How was 2018?

[MichaelB]

So, how was 2018? For us it was another very good year in retirement. Family is healthy, grandchildren are growing, friends are all alive and kicking, and best of all, we all still enjoy each other’s company. A few bumps in the road but nothing to cause any sleepless nights.

As we age I expect things to happen to us, family, or friends, and am appreciative and grateful for another year where we all made it across the finish line in pretty much the same shape as when we started. Well, perhaps a bit heavier, with the weight “repositioning itself”, but otherwise in good shape, mentally and physically.

Life is good, retirement is good, and we will see what 2019 holds in store for us.

 

[Moemg]

2018 was an interesting year . I learned to never take a flu lightly . To give smaller gifts at weddings that you think are iffy .That Cuba is a very interesting country . That Dave & Busters can be a lot of fun with the grandchildren. All in all a good year .

 

[RobbieB]

Been busy. Marriage, home improvements, step daughter off to school, moving.

Recovering from nasty cold caught before Christmas. Turned into bronchitis and got new meds yesterday. Zithromax, predensone and cough pills. Feeling better.

Happy new years eve! Me thinks we'll be partying small this year but I do have champagne and lobster tails -

 

[Sue J]

We lost our last parent (DH's mom) but became first time grandparents 8 weeks ago. The big Circle Of Life.

I dealt with some medical issues - PT for sciatica but it turned out to be sacroiliac joint issue and had one procedure and have another one in January. I'm tired of dealing with this and how much it's impacted my life. I'm trying to stay optimistic

Money wise we did fine. I'm 63 and I've been watching my Social Security Benefit increase by small amounts every month. I haven't started taking it yet because of the ACA subsidy but with our HSA plan for 2019 I'll have plenty of room for the additional income from SS. Today my SS would be $696/mo. I will check it again tomorrow and it should be $700 or a few dollars more. I'd like to start getting it soon and have some time receiving the full amount before the Medicare deduction starts in Feb 2020 when I turn 65.

 

[MBAustin]

2018 was my year for some big experiences. Took DS to a Duke home basketball game in January, saw Hamilton with DD in NYC in March, visited Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks with the kids in June, and went to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival with DH in October. Enjoyed 34 nights out in our RV - about normal for the past few years. Next year may be a bit more as DH wants to see Niagara Falls and since we only travel ~200 miles/day, that will be a long trip.
Happy 2019 to all!

 

[Rianne]

In August, my niece decided to get married on December 22, 2018. I still like my family although we disagree on just about everything, that will never change. One of our forest preserves got approved as an International Dark Sky Park, one of 64 in the world. That was exciting b/c I volunteer there a lot.

I am optimistic about 2019. We are very lucky people and I'll never take that for granted.

 

[Walt34]

Generally good, but an unplanned-for 4-day stay in a hospital for me reminded us that tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. And a reminder came when a cousin's daughter unexpectedly lost her husband to the combination of prescribed opiates and alcohol at the age of 34. He'd been in an ATV accident about eight years ago and had suffered from severe back pain since.

 

[gayl]

Mixed. Somewhat
Financial - down but not actually drawing yet. I did take out about 4K but that was it.
Travel - three cruises but only one land trip. My travel savings account is winding-up 5000 greater than when year started despite the touring
Family - issues

 

[Jerry1]

2018 was great. Got my buy out/retired in January. Since then took a couple trips. Best one was to see my brother in Florida. Took DW, DD and grand daughter. Stayed at a condo on the gulf and had a great week. Took a couple other trips to other family and to TN to stay in a cabin for our anniversary. Got some projects done around the house. Best of which was a shed which will allow for us to get both cars in the garage. But, then I went and bought a full size truck and I don’t think I’ll be parking that in the garage. Still, I really like the truck. Health and family were good. So, a very good year.

Financially, not a great year, but a good reminder as I start retirement that the market does go down and that it’s important to stick with the plan and follow the budget. Can’t run FireCalc with a $80K budget and spend $100K and expect it to work out well.

I look forward to many more and hope the same for everyone one this board. You’ve been a great help in getting me this far into FIRE and I really appreciate you.

HAPPY NEW YEARS ! ! !

 

[Red Badger]

A great year! First full year of retirement and loved it. Traveled to the beach (two trips totaling 5 weeks), DC, Europe (3 weeks), and two trips to the prairie to visit sibs.

Burn rate was high, but planned. 2019 plan is to get foot off the gas. 3 or 4 domestic trips. Our egg ended the year on a down note, but we're using laddered CD's for most of 2019. Might sell some bonds and add a few more rungs to the ladder.

DW got a new water heater for 2018 Christmas. Going all out for her next Christmas - new roof including architectural shingles.

