Deciding When to Retire

[Best Buckeye]

Hey ! Wake up.... Just because you think you have, or will have in ten years, enough money to survive on for the rest of your lives it's not over by a long shot.
The manner in which the costs of living increases every year may or may not exceed your actual and or projected income.
I've been retired for 14 years now and the difference between having plenty of money and breaking even gets smaller every year.
So, a word to the wise, set your self up for the long haul and plan appropriately.
I, myself still have enough to live well for a few years to come before I will have to start dipping into the investments I have.
The investments are from inheritances.

 

[CMic]

Hey ! Wake up.... Just because you think you have, or will have in ten years, enough money to survive on for the rest of your lives it's not over by a long shot.
The manner in which the costs of living increases every year may or may not exceed your actual and or projected income.
I've been retired for 14 years now and the difference between having plenty of money and breaking even gets smaller every year.
So, a word to the wise, set your self up for the long haul and plan appropriately.
I, myself still have enough to live well for a few years to come before I will have to start dipping into the investments I have.
The investments are from inheritances.

Too bad you didn’t get the OSU President job.

 

[Best Buckeye]

Damn straight ... Grrrrrr That job was mine to have ...

 

[buckeyebri]

This last week continued to convince me that I either need to do something different for the next few years if I go to full retirement or to go next year. I spent most of the week thinking I just can’t deal with this stupidity anymore.

 

[Zurp]

This last week continued to convince me that I either need to do something different for the next few years if I go to full retirement or to go next year. I spent most of the week thinking I just can’t deal with this stupidity anymore.

If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.
The same might work putting "business" in place of "room". If you're the smartest person in your company, maybe you need a new company.

 

[buckeyeintn]

True story - I was on the road almost every other week for 35 years. When I first started seriously talking about retiring my wife didn't want me to. She said she wasn't sure she wanted me around that much. It would disturb all of her routines. A couple years later Covid hit and I wasn't allowed to travel most of the year. She found out it wasn't that bad having me at home. I retired early '21 and haven't regretted a day of it. It must be ok with my wife since she hasn't yet changed the locks. If I can make it until September it will be 50 years without her changing the locks.

 

[buckeyebri]

If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.
The same might work putting "business" in place of "room". If you're the smartest person in your company, maybe you need a new company.

It’s really not about being the smartest person in the room or the company.

It’s about dealing with distraction. People don’t listen, don’t pay attention, and people certainly don’t read.

It’s about dealing with organizations hiring us to modernize their systems, but are driven by not rocking the boat of the current processes.

It’s about having to develop to the lowest common denominator. Again, because attention spans are short.

 

[Zurp]

wasn't that bad having me at home.

Maybe the best compliment some of us can expect from our wives.

 

[shetuck]

It’s really not about being the smartest person in the room or the company.

It’s about dealing with distraction. People don’t listen, don’t pay attention, and people certainly don’t read.

It’s about dealing with organizations hiring us to modernize their systems, but are driven by not rocking the boat of the current processes.

It’s about having to develop to the lowest common denominator. Again, because attention spans are short.

Everyone likes to support the idea that "we need change", until they're faced with the reality that that includes them changing as well, and not everybody else.

 

[Jagdaddy]

It’s really not about being the smartest person in the room or the company.

It’s about dealing with distraction. People don’t listen, don’t pay attention, and people certainly don’t read.

It’s about dealing with organizations hiring us to modernize their systems, but are driven by not rocking the boat of the current processes.

It’s about having to develop to the lowest common denominator. Again, because attention spans are short.

While I don't have direct experience teaching, it sounds a lot like being a public school teacher ...

 

[Thump]

While I don't have direct experience teaching, it sounds a lot like being a public school teacher ...

I thought the exact same thing.

 

[calibuck]

This is NOT a simple question. The 'When' has to do with financial capability, as well as mental aspect, and certainly health. Keep forgetting that not everyone has a financial mind. Read too many "How to retire on $1 million" stories. Not sure that even with a free and clear home, one can live on $4,000 per month, and not eat ramen every night. But key for me was, Do you enjoy your job? Do you have your health? Do you have the money/investments/retirement (beyond SS) to live comfortably. Would also add, will you suffer a loss in standard of living if you retire? Key to financial/wifey happiness. Biggest cost of retirement is health benefits. And yeah, the increase exceeds any inflation out there, certainly that of income increases. First thing is to secure H&W benefits, see if your company offers retiree benefits, and sign up for those. If they know, find out what increases have been, as being on a 'fixed income' you'll have to absorb those increases from your income stream. Next, pin down your sources of future income. By now, everyone is looking in the rearview mirror, and saying "wish I woulda saved more" etc. When I retired, took out enough from IRA to cover the costs of H&W, so didn't suffer any loss in standard of living. Maybe rearrange your portfolio to generate income instead of gains. Changed my 'reinvest' in portfolio earnings to move to cash account to provide some 'extra' funds for cruises/vacations etc. Maybe you work several more years, and make a concerted effort to stash money away in 401(k), Roth, etc. Pay off as many debts as possible.

