Chase more money or my Dreams?

I went at 58. Now 71. I am anticipating a few more good health years for each of us. But never certain...so we are doing what we can knock off on our bucket lists.

This year we did five weeks on independent travel in Portugal. Plus a 10 day AI in Mexico last month.

Currently shopping for fare to spend Feb/March in Thailand and Malaysia. Hopefully either a spring or fall seven week trip to Morocco, then Spain. Greek Islands and Turkey in the fall.

Why stay home when there is so much to see and do?

I doubt whether we will get round to everything on our list, including the re-visits. But we will give it a damn good try!
 
They don't give out a special merit badge to the richest guy in the graveyard.
 
HostelDweller said:
My question...How do I keep my eyes on the dream and not envy all of my colleagues who are chasing their next career to make more money. I'm telling you, I'm the only person who is NOT chasing money, I feel like the oddball.
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You have to also keep in mind that once you are retired you may have a difference reference group. If you make friends with other retirees once you've retired, instead of work colleagues, they've already made the decision to retire and stop chasing earned income, so those are the people who will be your new peer group. We live in a HCOL area, and some of our friends are pretty well off, but most are retired and nobody usually talks about money, most don't have any jobs to talk about so we talk about things like current events, club activities, kids and grandkids, and our shared experiences like plays and concerts we've been to together or are planning to attend.
 
First do what makes you happiest in life, if more work or more money is your motivation then work and make more.

I took the gamble and went for the dreams and now I wonder why I didn't go dreaming earlier in life. I retired at 58 but I officially told company at 57 years of age. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever made but I made the right choice and even more so as I get older. I got a whole new life after ER and been more rewarding than the extra money and stress I had before ER.

Good Luck!
 
HostelDweller said:
My question...How do I keep my eyes on the dream and not envy all of my colleagues who are chasing their next career to make more money. I'm telling you, I'm the only person who is NOT chasing money, I feel like the oddball.

Thanks
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You will probably forget all about it once you start surfing in the Caribbean in the winter while your colleagues are driving to work in the snow.

Cheers!
 
HostelDweller said:
My question...How do I keep my eyes on the dream and not envy all of my colleagues who are chasing their next career to make more money.
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At some point, you will be trading time you can never get back for money you will never spend.

Once you are confident you have enough (however YOU define "enough") what is the point of earning more?
 
I’m 56 and my last day is next Friday. I totally get where you’re coming from, having these same feelings. I still get pangs of these thoughts, however, as I get closer to my date, they seem to be slipping away and are getting overwhelmed by my giddiness at what’s ahead and how blessed we are to be able to retire with our youth/health. Many have gone through this and a quick read of the introduction thread will show you how they’ve dealt with it (mine included). It’s understandable since we’ve been able to amass our retirement nest eggs because of our competitiveness/success. It’s hard to just turn that off, but I can say that as I approach my departure date, things that once mattered to me are slowly slipping away. Good luck!
 
HostelDweller said:
Hello,
I'm sure this has been asked many times before and is similar to "One More Year Syndrome". My background, I have a mandatory retirement next year at 55 years old. We will have enough money to live modestly, travel and never work again. I will definitely work part time in some way to balance life out and cover the additional travel, mostly Snowbird Surfing trips to warm places 4 months a year. I've talked to my athletic, older, mentors and they all say, take advantage of the good healthy years and go for it.

My question...How do I keep my eyes on the dream and not envy all of my colleagues who are chasing their next career to make more money. I'm telling you, I'm the only person who is NOT chasing money, I feel like the oddball.


Thanks
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That's something you have to decide for yourself, there is no universal right answer. Only you will know when to pull the trigger, when you're comfortable you have enough $, and when you can't resist the attraction to pursue other activities while you still have your health. Each of us has a different health timeline, some are spent in their 50's while others remain active in the 70's/80's. Many random strangers will tell you to go for it, and others wish they had worked a little longer for various reasons - but they are far less likely to admit it. In retrospect I might as well have worked little longer, but we didn't need more $ so I don't have regrets.
 
