Retirement looms on the near horizon.......

[Familydude]

I'm 4 years out from retirement, so can't really offer advice about the experience. But we are well positioned for it.

What I can say is that 3 years ago I went to the Dr's for a sinus infection, and two weeks later was told I had a tumor in my head that was inoperable. I sought a second (well, third actually) opinion, and found a surgeon that felt they could remove said tumor with "minimal" residual damage. 6 months of prep and insurance BS, and four surgeries (one a 14 hr long brain surgery) and it was done. I know I died at least once during the whole thing, and I gather from comments from the Neuro ICU staff that it happened more than once. I was pretty doped up after they cracked my skull open to get about half of it out before I started wavering on the edge, and they called it good enough and backed out. The remaining tumor hasn't grown anymore since, but it is a constant thought in the back of my mind when I ponder the future, grandkids, aging parents, etc.

If you can retire, have the money, and have things to keep you busy...I'd think long and hard about what I've just stated. Life is fleeting, time is short, and you never know when you may have to make that calm, deliberate, acceptance that you may not survive a medical procedure, and that life could be pretty much at its end. Not because it's about you, but because you see the absolute horror in the faces and eyes of your family as you deal with that, and they have to watch. Make sure you have some good times they can remember, should that happen, or when you time does come. I don't mean to come across as melancholy or alarmist; merely realistic. The job is a job, but family...well, they deserve better than the job. Your time is valuable, especially to your loved ones.

Life is short. Remember that.

Very well said. Quite the journey you’ve been on. Here’s to good health and good news at every check-up.

 

[FjallJager]

What do you eat on a daily basis?

He lives on liberal tears and pussy juice

 

[jrhtx]

I'm 4 years out from retirement, so can't really offer advice about the experience. But we are well positioned for it.

What I can say is that 3 years ago I went to the Dr's for a sinus infection, and two weeks later was told I had a tumor in my head that was inoperable. I sought a second (well, third actually) opinion, and found a surgeon that felt they could remove said tumor with "minimal" residual damage. 6 months of prep and insurance BS, and four surgeries (one a 14 hr long brain surgery) and it was done. I know I died at least once during the whole thing, and I gather from comments from the Neuro ICU staff that it happened more than once. I was pretty doped up after they cracked my skull open to get about half of it out before I started wavering on the edge, and they called it good enough and backed out. The remaining tumor hasn't grown anymore since, but it is a constant thought in the back of my mind when I ponder the future, grandkids, aging parents, etc.

If you can retire, have the money, and have things to keep you busy...I'd think long and hard about what I've just stated. Life is fleeting, time is short, and you never know when you may have to make that calm, deliberate, acceptance that you may not survive a medical procedure, and that life could be pretty much at its end. Not because it's about you, but because you see the absolute horror in the faces and eyes of your family as you deal with that, and they have to watch. Make sure you have some good times they can remember, should that happen, or when you time does come. I don't mean to come across as melancholy or alarmist; merely realistic. The job is a job, but family...well, they deserve better than the job. Your time is valuable, especially to your loved ones.

Life is short. Remember that.

I hope you are doing well from the procedure. I know what your family has gone through. We went through this with my dad. Tumor behind his left eye. They removed the top front 1/4 of his skull to get to the tumor, about 22 hours.

He had been retired about 10 years and this drove my mom over the edge with her dementia.

Best of luck with your recovery and future plans.

Retire when you can, do with less to reach that goal. Live a simpler life. Enjoy.

 

[stefan73]

I’d be interested in hearing about some of you all’s investment strategies.

Buy guns and stuff As my mom told my dad once "just buy it, we will die before we get it paid off so who cares" so my dad bought a Porsche.

 

[MarinePMI]

I hope you are doing well from the procedure. I know what your family has gone through. We went through this with my dad. Tumor behind his left eye. They removed the top front 1/4 of his skull to get to the tumor, about 22 hours.

He had been retired about 10 years and this drove my mom over the edge with her dementia.

Best of luck with your recovery and future plans.

Retire when you can, do with less to reach that goal. Live a simpler life. Enjoy.

Mine was in the base of my skull (but had grown up through the carotid canal, onto the right hemisphere of my brain), so they went in via the "intrafossa approach". Essentially, they crack your skull open behind your ear (mastoid), reroute the facial nerve, and then tunnel in to the skull base, then up through the carotid canal.

