How to retire at 55 instead of 65 or 70.

[cat fever]

Congratulations on being able to make that decision! Now what kind of cattle are you getting?

Thanks Creamer,

Most likely Angus is the cows I would go with. My brother is trying hard to get me into the Lowline Angus or moderators. That is what he is raising. To be honest I don't really care. I'm just doing it because I like that kind of work and it will give me a reason to get up in the morning. Plus the tax write offs from having a farm.

One thing I'm not looking forward to is building a hay barn and shop and equipment barn all over again. I just finished my barn a couple years ago.

 

[RSKY]

My wife in an excellent cook. Me, not so much. Her skills were learned at the stoves of her mother and her aunts, all of which were the old style country cooks. We have home canned and home frozen food in freezers.

But we still eat out a lot.

Cheapest meal in the past twelve months has probably at Hardees with a coupon. Chicken strips, fries, and a small (refillable) drink for $3.99 each plus tax.

Then we dropped nearly $200 for us and a four year old three separate meals in one week on vacation.

Note: If you take the first and only grandchild to Disney World when she is four please realize that there may be three more grandchildren in the future. All three of which will have to be taken to the same dollar draining location the year they turn four.

That comes under planning ahead. And hints have been dropped that there may be another in the offing.

My feeling on this subject are that food is necessary for life to continue. Good food makes life much more pleasant and fulfilling. Consuming such food can also be a pleasant bonding experience even if the consumption is frequently interrupted by four screaming grandchildren running thru the room. That is at home if you are wondering. They have all been taught how to behave in a restaurant from an early age.

Reminds me of a short story. When our first grand was only a few weeks old we took our daughter and son-in-law to a nice place to eat. It was the first time they had been out of the house since she got home with the baby. Of course the little one filled her diaper as soon as we sat down. Son-in-law trying to be helpful snatched the little one up declaring he would change her and his wife could sit and rest. About ten or fifteen minutes he comes slowly back in the dining area and puts the baby back in the carrier. My wife looked at her and asked, "where is her other sock, she only has one on?"

Son-in-law hangs his head for a few seconds, then in a barely audible voice we heard, "It wasn't worth saving".

RSKY

 

[Rock Crawler]

My plans to retire early are nose diving real fast. The company I work for is likely going into bankruptcy in 2 months, we may all be out of work within 2 years, and I am an expert in an industry that is dying and that has no need for my skill set any longer. I can transition into more mundane versions of what I do, but doing so will move from the $50 an hour rate to a $18-$25 rate. I'm screwed. All the plans, all the dreams.... it's al turning to vapor.

 

[Creamer]

My plans to retire early are nose diving real fast. The company I work for is likely going into bankruptcy in 2 months, we may all be out of work within 2 years, and I am an expert in an industry that is dying and that has no need for my skill set any longer. I can transition into more mundane versions of what I do, but doing so will move from the $50 an hour rate to a $18-$25 rate. I'm screwed. All the plans, all the dreams.... it's al turning to vapor.

that hurts! I read the other day where the economic outlook is that 65% of the children in 1st grade now will end up in professions that do not even exist right now. that makes it hard to plan.

 

[cdaigle430]

I plan on retiring at age 52. I have medical covered for the rest of my life-free-ish, will be getting 2 small pensions, and one large that Im getting now. One of those small pensions I cant collect till age 60, another age 65 and then I will be collecting early social security at age 62. My plan is to retire at 52, collect about 22k from my 401k a year to supplement the large pension Im already getting.

My escrow is cheaper than a two bedroom apartment and I have 80k equity in my home. Working on paying of debt and at the same time improving my home to be maintenance free. Would love to pay off my home but aint gonna happen, will have property tax and insurance to pay anyway no matter what.

Plans are in the works to move to my wifes home country of Brazil-the southern part a very nice city on the ocean not far from Uruguay. The US dollar is very much welcomed and has over a 3 to 1 ratio. Can even have my own housekeeper for a mere 350 dollars a month. At first we will do this for 6 months a year for two years to really see if we like it. A single man alone can live like a king in Brazil on a 1k a month.

Thoughts?

 

[RSKY]

My plans to retire early are nose diving real fast. The company I work for is likely going into bankruptcy in 2 months, we may all be out of work within 2 years, and I am an expert in an industry that is dying and that has no need for my skill set any longer. I can transition into more mundane versions of what I do, but doing so will move from the $50 an hour rate to a $18-$25 rate. I'm screwed. All the plans, all the dreams.... it's al turning to vapor.

Two questions, how old are you and what is your industry? Of course you don't have to answer if you don't want to.

Don't give up hope yet. I worked at the same factory for 33 years. We had it all planned out. A friend and I were going in at the same time to announce our retirement the week after I turned 59. He would have been 66 within three days of my 59th birthday. But the plant closed seven years too early. People were very upset at the closure and afraid that their 'lives were ruined'! After the main part closed I managed to get picked to stay for an extra two years while things slowly wound down. When the final closure was announced I got a call from a competitor within a few days before I was laid off. I turned them down twice more but finally went to work for four more years in the same industry. I hated every minute of it. Put more discipline paperwork on people in four years than the entire thirty three at my first employer.

What I'm trying to say is don't give up. Things have a way of working out IF you keep your head and stay cheerful. There are jobs out there if you want to work. And if you present yourself as wanting to work and do a job you will get hired.

