Class of 2018

I keep telling my son I'm going to walk him to school AND volunteer with the band director. I don't know how old your son is, but mine is almost 17, so he's not amused AT ALL.
 
Tiny Kingdom said:
I keep telling my son I'm going to walk him to school AND volunteer with the band director. I don't know how old your son is, but mine is almost 17, so he's not amused AT ALL.
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Mine are now 14 and 11- and embarrassed at our very existence. Less fast food, more family time- they're going to love it...:D
 
Add me to the list. - ER'd September 2018 at age 51.
 
Congrats to all!!!! Ain't it great? (as I sit here in my jammies, sipping Chai tea...)
 
One more for the list

Retired from my part time job on December 19th. Yes, it is good to sip the coffee in the morning and know everyday is a day away from :mad: work!
 
8 Month Anniversary Last Week

8 Months ER anniversary last week! Left the IT rat race as of 5/15/2018 ( already on the Class 2018 roster).
Everyday is Friday, and wake up alarm is set so infrequently that I almost forget how to set it.
For all of the above reasons, I just love getting my life back again after so, so many years. Here's hoping we ALL have many more to come.
 
Celebrating 2 years of retirement!!!! Last day of work was 11/2/18. First day of Freedom was 11/3/18. First workday of Freedom was 11/5/18. Not sure which day I should mark as the anniversary... how about all of them? :)
 
Congratulations! My date was 4/16/2018 and I have had a great experience thus far! Enjoy the day....
 
mitchjav said:
Celebrating 2 years of retirement!!!! Last day of work was 11/2/18. First day of Freedom was 11/3/18. First workday of Freedom was 11/5/18. Not sure which day I should mark as the anniversary... how about all of them? :)
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+1

Same exact dates for me. I celebrated last day of w*rk last night and plan to celebrate first day of RE on the 5th.

Congratulations!!!
 
I celebrate my first full day of FIRE, July 12. The joy may not be as prominent, but it is ever present, and I can still easily summon it! The best couple of years of my life!
 
mitchjav said:
Celebrating 2 years of retirement!!!!
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Congratulations!

Today was the kind of day where I really appreciate retirement. It was in the upper 60s here, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Just a terrific day to be outside.

I went for a short bike ride and everyone one I met must have felt the same way because they all smiled and exchanged greetings as we passed.
 
I know, Class of 2018 is well over. But I'm trying to get a handle on what kind of an economy we retired into. There have been such large ups and downs in the market that I'm pondering that issue of how this economy, the one we retired into over the past 3 years, turned out to be one that significantly affected our long-term prospects for good or ill. You know how "they" say that the economy's performance early in retirement is very consequential for one's entire retirement. My feeling is that it was for good, that we didn't take any long-term hit from the "downs," but whether we had a large trend one way or another, I'd like more informed opinions. There's also the issue of the divergence of "the economy" from "the market." 3 years seems like a good time for a judgement as to what the earliest stage of our retirement was.
 
My initial take is we retired at a good time, but not a great time. I retired late summer and we all suffered a pretty good market drop that Fall. So my personal start was difficult, but I didn't panic. If you retired year end, you have seen very little down since then.

A few things, though.
- If you stayed the course, your NW is likely up.
- If you panic sold during Covid, your NW may be up, just not as much.
- If you at least owned your home, then good, because real estate is whacked.
- If you invested in tangible real estate, good for you!
- Interest rates for savers (and bonds) is a concern for long term well being

Unless you went 100% into bonds and CDs, you are good and you've now burned off 3 years of the FIRE chart. Less life in us left to experience downturns.

All of this is great. But, well, there are some nagging issues in there like hidden inflation, government debt, etc. So although I'm happy to see NW up, I think hidden inflation is tempering it a bit, and thus it is somewhat an illusion. And, of course, since this economy is doing unusual things compared to the last 40 years or so, it gives me a bit of unease.
 
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Yes, I also retired in late summer and had forgotten that rather significant drop through the end of that year. It did have an effect, even just 4 months. But luckily the following year was strong.
 
Pellice said:
Yes, I also retired in late summer and had forgotten that rather significant drop through the end of that year. It did have an effect, even just 4 months. But luckily the following year was strong.
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I think the same for the COVID drop. Hold the course and we are OK.
 
My NW is up around 30% since the day I retired (4/16/18) thanks entirely to Mr. Market. I often think how I would feel if it was down 30%........Its nice to have the cushion for whatever comes next.

What I did not expect was for interest rates to drop precipitously in the past 3 years.

Mostly I'm glad I didn't have to work through last year - would not have been fun doing it all from home. I think our timing was pretty darn good.
 
53anddone said:
Mostly I'm glad I didn't have to work through last year - would not have been fun doing it all from home. I think our timing was pretty darn good.
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I agree with you on this point. Glad I'm not working during the pandemic.

I'm not a social animal, but I need to get out of the house to work. That's just my style. I appreciate the ability to work from home occasionally to attend to a sick family member, or keep my small cold at home, or wait for an expensive package. But to do it 100% of the time? Blah.

Others disagree and that's fine. I know if I were a young person out of college, I'd go crazy working from home and not having those interactions with others at work.
 
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