| # | Author | Message |
1
| RoadTrip
Mon 6/2/2008 9:36p | My wife and I have always wanted to retire early. We had good jobs and made very good money at them, but never particularly enjoyed them. It was always a means to an end, and the end was retirement.
We had initially hoped to retire when we were 58. We constantly told each other 9/10 and we're free; meaning we planned to get out by September 2010.
Then reality hit.
Between our retirement benefits from the University and our investments we really had enough to provide for ourselves until we hit 62 and could collect Social Security. And once we started collecting Social Security at 62 we could live pretty much as we do right now. Except for the one thing we hadn't fully considered: the cost of health insurance.
Then a miracle occurred.
;-)
The State of Minnesota, and consequently the University of Minnesota, has a budget problem right now and they would like to replace the relatively high salaries of people like me and my wife who have been there for 30 years with the lower salaries of new hires.
So what is the University doing? Just what we needed most. They have offered people with our years of experience and age a "buyout" where they will continue us on the University's health insurance for three years if we retire by June 2009.
That is a benefit worth over $1,100 per month for three years. Which takes care of the one roadblock remaining between us and retirement.
So holy crap!! We will be retiring a few months before we both turn 58!
We plan to move to Branson MO where it is warmer in the winter and we can live more cheaply. We figure that with the lower cost of housing we can live in retirement pretty much like we live right now while we are working.
Of course you can only sit on your deck and drink for so long, ;-) so we both plan to work on a part time basis until we are 62.
But now we get to work at something we LIKE!! The money makes no difference. A crummy $8 per hour on a part time basis will provide us with more than what we need.
I've always said that the one job I enjoyed more than any other was cooking pizzas for Pizza Hut when I was in High School and College. I just could never have it as a career because it wouldn't pay the bills.
But now it makes no freaking difference. I'm going to fulfill a life-long dream and make pizzas for a living!
Man, it all seems so crazy. I never thought this would be possible. But I've run spreadsheets with the worst possible scenarios we could face and it still comes out OK.
At times I think we are totally nuts, but at the same time I look forward to it so much I can't stand it.
What do you think?
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2
| llanatoye
Mon 6/2/2008 9:45p | I applaud you, I envy you and congratulations! What a great ride for you two. Enjoy the heck out of it. Sounds like you worked hard and it paid off. |
3
| RoadTrip
Mon 6/2/2008 9:47p | <<So holy crap!! We will be retiring a few months before we both turn 58!>>
Oops.. actually a few months before we both turn 57!!
:-)
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4
| friendofdd
Mon 6/2/2008 9:50p | I think it is wonderful if it is what you want. I retired at 65 and really enjoy doing what I want to do when I want to do it.
Finding something you like to do will be the key.
At age 58, you'll be the youngest people in Branson. Sorta the teenagers in town. So you can easily get work flippin burgers.
When we visited there, I told DW I felt extremely young. The visitors tend to be a bit older. It is a beautiful place. |
5
| RoadTrip
Mon 6/2/2008 10:03p | <<Sounds like you worked hard and it paid off.>>
Thank you... we really did. Neither my wife nor I have college degrees. We both started at the University in entry level accounting positions... over the years we worked our way up.
My wife is the Financial Director (CFO) for one of the 18 colleges at the U of M. I'm an Information Technology Supervisor for one of the 18 colleges at the U of M.
My wife is a lot higher on the food chain than I am. She is a really big deal at the University and I'm not. But I make almost as much money because we computer folk are way overpaid. Please don't tell anyone, OK?
I truly don't say this to brag. I relate our experience to show that we really worked as hard as we could year after year for what we have. And we did it without college degrees. I truly don't know if that would even be possible any more. I'm just glad it was possible for us.
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6
| Lisann22
Mon 6/2/2008 10:09p | Our stories are very similar RT. I've been with my company now 22 years. Started as an inventory clerk and have worked my way up through the company up to the position of Distribution Director. Only thing higher is a VP or President position. I have no desire for either position so I'm where I want to be. I never finished my degree, so techincally I'm just a high school grad.
