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Retired Guys, anyone? (1 Viewer)

HellToupee

Footballguy
Don’t know where to start and didn’t see a thread on retired FBGs. Anyways I had a couple of medical scares recently that I’ve pretty much come though ok but now my wife really wants me to retire. I’m 58 ,have a federal pension and would receive a social security supplement from the OPM based on my SS payment at 62 . Since the pandemic I’ve been working 60-70 hours a week and now it seems weird to be suddenly on the sidelines. Can’t do much right now until after a scheduled surgery in early December so at this time this isn’t the retirement I envisioned but that will change.
That said what do you guys do during the day?
 
I retired from the p.o. at thirty five with the tiny annuity. Money is tight, but everything else has been better. I sleep more now for sure. I have been out for almost fifteen years. Wow. Good luck!
 
Sorry to hear about your health problems, chief, but I'm at least 10 years away from retiring. And I'm eligible for early retirement right now. Anyhow, I have a 100% remote position with a Chicago firm that has worked out really great for me. All that said, I fill my days besides work with: (1) Nextdoor.com where they made me a moderator, much to the dismay of many a poster, who simply don't get it, (2) backgammongalaxy.com, where I'm known as the Midnight Toker (a line from Steve Miller's "The Joker", in case you don't get it, either., and (3) I have rediscovered the joy of cooking. As long as I was married, I depended upon my wives, but before I ever got married, I did lots of cooking on my own. I have bought myself a sweet little Cuisinart Convection toaster-oven, and I'm totally rockin' some long-forgotten recipes. Also, getting a monthly shipment of fresh boeuf from Snow Creek Ranch, about 40 miles south of here. Life is good!
 
Hoping to be soon. Semi. So that should give me something to do.

Maybe a very small side biz for fun and beer money
 
Any volunteer opportunities? Usually there are non-profits/charities set up to benefit Veterans or some such. Do some research in your area and maybe check to see if you have a local Veterans Court. They can also use some help.
 
welcome to the club!

I have said this many times but it is worth repeating and absorbing:

When you wake up every day in retirement, you ask yourself "what do I want to do today?" which is a massive massive psychological improvement from asking yourself "what do I have to do today?"

There are absolutely limitless volunteer jobs as well as a crap ton of simple part time work out there that is perfect if you only want to take up a couple of hours to get out of the house.
 
Good luck HT.

I saw a video recently (maybe YouTube short or TikTok, not sure) but the premise was that we spend so much time focusing on the financial aspect of retirement that the other aspects are essentially forgotten. Mental, physical, etc. I'm convinced my parents will die several years sooner than they would have if they didn't retire so early in life. They stopped living to a degree. And I say that not to say that you shouldn't - working for the man is the suck. Just a reminder to have a good plan for what you want to do and watch after those other things and not just your finances.
 
I'm 67, but have a few more years to go - by choice - as a university professor. But besides the volunteering aspect, two things that I hope to have more time for: (1) frequenting the local library ...I love to read a variety of books, and when I go in the library, I'm like a kid in a candy store; and (2) jigsaw puzzles ...easy to get absorbed in a puzzle, and you can choose the level of difficulty.
 
Sorry to hear about your health problems, chief, but I'm at least 10 years away from retiring. And I'm eligible for early retirement right now. Anyhow, I have a 100% remote position with a Chicago firm that has worked out really great for me. All that said, I fill my days besides work with: (1) Nextdoor.com where they made me a moderator, much to the dismay of many a poster, who simply don't get it, (2) backgammongalaxy.com, where I'm known as the Midnight Toker (a line from Steve Miller's "The Joker", in case you don't get it, either., and (3) I have rediscovered the joy of cooking. As long as I was married, I depended upon my wives, but before I ever got married, I did lots of cooking on my own.
You must be killing it to be able to retire with your harem in tow. :bow:
 
Don’t know where to start and didn’t see a thread on retired FBGs. Anyways I had a couple of medical scares recently that I’ve pretty much come though ok but now my wife really wants me to retire. I’m 58 ,have a federal pension and would receive a social security supplement from the OPM based on my SS payment at 62 . Since the pandemic I’ve been working 60-70 hours a week and now it seems weird to be suddenly on the sidelines. Can’t do much right now until after a scheduled surgery in early December so at this time this isn’t the retirement I envisioned but that will change.
That said what do you guys do during the day?
I’m a ways off from retirement it want to say I’m glad you made it through those health scares GB. Get that surgery done the do whatever the hell you want my friend.
 
