tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32639162.post6657282715866993808..comments2023-12-07T01:00:56.264-05:00Comments on My Wealth Builder: Retiring Early in Turbulent TimesSuper Saverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11172939501208456194noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32639162.post-19191143054441563342008-11-23T20:35:00.000-05:002008-11-23T20:35:00.000-05:00Well, you made me feel a little better (misery lov...Well, you made me feel a little better (misery loves company, right?) I retired March of 2008 and have been watching the market go down ever since. But at least it had already gone down for 4 months before I retired. Not that it makes any difference financially, but there is something psychological about the date you retire and measuring the drop from that point--rather than the peak (which was your measurement date--ouch!)<BR/><BR/>I didn't pay off all my mortgage before retiring but had made it much of the way--about 60% of it. I had been recently thinking, my rate is so low, I shouldn't have done that, then I'd have more cash cushion to wait out the market. But alas, I would have allocated some of that to the market, I'm sure, so I love your point about the fact that you're glad you paid it--otherwise you would have lost it in the market, and STILL had the mortgage!<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the silver linings, I could use them today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32639162.post-76353597017441331282008-11-17T09:49:00.000-05:002008-11-17T09:49:00.000-05:00This IS interesting...especially since, if the rum...This IS interesting...especially since, if the rumors that have been reverberating around the shop are true, I soon will be joining you in retirement. I, however, am not in my hireable 40s but in my unemployable 60s, and so a layoff will mean early retirement at a time when my investments have lost over $100,000. <BR/><BR/>Mercifully, I did pay off my house. Taxes and insurance have gone up so high, though, it remains to be seen whether I can keep it without a regular income that far exceeds Social Security. COBRA, which will carry me over the 18 months until I'm eligible for Medicare, costs EIGHTEEN TIMES what my present coverage costs; obtaining full coverage with Medicare will cost only 10 times what I'm now paying...assuming I don't come down with something that requires drugs expensive enough to toss me in the "doughnut hole."<BR/><BR/>My plan is to try to limp along on early Social Security, freelancing, and selling yard-saled junk on Craig's List & Ebay until I'm 66; then return the two & a half year's worth of early SS payments to the government so I can reset Social Security payments at the "full retirement" level. By then, I hope, the market will have improved enough that I can take some money out to live on. <BR/><BR/>If things don't get better, though--and soon--I'm looking at an old age in poverty, rather than the middle-class life I expected and worked for. How can I express my joy with our soon-to-be former presidential leadership? :-DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com