Early Retirement

[ken robinson]

Great advice...I was talking to one of the older racers dad, I told him I dread retirement. the one think he told me was in retirement if you want to find work to make a little money you will be able to find it , with no problem . He told me some stores about the work he had . I told him I guess retirement won't be that bad and I will stop worrying about it. We laughed .

[Carguy49]

I retired at 58 and am doing the best i can each day. I have only 2 regrets. We didn't pay off the house before I retired and my wife is no longer here to enjoy the fun. It will be 5 years on April 23 since my wife left this place for Heaven.

In 2020, with help from my Daughter and her Husband, I was able to refinance my home. Saved me over $500 Dollars a month. Along with monthly savings, I was able to put a nice chunk of change in savings for future needs.

With the way things are right now, I am very grateful that I am retired and enjoy each day as it comes. The one thing I do EVERY day is PRAY, usually for friends and family and that the world will get better for them. My world is very good thanks to my faith in GOD.

A special thought for nickh - - you mentioned some health issues for yourself and your wife. My thought on this - cherish each day you guys have together.

[jmcarter]

Life truly is a box of chocolates…One thing (among others) about Forest Gump is that his selfless devotion to his family and friends made such a difference in their lives and made his the richest imaginable. It wasn’t the Government and VA that ultimately “saved” Lieutenant Dan, it was his friend’s devotion. In that vein, the Gary Sinise Foundation is helping finance a veteran’s home construction in my neighborhood. It’s uplifting to read how other racers have fought through their own battles to secure meaningful retirements and imagine many will be able to “pay forward” and help other family and friends. Pay particular attention to the advice about avoiding probate, your loved ones Will thank you.

[Jeff Niceswanger]

When I was 59 1/2 I was thinking to myself "you should retire". My health was starting to be an issue and everything I owned was paid off. I also had one of the fastest cars in the nation. At the time I had worked for the same company for 36 years, was the Union President (membership was about 240 total) and was the second man in the maintenance departments seniority list. I had been the President for 10 years and the headaches was too the point many an evening I told myself, "get the hell out of there". But it was a lot to give up. All dayshift, (it takes 25 years to get enough seniority to get off of backshifts !). 1st pick of equipment to keep maintained (Area of responsibility), super seniority in case of layoffs, heck I was one of 4 production members allowed to carry a cell phone. I was kind of king of the mountain. We had bargained a new buyout that the company,along with the membership thought was a good idea. If I retired, the company would pay for both Sue and I's healthcare till I reached Medicare age. It was the same insurance I was currently on, so Sue and I decided the time had came. Everyone bid me farewell, and as I walked out the break room door on that bright sunny May day I threw my Hard Hat, Dinner Bucket, Safety Glasses, Steel toed work boots and the Uniform I had worn that day right in the breakroom trash can. When I got home I walked in the house and threw my alarm clock away also. LOL
My Social Security and UE (United Electrical Radio And Machine Workers of America) Pension was almost 5 grand, plus we had a company sponsored 401 that had a fair amount of money in it.
John and I raced our Superstocker and I enjoyed life to the fullest. Bout 2 years ago, Sue tells me " Babe, might want to make sure you don't live tooooo long". I quickly analized her oddball statement to me and ask "Why babe, you wanna get rid of me? She says "Oh no, but your gonna outlive your funds." I had spent over 100,000 in three years !! That 401 had been wounded ! (This amount was on top of my SS and Pension that came monthly.) At that moment I vividly remember asking Jerry Silvious several years before why he was going to just up and quit racing. His answer was the same as mine "I'm not going to continue to spend my retirement income on this sport till there's nothing left.". The moral of our stories is "I can't continue to race unless I want to run in the middle of the pack. If you want to continue to be a hitter, don't retire".This doesn't relate to some racers as money isn't an issue, but for most it has some merit. I my case looking at what happend to brother John, I'm glad we quit when we did, as it gave him a summer to LIVE on that Harley of his, and my Holley tuning sideline is enough to satisfy the itch that this sport hooks into you. Just be careful of your money, it evaporates quicky.

