The Clock Is Ticking

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Ducati

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Nov 19, 2008
380
Boatless Boatless Annapolis
Without a doubt this past year has given me every reason to quit my rat race job of over 25+ years and go sailing...or at least do something else. With the death of my mother last Christmas and no less that a dozen associates also saying goodbye (forever) it makes one think that maybe we should slow the clock a bit and enjoy life. I do know this much...work is highly over-rated. Well, doing the same thing (under extreme pressure) for over a 1/4 of a century sure is.

I am only 51 which that may seem young to many but when I hear that a friend (around my vintage) just got his kids through College only to have a massive life ending heart attack...like where is the justice in that?

Not looking for more stories about people who took the "dirt-nap" too early (I have plenty of my own) however I would like hear about how and why it was time for you to cut loose and go sailing or do whatever floats your boat.
 
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Jun 3, 2007
23
Beneteau 373 Boston, MA
All I can tell you is if you can figure out a way to afford it and still have something to live on when you are finished then, like they say, just do it. I have talked to lots of folks that have made the choice and not one has regreted it.
 

KD3PC

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Sep 25, 2008
1,069
boatless rainbow Callao, VA
if you can afford it, and can shed your stuff..it is an awesome experience. We downsized by renting the house, sold trailer loads of stuff, and do weeks on the boat and weeks helping out the inlaws - all in their late 70's. This was after years of layoffs, new jobs, stress, and more layoffs. The idea of pulling up stakes or another lease on my nickel to satisfy some corporation that may sell out in the am, or send my job overseas - was not an option.

Good or bad - we are in control of our lives now. Key for us is that I enjoy my time with my wife, and she with me. Working another 80 hour week for some corp, is not in my plans...ever again. There is nothing in that environment except more work and more stress.

As B373 says, if you can figure a way to survive and do this, you will not be disappointed
 

higgs

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Aug 24, 2005
3,712
Nassau 34 Olcott, NY
I am having the time of my life after 5 years of retirement. I retired at 56. We moved to a part of the country with low home values and were lucky enough to sell the house in Chicago while the market was still up. Lakefront property in western NY cost 2/3 the amount we got for our average home in the Chicago burbs.

You don't need the fancy car and the big house (the boat is different). Dump that crap and start living!
 

Rick I

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Jan 6, 2007
414
CS36Merlin and Beneteau 393 - Toronto
Two weeks after quitting you'll wonder why you hung in so long.
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Life is too short to do anything for a living that isn't interesting and challenging in a good way. I quit working for wages 35 years ago and hung out my shingle for home repairs. We live very frugally and make enough money to pay all of our bills on time and still keep a 30 foot boat. Health insurance is an absolute must have.
Money is a lousy way to measure success. If you can find a lifestyle that suits you and have the means to support it then you are completely successful with no regard for the dollars involved.
No matter where you work or what you do, working costs money, sometimes a large percentage of your gross earnings. Payroll taxes take about 40 percent off the top. Everything that you buy is paid for with after tax dollars. The cost of commuting to work, the clothes you have for the job if you can't or don't wear them for play are a cost of working. A meal for two in a restrurant costs as much as a week's worth of groceries. A Filet Mignon with baked potato, a salad and a bottle of wine will cost 75 dollars for two people. I bought a whole tenderloin yesterday for 14.23 dollars and cut six meals for two people from it. Quality of life doesn't have to change when you reduce your participation in the rat race.
Sort out what you need from what you want and from what you have out of habit and don't really need. I know people that have athletic club memberships and hire someone to mow their lawn.
What you don't spend you don't have to earn.
 
Feb 10, 2004
4,152
Hunter 40.5 Warwick, RI
When I was 54 my company of 32+ years decided that it could do without 10% of us and asked for voluntary layoffs. I was planning to bail in another 12-18 months anyway, so I raised my hand and told them as soon as I packed my coffee cup I could be gone by noon. That was nine years ago.

My wife & I, now both retired, do what we want and when we want. Our kids are grown, out of the house and off the payroll. No debts, just current expenses. We sail as much as we can in the summer and usually take a cruise in the winter. Grand-kids are a few hours away and are a joy in our lives.

The toughest nut to crack is the health care cost debacle. The cost is exploding and IMHO not at all likely to get in control with the baby-boomers coming on-line. If you can solve the cost of health care for the long term, and you have enough income to do what you want, then you are good to go. Although I didn't believe at first, you will need about 70% of your pre-retirement income to make it. And if you are paying for your health care, that number will increase significantly in coming years.

There are downsides to retirement as well. As my wife says, "It's twice as much husband and half as much money." I found that you do need to economize and put all the costs on the table before deciding what aspects of your life you want and need to continue funding.

