So, I'm a dumbass and didn't even register you were starting with $1M as your nut which is why I thought that number was so low.

Yeah the calculations won't scale linearly because it's very dependent on how much social security and/or pension will cover your expected expenses and how much left you have to live. So if you want to spend 2x what my example scenario showed and you are 10 years younger than the example couple you will need more than 2x the starting balance bc social security will cover less and you will likely be alive longer.

I'm 68 now. Retired at 64. Wife and I both worked, saved and invested well. She retired 3 years before me.

We wanted to travel, spend time in Aggieland (we have a house there) watching great FB

WE have ended up taking care of my 96 yo FIL for a lot of our time. Three years ago my wife was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Took some of her left kidney but is doing well with that problem. But she has an MRI of her brain next week as she has suddenly experienced balance and hearing problems. This has me very worried.

Fortunately we traveled a lot over the years but there are many places and things we want to see and do. Putting off retirement because one feels like one has an endless number of years to " see the world" is not how life works.

My experience: Retire when you can afford to do so. I never had a day in which I was bored. I played golf, planned our travels, had lunch or dinner with friends.
NO ONE is guaranteed a healthy tomorrow.
And even if healthy, everything gets harder as we get older. We returned just last night from 4 nights in Nashville. We are pretty worn out today. And as far as we know, we are both healthy and work out 3-4 times a week.

Thank you for sharing your story. I pray your wife gets a good test result and is ok.

We can work hard for 40 years, save wisely, run all the calculations to make sure you have enough money to last, run all the what if scenarios possible but what happens in the end is life.

I'm taking your advice and retiring now.

Yes, thank you for your reply and I, too, wish your wife well.

Here are some extreme examples that I've encountered. We had a lawyer at my job that retired on 12/23/2000. He passed away less than a month later. It took us completely by surprise. He had no health issues that we were aware of, but gone he is.

I go to church with a fellow who worked for Exxon. He retired and shortly thereafter learned that his wife has cancer and will likely not last the year.

We save and save for a grand retirement and for some, this may never come.

I fully agree with the idea that we should retire when we can...now if I can just get myself to do it.

I was afraid I would be bored retiring too early. A good Aggie friend of mine, who made ten of millions of dollars, retired very early. One day at our tailgate I asked him if he ever got bored. He told me he found some thing(s) to do every day. He worked out, played golf, traveled.

Of course I retired at least 10 years after he did. And I do not play golf as often nor on as nice a course as he does, but I took a page out of his book. I play golf some, work out and travel when we can. Retiring in the middle of a pandemic was not ideal, but I still found things to do.

But to answer the OP, I was often told that when it is time to retire, you will know it. That adage is very true. And I knew it was time. Fortunately, we were in good financial shape so that I could retire when I wanted to. And the overriding concern when considering retirement is "Can I afford it?" And that is a question only the individual can answer.

I'm 12 days out from my last day and while I'm looking forward to it I will admit I'm having seesaw emotions strictly from POV of "Am I going to be bored?"

Now, I did retire/sabbatical for 2 years back in 2020 and I loved every minute of it. I was also in the middle of Dallas where all of our friends are and family was within 1.5 hours so I had plenty of distractions.

This time we are remote. Frankly, I do not have any friends here because we've lived here less than 2 years and I've been working my ass off the entire time we've been here. Nearest family is 7 hours away. Closest friend is 3 hours away.

A little worried about that but it will be on me to make things happen where we are. Already have 2 trips planned back up to north Texas to see friends and family in the next month and we have a trip out to Arizona planned for October.

I've mentioned this on other threads but my dad was in pretty darn good shape and at age 57 had a seizure at his office & had to be rushed to hospital. A couple days later found out he had terminal brain cancer (glioblastoma). He only lasted 9 months.

A good reminder that you never know when your time will come. With that said, my dad died peacefully knowing my mom wouldn't have to worry about money or make any major life adjustments after he was gone.

This thread has me thinking more than usual about retirement. That health insurance factor might be the biggest obstacle in 5 to 10 years. I've been wondering if my company would let me take a lower tiered job for the last few years. Less pay but also less responsibilities and I'd have insurance coverage till Medicare kicks in.

I hired a man a few years ago that was a retired Harris County Sherriff's deputy that had recently retired. He needed a job with medical benefits for a couple years till he turned either 63 or 65. I hired him at $12/hr to be my yard guy/wash bay tech and it's been one of the best hires I've made. He shows up on time every day and actually works hard without having to be hawked. Once he hit that 63 or 65 age requirement he said he was either going to have to quit or I'd have to lower his pay to keep him under his federal income limit. We reduced his hours to 30/week and I still get more work out of him than some of my younger guys.

