I have no retirement plan, and would be embarrassed to tell you how much my savings is. So I'm doing it on social security alone. I think I can do it ... maybe you can too. Keep the faith. Pay off any debt if you can. I recently moved to a small one bedroom apartment. My car is 20 years old, but it's paid for. Keep the faith.

Certainly there's something better than watery US lager.



And would Ben and Jerry's also satisfy for ice cream?

Would have liquor. No need to be functional that Monday morning and I could waste away a Sunday without feeling guilty!

Should say was. Stopped drinking last December because of my new medication.

http://schellsbrewery.com/

http://schellsbrewery.com/our-beers-2/

They brew Lake Maid and Grain Belt too.

Some mini-tacos too!!!

Congrats!!!

Gambling on the premises too. He isn't the owner anymore.

He is still a member of a well known D family in Bellevue.

I officially retired in May 2010, I can't believe it will be 5 years in about two months. Boy time flies when you retire.

I got to retire in Jan, 2002, at the ripe old age of 49.

Don't know where I ever had time to go to work.

working until they are 70. That may be fine if you work in an office but if you work in a steel mill or
some other blue collar job you are lucky to live to 70. I say if you can afford to retire at 49 go for it. I have
never regretted retiring at 61. I considered taking a buyout at 55 but I just couldn't make it then unless
I had some kind of job.

Me reaching age 67 is a reach at this point. Anybody want to trade?

OS

One day I too hope to see this mythical thing called retirement.

Congrats.

I too am timing retirement according to contract negotiations, but my case is far better than yours sounds. Our pensions are calculated based on our last 12 months average salary, but we haven't had a raise since 2006. Management has new leadership that's much more labor friendly, and bargaining is going well. I'm pretty confident we'll get a decent contract with some equity raises and some sort of step increases, without many take-backs. If that happens, I'll stay in for the duration of the new contract before I cash out, or at least until I max out my earnings under the new CBA.

how you ever managed to hold down a job all those years because there is so much to do!

I'm very happy for you!

I hope you'll enjoy every moment of your well-deserved retirement!

What's that? I'm working overtime to get some new tires for the truck.

I retired in January, 2012, after 34 years with the Postal Service. I have an adequate pension and good health. I am very grateful as I know these things are becoming the exception rather than the rule.

My best wishes for a good year.

Enjoy it to the max!

I loved it from day one.

j/k

We added pets and our lives blossomed. And you'll be able to read all the books you want. Congratulations.

decent sleep.
We noticed that immediately. Sleep was better, more relaxed. In fact, for the first couple of weeks, we slept a LOT.
We had no idea how tired we had become, plus stressed, over schedules and alarm clocks and commutes, etc.
Mr. Dixie and I both felt invigorated, and even looked better.

Not one day of regret over taking very early retirement.

Hope you find the same.

( but do keep a stash of cash on hand, yes?..you never know what is going to happen)

Marta has TWO pensions. One is an over-funded (won't go broke) CWA pension from the phone company. She has a 401K. We have a couple IRA and Roth IRA's. I used to trade stocks in the late 90's boom at the Ameritrade. The headquarters was a couple miles away. We did good. I used to watch CNBC endlessly years ago.

Add in Social Security when we are old enough.

Last year our social equity fund (no guns, booze, tobacco, etc.) beat the S&P: https://domini.com/about-domini/News/Press-Release-Archive/domini-equity-funds-outperform-benchmarks-for-2013

Marta has her Masters. She has a large promotion in the works. She will get to work from home most of the time starting this summer.

Because of our health, travel plans we had are out. We will stay home and feed the birds while sitting on the deck, watch grand kids, donate some time to worthy causes, etc.

I'll have my pension (Marta gets a 75% survivor benefit when I'm gone) and a 457b account at ING that I used to put 26 days of overtime a year into for the first nine years I worked at Brown Park.

http://retireplan.about.com/lw/Business-Finance/Personal-finance/What-is-a-457-b-Plan-.htm

Unions made a good part this happen for us. Why would anyone not want to be in a union?

OS

Wishing you the best. And while you are bird watching, think about writing some letters for urgent action cases for Amnesty International. Not hard or complicated. I started several years ago and and have my heels dug in! Talk about it with everyone. Really an effective and easy way to help people.

The terms of the contract at the time I retire will be my retirement regardless of later cuts. Some asshats don't understand what a contract means.

OS