Will stop, as never can ascertain whether the questions are rhetorical or just meant to entice responses. But no matter how much you plan, there's always some variables that you have not taken into account, or some twists of fate unknown at the time. Good luck.

 

[heisman]

It seems like everyone who has retired, or is looking to retire, is of the mindset, “When can I stop trading my time for money?” Based on that strict definition, I retired in my teens. I have never understood this mentality. Baffling to me. Also, invest in yourself or your own entity, not someone else or their entity. Will change your life.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

It seems like everyone who has retired, or is looking to retire, is of the mindset, “When can I stop trading my time for money?” Based on that strict definition, I retired in my teens. I have never understood this mentality. Baffling to me. Also, invest in yourself or your own entity, not someone else or their entity. Will change your life.

So, this past weekend... Actually Sunday... I flew CLT <--> ORD to attend a memorial service for a 26 year old young man who played lacrosse on a number of teams I coached. I think I met him when he was probably 10. He was on my first team I coached.... and I had many years of spending time with him and his family. Those of you know who know me a bit know that I've had a number of kids who I had the pleasure of coaching through youth ball and through club ball while they were in HS. (note: I intentionally did not coach these kids in HS so as to get other coaching and having spent this time with these kids, I never wanted their HS coached to be second guessed. My own kid is included in this mix.)

Three of them. All kids I coached, made it through college, gainfully employed and valued members of our community and were downtown Chicago... grabbed an Uber to get them home. Drunk driver on the Eisenhower caused a three-car collision. Killed one boy, sent another to the hospital. Third walked away.

Seeing probably 50 kids at a funeral for one of their former teammates and friends makes you really question what the fuck this is all about.

Boss sent me a note this morning... for my annual stock option grant. YAY... not really. I just had to watch a fellow dad bury his (only) son and two months ago he lost his wife due to complications of West Nile (no joke... Chicago suburbs). Yay... more options. Whatevs...

When can I stop trading my time for money? That's a great way to think of it. I could have stopped a while ago, I'm sure. But, this I do know. My time, regardless of how much I'm being paid, is FAR better used to spend time with young people, making them better people and lacrosse players than it is building AI and analytic systems as a professional.

Life has thrown too many signals my way for me to justify not living for myself and _giving_ back in ways that I uniquely can.

The end of this chapter should have a G-D fast forward button.

 

[heisman]

So, this past weekend... Actually Sunday... I flew CLT <--> ORD to attend a memorial service for a 26 year old young man who played lacrosse on a number of teams I coached. I think I met him when he was probably 10. He was on my first team I coached.... and I had many years of spending time with him and his family. Those of you know who know me a bit know that I've had a number of kids who I had the pleasure of coaching through youth ball and through club ball while they were in HS. (note: I intentionally did not coach these kids in HS so as to get other coaching and having spent this time with these kids, I never wanted their HS coached to be second guessed. My own kid is included in this mix.)

Three of them. All kids I coached, made it through college, gainfully employed and valued members of our community and were downtown Chicago... grabbed an Uber to get them home. Drunk driver on the Eisenhower caused a three-car collision. Killed one boy, sent another to the hospital. Third walked away.

Seeing probably 50 kids at a funeral for one of their former teammates and friends makes you really question what the fuck this is all about.

Boss sent me a note this morning... for my annual stock option grant. YAY... not really. I just had to watch a fellow dad bury his (only) son and two months ago he lost his wife due to complications of West Nile (no joke... Chicago suburbs). Yay... more options. Whatevs...

When can I stop trading my time for money? That's a great way to think of it. I could have stopped a while ago, I'm sure. But, this I do know. My time, regardless of how much I'm being paid, is FAR better used to spend time with young people, making them better people and lacrosse players than it is building AI and analytic systems as a professional.

Life has thrown too many signals my way for me to justify not living for myself and _giving_ back in ways that I uniquely can.

The end of this chapter should have a G-D fast forward button.

So sorry for your loss. Praying for the Farraday family. And yes, this is a big reason why I never traded my time for money. I have always prioritized my time for life’s rewards.