How to retire at 55 instead of 65 or 70.

[newbury]

Where can you and your wife go out to eat that is worth going out for that it only costs $20?

Reeve's Fish and Steak House in Fulton, MS - senior platters.

 

[/pine]

If you're a frugal shopper and a decent cook...you can eat at home for one third to one fourth of what you would spend on comparable meals at restaurants etc...

 

[kenmac]

How to retire early ? I don't know if you would call it early, or not but I just quit at 57.
I'll worry about the money when the time comes !

 

[dmccarty]

I've got a good friend that has ate out 3 meals a day for the last 20 years. Now complains that he can't afford to retire because he hasn't saved enough. I tell him to retire he's going to need to adjust his expenditures, including eating out every day. You'd think I told him he'd have to sacrifice a leg..... To each their own.

Isn't eating out a payment of sorts, similar to a car payment?

Eating out each day over a life time can really hurt financially. Eating out for each meal like that is financial suicide. I eat breakfast at work which can be cheap but it can be as much as $80 a month which would be around $800 a year. Vacations and such drop the cost down a bit. Most of the people I work with go out to eat for lunch while I sit at the desk and eat dried fruit and nuts which is not cheap but it is much cheaper than buying a lunch and far healthier. I see people coming back to work with huge cups of ice tea. If that is tea with sugar it is a HUGE amount of calories. The lunch cost money up front and then gets you later on the health care bill.

One thing people have not talked about, hopefully because people have stopped, is smoking. Years ago I was talking to two people at work who smoke and they were smoking two packs a day at $5 a pack! :shocked: That is $300 a MONTH. Even one pack a day is $150. Either way, the smokes would cover, or mostly cover, a car payment! :shocked::shocked::shocked: WTF. And these people were working low paying jobs so those cancer sticks were costing them a huge portion of their take home pay. :confused2:

A guy I used to work with has all sorts of health problems, heart issues, kidney stones, broken bones, etc. The guy pees kidney stones constantly! I walked into the bathroom one day and he was in stall groaning in pain. I asked him if he needed help, he said no and came out of the stall with a huge stone in a little basket. :shocked: He passed stones way to frequently. He had numerous heart catheterisations, a triple/quad bypass, constant heart/chest pain, and I heard he just had another triple/quad bypass. :confused2: They guy still smokes. His diet is pretty bad too. If he gave up smoking and improved his diet, he could save money both on buying crap and his health care bills, and he might live longer with a better quality of life. At this point, I think it is really too late for him. He has pushed his body too much.

Flip side, I guess he does not really need that much for retirement since he likely will not have a long retirement.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

If you're a frugal shopper and a decent cook...you can eat at home for one third to one fourth of what you would spend on comparable meals at restaurants etc...

Yep. I am a really good cook and we mainly eat out to save time. We don't do it very often and then it is fast food but not so healthy food. Eating out at a more expensive place does not happen often because they have to cook better than I do to be worth the money.

Last night I made a big pot of soup which we will eat for the rest of the week. It is a mushroom and smoked port soup. :licking: I had frozen some smoked pork loin from a few month ago that we thawed and I was eating last week. We needed to do something with the pork before it went bad, we had four containers of two types of mushrooms so I made a soup. :laughing::laughing::laughing: This time of year of soup works really well. :thumbsup: In the past, we would add pasta or rice to the soup as well as different cheeses so that even though we were eating the same soup, the addition of a different carb or cheese changed up the taste. The wifey can't eat rice or pasta anymore so we have been using quinoa which works well.

When I retire, we will eat better and cheaper because I will have more time to cook. :licking:

Later,
Dan

 

[Doofy]

Yep. I am a really good cook and we mainly eat out to save time. We don't do it very often and then it is fast food but not so healthy food. Eating out at a more expensive place does not happen often because they have to cook better than I do to be worth the money.

Last night I made a big pot of soup which we will eat for the rest of the week. It is a mushroom and smoked port soup. :licking: I had frozen some smoked pork loin from a few month ago that we thawed and I was eating last week. We needed to do something with the pork before it went bad, we had four containers of two types of mushrooms so I made a soup. :laughing::laughing::laughing: This time of year of soup works really well. :thumbsup: In the past, we would add pasta or rice to the soup as well as different cheeses so that even though we were eating the same soup, the addition of a different carb or cheese changed up the taste. The wifey can't eat rice or pasta anymore so we have been using quinoa which works well.

When I retire, we will eat better and cheaper because I will have more time to cook. :licking:

Later,
Dan

Been gnawing on a tasty Kirkland brand ham for a couple of days(usually good for 3 days on our main meals). We decided on split-pea soup for that third meal. Everything went in the crock pot at bedtime and on "low" and

it will be done at noon when we eat our big meal. No muss no fuss and I wake up to a heavenly aroma.

 

[Doofy]

One more reason: Working too long can be unhealthy -- and fatal

 

[riptides]

Much good advice from all.

It would be informative to know how folks obtain health insurance prior to Medicare eligibility age.

As I see it, there are really only a few options:

- Through a pension.
- Through a working spouse.
- Through purchase on the open market.
- No health insurance.

Please note that I'm not interested in anyone's political opinions about healthcare. Please refrain from the politics if you choose to share.

Thanks!

Spindifferent

Purchase on open market. Family plan.

 

[Doofy]

Purchase on open market. Family plan.

State Pension provided my health insurance until Medicare kicked in at 65. State plan is now secondary to Medicare.

 

[oosik]

Health insurance prior to Medicare. Its a long, boring story but in my case it came as a benefit of retiring/quitting employment with the government in Anchorage. Because of some highly complicated Federal & State regulations - the county workers in Anchorage were allowed to choose this option about a year after I started work there. Fortunately, there were several older gov workers - all us young bucks wanted the bigger bucks. The older guys prevailed and today I could KISS each and every one of those old farts.

I and my family have free total medical coverage for life. Again - I could KISS those old farts for holding strong on their position - lifetime medical coverage over a few extra dollars.