John E

My wife and I are 56 years old (each, not combined ). In June, son #1 will graduate from UCSD, with plans for grad school, and son #2 will graduate from high school, with plans for college. Fortunately, I have a great job, directing 10 other electronics engineers at an exciting startup company. I currently plan to retire sometime in my early-to-mid 70s, but hope to cut back gradually on the workload and time commitment over the coming years; 10 years from now, I would like to be doing some combination of consulting and part-time teaching. To me, the only negative aspect of working is that it doesn't give me enough time for my various hobbies, including bicycle restoration and riding, music, investing, local politics, and home improvement and repair.

Trsnrtr

My wife and I are both retired (both 55) but we both take on contract work from time to time, her more than me. I only worked 300 billable hours this year. My wife and I made some lucky decisions through the years that allowed us to retire early. We didn't consciously plan it that way, it just happened and it's been very nice. I've had some health problems and a family history of early check out. I treasure these years where my wife and I can travel and do things we enjoy, like bicycling.

Dennis

LynnH

I enjoy my job, but am definitely looking forward to retirement (hopefully by the time I'm 57), the biggest reason I look forward to it now is just to have more time for biking. I just hope I am blessed with still feeling like this, when I do have the time.

jm01

...it takes getting used to

I'm 56, retired at 45, but managed to take only a few years off as my wife was still working, so I'm working a few hours/week as a headhunter. Suprised me that the compensation is ridiculous for the amount of time I put in...I can make more in a few hours then I did in a month when in corporate.

My wife finally retired in April at 53, we stayed at the cottage for the summer, but she couldn't adjust...she needed that structured environment, so I placed at a client (yes, I got paid for finding my wife a job )

Have fun...there really is a freedom 61

Have a great Christmas

Artkansas 

Gosh guy, there are so many other careers, bicycle mechanic, bicycle sales person, bicycle rental agent, bicycle tour leader, bicycle safety instructor, bicycle trainer, bicycle advocate in government.

RDW3261

Retired in March of this year at the age of 50. Loving it so far althought the winter has slowed down my riding time.

jazzy_cyclist

I turned 56 two days ago and have put in about 130-140 hours in the past two weeks. Retirement sounds pretty good to me right now, but I am full time wage slave.

Tom Bombadil

Looks like several of us are being impacted by paying for college expenses. As I remarked in the 2nd post in this thread, I have 5 children. I'm about to finish paying for year #16 out of 20, as my fourth graduates this coming May. I told them that I would pay tuition (but no more than whatever the University of Wisconsin-Madison costs) and room & board for 4 years. That's averaged about $11K/yr. But the youngest is still 3 years away from entering college. So I've still got a $50K-$60K commitment out there.

The stars begin to align for me right around my 60th birthday. The college expenses stop when I'm 59.5, my house pays off at 59, and I hit my 25th anniversary with my present employer at 60. The numbers though do work better if I stay working until 62.

I must say that I do think about cutting back a bit. My employer offers the opportunity to work a less than 100% assignment, so I could cut back to 90% and get every other Friday off, or 80% to get every Friday off. That is tempting.

terry b

I'm 52 about to turn 53 and I'm about 2 years out from being able to "officially" retire. Not that it means much since my company doesn't offer a pension. We have a profit sharing 401k program that rolls over to me when I walk.

Had a goal of being out by 50 which I missed, mainly due to the dotcom bust. The other side of our retirement plan is a generous stock option program. I could more than likely quit today based on that, but I wouldn't have the retirement I want, especially starting at this young age.

Two kids still in college, but I think I pretty much have that covered regardless of income.

But 30 years in high tech is wearing me out. Currently working on a program to build a factory in China, so the work is still interesting. Hoping to turn that into some post-work consulting gigs around doing business over there.

centexwoody 

I'd pay a yearly fee to belong to a group like that & support someone getting & keeping it organized...something that adventurecycling.org but definitely geared to 50+, 60+, 70+, 80+...

Or perhaps it should be organized like the Volksmarch organization where local 'rides' are mapped, published & anyone who visits a locale can ride it & get a patch. My mother did that for 10 years, traveling all over to do Volksmarches. She only quit at age 75 after she hurt her back (doing something else). The reason I thought of this is the number of inquiries that are posted about folks planning to visit a certain city or region and inquiring about trails & rides.

rck

I "retired" 2 years ago at age 54 or at least I tried to. I consented to work "availability" which meant they asked if you would work on busy days. Didn't take long before they skipped the ask part and just put me on the schedule. So after some conversations I now work just 3 days a week which is enough for me and when the weather is nice perhaps a day too much.

mollusk

I'm 52 and in 5.5 years I'll have 30 years in and be able to retire at 1/2 pay. At the same time my youngest will be starting his Junior year of high school and my eldest should be a Junior in college. Methinks that retirement will still be a few years off then with all those college expenses looming, but I do like my job so I'm not in that big of a hurry.

john wood

I am 63,retired Dec.29,2005.Have enjoyed every day of it.We have been fortunate to have our health and been able to travel around the country visit family,do lots of bike riding and volunteer charity work .We both say we don't know how I had time to work.This past year I was able to do the MS150 and a Lupus 100k fund raiser in addition to just fun rides.