I'm thinking something similar my last few years wouldn't be too bad. Pay would suck but at least I would be active and have access to a decent medical plan and have something to keep me busy without the stress of managing people.

My company has a retiree medical you can pay into and gives a stipend based on years of service. It's expensive, though, especially if you have a spouse, so most people time their retirement for 18 months before they are Medicare eligible and then use COBRA to cover the gap. Also an expensive option, but it's temporary.

AgOutsideAustin said:

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jja79 said:

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Don't underestimate the youth of your older years.

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That's exactly why I'm retiring a couple years sooner than I planned. I'll never be younger, healthier, and have money than right now. I'm about to turn 60 and I'm going for it. I can adjust as needed but I'm buying time.

One of the retirement guys I watch a lot on YouTube is Joe Kuhn. He stresses focusing on your health span (go go years) before life span.

I'm hoping for a great 60-75 then we will see what's next.

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That is a great sounding choice, very similar to mine. Enjoy!

AgOutsideAustin said:

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jja79 said:

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Don't underestimate the youth of your older years.

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That's exactly why I'm retiring a couple years sooner than I planned. I'll never be younger, healthier, and have money than right now. I'm about to turn 60 and I'm going for it. I can adjust as needed but I'm buying time.

One of the retirement guys I watch a lot on YouTube is Joe Kuhn. He stresses focusing on your health span (go go years) before life span.

I'm hoping for a great 60-75 then we will see what's next.

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I took this picture this morning before the Have Nots golf guys teed off. We were in Old Town Scottsdale yesterday and I asked who used what retirement calculators and such. Only one guy knew what I was talking about. Every day is Saturday and the stress level of these guys barely registers.

Love it JJ y'all are living the dream in Arizona. The Have Nots group name is hilarious.

Ag97 said:

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This thread has me thinking more than usual about retirement. That health insurance factor might be the biggest obstacle in 5 to 10 years. I've been wondering if my company would let me take a lower tiered job for the last few years. Less pay but also less responsibilities and I'd have insurance coverage till Medicare kicks in.

I hired a man a few years ago that was a retired Harris County Sherriff's deputy that had recently retired. He needed a job with medical benefits for a couple years till he turned either 63 or 65. I hired him at $12/hr to be my yard guy/wash bay tech and it's been one of the best hires I've made. He shows up on time every day and actually works hard without having to be hawked. Once he hit that 63 or 65 age requirement he said he was either going to have to quit or I'd have to lower his pay to keep him under his federal income limit. We reduced his hours to 30/week and I still get more work out of him than some of my younger guys.

I'm thinking something similar my last few years wouldn't be too bad. Pay would suck but at least I would be active and have access to a decent medical plan and have something to keep me busy without the stress of managing people.

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Dude this is a great idea. Going to pass this on to my team. Definitely some positions where this might be a great recruiting angle.

I'm not criticizing anyone that's grinding and chasing more at all. This group might make a good case study for business school or CFP class.

Tomorrow I'm taking a friend to their first chemo appointment. Started feeling bad 2 months ago and now has been advised there's 6 to maybe 24 months if lucky.

Damn JJ that hits hard and I don't what to say other than you are a great friend for being there.

Luckily my wife has the ultimate job for "coasting" and will work 3-6 days/mo. for full health insurance until forever.

But, don't discount ACA. It's pretty easy to manipulate MAGI to hit subsidies via blending your spend across cash, Roth, taxable, Trad, etc. You can also realize income one year and pay the higher premium, then have a lower MAGI the next year for lower premiums (via subsidy). There are many ways to skin the health insurance cat in RE. But most will require lowering your spend (mainly through not having a mortgage; really the only reason imo to pay it off early).

You don't have to like the ACA or subsidies. But it's on the table for you.

AgOutsideAustin said:

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nm

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DannyDuberstein said:

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I think everyone should take a week or two staycation at some point to get a better sense of what is ahead. Then spend it living that retiree life. When I've done this, it only solidified in my mind that I'm going to be quite happy and fulfilled. I don't need my career to offer that. It's going to be amazing to spend the day on the things I want, all the time. I eat reasonably healthy and exercise now, but those are things right now that I have to work in around a career. I can't wait for the day when they become my "career". I am going to have no trouble burning a day, a week, a year relaxing, taking care of myself, and doing the things I enjoy most

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We are aiming to do that in 2026... one month in Puerto Vallarta living in the old part of town, buying fresh groceries, cooking, walking the beach, learning Spanish better, volunteering and enjoying life.

