I am 59 and I unofficially retired in May of 2015 shortly after my dad died. I was going to keep working a few more years but I saw that I didn't need to keep an income coming in and I was hating my job so bad I didn't go back to work and they let me go. I am living near West Palm Beach FL for about 12 years. Drove school bus for Martin County FL for about 4 years and worked for Palm Beach county school district for 15 months, didn't work long enough for a pension from the state of Florida. Was in the US Army for 6.5 years active duty and spent a few years in the US Army reserves.
My wife gets about $1500.00 a month from her retirement. I have to wait for about 6 years for my social security as I didn't have a pension plan set up like she did. Have enough money in the bank for now to pay bills or so I hope.
A little about Florida; most places don't have a basement because the water would come in very quickly because the water table is only a few feet from ground level or rain water would flow inside because the ground is very hard down here too. Maybe some where near Gainsville FL they can have a basement but not southeast FL.
I have the extra bedroom set-up as my main train layout area and have shelves set up for display too. Also starting a drop down layout on a 4 by 6 sheet of plywood in the den area.
Lee Fritz
