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Advice and Thoughts Please - Retire Now or in 18 Months ?

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#1 · (Edited)
I'm not sure where to post this? Mods - please move if need be...

Baby Boomer, I remember my grandfather plowing the fields of his farm near to Elkhart, Texas with Mules as a toddler....

Question is: Retire now or wait till end of 2019...???

Zeroing in on retirement after 40+ year in the oilpatch. Been whoring/working international permanent married accompanied basis since 2003 on the Dark Continent and offshore....Kept our home in Texas for the professional student to live in while pursuing yet another degree. Thats OK as our home is in The Woodlands and we can sell it if need be. I was always leary to sell it over the years in case MegaOil called me home to work in the home office. Thank goodness that never happened...

For a Blue Collar man and gal from East Texas to have our "problem" is a wonderful thing. Would like some feedback please.

I'm really struggling here....Target date to depart Nigeria to Texas is 31-Dec-19. Here is the struggle / issue....Could go today and be very well off. What's well off to this East Texas man...about $10K net per month that is Cost of Living Adjusted at 3% inflation rate per year.

However by just putting up with the work requirements for 18 more months, really 14 months due to vacation we will net after tax about + $1,500 net more bring home monies per Month by staying to Target date vs going to Texas today.

This is all Inflation adjusted at rate of 3% per year....

Really struggling here...the extra $$ would be contingency if need be and most likely would be fully discretionary fun $$.

Vacations are booked to Texas for 2018 and Vegas for March Madness 2019 to gambooool it up on the pokerzzzz tables while Ms. gamboolgal sets money on fire in the slots.....ha...good fun......thats a benefit of international....being able to set the monies on fire at the poker tables, the Pits and for Ms. gamboolgal.....setting hundos on fire at the Slots....

thats about 35 year ago...

I have no illusions of living to see 3 digits....been exposed to carcinogens and poisons for the last 40+ year and lots of years physically working/abusing my body, spinal surgery 10 year ago........lots of men my age have already crossed the Jordan...

But I have been working management the last 8 years - so the living offshore is ..... in the past for me now....

Regardless of when I pull the plug, Ms. gamboolgal is well off - as in very well off as I have every insurance available...so no worries for her. Thats a good thing and money well spent to take care of her. She's earned it - we moved 14 times the 1st 20 year of marriage....good times ! The ebb and flow of the struggle of life....She followed me to anywhere and never a question on her part.... From Hell to Heaven to Purgatory....She never questioned or hesitated....God Bless them Texas Gals !!

So having enough Net money per month to live comfortably NOW - Versus about $1,500 Net more per month by hanging on till end of 2019. Does it matter ?

I know that this is highly subjective and personal, and we know there is not a Right or Wrong answer.

Just wanting to hear what folks have to say.... If you've made it this far....Thank You...

gamboolman & Ms. gamboogal...

Ms. gamboolgal is heaven on earth... I think I know the "right" answer...


Life's a Dance And You Learn As You Go.........
gamboolman....

 
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#2 ·
Not to be morbid but how many more years to you expect to prance around on earth. Math doesn't solve everything but let's say you thought you would be around for another 10 years, I would see the value of each year being worth exponentially more, leaning me towards retirement now. If you plan on being around for 20+ years, then I don't see the harm in working another 1.5 years, especially since you have some nice breaks in there to break up the whole duration of that year and change.
 
#10 ·
If you can cover your health insurance costs for both of you on your current retirement income projections, then I'd say retire now. If you can't (or aren't old enough for Medicare), then working a little longer may be worth it. If not for the chaos in the insurance markets, I'd retire now, myself. In a year I'll get Medicare, so the challenge will be insurance for my wife. Canada, Costa Rica, and the UK are viable, easy options for that, however, if we're willing to relocate internationally - at least until she's old enough for Medicare.

If we find a good solution to the insurance issue, I'll quit the following month. I'd much rather spend time with my wife and travel, than work any longer. We've already started taking more and longer vacations, and want to do more of that while we both can. Family history suggests I may have another 30 years to enjoy in good health, so retiring early isn't a huge concern - but I'll do it if I can.
 
#11 ·
I just faced the same decision and decided to retire now rather than wait 18 more months. I walked away from $300,000 and could not be happier. There would be more since my Social Security would be higher too but I was just burnt out from working since the age of 14. I am 67 and this is my last week of work.

I no longer enjoyed my job and the stress was creating a lot of medical issues. Almost like magic, my insomnia, memory problems, anxiety, stress and high blood pressure went away. I went from sleeping 3-5 hours a night to sleep 7-10 hours. I feared that I was getting dementia as my memory got so bad that I could not remember the names of my nieces and nephews or famous people. I would think of one word and type another. I could not think of common words. It was scary. I would have to take strong pills to get to sleep and they stopped working so I drank to make them work again. I was making all sorts of mistakes on my job, dropping things, cut myself 5 times, walking into objects and very scary in general.


