Retired

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1127051780.f4629da15d26699dbbe0898ed59f8395@teranews...

Quoted message said:

We are officially retired!

Now we can start travelling and I can do more experimental cooking!

Woopee!

MoM

Anything I say is based upon abject jealousy.

Congratulations.

Dimitri

"Dave Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My gross pay is half what it used to be, but I no longer have to pay 8%
right
off the top for my pension contribution. I no longer pay union dues. Since
I
earn less, I pay a lot less income tax. I still get my extended health
care
and life insurance. It works out to about $100 less per week net pay. My
car expenses are a lot lower. Since I don't have to drive to work I spend
a
lot less on gasoline and there is less wear and tear on the car. Because
I
worked on the road I had to buy a lot of coffers and lunches. Now I eat
lunch at home. By the time you knock off all those work related expenses,
it
really doesn't cost much to stay home, and not having to wake up to an
alarm
and combat the elements, it's well worth it.

But what do you do with yourself? A number of friends and acquaintances
have taken early retirement and most seem to fill their time with mindless
activities. I'm 61 and busier in my profession than I have ever been and
the work is stimulating. I can't see myself retiring but perhaps taking a
bit more time off.

On a related point: what is it about servicemen (and women) and, sometimes,
police officers, regarding retirement. Whenever one speaks to one or the
other, they always say something like "Only 2 years to go"! If they don't
like it, why the hell did they sign on for further terms?
Graham

"fudge" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

OOPPPPS, you are Canadian. (Reference to CPP, Canada Pension Plan.

"Jim get's his first Oct 1. We won't apply for CPP till he turns 65."

DO THE MATH HERE!!!!. You qualify at age 60. You will be a lot better off
starting the pension as early as possible. Note that all pension funds will
be clawed back by the tax system if you make over 53K/year.

Farmer John

There is a slight problem with the math and the logic.

Lets say the difference is 51 months (age 66 years & 3 months vs age 62) and the
difference is $1,000.00 per month. Conventional wisdom is that one will lose
$51,000 if they wait. Correct so far? The break even point is 51 months past
their full retirement age or in this example 70 and 6 months old.

The problem is that no one saves the extra $1,000 per month and once the full
retirement is reached the income only changes with the cost of living.
Additionally the older one becomes the less one has the ability to augment their
income.

For me the best seems to be to work as long as possible and to hold off claiming
as long as possible until full retirement.

Dimitri

"Dimitri" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1127051780.f4629da15d26699dbbe0898ed59f8395@teranews...

Quoted message said:

We are officially retired!

Now we can start travelling and I can do more experimental cooking!

Woopee!

MoM

Anything I say is based upon abject jealousy.

Congratulations.

Dimitri

Thanks, Dimitri; your turn shall come too.

MoM

In article <tRHXe.519890$5V4.136926@pd7tw3no>,

graham said:

On a related point: what is it about servicemen (and women) and, sometimes,
police officers, regarding retirement. Whenever one speaks to one or the
other, they always say something like "Only 2 years to go"! If they don't
like it, why the hell did they sign on for further terms?

Like myself, they stuck it out because things were fine, and then when
they got burnt out, they were too far into it and had too much to lose
to switch. If you look at the numbers, it makes sense.

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1127173841.92db2e9d4275dc315ed0e758e65cd41b@teranews...
<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Congratulations.

Dimitri

Thanks, Dimitri; your turn shall come too.

MoM

One never knows - maybe sooner than I think.

Dimitri

Dimitri said:

fudge said:

"Jim get's his first Oct 1. We won't apply for CPP till he turns 65."

DO THE MATH HERE!!!!. You qualify at age 60. You will be a lot better off
starting the pension as early as possible. Note that all pension funds will
be clawed back by the tax system if you make over 53K/year.

Farmer John

There is a slight problem with the math and the logic.

Lets say the difference is 51 months (age 66 years & 3 months vs age 62) and the
difference is $1,000.00 per month. Conventional wisdom is that one will lose
$51,000 if they wait. Correct so far? The break even point is 51 months past
their full retirement age or in this example 70 and 6 months old.

The problem is that no one saves the extra $1,000 per month and once the full
retirement is reached the income only changes with the cost of living.
Additionally the older one becomes the less one has the ability to augment their
income.

