Good thread. My wife plans to retire in a couple of years. Her job is just too stressful. She will still have to find some other employment as I don't think we can afford to live on my income and her retirement.

Me, I figure unless I can work some magic, I probably have at least 10-12 more years before I can retire.

Most people that I have ever talked to about retirement are looking at what health care costs and/or when they are eligible for Medicare. We are both early 50s so Medicare will be awhile. But she can retire and I'll just add her to my healthcare. We both work for the same main entity, just different departments. So, the healthcare should remain the same for her.
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That is great that you will be able to add her on to your insurance.
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yep, you can’t get on Medicare until you are 65. Married filing jointly you have a limit of $129K in income. Anything over that, you’ll have to pay part of the Medicare costs. Since I retired sooner than planned, I had a lot of income on my W2.

I'm paying close to $400 a month for Medicare A&B, G plan and a drugs plan. But when I get the new tax return for 2004 taxes, we should get that down to around $150 a month.

I had a good PPO plan. Still charged me $500 co-pays for MRI ‘s and Cat Scans. $60 for an office visit. I don’t have to pay those co-pays on Medicare. So that’s saving me more than chump change.
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I'm pretty fascinated by people who could retire, but don't want to. I like what I do well enough, but if I could afford it, I'd never work again. I admire people who love what they do for a living, but it's a foreign concept to me.
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Just under 5 months for my planned retirement. Question for those that have retired. Did you have any apprehension or second thoughts about turning in the paperwork and making it official? I have to give 1 month or more notice and sometimes I am feeling unsure about it.
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I'm not gonna lie, I had those types of thoughts last month. But, I'm prepared for retirement and decided that me and my family deserve the best that I have left. The job just kept getting more and more in the way of that goal. Bottom line - I've never heard anyone on their death bed say " I wish I had worked more". That statement alone made my decision for me.
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Excellent mentality....what time I do have left here on earth family deserves the best I have left.
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yeah, I’m adopting this mindset and put it in my signature.

So, I retired earlier than planned. I still can have a great retirement. I also gained a couple of years of not working. When you are 65, time is worth more than money.
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I had none...I ended up giving my company 18 months notice but part of that was because of some events that elongated my stay.. when I finally said enough is enough I gave them my final date and said get my replacement or else the position will be vacant.
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Since retirement, I’ve taken over most of the cooking. Been trying new recipes. Some I like, some not so much. But, that’s part of the process.

Made Shepherd’s Pie tonight. Pretty good, but I can see some alterations I’m going to make the next time.

Lord knows I’m never going to be a threat to Gordon Ramsey or Bobby Flay, but maybe I’ll make the cooking these proud one of these days.:-)
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Been doing that myself as much as possible...mostly the normal things...meatloaf, tacos, spaghetti and meatballs, baked chicken, etc. I am nowhere near as good as my wife but in the last month no one has had to go to the hospital.

Made a couple of cakes...both peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies....

But the hard stuff my wife is having to teach me.
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Not a frequent poster here, but retired a few weeks ago. I got a ton of info on YouTube, starting with this guy (https://www.youtube.com/@joekuhnlovesretirement), although he can be a bit repetitive. Once you start watching retirement videos, the YouTube algorithm will recommend more, some good, some folks just like to blather on. But overall, still a good resource.
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Looks good. Been watching a lot of you tube videos like these to get my education level where it needs to be to make educated decisions about all this retirement stuff.
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I want to go back to work, it was a lot less work.
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