Three years after ER - what I would do differently

[dex]

I'm coming up on 3 years of ER this year and thinking what might do differently if I (reasonably*) knew then what I know now.
*reasonably does not include the stock market or housing decline.

The answer - nothing.

If pressed, I would say that I really like RVing (I never did it before I ERd). So, instead of buying a house in 2006 I might have rented an apartment. So, if there is a lesson; wait awhile before making decisions with long term implications.

Then again, would I say this if the housing market was still increasing in value? Most likely not.

Anyone else have lessons to pass along?

 

[FinanceDude]

I need to ER before I can become a wise sage to others.........

 

[ProspectiveBum]

I'm still a working stiff, too, but I think this is a great tread idea. I'm anxious to hear some more real-world experiences!

 

[vicente solano]

4 years since I reitired. Maybe I should have started then to practice playing guitar instead less than a year ago. Ditto with browsing and posting in this forum, if it existed then....

 

[Moemg]

The only thing I would have done differently is not immediately throw myself into activities . I felt I needed to accomplish something and now I know that contentment is an accomplishment in itself .The one thing I was surprised to find out is that now that I have endless time travel has lost the luster it had when I was working . I still like to travel but it is not the driving passion it once was .

 

[freebird5825]

Only 2 years under my belt.
Other than take some tranquilizers to subdue all that pent up energy I had for almost a year (just kidding), I really can't think of anything I would have done differently.
I got caught by inflation and had to severely reel in my "mad money" expenditures while gas was $4+ a gallon, but it wasn't a show stopper. I never had to tap my investments to cover basic living expenses.
I am very glad that I took the time to button down my exact living expenses before I pulled the plug. No mysteries or guess-timates.
It chewed up a lot of time make a highly customized expenses spreadsheet, but I continue to use it as a budget tool.

 

[TeeRuh]

Only been retired one year. The jury is still out, but my decision to take lump sum Defined Benefit Pension versus lifetime monthly payment sure doesn't look fantastic due to the stock market crash. (Invested lump sum in July of 2008.) Historically nearly everyone at MegaTech took lump sum; my guess is that this is changing in 2009.

t.r.

 

[mickeyd]

If I could start ER all over again I'd make sure to tell all of you guys to put all of your $ into CD's or cash in late 2007 and hang on for the ride of your life. But, you guys would have laughed at me.

 

[theloneranger]

If I could start ER all over again I'd make sure to tell all of you guys to put all of your $ into CD's or cash in late 2007 and hang on for the ride of your life. But, you guys would have laughed at me.

This reaffirms my plan to have at least three years' expenses in CD's when I leave in the Spring

 

[unclemick]

January 1, 1993.

Hindsight being being a wonderful thing - I think I should have been a lot more arrogant - 'I don't have to work no more - and you do sucka!'

But I kept a low profile as a 'poor, lowly unemployed.' Til my age 55 pension.

Heck - not finding this forum til 2003, I had to 'do it by myself' so to speak.

heh heh heh - And to think all that I could have been handing out autographed dryer sheets and laying extemporis lectures on poor working stiffs. . Man I coulda been a real pain in the butt instead of an ordinary one.

 

[dex]

I'm getting worried - I understood every word of UncleMick' post.
Seriously - he does have some good insights.

 

[Khan]

Coming up on 4.5 years.
Don't know what I would have changed.
I realized I spend ~$20K/year and ran screaming into the night.

 

[Walt34]

Not be in such a rush to move to WV, take more time to look around the area and consider more options. We are not unhappy with where we are now but if we had it to do over we'd buy a little bit smaller house. I heard somewhere that one should "never buy a house with more bathrooms than you're willing to clean." Two is okay, but three is too much.

And give some more thought to what I was going to do with me. After 29 years in a fast-moving, intense occupation to go from that to... what? I planned out the finances and such but didn't plan on what to do with me. Retirement was a much bigger adjustment than I thought it would be. The stuff I thought I was going to do I completely lost interest in, like radio control models.

 

[vicente solano]

"The stuff I thought I was going to do I completely lost interest in, like radio control models"
None of my co-workers are doing all they said were going to do when they retired. I had no plans or anything like that, but I took up audiobooks, cycling and playing the guitar.

 

[Stevewc]

I'm getting worried - I understood every word of UncleMick' post.
Seriously - he does have some good insights.

Me too !!!
Do you think Katrina may have pushed some of that swamp water further north into our water supplies?
Steve

 

[Stevewc]

And give some more thought to what I was going to do with me. After 29 years in a fast-moving, intense occupation to go from that to... what? I planned out the finances and such but didn't plan on what to do with me. Retirement was a much bigger adjustment than I thought it would be. The stuff I thought I was going to do I completely lost interest in, like radio control models.