I retired from the p.o. at thirty five with the tiny annuity. Money is tight, but everything else has been better. I sleep more now for sure. I have been out for almost fifteen years. Wow. Good luck!
you retired form the work force at 35?!
 
Good luck HT.

I saw a video recently (maybe YouTube short or TikTok, not sure) but the premise was that we spend so much time focusing on the financial aspect of retirement that the other aspects are essentially forgotten. Mental, physical, etc. I'm convinced my parents will die several years sooner than they would have if they didn't retire so early in life. They stopped living to a degree. And I say that not to say that you shouldn't - working for the man is the suck. Just a reminder to have a good plan for what you want to do and watch after those other things and not just your finances.
I think the same can be said pre-retirement: tons of people focus on working hard while younger, intending to generate enough wealth to enjoy their golden years. The problem is, they’ve ignored their physical and mental health along the way, and chronic illness curtails the late pay-off.

I’ve been fortunate to work part-time most of my career, using the off time to do active stuff I might not be able to do later. Nonetheless, I‘d like to retire in 5 years or so, in my mid-fifties. I agree it’s important to have a plan, and it should include activities to work the mind and body. For me, that means hiking, skiing and rock climbing, all of which get me outside and promote cardiovascular health, strength, balance and flexibility. I also like playing board games with friends, both for face-to-face socialization and problem solving. I try to avoid the “finer things” in life, many of which are expensive and addictive. On-line diversions, especially involving social media and politics, should also be limited imo.

And once retired, I intend on traveling and volunteering in the developing world. Taking care of my father-in-law might limit those opportunities, however.
 
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i go on a lot of fishing trips now because 1 i have had a lot of medical crap when i was younger and figure i shouldnt wait because you never know and 2 now that i am old i go because my friends can and ive lost so many lately that i figure i better spend time with them before i cant no more take that to the bank brohans
 
Good luck HT.

I saw a video recently (maybe YouTube short or TikTok, not sure) but the premise was that we spend so much time focusing on the financial aspect of retirement that the other aspects are essentially forgotten. Mental, physical, etc. I'm convinced my parents will die several years sooner than they would have if they didn't retire so early in life. They stopped living to a degree. And I say that not to say that you shouldn't - working for the man is the suck. Just a reminder to have a good plan for what you want to do and watch after those other things and not just your finances.
I think the same can be said pre-retirement: tons of people focus on working hard while younger, intending to generate enough wealth to enjoy their golden years. The problem is, they’ve ignored their physical and mental health along the way, and chronic illness curtails the late pay-off.

I’ve been fortunate to work part-time most of my career, using the off time to do active stuff I might not be able to do later. Nonetheless, I‘d like to retire in 5 years or so, in my mid-fifties. I agree it’s important to have a plan, and it should include activities to work the mind and body. For me, that means hiking, skiing and rock climbing, all of which get me outside and promote cardiovascular health, strength, balance and flexibility. I also like playing board games with friends, both for face-to-face socialization and problem solving. I try to avoid the “finer things” in life, many of which are expensive and addictive. On-line stuff, especially involving social media and politics, should also be limited imo.

And once retired, I intend on traveling and volunteering in the developing world. Taking care of my father-in-law might limit those opportunities, however.

Not kidding. Since the PSF went away I like coming here and have less stress when I do, and I did not even post there very much. Talking politics online is useless waste of time. These are things we all can find useful and be concerned about.
 
Hope to retire Q1 2023, when I'll be just short of 60. I have a full military pension (21+ years), wife has a full Civil Service pension (33+ years). We have a fairly good retirement account balance and won't file for SS until at least 65. I worry a bit about the downtime but, work is the suck and I wake up many days now dreading logging in even though I am full time WFH. The main thing I want to do is get a mid-size camper and start hitting up all the state parks that are in Texas. We love doing the cabins, but a camper opens up a lot more parks for us. Lots of other stuff to do. Read, puzzle, games, putter around the house doing those things that always need to seem done. I can honestly say, things only get harder each year that passes, so I am quickly buying in to not waiting and ending up feeling to old to really enjoy the retirement years.
 