I am 55 and my goal would be to live in Puerto Vallarta 6 months and somewhere in the US for six months. But we have no grandkids yet, so that could put a kink in our plans.

"Retirement" could be as early as next year or as late as 3-5 years from now.

I own my own business and in my mind my two options are: 1. keep the business and just not come in very much, hoping revenue doesn't drop without my full-time presence; 2. sell to a private equity firm and stay on 3-5 more years then cash out completely.

Similar plans here. Goal is to pay off the house in next 5 years and spend 6 mo a year slow travelling and 6 mo in the summers in CO. However, it is looking like we will move to ID or MT once her youngest is done with HS in 3 years which aligns with when my power plant closes I manage. Gotta give it to God and ride the wave.

Retirement is a bad word now. it really is a bad mind set. For a lot here it is not about having the financial security to retire, it more about what will I do with my time. It depends really on what you want to do in life and your personality. If you''re an introvert with little to no hobbies or interest then you might want to keep working or be bored in your 4th quarter of life.

I am 70 years old and busier today than when I was running my own financial planning firm. I still own a few rental properties that I ENJOY managing. I live in Austin and some of my rentals are in Bryan. I go to all the football games and enjoy staying at one of two of my fully furnished rentals. I am also very active in 4 non-profits volunteering my time. I just got back from 10 days fishing in Alaska. I will be heading to South Bend to BTHO ND and two weeks later I am in Bozeman attending a friend's wedding.

On the other hand, if you don't know if you have enough invested to retire, I recommend keep working until you know you have enough. It would be a ***** to run out of money at 75 and your health is declining, desire to work is gone and no one wants to employ an old fart.

I'll consider retirement when I am in an assisted living or in hospice. Until then it is the continued fun phase of my life that give me more time to do what I want to do! I recommend it for everyone.

The past couple of weeks have been really tough for me. I was very rudely reminded that ALL of my plans for the future are tied up in "working a few more years" in order to grow my 401k to where it needs to be and and be eligible for my pension (that I am aware is not 100% guaranteed). And that could all disappear in an instant.

It's been so stressful that, if I were eligible for my pension, I'd have turned in my paperwork already. The fact that some of my colleagues who are well past 55 are still hanging around is kind of amazing to me.

I am not quite 47, so too young to retire right now, but too far along to see all my plans go up in smoke at the last minute. Such is the life of a corporate cube-dweller, I guess.

But after reading so many of you say you're tired of waiting and stepping away in your early 50s tells me I need to make some changes. I want to be much more secure in my finances when I reach 50-51 than where I am now.

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get there, since next year will probably be the most difficult financial one I've had in 12+ years, but I'll figure it out.

I've been forced to reinvent my career twice, and am on #3. Trolling job postings for my next career was doable at 34, but absolutely not where I want my life to be ever again. I want to have an out in the event the SHTF before I'm 55.

Love it scrap, thank you for the wise words, the first trip in my " next phase" of life is I'm taking my family to Chicago then the Notre Dame game. Looking forward to doing this more with my kids as grown ups now.

My father died a month short of his 60th birthday due to a freak medical condition. He had not been in the hospital since he had surgery during his college days due to a football injury. That made it clear that there is no way to know how much time I have left.

I'm planning to take social security at 62 or as close to that age as possible. We are working on converting a good portion of IRA money to Roth since I expect significant growth in those assets over the next 20 or so years. It's a calculated bet. The Roth will not count against social security benefits. I think it is likely that social security benefits will get worse over time as the money printer kicks into high gear, so I would rather get less SS at 62 than wait in hopes of more $ later that will be worth less in purchasing power.

With respect to health care, I'm getting everything major done while I have good health insurance from my employer. I need a shoulder replacement and my wife needs a knee replacement, so those are both scheduled to be done in the coming months.

I'm working on a combination of something like CrowdHealth (https://www.joincrowdhealth.com/) for catastrophic coverage and regular checkups and medical care in Guatemala, since we will likely spend a significant part of the year down there during retirement.

Medical care at private hospitals in GT is about 1/5 of the cost in the US. Private hospitals in GT are first-world with English-speaking doctors trained in the US. If I need something minor while I'm in the US, I'll pay cash.

I don't have all the details nailed down, but it looks viable at this point.

Neither of us worked for anyone else pretty much our whole working lives. Once married, we had our own business but it was not saleable because it depended on the talent of the Mr. so we knew all we were going to have was what we put back and/or invested. It provided very well for us, we were able to purchase our building along the way & knew that that would be a giant benefit later.