I've recovered fairly well, but have permanent paralysis (one side) of the throat, vocal chord, tongue and lower face. Lost all hearing on that side as well (not even a hole in the ear anymore).

Meh. I've seen 3 legged coyotes in the wild, so I can adapt as well. You just learn to compensate, like watching people's lips when they talk, or their eyes when they localize sound that you can't tell from what direction it's coming. You learn to speak and yell from lower down in the gut, to project as much as possible from the single vocal chord.

It's all about readjusting, getting stronger, and getting on with your life...

 

[Familydude]

Mine was in the base of my skull (but had grown up through the carotid canal, onto the right hemisphere of my brain), so they went in via the "intrafossa approach". Essentially, they crack your skull open behind your ear (mastoid), reroute the facial nerve, and then tunnel in to the skull base, then up through the carotid canal.

I've recovered fairly well, but have permanent paralysis (one side) of the throat, vocal chord, tongue and lower face. Lost all hearing on that side as well (not even a hole in the ear anymore).

Meh. I've seen 3 legged coyotes in the wild, so I can adapt as well. You just learn to compensate, like watching people's lips when they talk, or their eyes when they localize sound that you can't tell from what direction it's coming. You learn to speak and yell from lower down in the gut, to project as much as possible from the single vocal chord.

It's all about readjusting, getting stronger, and getting on with your life...

If you don’t mind my asking, and if you do please tell me to pound sand; what made you believe it was a sinus infection? Been dealing with those quite a bit lately, at least I think so.

And, holy wow, you’re a greater man than I am.

 

[stefan73]

Mine was in the base of my skull (but had grown up through the carotid canal, onto the right hemisphere of my brain), so they went in via the "intrafossa approach". Essentially, they crack your skull open behind your ear (mastoid), reroute the facial nerve, and then tunnel in to the skull base, then up through the carotid canal.

I've recovered fairly well, but have permanent paralysis (one side) of the throat, vocal chord, tongue and lower face. Lost all hearing on that side as well (not even a hole in the ear anymore).

Meh. I've seen 3 legged coyotes in the wild, so I can adapt as well. You just learn to compensate, like watching people's lips when they talk, or their eyes when they localize sound that you can't tell from what direction it's coming. You learn to speak and yell from lower down in the gut, to project as much as possible from the single vocal chord.

It's all about readjusting, getting stronger, and getting on with your life...

Awesome perspective! Make the best with what you have.

I met a young Soldier while doing a charity ride for the Fisher House at Fort Sam Houston who was a double amputee (IED in Iraq). He chewed the same piece of dirt in Iraq I had. I am not going to lie, I cried when I spoke with him. Truly phenomenal young man that was full of life , he said "Sir, don't cry for me. I have a thumb throttle on my four wheeler so I'm good to go!". What an outlook on life!

I believe adversity makes us stronger.

Very Respectfully,
Stefan

 

[MarinePMI]

If you don’t mind my asking, and if you do please tell me to pound sand; what made you believe it was a sinus infection? Been dealing with those quite a bit lately, at least I think so.

And, holy wow, you’re a greater man than I am.

I was having issues with clearing my ears (clogged hearing, trying to swallow to clear them, like when you're diving or snorkeling). Lots of post nasal drip and such.

In actuality, they misdiagnosed it twice over the previous two years, but since this is such a rare type of tumor (1 in 1.3M; so about 330 people in the US), it never crossed their minds. First time I went in, I had had a viral infection that I thought might have been measles (very rare in the US, but I had just come back from business in the UK, where it is uncommon, but not so rare). When I was in, they noticed my tongue was crooked (pointed to the right), but couldn't deduce why, and thought "Meh. That's odd, we'll note it in your record.". Second time I went in was because I had caused a 3cm tear in my left pectoral while bench pressing (and not paying attention), and they noticed my right ear was inflamed (or so they thought), and asked if I was in any pain. When I said no, they just commented that I should come in if I do.

