Let's hear from the retired folks here

[disneysteve]

Obviously retirement planning is a big thing we all focus on here. I know at least a few of you are already retired. I'd love to hear some stories and tips and downfalls and anything you want to share about how the process has gone, both in the years immediately before you retired and in the time since. What has worked well and gone as planned? What hasn't worked so well? Is there anything you wish you had done differently in getting ready to retire?

[Snicks]

Good topic! I am 56 and feel that is looming.

[disneysteve]

Good topic! I am 56 and feel that is looming.

You and me both. I'm also 56 so right there with you.

[Fishindude77]

Retired end of 2017, so three full years now. Took a while to decompress since work was so much a part of my live for 40 years. Also takes a while to really figure out what your burn rate / spending actually is. We spend about the same amount as when I was working.
Worst thing about retiring pre 65 is the price of ACA health insurance (affordable care ) $17,600 for 2021. Thankfully we knew it was going to be expensive and were prepared for it, but it's worse than anticipated.

One of the smarter things we did earlier in life was investing in some things that will generate income pretty much forever. Getting everything paid off free and clear also provides peace of mind.

Our income now comes from; investment real estate, a little part time side gig, a monthly draw out of the IRA and the balance just coming out of the checkbook and savings. I'm going to wait until 65ish to draw Soc Sec to increase that amount, spouse probably will also.

I have a hard time sitting still and not doing anything so thankful to have our farms to work on, there is always a project that needs attention and I just do them at my own pace and schedule. We also travel quite a bit running to see kids and grandkids, taking short trips, etc. I also go on lots of hunting and fishing trips. One of our favorites is to just take off in the car for road trips with no real plan or schedule.

Best advice I could give is to, get debt free, save as much as you possibly can, and don't plan on your spending going down too much in retirement like some of the advisors suggest.
With any luck we'll be able to ride this program for another 30 years or so

[disneysteve]

Thanks Fishingdude77. Exactly the sort of stuff I want to hear about.

I definitely don't expect spending to drop in retirement. With more travel (once travel is a thing again), it may well go up.

[srblanco7]

Retired end of 2017, so three full years now. Took a while to decompress since work was so much a part of my live for 40 years. Also takes a while to really figure out what your burn rate / spending actually is. We spend about the same amount as when I was working.
Worst thing about retiring pre 65 is the price of ACA health insurance (affordable care ) $17,600 for 2021. Thankfully we knew it was going to be expensive and were prepared for it, but it's worse than anticipated.

One of the smarter things we did earlier in life was investing in some things that will generate income pretty much forever. Getting everything paid off free and clear also provides peace of mind.

Our income now comes from; investment real estate, a little part time side gig, a monthly draw out of the IRA and the balance just coming out of the checkbook and savings. I'm going to wait until 65ish to draw Soc Sec to increase that amount, spouse probably will also.

I have a hard time sitting still and not doing anything so thankful to have our farms to work on, there is always a project that needs attention and I just do them at my own pace and schedule. We also travel quite a bit running to see kids and grandkids, taking short trips, etc. I also go on lots of hunting and fishing trips. One of our favorites is to just take off in the car for road trips with no real plan or schedule.

Best advice I could give is to, get debt free, save as much as you possibly can, and don't plan on your spending going down too much in retirement like some of the advisors suggest.
With any luck we'll be able to ride this program for another 30 years or so

Great topic DS - and thanks for the insight Fishindude77. I'm likely still 2-3 years away, but it's definitely on my mind frequently. Did you ramp down in your last year(s) of work or remain full-time up until retirement date?

[Fishindude77]

Did you ramp down in your last year(s) of work or remain full-time up until retirement date?

Ramped down the last 1-2 years. Sold the company to younger folks, moved someone into my job as president and kind of hung around at a reduced salary, reduced hours, helping our as needed.

[GoodLiving]

Oh gosh, I am still at least a decade away from retirement but I'm a planner. My nest is empty and I'm burnt out from my job but I have golden handcuffs so I don't plan on leaving. There are aspects that I really love about my job and some that I don't. There maybe a point where I either reduce work or change jobs when I've hit those magic number$ whatever I determine as "enough for retirement" I definitely fear the healthcare costs if I retire before 65 which I hope. Current thoughts include cobra for as long as I can and maybe ACA for the same period of time I think that makes it age 62 (a little more than a decade from now) unless something changes between now and then. I look to my parents experience as far as my plan. My Dad was pushed out of his employment and he never found good replacement, had medical issues and died in a freak accident when he was 68. My Mom at 76 is living on very little but is doing better than she planned(we know how to live on little). They have had quiet retirements but I hope to have a few more adventures more like my Dad's parents who traveled via RV south during the winter. My spouse retired from their job after being very burnt out and may go back to work post-covid when they know what they want to do for the next phase. We don't live in luxury but we have a good life with what we need as long as we watch our pennies. I've witnessed my spouse re-examining of their selves after so much identify wrapped up from their job they held for 25+ years. While I have pride in my position, I hope I don't struggle with that in retirement.

[Like2Plan]

I retired at age 55. I have been retired for 9 years, but DH continues to work. As a result of DH working, we have not drawn from any of our retirement savings accounts. DH has moved his retirement date out a few times, so I keep getting ready. . I was sure he was going to retire this past May because his count-down calendar was written in ink....but, when Covid happened we had to cancel almost all of our travel. So, DH figured--we couldn't go anywhere, why not work from home?

One thing that surprised me about retirement is that you have more control over your income. You have a choice as to where your retirement income will come from in any given year. You can get your spending money from a pretax account, after tax account or a Roth account. You can make choices as to when you want to pay taxes on your pretax account. Of course, there are all kinds of tax trap doors that you will want to avoid so it is a good idea to get real familiar with taxes.

I love being retired. I have no shortage of interesting things to do. One project that I have been doing lately is making face masks for family and friends. I have made over 350 of them so far. I also made a baby quilt this summer for a friend's grand baby. I found it very satisfying.
We have also been doing genealogy. You can do a lot online, but DH and I like to visit the places where our ancestors lived. We also love visiting National Parks. (We'll get back to the travel before too long...)

[frugal saver]

I retired at 58 from a job I often hated but had good benefits and medical. I'd spent years paying into job pension, Social Security, IRAs and Certificates of Deposit, sure that I'd need every bit of it--at least that's what all the online articles said.

I can offer two pieces of advice:

First--"pre-retire." I had a ton of furlough hours accrued and I took 6 weeks off work--after 40 years of never taking more than 1 week at a time--to see what staying home every day would be like. And it wasn't what I'd expected. I started moving into different hobbies/interests than I'd had while working. I didn't spend anywhere near what I'd thought I would.

Second--have a plan in place. I'd heard that many people retired without any real plan and got depressed or ill and were miserable. I don't mean just a general wish--want to travel, want to garden--but an actual plan like what will you do during the week, what different things will you do on the weekend. I left with a boatload of charity plans, hobby plans, a plan to go back to online college to get an accounting degree (original one was social science) and make your retirement look like whatever you want it to be.

I've been retired for 12 years now, and live very comfortably on the pension and SS income and not only haven't touched the IRAs yet, I'm putting away a nice chunk of my checks into stocks and CDs every month. All the worksheets I did about how much money I would need were all totally wrong. Which means that your worksheets could be over- or understating what you need each month. Which is why my pre-retire time off helped me see how my spending would go.