 

[GR111]

2018 is the year I decided to retire and put in my notice at w*rk. I have 31 days remaining - class of 2019. I spent a lot of time during the year reading wise comments posted in this forum. Looking forward to a new and exciting chapter in 2019. Happy New Year everybody!

 

[Bigdawg]

A good year all around. Started slow with a work trip to Vegas in March. Sold San Diego house in May. Attended DN graduation from U RI in May. DW got to meet future DIL at that party. DD got back from one year internship in Australia in June and told us about grad school in Ireland. Visited DM and DS(sister) in Arkansas for a week in June. Enjoyed our house on the beach like we do each summer. Late August accompanied DD and DW to Ireland for two weeks.
Met some friends for a few nights before touring the country and dropping off DD at Trinity for grad school in Dublin. Worked about 25 HS volleyball matches this fall. Had another trip to Arkansas. DM is 87 and I try to see her often. Prime dropped my company as a sub two weeks ago. Prime picked me up plus 5%. Not a bad deal. Same desk and customer. Tore house down and started build on same lot. Half way there. So far budget and timeline are good. Only hiccup is the criminal finance folks. So I moved a few things around and financed the build myself. Using up basically all of my loose cash but we are safe with military pensions. I'll update that whole experience when the build is complete in March. All in all a good year. Thanks to ECYT it was an up year for me. Happy New Year and have a great 2019. Oh, I am 35 pounds lighter from last New Years Eve. Thanks Nutrisystem.

 

[SecondCor521]

Overall it was a good year for me. My Dad got healthier this year (gallbladder surgery). I got healthier this year (gym). My kids all made progress on their education and are generally happy, healthy, and safe. Some travel around Europe via boat and the western US via car.

Net worth is down somewhat since I invest mostly in the S&P and I paid mid-five-digits for my kids education. But I'm only spending at a net WR of 1.33% at the moment, so I feel very safe. Kids' college should be fully funded; will know for sure on 1/21 when we get the financial aid package for kid #2.

The few downers were that I was sick with bronchitis and sinusitis for about 8 weeks this fall, and some people I know my age died, including a childhood neighbor and classmate at age 49.

Overall, very grateful for this year and optimistic for the future. Looking forward to two college graduations and two high school graduations in the family in the spring. With 9 kids/nephews/nieces between 24 and 17, we'll be hopefully having more of those over the next several years.

 

[Katsmeow]

Well -- I am glad that 2018 is about to be over. This was a year of huge changes. Some were good and some not so much.

The two big things dealt with our living situation and my mom. Late last year we decided to sell our house and move about 250 miles away to the area where I grew up where I know lots of people. Kids were either scattered or in the process of scattering so there is no way to be close to all of them.

We first got our house ready to sale which was exhausting. Before it was even ready, we were asked to show it to someone who ended up buying it. That was great -- but we closed in about 2 weeks so very stressful.

Around that time my 94 year old mother who had been independently living started having health problems and went in the hospital and then rehab. We moved into a short term rental while looking for a house. My mom's health continued to fail and she was released from rehab to move in with us in the apartment we were renting. About a week and a half later, she died. In a way it wasn't expected (she was 94 with heart failure, kidney disease and Type II diabetes). In another way, it was shocking that it happened so abruptly.

Not long after that we moved into the house we had bought in the meantime.

You might have thought that after that things would be smooth. That thought would have been wrong. We had all sorts of things related to moving to a new area and into a new house (but which is over 30 years old). And, I spent much of the last several months consumed with matters related to my mom's estate including getting her house ready to sell.

In the midst of that we had some adult kid issues that were costly and stressful. Most of those have more or less resolved now but it added a lot of stress to the year.

Not too surprisingly, after maintaining a 62 pounds weight loss for almost 3 years I ended the year up 15 pounds in weight. The good news if that I've been stable for a few month and things are finally going downward as I've been able to get back into exercise.

I am so glad this year is almost over....

 

[KB]

2018 was a mixed year for me, some good things and some very sad things.

I had to put one of my dogs down this year, she had recurrent cancer. That was crushing. But then I got a new puppy which made my other dog and me happy. And busy.

A few months later my Dad fell ill and died after a short illness. I spent about 3 months going back and forth from my home to his during the time before he died and clearing out his apartment afterwards. Then settling my parents trusts and estate and distributing their assets to all the heirs. I still need to get the taxes done. That should be interesting, they had an AB trust and I opened a subsequent administrative trust. I think 4 tax returns result from all that.

Fortunately I had a house sitter who could come and go as I needed him, to take care of my dogs and house while I was out of town. He was a lifesaver, or so it seemed at the time.

My kids mostly live out of the country, and both came home a few times with their girlfriends and stayed with me this year. That was wonderful.

