DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Retirement - how do you know?

For those of you who are retired... how did you know when it was time to retire?? Was it a certain age??? certain financial number?

I'm pretty sure I could financially retire fairly soon if I really wanted to... but I can't wrap my head around it.... I don't think I'm mentally or emotionally close to retirement...

so when did you decide it was time to hang it up?

I'm fairly certain I will never retire. We're fine, financially. Not well off by any means, but, for our age, doing ok. Not good, but okay.

Made the comment recently, to my dad "I'll never be able to retire." His reply puzzled me. He said "you might be surprised." I don't know exactly what he meant by that.

However, I don't see me or my wife 'retiring', with not ever working again. As of now, I can't see myself retiring, until I physically cant work - do my job. Self employed, with all the benefits that come with it, and all the downfalls that come with it. No pension. No paid vacation. But time off anytime I need it. Or want it.

The fears of failure, even after 18 years of doing this, are real.

I'm not, but I'm planning on it...I'm mentally ready already.

Mine is based on number. I know what my 401k is and if I can average 5% on it per year, plus get 3% raises each year, I'll be retired at 62 1/2 (I'm 52 in a month). I'll "work" 3-5 years at something like a non profit or something fun, then retire from a social security perspective (will likely still work). Assuming we have social security still, I will live pretty well from my 401k until I'm 97. I don't think I last that long.

If I don't hit 5% on average (I've averaged more than that), I'll work a little longer. If I beat 5% on average, I may retire a little early, but unlikely. Our minimum is 3% raises, so that should be doable unless we tank or the economy does. It also doesn't take in consideration promotions, bonus, etc... and I also have a Roth. So I feel pretty confident I'll be able to do it financially.

My wife and i made the decision just last year. My wife had already retired from her public-school teaching position several years prior. 2 of our 3 kids lived in the Dayton area as did our grandkids. Living in NW Ohio about an hour and a half away we found a lot of our weekends were spent down here anyway. I informed my employer in November of 2019 that I would be done in July of 2020 (I was only 59 1/2 years old) and we moved. My wife gets a pension and we had never lived an extravagant lifestyle, so we are confident my retirement funds would be more than sufficient to cover any additional annual income we need so I can wait until age 70 to claim SS. Taxes will be our biggest challenge as I pull non-Roth funds out to live on for 7 years, then after 70 to not cause SS reduction.

To answer your questions, I had always "taken my work home with me" and never slept well so not having those responsibilities was a blessing. I had plenty of things to occupy my time thus far as we did a lot of work on our new home. Now that Covid is slowing down I will likely look for some volunteer opportunities to give me something to focus my energies toward on a part time basis. I was very active with several organizations in the small town I moved from and hope to continue that on a limited basis in retirement.

If you really enjoy your work that may give you your answer. I enjoyed the "helping customers" portion of my job, but the other parts really weighed on my mind. Finances were never an issue, and neither was our age.

Also, my parents were always going to travel in their golden years, but my Dad had numerous heart attacks, diabetes since 1965 and suffered a major stroke in his mid-sixties which pretty much immobilized him. I wanted to enjoy life just in case. I knew people who died 3 months to 2 years after working until they were in their late 60s and early 70s. It made a big impression on my decision also.

Sorry for eing so wordy but I hope this helps you.

I'm not going to be ready to make this choice for 10(ish) years probably... but I think my decision will be based on 2 things..

1. Can I afford it, not just to survive but to actually continue to enjoy living for as long as that may be. I don't need to live like a retired rock star but I don't want to be scrimping pennies either or living in fear that I will outlive my money
2. Once I'm there financially, if the thought of getting up every day and going to work just becomes more than I want to bear, then it will be time.

I'm fortunate because of my job though, I will probably have a transition period, which may last a number of years, where I can partially retire.... Retire from the full-time grind of my job and consult back at a very nice hourly rate, taking only the tasks and jobs I want to do and working only when I want to.... and that's nice to know I will have that option.

