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Woot, congrats!
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Nice! Congrats!
Arne
Senior Member
Congrats, Jim. Now all you have to do is find something to keep you busy. LOL. Arne.
Jemez Pueblo, NM.
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Jim, I know you’ve been looking forward to this for a while. Enjoy it and use the chance to do and try things you’ve wanted to!
jswordy
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Thanks to everyone. I actually have 6 weeks of full retirement, after which I will go back to work part time for another area of the college, paid through a $20 million grant. So, by working part-time, flex and mainly from home, with my pension I will gross more than I would have if I had stayed working full-time and coming in every day, and because there will be fewer deductions, my take-home pay will nearly double. The calculator doesn't lie. It was a no-brainer to agree to do this for another couple years until I get in range for the legislatively delayed onset of Social Security eligibility.
We will begin in 2023 to look for a travel trailer and new pickup, since I can do my P-T work from anywhere in the country with an internet connection. I am finally through the mountain of paperwork it took to make this huge change. After a lifetime that has been all about prioritizing work, I'm now trying to be conscious about designing a life I want to live. That all starts on Friday. Looking forward to it.
Congratulations, you are in for some big changes.
It shocks me that it is hard for some. I have so many interests that without working one more day before I die, I would never run out of things to entertain myself. My neighbor is a retired teacher. He also has 160 acres, and he gets firewood. EVERY DAY, he gets firewood. A snow fall is a blessing that offers some variety to his day.
Don't get me wrong. He is my friend and I respect him, but he has spent so much of his life collecting for retirement, that he can't make the switch. He won't spend a dime if he doesn't need to and can't experience new and exciting things because of it.
There comes a time in life where you have to stop saving, and start spending (responsibly!
). Just like wine making, you can only get bored in life if you stop looking for new ways or new information..Now should be a time where you have as much enthusiasm as a teenager, just with the means to afford all your whims. I hope you jump in the deep end and take it for all that it is!
Little, Big Kitty.........
jswordy
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Congratulations, you are in for some big changes.
It shocks me that it is hard for some. I have so many interests that without working one more day before I die, I would never run out of things to entertain myself. My neighbor is a retired teacher. He also has 160 acres, and he gets firewood. EVERY DAY, he gets firewood. A snow fall is a blessing that offers some variety to his day.
Don't get me wrong. He is my friend and I respect him, but he has spent so much of his life collecting for retirement, that he can't make the switch. He won't spend a dime if he doesn't need to and can't experience new and exciting things because of it.
There comes a time in life where you have to stop saving, and start spending (responsibly!
Now should be a time where you have as much enthusiasm as a teenager, just with the means to afford all your whims. I hope you jump in the deep end and take it for all that it is!
Precisely because of our work, saving and investing habits, money should be no object regardless of what the market does. I can't collect 100% of Social Security for another 2 years and 8 months due to legislation delaying my federal full retirement date and I'd rather not get it until age 70 if I can do that. So, I am all in for the next couple years of remunerative, easy, flexible P-T work that can be done from anywhere on the globe. It has a side benefit of keeping my brain engaged. After a couple years go by, there'll be more and more money coming in from Required Minimum Deposits and we'll have the opposite problem, of how to shelter that from increasing taxes. That's an OK problem to have, and it's in there where I will end the P-T job to help hold down our annual income.
We got here financially because it doesn't take much to make us content. Your neighbor may be the same, and there is actually an age-acquired degree of comfort from being a creature of habit. The new trailer rig will give us freedom to travel, and once I retire from the farm in a year or two, we'll have lots more time for longer trips.
Time. That's the thing I've valued most, more than money, since I never have had it in adequate amounts, as I have always worked a main job and at least one side gig, sometimes two. Even working part-time, I look forward to the time and to being free from the daily office grind to spend it. Spending a glorious pandemic year working at home showed me how it will go. There is a backlog of stuff I want to or have to get done, starting Friday. I'll never run out of stuff to do.
Mostly, right now I look forward to not rolling out of bed at 5 a.m. on Friday morning.
I told my wife that after Thursday, she'll have me around 24/7. She says she wants a special room where she can hide. Preferrably soundproofed.
You could give your wife a retirement gift:
https://www.amazon.com/VIPERTEK-VTS-989-Billion-Rechargeable-Flashlight/dp/B01FHDZGGM/ref=mp_s_a_1_3
Note that after a while (and many uses) you may develop permanent body twitches ....
BTW, congrats!
I told my wife that after Thursday, she'll have me around 24/7. She says she wants a special room where she can hide. Preferrably soundproofed.
Or, more seriously, you could give her this: A Couple's Guide to Happy Retirement and Aging: 15 Keys to Long-Lasting Vitality and Connection: Yogev, Sara: 9781945547713: Amazon.com: Books
jswordy
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Not needed, thanks. Plenty happy! That's how ya get to #39.
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Sounds like we've got some similar plans running Jim. I basically retired years ago I just made it official to the last couple of valuable clients that I'm done at the end of this year. I haven't taken a paycheck in 7 years, it's all been issued to Lori to build up her SS yearly average. We're in the process of trying to sell Jawco Graphics but she plans to carry on with our second company. It's become more lucrative than the printing company and it can be run from anywhere. We're looking for a class C motorhome - got to tow the Jeep of course - and only have a few house payments left until we're completely debt free. Hoping for 10 years of trips exploring the U.S. from coast to coast. Maybe we'll meet up at some national park in the future. Again, congratulations on the gentle slide into your full retirement.
jswordy
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Thanks, Mike. And yup, we're on somewhat the same track. I want a truck and trailer. Drop the trailer, cruise around in the truck. I have friends (real-life and FB) coast to coast, and want to get out and see the country again like when we were kids and Mom and Dad took us to all 48 states over years of 2-week vacations. Only this time, I want to be gone a month or more at a time, once I am free of farm animals. It'd be great to roam for 10 years. I'd be happy to even get 5. I also want to take the Empire Builder train, a bucket list thing.
Good for you on getting debt-free. We have been so for 22 years. I always had to be "taking what they're giving cuz I'm working for a living," but always had at least one and usually two side businesses going. All that got dumped into investments and the farm has been a good tax shelter. We're doing OK.
It'd be great to meet up somewhere. I know!!! We should both park and set up in front of the House of @ibglowin and refuse to leave until he opens up that wine cellar to us!
That'd be pretty cool for me – "Hey Mike!" and two heads turn. It looks to me like things ought to be in the crapper sufficiently in 2023 for a serious look at dealing on a trailer, and maybe a truck. We'll see. I have had a hard time wrapping my head around $75K-100K for that combo.
Enjoy the open road!
If you can overlook the 90 degree temperature difference, winter really isn't much different than desert living.
Windy and cold again
This doesn't do it justice. Snow blowing over the roads is VERY mesmerising. Beautiful day.
Windy and cold again
This doesn't do it justice. Snow blowing over the roads is VERY mesmerising. Beautiful day.
Are we doing ugly tree awards this year? 
Years ago I did a very old fashioned tree using candles. Yes, I was nervous but it was the most beautiful tree I ever had. I don't know if anyone still makes the candles and holders.
Now my trees are simple/ugly because....cats. They see a shiny sparkly playground. And my holiday sounds include plastic ornaments rolling on the floor nonstop.
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