[Djean1981]

Agree. We purchased a small cottage home with a fenced yard in March of last year. There is no way we would pay the current price for the same house today. Also, the same model is now only offered in areas without a fenced yard...

[allsport]

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.

Much of what you see is not inflation but the simple law of supply and demand. The demand for housing has increased while the supply has stagnated and therefore the price rises. Any business major can explain it. What you see with the rest is not inflation, it is price gouging because we saved money during Covid and are willing to spend it and companies are trying to make more money than is customary and reasonable.

[Biker Guy CJI]

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!

I retired at 55. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I did. My lifestyle has remained as intended and I’ve NEVER regretted it. BTW I’m 66 now and full time here.

[merrymini]

I think the biggest issue is medical costs. An individual covered by insurance, before I qualified for Medicare, cost about $23,000 a year and that was four years ago. Tough pill to swallow.

[Gulfcoast]

Congratulations on making your decision. My husband and I are close to your age and it's nice to be able to see retirement on the horizon for us. Like you, we'll also be hanging in there with work for a little longer. We still have a kid in college plus the uncertainty with inflation means that it's nice to still have paychecks coming in and a little more time to build a retirement nest egg. As far as the home prices in TV go, we already live in Florida and home prices have gone up where we live, too, so we would be selling a bigger house at an inflated price and buying a smaller house at an inflated price. For us, the numbers still work in our favor.

In the meantime, we'll work on paring down and doing the little touch ups needed in the house and in the yard. That way, there won't be a lot to do when it does become time to officially retire and put the house up on the market.

Best of luck to you and your wife going forward. The next couple of years are going to fly by and you'll be in TV before you know it.

[mrf0151]

Wife retired from teaching at 52 with a nice pension. I stopped my lifelong profession at 54. Made the move 2000 miles to TV. Kinda scary but we had a plan and 16 years later now it has worked.
I will tell you that EARLY retirement is not for everyone. The transition into retirement has been easier for my wife than me. For me, it was believe it or no, getting burned out on golf. I have played since I was a kid but still it almost became a job. I felt I needed some more balance and health care costs getting higher, I went back to work in a job that paid very well, provided health care, added more to my 401k and I still had time to hit the golf ball. Wife was doing her many activities of fun.
Life is great and we have done a lot of worldwide traveling and connecting with family on other trips.
Best advice I can give is when you do retire make sure that EVERYTHING is paid off before you do it. Be mortgage free. The only bills you should have to incur at this stage of your life is normal day to day living expenses.

[rsmurano]

Have you ever had a retirement plan done for you by a brokerage house or financial institution? This will give you insight on how your net worth will look like 30 or 40 years from now. I have had these done for my wife and I since I was 50 years old. Looking no at these reports and applying common sense, my wife retired at 52 without a hiccup. I could have retired at 55 without a problem but I was making really good money and loved what I was doing so I continued working. From 55 on, I started doing more sports during the middle of the day and the sessions started increasing from 1 hour a day during lunch to over 2.5 hours a day over lunch.
What got me to convert to retirement, while on a cruise, some younger friends asked us to go on 10-15 cruises with them during the year and when I told them I worked, they asked me: “how much do you really need before you retire?” After a few minute conversation with my wife, when I came home I put in my resignation.
Since I retired, I had many offers to contract/consult for more than I was making while working full time, but I refused each offer.
I play all day long and I don’t want anything get in the way with what I want to do.
Inflation will occur, housing will keep going up, taxes will go up, food will go up. SO! Life happens. My rate of investment gains is 4x the inflation rate. There are ways to decrease your vulnerabilities to inflation/increased costs/bear market so you can sleep at night and still make money

[Proveone]

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!

I retired at 55 and never regretted my decision. I am always busy. I have a brother who retired at 59 and he was bored. He needed a place to go every morning and do some work. So, he started a painting business to keep busy and have a place to go everyday. Time to retire depends on your financial needs and are you ready to leave an occupation.

[charlieo1126@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by 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!

years ago there used to be a guy on the radio his name was Bruce Williams I think , when people would ask him for retirement advice mentioning when they planned on doing it and how much they would get for there house , Bruce would always stop them and say , no that’s not what you’ll get for your home, you’ll get what that person pays you for that home at that time , You never know about prices if you love a home and can buy it do so , especially here in villages , just live the nice life you can have here and don’t worry about how much or how little YOUR HOME IS WORTH

[Bealman]

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!

Just an FYI, if you have a 401k that you have through your company, look into the rule of 55 and see if your plan allows withdrawals at 55 w/o the 10% penalty.

[joelfmi]

Originally Posted by 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..

The way things are turn out today in our country I would definitely work until 66 years full time than after that part time.

[jmaccallum]

Originally Posted by DAVES

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.

Actually, the stock market DOES always go up, or at least has since it’s inception. Yeah, it has faltering troughs in the short run, but in the long run, it goes up. Of course according to Keynesian economics, “In the long run we’re all dead.” The real estate market also always goes up. Compare the price of a house you could buy in the 1960’s to the same size house you could buy today. It’s all relative.

You’ve made your decision, so it’s really a mute point, but retirement can be achieved at any time in your life that you want. Retirement isn’t any different than when working. It’s still income versus expenses. However, in retirement you don’t have to commit to a place to be and a function to do from 9am to 5 pm. But actually you can if you want, whether it be for money or philanthropy, or golf, water aerobics, woodworking or bike riding. Whatever floats your boat.

Retirement is not an end all, or a be all, it’s just another phase in our lives, and it’s not static, rather it’s dynamic. There is no failure. There is no “correct” age and there is no “too early” age. Yes, it would be wonderful if we all had too much cash, too many assets, more investment returns than we ever needed, but that is seldom the case. If it was, people on this thread wouldn’t talk about the stock market being bullish until when, the housing market going crazy and possible coming interest rate changes, and the fear of inflation.

Retirement isn’t easy, it isn’t a given, just like any other phase of your life, it’s a balancing act. It’s about your comfort level in that balancing act. You’ve made your decision to continue working for a while, and if you are comfortable with that, fine. The only 2 cents that I can put in is that we never know when we are going to get hit by the bus, but someday it will inevitably happen. So, the way I looked at it, the earlier you can put a little more freedom of choice in your life, well then step through the window, and enjoy.

[Djean1981]

The way things are going in this county, the more you work, the more they will take in taxes...
I'll be happy to retire next year, as soon as I turn 60. I'll qualify for paid medical insurance as a retirement benefit and we bought a very cute modest/small home, thankfully right before the crazy price increases.

[skippy05]

Sell your home and buy in the Villages asap. As soon as both are complete, retire. You could be dead tomorrow. Life is short.

[MX rider]

Originally Posted by skippy05

Sell your home and buy in the Villages asap. As soon as both are complete, retire. You could be dead tomorrow. Life is short.

Well said. Short and sweet.

And so true. We never know when this roller coaster ride we call life is over.

We're close to retiring. Our plan is to snowbird at TV until our grandkids get older, then move there full time. My wife is retiring next August. I was planning on October 2023.
But I'm starting to rethink that date.
The thought of spending another winter here in Indiana is kind of depressing. Yes I can make good money working 1 more year, but I'm starting to think I don't want to waste another one of the precious years we have left.

Yes, prices are too high there. But they are here as well. Yes we could wait the market out and gamble prices go down. But my wife is 66 and I'll be 65 in March. So we don't have the time to wait. lol

Our lifestyle visit is Dec 30th for 7 days. If we like it we'll be buying there asap.