I'm 61 and plan on working until I can't. I may cut back after I turn 65, but I don't ever envision myself not working for a living. I want to be productive as long as I possibly can. I enjoy my job and the people I work with and deal with, and it keeps me sharp. Personally, I feel I need that in my life.

A combination of both.

First, you have to be ready from a financial standpoint. That varies from person to person, depending on the lifestyle you wish to maintain. All people are different in that regard. I will say you really need to take a hard look. You have to factor in inflation. If you figure you can maintain with Social Security, Medicare and $X thousand a year, you have to allow that the $X thousand you factored isn't going to be as valuable next year, and so on. I can't stress that enough. Look real hard at those numbers. Being broke at any age isn't fun. Being broke at age 80 is worse because you have no real way to fix the problem.

One also has to be mentally prepared. It's great at first, but one really does need to be mentally prepared when every day of the week is Saturday. If you can afford to play golf every day, great, but even then that gets old. You don't get much personal sense of worth doing that every day.

For me, I finally reached a point where I had the money and got burned out on the job, so the decision was easy for me because I always planned on early retirement. I was ready on all fronts.

After the cancer, strokes, TIA's, ascending and descending aortic aneurysms, pfo, ASA, neuropathy in both feet, right hip and thigh, plus my hands, enlarged heart, hernia's, two rounds of chemo, and seven surgeries I started thinking maybe; just maybe it's time to slow down

The moment, neigh, the nanosecond I can retire, I will. And never look back. I’m grateful for my career. I’m grateful that my career allows me to serve my community the way I do. That said, it’s not my passion. It’s not what I ‘chose’ to do 5 days a week, every week, for the past 25 years. It’s not what I would choose to do 5 days a week for the next 12-15 years… though very likely I will end up doing just that.

I’m doing all I can to invest my way out. I’m doing all I can to turn my time outside of work into meaningful time creating art that one day could buy my freedom.

If I didn’t have to punch in every morning I’d spend more time in my shop creating. I’d spend more time at the river fishing.

But alas… the bills need paid. ‘The man’ has me in it’s grip for the time being.

To those that have tossed the shackles… it must be a great feeling.

I sold my business and "retired" two+ years ago at 52. Not really by choice as my wife and I had to start traveling like nomads to keep her job at GM after they closed our Lordstown plant. Second city, second apartment -- apartment life is not for me. Still have our home and travel back for weekends. We're hanging in, awaiting an arbitration case that dictate how we move forward. It's monotonous and it's another sacrifice we're making to keep our "plan" alive.

If everything goes as planned, she'll be done soon and we can take two or three years and travel the world with no strings attached... England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, and a long Oriental cruise, maybe a world cruise. It was our plan to try to do this while we're still young, (she's 47). After that we'll settle into a small business that will be easy to "pause" when we want to, or take with us on the road.

I'm not rich, we just had a plan. We lived in a cheap dump 'til we paid it off, stayed there without a mortgage for about eight years before we paid cash for a real home. We've driven used cars and squeezed many miles out of them. I bought jeans on ebay and at Goodwill to keep the savings plan going. Once we we're "hooked" on our plan, it wasn't really sacrifice anymore.

We're different, I know. Age and finances have to intersect to tell everyone the "right time". Our plan is retire real early -- for a while -- and then go back to work. Crazy, but will allow us to hike in different parts of the world rather than wonder if we need a cane... or wait for all of life's crazy twists and turns to throw a monkey wrench.

It's a good thing you aren't a horse.

I’m retiring in 2.5 years from my first job, correction officer state of ohio at the age of 50. I’m going to take a month off, then start another job, looking at all my options. There are plenty making the same money I make now. Just so tired of doing what I do now. Will do another job as long as my health let’s me.

Wife has 22 more years, we will be very ok financially, her 401k has done great, she’s been putting the max in for many years. As soon as she can retire we are gonna travel back and forth to Thailand (her home) 3 or 4 times a year.

