Thinking about retirement?

[Mart68]

Yeah, it's different here than for many posters earlier who've had megatastic if stressful careers and have money and investments available to pull on

I never really had a career let alone a megatastic one. 8 years in telecoms, 2 in vehicle rental, 15 with FedEx then another 2 and half in vehicle rental again. None of it well paid except 3 years in telecom sales which I spent it all on high living and eventually quit it with nothing left in the bank.

Vehicle rental was fun business to work in, though, and the second time around I actually got to manage a department, which was interesting.

You got to work in hi-fi sales which I would always have liked to do, so there's that.

 

[respice finem]

People are different, their situation and priorities are different, etc. There can be no "one size fits all" solution.
In my case, middle class, no "career" to speak of, and in my German job 16 years without vacation, 60-70 hours a week.
Before it, similar in Poland, only for less. Not too healthy, really, but the money, intelligently invested, allows for earlier retirement.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

 

[pablolie]

I could but never ever remotely consider it. I really like what I do, and seem to be pretty good at it. I am way past the point where I think "career". I used to be a higher level exec, but demoted myself to senior individual contributor over 15 years ago, and have had too much fun to consider retirement. Why would I? I have very healthy work-life balance other than the occasional crunch time - and delivering under pressure is fun as long as you are not forced to do so every day for 16 hours... What I am doing is transitioning into living remotely in a quiet nature location, very aware in that case it's likely they cut me off sooner rather than later, which would probably leave me to work as a consultant or so. Enjoy whatever your choices are!
PS: Also, I never had children so can't do the visit the grandkids thing, and when I visit my sisters I get annoyed by nieces and nephews within just a few days... :-D Yeah, I would not know what to do with myself all day...

 

[respice finem]

Some jobs (as software development or graphic design) allow great flexibility. I know people at least partly working "on the Antipodes" while sitting at home in Poland or Germany. Can get complicated tax-wise, but is generally very good. Other more "analog" jobs, well, are rather "stationary".

 

[babayaga]

When my now adult kids where trying to figure out a career after graduating college, I told them do what you like. Don't get trapped into doing a job because of the money. If you get tied into a big mortgage, large car payments, etc... you will be hostage to all that for a long time. I suggested they find a happy medium. So far it has worked. I have friends my age who have no desire to retire. Either they are not ready to financially, or they have the means but like the hustle and bustle of daily work. Each of us has to do what's right for our particular situation. Whatever the choice, be happy with it and enjoy. We are only here for a while so do what's best for you...

 

[ahofer]

Home hi-fi audio is merely a pastime that I can enjoy while attending to the more important things in life.

Well, I DEFINITELY wasn’t thinking that hi-fi would be a time-filling or fulfilling hobby.

Listening to music (live and recorded) is definitely a passion, as is reading. I need a hobby that gets me up and moving around. I used to (road) bike a lot, but my spine has some issues now that are making my sports (biking, running, a bit of weight-lifting) very difficult. My current exercise hobby is going to PT .

 

[ahofer]

Those of you who retired early, did you all have a decent lump of money stashed away beforehand or how do you manage financially?

Oh yeah. I divided my annual expenses by 4% and that was my ‘target’. But I hit that a while ago and I’m still working.

 

[DSJR]

I never really had a career let alone a megatastic one. 8 years in telecoms, 2 in vehicle rental, 15 with FedEx then another 2 and half in vehicle rental again. None of it well paid except 3 years in telecom sales which I spent it all on high living and eventually quit it with nothing left in the bank.

Vehicle rental was fun business to work in, though, and the second time around I actually got to manage a department, which was interesting.

You got to work in hi-fi sales which I would always have liked to do, so there's that.

It paid very well in the late 70s, but my then 'atitude' and blinkered over confidence got in the way and it declined in the 80s. It recovered somewhat in the 90s once the blinkers came off and I had some proper training, but by then I was married and priorities changed somewhat

 

[ahofer]

demoted myself to senior individual contributor

I’m thinking about exploring that avenue with my employer, but the new leadership is a bit manic so I’m not sure. I think once they reach the point where my name isn’t connected to the revenue source (I’m a portfolio manager, so the performance track record is tied up with me and two others) they might cut me loose anyway.

 

[Chris A]

Well, I DEFINITELY wasn’t thinking that hi-fi would be a time-filling or fulfilling hobby.

