ER Worry Level

[Disappointed]

Thanks for a very valuable thread. It would have been nicer to also know at what age a person retired, and how long it has been.

Most discussions revolved around the worry of money, no one has mentioned worry of what to do in retirement?

mP

[Khan]

Quote:

no one has mentioned worry of what to do in retirement?

Someone will come along and refer you to some discussions of 'what to do'.

Today I touched a squirrel.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan Today I touched a squirrel.

Khan, you need to move around a little more. You're gonna solidify.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Khan, you need to move around a little more. You're gonna solidify.

Have you ever touched a squirrel?

Many years ago, I had a chickadee land on my hand; I might try for that again.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

not making this up: in college i had just left the dorm (off campus dorm-type apartment building). i'm standing still on the lawn between the pool and the parking lot in jeans and a t-shirt when a squirrel comes running over to me, climbs up one leg and stops on my chest. i'm a little stunned, just looking down at him. he's looking up at me. i guess he realized i wasn't a tree, turns and scampers down my other leg, runs across the lawn and up the nearest real tree.

the only other time i got almost that close to a squirrel is one in my backyard who loves cashews. about a year ago, i stupidly went to hand feed him and he bit right into my finger. researching what i should do, i discovered that it is dumb to hand feed a squirrel because they are constantly on the lookout for predators and so they don't always look at what they are eating.

ps. i learned this since living here. squirrels fall out of trees like all the time. i've got about seven 50 or 60 ft tall pine trees which create a squirrel highway above the house. sometimes there's like five or more of them chasing each other around up there. man they're fast. for the most part amazingly agile. but sometimes they fall.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum not making this up: in college i had just left the dorm (off campus dorm-type apartment building). i'm standing still on the lawn between the pool and the parking lot in jeans and a t-shirt when a squirrel comes running over to me, climbs up one leg and stops on my chest. i'm a little stunned, just looking down at him. he's looking up at me. i guess he realized i wasn't a tree, turns and scampers down my other leg, runs across the lawn and up the nearest real tree. the only other time i got almost that close to a squirrel is one in my backyard who loves cashews. about a year ago, i stupidly went to hand feed him and he bit right into my finger. researching what i should do, i discovered that it is dumb to hand feed a squirrel because they are constantly on the lookout for predators and so they don't always look at what they are eating.

It's dangerous to feed squirrels, but many people in their 50s are riding motorcycles.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i'll have to run those scenerios through the longevity calculator and see which draws more blood.

[Lsbcal]

My DW got bit by a rabbit we were rescuing. He got his head caught in our wide mesh fence while being chased by our Corgi, and DW got too close to his face with the rabbit screaming like a baby. The doc visit cost $69 but DW was OK. The rabbit was OK too.

[SteveR]

Did I worry the year before ER? Heck no. I had been FI for a while and had worn out Excel doing every plan I could dream up. The numbers were sold if we could stay within our budget.

Well, this past year sort of blew the stuffing out of the budget but we can account for the overages and know that for the most part we are OK.

Do I worry after ER? Yes, I do worry but not obsessively. I could call it a calculated concern rather than true worry. We won't go hungry but some travel we planned might have to be put on the back burner for a while until we get back on track. That is what you do....cut back in one area to preverve the other more vital budget items. My concern is more directed at a long-term down market like in the mid-70's to mid-80's; but much longer and with worse inflation. Oil prices and the chain reaction of other prices related to it could push the market into a long dead zone with increasing inflation.

We are still pretty heavy in equities so long-term down markets are not a trivial matter. The nest egg has to last 30+ years (with any luck) so an extended down market would limit our budget more than we would like. Time will tell.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan Have you ever touched a squirrel? Many years ago, I had a chickadee land on my hand; I might try for that again.

A couple of years ago, a titmouse (chickadee relative) decided that only the hair on my head would do! She pestered me all afternoon:


Audrey

[Walt34]

Like blessed, DW and I are both ISTJs, planned to the last hair.

Crunched numbers for a full year. Went to see a FP (fee-only) we'd known for 20 years - "Is there anything coming that we don't know about that will bite us on the butt".

Nope.

This was the first time we'd bought a brand-new house. It didn't come with even ugly blinds or curtains. I got on a first-name basis with all the clerks at Lowes for a while there. Toured every furniture store within a radius of 80 miles.

[Moemg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disappointed Most discussions revolved around the worry of money, no one has mentioned worry of what to do in retirement? mP

I was concerned about that since work had always been a large part of my life .The first few months I just chilled out and then I started getting a nice routine of gym classes , regular classes ,reading ,traveling for longer periods of time ,chores and just enjoying life .

[UncleHoney]

Back to the OP about worrying. I did all my worrying before retiring but most of it wasn't about money. It was in the details about retirement that no one ever bothered to write down.