I also had a trip planned to Hawaii, which I cancelled when my Dad was really ill and haven't rescheduled. I haven’t felt the urge to go anywhere after all that has gone on this year.

I did inherit a nice chunk of money from my parents estate. That was a bright spot.

I’m looking forward to 2019, closing out my parents estate and having a calmer year. I’m going to plan my vegetable garden this week and start seeds in a few weeks. That’s always fun. And my Master gardener vegetable group will plan our garden in January as well. So lots of fun gardening chats.

 

[Souschef]

It was a pretty good year for us. DW's health issues are under control. kids and grand kids are doing OK.
Financially, it was quite a roller coaster, but I stayed the course. It helps to have 70K as a baseline through SS and pensions,
Got my final IRA numbers- after figuring in my RMD, I am only down 2.5% from close of 2017

I turned 80 this year, passed my flight physical, and to celebrate, I piloted a P-51 Quite an experience.
We took a cruise from LA to Hawaii, and found we did not mind sea days.
Looking forward to 2019 to get our switch engine running
We wish all of you a Happy, and especially a Healthy New Year!

 

[spncity]

Always the highlight - spending time with grandbaby, who is growing fast.

At the beginning of 2018, DH help the kiddos remodel/enlarge their kitchen - including relocating sink, stove, fridge, dishwasher, lighting, ceiling, flooring, cabinetry with awesome results. SIL is quite talented and he learned a few tricks from DH. It made me want a remodeled kitchen... for about ten minutes. Decided travel is higher on the want list.

We did a big RV trip that included Florida to Utah and Wyoming. We'd never seen Utah and it was amazing. I could have stayed out for another few weeks, but can't stay away from that baby too long. As for the RV lifestyle - it really does help if you can do the repairs yourself. First for saving time (staying on the road) and second for money (the cost would really count up otherwise).

Helped younger DD move close to us. So nice to have her nearby.

Lost FIL in November. He celebrated 98 last summer - a triumphant age. He was independent - and driving - until his last two-and-a-half weeks. Of our parents, only my mom is left now.

For 2019, I would like to incorporate more creativity - arts, crafts, music, in my daily life. Not sure yet what that will look like.

Well, perhaps a bit heavier, with the weight “repositioning itself”

I plan to address this trend in 2019....

 

[RunningBum]

Health issues made 2018 a fairly bad year for me. Nothing serious, but it kept me from ever getting a good night of sleep, and also kept me home more and less active than usual. That kept my expenses down other than medical, but that's a lousy trade-off. Things are looking a little better going into 2019 but I've had a number of false hopes followed by setbacks.

 

[aaronc879]

Not a very good year for me. It started out with me having difficulties recovering from a broken hip. Then around the beginning of March I left work early one day because of excessive pain. I called in the next day and went to the doctor. They ordered an MRI and gave me off of work for a week until we got the results. The MRI showed wide spread avascular necrosis and they said the only option was a total hip replacement. At age 38, that is not something you want to hear. The surgery was on May 21st. I spent the rest of the year having difficulties recovering from that and the difficulty continues today. I just had a follow up with the surgeon on the 28th and got my weight limit increased from 8 pounds to 15 pounds. My job requires me to lift up to 48 pounds. In addition to the pain I also have constant stress not knowing if i'm going to be able to keep my job. Although very painful I managed to work enough to earn around $35K in 2018 which is a living wage for me. Hoping 2019 will be better.

 

[Car-Guy]

2018 was okay and so much better than the best of any of my working years. I did give up (well I cut back a lot) on one of my life long hobbies but others have picked up the slack and filled that time "and expense". NW is down somewhat, but that took some serious effort and I had a lot of fun blowing that dough. Physically downward too but overall, I'm feeling pretty good about things, my decisions and I'm enjoying retirement.I expect 2019, 20, 21, etc to be about the same... The money will easily hold out, the question I've begun to ponder is, how long can I at this rate?

 

[Ronstar]

2018 was great. Personal and family health good. Financially ok. Spent the winter in Az. Spent the summer doing a house remodel. Did some traveling. Hit the hobbies fairly hard. Sold my boat. Hopefully 2019 will be more of the same, except without a house remodel.

 

[Souschef]

Sold my boat. Hopefully 2019 will be more of the same, except without a house remodel.

The 2 best days in a boat owner's life are the day he buys his boat, and the day he sells it.

 

[Ronstar]

The 2 best days in a boat owner's life are the day he buys his boat, and the day he sells it.

100% true.

 

[street]

Another beautiful year filled with good health and blessed with so many gifts of life. I can't think of any thing that could of been better.

 

[Dash man]

2018 was a good year. Grandtwins entered the world in June, so we now have three grandkids. Just did another financial plan, and we’re still showing a 99% success rate with room to spare. Headed to Florida in twelve days for the rest of the winter. Life is good.