Really? Here's a partial list of threads I started in another forum that I enumerated here a little time back. Many hours spent on some of them (particularly demastering...well over 10K hours). I spend a bit more time enjoying the fruits of these labors nowadays (listening and home theater) than I did before getting all these subjects under my belt:

Survey results of forum member listening room sizes: https://community.klipsch.com/index...om-sizes/page/3/&tab=comments#comment-2038465

How to use Room EQ Wizard to set up DSP crossovers: https://community.klipsch.com/index...ew-to-find-parametric-equalizer-peq-settings/, and https://community.klipsch.com/index...rew-to-determine-time-delays-between-drivers/

DSP crossover FAQ: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?topic/117543-active-bi-ampingtri-amping-faq/

Corner Horn Imaging FAQ: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/131163-corner-horn-imaging-faq/

Why Horn-Loaded Sounds Better Than Direct Radiating: https://community.klipsch.com/index...aded-sounds-better-than-direct-radiating-faq/

K-402-based Multiple Entry Horn (MEH): https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/161404-a-k-402-based-full-range-multiple-entry-horn/

How to Demaster your Own Stereo Music Tracks Using Audacity: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/155096-the-missing-octaves-audacity-remastering-to-restore-tracks/

The Historical Loudness War Effects on CDs and LPs: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/143320-loudness-war-and-the-dynamic-range-dr-database-some-observations/

Subconscious Listening Effect of Linear Phase Loudspeakers Having Full Range Directivity (and How To Achieve Linear Phase Without FIR Filters): https://community.klipsch.com/index...y-effects-of-quasi-linear-phase-loudspeakers/

Understanding the effects of "minimum phase" loudspeakers in real listening rooms: https://community.klipsch.com/index...ld-you-explain-minimum-phase-analysis-please/

Review and Discussion of Floyd Toole's 3rd Ed. book: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/172272-review-and-discussion-of-tooles-book-third-ed/

Chris

 

[JeffS7444]

Oh yeah. I divided my annual expenses by 4% and that was my ‘target’. But I hit that a while ago and I’m still working.

By that measure, I also passed that milestone some time ago, but I don't have car payments, mortgage payments, or a large house with leaky roof and drafty windows.

 

[Todd k]

The key to my happy retirement was the acquisition of some commercial real estate that throws off a steady reliable income stream every month. Also i’am debt averse so I have zero debt. I trust my rental checks much more than my stock broker. About 85% hard assets which 2/3’s pay me every month the other 15% stock. I was very lucky that all my opportunities panned out.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Well, I DEFINITELY wasn’t thinking that hi-fi would be a time-filling or fulfilling hobby.

It can be.

 

[Peterinvan]

If I could get a reliable 7.5% ROI on other investments I would not be forced to put my savings in the Stock Market.

It has become a big casino for most with the biggest winners being the big houses with the best savants designing software to trade momentum several times a second.

I do not consider it a good indicator of the economy, since investors are more likely to be gambling than giving productive companies the capital they need to grow.

I see crypto as an even bigger casino. It takes capital out of the market that should have been invested in growth of the economy.

 

[MatrixS2000]

Oh yeah. I divided my annual expenses by 4% and that was my ‘target’. But I hit that a while ago and I’m still working.

By that measure, I also passed that milestone some time ago, but I don't have car payments, mortgage payments, or a large house with leaky roof and drafty windows.

I found FIREcalc to be a better tool to judge my financial position before pulling the trigger.

If you decide to give it a try, note that just under the header there is a start here button, the tabs next to it are also Items that you should customize to your needs before hitting the submit button on the last tab. The submit button on the main page uses the default settings for those tabs.

PS Being debt-free, as @JeffS7444 mentioned, imo is a financial requirement before taking the big step.

 

[Timcognito]

If I could get a reliable 7.5% ROI on other investments I would not be forced to put my savings in the Stock Market.

The bond market is approaching that with a mix of corporate and municipal. I am getting 6.1% with no junk bonds

 

[JeffS7444]

The bond market is approaching that with a mix of corporate and municipal. I am getting 6.1% with no junk bonds

But how liquid are those bonds? I understand that a recent trend is sale of private equity and certain types of bonds to individuals and retirement funds, even though they may be relatively illiquid.

 

[antcollinet]

I’m 61, and it’s on my mind. This was a depressing read.

https://medium.com/spend-your-retirement-money/the-big-retirement-problem-no-one-wants-to-admit-having-why-cant-we-spend-our-damn-money-cf7e40cee36c

I hope to spend more time playing an instrument (I hear it’s good for brain function) and maybe learning a language. But there are only so many hours you can do those things. Apparently I’ll just be fighting for the remote and going to the doctor.

Oh, that article is so much me. My FA keeps telling us we need to spend more.

We're trying - for our 40th we booked a hotel 3x the rate of anything we have ever stayed in before - but it is still a drop in the ocean.

 

[antcollinet]

I don't know what's worse - retiring or not. Both are not that exciting options.

I guess I am one of the people that really don't age well.

The answer to that is easy. Not retireing is worse.

Retirement is amazing. Getting up every morning - what shall I do today? Whatever the hell I want.

 

[xanalog]

I don't know if it was a blessing or a curse that my EE curriculum -in the 1970s- did not impose too many liberal-arts or economics (financial) studies/credits to graduate.

In that era, we were too naive to realize that our schooling was turning us into engineering geeks, rather than responsible social-warriors or a market-marvels.
*You had to work grunt jobs to pay for your degree.
*Paying for your own education meant class-attendance and crunching for GPA.
*We just did not have the luxury of time to spend it boycotting or having intellectual discussions, in the courtyard.

I have great respect for those who became diversified enough to be able to reinvent themselves; mid-career.

But sparkies rule!