Don’t know where to start and didn’t see a thread on retired FBGs. Anyways I had a couple of medical scares recently that I’ve pretty much come though ok but now my wife really wants me to retire. I’m 58 ,have a federal pension and would receive a social security supplement from the OPM based on my SS payment at 62 . Since the pandemic I’ve been working 60-70 hours a week and now it seems weird to be suddenly on the sidelines. Can’t do much right now until after a scheduled surgery in early December so at this time this isn’t the retirement I envisioned but that will change.
That said what do you guys do during the day?
First and foremost, take care of yourself HT. I have worked from home for my own business now for about 12 1/2 years. I have no idea how I got the little tasks done when I had an office job before. But while I'm far from retired and work a lot of odd hours, I get to see my kids when they get home from school, I get to walk the dog and exercise during the day, take a lunch wherever I want to regardless of how long it may take, just things I never would have been able to do when I had my office job. Start out by enjoying those things and you'll settle into something, whether that's a hobby or some kind of volunteer work, or perhaps just finding a fun part time thing you can do from home.

I do understand the worry, at some point I face the threat of suppliers cutting me off for my business and when that happens, it'll be time to retire. It's unnerving not really having control of when that's going to happen, but we don't always get to choose those things. Take care of your health first, and then you should be able to enjoy all that extra time and do whatever it is that you've ever wanted to do. I tell everyone the best day in my life was when I got laid off in 2010 from my office job when I should have quit and left years earlier. I knew a layoff for us was coming so I was hanging on for a severance. Waiting for that cost me way more in lost profits than that severance had I taken all those work hours to get my business up to scale earlier. Sometimes what is for the best we get forced into. Hopefully this will be the case for you as well.
 
I don't work. Two weeks before the 'Rona hit, Mr R changed his job to running the overight ops for a bank. He works from home, but much of that time is watching things complile. We watch TV, waste time on the music blogs, play games such Euro games, and whatever else we feel like doing. We inherited some cash, so we made our house a good spot to retire. We bought a swim spa. One of our friends also came into some money and retired. He comes over to game once a week, as do others to play Magic the Gathering. (Mr R got a whole room to set up as a gaming room. It's bodacious.) We have people to do our lawn and clean the house. We don't waste time at the grocery store since we have good delivery (HEB). Not having to sweat the small stuff is very liberating. Another of our newly retired friends plays pickleball. The horror!

Besides all of the excellent suggestions above, I recommend taking a few weeks to really figure out what you like to do. Perhaps you remember the lazy summers when you were a kid and the whole summer was open. What did you like then? Once you get the mindset, you should be good to go.

Look after yourself and your family. You earned it.
 
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58 ,have a federal pension and would receive a social security supplement from the OPM based on my SS payment at 62
Get well, bro. I'm planning to do exactly this too. Got some years to go though.

I have land and a 1.5 acre pond/wetland I want to make into 5 acres. Between maintaining all that and fishing (maybe get my Guide license) I hope that keeps me busy. My wife won't be retiring for 8-9 years after me.
 
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I won’t retire for a good 15 years or so but I plan on doing more outdoor stuff (fishing, hiking, rving, etc), bowling, poker, volunteering, gardening, traveling, etc.
 
Sorry to hear about your health HT, I hope all goes well and you are soon able to enjoy retirement.

I'm looking at May-June 2024. The wife may retire a bit earlier
 
I have no idea. I kind of like my working routine now, but I wfh and have very comfortable hours which allows me to do the stuff I want to do. I wouldn't retire until I had a good plan to fill in all those hours. The extra disposable income is too good to give up. It would be different working mindset as well knowing that I don't need the job for financial reasons and can just bail at any time.
 
I am 56 and often think about retirement. My early goal was 55 but that obviously came and passed. I am now targeting 62. My biggest hurdle right now is my 91 year old mom lives with us (has for past 7 years) and there is no way I could retire while she is still with us. She is unbelievably healthy and could go another 5 years minimum. My biggest concern is the medical insurance gap from retirement and medicare. I am financially fine for retirement now excluding the medical costs.... I am maxing my HSA out and not touching it so I can use that for my medical costs when I do retire...
 
I am 56 and often think about retirement. My early goal was 55 but that obviously came and passed. I am now targeting 62. My biggest hurdle right now is my 91 year old mom lives with us (has for past 7 years) and there is no way I could retire while she is still with us. She is unbelievably healthy and could go another 5 years minimum. My biggest concern is the medical insurance gap from retirement and medicare. I am financially fine for retirement now excluding the medical costs.... I am maxing my HSA out and not touching it so I can use that for my medical costs when I do retire...
Re bolded
Do you have specific concerns or health issues?
This year I started with medicare coupled with an advantage plan and mostly the benefits are equal or better.
 
