Retirement trigger pulled - make sense??

[engr]

I pulled the plug and retired from my Aerospace career yesterday.
As with many others there are mixed emotions.
My DW has been thru 10 years of cancer and now has "short gut" condition where she lost 90% of her short intestines and requires liquid nutrition from a bag. After the initial surgery the doctor comes out to me and states she is living hour by hour. After several years she is better but still has limitations. Talk about putting things in perspective ! She had to retire from her elementary teaching position and focus on getting better. The other month I come home from work and she tells me she's not sure how long she'll be around. This was incredibly hard to hear. We always had plans to travel when we retired. After hearing that I started looking seriously at where we were financially. After 40 years of savings and LBYM it appeared we may be OK. Being an engineer and use to analyzing everything on a worst case basis I found it somewhat frustrating to look out 35 years in the future and estimate how health insurance premiums. longevity, and all the uncontrollable factors will change. I decided that we have a chance at making it and will have to adapt if needed. I didn't want to take a chance of working another year and then find out that her health might not allow travel. That would be a major regret. We just got back from a trip to Italy. We took all her meds with her with spares. We had a few anxious moments where she fell once and was on her last spare bag but we made it back home. That was a big hurdle for us to clear. My point is that I was glad to delay gratification for all those years so that I had options open to me later in life. I was able to leave Megacorp a few years earlier so we could travel while we can. That makes it all worth the trouble. My kids are just graduating from college and I keep telling them to set something aside for emergencies and retirement. I hope they will listen.

[Ready]

Congratulations on your decision to retire! I'm glad to hear your DW is still able to travel with you and enjoy life. It sounds like you have been through a lot. Take life one day at a time and enjoy the free time you will have to spend as much time together as possible. You have been through a lot and you deserve some time off. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

[rodi]

Sounds like you had very strong reasons to retire sooner rather than later. That's a sure way to get past the OMY thinking. I doubt you'll have regrets pulling the plug. Time with loved ones is precious.

My parents went on their 2nd round the world trip starting when my mom finished her first round of chemo (and there was still hope for a non-terminal outcome.) They siezed the joy with that trip, big time. They continued to travel and explore until 2 months before she passed. They packed a lot of living into that time frame.

[LOL!]

Presumably, you all have been travelling already during your annual vacation time. That is, you have already gotten used to travelling and you know what works and what does not work.

It seems that in the US, "spares" would be readily available. And in well-developed places like Italy, Western Europe, Australia and Japan, "spares" would also be be available. The manufacturer of the "spares" should be able to provide the places all over the world that sell them.

In any event, enjoy retirement and get out there.

As for your children, maybe they will teach you what YOLO means.

[brett]

I think you did the right thing. I retired at 58. We both have good health and we travel frequently. Oddly enough, the recession was very good to us from an investment and sequence of returns perspective. That, plus a lucrative golden handshake cinched the deal.

We do not know what the future will hold for us but we do know that we cannot recoup time. We are financially secure-we do not have an expensive life style. Working another few years would not really have made an impact on our financial security but it would take away what I perceive to be the most valuable commodity-time with good health.

We have knocked off the top items from spouses wish list and a few of mine. We are flexible travelers and take the best offers we can find as long as they are in our 'top ten' list. Travel can be a lot less expensive than people think. You simply have to work at it.

[Andre1969]

I think you definitely did the right thing. Enjoy the time with your wife, while you can. There's a woman at work, who had been talking for years about retiring, and was looking forward to spending her golden years with her husband. He was already out of the workforce, a combination of retirement and disability I think. I forget how old he was, but she was holding on just a few more years. Well, last year, her husband passed away! So, there went her retirement dreams.

On the plus side, they had bought a motorhome several years before, and had done quite a bit of traveling, so at least they got some good time in. Still, her experience was a wakeup call to me, to enjoy life with your loved ones while you can, and don't take anything for granted.

[Moemg]

You made the right choice . Spend the time enjoying every day !

[Willers]

You definitely made the right choice. Time with the love of your life is a precious thing.

[robbridg]

It makes sense to me. Glad you were able to make it happen. Congrats, and I wish you and your wife many more happy moments.