Health is first. if someone were on the verge of sudden impending death by cardiac or undiagnosed they wouldn't much retirement know to the board.

I am not sure of you age GM, but if you are less than 67, you could go on SS disability. People tend to overlook that aspect of Social Security… But it may apply.

My wife and I have been going over our planning. She's a few years ahead of me, and we both feel even if we "retire" from our full time positions, we will pick up part time work. You need to have a purpose or I feel people slowly wither away.

There needs to be a reason for us to get up each day, a plan, a direction that we strive for. Whether that is work, grandkids, travel, volunteering or whatever, I just believe we can not just wake up and watch TV until we go back to bed, it's not healthy.

You know when you gotta take a shot of whisky when you wake up just to get started for the day.

Like you do?

That has to be a better alternative than whatever it is you're on.

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories!

I really agree with the life needing to have purpose... I may get to a point with my W2 job where I go down to part time if my work will allow it... I've got a side hustle that if it continues to grow will likely take up a good bit of time in my 'retirement'... I'll probably also do some sort of work on volunteer work...

Loved hearing everyone else's stories around retirement

and a bad thing I'm not a cat

Been on it for 6 years.

I had that going when I was in my late 20s....

I was just gonna say, this might not be the best barometer for some people.

The commercial only mentions the Foldgers in your cup, doesn't say what additive you might put in.

I quit the rat race corporate job when I was 39. I started my own company and it's been good for me. Learned new skills. Pushed me past my comfort zones. Stressed me out epically at times. Dealt with problems nobody could dream up. At this point I'm 50. I now work part time as the business is set up to run itself to a degree. Once I hit a certain financial figure I will retire. I'm just a bit scared to pull that trigger now as I feel too young to retire. As in I don't know what types of health problems I will have down the road. Or what the economy will do. So much can change in the years I have left on this planet. So, I will just coast a bit longer.

Once I do retire, I have a plan. I already do a healthy diet, do yoga at home, try to get out and socialize, go to sporting events etc. But when I retire I want to do a lot of traveling. I want to join an actual gym and stick with it. I want to go to more games in CLE. I want to visit family more often.

Running a business is a big weight that is always on my mind. I want to see what life is like without that weight.

It most cases that weight just changes, but it doesn't go away.

Just a comment about those saying they will continue working so that their life still has purpose. I think that can be seen in different ways. Some people have a job that is also their passion. In their situation I think their purpose does revolve around their employment. For others I believe that they could retire at any time and still have purpose by pursuing their passion. Often times people find that working with charities, volunteering for causes they find important and dedicating themselves in ways that they simply didn't have time for while engaged in their careers gives them more of a sense of purpose than anything they have ever done on their job.

I worked for one company for 15 years. It was a company that my moms cousin owned. The owner and I were very close and knew each other my entire life. He passed away just last year. At 85 he had lived a good life from a financial standpoint until his wife came down with Alzheimer's. Even with good health insurance and a large retirement savings, her illness quickly ate up all he had ever worked for. But that's a discussion for another time. Owning that business and working was his obsession. He lived and breathed it. Once he retired, he had no actual hobbies or passions to pursue. We had discussed that several times. In hindsight he wished he would have traveled more. He wished he would have expanded his likes and interests.

I ran the day to day operations of his company for years before he retired. I had an office at the shop. After I went home in the evenings he would call me discussing the schedule for the next day. Discussing if I had ordered certain materials and other job related topics. It had gotten to the point I had to explain to him that if it were an actual emergency I didn't mind him calling me at home. That if need be I didn't mind coming in early or staying late to discuss anything he liked. But once I left work that was my time. Time for my family, my hobbies and interests. That I was no longer on the clock and that was my time away from the job.

I think telling him that bothered him but it worked. He respected my private time after that. There are varying degrees to this but to some extent things often fall into two categories. Some people live to work and some people work to live. I think depending on what ones passions and interests are and what one does for a living, they can find their purpose even more fulfilling than their jobs and that their employment is not tied to their purpose.

