I spent the first two years of retirement searching for relevance. I had doubts about my value and what I was contributing to society. Then I realized it didn't have to be big picture and have been trying to be a helping hand to a couple of younger families in church. Both sets of parents work in time consuming jobs so have need of occasional taxi service for kids and have started asking for some help with odd jobs around their homes. Great young couples that are very appreciative not realizing I get more out of this than they do. I call them my bonus families!
Wow, that's very kind of you. And a win, win! I'm a very liberal guy and can only site the lotd's prayer from memory. But still attend church a couple times a month as a volunteer musician. It keeps me playing, people seem to really appreciate having the music. And, noone boos me! 😄 Mutually beneficial.
Laying in bed this last Sunday night with a bit of anxiety about another Monday, and then I realized I have only 12 more actual “working” Mondays left. That changes my perspective. Yes, I plan to book a dinner for my family and a couple of friends at my favorite special occasion restaurant for the week of my retirement to celebrate. Appreciate these videos so much, they help me stay on track and feel more prepared to retire.
Hi Dave. I retired three weeks ago, on July 31st. I started the day having breakfast with my closest three co-workers before heading into the office for the last time. In the evening I had a wonderful celebration dinner with my wife, kids and grandkids that included champagne and a cake. The next week the entire family spend a week together in Mendocino, CA, in three adjoining fireplace rooms overlooking the ocean. It was the perfect way to ring in the new season of life. I am loving retirement!
I decided in 2018 that I was retiring in 2021. I made the choice to take control of my health and lost 56 pounds over the next 2 years. Covid allowed me to quit in July of 2020, at age 58. My wife retired in 2022, also age 58. We were confident in our financial situation, so money wasn't a driving force. We bought a farm in 2019 and began raising most of our own food. We have fruit orchards, vineyards, and vegetables. We raise 2 pigs each year as well as chickens, so we rarely buy groceries. We tithe and my wife does a lot of volunteer work with animal rescue(currently 2 kittens upstairs). She's a crazy cat lady. The farm keeps us moving, but it's not so time-consuming that we can't enjoy life. We bought an RV, we have a bass boat, and we travel extensively. 3 years into retirement, I have maintained my weight, decreased my BP and cholesterol, and developed a lot of skills I didn't have before retirement. We had zero celebrations when we retired.
Hi Dave. After watching this video, I was wondering if you could do one on the windfall elimination provision as it relates to teachers. If my social security benefits will be reduced, I think it would be helpful to understand how WEP works with my retirement roadmap
My wife and I just had a 40 year marriage anniversary party our extended family. I made an announcement that I was going to retire next year. This way I can not back up.
You are so helpful Dave, I’ve been following you everyday as I prepare for this transition. Should be an exciting moment to look forward to yet so scared to make the decision. How does one know it’s time? 😳 Thank you for the great content and wise insight 👍
Biggest unexpected worry for us: ups and downs of the market. It’s tough for a new retiree to see a year’s worth of distributions evaporate in the last two weeks! I seemed to handle this just fine before retirement. I didn’t see this anxiety coming!
I like to think of retirement as the most important part: becoming income independent. Which is why I try to talk about how to become income independent: truly free
Is that title click bait? Truthfully you can always go back to work but you can't get back time. I was let go from my long time employer at 52. I worked a job that was physically demanding until 55 but only to find out that no rule of 55 was available. Luckily I am debt free and have a low cost of living. Not sure I really want to return to the workforce as it has changed. Financial planners all seem to want you to slave away longer. I may need to watch my spending but it's not like I have been spending frivolously in my past years.
I spent the first two years of retirement searching for relevance. I had doubts about my value and what I was contributing to society. Then I realized it didn't have to be big picture and have been trying to be a helping hand to a couple of younger families in church. Both sets of parents work in time consuming jobs so have need of occasional taxi service for kids and have started asking for some help with odd jobs around their homes. Great young couples that are very appreciative not realizing I get more out of this than they do. I call them my bonus families!
Wow, that's very kind of you. And a win, win! I'm a very liberal guy and can only site the lotd's prayer from memory. But still attend church a couple times a month as a volunteer musician. It keeps me playing, people seem to really appreciate having the music. And, noone boos me! 😄
Mutually beneficial.
Laying in bed this last Sunday night with a bit of anxiety about another Monday, and then I realized I have only 12 more actual “working” Mondays left. That changes my perspective. Yes, I plan to book a dinner for my family and a couple of friends at my favorite special occasion restaurant for the week of my retirement to celebrate. Appreciate these videos so much, they help me stay on track and feel more prepared to retire.
Hi Dave. I retired three weeks ago, on July 31st. I started the day having breakfast with my closest three co-workers before heading into the office for the last time. In the evening I had a wonderful celebration dinner with my wife, kids and grandkids that included champagne and a cake. The next week the entire family spend a week together in Mendocino, CA, in three adjoining fireplace rooms overlooking the ocean. It was the perfect way to ring in the new season of life. I am loving retirement!
I decided in 2018 that I was retiring in 2021. I made the choice to take control of my health and lost 56 pounds over the next 2 years.
Covid allowed me to quit in July of 2020, at age 58. My wife retired in 2022, also age 58.
We were confident in our financial situation, so money wasn't a driving force. We bought a farm in 2019 and began raising most of our own food. We have fruit orchards, vineyards, and vegetables. We raise 2 pigs each year as well as chickens, so we rarely buy groceries. We tithe and my wife does a lot of volunteer work with animal rescue(currently 2 kittens upstairs). She's a crazy cat lady.
The farm keeps us moving, but it's not so time-consuming that we can't enjoy life. We bought an RV, we have a bass boat, and we travel extensively.
3 years into retirement, I have maintained my weight, decreased my BP and cholesterol, and developed a lot of skills I didn't have before retirement.
We had zero celebrations when we retired.
Hi Dave. After watching this video, I was wondering if you could do one on the windfall elimination provision as it relates to teachers. If my social security benefits will be reduced, I think it would be helpful to understand how WEP works with my retirement roadmap
My wife and I just had a 40 year marriage anniversary party our extended family.
I made an announcement that I was going to retire next year.
This way I can not back up.
great content here Dave, thanks for taking the time to go through this
My pleasure!
Thank you for always coming up with new ideas for us. I’m finding it really difficult to develop a retirement lifestyle plan.
You are so welcome!
You are so helpful Dave, I’ve been following you everyday as I prepare for this transition. Should be an exciting moment to look forward to yet so scared to make the decision. How does one know it’s time? 😳
Thank you for the great content and wise insight 👍
Wonderful! Thank you so much! Have you seen the video on the 4 questions to ask to find out if you’re ready ?
I retired at the end of May. We drove out to Napa for a celebration lunch.
Fantastic !
Biggest unexpected worry for us: ups and downs of the market. It’s tough for a new retiree to see a year’s worth of distributions evaporate in the last two weeks! I seemed to handle this just fine before retirement. I didn’t see this anxiety coming!
I like to think of retirement as the most important part: becoming income independent. Which is why I try to talk about how to become income independent: truly free
the problem is that for a mid 50s people that have not yet saved $1 million, there is no hope BUT social security. Change my mind....
Is that title click bait? Truthfully you can always go back to work but you can't get back time. I was let go from my long time employer at 52. I worked a job that was physically demanding until 55 but only to find out that no rule of 55 was available. Luckily I am debt free and have a low cost of living. Not sure I really want to return to the workforce as it has changed. Financial planners all seem to want you to slave away longer. I may need to watch my spending but it's not like I have been spending frivolously in my past years.
Feelings sound pretty awful.