"The List"

[SmallCityDave]

What is/was on your list of things that need to get done prior to your retirement.


Here are my big ticket items I plan to have done in the next few years:



Replace the roof on our home.


Buy a new (to me) car that I hope to get 10 years out of.


Water heater & get the HVAC system checked out/replaced.

 

[pb4uski]

Ah.... you're a slacker. :<) Mine were.

Demolish summer home
Rebuild summer home and move in
Sell main home

Once we sold our main home and added the proceeds from the sale to the nestegg, our annual expenses went down enough that I felt comfortable resigning.

 

[gauss]

Nothing of this sort.

I would have much more time in retirement to deal with these issues.

-gauss

 

[HillCountry]

Similar to pb4.

2 years ahead, start the design and build of the next house.
Then move in and sell the current house.

Why do this before? Gone traveling.

 

[MichaelB]

Only one entry on my list: no more lists.

Here are a few threads on that topic you may find helpful. Looking at taxes, retirement plan contributions, employer paid medical and dental work are things to keep in mind.


http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/post-retirement-checklist-78275.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/to-do-list-before-last-day-81364.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/final-prep-for-re-92363.html

 

[Bamaman]

I was given 1 day's notice that I was being "early retired"--along with all others 55 and older within Megacorp. Sure it was age discrimination, but I was glad to sign a hold harmless agreement for 5 weeks vacation, an extra year's pay, 50 weeks unemployment and 7 year's cheap health insurance.

But I had been planning on retirement for years, and was well prepared. I too began staging out automobile purchases the 5 years earlier. We also sold our home at the top of the market and moved to a slightly smaller new brick home--low to no future maintenance.

We later had to replace our aging travel trailer and 24' boat, but that's another story.

Good luck to you.

 

[W2R]

1. Get my house paid off (finished 3-4 years before my 2009 retirement).
2. Adjust my AA from 100:0 to 45:55, which I figured was better for a retiree. This was done slowly from 2006-2008, and thank goodness it was done before the Great Recession got really bad.
3. Put enough cash aside to buy a new car right away once I retired.
4. Get my daughter married off and get all that paid for (she unintentionally scheduled her wedding for just two weeks before my retirement date, and halfway across the country).
5. Routine medical and dental checkups scheduled just before retirement, just to make sure nothing had come up.

There's probably more but this is what came to mind right off the bat.

 

[RunningBum]

Nothing of this sort.

I would have much more time in retirement to deal with these issues.

Likewise. I made sure I had the extra money to do things of this sort, but felt no need to spend the money while still working vs. retired.

 

[Red Badger]

We bought a modest ~10 year old home (3/3/2000) with zero updates when we moved to NC a dozen years ago. We did a little painting, but not much else inside. But we built ~400 SF of terraced decking, a similar amount of terraced garden beds and enclosed the porch. We love our suburban paradise.

We did HVAC last year, flooring earlier this year. Water heater coming up. Roof late 2019. Kitchen and bath remods after that. Kitchen and bath will be more update than whole hog remodel - that helped pay for our recent 3 week trip to Europe (everything 1st class). We prefer to spend on experience than stuff.

Whether doing the big stuff pre or post retirement, just have a plan and a budget.

YMMV!

 

[Ronstar]

Didn't have a list of things that had to be done prior to retirement.

Maybe one thing. DW did not me to retire a year or more before her. So I had to convince her to retire before I pulled the plug.

I had no other obstacles in my way during my last year of work.

 

[RobbieB]

The only thing I did to prepare was slacking off from the day I gave notice to the day I left.

 

[audreyh1]

What is/was on your list of things that need to get done prior to your retirement.


Here are my big ticket items I plan to have done in the next few years:



Replace the roof on our home.


Buy a new (to me) car that I hope to get 10 years out of.


Water heater & get the HVAC system checked out/replaced.

Other than buying a new car, to switch to something more appropriate for travel/outdoors, and planning a new trip, I didn't do any big projects before retiring other than the financial planning part.

We did pay off the mortgage a couple of years before retiring.

Are these costs you are trying to pay for while working so you don't have to pay for them after retiring?

 

[COcheesehead]

Build a house.
Buy a car.
Move.

So not too much.

 

[SmallCityDave]

Other than buying a new car, to switch to something more appropriate for travel/outdoors, and planning a new trip, I didn't do any big projects before retiring other than the financial planning part.

We did pay off the mortgage a couple of years before retiring.

Are these costs you are trying to pay for while working so you don't have to pay for them after retiring?

