Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Retirement question

I do not miss work. I was in a corporate exec role the last 10 years or so. In my case that put some stress on the mind and body.
I worked 39 years for the same company and it was a good ride.
But I do not miss it at all.
Having said that, some days I don’t have a lot to do, and get a little bored.
I’ll take that over the stress etc that I was in at work.

The finances do not worry my near as much as this does.

We probably have another 4 or 5 years left in full time farming before I either rent it to my son on a 50/50 basis or a neighbor for the same if my son opts to go elsewhere.

That is our pension. With the farm income, Roth IRA's, and other investments the money will be there, finances will be fine. Yes I worry about my sense of purpose.


Thought I might be the only one out there thinking of this.

No offense but everyone has a different situation, only you can answer this. Perhaps you are looking for answer that will support a savings level which is less than you hoped for? Budget you own situation and adjust accordingly, these question won’t bring clarity to your own unique situation.

Retired (11 yrs back), on a pension, hitting the IRA's, Social Security, and presently supporting a distant kid that's hit a hard time. Take home is about what we were earning in the job market. Out of debt about 20 years back, we're still contributing to savings, and IRA income is exceeding withdrawals. That being, we are accumulating capital. Might take a hit some year if we need to write a check for a new pickup. Did start planning and working toward this about 35 years ago though. My goal was to leave college, put in 20 and retire. Things did not quite shake out professionally for the wife, so we put in 28 years on the job.

Worked with a great group, and I'm still allowed to maintain an office and go in/leave at my convenience to help out when/where needed.

We have several friends though forced back to work when Obama Care doubled or tripled their projected insurance costs.

Start planning/investing as soon as one hits the job market. Also pays to pick a spouse that sticks.

Years ago, overhearing farmers that had sold out. They said they were making more money working part time than they did farming.

Miss work? I wouldn't go back to work if someone offered me $100 an hour. Debt is important but not the end all. We have a house payment but so what? I wouldn't be overly concerned about having a house or car payment as long as it easily fits into your monthly budget. Credit card debt is another matter. We budget what we can charge every month and always pay off the balance every month.

You don't want enough money in to pay the bills, you want enough coming in so you can enjoy life. Getting told by your dentist you need a crown or a implant shouldn't destroy your finances. Same as a major vehicle or house repair. It might hurt for a couple of months but its not going to bankrupt you.

I've been retired for a few years. Although I don't know if my experience counts, because my wife still works two days a week at the hospital, so we have income. Still,...I don't spend much money since my wife needs to sock away what she earns for retirement.

But,..to a large extent you live on what you have,.....and there's not much that I want, anyway.

I sold off some extraneous stuff before I retired and bought a basic, low milage car and pick-up. So transportation isn't an issue for me.

Basically,...all I've had to give up is toys,.....motorcycles, guns,...etc.,.....and I was tired of them anyway.

Every monetary asset I do without is much more than offset by the free time I now have.

I go to bed late,....sleep late,....and my wife gets 4 weekends a year off,...which gives us 10 days of travel time 4 times a year.

I find myself in a very good retirement situation.

Me too.

Been something over 6 years now that I have been "retired"... But I have what I call a "retirement job".

The ranch and brush control business occupy my sense of purpose rather well.

Aside from providing income, it's also building towards when I cannot do this stuff anymore, and sell out. Everything I do on the ranch just makes it worth that much more.

That's why it's crucial you build your own.

If you haven't already, start now, make it the goal for this week. Get started!

The gubment is counting on as many as possible being dependent on them. You are much easier to control when it works out that way.

My father ran his business up until he was 80 decided to retire 2weeks later he had a heart attack and passed away. He left mom his wife of 62 years with couple million in the bank. Sounds great doesn't it? Until you consider he never in 62 years took her on a vacation longer than 2 days in his words, " we will travel when I retire. I can not recall him ever getting to any sport games I was in from little league to college football. He was just too busy with work.

At 65 I'll have 31.75 years in at the prison. I will walk out and never look back. Done, done,done.

But I don't ever see myself totally retiring. Some part time job, preferably selling guns at a shop. I love that so much I'd almost do it for free.

I’d say that many of us here have seen this play out more than a few times in our lives.
I think some of this may stem from those who were children of the Big Depression years .

I retired June 1st 2001.I receive a pension,SS which I took at 62 and was lucky to have a nice stash in my 401K.I retired with no debt and we built a new retirement house.We don`t live extravagantly ,but do not scrimp either.I get to do a couple hunting trips a year.We are blessed.Huntz

Young man, let's be clear, I am not a financial whiz geezer. But if I could leave you with just a few thoughts,
one: you don't need somebody else to manage your nest egg (retirement plan at work, 401's, annuities, whatever), you can do it and if you pay the taxes as you go, then it's YOUR money and your decision when and how you spend it. I personally think, deferred taxes is a bit of a quagmire, other people are making life decisions for you when you participate.
Two: Think, what is the motive of the money managers, running your plan at: work, bank, investment broker, fund, whatever? Cynic I may be, but I think their motive is to increase their personal bottom line. You, the client are number two priority. JMO. As far as I can see, these people are just one notch above car salesmen, real estate agents and bookies.
Three: Invest for the LONG term. This holds true for the stock market as well as real estate. Avoid investments in things which you would have difficulty describing how they earn revenue. Block chain and Uber come to mind, ask yourself, "where's the beef?".

Great thread, and timely for me. I have about two years left before I plan to leave my job. No idea what I want to do next.The wife and I have spent the last two decades raising children and saving for retirement. Being just us and no jobs will be one of the greatest life changes we've seen to date I think,

Retired Aug '16 at 48. We figured it would be better to retire early and spend our money doing the things we wanted to do, while we were physically able.

Financial guy looked at our "budget" and said the investments/savings, putting my military pension in that budget, would run out when I hit 72.

We have spent more some months and less on others.

Even when that runs out, I still have my military pension, so when we get old and cant do stuff like we used to, we still have that to pay the normal life stuff.

We were debt free long before we even considered retiring. Our plan was to retire for good, 5 years after I retired from the Army. We dont have kids so that was a big plus.

The only way I'm going to be able to make it happen is to live humbly and save aggressively, I don't have a pension or Social Security to be of any help.

I'm all in on Vanguard index funds & ETFs. I absolutely agree with you that no one is more interested in my money doing well than I am.
I won't touch single company stocks, not my style. At one time Enron was thought to be the hottest thing on the block...

My largest positions are in
VTSAX, VYM, MGK, VNQ, VLCAX, VSMAX VIMAX

Being debt free would be ideal, but not altogether necessary as long (as others have pointed out) it fits within your monthly budget. As far as paying cash for everything including vehicles and such, is not always the wisest thing to do. If the interest on the loan you take is less than what you would earn on your money, you are wiser to get a loan once again as long as the payment fits within the monthly budget. For instance, we purchased a new vehicle last November when they were offering 0% over 72 months. This was a no brainer - use their money and let ours grow. Debt isn't always bad.

You've got the right attitude and you're well on your way. As you advance in your profession and make a little more money increase the amounts and tax advantage of all the tax breaks you can (401K/IRA) and about once a year assess your position and make sure it's achieving your goals. You really will be surprised over time how it build up.

I don't know how old you are but Social Security will be there in some form. I did think they will end up going to needs testing at some point.

Disagree with you there.