Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-13-2020, 07:45 AM   #41
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Big_Hitter's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Les Bois
Posts: 5,761
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB View Post
Many of DW's family have not been so fortunate and are still there. Retirement plans for all of us changed. They're focused literally on daily survival.
wow I had no idea - praying for DWs family still over there
__________________
You can't be a retirement plan actuary without a retirement plan, otherwise you lose all credibility...
Big_Hitter is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 07-15-2020, 08:20 PM   #42
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Living the Dream!
Posts: 844
My plan was to stop working at age 54-1/4 and run out 3/4 year worth of accrued vacation until I hit 55. However employer offered a nice raise and stacked on a promotion so I cut that plan short after a summer and Fall of wandering through the Caribbean and Central America and went back to work.

Worked almost another two years longer than planned and as a result earned a nice big bump (20%) in my pension due to raises, promotion and the additional time worked. And got paid out at retirement at the higher salary rate for all the vacation that I didn’t use.

Deviating from the plan worked out just fine!
1242Vintage is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-16-2020, 07:04 AM   #43
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Red Badger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Hog Mountian
Posts: 2,077
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB View Post
We were going to retire in Venezuela. That's where our permanent residence was, our social network, my employer, and all my close friends. Also 25 years of my contributions to the Venezuelan equivalent of SS. Then the country went to sh!t.

We were lucky, able to "Plan B" here in the US. That meant a different lifestyle and bigger retirement budget.

Many of DW's family have not been so fortunate and are still there. Retirement plans for all of us changed. They're focused literallyhttps://www.early-retirement.org/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=2454599# on daily survival.
Glad that you escaped. Sad for the residents of Venezuela. Hoping the best for your relatives stuck there. It's so ugly.
__________________
Never let yesterday use up too much of today.
W. Rogers
Red Badger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2020, 05:11 PM   #44
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 1,234
I thought I would have to work until age 65 due to Medicare. But I was forced to resign at age 62 1/2 and it turned out to be the best thing ever. My husband thought he’d have to work until age 66 or 67, but we hired a fee only advisor who said he could retire sooner. Not only that he said we could afford to buy our retirement house even before our family home sold- though it turned out it sold right away. Long story short, my husband retired at 65 1/2 and we moved to another state to a brand new downsized house In a vacation area at the same time. I went on an ACA plan after two months on COBRA and we are currently living on our savings accounts until age 70 when we take SS.

So we were able to live our dream a lot sooner, though COVID hit a month later. Still our Daily life is much better now than it was when we worked.
meleana is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2020, 07:52 PM   #45
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 873
Told DH he could retire at 55. He chose to work 2 more years and retired at 57 and that was 5.5 years ago. Life is good. It has worked out better than planned so far. Just bought a house on a lake and are just loving it here. Living life on our own terms, even with COVID.
kimcdougc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2020, 07:06 PM   #46
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 526
I toyed with the idea of ER when I inherited money about 20 years ago. Not enough money, and being the sole provider for my daughter, putting her through school and college, took a lot from my nest egg.

In later years, I enjoyed my work, and expected to retire at 70, as I hadn’t saved enough. Then the work got harder. The workload increased dramatically, with a great deal of time pressure. Not a corporate job, but public service without the pension and salary of a public servant! I saved every penny. At 63 I moved to Vermont and took a part time job, supplementing it with consulting. Last year (age 66) I retired, although I kept consulting. I grew to hate it! I just wanted to live up here with my garden and my chickens, without driving to Massachusetts and then slaving over the computer to write reports when I could be skiing!

No more consulting. I may take another low key job after the pandemic calms down (I worked 12 hours/week in a ski shop last season). But no more than that unless the SHTF in a long recession, which seems possible.

It’s great being retired. If I could only get my body to behave like it was 35!
trumpeting_angel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-20-2020, 05:22 PM   #47
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2020
Location: Midwest
Posts: 238
We had a plan...
We are both school librarians. DH is 57 & can retire whenever I give him the OK...I turn 55 in March. I'm short a couple years due to time off with kids...I can pay in to make up time but didn't like the price tag for next spring. Spring 2022 I was comfortable with the bit to pay in. THAT was the plan. (I told DH he could retire Spring 2021) Move to Vegas in summer 2022. (DONE w/ humidity & cold) Youngest would be starting his last year of college Fall 2022, but he has a 529 so no issue there.

COVID hits. In early June we revisited our plans & still felt good about it.

Well, our school district appears to be planning on in person school w/ masks & 3 feet social distancing. (HAS ANYONE ELSE HEARD OF 3 FEET??!!) I have 2 pre-existing conditions that put me at a higher risk. I'm not sure I'm willing to play Russian Roulette with my health or life. Our cases were pretty good for quite a while, but they have been rising as of late (like just about everyone). Guidelines say positivity rates should be less than 5% for 2 weeks before opening. Hilarious that schools--who are CONSTANTLY asking us for data to support our instructional decisions--seem to be ignoring the data regarding safe opening.

SO we will soon find out what the plan is & then we have a decision to make.
HIGHEST risk--face to face learning (IF that is the plan)
MID risk--DH retire, I take a leave & find a lower risk job. Heck, Target is $15/hr. Pretty low risk M-F days. Me taking a leave & DH retiring cuts our income by 2/3. Ouch. Retirement was only going to cut it about 1/3. DH would probably work at a golf course or something (well, until winter)
LOW risk--DH retires, I take a leave & try to get a CS job from home.
(unless by some chance district goes fully remote)
We have contemplated selling our townhome & living with my folks for 6 months & then just buy me out next spring...but that is an even higher price tag if I take leave. I've run the numbers. We could do it, but I just don't like the hit we take.

