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Extreme early retirement thrills and spills |
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I am 44 now, and we live in the most expensive county in the U.S. -- Marin County, Calif. This is a lovely slice of heaven just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. We own our home and there is a mortgage. Rates were so low and we locked them in -- it seemed silly to use investment proceeds to buy a house when it's a bargain to borrow.
We are debt free, with the exception of the mortgages.
Like "The Donald," I don't have a problem with debt if it is used
for appreciating assets. We do not have car payments, and no credit
card debt. We drive older American cars. I took a massive hit in
my investments in 2000 (like many did) but it was not as bad as
it could have been. Right at that time, I went from being my own
investment advisor (Fidelity) to actually hiring one (Morgan Stanley).
We are part of a family group that is "platinum," which is nice,
but the fees are starting to bother me, and I am contemplating going
back out on my own with index funds and lifecycle funds.
I currently do not draw income from my investments. Most of them are in IRAs. I do have a stock brokerage account that we pull from when we need to buy something big. My situation might be boring, as I invested all those funds for retirement purposes. I thought I was going to grow old alone, never thought I'd get married (at least didn't count on it). So we only use that brokerage account to pay for life events -- our wedding, our honeymoon, LASIK surgery, cars, houses.
My husband is not retired. In fact, it is his cash flow that keeps us moving about in the complex world. I guess the interesting thing here is somebody who retired early and used earnings to start a life with somebody (my husband) who was knocked on his knees after a devastating divorce.
My husband is 52 and will retire in the next six to 10 years -- I'm waiting for him!
I would say I miss exercising my brain in retirement. I am a good writer and very good with people, so I do miss both of those venues. I miss camaraderie with people. Right now I am home all day, doing our life, so my husband can focus on his job. I think the best part is, after working a total of 35-plus jobs since I was 13 years old, I could finally say "I quit."
I come from a family of five children and a single
mother, so money has always taken a large portion of my attention
-- first to survive, then to thrive. I never for a second feel an
ounce of guilt, because I have worked very, very hard and applied
myself. This is the reward. Oh, by the way, I went to a state university
and majored in economics. I was a secretary for years before figuring
out that was never going to make me rich.
-- Deb, Marin County, Calif.
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