I have 10 working days starting Mon. until I retire. I always wished to retire at 60, but I'm beating that by about 6 months. I'm retired Air Force with 26 years served. Then continued to serve working for a major defense contractor. I have planned/invested well for retirement, but had a few more bucket list items I wanted to take care of first, Oh well.

If someone here has retired at 60 or before & wishes to share a little information or hindsight. I would gladly listen.

Congrats and thank you for your service!

Thank you for your service sir but sorry cant advise on the early retirement as I waited to 62
to leave the B.S. at the dealership behind.

I retired on my 60th birthday 21 years ago 1 April. Did pretty well for someone who only went to 10th grade. And still racing when I want to. Unconventional but it has worked well for me.

I'm still in my 50's,so I have no experience with early or any kind of retirement.

That being said,how does one plan at what age to retire given this inflationary environment?

When I'm 60,a loaf of bread could possibly be $10.

442 start saving in your 20s. Sorry not tryin to be an ass but thats what I did. In 1980 new wife and I said "if we cant buy it with cash we dont deserve it" so we began to save when we got twice as much as we needed we put half in savings and bought what we wanted never financed anything but our home. made a HUGH difference!

quote:

Originally posted by 442OLDS:
That being said, how does one plan at what age to retire given this inflationary environment?

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Originally posted by vetman:
442 start saving in your 20s. Sorry not tryin to be an ass but thats what I did. In 1980 new wife and I said "if we cant buy it with cash we dont deserve it" so we began to save when we got twice as much as we needed we put half in savings and bought what we wanted never financed anything but our home. made a HUGH difference!

I'm going to add to what vetman stated. We used credit early, but about 25 years ago we went to cash purchases. Except for one mortgage & one vehicle payment. This was the best move we could have done. It allowed us to invest in our 401K's & IRA's. Plus, with being retired military I have my monthly pension & disability compensation.

quote:

Originally posted by vetman:
442 start saving in your 20s. Sorry not tryin to be an ass but thats what I did. In 1980 new wife and I said "if we cant buy it with cash we dont deserve it" so we began to save when we got twice as much as we needed we put half in savings and bought what we wanted never financed anything but our home. made a HUGH difference!

That is exactly the way I have done it.But the cost of living is really skyrocketing.

First thing I will have to do is leave Illinois.Property taxes are just a killer.2nd thing is probably quit racing.

Or maybe just work a few years more to have a safety net.

Like most people,my 401k has done well,but it could drop like a rock any day.

I was going to retire at 65 so I put in for my SSA. Then the market took a crap and most of my dividend income got cut way back. I should have waited till 70 to collect cause I worked till I was 75. I banked or invested most of what I got for the 9 years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Floyd Staggs,

I am a poor one to give advice as I never did anything right that I know of. All I knew how to do was work HARD and was never afraid to jump right in where others with more sense would have had second thoughts but somehow things worked out most of the time and of coarse luck also played a part. I also paid cash almost all of the time other than my first house. I often wonder what I would be worth today if it wasn't for blondes, Corvettes, and race cars! I have worked in 23 countries and for a few years for the State Department, with no education. If you have a skill they need a paper education don't matter. But at 81 I doubt I have 20 more years left and I don't think I can go through it all in that time no matter what----but on the other hand with that crew we have in DC who knows. I am glad for you guys, so many have nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by B KING:
I have 10 working days starting Mon. until I retire. I always wished to retire at 60, but I'm beating that by about 6 months. I'm retired Air Force with 26 years served. Then continued to serve working for a major defense contractor. I have planned/invested well for retirement, but had a few more bucket list items I wanted to take care of first, Oh well.

If someone here has retired at 60 or before & wishes to share a little information or hindsight. I would gladly listen.