Exactly we are doing well now but once we stop working we'll have to watch the budget a lot closer.

 

[RunningBum]

Exactly we are doing well now but once we stop working we'll have to watch the budget a lot closer.

But...if you hold off, you'll have more money. Anything you don't spend now you can spend later. If the roof doesn't need to be replaced yet, it makes no sense to replace it just because you are working. You can set the money aside, either mentally or actually put it in a special account, earmarked for the roof, and replace it when needed.

Same thing for the car, unless you have different requirements for a retirement car than your work commuter car.

 

[calico1597]

We paid off a fifteen year mortgage in nine years, had geothermal heating and cooling system installed, and upgraded my hearing aids while I had insurance coverage.

 

[Bir48die]

Pay off home. Buy new vehicle for wife. No debts. All accomplished

 

[Independent]

What is/was on your list of things that need to get done prior to your retirement.
Here are my big ticket items I plan to have done in the next few years:
Replace the roof on our home.
Buy a new (to me) car that I hope to get 10 years out of.
Water heater & get the HVAC system checked out/replaced.

These things don't make my list. They can all be done just as easily after retirement as before.

OTOH, financial planning, so I'm sure I can afford to quit working, needs to happen before I retire. Planning includes the possibility of changing AA, and it may be wise to do that over a period of years (or not, depending on markets).

There is a good list in the FAQs section.

 

[SmallCityDave]

But...if you hold off, you'll have more money. Anything you don't spend now you can spend later. If the roof doesn't need to be replaced yet, it makes no sense to replace it just because you are working. You can set the money aside, either mentally or actually put it in a special account, earmarked for the roof, and replace it when needed.

Same thing for the car, unless you have different requirements for a retirement car than your work commuter car.

Correct but the roof is getting close we've had a roofer out two times in the last 3 years I'm hoping to nurse it along for another five years or so.


The car is in great shape but it's 10+ years old and has just over 110k miles on it, I think I can get another 3-4 years (50k miles) before I need/want another vehicle.


Obviously put away a bunch of cash and be ready for life's little surprises.

 

[Sanstar]

Sold two story home bought to make job commuting reasonable. Bought single story on an acre to allow fruit/pecan trees, blackberry bushes, grape vines and raised bed gardens.

Bought new pickup truck, Airstream and tow vehicle. Found and brought home a retirement puppy (mini daschund) to keep me company. Trained and started volunteering as a CASA ( court appointed special advocate for children).

Paid everything off. Completed a “dollar challenge” week just to see if we could. I had a lot of fun with it but DH was clear he’ll work an extra year or so to avoid this challenge in the future. Kept a very detailed spending log for three months to get a handle on every penny going out the door. This was to inform us of what we really spend for discretionary items. Plus, it will allow an accurate financial picture for some future decisions, such as getting another pet. It also takes away the sometimes different opinions we have about what we give to our respective charities and relatives, replacing those opinions with facts.

Pre-retirement purchases set us up for the retirement life we had in mind. Financial work was for piece of mind in leaving the workforce with its paychecks and bonuses.

 

[cooch96]

Save enough money for a RV and complete home renovation: new roof, new plumbing, new furnace, new water heater, outdoor pool, insulation...

I don’t consider this money as part of my nest egg. It should all be spent within 6 months of semi-FIRE.

 

[FreeBear]

Wow! You folks are hard w*rkers, with all the RV's and major home reno. We moved before retirement, but actually unrelated to fire itself. Bought new car, mainly got tired of repairing old one. Main fire action was to equity from 100% (for decades) down to 50 something%

 

[ransil]

my list

fixup house to sell ( working on it)
Sell stuff ( on going)
buy RV
Buy vehicle to tow behind RV

first 2 hopefully fund last 2

 

[Car-Guy]

I don't recall having any such list other than maybe maintaining zero debt.

 

[tb001]

We just relocated and are working to get a full handle on expenses and make sure my estimates are in line with reality. Also have a few house projects we’d like to get taken care of out of ‘non retirement’ funds, so money we would be saving is going to those right now.

The big ones are:
Replacing failed double pane windows (do any of these not fail)
Repainting
New dishwashers
Adding solar
A few pieces of new furniture, though hopefully we can find most of what we need second hand
Replumbing has fireplaces


Also working to have $ set aside for small camper, remodeling a shed and a few other ‘projects’ I have planned around the house. We have a generous ‘hobby’ line in our budget, but my guess is we’ll be pretty cautious about spending for a while.