[Paul Precht]

I retired a little over 6 years ago at 62 and it wasn't soon enough, wish I could've done it at 57 which is what I had planed. I finally have my new machine shop up and running and play out almost every weekend with my band. Hopefully I can do some racing this year. I've been lucky with my health as I feel like I'm eighteen until I look in the mirror, ha.

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Thought I'd add to the mix. I started a job that paid into a good pension plan in 1980. In 1986 I took another job somewhere else and took the funds with me and rolled them into my new job's plan, and worked there 30 years-1986 to 2016. I could see that it was time to think about leaving, the many perks we enjoyed one by one were being eliminated as time went on, and the clincher was that a bit of simple math revealed that my take home pension would slightly more than equal my wages. Also, subtract the cost of commuting, be it gas to/from work or parking and Metrolink train monthly passes, and it paid more for me to retire at 61 1/2. One true law of finance is simply that it's not how much you make, its how much you keep. I paid our house off some 20 or so years ago, I turned a 30 year loan into a 10 year loan by simply adding a few hundred a month to the payment each month, we don't buy cars by financing them, carry very little credit card balance, then about five years or so ago, I learned about Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, and found out the factual things he recommended were things I had already been doing. Nobody will 'help' you with a loan unless they are getting a piece of the action, it's best to save, generate interest on the savings, and owe nothing in the process. Without a house note to pay, my wife went back, got her Master's degree and another Bachelor's degree, both my son and daughter got their Bachelor's and Master's degrees, and all three of them got teacher's credentials and are off and running. Wife still works, and she's wanting to call it off at the end of school a year from this June. I stay busy doing all kinds of things, I race, hike, we take short trips when we can, get out of here whenever we can, so far we've been healthy,God is good, and it's not hard to live within our means and save money as we go along.After next school year is up, we plan on taking more frequent trips and getting out more. One thing upon retiring, is a time of recuperation from the career years and their demands. It's an adjustment, but a welcome one. Just don't live outside your means. The scary thing about a sizeable nest egg is that the fools running the government would like to glom onto your stocks,bonds,CD's and anything else you have and not because they want you to have anything you worked for and saved up for. We need to be wise with what we have, be careful with any and all investing, don't listen to any investing schemes, because if something sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. Best wishes too all of you!

[Eddies66]

Originally Posted by Greg Reimer 7376

Thought I'd add to the mix. I started a job that paid into a good pension plan in 1980. In 1986 I took another job somewhere else and took the funds with me and rolled them into my new job's plan, and worked there 30 years-1986 to 2016. I could see that it was time to think about leaving, the many perks we enjoyed one by one were being eliminated as time went on, and the clincher was that a bit of simple math revealed that my take home pension would slightly more than equal my wages. Also, subtract the cost of commuting, be it gas to/from work or parking and Metrolink train monthly passes, and it paid more for me to retire at 61 1/2. One true law of finance is simply that it's not how much you make, its how much you keep. I paid our house off some 20 or so years ago, I turned a 30 year loan into a 10 year loan by simply adding a few hundred a month to the payment each month, we don't buy cars by financing them, carry very little credit card balance, then about five years or so ago, I learned about Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, and found out the factual things he recommended were things I had already been doing. Nobody will 'help' you with a loan unless they are getting a piece of the action, it's best to save, generate interest on the savings, and owe nothing in the process. Without a house note to pay, my wife went back, got her Master's degree and another Bachelor's degree, both my son and daughter got their Bachelor's and Master's degrees, and all three of them got teacher's credentials and are off and running. Wife still works, and she's wanting to call it off at the end of school a year from this June. I stay busy doing all kinds of things, I race, hike, we take short trips when we can, get out of here whenever we can, so far we've been healthy,God is good, and it's not hard to live within our means and save money as we go along.After next school year is up, we plan on taking more frequent trips and getting out more. One thing upon retiring, is a time of recuperation from the career years and their demands. It's an adjustment, but a welcome one. Just don't live outside your means. The scary thing about a sizeable nest egg is that the fools running the government would like to glom onto your stocks,bonds,CD's and anything else you have and not because they want you to have anything you worked for and saved up for. We need to be wise with what we have, be careful with any and all investing, don't listen to any investing schemes, because if something sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. Best wishes too all of you!