Congrat's to you both, I know what it takes and what it's like trying to climb that ladder. |
7
| JohnS1
Mon 6/2/2008 10:55p | Whatever you do, Road Trip, just don't use the word "retirement" if you can avoid it. Especially if you plan to keep doing some work. Most people don't realize that retirement is a relatively new thing, as is social security. People traditionally worked a lot longer than they do today and that work - preferably doing something you like to do (like make pizzas!) is what keeps people from just keeling over in their rockers two months after retiring. I will continue writing as long as I can see the words on the computer and hit the keys on the keyboard with my arthritic fingers! Having a passion and keeping at it is what keeps us all young! |
8
| SingleParkPassholder
Mon 6/2/2008 10:57p | Good for you. I'm very envious. Do it. Take the buyout before they change their minds.
And now you'll get to see as much of Tony Orlando, the Osmonds and Andy Williams as you can handle. |
9
| RoadTrip
Mon 6/2/2008 11:12p | <<Congrat's to you both, I know what it takes and what it's like trying to climb that ladder.>>
Congrats Lisann for your success also. I probably had a big advantage... my grandfather was a wonderful role model.
He only had an 8th grade education. He started working at the local Ford dealership as a mechanic when he was 16 years old. He worked his way up and ended up owning the dealership for about the last 20 years of his career.
Then he did something that probably cost us heirs a bundle of money. When he retired he sold his stock in the corporation to his vice presidents for what he had paid for it over 20 years before.
He felt that the company had given him a good living and that as a Christian man he should turn his stock over to the folks next in line without making a profit.
It perhaps cost me and other heirs a bunch of money, but I was super proud of him at the time and I am super proud of him now.
He was an incredible man. He was the son of Swedish immigrants and had only an 8th grade education. Yet he ended up owing a business worth millions (though he sold it for a small fraction of that). He was also elected to the local School Board and subsequently elected President of the School Board.
He was active in the local historical society and led the (successful) effort to raise money to build a 'Pioneer Village' in the town to show what things were like when the immigrants first came here.
He was respected in so many areas... in business, in his love for education, and in his work for his church.
He was also the best grandpa anyone ever had. When I was in high school I had the typical loser used car. Mine was particularly troublesome and had a water pump fail. Being a stupid kid I continued to drive it after the failure. Of course the engine would die after a few minutes, and I would wait for it to cool enough so that I could start it again. I repeated this process more times than I would like to remember before I got home.
My car was essentially trash. So I called my grandpa and asked him to come to Roseville (St. Paul suburb) to see if he could help me. He knew more about cars than any other guy I ever knew. Of course he came.
So here was my grandpa, 69 years old at the time, crawling under my car and taking the sucker apart to tell me what I needed to fix. It ended up I needed a new water pump and a new timing chain. Which my 69 year old grandpa bought and installed for me.
I loved that guy more than you can ever imagine. I could also tell you how throughout my childhood he took me on trips across the county and showed me more than I would have ever known otherwise.
I traveled with him to the New York Worlds Fair in 1964. I went with him to California to visit my cousins in that same era and got my first taste of Disneyland. I went with my grandpa to Washington DC and to Williamsburg and to Boston and to Quebec City and to Montreal and to more destinations than I will ever remember.
He was truly my hero, and he showed me what a man could accomplish even if he was not born to wealth and did not have much education. He not only contributed to my success, but my stories about him were a part of giving my wife the drive and the confidence that helped her succeed also.
So I really owe everything I have to a first generation American with an 8th grade education. And I'm supposed to rip on emigrants form Mexico? Give me a break.
They are the 21st century version of my grandpa.
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10
| ecdc
Mon 6/2/2008 11:23p | This is extremely cool. Congratulations! |