RockyMtnMerlin

Holy crap jazzy! You need to throttle back a bit.

centexwoody 

Where are the independently wealthy? I miss seeing the top 1/2 % of the economic elite in our group...

They're bound to be lurking somewhere & just not fessing up! Come on, come on out and let the rest of us abuse you for a while...

will dehne

What is independently wealthy? Having enough to continue present lifestyle until you and your spouse drop dead? Having enough to pay for deluxe retirement homes until age 100? Have enough to fix the problems of our kids who cannot seem to get their act together (no doubt because we did not raise them right)
Have enough to have full blown residences in the south and in the north.
I guess Bill Gates and alike do not worry about any of that. Most of us DO worry about one or more of these.
I am 65 and still gainfully employed. No plans yet.

Monoborracho

At age 54 I have no plans to retire and no real desire to do so. You could refer to my situation as semi-self employed. About two years ago I decided to cut back significantly on my hours, and it has actually worked better. I usually spend about 35 hours per week at my office, but sometimes 50 or so, though those long work weeks are fewer and fewer. The business plan is to monetize assets in 3 to 5 years, and then start over again, then do it again, and maybe again.

My wife is a teacher, but left full time teaching when our kids were born, then worked in children's ministry, and now works as a teachers aid in public school. That takes care of our health insurance and there are no homework or lesson plans to go with it. She loves being around the little children. I suppose at some point she will leave to draw a pension, but I'm not sure when.

Like OXBIKR, I like the fun and mental challenge of it all. I may slow down some more at some point in the future, but if I am able I plan to keep an office on a professional level until I assume the horizontal and come to room temperature.

cruzMOKS

I'm 56 with 2 kids to put through college. My job is not bad.

I can't understand people that don't know what to do with their time. I have a bunch of interests, and that was before bicycling. I won't have any trouble staying busy after retirement.

RonH

I turned 62 a few days ago so starting Jan 1 I'll be working 6 hour days.
My boss doesn't know squat about SS so he doesn't know that by taking "early" retirement I'm limited as to how much I can earn. I'm guessing that I'll be leaving my job by June or early July.
You guessed it --- low-paying post corporate downsizing job.

buelito

I guess I am 'wishing' I could retire... at least from my current job. I do, however, have the future mapped out--my wife and I are in the process of building an ecolodge in Costa Rica. As soon as it is making enough to pay the bills, I will leave my current job and move down. We are shooting for a February/March opening date (2007), but I suspect I will still be at my current job for at least 2 years to pay the bills. All my vacation time, however, will be spent in Costa Rica. My wife did retire and is down there full time. This separation is tough, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel, so we work at it.

train safe-

byte_speed

+1

I'm 58 and could probably retire if I wanted to, but I have a great job and set my own hours for the most part, so I have plenty of time for riding. If it ever gets to be a drag, I'm outta there.

Merry Christmas to all and to all good rides!

ollo_ollo

I'm 66 & retired this past April. Have no problem keeping busy. My wife is a legal assistant in the Attorney General's office & plans retirement about this time next year. I am in the planning stage of building a new home on property we own in Stayton, Oregon(near Salem & Corvallis). Been getting acquainted with the local bureaucrats & subcontractors down there & we are just finishing the hookup to city water & sewer. When we begin construction it will cut into my cycling big time.

LastPlace

Having worked in commercial TV for twenty plus years I have never had much income, and even fewer benefits. Now at 55, I am a state employee with 8 years of service and even less pay.

After careful consideration I have figured out that I can retire when I'm 123 years old or I buy one of those lottery tickets. I really shouldn't, but I envy those of you who planned well, because I didn't. I hope every parent will encourage their kids to think about their financial future.

In spite what I have said, life is much better than the alternative and I have it a lot better than many.

Merry Christmas.

Sandwarrior

I retired from the Air Force in 2003 and took a full time job. I didn't want to, but the wife insisted since professional wargamers don't make much money . I love my job, but not the rotating shift work. I would love to be able to do the same job without having to rotate to a 12 hour night shift every 2 weeks. I would also love to retire and travel with my wife. She is a great companion and loads of fun. I also like the idea of getting a second retirement check. I'll stick out the next 17 years (if they'll let me) and in the process maybe get a RV to do that travelling.

rdj

Well the retirement is coming would have liked to worked 2 more years to pay off the house but the plant i work in is closing and just don't want to go back to the plant I started in so it is take the package and run. But after 35 years I'm ready, I started riding some last summer and found that i enjoyed just going out and doing 8 to 10 miles 3 or 4 days a week. I have so much to do around the house as we live in a 100 plus year old farm house that it will be a full time job just getting the honey-do list done, and then there is camping to do and sprint car racing to go chase, question for you already retired ones out there how do you find time to do everything you put off doing all those years you worked!!!! Oh yea I told the wife that she can work the next 35 yrs to support us in the manor in which we have become a custom to living ( boy she hits hard).
Russ