I'm 67, but have a few more years to go - by choice - as a university professor.
Would you be allowed to do some part time, couple of classes, at the university? That's something I've thought about doing in retirement. Teach an Accounting/Govt. Finance class or two but at a local community college level.
 
I am 56 and often think about retirement. My early goal was 55 but that obviously came and passed. I am now targeting 62. My biggest hurdle right now is my 91 year old mom lives with us (has for past 7 years) and there is no way I could retire while she is still with us. She is unbelievably healthy and could go another 5 years minimum. My biggest concern is the medical insurance gap from retirement and medicare. I am financially fine for retirement now excluding the medical costs.... I am maxing my HSA out and not touching it so I can use that for my medical costs when I do retire...
Re bolded
Do you have specific concerns or health issues?
This year I started with medicare coupled with an advantage plan and mostly the benefits are equal or better.
I assume he means the gap between age 62 and age 65 when Medicare kicks in.

As an aside, technically you can't "couple" Medicare with an Advantage plan. Advantage plans replace Medicare.
 
I am 56 and often think about retirement. My early goal was 55 but that obviously came and passed. I am now targeting 62. My biggest hurdle right now is my 91 year old mom lives with us (has for past 7 years) and there is no way I could retire while she is still with us. She is unbelievably healthy and could go another 5 years minimum. My biggest concern is the medical insurance gap from retirement and medicare. I am financially fine for retirement now excluding the medical costs.... I am maxing my HSA out and not touching it so I can use that for my medical costs when I do retire...
Re bolded
Do you have specific concerns or health issues?
This year I started with medicare coupled with an advantage plan and mostly the benefits are equal or better.
I assume he means the gap between age 62 and age 65 when Medicare kicks in.

As an aside, technically you can't "couple" Medicare with an Advantage plan. Advantage plans replace Medicare.

Yes. I am concerned with the 62-65 gap. My health is fine. My DW health is the biggest concern having autoimmune issues and type2 diabetes. My initial thoughts were to just take SS at 62 and use that to help with medical premiums for 3 years but still debating it depending on costs. I do have arounds $40k in my HSA account and it will continue to grow each year by the max allowable contribution amount. I "should" be ok retiring at 62. I am good with retirement savings, etc. Its just the medical premiums for the 3 year gap I am concerned about....
 
So, if you start taking social security at 62 is that the dollar amount you get the rest of your life or does it raise each year until you get what you would get if you wait til you are 67?
 
Don’t know where to start and didn’t see a thread on retired FBGs. Anyways I had a couple of medical scares recently that I’ve pretty much come though ok but now my wife really wants me to retire. I’m 58 ,have a federal pension and would receive a social security supplement from the OPM based on my SS payment at 62 . Since the pandemic I’ve been working 60-70 hours a week and now it seems weird to be suddenly on the sidelines. Can’t do much right now until after a scheduled surgery in early December so at this time this isn’t the retirement I envisioned but that will change.
That said what do you guys do during the day?

I'll give a different perspective. From experience.

The average person who hits 70 is going to start seeing some physical decline accelerate. ( Assuming they were able to hold it off until that point, many people fall off a cliff before then based on lifestyle/poor health care choices) Once you pass 75, your mind begins to work differently. Slower. Harder to remember things. You also lose much of your edge, you are losing muscle mass and your T levels are spiraling naturally, and that too moves extremely fast.

If I was in your shoes, I'd create a ramp out period of about 2 years and retire at 60, if you can. If you still have a lot of dependents or complex financial obligations, wait until you are 65. But if you can, do it now.

Also get as much of your medical care stuff done now. No time to wait, no time to delay. It's much harder to recover and heal when you get older. Also the way America's medical care/health care system is going to see a major shift soon ( I'm not going to talk about it in the FFA, I'll leave that there) and you don't want to get squeezed between both sides when the changeover happens.

I always took care of my health, ate well, exercised a lot, and didn't smoke. Didn't drink except rarely and socially. Drugs? Beyond the 80's, it was just too expensive and too much of a problem. Here's where I suffered - Lack of sleep/Long term sleep deficit and stress level. I worked a lot, long hours, non stop, like most other small business owners.

Things I did to ease my decline phase - I started taking naps. If you work somewhere where you need X amount of output and you can control your hours, and no one is going to punish you for it, then take a nap in the middle of the day. Most people just aren't sleeping enough and it adds up.