For me the best seems to be to work as long as possible and to hold off claiming
as long as possible until full retirement.

That's the most common and most horrendous error made by those
contemplating retirement... finances are importnat but they're the
least important element of retirement. The one thing many never
consider is that not all retirement years are of equal value.
Considering one spends a total of twenty years in retirement (and then
you die) then the first year of retirement is worth twenty times more
than the last year, and all the earlier years likwise compared to the
later years. The *quality* of life lived is far more valuable than the
number of dollars spent. The longer one waits to retire the least
likely they will enjoy good health, then what use is that little bit of
extra money. What good are more retirement dollars if they're mostly
used to pay more medical bills. And it's a proven fact, the earlier
one retires the more years they tend to live and the more healthy those
years. The bottom line is one can never get those forgone years back.
I retired early and have never had any misgiving over the few bucks
more I would have had to spend had I waited more years... I much more
enjoy spending a few less dollars on enjoying myself more than gambling
on forgoing the good years to have more dollars to spend on healthcare
later and in fewer years.

Dimitri, if you didn't accumulate that first million by now you never
will, and in fact the more years you put off retiring the less dollars
you'll be likely to retire with. Quit while you're ahead, you can't
beat old father time, no one ever has... you should have retired
yesterday.

Sheldon

Dan Abel said:

Quoted message said:

On a related point: what is it about servicemen (and women) and, sometimes,
police officers, regarding retirement. Whenever one speaks to one or the
other, they always say something like "Only 2 years to go"! If they don't
like it, why the hell did they sign on for further terms?

Like myself, they stuck it out because things were fine, and then when
they got burnt out, they were too far into it and had too much to lose
to switch. If you look at the numbers, it makes sense.

I don't think that I was burned out, but I didn't like the way things were going.
I worked in a branch of public safety related law enforcement. The government had
done a lot of downsizing. Even though our department had been relatively untouched
by the cuts, other departments were drastically reduced, eliminated or privatized.
Attending those happy departure seminars where you listen to a consultant telling
about the positive aspects of change can be exciting got to be a drag. I had been
paying a lot of money into the pension plan and sticking it for a few more years
seemed much more palatable than losing that investment and having to start all
over again.

My wife was close to burn out. She had 30 years of teaching, 25 of them as a
special education teacher. We had a government who tried to blame the education
system for all their financial woes, and they spend a lot of energy on tuning down
teachers. Thanks to their rhetoric, a lot of people were under the impression that
teachers worked 5 hours a day and had close to 3 months of vacation every year.
She was working 14-16 hours a day and putting in time on weekends and during those
"vacations". That public relations campaigning to smear her profession was the
last straw. She retired 5 years ago and hasn't had a moment of regret.

"graham" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:tRHXe.519890$5V4.136926@pd7tw3no...

Quoted message said:

"Dave Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My gross pay is half what it used to be, but I no longer have to pay 8%
right
off the top for my pension contribution. I no longer pay union dues.
Since I
earn less, I pay a lot less income tax. I still get my extended health
care
and life insurance. It works out to about $100 less per week net pay.
My
car expenses are a lot lower. Since I don't have to drive to work I spend
a
lot less on gasoline and there is less wear and tear on the car. Because
I
worked on the road I had to buy a lot of coffers and lunches. Now I eat
lunch at home. By the time you knock off all those work related
expenses, it
really doesn't cost much to stay home, and not having to wake up to an
alarm
and combat the elements, it's well worth it.

But what do you do with yourself? A number of friends and acquaintances
have taken early retirement and most seem to fill their time with mindless
activities. I'm 61 and busier in my profession than I have ever been and
the work is stimulating. I can't see myself retiring but perhaps taking a
bit more time off.

On a related point: what is it about servicemen (and women) and,
sometimes, police officers, regarding retirement. Whenever one speaks to
one or the other, they always say something like "Only 2 years to go"! If
they don't like it, why the hell did they sign on for further terms?
Graham

A number of friends and acquaintances

Quoted message said:

have taken early retirement and most seem to fill their time with mindless
activities.

Now, Graham, I'm wondering if there is some mindless activity that you
enjoy -- tee hee.
Dee Dee

MoM said:

"Dimitri" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1127051780.f4629da15d26699dbbe0898ed59f8395@teranews...

