Anonymous wrote:I had planned to work until I was Medicare eligible but at 61 I was tired after working for almost 40 years. The wear and tear of business travel caught up with me and I didn't want to be the guy who retired and then died within a few months.....so I retired. Retire when you can!

Good choice!

Anonymous wrote:Decided that 52 was the time to retire, sell our home in MARYLAND and buy our retirement home in North Carolina while we are healthy and able to settle into our new community.

The Mrs is able to work from home in her current position, and has great healthcare.

Our new home is a great upgrade from our MARYLAND residence, taxes and auto insurance are considerably less and no more snow and far less traffic, a huge quality of life improvement for us.

Stop thinking about it and do it, you’ll be happier and more relaxed than you know.

I think you are smart. My dad saw too many people get a terminal illness or die 50s/60s without ever getting to enjoy retirement. His own parents lived until late-80s but you never know.

He retired at 62 (37 years as a Fed). He had a glorious 14-years of tons of travel, lots of time with the grandkids. He got a cancer diagnosis at 69-early stage that didn’t set him back, but at 75 it came back Stage IV and he passed at 76. He was so vibrant and healthy it came as a shock.

What gives me comfort is that he had a great 14-years of retirement just like he wanted.

I think people need to be careful banking on the age their parents made it to as an indicator of their lifespan. As my dad’s oncologist stated, there is so much more disease around because of environment/pollution/additives in food, etc. than our predecessors and treatments aren’t as far a long as people like to think.

I plan to get out early too!

Anonymous wrote:I will work until nobody will pay me to work. I'm 56 and am hoping to work another 10 years. I try to enjoy the time because I never figured out how to make a DCUM income.

DP. I am 55. I will keep teaching for at least the next 10-15 years. After that I think I want to work retail. I would be a great Wal-Mart greeter or I would love to work in a cooking supply store like Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma. I am much happier when I work and that makes me a better person.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Retired at 40. Saved all my earnings and also came into some serious cash. Now I am a SAHM in the suburbs. I love it.

How did you come into money?

DP here. Same trajectory as the pp above. Sold two properties that I had bought for pennies. Sold to developers making multistory buildings.

I had planned to work until I was Medicare eligible but at 61 I was tired after working for almost 40 years. The wear and tear of business travel caught up with me and I didn't want to be the guy who retired and then died within a few months.....so I retired. Retire when you can!

I will work until nobody will pay me to work. I'm 56 and am hoping to work another 10 years. I try to enjoy the time because I never figured out how to make a DCUM income.

44F. I essentially won the lottery in my early 20s and didn't work for a few years, and basically that was super bad for my personality type/my mental health. So I intend to work until I can't. If I aim for that to be in my mid-60s, we will still have several years of a mortgage left and a kid in college, probably.

I will plateau in income in the next few years if I stay in the federal government. The real question is whether I dip out to do another whirl through a startup/silicon valley, or just settle in for a 25-year fed career?

Of course, all of this is pointless speculation. I've watched several young friends die of cancer these past few years, so the notion of planning 20 years out is kind of laughable.

I'm 50. I plan to retire at 60. Financially I could retire in two or three years and be fine, but frankly I enjoy my job and enjoy the structure of having somewhere to be every day and feeling like I'm contributing my knowledge to the world. I also enjoy the camaraderie of my office.

I worked till 40. I am 50 now and so is my DH. I don't plan to work again. DH and I have a very generous pension at 62, without counting any inheritance, social security, home equity, or other investments.

The pension is pretty attractive to us and so my goal is to work only on our (whole family) health now, so that we can live for at least 90 years and for 30 years rake in more pension money (which we won't be able to spend) to pass it on to our kids.

I recently retired at 61 and cut a deal with my employer where I will stay on as an employee (consultant) for modest fees plus health care for a couple of years when I can then go on COBRA before I go on Medicare. My wife is two years younger and when I go on Medicare we will need to buy her a separate policy.

As soon as I am eligible for Medicare. Until then, need to keep working for health insurance!

50, plan to work until I am 70 until my full social security kicks in. I know no one in real life.who plans to retire before 70.

This has probably been covered by now, but plan to work fewer years than you think unless you are a true expert in your field. Age discrimination is rampant and begins in the mid-40s. Each job will take longer to get and will pay less.

To get my full pension and SS I will have to work until I am 69, another 6 years which is not awful. Neither of my children is married yet so I need to save for that so it's just as well, and I like my job.

I’m aiming to be financially able to retire by 57. DH is 5 years older and wants to retire at 60, so that gives me a couple more years working while he gets settled in to retirement.

Whether I actually retire then... who knows. That’s 17 years away. It’ll depend on how much I still love my job, where we’re living, what’s going on with the kids (they should be through college), etc. But I want the option.