The next thing is making sure you are exercising and doing lots of strength training relative to your situation. No matter how long you live, you want quality years and quality of life. Limping around and suffering in a dimly lit room because you are too beat up to walk is not a real life. The average male in America can probably afford to cut some weight, and that would make it easier on them over the long haul. The extra weight you carry punishes you in old age, even if you lose it in retirement.

When I was young, I fasted because I was poor and starting out. Later I was doing intermittent fasting and not realizing it, because I'd work all day and be too busy to bother eating. If you aren't right now, start some fasting. One full day a week at minimum. Intermittent fasting/One Meal A Day on the regular is also only going to help you.

Cut out all toxic elements from your life. You want to ramp down all possible stressors. Stress is like a bank account that works like a time bomb. Just adds up. It does kill and it shaves years off your life. If you have toxic people in your life, they need to go.

I'm retired now, but I still have to do the big decisions, deal with the a few legacy clients, and deal with the major financial decisions at my companies. So for the small business owners, you never truly fully retire. There is no such thing as real passive income. No such thing. But I'm ten million times better off than the average American.

For the regular working guy, even when you retire, you'll still have to manage your investment accounts, and it becomes more critical once you age out of the workforce. I've had people who worked for me basically all their lives, retire, then had to come back to ask to come back to work, because the financial strain was too much. One thing I never talked about in the FBG forums was finance, financial markets, stocks, investments, etc, etc, because I still have to do that crap all day long but on a global scale for my companies. Even if you "retire", you have to keep your eyes on the wheel, and that's another form of stress.

While you are still younger than 70, start getting rid of things out of your life you don't need. And you'll find you need very little. Sell off everything or give away things or donate things. But you want a clutter free life. Because all that crap turns into stress and things for you to deal with as you get older. I've seen it too many times with other people around my age profile. Get ancient and then get too old to deal with the boxes upon boxes of stuff and junk that just adds stress and mess. I had a giveaway thread here in the FFA a while back, and I could have easily gotten rid of a couple of hundred things that I'll never use before I die. I made some bizarre purchases in my old age. Why did I need two HCARs? No idea. I'll probably give one to @BladeRunner , but it will probably cost him 100 dollars to load a single magazine in a few years the way things are going. But someone who shall not be named had to ruin my giveaway thread, so don't do any mass giveaways here, that's for sure.

At 58, start thinking about moving to a state that is more forgiving for you tax wise. Decluttering helps this goal too. You want a place that has a good water source ( tragic it's gotten to this point, but again, another topic I'm not going to discuss in the FFA) and where people will leave you alone.

As for keeping a part time job, better still, take some time to figure out a passion you have or you know about and didn't explore enough in life, then do that. If that turns into a part time job, then sure, that's OK. But remember the point of retiring is removing OBLIGATION, not just work.

My godson didn't set back my retirement. The agreement I made with his father was that I'd only be the fall back option if the kid would be financially secure under my watch even if I died the first day that I took him in and became his only guardian. However I spent an ungodly sum of money across my life raising him and putting him in a good position so he'll be protected after I die. So if you have kids, you have to really weigh where your kids are at, because the situation with them makes it close to impossible for many people to retire at all. That's just the hard truth of it.

The term "Gray Divorce" is a big deal now. Lots of people get divorced in retirement. Each person, especially men, need to face the reality that they may have to deal with retirement all alone. It happens. It happens more than people think. I've had lots of employees go through ugly divorces later in their lives. A huge red flag with men and the retirement question is if the wife wants to move somewhere specific in a certain timeline and there's no practical reason ( i.e. the majority of the couple's family is there) Most people underestimate their retirement expenses, but many don't account for their spouses possible retirement expenses. If you are a saver and she is a spender, it's not like she's going to stop spending even in retirement. A spouse is retirement is functionally a liability, not an asset. I'm sure that will offend some people, but there are people here now, long time posters, who have spoken over many years how their marriages were basically full time liabilities long before the retirement question came up.

Where I see American society headed in the next decade, you want to be lean, healthy ( as much as possible), have flexibility and be mobile.

"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."

Take care of your health. Make a plan. Don't talk about it much to anyone. Trust no one.
 