About 4 months later I was having the sinus post nasal drip/ear clogging thing, so went in. They put me on antibiotics, and told me to call them in 3 weeks if the symptoms persisted, and that they would refer me to an ENT. After 3 weeks, no joy, so called, and they said it was a requirement to have a hearing test before seeing the ENT. Went into see the audiologist, and she knew (or thought she did) what is was right away, and advised me to not look up the diagnosis on the internet until I spoke with the ENT (said most of the info on the internet was dated or incorrect). She was generally correct, but not exact about the diagnosis. These tumors are called Glomus tumors, and occur in the ear (glomus tympannicum) or in the jugular bulb (glomus juglare). The ear type is more common (very similar to an acoustic neuroma), so she assumed it was that, since the "inflamed ear" was actually inverted; in that the ear drum was red, and the surrounding tissue was normal white/pink. The reason the ear drum was red was the tumor had grown to the point it was laying against the eardrum (hence my "muted hearing" and perceived congestion of the ear canal. After an CAT scan they realized that it was the (rarer) juglare version, and they are very hard to remove, even when they are small. These are benign tumors (non-cancerous), but they are highly vascular, so every time your heart beats, it pulses. That endless pulsation begins to wear through soft tissue and bone like mild sandpaper. As it grows, it begins to destroy more tissue and bone. My crooked tongue symptom was the tumor wearing through the cranial nerve that controls the tongue/vocal chord.

Anyways, two weeks go by, and I finally get a message from the ENT on my home phone message machine. Basically it was a "I'm very sorry. You have a Glomus Jugulare, and they are very tricky to operate on. I'm going to refer you to a specialist. I'm very sorry. click". It was a pretty substantial shot to the gut. Up to that point it was more or less believed that I'd lose my right hearing, but that would be it. Now it was something on a whole new order of magnitude. So, went and saw a specialist and an oncologist. Specialist was...unprepared for the appointment, and clearly nervous about performing a resection (surgery; he'd only done 4 of these in his 29yrs of practice), so I went and saw the oncologist, who flat out told me that in his opinion the tumor was inoperable, and radiation had about a 70% success rate with these tumors, but that he could refer me to one of the leading surgeons in the US (who happened to be 20 mins away at UCSD Skull Base Surgery Center). The oncologist had only seen four in his 32yrs of practice.

So, went and saw the specialist. Took about 45 mins to review all my medical records (different health care system, so had to hand carry everything over), came in and said "Yes, I can remove it". And when asked by my wife (she's the one who asked the first couple of surgeons) how many he had performed, he calmly replied "Your husband, should he decide to go this route, would be my 64th."

And so, four surgeries later (the main (3rd surgery) one being 14hrs long with five neurosurgeons working in shifts and about 35 medical staff, to keep me from croaking, (since this was a "secreting" tumor that was leaking catecholamines; which seriously screws/spikes your blood pressure)), they removed the majority of the tumor, cauterized the blood vessels feeding the roughly half that was left, and cut of the tendrils that had grown up into my brain case. They even did a nerve graft to my throat (which has been partially successful).

Sorry so long winded. Basically, symptoms were:

Perceived sinus infection (hearing clogged and post nasal drip)

Slurred speech (when even just having one drink, the nerve controlling my tongue would just go dead).

Severe fatigue; this is a very common one for this type of tumor, since the tumor eventually begins to compress the cerebral cortex lobe, which is what controls your basic functions like sleeping, breathing, etc.)

Loss of motor skill; this was more gradual, almost unnoticeable, except that my PRS/NRL shooting (I noticed) began to degrade. I felt/perceived that I was having a hard time transitioning between addresses on a barricade (for example). It was like your brain was screaming "move!", but your body was just diddy bopping down the road at it's own damned pace. NoLegs24 didn't know at the time, but he was giving me shit for being slow back then, and I was (internally) also wondering WTF was going on. I just chalked it up to getting old and slowing down. Nope. Again, the tumor was impinging my brain, so the neural pathways were compromised, and having to reroute the signals. In fact, after the second surgery (where they basically cauterize a majority of the blood vessels feeding the tumor, causing it to deflate slightly), the morning after I got home from the hospital, I was making a protein shake, and drop the cap on the counter. It bounced off the counter and without thinking I snatched it on the rebound out of midair without looking at it. It was then that I realized how much my motor functions had been compromised. It's still fucking scary when I think about it. I was living in a fog, and didn't even realize it.


Anyways, that's the gist of it, and the symptoms. These are extremely rare, so the odds of you having something similar are so remote, I would say you're more likely to buy a winning lottery ticket than have something like this.

My apologies to the OP for this diversion, but I tend to write about it on the internet when I get a chance, since there was jack shit for information about it when I went through it. And hopefully the webcrawlers will index the key words in this post, and it'll help someone else out in the future. The unknown was the worst part of dealing with all this. Especially when realizing if this had happened 15 yrs earlier, they'd have just told me to go home, make myself comfortable, and wait for it to run its course. Surgical techniques have improved that much in the last 15 yrs.