Fast forward 26+ years. We knew we were not going to stay in the big city, had already purchased our retirement home & started buying rental properties for income. Woke up one morning and the Mr. asked a question: Does anyone owe us money? The answer that day was no. Next question: Want to quit? The answer was YES. Held on to our building for a few years & eventually got the payday we wanted on that. We are 57 & 67. One started SS at 65 and that alone more than covers our "necessity bills". Medicare & Marketplace insurance is way less than what we'd been paying for years to self insure.

We don't owe any money & are almost never bored yet feel busier than ever but it's great to be able to do nothing if we feel like it. We enjoy our rental business & have a lot of younger friends that keep us engaged so that helps us keep up with current trends & music - whether we want to or not - we can travel if/when we want, but honestly, we did a lot thru our work so it's not a top priority. We've found our place & are happy and content with life. So far, we're both still active & healthy but have a lot more Doctor appointments than we used to & certainly notice life's changes.

Like so many on here have said, do it as soon as you feel comfortable that you can.

Out of curiosity, how many of you are modeling/planning for a scenario where we see a major draw down in risk assets and/or an extended recession in your retirement years?

I'm very interested to know how others are thinking about this.

MRB10 said:

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Out of curiosity, how many of you are modeling/planning for a scenario where we see a major draw down in risk assets and/or an extended recession in your retirement years?

I'm very interested to know how others are thinking about this.

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Won't a properly done Monte Carlo analysis do that for you?

Sure. I'm just trying to get a sense for how many of the folks in their 50s, that are throwing out 1-5M savings targets, are doing an analysis that at least includes a scenario that isn't sunshine and roses. I'm concerned that the bull market we've been living in for the last 15 years wont continue into perpetuity.

The 4% rule would most likely protect you from this. It was ran in every historical scenario and only failed 4% of the time.

We're covered under 98% of simulations so yes a down market is covered in our case.

If you are talking about a craps table in Monte Carlo, then I'm all in!

The reality about being Financially Independent is hard for most people to achieve by the time they reach 65.

That is not to say they can't retire at 65, but they may not feel as comfortable or not able to choose certain activities because they are cost prohibitive and may jeopardize their security going forward.

However, if you're able to work consistently for 35 years, no layoffs, and save 15% - 20% of your income each year, you should be able to retire comfortably. This is hard to do! I am sure some of you are/were able to do it.

But, if you find a way to make money while you sleep using OPM (other people's money) then the reality of becoming financially independent becomes a lot easier.

I use rental property to secure my retirement years. That allow me to do what I want, when I want. I would have been able to retire without rental property as I have a military retirement and SSt, but I would still have to watch my pennies and probably curb some of my activities.

For those that are entrepreneurs, building your business is another avenue that can allow you to have a robust retirement.

What I find daunting, is that most people rely on investments that they have little to no control of to secure and provide for retirement. It seems that is the American way.

I think of retirement the same way as having a job. You go work each first and foremost for a paycheck. Something that gives you confidence that you can provide for you and your family..............It is called: Predictable, Sustainable INCOME in the form of a PAYCHECk.

Everyone must identify first the SOURCE and then the amount of their Predictable, Sustainable paycheck in retirement and don't forget to adjust it for inflation each year. If your source is the stock and bond market it has the potential to instill massive fear when the market drops 20% in a year. Imagine taking 5% withdrawals and then experience a 20% drop in your retirement account. At the end of that year your account is down 25%. The would drive most people to become ultra conservative and probably exit the market and jeopardizing future growth.

If you are fortunate to have a pension, or rental income, annuities, or royalties (oil, gas, music, business, etc) in addition to your retirement accounts, then you might be feeling confident. If not, then start to develop one of these options, it is not too late.

For those of you who can tolerate being slum lords, that is the way. My parents are 82 and are just now starting to touch their retirement (beyond RMDs) because they had duplexes and (later) single family homes they leased out for much of their life.

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For those of you who can tolerate being slum lords, that is the way.

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Ouch. You don't have to be a slumlord. We have great rentals - not one that we wouldn't live in - and have great tenants that pay rent on time, take care of the properties & provide very well for us in retirement.

It takes work on our end to buy wise, renovate to get the highest rents & then vet tenants to insure the above, but it can & does work. We recoup the cost of our all in investments within 5-7 years, the rent still comes in and we have assets to sell should we ever need to.

Can you tell that that description hit a nerve? There is a definite market for nice rentals.

I have rentals. But to act like they're the only way to financial freedom is nonsense.