So, if you start taking social security at 62 is that the dollar amount you get the rest of your life or does it raise each year until you get what you would get if you wait til you are 67?
Whatever you start at is what you'll get ..forever. So financially, it's ideal to wait ...even wait until age 70. From 67-70, the amount increases by 8%/year (prorated monthly). The great unknown, of course, is whether it works out to take a lower amount for more years (by starting early) or hold off and get the larger amount for fewer years. Very roughly, I'd say the trade-off is about 12-14 years. If you live beyond your late 70s, you'd be better off with the larger monthly stipend.
 
I'm 67, but have a few more years to go - by choice - as a university professor.
Would you be allowed to do some part time, couple of classes, at the university? That's something I've thought about doing in retirement. Teach an Accounting/Govt. Finance class or two but at a local community college level.
Yes! When I do retire, I might still teach a course or two as an adjunct. The pay isn't much (maybe $3-4,000 per course, depending on the school), but it can be rewarding. (It can be a hassle, too ...dealing with student issues, cheating, etc.) Pretty much all schools - including four year schools - have some need for adjuncts who can teach a particular topic. What's nice now is that schools have what they call learning management systems ..on-line systems where a separate link is set up for each course. Faculty and students can use that as a centralized hub for posting materials (textbook materials, faculty notes, web links, etc.), setting up assignments (where students can upload materials, and even complete online quizzes and tests), creating online discussion topics, etc. The textbook publishers, too, have a ton of online support resources for students and faculty.
 
So, if you start taking social security at 62 is that the dollar amount you get the rest of your life or does it raise each year until you get what you would get if you wait til you are 67?
Whatever you start at is what you'll get ..forever. So financially, it's ideal to wait ...even wait until age 70. From 67-70, the amount increases by 8%/year (prorated monthly). The great unknown, of course, is whether it works out to take a lower amount for more years (by starting early) or hold off and get the larger amount for fewer years. Very roughly, I'd say the trade-off is about 12-14 years. If you live beyond your late 70s, you'd be better off with the larger monthly stipend.

There are X factors here.

The age to retire and qualify for Social Security and Medicare is going to go up. ( There is a larger discussion pathway but I'm not going to talk about that here in the FFA) And soon.

I've watched press releases for the last decade in terms of life expectancy, retirement, public policy on this issue, etc, etc and the media optics pathway is "inching" Numbers are being cooked to raise the projectible life expectancy for Americans to make forcing later retirement look less daunting. It's called "The Cattle Principle", i.e. working class Americans are nothing more than cattle. That's not how I see it, that's not how many of you see it, but the real hands on the levers up the food chain, they see it that way. That's as far as I'll take that part of the discussion.

The majority of the posters here in this forum are male. Probably white males. Average life expectancy is going to hover around 74 to 78, depending on where you look and how far they go in their analysis. That's the average.

Weighing out all the factors, those who can get out now, should get out now. Full stop - Get out now. Certainly have a plan and create a strong ramp down in your favor, but still, the point is to get out before sweeping changes forces you into a corner.

Many of you will die in your mid 60s. That's not some kind of sword jammed into your soul here, it's just the math behind it. Get out while you still have some quality of life left. Also the timeline to when you die is NOT the same thing as the timeline to when you decline to the point to where you don't have quality of life anymore.

The end game is QUALITY YEARS WITHOUT UNDESIRED OBLIGATION.
 
Don’t know where to start and didn’t see a thread on retired FBGs. Anyways I had a couple of medical scares recently that I’ve pretty much come though ok but now my wife really wants me to retire. I’m 58 ,have a federal pension and would receive a social security supplement from the OPM based on my SS payment at 62 . Since the pandemic I’ve been working 60-70 hours a week and now it seems weird to be suddenly on the sidelines. Can’t do much right now until after a scheduled surgery in early December so at this time this isn’t the retirement I envisioned but that will change.
That said what do you guys do during the day?

Glad you're on the mend.

Have you given Disc Golf a try? @urbanhack got me to try it a couple years back and I liked it ok, but didn't play very often. Fast forward to today, and now I play at least 3 times a week, usually by myself or with my dog but will occasionally play with buddies. For me, it's become a hobby that I absolutely want to do more of as I age, so IF I ever retire (and let's be honest, with five kids, youngest of which are 7, I'll probably die before I retire) I've got my daily activity already waiting for me.