 

[Familydude]

I was having issues with clearing my ears (clogged hearing, trying to swallow to clear them, like when you're diving or snorkeling). Lots of post nasal drip and such.

In actuality, they misdiagnosed it twice over the previous two years, but since this is such a rare type of tumor (1 in 1.3M; so about 330 people in the US), it never crossed their minds. First time I went in, I had had a viral infection that I thought might have been measles (very rare in the US, but I had just come back from business in the UK, where it is uncommon, but not so rare). When I was in, they noticed my tongue was crooked (pointed to the right), but couldn't deduce why, and thought "Meh. That's odd, we'll note it in your record.". Second time I went in was because I had caused a 3cm tear in my left pectoral while bench pressing (and not paying attention), and they noticed my right ear was inflamed (or so they thought), and asked if I was in any pain. When I said no, they just commented that I should come in if I do.

About 4 months later I was having the sinus post nasal drip/ear clogging thing, so went in. They put me on antibiotics, and told me to call them in 3 weeks if the symptoms persisted, and that they would refer me to an ENT. After 3 weeks, no joy, so called, and they said it was a requirement to have a hearing test before seeing the ENT. Went into see the audiologist, and she knew (or thought she did) what is was right away, and advised me to not look up the diagnosis on the internet until I spoke with the ENT (said most of the info on the internet was dated or incorrect). She was generally correct, but not exact about the diagnosis. These tumors are called Glomus tumors, and occur in the ear (glomus tympannicum) or in the jugular bulb (glomus juglare). The ear type is more common (very similar to an acoustic neuroma), so she assumed it was that, since the "inflamed ear" was actually inverted; in that the ear drum was red, and the surrounding tissue was normal white/pink. The reason the ear drum was red was the tumor had grown to the point it was laying against the eardrum (hence my "muted hearing" and perceived congestion of the ear canal. After an CAT scan they realized that it was the (rarer) juglare version, and they are very hard to remove, even when they are small. These are benign tumors (non-cancerous), but they are highly vascular, so every time your heart beats, it pulses. That endless pulsation begins to wear through soft tissue and bone like mild sandpaper. As it grows, it begins to destroy more tissue and bone. My crooked tongue symptom was the tumor wearing through the cranial nerve that controls the tongue/vocal chord.

Anyways, two weeks go by, and I finally get a message from the ENT on my home phone message machine. Basically it was a "I'm very sorry. You have a Glomus Jugulare, and they are very tricky to operate on. I'm going to refer you to a specialist. I'm very sorry. click". It was a pretty substantial shot to the gut. Up to that point it was more or less believed that I'd lose my right hearing, but that would be it. Now it was something on a whole new order of magnitude. So, went and saw a specialist and an oncologist. Specialist was...unprepared for the appointment, and clearly nervous about performing a resection (surgery; he'd only done 4 of these in his 29yrs of practice), so I went and saw the oncologist, who flat out told me that in his opinion the tumor was inoperable, and radiation had about a 70% success rate with these tumors, but that he could refer me to one of the leading surgeons in the US (who happened to be 20 mins away at UCSD Skull Base Surgery Center). The oncologist had only seen four in his 32yrs of practice.

So, went and saw the specialist. Took about 45 mins to review all my medical records (different health care system, so had to hand carry everything over), came in and said "Yes, I can remove it". And when asked by my wife (she's the one who asked the first couple of surgeons) how many he had performed, he calmly replied "Your husband, should he decide to go this route, would be my 64th."

And so, four surgeries later (the main (3rd surgery) one being 14hrs long with five neurosurgeons working in shifts and about 35 medical staff, to keep me from croaking, (since this was a "secreting" tumor that was leaking catecholamines; which seriously screws/spikes your blood pressure)), they removed the majority of the tumor, cauterized the blood vessels feeding the roughly half that was left, and cut of the tendrils that had grown up into my brain case. They even did a nerve graft to my throat (which has been partially successful).

Sorry so long winded. Basically, symptoms were:

Perceived sinus infection (hearing clogged and post nasal drip)

Slurred speech (when even just having one drink, the nerve controlling my tongue would just go dead).

Severe fatigue; this is a very common one for this type of tumor, since the tumor eventually begins to compress the cerebral cortex lobe, which is what controls your basic functions like sleeping, breathing, etc.)