Quoted message said:

We are officially retired!

Now we can start travelling and I can do more experimental cooking!

Woopee!

MoM

Anything I say is based upon abject jealousy.

Congratulations.

Dimitri

Thanks, Dimitri; your turn shall come too.

MoM

Maybe.
LZ

Sheldon said:

Dimitri said:

fudge said:

"Jim get's his first Oct 1. We won't apply for CPP till he turns 65."

DO THE MATH HERE!!!!. You qualify at age 60. You will be a lot better off
starting the pension as early as possible. Note that all pension funds will
be clawed back by the tax system if you make over 53K/year.

Farmer John

There is a slight problem with the math and the logic.

Lets say the difference is 51 months (age 66 years & 3 months vs age 62) and the
difference is $1,000.00 per month. Conventional wisdom is that one will lose
$51,000 if they wait. Correct so far? The break even point is 51 months past
their full retirement age or in this example 70 and 6 months old.

The problem is that no one saves the extra $1,000 per month and once the full
retirement is reached the income only changes with the cost of living.
Additionally the older one becomes the less one has the ability to augment their
income.

For me the best seems to be to work as long as possible and to hold off claiming
as long as possible until full retirement.

That's the most common and most horrendous error made by those
contemplating retirement... finances are importnat but they're the
least important element of retirement. The one thing many never
consider is that not all retirement years are of equal value.
Considering one spends a total of twenty years in retirement (and then
you die) then the first year of retirement is worth twenty times more
than the last year, and all the earlier years likwise compared to the
later years. The *quality* of life lived is far more valuable than the
number of dollars spent. The longer one waits to retire the least
likely they will enjoy good health, then what use is that little bit of
extra money. What good are more retirement dollars if they're mostly
used to pay more medical bills. And it's a proven fact, the earlier
one retires the more years they tend to live and the more healthy those
years. The bottom line is one can never get those forgone years back.
I retired early and have never had any misgiving over the few bucks
more I would have had to spend had I waited more years... I much more
enjoy spending a few less dollars on enjoying myself more than gambling
on forgoing the good years to have more dollars to spend on healthcare
later and in fewer years.

Dimitri, if you didn't accumulate that first million by now you never
will, and in fact the more years you put off retiring the less dollars
you'll be likely to retire with. Quit while you're ahead, you can't
beat old father time, no one ever has... you should have retired
yesterday.

Sheldon

Right on, Sheldon.
LZ

Dee Randall said:

"graham" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:tRHXe.519890$5V4.136926@pd7tw3no...

Quoted message said:

"Dave Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My gross pay is half what it used to be, but I no longer have to pay 8%
right
off the top for my pension contribution. I no longer pay union dues.
Since I
earn less, I pay a lot less income tax. I still get my extended health
care
and life insurance. It works out to about $100 less per week net pay.
My
car expenses are a lot lower. Since I don't have to drive to work I spend
a
lot less on gasoline and there is less wear and tear on the car. Because
I
worked on the road I had to buy a lot of coffers and lunches. Now I eat
lunch at home. By the time you knock off all those work related
expenses, it
really doesn't cost much to stay home, and not having to wake up to an
alarm
and combat the elements, it's well worth it.

But what do you do with yourself? A number of friends and acquaintances
have taken early retirement and most seem to fill their time with mindless
activities. I'm 61 and busier in my profession than I have ever been and
the work is stimulating. I can't see myself retiring but perhaps taking a
bit more time off.

On a related point: what is it about servicemen (and women) and,
sometimes, police officers, regarding retirement. Whenever one speaks to
one or the other, they always say something like "Only 2 years to go"! If
they don't like it, why the hell did they sign on for further terms?
Graham

Bigger pensions and/or a higher rank.
LZ

Quoted message said:

A number of friends and acquaintances

Quoted message said:

have taken early retirement and most seem to fill their time with mindless
activities.

Now, Graham, I'm wondering if there is some mindless activity that you
enjoy -- tee hee.
Dee Dee

Dimitri said:

"fudge" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

OOPPPPS, you are Canadian. (Reference to CPP, Canada Pension Plan.

"Jim get's his first Oct 1. We won't apply for CPP till he turns 65."

DO THE MATH HERE!!!!. You qualify at age 60. You will be a lot better off
starting the pension as early as possible. Note that all pension funds will
be clawed back by the tax system if you make over 53K/year.

