Retire as young as you possible can.........seriously.

[Tony Buzolich]

Darian,

I was born and raised in Sacramento since 1947. My dad and I would walk over to the American and watch salmon working their way upstream from the Business 80 bridge which was under construction. There was no Cal Expo just grass fields and sheep being tended to by a Basque herder in a wagon.

As I grew up so did Sacramento and so did the traffic. After getting my first job teaching I bought my first house way out in the country of Citrus Heights. But then I had to deal with driving into Sacramento to teach and I started looking for a place farther out in Auburn or Shingle Springs. Still couldn't stand all the traffic and gave up teaching and moved to Napa. Much quieter place to live but found myself on the freeway again every day driving to work in Vacaville. Uugh. 45 minutes each way for almost thirty years.

Enough is enough and I retired early, sold everything, and moved full time to my cabin in Soda Springs. Took a while to get to that point but I'm glad I did. Been retired now for 17 years, and not much else to do but fish.
Tony

[BumpBailey]

This is a great topic and I hope I can glean some knowledge from you wily veterans! Like many have said, everyone's situation is different. Me and my wife are both 52 and hope we can retire in the next 10 years. However, we started our family late. Two boys with our youngest only 8, do the math..... he will just be finishing high school and will be going off to college when we are both 63! The upside of starting the family late is we are financially secure. College funds are pretty much covered, we have two properties with our main residence in the south bay area. Assuming no drastic changes in the real estate market we should cash out nicely when we sell that one and move the Hell out of the Bay Area....

I/we want to enjoy that part of our lives. RVing is definitely going to be big part of it! Looking forward to driving all the way up to Alaska! I am a pretty active person, fish, golf, bike, ski, soccer. Other hobbies to keep my brain busy, photography, reading... I want to learn how to tie flies and maybe pick up a musical instrument again.... volunteer to help make some of my favorite waters a little better....

I am definitely not trying to get political here but, our biggest concern is the cost of health benefits when you are on your own. That is a big nut when you are used to your employer covering the majority of that expense for you. What are you early retiree's doing for your health coverage? Is it as expensive as it seems?

You all are an inspiration and I hope to get some responses to my question. It's definitely time we start detailing these plans and make that last push to fill up the coffers!

Tight lines and Happy Holidays all!

[Peter S]

Good advice Bill. Best thing I ever did was to prepare and plan while in my late 30's/early 40's for retirement at 50. I've been retired for 10 years now and I look forward to each new day.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I am glad we are getting some good dialog going here.


I think we have been retired for maybe 3 or 4 years now.

Our only complaint is that we did not do it sooner.

We do many of our customers at the shop but the trade off is worth it.

Marilyn and I hope we can both stay healthy as long as we can so we can keep enjoying all this free time.



We all have a different set of variables in our lives which effects our planning.


I glad that this might help others to plan for retirement sooner.

And maybe a few might retire sooner.





Recently our good fly fishing friend and bachelor Rick Jorgensen retired, got ride of everything he could, bought a big pickup and nice four season travel trailer.

He is basically left on a big fishing trip that will go on until he is too old to do it anymore.

This is only possible for a few of us but it is so cool to just think of all the good days that Rick will have.



Another fly fishing couple we know, Rick & Fran Radoff, key members of the Granite Bay Flycasters retired a few years ago.

They bought a big Class A motor home with an SUV in tow and left on a big fly fishing adventure across the USA.

I think they have been out on the open road for about 4 years now.

They spent 2017 petty much in Florida.

Many are on Facebook with them and get reports of their adventures almost daily.







.

[johnsquires]

BumpBailey, it sounds like you have it dialed in. I have friends who sold in the Bay Area at the right time, moved to Red Lodge, Montana, and have never looked back.
As far as healthcare, that's pretty much speculation - except to say it cannot continue on the way it's going. If you do the math, it doesn't look good. It's not possible to continue on with the same approach. I feel for the young ones.
For those looking forward to RV travel in the future, now is a great time (end-of-the-year donations) to donate to orgs who are fighting to keep our beautiful places in public hands.

[Darian]

BumpBailey,.... Sounds like you've done your homework. Health Insurance seems to be the one thing that is tough to plan for in retirement. Unless you're covered by insurance plan provided by your former employer, it seems that you'll be at the mercy of whatever the ever-changing market will impose. With the recent moves by health insurance companies into providing preventive care through local clinics, even where you can access providers will change. One area of concern I've found is that coverage areas are not very extensive, even within this state. For example, coverage is not provided in some northern and/or eastern counties.

Something to think about....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

"I am definitely not trying to get political here but, our biggest concern is the cost of health benefits when you are on your own. That is a big nut when you are used to your employer covering the majority of that expense for you. What are you early retiree's doing for your health coverage? Is it as expensive as it seems?" from BumpBailey.

This is a serious issue that will effect many here.

This will and can make many work much longer, at least to 65 when Medicare (80%) kicks in.

My wife and I have our medical benefit through her retirement at UC Davis which is a blessing.


I am trying to get everyone to think more about this.

Most don't think about retirement until about 50 because raising children does not give much time for this.

.