The 2016 Retirement Thread
The other day I was reading the few threads on VF about retirement. the most recent one was in 2014, and I was surprised that many of the people on the thread "had retired or planned to retire" in their 50s. However, all of the articles I've been reading in the past several years are that most people will be living longer and the retirement period would therefore be longer.
now, I know some people who might have retired in their 50s might have gone on to a second paying career, but reading that thread sounded like a majority were not planning to get into a second paying career.
This thread is therefore an update - those of you who are still working, what are your plans now? Those of you who made the break, how are you engaging yourself?
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DH & I are in our mid 50s. Our youngest is just beginning high school, so i'll be working for at least another 9 years (HS + 5 yrs undergrad). DH has the same strategy. we have 1 graduating from HS next year and the oldest is starting his 2nd year in college.
My mom is a widow and is in excellent health, and so is my MIL - widowed, remarried, and in excellent health. both are financially self-sufficient.
Both DH & I are vested, could retire w/full benefits, but are hanging on because it buys us time to consider our plans for what we want to do should we decide to retire. I envision that i'll probably get another job, mostly to stay mentally engaged, and to fund future improvements to our house. I keep reading articles where millennials (i.e., our kids) stick around at home after college because it's so expensive to buy a home. therefore, I'm expecting the boomerang effect.
in summary, our strategy now is: work for another 10 years, get 2nd career/job until age 71, meanwhile keep improving the house, hang out there... will progressively elaborate at that point.
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~jeannine
Miyagi: Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important.
[walks away, still making circular motions with hands] ~ Pat Morita, The Karate Kid, 1984
disclosure: in the years 2002-2004 i had a professional relationship with a distributor of fitness videos; see profile.
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