[Craig Vernon]

I made a post on here earlier this year about my decision on whether to retire at 55. I listened and learned much from many who gave advice and thoughts on my situation. Short recap, I had to retire and take a pension by December 1 or I had to continue working until September 2024. Many Villagers told me they retired early and only regretted not retiring sooner. Others told me I better have millions and expressed the expenses of retirement. I played golf with a couple in May on Bonifay they told me he worked until 70 and she said plainly 55 was too young to retire. My friends and family told me if I can do it why not. My wife said the decision was mine. In November my contract was renewed which gave me stability until 2026. I decided to continue to work until 2024 and here are the reasons that swayed me most. Most who were telling me to go for it were not only still working but are older than I am. The cost of housing in TV raised my home expectation level from 350k to above 500k. Three years closer to death raises my numbers significantly, I wonder why. Thanks to all who gave input. My wife and I will see you around TV's for a month in May. Peace!

[Djean1981]

Maybe a compromise. I plan to retire in about 15 months. However, I plan to work part time online - tech support, software trainer, web development, consulting, or something. I also plan to work more on my YouTube channel. This will help stave off inflation and keep me mentally active. Figure what you are good at and go with that..

[manaboutown]

A recently evolving huge factor to consider is the incredible rate of inflation we are now facing. The cost of housing is just one component of it. The prices of homes have risen 20 - 40% in the last year or so in many communities.

One retiring today needs to evaluate whether he has enough to deal with inflation. I will be 80 next month and thankfully still own some commercial rental properties. The rents from the month to month leases on them are up 33% from a year ago. The stock market has been on a what, twelve year bull run, but that can end any day or continue. No one really knows. Interest rates have been held at historic lows for many years and they will likely soon be raised. Savings accounts currently pay next to nothing. There is a lot to consider for one retiring today.

[Boomer]

Good morning, fellow Buckeye. (I just looked at your profile page to see what I wrote, and there I saw we are both Ohioans.)

When I found your original thread, I saw that you had 141 responses. (We retirees love to be asked for advice.)

When I read my post — I think it was #51 there — I saw that I wrote about health insurance costs and also the value of being under a contract. I was a teacher. I worked on health insurance in contract negotiations for a lot of years for our local. I saw those costs skyrocket. You are not even close to Medicare.

At the time you originally posted, real estate was climbing and continues to do so. I think we are in the throes of more uncertainty than ever before. I have owned 9 houses since the 1970s so I have seen a lot of different markets. This market is nuts. Not giving in to that sense of urgency that the real estate market is creating right now sounds like something I would think.

If you still like your job and if there are no seriously compelling reasons to retire, I think staying put, for now, sounds like the right decision.

But nobody can predict the future — said Boomer, stating the obvious.

I wish you the best.

Boomer

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

A recently evolving huge factor to consider is the incredible rate of inflation we are now facing. The cost of housing is just one component of it. The prices of homes have risen 20 - 40% in the last year or so in many communities.

One retiring today needs to evaluate whether he has enough to deal with inflation. I will be 80 next month and thankfully still own some commercial rental properties. The rents from the month to month leases on them are up 33% from a year ago. The stock market has been on a what, twelve year bull run, but that can end any day or continue. No one really knows. Interest rates have been held at historic lows for many years and they will likely soon be raised. Savings accounts currently pay next to nothing. There is a lot to consider for one retiring today.

An old expression from Mom, Man plans and god laughs. Endless articles on what you need to retire. They make me laugh. All you need to know is when you will die, what will kill you, the rate of inflation till you pass, the return on your investments, will social security continue to pay with what inflation adjust and what means test, if you have a pension the same questions may apply. Hum, if, you know all of them it is easy to calculate, exactly what you need to retire. Most of us, perhaps, all of us make a lot of assumptions.

We all know or think we know the stock market only goes up, real estate only goes up.
We tend to forget-EXCEPT WHEN THEY DON'T.

[charlieo1126@gmail.com]

I woke up one morning in Pakistan with my ears still ringing from a car bomb that had gone off a couple of days before and after 40 years in many of the most dangerous places on the planet, I thought enough is enough .I was 60 years old and that was 23 years ago, I’ve not regretted my decision , actually I wish I had gone earlier and because some extra perks not given anymore , I have something that keeps me above inflation , jumping my pension into 6 figures , I’m lucky that I survived all those years ,I’m even luckier that I’ve lived the 23 years of retirement and have lived them well .

[manaboutown]

When I retired from my profession I was 52 years of age. My greatest concern was the cost of medical coverage. I found a Blue Cross policy but it was not cheap! I think I was paying $10,000/year and that was in 1994. Its cost went up a bit every year. I was very grateful when I finally hit 65 and got Medicare with an AARP UnitedHealthcare supplement.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Craig Vernon

I made a post on here earlier this year about my decision on whether to retire at 55. I listened and learned much from many who gave advice and thoughts on my situation. Short recap, I had to retire and take a pension by December 1 or I had to continue working until September 2024. Many Villagers told me they retired early and only regretted not retiring sooner. Others told me I better have millions and expressed the expenses of retirement. I played golf with a couple in May on Bonifay they told me he worked until 70 and she said plainly 55 was too young to retire. My friends and family told me if I can do it why not. My wife said the decision was mine. In November my contract was renewed which gave me stability until 2026. I decided to continue to work until 2024 and here are the reasons that swayed me most. Most who were telling me to go for it were not only still working but are older than I am. The cost of housing in TV raised my home expectation level from 350k to above 500k. Three years closer to death raises my numbers significantly, I wonder why. Thanks to all who gave input. My wife and I will see you around TV's for a month in May. Peace!