Loss of motor skill; this was more gradual, almost unnoticeable, except that my PRS/NRL shooting (I noticed) began to degrade. I felt/perceived that I was having a hard time transitioning between addresses on a barricade (for example). It was like your brain was screaming "move!", but your body was just diddy bopping down the road at it's own damned pace. NoLegs24 didn't know at the time, but he was giving me shit for being slow back then, and I was (internally) also wondering WTF was going on. I just chalked it up to getting old and slowing down. Nope. Again, the tumor was impinging my brain, so the neural pathways were compromised, and having to reroute the signals. In fact, after the second surgery (where they basically cauterize a majority of the blood vessels feeding the tumor, causing it to deflate slightly), the morning after I got home from the hospital, I was making a protein shake, and drop the cap on the counter. It bounced off the counter and without thinking I snatched it on the rebound out of midair without looking at it. It was then that I realized how much my motor functions had been compromised. It's still fucking scary when I think about it. I was living in a fog, and didn't even realize it.


Anyways, that's the gist of it, and the symptoms. These are extremely rare, so the odds of you having something similar are so remote, I would say you're more likely to buy a winning lottery ticket than have something like this.

My apologies to the OP for this diversion, but I tend to write about it on the internet when I get a chance, since there was jack shit for information about it when I went through it. And hopefully the webcrawlers will index the key words in this post, and it'll help someone else out in the future. The unknown was the worst part of dealing with all this. Especially when realizing if this had happened 15 yrs earlier, they'd have just told me to go home, make myself comfortable, and wait for it to run its course. Surgical techniques have improved that much in the last 15 yrs.

I really appreciate the detailed reply as I’m sure do others. Answered my questions/concerns and should remind us all to never take life for granted and to treat people with respect, dignity and grace. You never know what challenges, small or great, a person may be going through. I realize that isn’t possible in every situation, but it should occur more times than not in my humble opinion.

I’ve always suffered from good old post-nasal drip due to a partially deviated septum and have had ear problems since I was a kid. I’ll air on the side of it being a pesky sinus infection and hit up my GP without panicking.

Again, what a road you’ve traveled. All blessings to you.

 

[splean]

Hang it up, brother and get to living. Congratulations and best of luck!

 

[lightman]

My strategy:
My job offered a 401K plan and I got into it as soon as I was eligible for enough to get the full company match. I bumped it up whenever good things happened in my life. Raises, promotions, kids graduating and moving out, ect. By the time the kids moved out I was doing the max yearly legal amount. I had it in a mix of company stock and the Blue Chip fund. I made it a point to not ever draw from it.

I also made it a point to live beneath my means. Credit cards paid off in full every month, one car payment at a time, vacations only when we had enough surplus to pay off the trip after we returned. Tax returns or unexpected cash put into the emergency fund for auto or home maintenance. We paid cash as we went for 2 college educations. The boys graduated debt free and we paid no interest.

I’d be interested in hearing about some of you all’s investment strategies.

To do this your spouse has to be on board.

 

[culater]

Retire, but you should get something that provides passive income or find a consulting role to battle the inevitable inflation in the next 20 years.

How about the next 3-5 years not 20 years.

 

[SilentStalkr]

My strategy:
My job offered a 401K plan and I got into it as soon as I was eligible for enough to get the full company match. I bumped it up whenever good things happened in my life. Raises, promotions, kids graduating and moving out, ect. By the time the kids moved out I was doing the max yearly legal amount. I had it in a mix of company stock and the Blue Chip fund. I made it a point to not ever draw from it.

I also made it a point to live beneath my means. Credit cards paid off in full every month, one car payment at a time, vacations only when we had enough surplus to pay off the trip after we returned. Tax returns or unexpected cash put into the emergency fund for auto or home maintenance. We paid cash as we went for 2 college educations. The boys graduated debt free and we paid no interest.



To do this your spouse has to be on board.

We pretty much already do this but I ain’t sticking away $20,000 or more a year in my 401k. I’m currently doing 14% of my salary which is about $9800 a year. That’s a far cry from the max.

 

[MarinePMI]

We pretty much already do this but I ain’t sticking away $20,000 or more a year in my 401k. I’m currently doing 14% of my salary which is about $9800 a year. That’s a far cry from the max.

You need to max that out. Seriously. At a minimum (which it sounds like you're doing) at least put in enough for any company match. But in the long term, you need to put away as much as you possibly can. It pays huge dividends later in life. Compounding interest.