Simple things like; How do I get DW signed up for Medicare without paying a premium because she was past the 65 yo signup date. (If you delay Medicare past 65 and are not covered by another insurance when you start Medicare, you may pay more for your Medicare coverage.) The process was simple, have HR fill out and sign a form that you sent to Medicare verifying that she was covered under a current policy.

Most of the other worries were about the signout process at work and how it all worked. I had a list of about 20 things I had to get signed off before they would let me go.

Any long term library books signed out?
Any keys signed out in your name? I had 3, they said I had 8.
Any laboratory record books signed out? I had none, they said I had one.
Any instruments signed out from the instrument laboratory?
The list went on and on.

What I didn't know was that most of it was taken care of behind the scenes. A simple email from the department secretary to all the people involved in the signout process got me a barrage of return emails saying I was clear or what to do to fix the problem.

The key guy laughed when I went to see him about my missing keys. He looked at his list and signed me off. Then he said, "You been here a while haven't you", those missing keys are to doors that don't even exist anymore.

For me the sad part was my last morning at the old saltmine, they took my keys, they took my parking sticker, and they took my badge. After 35 years I was reduced to being a VISITOR. I couldn't even walk back to my office without an escort.

Of all the things I worried about before retirement, money was way down on the list. After running FireCalc about a thousand times I proved to myself that that part was well under control.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleHoney For me the sad part was my last morning at the old saltmine, they took my keys, they took my parking sticker, and they took my badge. After 35 years I was reduced to being a VISITOR. I couldn't even walk back to my office without an escort.

A retired friend came back to visit (after about 8 months) last week. Theoretically she was supposed to have an escort, but her escort just brought her in the space and then let her run free instead of staying with her as is the normal procedure. Made sense since she spent 25 years with us!

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveR Did I worry the year before ER? Heck no. I had been FI for a while and had worn out Excel doing every plan I could dream up.

I did not realize it until reading this thread, but as of yesterday (for the first time) I am really not worried any more about ER in 18 months. Like you, I have beat Excel to death trying everything and there is no point in worrying further.

[Disappointed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveR Did I worry the year before ER? Heck no. I had been FI for a while and had worn out Excel doing every plan I could dream up. The numbers were sold if we could stay within our budget. Well, this past year sort of blew the stuffing out of the budget but we can account for the overages and know that for the most part we are OK. Do I worry after ER? Yes, I do worry but not obsessively. I could call it a calculated concern rather than true worry. We won't go hungry but some travel we planned might have to be put on the back burner for a while until we get back on track. That is what you do....cut back in one area to preverve the other more vital budget items. My concern is more directed at a long-term down market like in the mid-70's to mid-80's; but much longer and with worse inflation. Oil prices and the chain reaction of other prices related to it could push the market into a long dead zone with increasing inflation. We are still pretty heavy in equities so long-term down markets are not a trivial matter. The nest egg has to last 30+ years (with any luck) so an extended down market would limit our budget more than we would like. Time will tell.

This is pretty much what I am afraid of. Currently with paycheck coming in every week, there is this sense of security regardless of how the market does. Even if you are diversified, in a down market, everybody gets hurt. I am afraid that I will regret if I pulled the trigger. My job does not allow for part time, nor does it allow for a leave of absence to try out the ER. I hope that we are not going to duplicate the Japanese market of the last 10 years.

mP

[Disappointed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg I was concerned about that since work had always been a large part of my life .The first few months I just chilled out and then I started getting a nice routine of gym classes , regular classes ,reading ,traveling for longer periods of time ,chores and just enjoying life .

Thanks for addressing this issue. I never thought ER would be this complicated. Worries about running out of money, having to forgo things in a down stock market, finding things to do to occupy the time. I envy those that find plenty and more to do in their retirement. I have read "how to retire happy, wild, and free" and still am unable to come up with what I want to do. Looking at 25 to 30 years of retirement can be scary, at least to me.

mP

[Jake46]

I worried a lot two years before ER but the more I planned and crunched the numbers, the less I worried. ER'd last May. Even though the market has been horrible for most of this first year, I am confident my plan will get us through -- so no worry.

[statsman]

I'm 6 years from ER (at 55), and given the current instability of health costs, energy and food prices, I worry that I'll end up working longer than 6 more years.

[UncleHoney]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire I did not realize it until reading this thread, but as of yesterday (for the first time) I am really not worried any more about ER in 18 months. Like you, I have beat Excel to death trying everything and there is no point in worrying further.

Before retiring I tracked all our accounts several times a month using Excel, watching every penny. I could give you a daily report of net worth and where every cent was going.

Now I'm doing good if I keep the check book updated once a month. I only use Excel to track the nest egg once a quarter and then it may take me a week or two to get it updated.

If I want up-to-date info, I check our checking account online and then it's back to retirement. Maybe next week I'll balance the check book, or maybe the week after.

[TickTock]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan Swinging our hammers in the bright blazing sun...

Hey Khan, why the rolleyes? Canadian Railroad Trilogy is a great ballad!