Finally went to a Psychiatrist for my memory problem since my Mother's side of the family all had dementia. Turns out that my stress was causing all of my problems. Since I was not getting the proper amount of sleep, I was in a constant state of sleep deprivation which caused all the other problems. Once I decided to retire I felt like myself again and could not be happier. While I will only have 60% of my salary for retirement, 8 years ago I started to downsize and paid off all of my credit cards, loans and mortgages so my annual expenses are very low so my standard of living will be about the same, minus the expensive toys I used to buy monthly. :)


I live in a retirement community of about 150,000 people that covers 3 counties. I have been here 8 years and seen men younger than me die suddenly. I have seen men put off things for later on and then die before they got to do them. Also men who wanted to work a few years and then travel their world with their wives only to have their wives die. My own dad waited his whole life to do things. he worked to age 69 only to suffer a major heart attack and then two smaller ones later that left him homebound.


So I figure that I rather have less money to play with each year than to risk not being able to do the things still left in my life to do. I have always been able to make money and have lived for the present and let the future take care of itself. So far it has worked out that way and pretty sure it will continue to do so. If not, at least I got to do all the things I wanted to do in my life.
 
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#13 ·
Thank you all for your replies and thoughts.

Ms. gamboolgal knows how tired I am of being oversea's and she is fine if I pull the plug tomorrow.

We go to Texas for a month off in about 2 weeks. We'll be talking about it and she has me lined up with all the quacks to get checked out physically, vision, the old borescope, dentist, even the hearing doctor as she says I am hard of hearing....ha

We are in a wonderful spot to have this "problem" - I think I know the right thing to do but to be honest it's abit scary and daunting to go from making very good money to living off investments... Like I said - wonderful problem to have.

Really appreciate the feedback and we'll keep yawl updated. And please any more words of advice is welcomed.

This one was taken right outside the compound in Port Harcourt. Miraculously no one was killed. This happens fairly regular here as roads are rough goat trails and trailer loads are not secured....

Life's a Dance and You Learn As You Go.....

gamboolman....
 
#21 · (Edited)
I was in the same position. High salary and 25% of the profits as long as I stayed with the company. I still walked away despite my trepidations. If you downsize you will be amazed how little you really need. I bought expensive toys and did things simply because I could afford to, but those things are not really needed. My $300 watch tells time better than my $5000 watch. My Honda CR-V gets me to where I want to go in comfort the same as my BMW. I no longer need to buy expensive suits and shoes. No more private clubs, limos and 4 trips a year to Vegas.

I have about 4 years salary saved and as you know, a history of high salaries means higher social security payments. With my SS and 401K I will do just fine plus that have most of my inheritance in CDs and high yield bank accounts for large purchases or emergencies. I have not had to invest in the stock market other than about $30K just for fun and something to follow daily. When the next recession comes I am going to buy up as much stock as I can and since time is on my side, wait for it to grow so that I will have a lot more in my 80's.

I lived in Houston. I liked Texas. Humidity is about the same as here in Florida. I have family here which is why we are here and not in Texas.
 
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#14 ·
Ha hahaha megacorp cancelled vacation due to "business need"....not once but twice.....

Still in country....

Not sure I can tuff it out till end of 2019 for the extra....$$ per month....

GD hard hombre....GD hard....

More to come...
Lifes A Dance And You Learn As You Go...

Thank God for Them East Texas Gals....

 
#15 ·
Dude, just get out! You are set financially. You can't take that money with you, nor can you buy time with it. Sweep your wife off her feet and take her back to Kilgore or Tyler or Mount pleasant or Longview or New Boston...where ever it is you are from. Spend a week with family, then head out to vegas just the two of you in a bellagio suite overlooking the fountains.

Its time to split brother.
 
#19 ·
You are a wise man TDL....

We are sch'd for vacation in latter Aug. Will be no cancelling this one !

Ms. gamboolgal and I have a full agenda planned for the month off....lots of quacks to see as I woke up one morning with fresh red blood in my eye....looked a GD Ebola Zombie..... I had really high Blood Pressure so they sent me to Lagos to get my eye looked at by the local witch doctors...... Just BP related.... I will go see the quacks in Aug and....

If the Quacks put me on meds... so be it

And if the Quacks tell me I need to make a change in life style - that will make it easy for me to tell them I need to go to Texas....