Farmer John

There is a slight problem with the math and the logic.

Lets say the difference is 51 months (age 66 years & 3 months vs age 62) and the
difference is $1,000.00 per month. Conventional wisdom is that one will lose
$51,000 if they wait. Correct so far? The break even point is 51 months past
their full retirement age or in this example 70 and 6 months old.

The problem is that no one saves the extra $1,000 per month and once the full
retirement is reached the income only changes with the cost of living.
Additionally the older one becomes the less one has the ability to augment their
income.

For me the best seems to be to work as long as possible and to hold off claiming
as long as possible until full retirement.

Dimitri

Yahbut there are no guarantees.
LZ

Quoted message said:

"graham" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:4dKXe.525384$s54.409543@pd7tw2no...

Quoted message said:

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Now, Graham, I'm wondering if there is some mindless activity that you
enjoy -- tee hee.
Dee Dee

You mean like a blonde......................;-)

I saw that!!!

Dave Smith said:

Dee Randall said:

Yes, some people have good luck and good planning and good families to help
them. Some people who save all their lives have basically saved for their
times in the assisted living, health-care homes and are thankful they did.
Now, when almost every nursing home of any kind goes at the rate of close to
$2,500 a month and up, it's not long that the savings are used up.
Hopefully they can live independent of any assistance from family and
government with that kind of planning and saving. Of course, there are many
kinds of circumstances; I'm only addressing a few.
Dee Dee

My sister in law had to move her mother into a nursing home last year. The poor
lady was really losing it, leaving burners on the stove and burning pots, not
eating, having mental lapses etc. They have her in a nice retirement home, but
it is $2500 per month. They only got $120,000 for her house. so that's enough
for about 4 years in there. I don't know who can afford to pay for it if she
lasts longer than that.

If she runs out of money they will appply to Medicaid for her, and
the nursing home will take her SS check except for about $45/mo.
for her payments at the home.

"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dimitri said:

fudge said:

"Jim get's his first Oct 1. We won't apply for CPP till he turns 65."

DO THE MATH HERE!!!!. You qualify at age 60. You will be a lot better off
starting the pension as early as possible. Note that all pension funds will
be clawed back by the tax system if you make over 53K/year.

Farmer John

There is a slight problem with the math and the logic.

Lets say the difference is 51 months (age 66 years & 3 months vs age 62) and
the
difference is $1,000.00 per month. Conventional wisdom is that one will lose
$51,000 if they wait. Correct so far? The break even point is 51 months past
their full retirement age or in this example 70 and 6 months old.

The problem is that no one saves the extra $1,000 per month and once the full
retirement is reached the income only changes with the cost of living.
Additionally the older one becomes the less one has the ability to augment
their
income.

For me the best seems to be to work as long as possible and to hold off
claiming
as long as possible until full retirement.

That's the most common and most horrendous error made by those
contemplating retirement... finances are importnat but they're the
least important element of retirement. The one thing many never
consider is that not all retirement years are of equal value.
Considering one spends a total of twenty years in retirement (and then
you die) then the first year of retirement is worth twenty times more
than the last year, and all the earlier years likwise compared to the
later years. The *quality* of life lived is far more valuable than the
number of dollars spent. The longer one waits to retire the least
likely they will enjoy good health, then what use is that little bit of
extra money. What good are more retirement dollars if they're mostly
used to pay more medical bills. And it's a proven fact, the earlier
one retires the more years they tend to live and the more healthy those
years. The bottom line is one can never get those forgone years back.
I retired early and have never had any misgiving over the few bucks
more I would have had to spend had I waited more years... I much more
enjoy spending a few less dollars on enjoying myself more than gambling
on forgoing the good years to have more dollars to spend on healthcare
later and in fewer years.

Dimitri, if you didn't accumulate that first million by now you never
will, and in fact the more years you put off retiring the less dollars
you'll be likely to retire with. Quit while you're ahead, you can't
beat old father time, no one ever has... you should have retired
yesterday.

Sheldon

That's good advise all be it a generalization. I thought we live forever?
Thanks for reminding me that I am mortal and that getting old is a [censored]. 100
yard dash? [censored] I don't know if I can do the 100 yard crawl ;-) LOL

If it weren't for Glucosamine I'd have steel knees.