Congrats Bri And thank you for your efforts!
Well you know my story and my past. I might be a little over my head $tock but I’m having a blast! But you can expect to see me at your races. I’ve built a bracket piece.
30/60 was a good place to call it quits for me but guess what? I’m busier now than I was working! How the he!! Does that work!! One has to have something to do because when a bolt sits in one place for too long … we’ll we know the story…
Knowing you, you will stay busy.
Looking forward to seeing you soon

BP

I retired three times starting at age 60. I have a really good no-load financial adviser in Indiana that took good care of me all these years. I put all the money I made less just what it took to live on, and sent it to him, so I was financially stable at age 60 to retire. When I retired I realized that my hobby and my occupation was one in the same. I figured if I was going to keep doing it as a hobby, I might as well get paid for it, so I went back to work. Then I hit 65 and decided to retire again. This time my youngest grandson decided he wanted to do what I did and wanted to know how to go about getting into the mobile truck/heavy equipment repair field. I told him enroll in college,grab your work clothes and get in the truck. I have always believed that one month in the field was worth a year in the classroom. We did this till he graduated with his degree, then I retired again, more do to the need to get surgery on my rotator cuff than anything, cause I still like what I do and decided to keep working till I couldnt anymore, which the rotator cuff was telling me. After recovering from that, covid was blossoming and I decided not to go back this time.

Hmmm In the same field you are. Moble truck service 24/7. It's a rough way to make a living.
Laying out on the shoulder of the road or in some lot. Can you say bad knees and back.....
In the next life it won't be this job, that's for *** sure.
At one time we had 5 service trucks running. What a nightmare. Glad those days are GONE.....

TD, I agree with you, but I would do it all over but not in this digital electronic age. No more turning in the knurled knob to get a cummins running, or being able to trouble shoot 99% of all issues with a test light. You pull up to a dead unit now and it takes a laptop and $9000 worth of software just to see why it decided to stop. And now they are "techs", not mechanics. My grandson is now a certified CAT technician, I always preferred to be called a mechanic, didnt like the term "tech".

B King congratulations on your retirement. And thank you for your service. And bye the way you deserve it. Oh I like your car too. Get ready to work harder than you ever did

quote:

Originally posted by qtrrcr:
TD, I agree with you, but I would do it all over but not in this digital electronic age. No more turning in the knurled knob to get a cummins running, or being able to trouble shoot 99% of all issues with a test light. You pull up to a dead unit now and it takes a laptop and $9000 worth of software just to see why it decided to stop. And now they are "techs", not mechanics. My grandson is now a certified CAT technician, I always preferred to be called a mechanic, didnt like the term "tech".

That is a sore subject on the renewals of the software. I had to cut back on some engine lines.
Only Detroit/Cummins/Navistar is all i have now.
I was fortunate enough to pick up a CF-53 with only 10 hours on it used for $395.00 for a backup..... Retire LMAO. "Honey do list"

Yes Mam/ No Mam.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TD3550,

Gave up working at 49 on 8/31/1991 when I calculated that I could.
Had a business and sold it a few months later when I got an offer I couldn't refuse.
Never looked back.

I retired in 2013 from working for the GOVT. Military then as a civilian and contractor. Started in 85. I was 49 when I was given an offer I chose not to refuse. I have on occasion worked for a defense contractor on a casual basis as a consultant but rarely take on a project since my wifes retirement in 2018 from the USAF. Has to hold my interest but because of my backround they keep me on the payroll.

Best of luck on the retirement. I know I was quite tired of all of it. Was born on an Air Force base in 1964 and have seen enough of it frankly.

Thanks for the replies & the PMs!

Retired one year later than planned at 45. Oct 2020. 10 days after retirement a guy calls me and says hey you wanna work for me? 10 days, of boredom. Fishing for 8 of them, but that gets old too. One day of bracket racing.

If you are young, develop a plan. "I want to retire at X age" and do NOT lose sight of your goal.

I watched my grandfather retire at normal retirement age. He lived 4 years afterwards. 4 years to enjoy every day being a Saturday. 4 years was not enough so I told myself, I ain't gonna be that way. My goal was 45. Bought an inexpensive house in 2013 before all this stuff hit, paid it off by working 3 jobs (2 normal jobs plus self-employment), no car note, no kids. One day I went into the job I was at for 29 years and told the boss that 2 weeks I'm outta here. I'd had issues with him for 2 years prior anyway so it was kinda cool watching him go into a state of shock. When I went back to work, the new 'boss' (I don't consider him as much of a boss as I do a friend) and I agreed that I'd work mostly full-time but I'd take days off here and there as I need or want and he's cool with that. I like doing the "job" (it's fun!) and he's perfectly fine with me working whenever I want.

What I found is that even though I'm comfortably 'retired' at now 46, there are days when I still think "can I really afford this?" Gotta watch the dollars a little closer, especially now with inflation. Still beats 'having' to work though!