzenow.com. Under the 'free programs' section of the site is a simple budget planning tool. It says,

"Free Post-Retirement Budgeting Program

You can use the free Post-Retirement Savings Planner to help develop a budget that will save you enough to retire comfortably. Download it using the link below and page down to understand its features. "

I have used it a bit and found it useful. Good luck!

[smalltowns]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU...Excellent site!!!

[smalltowns]

Thanks so much. You're right. There's no substitute for minitoring (and changing, if needed) one's real workd situation.

Will be buying quicken to do this. Thanks for the advice.

[kally]

Hi everyone
I want to say hello. I am a 49 year old self-employed Canadian married to a 50 year old, currently unemployed guy. Hopefully he will be back to work in a few months, but his job was off-shored (is that a verb).

Anyhow, we believe in the simple life and are looking forward to more time off, less work, local camping and healthy living.

Sound boring? Well to my 20 year old self, yes? To this self, it sounds wonderful. I am looking forward to all ideas and tips, especially tips concerning Canadian rules and regs.

I play contests on-line for fun and sometimes win.
Cheers

Quote:

I am a 49 year old self-employed Canadian married to a 50 year old, currently unemployed guy. Hopefully he will be back to work in a few months,

Welcome to the forum!

If your unemployed guy gets used to laying around doing nothing, he may never get back to work. Especially if he joins this forum

What province of Canada are you in? - I can't give you too much advice because I'm a Damn Yankee, but I have been in all of the Canada Provinces except PEI. Even Nunavut and the NWT!

[kally]

Hi we are in British Columbia in Vancouver. He keeps himself pretty busy because I pile on the jobs around the house.

I ams sure things will change in the near future.

[BUM]

Quote:

Most of us here use Quicken and track our expenses month by money and categorize them. I highly recommend Quicken and track everything you spend. Start today, you'll be glad you did.

[BUM]

oops to quick on the POST trigger finger.

C-T

Is there a quickie Quicken set up template that might jump start my chart of accounts? Now I use 10 yr old DOS based One Write Plus. I'm used to it but it just may be time to enter Y2K.

BUM

[bamboogrrrl]

Hi folks! I've been snooping on this website for a few months, garnering lots of inspiration for future ER. To introduce myself: I'm 37, work as a university administrator (secret life as a writer and artist) and DH turns 50 this year and is self-employed restoring vintage racecars (lots of British stuff). I think I'm having a midlife crisis on dh's behalf, because all I can think of is getting us off the hamster wheel of our crazy lives. We are squirreling money away like crazy, working to pay our mortgage off early, and thinking of starting another business.

Now we need to clearly define ER for ourselves, put a dollar amount to what we need, and get cracking. I think we're not that far away...

Anyway, thank you all for the education here. I've already learned a lot!

[bow-tie]

Welcome bamboogrrrl,

Lots of smart folks and great insight to be found here.

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

DH turns 50 this year and is self-employed restoring vintage racecars (lots of British stuff).

So, how much of my retirement stash do I have to blow to get a nice vintage Lotus - say a 1950's Lotus Eleven with the LeMans bodywork?

The car would make me but the dollars needed will likely make me

[bamboogrrrl]

Hyperborea: For fun, I actually asked Dh about your car dreams, and he said it would set you back between $50k-$80K. You might be driving around your retirement...with significantly less of a retirement. Sweet dreams...

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

Hyperborea: For fun, I actually asked Dh about your car dreams, and he said it would set you back between $50k-$80K. *You might be driving around your retirement...with significantly less of a retirement. *Sweet dreams...

Hey, thanks for asking him. *It's not out of the realm of possibility but I'll bet that another good chunk is going to have to be paid out in time and money to keep it running too , as I found with owning a newer old sports car. *Well, perhaps I'll just keep it at the level of vicariously enjoying the cars by watching vintage racing. *

Thanks

[larry]

Am new to posting to this forum, have been a lurker here for quite a while though so many of the members seem like kin to ol' Lar! Anyhoo, seems like we all have ER and backgrounds in common to some degree. Hope to learn more about actual ER experiences as I am 43 and beginning my journey.

Hello Everyone,

I stumbled across this board a couple of days ago and
have spent HOURS reading it. Thank you all for sharing
your lives and dreams. I find them to be very inspiring.

Here is a brief introduction of myself.

I am 37, married for 9 yrs to my wife who's 39. We have
a wonderful 4 1/2 yr old daughter and another baby on
the way in mid 05. Immigrated to this country some 20
years ago and have been working in a computer related
field for 17 yrs. Wife is a CPA. Since I or my family had
nothing to start with, living below our means and saving
has always been natural. It helps too that I have been
fortunate to be employed in a well-paying industry.
Today, we have a networth approaching $2mm. I'd
define ourselves as being value-conscious, not necessarily frugal.

We have absolutely no debt (mortgage paid off 2 yrs
old) except for my zero interest payment on my SUV. We
aspire to be in a position to semi-ER in 8 yrs (when I
turn 45) for the following reasons:

1. We don't suffer the work-consume vicious cycle so
typically inflicted on so many people here. (BTW, this
Americanism is quickly spreading to other parts of the
world)
2. I hate the political aspect of the rat race, although
wife has a better tolerance level. Competition is not
what I am against, after all, it's part of human nature. What I hate is the subjective process by which people
get ahead in the corporate world, i.e., how you make
yourself visible, how you protect your turf, etc. Deep
down, I should have been an entrepreneur, but got
golden-handcuffed early in my career. Every now and
then, I still yearn to be my own boss and answer to
myself wheather it's failure or success.
3. We wish to spend more time with our children especially during their formative teenage years. No amount of money can replace watching your kids grow
and be part of their lives.
4. I wish to be around my parents (who are close to
70 right now and in great health) more later on. They
have devoted their lives to mine and I want to be there
for them during their twilight years (traveling with them etc).
5a. We both have an enormous amount of interests
in life which we would like to pursue, which FT work does
not permit. A partial list: running, cycling, reading (history, arts, science), music...
5b. I am an amature sports car racer and would like to
do more of it.

6. Last but not least, I'd love to move to somewhere
so that I don't have to see snow again!

The biggest issue we have to resolve in the next
year or so is relocating to a better school district.
We plan on putting our kids through good public schools. Around the NYC suburbs, that means paying > $1mm for a semi-decent house with $12-15K annual real estate tax.

Longer term, we'll need to worry about health care
insurance. Also, both of us have no pension to
speak of. We'll need to fully fund everything ourselves
until SS age. Hopefully, there should not be any issues in another 8 years. It will help for sure that both of us
will probably have some income from PT/consulting
work for a couple of years as we ease into ER.

I welcome any feedbacks and look forward to learning
more about your experiences.

Regards,

DX

[Brat]

DX

You are doing a great job managing your financial goals!

To expect you parent's health to last 8 years. Set aside time near term if you wish to travel with them. I can understand your desire to be near your parents, have you talked to them about their desires?