He was a man who lived to work and in the end, when all was said and done, wished he had worked to live a little more.

I've been contemplating retirement or at least a shift in careers for the past year. I've done IT for the last 27 years (just turned 50 this year) and am getting burnt out. I love my job still, but I'm quickly losing interest in learning new technologies as they shift so often. I transitioned back to corporate America after 12 years on my own and it is quickly wearing on me as well, it's just not for me after being my own boss. We've got a nice amount saved up in our retirement accounts but I don't see myself not working either. At the beginning of this year we decided to take a chance and get into short-term rentals. We spent the entire summer and fall renovating a cabin in Hocking Hills that went live at the end of November and has been going very well thus far. Our goal is to acquire 4-5 over the next 5 years in different areas we enjoy (Hocking Hills, a beach house, a mountain house, and something at a ski resort) at which time I'll "retire". There will still be things to do with the rental business but I'm really enjoying the change in scenery so far. For anyone interested, here is the link to one of the booking sites we are on - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/53422403

Damn, Dawg!
You guys knocked it out of the park with that reno! Love the whole place, but he kitchen and appliances are freaking awesome! Good job!

Thanks! I think my wife and I just about killed each other about 10 times during the course of the reno, but in the end it was worth it. I can't take credit for any of the decorating, that was all her. I was just the labor that got it done, lol. We completely redid 2 bathrooms, including carrying a cast iron clawfoot tub up a flight of stairs. If anyone ever asks you to help move a clawfoot tub, say no! Took 4 people about 5 hours to get the old one out and new one in. Painted all of the kitched cabinets, new countertops, new appliances, stone on the island and general cleanup of outdated stuff. We also completely finished the basement and added a bedroom - was just an empty space. Framed, electrical (I didn't do that), floors, drywall, doors and lighting. It's been a journey, the next one we buy we hope to have it be more turnkey.

Haha. Been there done that with the clawfoot tub... one and done for me!

Tell the wife she did a fantastic job! Look forward to staying there some day. We'll have to talk about your experience in managing the property at your next tailgate, wife and I plan on doing the same thing soon.

Looks great!! We just got our cabin on AirBnb this week... still playing with pricing... but it's been an adventure so far! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/53920935

Lol. Same here. Never did find that testicle I dropped. Another thing I'll never try and lift again is a woodburning stove.

Wow! Talk about a getaway! Had about twelve of us rent something that looked very similar in Canada a few years back. Not with any views like that though. Beautiful place, Dawg

I love the Smokeys, I have family about 40 minutes away in Morristown and more in Kingsport.

We are using a company called Evolve to manage all of the listings, marketing, pricing, and questions prior to the guests actually being there. They charge 10%. The rest we self manage. They do dynamic pricing.

Since you are doing the whole thing yourself, look into Pricelabs. It will do all of the dynamic pricing for you.

We'll be looking in that area at some point too. If you ever want to chat about experiences let me know!

I've heard of Evolve... if we end up wanting to be a little more hands off we'll probably go with them.... for now, we wanted to try and self manage.

Signed up with pricelabs and love it... still a lot to learn as there's still a lot of customization with them.... but we got listed on Monday... have two bookings so far and first guests checked in today...

Would love to chat some time.. have met several other investors in the smokey area... my parents and sister lives about an hour from there so it's been great for the whole family (I own the cabin with my sister)

For my wife it was a number and she was burnt out. She worked extra years and retired with better calculations. We worked at pumping her up and we paid off debt and we got all major house upgrades and repairs done while we worked, or at least while I was. Mine was a number, and I retired before she did due to my health which has continued to decline. We are continuing to try to save and invest in retirement.
We are comfortable. We can be charitable and generous. My retirement was on my doctor's advice. I hope you enjoy retirement whenever you reach that decision however you arrive at it with whatever metric works for your situation. My one piece of advice is to do it while you can still be mobile and enjoy travels and visits. But relish each day of it that you are given.