Dimitri

"Lone Haranguer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dimitri wrote:

<Snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

For me the best seems to be to work as long as possible and to hold off
claiming as long as possible until full retirement.

Dimitri

Yahbut there are no guarantees.
LZ

Wadda you mean? Ain't you gonna live forever like me? LOL

Dimitri

"Randy & Cheyanne" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

<snip>

Quoted message said:

My sister in law had to move her mother into a nursing home last year. The
poor

Quoted message said:

lady was really losing it, leaving burners on the stove and burning pots, not
eating, having mental lapses etc. They have her in a nice retirement home,
but
it is $2500 per month. They only got $120,000 for her house. so that's enough
for about 4 years in there. I don't know who can afford to pay for it if she
lasts longer than that.

If she runs out of money they will appply to Medicaid for her, and the nursing
home will take her SS check except for about $45/mo. for her payments at the
home.

Isn't that wonderful? - you have to liquidate everything you've accumulated over
a lifetime as well as inherited then you can "become a ward of the state" in
whatever nursing home is the least expensive.

Nice....

Dimitri

"Dimitri" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Sheldon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dimitri said:

"fudge" wrote:
>
> "Jim get's his first Oct 1. We won't apply for CPP till he turns 65."
>
> DO THE MATH HERE!!!!. You qualify at age 60. You will be a lot better
> off
> starting the pension as early as possible. Note that all pension funds
> will
> be clawed back by the tax system if you make over 53K/year.
>
> Farmer John

There is a slight problem with the math and the logic.

Lets say the difference is 51 months (age 66 years & 3 months vs age 62)
and the
difference is $1,000.00 per month. Conventional wisdom is that one will
lose
$51,000 if they wait. Correct so far? The break even point is 51 months
past
their full retirement age or in this example 70 and 6 months old.

The problem is that no one saves the extra $1,000 per month and once the
full
retirement is reached the income only changes with the cost of living.
Additionally the older one becomes the less one has the ability to
augment their
income.

For me the best seems to be to work as long as possible and to hold off
claiming
as long as possible until full retirement.

That's the most common and most horrendous error made by those
contemplating retirement... finances are importnat but they're the
least important element of retirement. The one thing many never
consider is that not all retirement years are of equal value.
Considering one spends a total of twenty years in retirement (and then
you die) then the first year of retirement is worth twenty times more
than the last year, and all the earlier years likwise compared to the
later years. The *quality* of life lived is far more valuable than the
number of dollars spent. The longer one waits to retire the least
likely they will enjoy good health, then what use is that little bit of
extra money. What good are more retirement dollars if they're mostly
used to pay more medical bills. And it's a proven fact, the earlier
one retires the more years they tend to live and the more healthy those
years. The bottom line is one can never get those forgone years back.
I retired early and have never had any misgiving over the few bucks
more I would have had to spend had I waited more years... I much more
enjoy spending a few less dollars on enjoying myself more than gambling
on forgoing the good years to have more dollars to spend on healthcare
later and in fewer years.

Dimitri, if you didn't accumulate that first million by now you never
will, and in fact the more years you put off retiring the less dollars
you'll be likely to retire with. Quit while you're ahead, you can't
beat old father time, no one ever has... you should have retired
yesterday.

Sheldon

That's good advise all be it a generalization. I thought we live forever?
Thanks for reminding me that I am mortal and that getting old is a [censored].
100 yard dash? [censored] I don't know if I can do the 100 yard crawl ;-) LOL

If it weren't for Glucosamine I'd have steel knees.

Dimitri

It's great stuff! I take glucosamine and chondroitin in one capsule.
But... I've already had one surgery and I'm trying to avoid another. I've
lost a lot of weight and that helps, but unfortunately the damage is already
done and arthritis doesn't go away.

MoM

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

"Dimitri" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If it weren't for Glucosamine I'd have steel knees.

Quoted message said:

It's great stuff! I take glucosamine and chondroitin in one capsule.
But... I've already had one surgery and I'm trying to avoid another. I've
lost a lot of weight and that helps, but unfortunately the damage is
already done and arthritis doesn't go away.

What is that? Can I just buy it at the store? Or do I have to go back
to my orthopedic surgeon?

nancy