TSP Center

Save and invest over and over and over for 37 years. Get Divorced along the way, give half of everything away. Save and invest twice as much as before. Now 58 years old, at the top of the pay scale, finally made it. Time to retire? I find this to be a very difficult decision. How hard will it be to role reverse and spend the 4.5 % of the tsp per year. Get busy living or get busy dying. They should put that in a movie. Was your decision to plan the "when to retire" an easy one for you? Or will it be easy when that time comes. I used to think so.

I'm not retired, but I'll give you some advice my father-in-law gave me (he retired as CSRS with 43 years):

"Retire as early as you can. I've never met anybody who wished they would have retired later."

He wishes he would have retired 5 years earlier. The extra time didn't help him much, and he hated every minute of it.

I would say that if you have enough income streams to comfortably meet your standard of living with plenty of room to spare, and you're reasonably sure that you'll be able to keep up with inflation, then you should be good to go.

I hope Cron chimes in - he's usually really good at this kind of advice.

Regularguy wrote:Get busy living or get busy dying.

That's god damn right.

Regularguy wrote:Save and invest over and over and over for 37 years. Get Divorced along the way, give half of everything away. Save and invest twice as much as before. Now 58 years old, at the top of the pay scale, finally made it. Time to retire? I find this to be a very difficult decision. How hard will it be to role reverse and spend the 4.5 % of the tsp per year. Get busy living or get busy dying. They should put that in a movie. Was your decision to plan the "when to retire" an easy one for you? Or will it be easy when that time comes. I used to think so.

I'm currently exploring my options for half-retirement. It is not "easy" to pull the trigger. Basically, my wife and I have been so vigilant about investing for so long that our "traditional retirement" (age 55 to death) is already paid for. So we are looking at dropping our annual retirement investments substantially, and then we only need to make half as much money. We can both work part time until age 55 and then do full retirement from there.

Looking at your situation alone, it is a question of income revenue streams you will receive. You are too young to get social security benefit. And, at the top pay scale you will impact the value of that benefit by 7 times 4 quarters per year = 28 "0" quarter contributions. Yes you do have to compare that financial loss to your life expectancy to decide if you should retire soon.

Here are some questions you might think about:

1. Do you like your job?

2. Is the property you live on the one you will "retire" to or do you plan to move?

3. If your property is the place you will stay is it energy efficient? Two garages? Vegetable garden? Great lawn and trees? Is it a "come to" rather than a "go away from" property?

4. Do you drink alcohol? Can you live without it and thus cease harming your liver?

5. Are you primarily eating processed food or do you cook from scratch with lots of veggies on the plate?

6. Of course the question of smoking must be asked and we all know that killed my uncle, my father and both of my grandfathers so that mantra has been sung to my kids to not use tobacco products. What about you?

7. exercise?

8. Weight?

The list goes on and there are important things to consider but do you see where I am going with this? Are there life adjustments you can make before you retire?

There is also the question of taxable investments versus tax deferred investments. Do you have at least one brokerage firm you are investing in? Is that program beating this dumb 2IFT rule investment program we are stuck in? Is your brokerage account making more money for you than your TSP Account?

Should I continue?

My plan needs a lot of help please. Id like to retire at 57, earliest age to get my pension I guess. Will have put in 37 years at that point. I will still be poor. WTF. Am I missing something. Do ordinary folks dip into their tsp so early in retirement to survive.?

Retire as soon as you can. Fish as much as possible. End of plan.

As Cronds alluded to, maitaining your health supercedes the pursuit of wealth.

Nothing sucks your well-being out of retirement faster than being chronically or terminally ill.

Serious illnesses are also the most effective wealth destroyer for most Americans, due to a poorly subsidized healthcare system.

Salad anyone?

What is "retirement" to you? Are you thinking about long lazy mornings and walking the dog and spending time in the garden. Or like my old boss who spent the first year of retirement on a grand tour of the world visiting every continent?
Retirement is different things to different people, and the cost of life in retirement can vary greatly. You (and your spouse) should have a good idea of what you will do in retirement and what those costs will be.

I went out at 58 with 35 years. My FERS pension and SS supplement is enough to cover all my expenses with some left over (my house was paid for, no debt, my daughter is out of college, has a decent job and apartment). So far haven’t needed to make a TSP withdrawal but once I feel comfortable traveling I may make a withdrawal to cover that. Retirement is a bit boring compared to the non-stop stress of managment. Still adjusting, doing some volunteer work. I wouldn’t mind doing some part-time contract work for a couple of years.

Damn, never really sat down and thought about what I wanted to do for retirement. Wife and I just been doing the saving and putting the money away plan all this time. I don't have a clue what retirement means to me at this very moment.

These are some powerful words though "Get busy living or get busy dying."

jlozano042 wrote: These are some powerful words though "Get busy living or get busy dying."

Yep, this quote is attributed to The Shawshank Redemption--a great movie for those who seek to understand themselves, others, and life in general.

bloobs wrote:

jlozano042 wrote: These are some powerful words though "Get busy living or get busy dying."

Yep, this quote is attributed to The Shawshank Redemption--a great movie for those who seek to understand themselves, others, and life in general.

Great movie indeed bloobs. Appreciate the .gif!

jlozano042 wrote:

bloobs wrote:

jlozano042 wrote: These are some powerful words though "Get busy living or get busy dying."

Yep, this quote is attributed to The Shawshank Redemption--a great movie for those who seek to understand themselves, others, and life in general.

Great movie indeed bloobs. Appreciate the .gif!

A definite movie for all ages. It’s in my collection

Health management for retirement prep! WOW, got me thinking. Makes sense.