But the upside is tremendous. Every year of retirement is a year of your life that no amount of money can buy back. Like Ducati, I saw too many friends work all their life, retire, and then shortly expire. I had friends that dropped at work too. We are here for a unknown fixed number of years. Make the most of them.
 

r.oril

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Oct 29, 2008
586
MacGregor 26D and Catalina 30 26 - 30 Lancaster, CA
At 68, retired military on Social Security with health ins, I still work three part-time jobs. I "Work For Toys and Travel".
People are dropping all around me but none are related to me so not to worry there. Watch your diet, exersize and get a good physical.
Sailing is a very challanging/rewarding activity and will keep your brain active.
I sail single handed every chance I get at a local lake about 35 minutes from my home in my MacGregor 26D. I come home tired but happy.
"GO FOR IT!"
 
Nov 6, 2006
10,111
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Looked at the numbers for the benefit program of the large multi-national corporation I worked for. The work was challenging and fun and they were good to me monetarily, but the return for more years past age 60 looked pretty slim. I had been dreaming of sailing unhampered by having to get back to the office for many years.. I bailed at age 60, Jan of ’08.. Watched my savings go down by 30% .. was frightened by that but managed to stay away from the big tit of security.. I have never been happier !! The dollars are back now .. life is great! Family obligations have kept me from sailing as much as I would like to but that has worked out fine anyway !! When you can get on your own, I highly recommend taking that scary giant step!!
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Try putting yourself on a retirement footing before you stop working.
Start tracking ALL of your discretionary spending.
Have food at home that can be prepared quickly and pass the fast food, prepared food sources.
If you plan to stay in a land base home buy a food freezer if you don't have one.
My food cost is under 200 dollars per month based on three years of tracking. That is for two of us with company about once a month.
We keep our cars in good repair and for a long time.
 
Jan 4, 2006
7,303
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
All of the Above .......................

...................... is absolutely true.

One of the things that really, really, made for a successful early (56 yrs) retirement for me is to hate your last job with an absolute passion.

I know too many people who's jobs WERE their lives. After they retired, there was nothing else to do so they just slowly drifted downhill 'til they finally hit that 'ol dirt nap.

Retirement is absolutely the best time I have had in my life and I have never regretted retiring for a moment.
 
Jan 22, 2008
1,668
Hunter 34 Alameda CA
Good advice from everyone. I pulled the ripcord at 54 1/2 (6 years ago) and my wife followed 2 years later. Ah, that first 2 years, nice. Our key was no debt. We bought our first house in 1978 and through a combination of laziness and swamped at work are still living in it. We paid the mortgage off in 1998. I use Qucken software to track all my bank accounts and investments (personal and 401K plans). The key is to understand your spending. When I started using Quicken a couple of years before I retired I input 2 years worth of check registers and bank statements so I could see where the money went. We actually spent very little of our income after backing out the sizable deductions that would go away in retirement....like income taxes, social security/Medicare, employee stock plan, 401K contribution, self directed IRA, supplemental insurance...it really added up. With that knowledge we found we would actually have more spendable income from an early retirement pension at 55 plus earnings from our savings (up till then reinvested) than we had from our jobs. So when the opportunity came for a layoff I volunteered and was turned down. I then gave the obligiatory 1 day notice and quit. It has been great. I ride my bicycle 3 days a week with my neighbor to keep fit and volunteer at Habitat for Humanity building houses. In the last 5 years I have helped build 29 houses. There are a whole bunch of retired engineers (like me) there as well as others from the trades and other professions. We have an absolute blast. Oh yeah, and we go sailing too in our first boat..a H34 we bought new in 1985. In fact, we still have our first car too, a 1976 Bronco bought new. We have other new cars too, so its not like we haven't enjoyed new stuff over the years, I just can't seem to get rid of things. Probably from being an Air Force Brat and moving every single year as a kid only going to one school (4 th nad 5th grade) two consecutive years. But I digress...

The key to not outliving your money is to only withdraw 4% per year of your savings via earnings and have it equally divided (minimizing risk) between fixed income like CDs, bond funds or bonds and a no load stock fund like the S&P 500 or the Total Stock Market Index Fund (that will grow over time hedging against inflation) at Vangaurd. Vanguard had some good recommendations on books to read as does www.bobbrinker.com that will help you figure out how to invest smartly. Don't pay anyone to "manage" your money. The rest of our income comes from my wife's pension and eventually our social security checks. Our biggest expenses are still taxes followed by insurance (home, boat, auto, now medical which is a lot!) and then groceries at around 8%. Everything else seems to be below 1% each and we keep really active eating out, movies, cable tv etc etc.