I'm over 50, so I'm putting in the max even now ($27,500 per year IIRC). You also need to consider a ROTH, even if small. A ROTH withdrawl, since it's tax free (paid taxes before you invested) can be handy when retired, and trying to avoid tax penalties on 401K income when making an unexpected large purchase (like a lawn mower, snow blower or ATV).

 

[SilentStalkr]

You need to max that out. Seriously. At a minimum (which it sounds like you're doing) at least put in enough for any company match. But in the long term, you need to put away as much as you possibly can. It pays huge dividends later in life. Compounding interest.

I'm over 50, so I'm putting in the max even now ($27,500 per year IIRC). You also need to consider a ROTH, even if small. A ROTH withdrawl, since it's tax free (paid taxes before you invested) can be handy when retired, and trying to avoid tax penalties on 401K income when making an unexpected large purchase (like a lawn mower, snow blower or ATV).

My company only matches a whopping 3% (seems about what everyone is doing these days). I’m putting in well over that at 14% of my salary. I also have my own traditional and ROTH IRA that I max out every year. Unfortunately, ROTH max is only $6000 a year as Id rather put in all my money after taxes than do the before tax thing. The before tax thing is nice but it also bets that the rate will be the same in 25 years. I’m betting it’s not, in which case if you can pay the taxes on the front end, you’ll be better off. I do what I can, but you got to be able to live to. Sage advice tho. I wish I had started doing this crap when I was 18.

 

[jrhtx]

I'm over 50, so I'm putting in the max even now ($27,500 per year IIRC). You also need to consider a ROTH, even if small. A ROTH withdrawl, since it's tax free (paid taxes before you invested) can be handy when retired, and trying to avoid tax penalties on 401K income when making an unexpected large purchase (like a lawn mower, snow blower or ATV).

Look at what he is saying, seriously! Taxes in the future are only going to go up, WAY UP. I retired 3 years ago and I maxed out my 401k for 38 years with a 6% match. The tax bill I am facing in the future is staggering. I should have balanced the 401K with the 6% + Match then more or all I could to a ROTH, paying the tax bill over that time frame would not have made me happy, but better than what I am looking at now. ROTH's have only been around since 2001.

The ROTH withdrawal also is not counted against your Medicare & Part D payments for MAGi. When you hit 72(? new age) and start having to do RMD's on that IRA, you pay income tax and Medicare penalties, look out!

I have been moving money to ROTH's for 3 years and taking the tax hit now. Last year because of the Dem wins, I moved a lot to the ROTH and am paying the max on Medicare and Part D, it sucks.

 

[NoDopes]

I figured I'm doing better now with 401K since my future withdrawal after retirement will be much lower at a lower top tax bracket. I didn't think about RMDs, shit.
There is the possible backdoor Roth, but I think that assumes you have headroom on current income brackets.
I just told my wife I was thinking of retiring early (52), she freaked out. Lol. Calmed down after awhile, but concerned about healthcare. I'll need to run some RMD numbers, as it may really make sense to say fuck it now and do SEPP to retire now...
The way shits falling apart, this could all be academic anyway.

 

[Pester]

'sI figured I'm doing better now with 401K since my future withdrawal after retirement will be much lower at a lower top tax bracket. I didn't think about RMDs, shit.
There is the possible backdoor Roth, but I think that assumes you have headroom on current income brackets.
I just told my wife I was thinking of retiring early (52), she freaked out. Lol. Calmed down after awhile, but concerned about healthcare. I'll need to run some RMD numbers, as it may really make sense to say fuck it now and do SEPP to retire now...
The way shits falling apart, this could all be academic anyway.

I retired 6 years ago in my "middlish"50's. While I have no debt, no need to draw from SS, no need to touch retirement accounts(due to good real estate income) I am going back to work. Nothing similar to what I was doing before but I want to move as much retirement into Roths/HSA's as possible. Something that pays ok, pays medical/dental/vision and lets me move money into something less tax heavy.

For those of us who lived through Jimmy Carters 'Stagflation' years the current environment looks more and more like that. To the OP...... dont be so focused on the bright shiney "retirement is great 'cause you get to do whatever you want" mindset that you end up going back to work later. I can tell you with certainty that I have at least a dozen friends that retired at 55 with plenty of income. Now about 10 years later their pensions are not what they once were, SS is not as great as they thought, Medicare costs more then they planned, taxes are higher, fees are higher, gas is double what it was a year ago, a few missed financial decisions, etc.

