My Retirement Plan

When I let my friends know I'd retired, the news was greeted by some with raised eyebrows.

I replied that age wasn't a factor, preparation was.  And I had a plan.  I'm single, no dependants, no excuse for not having and implementing a get ready for retirement plan.  Which went like this:

1. Get completely debt free.  Everything paid in full every month.  No exceptions.  I've been debt free since January, 1999.  That's over 15 years of not paying interest to anyone.  More $$ for me.

2. Pay cash.  I paid cash for my condo, cash for my car.  No payments to factor into a budget. I pay cash when I shop locally.  Cold hard cash, NO debit card, no credit card.   I allocate an amount bi-weekly for groceries, gas, sundries, haircuts.  When the money is spent, there is no more until the next draw date.  If I have extra money at the end of the two weeks, it is deducted from my next draw and goes into my treat fund for future spending.

3. Set up a budget and stick to it.  Be accountable to yourself.   I use Quicken and an Excel spreadsheet.  A belt and suspenders approach.   I also believe in spill over finances.   I allocate a monthly amount for condo fees and utilities.  Whatever is left over is transferred to either home insurance (payable annually) or a home repair fund after the home insurance is paid.

4. Live below your means.  If Social Security is going to play a major part in your retirement plan, find out as soon as possible how much you'll receive at 62, full retirement age, 70.  Plan your present budget as if you were living on Social Security NOW. 

5. Save, save, save.   I had a Roth IRA that I maxed out every year in January with money I'd saved from each paycheck the previous year.  I also have savings in my cookie jar account (my emergency fund) in my Quicken budget. 

I'm enjoying retirement.  Living as the spirit moves me agrees with me.  I'm as frugal as I was when I was working, and remind myself that shopping is not a recreational activity.  I have better things to do with my time.

Penny Pincher

Getting a Handle on Retirement

I paid my dues.   Fifty-five plus years in the work force; almost eleven years in the job I left three weeks ago and twenty-six years in the job prior to that.   I have no regrets about retiring; as abrupt as the decision may have been, it was time. 

In the past year as I took the final financial steps to simplify my life in retirement - closing a seldom used credit card, moving money into an FDIC insured account, automating bill payments - I kept wondering when the day would come.  The actual retirement date was out there in the ethers, no set target date.  But, as often happens, events conspired to force a decision.  I spent the first two weeks of retirement getting over the flu.  Three weeks of that misery needs no repetition.

The reality of retirement is that I'm no longer bound by a timeclock or paycheck calendar.   I don't have to be anywhere.  I still wake early without an alarm, by 5 a.m. I'm out the door for my brisk morning walk.  Home to savor the sunrise from my balcony followed by breakfast at my desk while playing gin rummy on computer.  But from then on the day is completely mine.  No running to get in my car at 7:10 to be at work by 7:30.  No going from work straight to the laundry or grocery shopping.  Work is no longer a factor in the rhythm of my daily life.

That will take getting used to.

Penny Pincher