This type talk concerns me a little as I approach retirement.
I was always told that wishing and hoping for things was sometimes more enjoyable than actually having them. I have several hobbies and do enjoy them. Sure hope I can entertain my self and adjust easily when the time comes. I know my Dad seems to be relaxed and having a good time in his retirement so maybe it's in the genes.
Steve

 

[jug]

Also out 3 years. Let's see.

I sold my house back east at the top of the market, bought cheaper house at top of market. Pocketed about 100K. value of house dropped, but who care's? Need a place to live.

I put most of my money in laddered cd's despite banker telling me I'm crazy, getting about 5.75% interest. Put one cd in for 7 years, generates enough to pay my utilities until SS kicks in at 62. I have no mortgage.

Have state health care from job, cost about 200 per mo.

Have 35K defined beney pension, would have had 10K more had I stayed another 4 years, but job was affecting my health.

So the only thing different is that I would have given none of my relatives my phone number, or moved to Australia, they are all pains in my ass.

Otherwise getting bored a bit, but that is normal
jug

 

[freebird5825]

... The stuff I thought I was going to do I completely lost interest in, like radio control models.

I'm finding there is a definite ebb and flow to these "favorite" things. And that's OK, right?
As long as we have a large diversity of things we enjoy, good to go.
If not, take up a new hobby like Mr. Zelinski suggests.
My mainstays for pre- and post-FIRE are gardening, reading, surfing for learning new things, junk food surfing for laughter, and home projects. I like to revolve them frequently.

 

[dex]

!!!!!!!

 

[Gumby]

Welcome back, Dex. We've missed you.

 

[NW-Bound]

We'd like to see others too. Like CuppaJoe.

 

[Milton]

4 years since I reitired. Maybe I should have started then to practice playing guitar instead less than a year ago.

See generally The Joy of Learning to Play an Instrument Later in Life.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

I have only been retired about a year. Everything is fine. Not sure what I would have done differently. I can sleep at night, so I don't think I would do anything differently. It amazes me how little one really needs to live on versus what one wants to live on.

 

[brett]

We retired and then downsized. Traveled a little, then rented a condo for a few years. Now we are buying.

Looking back, we are glad that we did not decide to buy another home immediately or buy a winter home. Both were on our list. After a lifetime of living in houses that we owned followed by four years in a 1200 sq. foot rental apt/condo we found that our tastes and our wants are different than those of four years ago. So glad we waited, took our time, looked around a little. Not only at location but at size and type of home.

Second. DW is having some issues at the moment. We expect them to be temporary but who knows. It reminds us that time is short, and getting shorter. So very glad we got out and traveled extensively and that we plan to continue this regime as long as we have the desire and the health. We have come to realize that, at least for us, experiences trump possessions. We now have a much different view of accumulation. 'Things/possessions' simply do not feel as important as we once thought they were.

 

[unclemick]

I'm coming up on 3 years of ER this year and thinking what might do differently if I (reasonably*) knew then what I know now.
*reasonably does not include the stock market or housing decline.

The answer - nothing

Anyone else have lessons to pass along?

Coming up on 24 years of ER and with the benefit of hindsight and selective memory to paraphrase the late coach Bear Bryant re linebackers be 'Agile, Mobile and Hostile.' My version - stay loose, cut expenses when required, and don't hesitate to re plan when necessary.

1. I was thrust into ER at 50 versus my planned age 63 via layoff.

2. She wanted no part of moving from Lake Ponchartrain as a jobshopper(aka contract engineer) so radically cut expenses to stay in place.

3. Katrina. Moved 1000 miles inland on a hill.

4. She passed away unexpectedly. Six years later - Romance, marriage at age 70, downsized from his and hers to one house.

5. After 4 years together Wife's older Brother passed unplanned(second heart attack) so jointly owned farm passed into her(now our hands) so this month signed on an Auctioneer/ September date to un own stuff. Some tractors/vehicles had not been started in twenty plus years so hired a local who had worked on the Farm to 'get stuff ready'. Just batteries, fuel filters, lines, etc let alone inventory of 7 buildings is putting a Serious, I mean serious dent in innocent City Boy's former ER lifestyle. Latest word is it's gonna take two Auction's one week apart complete with one or more porta potty's, a food wagon and a couple of extra helpers.

And I thought Katrina was chewy.

heh heh heh - it's good I love to whine and don't take myself too seriously. In sum the last 23/24 years have not gone at all according to original plan. But we're still in the romance phase and I've passed my first Tractor driving lession . Curmudgeondom heer I come.