Hm, yeah, probably not for me
By coincidence, I had just changed my 2 accounts over to 'managed' the month or 2 prior to this. I had been doing it all myself, and had everything in various index funds because it was cheap and the theory is that index funds perform pretty well,. I just thought it was probably a good idea to get some professional advice.
Good FA's know their shit and can do far better than myself alone. After all, when we do better, they make more money. They have online tools that can compare various different scenarios and how well we fare in each different situation. In all but the worst of cases, our future is very good.
I will be 62 in August. Reading through this thread has me going 'yep' 'been there' 'thats a thought and so forth. I am also in IT. So I will share what I can at this point. Started career in college... Government student intern... Was offered out of college a number of government jobs and turned them all down. Stupid me because I could seriously think about that day to retire next month. Did government contracting for 11y (one company) until my boss had to keep using proof of their diploma about justifying their inability to be a good manager. Left that to consult for 15y until that small company closed doors in 2009. I grabbed a slot as a government contractor and a 25% paycut. 2009 was a tough time. Working on site for my customer I realized it was the same shop that I work for and turned down in college. They were offering government positions to transition if you had enough time in... My time as a student 25y before counted. Very lucky now I can get a pension along with social security. I just need to wait for my 20y which comes about late 2027. I will be 65. I bought my current home away from the area I work in 2019...much cheaper and calmer life in the country. I will have 5y left on the mortgage in 2027... But it's an aggressive payment. A decent pension and reduced social security. My dad passed at 78 my mom at 88 and I have a mix of making it above 100 or not making it to 80. So who knows what stress factors I have done that's going to determine my exit. Best part of my transition is I get to telework most days so the first bad day after 2027 will likely be close to the date I start collecting retirement...
I had a white board in my office. About 6 months before I planned to retire, I wrote the planned date in the upper right portion of the white board. Under the date, I wrote "Or three bad days in a row." My superior asked me if I was serious and I told him "of course".
I worked as a counselor for 20 years, and that was my belief as well. It’s not what you are retiring from, but what you are retiring too.
And after this mornings major IT outage, the light is much closer.Congrats to all of you who don't know what day it is!
I'm trying to hold out for about 3 more years which will be 30 yrs at the same company. No reason special, just seems like a good goal to aim for. Won't be FRA and wife will continue working for benefits until she hits her pension date. Still leaves us young enough to enjoy what we have been saving for.
Been fortunate to spend most of my IT career with a small company and helping them grow until they were bought out. Always loved small companies where you talked with the owner, knew everyone, and had the opportunity to do a lot of different jobs and gain experience. That's most of the reason I stayed with the same company for so long. I'm still with the company, we are no longer small, more than 10X the size of when I started. Getting tired and worn out, hardly know anyone there any more and looking forward to all the projects and fun I have planned for retirement more than the daily work. Already took 3 trips this year so getting in practice. I'm pretty much left alone to get my work done and there is still enough new stuff to keep things interesting but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I've pretty much always managed my own financials. I just can't see paying anyone for something I can probably do just as well and it really is a simple formula. Pay yourself first, don't spend more than you make, carry as little debt as possible and put your money to work for you.
It's work out pretty well for us anyway.
Can't wait to not know what day it is.
Same here. I deal with mostly Linux systems which a unaffected but you really never realize how many Windows machines they interface with until there is an outage.
Kind of ironic how much life this thread has had this week.... and this week has been a freaking week from hell for me (and others in my same role). If I was in a position to use your 3 day rule I'd be retiring today. Sigh....
