^Me in my own mind when I press a button to mute the L and R channels in a surround mix^
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^Me in my own mind when I press a button to mute the L and R channels in a surround mix^
Rstaylor
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- Dec 5, 2017
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- 67
I'm hoping to retire myself! Maybe in March.
I have plenty to keep me busy for a very long time.
I have about 300 VHS tapes to go through and see what I really want to keep. A lot of music related programs recorded from over tha air TV.
I'm a long time vinyl and cd hoarder as well...
No concrete plans, but I hope to considerably downsize my collection of both.
I don't even want to think about the tape decks and receivers I have amassed!
If you check out my room build, it's clear I have no interest in downsizing my collection! I have pretty much gotten rid of any tapes I'd collected. I did not have good luck with any format tape deck - open reel, 8-track, or cassette.
I spent a lot of my career working on security recorders, open reel, beta and VHS, so they don't scare me, even if I consider them unreliable. I only need one to work for a week or two - I might have 20 tapes that I'd like to digitize.
I have a few pieces of leftover gear from the old days. Refurbishing them is on my bucket list, but not all that close to the top yet.
Whenever I see someone debating retiring.....curious how old you are? I'll be 62 shortly, and I'm itching to retire. Though, 65 is more realistic in my situation I guess.
Like my dad, I retired at 65, although I stretched SS out to 66 with part-time. Retirement age keeps
getting pushed longer, so it is a luck of the birth year draw atm, and probably going to get worse even if
SS survives. . . .
He lived to nearly 95. Hmm. I do watch my finances, just in case, but am quite THRILLED over retirement.
And yes, there is a ton of stuff to do on the homefront that you shuffled aside over the years for work, but it is much
more pleasurable to do in your "spare" time -- if you can be bothered, haha!
My dad worked until he was 75.
I suspect he may have worked even longer; only macular degeneration took away his eyesight. I have no real way to know if he had to work, or more just his generation. Seems my parents didn't have much while I was a kid, even an adult. I doubt he had any sort of savings account and certainly didn't inherit anything at all when his parents died. Farmers back in the day just didn't easily make much money. Those that inherited farmland from their parents had a much better chance.
I retired at 67, ten years ago (the math isn’t hard). I decided it was time when a new company took over the contract I was working on, and “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” wasn’t about to fly any more. I got tired of being the only one who gave a rip about my job, and I was already tired of driving 45 minutes each way through Washington, DC.
I never looked back.
My dad reired at about 60, when GM bought Hughes and changed everything. Mom went through the finances, and showed him how they were in shape to make it happen, and they did quite well, both living almost untill they were 98, and leaving a nice chunk of change to their heirs.My dad worked until he was 75.
I doubt he had any sort of savings account and certainly didn't inherit anything at all when his parents died. Farmers back in the day just didn't easily make much money. Those that inherited farmland from their parents had a much better chance.
Same situation, end of my career took a job at a large Pharmaceutical company as a maintenance tech. Figured I could last till 70 driving around in a golf cart.
7 yrs in, the company outsourced my dept. After 1 yr, my new company said enough and another company came in, that's when I decided I had enough. Went on SS disability at 61.
Just wished I understood the IRS rules on withdrawal of retirement funds at 61
Never looked back either
Often it is a long and ugly commute that throws the retirement decision over the top.
In my case, I was leaving home early to keep the morning commute down to 45 minutes. But the commute home was always an hour to 75 minutes, no matter how late I stayed. (Plus, the car stereo system was lousy. Lol)
And finally my commute got even longer when I had to abandon my shortcut because some people got wacked during a daytime drive-by shooting along that route.
Bet your glad not to be dealing with the I-80 fiasco this week.
Owen Smith
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
My commute has lengthened from 25 to 30 minutes, basically because I'm walking slower and admiring the scenery and fresh(ish) air more on the way in. There's some interesting building work to watch too, the raised footbridge has a great view into the building site. At one point I thought the building was going to have a basement swimming pool, but it turns out it's the base of the lift shafts.
My commute consists of going down the stairs and turning on the laptop, and occasionally driving up to London and catching a plane, if it was commuting into an office everyday I would have retired!
When I was working, I found it difficult to work from home even though I have a dedicated space. Too many distractions: If my wife wanted to talk about something, I was there for her to do so. When the cat wanted attention, which was all the time, he was there scolding me. I preferred having an office away from home.
We were away visiting family and didn't hear about this. Again, who needs to go to California to experience California-like disasters when they are coming to New Jersey: earthquakes, wildfires, sinkholes...All we need to do is designate a Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and we will be all set!
https://www.northjersey.com/story/n...ty/2024/12/26/rt-80-nj-sink-hole/77231125007/
Rstaylor
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2017
- Messages
- 67
I turned 62 last June and I'll be honest, it snuck up behind me and knocked the crap out of me.
I realized I wasn't ready financially.
Then I found out a coworker was retiring in November at age 59. He was well known for being the man to go to for investment advice.
Long story short, after meeting with him several times before he left, I was able to increase my 401k balance enough to feel confident about retiring.
One thing I learned is that it's never too late to learn about investing.
Also, health insurance is more affordable than I ever thought possible.
There are health insurance brokers that can show you what's available.
I've seen too many coworkers leave this planet early.
I want to enjoy what time I have left.
COVID more or less forced me into retirement by Nov '21, though I confess that I was fortunate to be able to so at age 64, and then live lean until I hit SS FRA in April '24, 66.5 years old. Theoretically I was sufficiently fit to work right up to now, but tragically both my brothers died in early '22, & I was GRATEFUL that I could be fully present for at least my younger bro's last few months.
Retirement's a bigger topic than this forum can manage, BUT I remind myself daily how I was (and am) LUCKY in all sorts of ways to have been able to arrive at this "far shore" after decades of mostly benign employment grind. I've been comparatively healthy (though not unscathed), but even so, I REALLY appreciate how many seniors who are even ABLE to stagger across the age 62 SS eligible age just plain HAVE to retire. What is downplayed I think is just how difficult-to-impossible it is for even a reasonably fit & alert senior to find suitable employment at 60+, or the high-stress difficulty transitioning into new employment as a senior worker imposes.
Mercifully I'm a native urbanite living in a small state, and had a reasonably short commute even as workplaces shifted over decades. Even so, and especially given our VERY mercurial weather, I'm EXTREMELY grateful that commuting daily to & from a workplace is now behind me. Risking life & limb going & coming on a glazed highway in January is something I'll NEVER miss! I cannot imagine enduring DC or LA traffic daily, much less London, or even nearby Chicago or Minneapolis.
AMEN, RS, the "mortality bombs" just start exploding closer & more frequently every year, and it urgently reminds us to "Do It While We're ALIVE," and not idly wait for "someday" anymore.
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