NoiseBoy

2008 and 2009 were a real wakeup call for me. Up until then I was living within my means, contributing to my 401(k), and living my life more or less assuming that my job was secure and I would retire whenever the pension numbers looked right. Well, the market drop in '08 caught my attention, and then my megacorp announced layoffs in my division for the first time in my career. While I managed to avoid a long term layoff, the experience changed my assumptions about my financial future. In 2009 I started tracking my spending to see where my money was going and I doubled down on paying off my mortgage because, after looking at my numbers, I decided that I could get by with a lot less income if I didn't have to make a mortgage payment. I continued living well below my means and saving as much as possible to achieve a target retirement date the year I turned 55. My company made some changes to the pension plan that gave me an incentive to finish out that year and then the pandemic hit. What with working from home, and most activities curtailed, I continued to work until I turned 56. I decided to end my mini one-more-year syndrome and retire and I am very happy that I did. I do hobby work now, but I will never go back to working full-time or for someone else.

My username refers to my weekend warrior hobby of setting up and operating sound systems for local bands. I feel fortunate to have a hobby that actually pays for the gear I use as long as I'm willing to "donate" my labor to the cause. My hobby has proved to be very beneficial in retirement too. Without it, I think I would be a little bored. But with it, I have some work to do that I enjoy as well as spending time working on improving my live sound skills. In my case, I did need something to do in retirement and live sound is a very good solution.

62/35/3 on 2023-12-30. Speculating (badly) with 2.5% of the 62%.