Things couldn't have worked out much better for me.

RSKY

 

[oosik]

About 35 or so years ago my wife figured out that we were in a position that I could retire. No car payments, no house payments, no medical insurance payments, no land payments and we had a modest built in retirement income. It really doesn't take much income when you have little outgo.

I've got relatively new vehicles and a new tractor - - what more could a person need. So at the age of 42 I called it quits and have been enjoying it ever since.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Two questions, how old are you and what is your industry? Of course you don't have to answer if you don't want to.

Don't give up hope yet. I worked at the same factory for 33 years. We had it all planned out. A friend and I were going in at the same time to announce our retirement the week after I turned 59. He would have been 66 within three days of my 59th birthday. But the plant closed seven years too early. People were very upset at the closure and afraid that their 'lives were ruined'! After the main part closed I managed to get picked to stay for an extra two years while things slowly wound down. When the final closure was announced I got a call from a competitor within a few days before I was laid off. I turned them down twice more but finally went to work for four more years in the same industry. I hated every minute of it. Put more discipline paperwork on people in four years than the entire thirty three at my first employer.

What I'm trying to say is don't give up. Things have a way of working out IF you keep your head and stay cheerful. There are jobs out there if you want to work. And if you present yourself as wanting to work and do a job you will get hired.

Things couldn't have worked out much better for me.

RSKY

I'm 46, but I am way behind on the 401K bandwagon with only $105K in there today.
I have a locked pension from Westinghouse at $809 a month.
My current company pension is likely about to get locked with the bankruptcy, I don't know what that number will look like. Had this not all fallen apart, I would have been at:
55 yrs old $2,567.75
56 yrs old $2,778.16
57 yrs old $2,997.49
58 yrs old $3,226.05
59 yrs old $3,464.16
60 yrs old $3,712.16
61 yrs old $3,970.40
62 yrs old $4,239.23
63 yrs old $4,345.21
64 yrs old $4,453.84
65 yrs old $4,565.19
66 yrs old $4,679.32

But all of that is going out the window fast.

I am a Non Destructive Testing Level III, I run/administer the program for a nuclear power plant. There used to be a 5 man team, it is now just me. Nuclear power here in the unregulated north east is dying. We can not get help to keep running from the state or feds.

On a personal side, I would possibly be able to go to another part of the country for nuclear work, but I am not interested in moving. There will likely be some serious pain, but I am choosing to not leave my family property.

I am going to start tossing out my Resume looking for work, my goal would be to find a company where I can administer the inspection program from home and travel as needed to do training and qualification or to visit inspection job sites. I'm not sure if I will find that situation or not.

I really was not smart in situating myself for this. Like many, I never thought that the free money train would come to a crashing halt. Now I am wishing that I had done things a little differently and had myself better set up to face this. I'll likely end up going into damage control mode if all of the doom and gloom comes to fruition.

Really, the important things will be to stay here and happy with my beloved wife of 24 years, keep my feet on the property that my family has been on since the late 1800's, and learn to live with whatever income level I fall to. I did this before in 2007, I did not like it. It was a scary process that I do not look forward to. I made it, but I was lucky... right place and time kind of thing.

I like my shiny new things, but I can give a lot of that up if it comes down to it. I may try to start a side business doing lite excavation during the period that this falls apart. If I can get something started and get my feet up under myself, that would make this not nearly as frightening.

I have a large bonus coming next month, it should be around $22K gross, a month later the BR should be hitting. I plan to use that bonus to do some financial housekeeping to better position myself for this. I also have a Jeep that I have paid off that I can sell for around $30K-$35K, it will kill me to do it.... but I could take that and get cash in hand while getting rid of a few hundred bucks a month in insurance. God... I love that Jeep!

 

[Rock Crawler]

My current social security estimate is $1,942 at age 62, if this pension did not lock it would be $4,239 at 62, the Westinghouse one is locked at the $809, and I hope to keep pushing the 401K to get at least $300K in there before I retire. With the unknown future, the SS pay out could be dramatically reduced, the current pension estimates could be massively reduced and the 401K could get severely crippled growing forward. The only solid known I have is the Westinghouse pension.

Like I said, everything is turning to vapor. The great retirement I had been thinking was 14 or so years away is slipping out of my hands. Maybe I will be lucky and the right time/place thing will return to me and I will be okay. But **** if this isn't a scary situation!

 

[Doofy]

My current social security estimate is $1,942 at age 62, if this pension did not lock it would be $4,239 at 62, the Westinghouse one is locked at the $809, and I hope to keep pushing the 401K to get at least $300K in there before I retire. With the unknown future, the SS pay out could be dramatically reduced, the current pension estimates could be massively reduced and the 401K could get severely crippled growing forward. The only solid known I have is the Westinghouse pension.

Like I said, everything is turning to vapor. The great retirement I had been thinking was 14 or so years away is slipping out of my hands. Maybe I will be lucky and the right time/place thing will return to me and I will be okay. But **** if this isn't a scary situation!

Don't get to disheartened, not worth ulcers. Not that hard to retire happy on less money than planned. When life throws you a curveball...Punt!

My best advise is to be debt free upon retirement. Don't panic and don't do anything 'spur-of-the-moment'. Consider all choices before making any decisions. With a level head, you can work thru this.