Introduce yourself here!

[Dawg52]

Hi all, I have lurked on this forum for several years and have enjoyed the many posts.  Its finally my turn  to ER. Feb 4, 2005 was my last day!!!  DW and I have been married for 25 years and are both 50. Life as a CFO, while very rewarding financially, has burned me out mentally.  DW continues to be employed, enjoys her job.

Dave

I can identify how you feel. CFO as well only I have 20 more months.

 

[BUM]

While I've enjoyed all the discussions and personalities, I'll have to admit a certain admiration for JG and his willingness to play it his way while taking your gigs and digs in a manner we all can copy.

Welcome a-board punk! While replete with WOOFYS (well off older folks) there are some here proving daily, that you can ER without FI.

PS. We are the same age and married 33 years here... a rare combo these days.

Welcome ex_CFO Have you taken that RV on the shakedown cruise yet? DW and I are thinking along those lines.

 

[REWahoo]

ex_CFO_now_RVer, Wildcat and DOG50:

Around my workplace the CFO position is known as "The Widowmaker". Been through 8 of them in the past 20 years.

REW

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Hello BUM. Kudos on staying married for 33 years
(I assume it was to the same woman)

Had lunch yesterday with 3 other guys. 3 out of the 4
were divorced, one twice. We also noted a mutual
acquantance who has just divorced after approx. 40 years. I was quite surprised although I knew the guy
was a notorious womanizer (oh, the stories I could tell).
Anyway, I thought for sure they had made peace with all that stuff by now. Obviously the guy is way up in years, has had bypass surgery and must be slowed way down. OTOH, lots of people were shocked when I bailed on my first marriage. "We thought you were so
happy together",, etc. You can't get inside the other
person's head, nor their marriage. Anyway, I admire those who make it last and work through their troubles.
God knows we all have them.

JG

 

[BUM]

Hello BUM. Kudos on staying married for 33 years
(I assume it was to the same woman)


JG

Mornin' JG
Yes same woman. Probably the only constant in my life. Nuf said.

 

[Eagle43]

Welcome aboard and if you've been lurking you know there is some sage advice here.

BTW, DW and I made 40 years married last month. I hesitated bringing it up on this forum, but since you and BUM did, I thought,why not. Most of the people I know have not made it that long. It is not necessarily a plus factor in your resume, but since I have so few.....

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Welcome aboard and if you've been lurking you know there is some sage advice here. 

BTW, DW and I made 40 years married last month.  I hesitated bringing it up on this forum, but since you and BUM did, I thought,why not. Most of the people I know have not made it that long.  It is not necessarily a plus factor in your resume, but since I have so few.....

40 years. That's nice!

JG

 

[Zipper]

Mrs. Zipper and I celebrated our 36th on May 3.

'69' was a very good year!

 

[LovesLife]

Tomorrow is our 22nd anniversary. I am one happy, lucky, wife. We are off to celebrate today with our traditional trec up to NE IA to hit the antique shops.

LovesLife

 

[Gonzo]

May 9th was our 35th wedding anniversary.

Gonzo

 

[charlie]

It will be 39 years for Lynda and myself in June.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[Cut-Throat]

I've been happily married for over 33 years.

Not all to the same woman however.

 

[unclemick]

Age 61 - single - er ah - Oct 2005 - will be 29 years with the same girlfriend.

AND! - not to cross thread - she came with furniture, dishes, MATRESSES, - did have my own TP and dryer sheets though.

Welcome aboard.

And her own pennies!

 

[Zipper]

You have to be kidding.

Dr. Phil could have a whole show here.

 

[Dreamer]

October 26th will make 33 years for us! BTW, we married 1 month from the day we met and no we did not have to get married!!!

Dreamer

 

[Calgary_Girl]

That's great that everyone's been married so long!

I'm still a "newbie" I guess....DH and I have been married 5 years. I know that's not that long but I already know a few people who got married AFTER us and they're already divorced. I can't understand how since the past 5 years have flown by

 

[laurence]

Right on! DW and I have been hitched for almost 6 years now, seems like a blink of an eye. We can't believe our daughter is almost 8 months! Life is good! We hope to talk of 40, 50, 60 years of wedded bliss, Congrats to those of you who can!

 

[dory36]

34 years last week.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Our first anniversary is coming up in a couple of months...

 

[laurence]

Our first anniversary is coming up in a couple of months...

uh....you have a baby...thinking...thinking...was that a shotgun wedding?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Put your calendar away. Its well known that babies come along in 9 months but those are the later ones. The first ones can come at any time...

 

[rluetgenau]

Hi, I have been lurking here for the last couple of months and have finally developed the nerve to ask a couple of questions.  I am 57 years old and work for the US Government.  I have 32 years and three months an eligable to retire.  My wife retired 1 April this year.  My main question is should I follow her and go ahead and retire.  I really want to, but as a lot of you know there is always second thoughts, but you guys got me really thinking about it.  We dont have a lot saved away maybe around 160K in different IRAs, TSP, stock and mutual funds.  Our main source of income would come from my retirement and my wife's retirement (County Government).  With both her and my retirement we should net around $4,100 to $4,200 a month that is after taxes, health and life insurance, and survivors benefit for my wife.  I still owe about 22K on the house mortage which ends up costing about $412.00 per month and should be paid off in about three to four years.  No other loans or CC debit.  Cost of living is fairly low in this area.   Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.  THanks

 

[retire@40]

I am 57 years old and work for the US Government...I have 32 years and three months an eligable to retire...My wife retired 1 April this year.  My main question is should I follow her and go ahead and retire. ...With both her and my retirement we should net around $4,100 to $4,200 a month that is after taxes, health and life insurance, and survivors benefit for my wife.

No brainer.  Retire.  What are you waiting for?

My only holdback on advising someone to retire if they are asking when they should be doing is that...

1) They may be so conditioned to working, that it will be a shock to their system.  Many sad cases where the job has become their only purpose in life.

2) They may not know what to do with themselves when they do stop going to work.  No game plan, no forethought, no future.

If you can't WRITE DOWN a list of at least 50 to 100 things you want to do after you retire, then just keep working until you drop dead.  When I first made up my list, I became worried that even if I retired at 40, I may not have the time to do them all.  Since that original list, I have done some, but have added even more.

 

[rluetgenau]

Retire@40, Thanks.  I was kind of hopeing to hear that.  One thing we do have planned is to do some workamping after we retire.  I am not sure if it has come up on this site or not.  Workamping is where you go to a US, County, State or commercial campground and for working about 20-24 hours a week between the couple you get free hookup plus other extra's.  This way we can help supplement our income and see this wonderful land of ours.   Looking for any other input also, thanks again.

 

[yakers]

I think retire@40 had it about right. Financially you have it pegged. COLAd pensions, medical coverage, house mostly paid off and enough savings for emergencies. So the question is do you want to retire?
I will be 55 later this year and have 32 years with the Federal Govt. My wife teaches school and will retire next year. My reason for staying on the job a bit longer is that my younger son is still at home in high school. I want to get a good sense of where he is in college admissions and expenses before I pull the plug. But the nice thing is that I really like my job. Best boss I ever had, but he is retiring. So if the new boss is a jerk then I can just leave. Its one thing to stay on a job you really like another to put up with unreasonable crap.
At campgrounds in California they have "camp hosts" which get free hook ups (don't use that term around teenagers) for some minimal duties. If I could get my favorite campground (Morro Bay State Park) I would have to really think about bailing out now and just letting the kid float on college, plead poverty while I go off to kayak and fish.