If I do take a leave, assuming in person school is low risk by next fall, I would return, work 2 more years & then we could head to Vegas.

The year delay doesn't bother me. Right now it's the present uncertainty. As soon as we get confirmation from the district, we will have to make a decision. We just went over it again this afternoon. Neither of us likes most of the choices, especially if the district decides to go everyone in person. But we will have to decide quickly once we know their decision.
Librarian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-21-2020, 09:46 AM   #48
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2020
Location: Midwest
Posts: 238
Well, district had the meeting & nothing new. A plan based on logistics before safety.

I have decided to request a semester of leave (with the possibility of a year). The good news is I can come back to my position in January or next fall. Just 2 years to go after that.

DH said he is NOT going to retire now, but in May instead. He has no risk factors, and he has much more limited student contact. He also believes his school is at very high risk to go to remote learning early due to the population risk factors. This eases our budget concerns, as it doesn't even cut our income quite in half. I still intend to try to get a remote job.

Well, the tightness in my chest has been traded for sick to my stomach. I wish I didn't have to do this, but at least I feel safe. We are blessed that we have resources for me to make this decision, even tho it may require us to adjust some future plans.
Librarian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-21-2020, 01:05 PM   #49
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 5,176
With the pandemic going on, I have a feeling many more people will decide to diverge from their original plans after they have a chance to relook at their numbers.
tmm99 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-21-2020, 01:13 PM   #50
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
The Cosmic Avenger's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Posts: 2,654
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmm99 View Post
With the pandemic going on, I have a feeling many more people will decide to diverge from their original plans after they have a chance to relook at their numbers.
Very likely, so while I have a personal interest in these answers, I'm hoping that it helps others who might have to adjust their plans, too.

I finally went to the Fidelity retirement planner and changed my income to zero and checked that I was retired, and while the score is gone, we didn't run out of money even in a "significantly below average market", not even close! And that's with my retirement budget padded with lots of travel and entertainment spending, so while I'm going to keep looking for work, I'm feeling OK about being picky about what I apply for, and what I might accept.
__________________
-Looking to FIRE in the mid-2020s, which would be our mid-50s.
The Cosmic Avenger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-22-2020, 06:29 AM   #51
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 188
Planned to retire on May 1 2016 - had that date targeted for over 5 years - even practiced the talk with my boss in my head many times. He had let me know his retirement date - and it would have lined up perfectly.
Reorgs and other corporate stuff changed that - and started taking retirement investment income January 2015.
At the time I was bummed I did not “complete the plan” now I’m glad I left when I did - able to spend time with aging parents without any work burden - do some traveling. Bought a retirement condo when the market was ok - if I had waited till 2016 it would have cost 20% more.
LastOfTheBoomers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-22-2020, 07:14 AM   #52
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 518
I had been targeting 3/2020 for 3-4 years. In June of 2019, our org changed CEOs. I decided to be more aggressive in my wants. This resulted in an agreement to leave the company with a severance package that paid for more than a year's worth of pay.

During the transition, I had to figure out how to cash out of my stock options. Before I could fully implement it, an annoying virus hit and caused a massive dent on the worth of some of these options. Eventually everything recovered.

Net net life is good,except for the cancelled month long trip to Hawaii.
Toocold is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-22-2020, 08:59 AM   #53
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: DFW
Posts: 7,586
While I did not plan on retiring, my mega corp came out with a very lucrative buyout offer that I would qualify for at 54 yo. I did not have much time to accept this voluntary offer, but it was too good to pass up and since the culture of the company took a turn for the worse after a merger of equals a few years before, I leaped at it. However, I was not mentally prepared for how to spend my time in retirement. So after spending a few months not doing much of anything and though financially set to stay retired at that point, boredom drove me back to work until I finally retired at 63. While when one is financially able to retire seems to be a question for many, knowing how you will spend your time in retirement maybe equally or more important.
eytonxav is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-22-2020, 03:36 PM   #54
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
kcowan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Pacific latitude 20/49
Posts: 7,677
Send a message via Skype™ to kcowan
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingaway View Post
If you have to maintain two properties, one in the U.S. and another in Mexico, does that actually increase your cost?
I guess the answer is compered to what? Our snowbird budget was for three months when we first bought and we started going for 6 months so the savings became tangible. Our main place was rented in Vancouver until 2 years ago when we realized that we no longer needed the money (after 8 years). Plus Vancouver implemented an empty condo tax which made all the empty condo owners desparate for renters. So we were not willing to rent it out for the resulting prices.

Our main concern now is the long term effect of Covid-19. The Mexican President seems to want to outdo Trump in denial. No idea where that will lead.

(And yes it has increased our cost of housing offset by cost of living. So total budget is still down compared to original plan. But we are doing our best to Blow That Dough!)
__________________
For the fun of it...Keith
kcowan is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
When 30, What Age Did You Plan For Retirement? 38Chevy454 Other topics 113 08-24-2018 08:41 AM
Did you want and plan FIRE or did it just happen? 97guns FIRE and Money 57 05-07-2017 05:33 AM
Safe car part of health plan and/or retirement plan Buckeye Health and Early Retirement 21 07-10-2016 02:58 PM
Does your employer sponsored 401k plan utilize a third party plan advisor? Disappointed FIRE and Money 13 03-25-2008 03:12 AM
Stock Market Decline-Tests your beliefs - Have a plan and work the plan dex FIRE and Money 21 08-18-2007 01:24 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:07 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.