You may be a bit young yet, but this is a great time to start planning and tracking for your income needs. That way you can figure out with the 4% rule plus any external sources of income like pensions, rental income, part time job, etc how much you will actually need to make a sustainable go of it. Make sure you are healthy...i.e., don't smoke, get regular exercise and eat right. Kids can help fund thier own college educations via jobs, loans, etc. Remember they don't give scholarships for retirement.

Allan
 

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,187
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
Ten Years And Counting...

I retired at 57, about a year earlier than anticipated, and my wife shortly thereafter. While my job was a sixty hour pressure cooker, it was also great fun. I only retired because of some economics and because I thought my parents health was rapidly declining (it wasn't and they are both in their 90's and doing well).

The largest single expense was health insurance for the two of us at about $1K monthly. Investments tanked, of course, just after I retired which added some pressure. However, many other expenses were greatly reduced; we moved to a less-expensive area and our material demands declined. I do have an investment adviser but I have known him for 30 years. He didn't make me rich but he also kept me from being poor.

We have kept very busy. We are able to take advantage of travel opportunities more readily, we sail and cruise a lot, civic involvement is more attainable and we have many friends for socialization.

The only thing making me anxious is inflation and the obsolescence of my skill set. Good investments may take care of the inflation and I can always be a WalMart greeter if I need to.
 

RichH

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Feb 14, 2005
4,773
Tayana 37 cutter; I20/M20 SCOWS Worton Creek, MD
I would suggest that you, in your early 50s, start to seriously look into your future by building a large nest egg of proper investments, etc. Good 'investment managers' usually wont advise you unless you have (or will) 'work up' your amount to a significant level (typically $1M+). Such managers are typically associated with large national or international banking institutions (but stay away from any bank, etc. that was involved in Tarp, etc.). Being ~50 y/o, you have plenty of time to engage in some level of 'risk' so you can target 'growth' equities, etc.
All that said, you really need to choose a manager/advisor who has an impeccable (recent) 'track record'.

Of course the investment industry is totally stressed out due to the 'gross uncertanties' due to the present socialist-leaning government, devaluation of the currency, 'wealth re-distribution', etc. etc. so if you choose an advisor be sure to understand that you also need to 'preserve' what you've already saved ... as the 'age of prosperity' in the USA may be on the 'downslide' for the near term future.
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
The five hundred pound gorilla in the room is inflation. If you retire in your fifies or early sixties your money will have to last for planning purposes thirty to forty years.
If you think back to what you were able to live on thirty or forty years ago and compare it to the needs of today it is reasonable to believe that thirty years from now we will see the same ratio.
I made 2250 dollars the year I left the Air Force in 1963. Social Security used a factor of seven to equate that to 2005 dollars. As long as you can earn living cost on the current economy inflation is not a major concern but the stick that is used to measure inflation does not take into account many of the expenses retired people have. Health care costs are not considered and more and more employers are limiting paid health insurance for retirees. Find some new skills to make your experience marketable or find some old skills that are being lost and market those.
 

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,223
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
Most of the responses to this thread are so predictable.... it's more like a personal finance seminar. You're still thinking like a guy who wants to work hard then retire to his boat.... that's fine if you're 50 plus or have planned well for the future. But... what about the true cruisers... they're nothing like that. Their committment is to the lifestyle and they find ways to get it done.. NOW.. no matter how old or young, how wealthy, how secure..... they take jobs when they need money.. they have jobs they can leave behind and pick up somewhere else. They work from their boats... They raise their families there too. The attitude isn't about surviving 30-40 years of career building and financial planning till they're old enough to go cruising.....and find out there are a new set of limiting factors... such as their health or their aging parents. Neither is it about whining about politics, Rich. No.. it is a choice to do it now or keep getting ready to get ready.
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,085
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Of course the investment industry is totally stressed out due to the 'gross uncertanties' due to the present socialist-leaning government, devaluation of the currency, 'wealth re-distribution', etc. etc. so if you choose an advisor be sure to understand that you also need to 'preserve' what you've already saved ... as the 'age of prosperity' in the USA may be on the 'downslide' for the near term future.
Isn't that kinda like thanking the arsonist for putting out the fire?
 

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,223
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
Of course the investment industry is totally stressed out due to the 'gross uncertanties' due to the present socialist-leaning government, devaluation of the currency, 'wealth re-distribution', etc. etc. so if you choose an advisor be sure to understand that you also need to 'preserve' what you've already saved ... as the 'age of prosperity' in the USA may be on the 'downslide' for the near term future.
So the previous administration had nothing to do with allowing the "investment" industry to self destruct. Is that what you're saying?... Are you that myopic? Short memories seem to be in abundance lately. Give it a break and stick to the the sailing advice, please.
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,085
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
"Uncertainty..."

Joe, he might have been kidding! :) That "uncertainty" is simply a rwn talking point.
 
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