Pros:
- Most courses are free to the public - the ones that are private are like $5-10 bucks tops. So unlike ball golf, the cost is to play is de minimis. Buy a few discs, a bag and wa la.
- Granted, it's not Crossfit or ultramarathon running, but you're getting some steps in. My goal is 10K steps a day, 18 holes of disc golf will get me half of that total at least.
- Fresh air and vitamin D.
- Folks that play are laid back and easy to befriend (unlike ball golf, which can be full of uptight dbags).
- Dog friendly (I just grab my bag of discs and my dog jumps up ready to go).
- FUN! I'm not very good, but I love it. Unlike ball golf where I was just getting worse with age, frustrated at the regression and would finish a round more aggravated than relaxed. Even a lousy round of disc golf makes me happy.
- You can play 18 in an hour or so.
- SO many courses out there, hidden in plain sight. Some are basic and easy, others are challenging and creative. Nothing better than looking for a new course to play on road trips/business trips.
 
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I am 56 and often think about retirement. My early goal was 55 but that obviously came and passed. I am now targeting 62. My biggest hurdle right now is my 91 year old mom lives with us (has for past 7 years) and there is no way I could retire while she is still with us. She is unbelievably healthy and could go another 5 years minimum. My biggest concern is the medical insurance gap from retirement and medicare. I am financially fine for retirement now excluding the medical costs.... I am maxing my HSA out and not touching it so I can use that for my medical costs when I do retire...
Re bolded
Do you have specific concerns or health issues?
This year I started with medicare coupled with an advantage plan and mostly the benefits are equal or better.
I assume he means the gap between age 62 and age 65 when Medicare kicks in.

As an aside, technically you can't "couple" Medicare with an Advantage plan. Advantage plans replace Medicare.

Yes. I am concerned with the 62-65 gap. My health is fine. My DW health is the biggest concern having autoimmune issues and type2 diabetes. My initial thoughts were to just take SS at 62 and use that to help with medical premiums for 3 years but still debating it depending on costs. I do have arounds $40k in my HSA account and it will continue to grow each year by the max allowable contribution amount. I "should" be ok retiring at 62. I am good with retirement savings, etc. Its just the medical premiums for the 3 year gap I am concerned about....
If you have enough post tax monies you can engineer a low enough salary from 62-65 to get a good subsidy out of Obamacare. That may or may not be a good option depending on what your marketplace looks like where you are.
 
So, if you start taking social security at 62 is that the dollar amount you get the rest of your life or does it raise each year until you get what you would get if you wait til you are 67?
There are two items at play here. All SS recipients get a yearly inflation adjustment, so you do get more every year. However, your base amount is set when you claim - from 62-70 that base amount increased about 8% every year. It's engineered that way to roughly equivalent if you claim at 62 or claim at 70 and die at the average age of death in the US.

I've said this every time this comes up in here. If you're unclear on the ramifications find a SS advisor to show you the playing field. If you are married that goes double as the math gets more complex with a 2 player game - it can be many, many thousands of dollars lost if you choose poorly there (and there is no one correct answer - it's an amalgamation of ages, benefit amount, health, etc.)
 
I am 56 and often think about retirement. My early goal was 55 but that obviously came and passed. I am now targeting 62. My biggest hurdle right now is my 91 year old mom lives with us (has for past 7 years) and there is no way I could retire while she is still with us. She is unbelievably healthy and could go another 5 years minimum. My biggest concern is the medical insurance gap from retirement and medicare. I am financially fine for retirement now excluding the medical costs.... I am maxing my HSA out and not touching it so I can use that for my medical costs when I do retire...
Re bolded
Do you have specific concerns or health issues?
This year I started with medicare coupled with an advantage plan and mostly the benefits are equal or better.
I assume he means the gap between age 62 and age 65 when Medicare kicks in.

As an aside, technically you can't "couple" Medicare with an Advantage plan. Advantage plans replace Medicare.

Yes. I am concerned with the 62-65 gap. My health is fine. My DW health is the biggest concern having autoimmune issues and type2 diabetes. My initial thoughts were to just take SS at 62 and use that to help with medical premiums for 3 years but still debating it depending on costs. I do have arounds $40k in my HSA account and it will continue to grow each year by the max allowable contribution amount. I "should" be ok retiring at 62. I am good with retirement savings, etc. Its just the medical premiums for the 3 year gap I am concerned about....
If you have enough post tax monies you can engineer a low enough salary from 62-65 to get a good subsidy out of Obamacare. That may or may not be a good option depending on what your marketplace looks like where you are.
Good point here. I have quite a bit in Roth IRAs as well as maxing out my company's Roth401k. Never thought of that angle!

Thanks Sand!
 

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