People tend to focus on one issue at a time. "My home expectation level from 350K to above 500K." We all need to face REALITY. Yes, prices of homes have gone up in the villages. Assuming, readers own another home, that has also gone up. It is either a wash or a partial wash.

"Older than I am." That has always been the case. When your were 12, 18 year olds were men and your parents and teachers, they were ancient.

Retiring is a big choice, especially if it is not reversible. It is YOUR CHOICE. If, you ALLOW others to make any choice for you, you give others power that should be yours.
Vested interest? Realize those others with their OPINION should it not work out will say sorry to hear that and will go on to give their OPINION to others.

I do not do marriage advice but I think communication is often not what we think it is.
I suggest all parties involved in the decision to retire and where, write there reasons down on index cards and then switch piles. Writing things down forces people to think and to commit. Often that is lacking in family discussions.

No place and nothing is perfect. Perhaps, to annoy my wife, I became aware of an island for sale of North Carolina. It was several acres, with a nice house and a herd of wild horses and it was for sale at one million. Proposed, I would be King and she would be Queen. Huh, we had an immediate revolt. Teasing a little bit. but it did seem it was not her dream. Thus, we are in the villages not my dictatorship.

As an adolescent, we all went through a tortuous period trying to decide what am I going to do with my life. Retirement we go through it again. This time the question is what have I done with my life and what do I want to do with what time I have left.
This time with the reality of what can I afford to do.

Early retirement. You cannot get on to medicare till you turn 65. You cannot collect Social security till 62 and it will be less than if you wait longer. We are now on medicare.
We took cobra for 18 months and then had to get private healthcare insurance or self insure-pay bills out of savings. Wife won that one, FORTUNATELY. The cost was 24,000. I figured we should self insure as we never spent 24,000 on medical care in any year..
SURPRISE, I spent one week in the hospital. The bill was 50,000. Which is what a person who elected to self insure would pay. The insurance company paid the bill in full. We got the paperwork. They, the insurance company, paid the bill, IN FULL, for half of the bill amount

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Craig Vernon

I made a post on here earlier this year about my decision on whether to retire at 55. I listened and learned much from many who gave advice and thoughts on my situation. Short recap, I had to retire and take a pension by December 1 or I had to continue working until September 2024. Many Villagers told me they retired early and only regretted not retiring sooner. Others told me I better have millions and expressed the expenses of retirement. I played golf with a couple in May on Bonifay they told me he worked until 70 and she said plainly 55 was too young to retire. My friends and family told me if I can do it why not. My wife said the decision was mine. In November my contract was renewed which gave me stability until 2026. I decided to continue to work until 2024 and here are the reasons that swayed me most. Most who were telling me to go for it were not only still working but are older than I am. The cost of housing in TV raised my home expectation level from 350k to above 500k. Three years closer to death raises my numbers significantly, I wonder why. Thanks to all who gave input. My wife and I will see you around TV's for a month in May. Peace!

Depends if you have you’re ducks In-line and you are tired of working. IMO health would be my biggest concern and what coverage you would have after retirement and can you live at level you want after giving up years of seniority if working for company?

[Bogie Shooter]

Has chatbrat been reincarnated?
Old timers will know what I mean.

[Foxtrot]

See a financial advisor first to see what your odds of still having money in 25 year are.

[KsJayhawkers]

There are really two lives we live. The first life and then the second life when we realize we only have one life. Both my wife and I retired at age 50. One of our decision factors was family health history. My mother passed away from a massive heart attack at age 46; my father in-law passed also from a heart attack at age 44; and my brother in-law from cancer at age 49. Another big factor was health insurance. My former employer did not provide retiree health insurance. To have a piece of paper indicating I had insurance was going to cost us $21,000 a year and then a $8500 deductible....No thank you. We found Christian Healthcare Ministries Health Share for $340 per month for both of us with a $500 deductible. We would do it all again at any cost!!

[Craig Vernon]

I appreciate all the comments. Have a Great day in the sun.

[kidnerkim]

We are from Northeast Ohio & retired at 55. Have never regretted it! Hope you get to enjoy it soon

[Luggage]

My only regret when I semi retired at 45 , is that I didn't buy a home in Florida at 35. One thing people don't seem to tell you is that 12 years ago home prices did plummet 50% in Florida and only in the last 2 years have they gone up to the original costs or a little more than in 2006-08 .

My son who is 35 has been looking for a house for 3 months and regrets not buying a year ago when it was half the price in his area. If you think you're going to stay healthy then work a few more years and try to put some more money away but you should start taking longer vacations!