Discovered & Perfected by many in retirement.

I simply can not sleep during the day, not sure why. Perhaps because I am not a dew pusher. That being said, I had one of the first afternoon naps of my life recently, the day after my second Covid shot I was absolutely exhausted all day long. Must have watched 4 movies, snoozing in and out all day. I spent more time in the recliner that day than the last 1/2 year in total.

For what it's worth, my recommendation is to try to evaluate what you want, and remove money from the equation. I am assuming your money guy knows what he's talking about. So, remove money from the equation and think about what you want to spend your time on. If you don't have a strong pull towards a life of "leisure", vs the life you have now, I'd suggest not retiring. Why fix what ain't broke? In a year, or two years, or a month, you may feel differently. Whey you do feel differently, then act.

Great comments. Thanks to all who gave their input! Craig

At 63, and owning in TV with the house paid off, but living in Snow England I have no more desire to work, I am expecting a @tophcfa lifestyle and am having motivational issues at work for a corporate boss. . . . very seriously, I am hoping to get laid off every day. . . . and its all due to this web page reading about all the gloriously warm days of golf and activities. . .

Golf only on weekends is not enough, driving range only at 6PM or later messes with dinner plans. Living an hour from soccer vs walking to field in 5 minutes in TV is too depressing, but healthcare is an issue for us for the moment.

So to the original poster's question: Take the package, move to the villages and rent, find employment which should be easy, look for the home you want, and split time between work and the villages activities offerings. . . in a hot house market, you should be able to relocate in FL without much expense friction.

sportsguy

My one and only worry about retiring early is running out of money in my 80's/90's.

Having grown up dirt poor I'm pretty sensitive about going back to being dirt poor again.

Maybe I missed them but I haven't seen any posts from people in their 80's/90's advocating for retiring early.

Obviously there are no guarantees that any long term financial plan will play out as expected but for sure I know that the best way to ensure you don't run out of money in retirement is to keep working and delay the day when you start drawing down your nest egg.

Earlier the better time fly's don't hesitate

If Craig's financial guy says that he is good until he is 94 but wishes to plan until he's 100, he probably can do that without working. He would simply adjust his spending accordingly.

I'm not sure how much Craig's current home will sell for, but if he downsizes into a smaller/less expensive home in TV and pays it off, he could use the remaining proceeds from the sale of his home to help bridge the gap between 55 and 65, too. That, of course, assumes that he has significant equity in his current home and that his current home is significantly more expensive than the home in TV will be.

I retired at age 51, it has been a great 23 years so far.

Yeah, Baby! I'm with you. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't, but would have loved to. But, what's good for you and me, isn't necessarily right for everyone. We all have to find our own answers to this question.

I had a customer (patient) who by the time he retired was too damaged physically to do the things he'd envisioned. Six months after I retired I got up in the middle of the night to drain the bladder, and suddenly, out of nowhere, felt a pain in my right thigh like a flaming arrow to the bone. I was down on the floor, and one of the thoughts I had was "I don't want to be like (that guy). I'm OK now, living my retirement dream and all, but ...I was pretty scared.

We make the decision to continue working, or to retire, often while we feel young and frisky. Most of us worry so much about running out of money that we cut ourselves short on the good years. But man, it's hard to cut that cord. Really hard.

A great question, with no real definitive answer(s), given that everyone's situation is different and none of us know how long we will live a 'quality' life. We've all heard of the person who passes away shortly after retiring, which is offset by those who could easily retire, but don't because they feel their life is defined by their work and career. While we are fortunate that finances aren't an issue, I still tended to fall in the latter category. Lo and behold, even after being retired a couple of years now, my old company didn't fold without me - the jerks. lol Now, even before moving to TV, I can't imagine how I even had enough time to work previously.

As soon as you can afford it....do it! Life is too short!

Thanks, I have caught up on all the comments. Sitting here this morning at my work from home office and getting ready to go out in the field for the day. Hope you all have a great one.

One huge factor to consider is the confiscatory taxes we will soon face. I am anxiously awaiting the final legislative outcome as it will definitely affect how I proceed.

I understand what you mean, but that should not deter a move to TV. In the unlikely event that even happens it will affect so few people here as to be a non-issue.... And, as a word of advice, don't post any of the news articles referencing this as the moderator will ping you for it as being political.