I went for the dream! One of the reasons I didn't change the name of the boat;

51874521264_f38a89ba94_z.jpg


I'll be 68 next year, hopefully we'll be able to "catch some dreams" for 10 more years - :)
 
rodi said:
If you look at retirement spending there have been several models that based on household data noted spending drops by age 75 for most retirees... They propose it's ok to spend more in the early retirement years because you will have checked off your expensive bucket list by the time you're that age. So there's a glide path from the earlier, expensive, years (pre 56yo) to your constant spending later years (75yo).

There's a good wiki on this over at bogleheads.
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Models_of_spending_as_retirement_progresses
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My spending has always been at least 25% more than planned for retirement and seems to go up most years. Next year will be a lot more than normal (I just ordered a new truck.) I'll be 73 in 6 weeks. I'm not hoping for a spending slowdown. That sounds boring.
 
So I can only tell you that you can not get the retirement time back. Time spent with family and friends along with travel will be lost forever if you go for the additional money. Do you have enough money to have a nice life and not have to work? If you do then go and don't look back.
I had 5k plus employees and just under a billion dollar budget eight years ago. I left that business and was offered a newly created VP job at a large corporation that would pay 2 times to start what I was making when I left the first career. My accountant told me I would be paying a lot more in taxes and my wife said I wasn't a two year man after signing a two year contract with this great corporation. The last minute I backed out and went happily on my way. We have plenty of money to live very secure in our ways while we enjoy our retirement life. We have traveled America 8 years in a row and have spent time with family we never would have been able to do if I was still chasing more money.
Hope you make the right decision for you and yours.
God Bless America
 
REWahoo said:
Here is a real world example of that, showing our annual spending, including taxes, over our 17 years of retirement.

[Edited to correct chart error]

Note that the marked decline beginning in year 15 (2020, age 72) was largely due to events surrounding Covid.

Looking at our year 18 (2023, age 76) budget, I envision spending to be similar to the past three years unless we have to replace the HVAC system, make other unplanned major repairs or get hit with some other unfortunate event.
Click to expand...


Nice chart.

Would be nicer if it is adjusted for inflation over the years. :angel:
 
Hermit said:
... I'm not hoping for a spending slowdown. That sounds boring.
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I did not hope for a spending slowdown either. It just happened! :cool:

And no, it's not boring. :)
 
NW-Bound said:
I did not hope for a spending slowdown either. It just happened! :cool:

And no, it's not boring. :)
Click to expand...

NEEDING a spending slowdown is definitely not boring. It can be scary and nerve wracking. Last time was late 80s for us when several things hit the fan at once. Blessed with more normal ups and downs now - and I believe in the adage that in many things "Boring is good!" YMMV
 
I retired 1/2022

Yesterday I went to my last boss’s retirement send off and caught up with about 40 former co-workers.

I’ve spent 121 nights traveling in 2022, and they were envious.

More than one person commented on how relaxed I looked.

As I drove home from “work” one more time, I realized how right my decision was.

Merry Christmas!
 
Just got a Christmas card from a guy I taught during his Masters program. Eventually I was able to hire him at Megacorp. He is now 2.5 years from retirement. When I left, we had 7 in our dept. He now has one empl*yee! Times have changed at Megacorp! I think of him as my legacy at Megacorp - but I feel bad that he has had to stay this long. BUT he likes his toys (latest electronic toys, TV, car, etc.) To him it was worth it to stay. For me - not so much. Just glad he is happy as he's one of the good ones.
 
brett said:
We chose downsizing and travel.

Looking back 12 years it was the best decision ever.

My question was not how much more can I make. It was how many years with good health can I look forward to do the things that we want to do.
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I wish I'd retired sooner. You'll be surprised just how little you need to live off of once you don't have any debt.

For all the younger people reading this, I wish someone told me to start planning on retiring at 55 when I was 25.
 
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