I have known Greg for 10-12 years, I agree with Greg on the way he has saved for his retirement. While Greg has lived in the same house until it is paid off, I have owned 4 houses in California and one in Nevada, my wife and I have never sold a home at a loss. We have always rolled over the profit into a new home. I won't disclose what my current home is worth but you can figure that out by looking at a 2560 sq ft with a pool on a .35 acre lot in Rancho Mirage, CA. I do give back to my community by volunteering as a Service Office for the Disabled American Veterans. My family comes first, my daughters both have a Masters in their line of work. My Dad said that there are two ways you can go through life, "you can work hard or you can work smart" I have done a little of both. Debt free, living my best life. No complaints!!

[Greg Reimer 7376]

The "Work Smart" quote is spot on. How many people do you know that could have done so much better if they hadn't done so many "basic stupids" as they went through life. Some things never work, and carrying lots of various debts along with you never works either. The fact of life is that "he who dies with the biggest debt" leaves behind the smallest legacy.All three of my immediate family members have their Master's degrees in education, they all teach, and I have been very grateful to God that He used me to be a part of it. My parents used to say that the greatest thing you have is a reputation. Make it a good one, because if you have a bad reputation, you won't ever get ahead. It has also been said, 'failure loves company". We all know little failures from past years.Thrre are a lot of success stories out there, they are worth repeating. Who wants to talk about being just another little failure?

[jmcarter]

Many of us are locked into what our retirement picture will look like and while I’m likely halfway through my retirement I haven’t changed my outlook on minimizing debt. I’ll repeat my encouragement to follow Dave Ramsey’s principles as best you can and influence the youngsters to do likewise. The apparent lack of basic values and propensity for instant gratification is contradictory to what today’s youth should be learning. Taking personal responsibility DOES NOT include things like waiting for the government to pay off student loans and falling for all the gambling commercials on every sports telecast and billboard. Again, applaud all the racers who’ve planned well, if not then best bite the bullet on eliminating debt or pray there are generous family members to help cushion what could be a bleak retirement.
Sorry to harp, it’s only from the standpoint of being retired do you know some things you’d done differently if someone had harped at you (my wife of 47 years did her best but sometimes those outside your circle can have a larger influence).

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Well, it just not the same Jim. At the age of 13 in 1969 I got my paper route . At first I inherited 100 customers. By my third year I had 200. Zanesville built a ton of low income housing and my route was smack in the middle of them. So before high school I delivered them and on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night I collected the dues. There was no such thing as pay by mail or Online banking. That netted me enough funds to go buy my first car (at 16 years). Pictured below. Paid cash money. A NICE low mileage SPORTS CAR was 1695.00. It was a couple years old but see the difference? These kids will never enjoy what we did. Nice stuff from crappy jobs.We didn't need to have the government to pay off student loans and falling for all the gambling commercials. It took next to no money to have a BALL. No, kids now are being ask to save every dime. We are asking them, well, telling them to do something that we absolutely did not have to do. Heck at just a bit older I spent every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights in the local establishments chasing girls till closing times. Nascar races, Ski Trips, Rock Concerts,Killer Home Stereo's and nice cars. My next car was a 73 fully Loaded L-82 Corvette that took one weeks pay a month. And that was a 3 year loan as that's as long as allowed back then. Not to mention I worked at the biggest craphole in Zanesville.Given the advise their being told, kids of today will never own anything fun, or DO anything fun till they're ready for a grave, and thats so sad. I wouldn't have traded my youth for anything.I'm so glad I was born when I was. WE Were lucky