To be honest - if I am truthful - that would be a relief as I am too GD stubborn to just go to Texas now...

Good thing is that if I stroke out....Ms. gamboolgal gets a shiite load of monies..... well for us at least ....less than $10M but more than $5M....so she is well took care of....

30 some odd year ago...


We have been in lockdown due to the local shenanigans


Lifes A Dance And You Learn As You Go
gamboolman....
 
#18 ·
As a bystander I appreciate this thread.

I’m 51 now and need to go to 62 for my full retirement. But I’m planning on leaving in 4 or 6 more years; 23 or 25 years in; age 55 or 57.

Reason?

No male in my family has made it past 63! I would be taking home 25k at 23 or 27k at 25; social security is seven years from that.

I'll have everything paid off and about 65k in a Roth to cover healthcare until SS.

I plan on ditching a car and getting a scooter just for around town.

I've been working since 14 and while I do not currently dislike my job there is a LOT of stress and anxiety. As a highly introvert INTJ-t my dream for retirement is going dark and not hearing a human voice for a week!

My 2 cents? Go for it as soon as you can afford it, just be sure to think it out carefully
 
#22 ·
Texican, I don't know the oil industry but some people work part time or work vacation time for others after they retire. Like one poster said, it things are paid off, living expenses can be reduced by not buying expensive toys.

One of my neighbors a long time ago did well reworking (getting low production wells to produce more crude) in Nigeria. He said the bribes and pay-offs in Nigeria, made working not worth working. He sold is house inn my neighborhood and moved to a remote town where he grew up, that was much cheaper to live in.
 
#23 ·
Update - still in lockdown...

TDL - your spot on pawdnaahhhh....Tyler and Whitehouse....

Thanks for all of the replies and advice...it really helps Ms. gamboolgal and I to discuss the trail ahead and the forks to take.

When we get to Texas and I get all the quack visits done to see where we stand in that regards....we'll head back to the Dark Continent to finish out this year. Depending on what they say, could make decision easy...

They's many aslip betwinxt the lip and the cup...

Handy, your neighbor was telling you the truth. Corruption, killing and shiite that folks in USA can't comprehend....dam shame as this continent is so rich in resources and potential.....I digress.

Summary - Go in to Texas in Aug/Sep - see the inlaws & outlaws, the kids, the quacks, lots of gambooling on the pokerzzzz table, cooking out on the patio eating some good meat vs the local bush meat...and chasing Ms. gamboolgal around the hotels nekid.....

Evaluate early 2019 date vs end of 2019 target date to pull the plug.

Great spot to be in and we know we are fortunate to have this "choice".

Thanks to all for the replies. We'll update and let yawl know.

Lifes A Dance And You Learn As You Go

gamboolman....
 
#25 ·
My general 2 cents.

I am waiting until retirement at age 70 to maximize Social Security and retirement income. Everyone is different. I still like what I do for a living and am pretty good at it. Not physically demanding. I have cut back my hours, but still not ready to pull the plug. Once you start thinking about retiring, you will get short timers disease and be hard pressed not to quite, from what I have seen in others.

What ever you do............have a plan that you share with your wife in advance and she is on board with. Plan on doing lots of stuff that the both of you want to do after you retire. That will require simplifying your life and bill paying systems. I have been planning for retirement for nearly 10 years and it is hard work. The financial part was easy, the efficient tax strategy was not, it was all the other things that are complex and especially figuring out the relationship issues.

Good luck.
 
#27 ·
Texican, I'm, a good bit older than you and seen a number of coworkers, friends, relatives, neighbors, et cetera hold out to maximize their retirement only to kick the bucket a few years later. Conventional wisdom sez you need to work as long as you can to garner every penny you can for retirement. In my 40's I figured that out to be horse shyt except for these cats that were in their 50's and had < $5k in total retirement funds ( which is a large % of the population but not me ). I hung up my tool belt, actually my brief case, at 58. Everyday since has been a holiday.
Of all the people who lost their spouse and are the one left behind, few will ever say, " I wish I'd worked longer and spent less time with her/him enjoying our retirement"
 
#28 ·
Thanks Vlad and all of the posters. Good points and things to think about.

I just got back from Texas and a month of getting tested for Prostate Cancer...PSA was up, had Needle Biopsy done and the results were No Cancer - Thank God.

I have enlarged prostate, (BHP), and will be monitored closely from now on.

Wife and I did alot of talking and we are planning to retire end of next year at latest. We met with lawyers to review our Wills and legal documents, did some portfolio Asset Allocation tune ups, and making a "To Do" list to be ready to retire.

This experience has emphasized and made very clear what so many of yawl have been saying.

Thanks for the feedback and thoughts.
 
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