Now they HAVE to go back to work. And unlike some here......I do know people that have said "I retired too early with too little saved." But they were 100% confident they were ok when they retired

My grandparents never thought they would live into their late 90's and see their 78th wedding anniversary. While family was around, and would have taken care of them, they had enough money that they could afford the $10k/month(15 years ago) to have 24x7 in home care. They were never a financial burden on their family and that gave them great peace of mind. My parents are just turning 90 and headed towards their 65th and have enough that they will never be a burden. And that gives them great peace of mind.

None of us know what the future brings, and retirement is a balancing act, but I would prefer to work a little more and save a little more so I can get through a long retirement with out being a burden on others. Or being in a bed, unable to take care of myself in the same adult diapers for 3 days because I didn't have enough retirement. Seeing the contentment and security that having just a little extra retirement money brought my grandparents and parents have later in life was a real lesson for me. I dont want to have to rely on anyone else so when I am in the most need at a time when I am least able to work. I want that same great peace of mind. I want my life to be like that rather than my friends who HAVE to work despite all their best layed plans.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

See if you can stay on part time if that is something you are interested in. Not sure who you work for (Lineman?) but there may be options where you still get to contribute to your 401K or defined contribution while only working a few days a week. Lets you keep pushing money into retirement while giving you more time off to do the stuff you want to. People will fuck with you less knowing you can quit on the spot. Alot of folks that I manage have been electing to go part time instead of outright retirement. Gives them time to transition and see what they really want. Working keeps you active and your brain going. With people living longer and modern medicine, I would want to make sure I have enough cash to live comfortable through retirement in the unlikely case I live to 90 or 100.

 

[atepointer]

I figured I'm doing better now with 401K since my future withdrawal after retirement will be much lower at a lower top tax bracket. I didn't think about RMDs, shit.
There is the possible backdoor Roth, but I think that assumes you have headroom on current income brackets.
I just told my wife I was thinking of retiring early (52), she freaked out. Lol. Calmed down after awhile, but concerned about healthcare. I'll need to run some RMD numbers, as it may really make sense to say fuck it now and do SEPP to retire now...
The way shits falling apart, this could all be academic anyway.

I'm sure you have done this, but I would highly suggest making sure you run numbers on your income stream for well less than today's yields. The last couple of years have been incredibly easy to earn 7-8% dividend with solid investment grade cumulative preferred/fixed income and well over 10% with common shares. We might be thrilled with 4% by the time Biden stumbles through 3 more years. I'm continually adjusting my window based on much lower yield than I see today that's for darn sure. If any more social spending bills come through in the next 3 years just turn up the heat on the cash burn goodness it's toasty.

Best wishes on your maybe soon to be retirement.

 

[Redmanss]

First off, congratulations on your upcoming retirement! It sounds like you've put a lot of thought and planning into it, and it's great to hear that you'll have a solid income stream and financial stability moving forward.

Hello forum!

 

[Bigfatcock]

I get the dilemma between working longer for more money or retiring earlier for more time and better health. It's a tough call, but it sounds like you've got a solid plan in place.

My friend’s dad had grand plans for retirement, and then died at 55.

Retire as soon as possible.

 

[91Eunozs]

First off, congratulations on your upcoming retirement! It sounds like you've put a lot of thought and planning into it, and it's great to hear that you'll have a solid income stream and financial stability moving forward.
As for whether to call it done or grind it out for a few more years, ultimately, it comes down to what will make you happiest and healthiest. It's great that you can work for a few more years and increase your savings, but if the job is taking a toll on your health and well-being, it might not be worth it in the long run. If you feel insecure about this plan, consider getting a financial planner.

Spam or AI bot?

 

[MarinePMI]

Spam or AI bot?

Likely just a new member that inadvertently necro'ed a post.

ETA: Just noticed the edit with a link by the member/spammer. Buh-bye...

 

[Redmanss]

Likely just a new member that inadvertently necro'ed a post.

ETA: Just noticed the edit with a link by the member/spammer. Buh-bye...

I have yet to see a new user necro post off firearm related topic within two minutes of joining that isn’t a spam bot. This shit is quickly getting out of hand.

 

[Short-bus]

I'd retire if I were in your position. You've made a lifetime of great decisions. Congratulations.

Branden