@AGHRMatt posted:. . . Working from home these past few months has given me somewhat of a preview of retirement (no useless micro-managers interrupting me) and it's not the "nothing-to-do" life I was afraid it would be.
You have figured it out, Matt. I have not had a boring day in 13 years of retirement. And you won't, either!
And I can let my hair grow now. 
@AGHRMatt posted:You're a wise man.
I'm retiring in a few months because while I like what I do, I'm beginning to lose respect for those I'm doing it for. Working from home these past few months has given me somewhat of a preview of retirement (no useless micro-managers interrupting me) and it's not the "nothing-to-do" life I was afraid it would be.
Matt,
Congratulations on your upcoming retirement!! We will be glad to have you in the club!! I worked from home and went in to the office a couple days a week during the last two years with the telco. We were used to not have our managers nearby, since the company had bought so many telco markets, they grouped us according to functional area not geographic area. My manager was in a different state from 2009 until I left in 2018. It was kind of like all the many years I was a technician and was out on the road without a manager in sight.
@Bob Delbridge posted:WOW, been 5 years since I posted this.
Don't work at either golf course now and haven't played golf since before Christmas 2019, but took up shooting/collecting firearms almost 3 years ago! Still build/run my trains and layout. I told myself several engines ago that I was done buying them. That didn't last long, I've bought 3 in the last 3 months.
Bob,
Pretty funny. 
I've made that promise before, too and I make it again here & now! 
To keep our topic legit, feel free to post pictures of your recent purchases.
Tom
I'm a year and 2 months or if they offer early retirement I'm gone. My day will be full and will even welcome the time I sit around and do nothing. Build my layout, build my building kits, weather my trains, more gym time, garden railway, my yard will be better maintained and enjoyed, time to do chores, actually read all the magazines I get, home projects won't gave to be squeezed into the weekend, more travel (when all of this is over), sleep late sometimes, and maybe get some labradors.
Sign me up!
@PRR8976 posted:Bob,
Pretty funny.
I've made that promise before, too and I make it again here & now!
To keep our topic legit, feel free to post pictures of your recent purchases.
Tom
Tom & Bob nice try I said that when we moved into the new house three years ago when I saw how much stuff I had that were never unpacked. Since then I have 1 new MTH and 7 Lionel Post War along with at least 2 dozen assorted rolling stock and passenger cars. So I gave up making that promise to my wife or myself.
Rick,
But I said it with an angelic figure/emoji doesn't that count? 
Tom
Previously I was prepared to work ten more yrs till I was 80 ( my grandson would be 18).
However, on April 1st my company announced a 20% pay reduction effective that day. That puts me back to my 2007 salary. Also all bonus and raises canceled for the year. So that got me thinking about retiring early at age 70 instead of 80.
The new mgr I got last month has definitely made the decision a no brainer. So much added stress now and for 80% salary.
I was a machinist during the heyday of aerospace in southern Calif. Retired at 62 as soon as you can get social security. Never regretted it one second.
I already had 2 loops operational on my layout but quit working on it to work on my true lifetime passion hot rods. then back to model railroad but now at 77 still work on cars some. Cars sure are a lot harder than model railroads.
I was ready to set my retirement date and then covid hit. Working from home makes things easier. I put in my 8 hours and then I’m done. They know not to push me beyond that or I’ll hit the bye-bye button.
I have time in the morning to work on the layout. Heck during conference calls I work on simple tasks on the layout. I’ve found that I actually understand things better that way as I’m more relaxed. Just have to remember to stay on mute. 😂😂😂
Tom,
The 3 new engines are my 3D printed Seaboard motorcar 2028, a MTH RailKing 4-8-4, and a Williams/Samhongsa brass USRA 2-8-2. The only one I have photos of is the motorcar:
The Southern Rwy 2-8-2 is still like the day it arrived, the black tender didn't match the greenish boiler. No problem though, especially for the price I paid. A repaint of the boiler and I'll be happy.
The 4-8-4 is undergoing heavy cosmetic upgrades to try to turn it from this:
into this:
I've Dremeled off what I felt were the main items that needed changing like the running boards, sand dome, and some smaller cast-on appliances, and removed items that were screwed or pressed into place like the top piping and smoke stack. I made new running boards and had a smoke stack that looks more like what's on the original and made new cab sides with the arched window out of thin brass glued over the diecast cab sides. I have the boiler painted but no decals.
Now I'm building a new tender using styrene. The basic box is done but I have to build the front wall that faces the cab then apply some Archer Rivets, that's gonna take time. Also, the rounded top is giving me a fit. It's there, but not very smooth so I have to work on that or cut it off and make them as separate pieces. I did a Bachmann HO 4-8-4 like this years ago and trying to apply what I did then to what I'm doing now.
Unfortunately there's no color photos of the ACL 1800s to be found, so the colors I chose were chosen by the time-proven SWAG method 
The main reason I bought this model was the 8-wheeled trucks. If I find I don't like the boiler after all the work I've done on it well...I'm trying to learn a CAD program called FreeCad. If I'm comfortable with it I'm going to try to design a boiler and 3D print it, but that's WAY down the road. May even do a new tender while I'm at it!
Oh...all my engines and rolling stock are on 3-rail wheels, but the engines are run on battery power and remote control (BPRC). They run fine on code 148 2-rail track, I can honestly say I haven't had a derailment that wasn't "operator error" yet and the ones I've had were mostly forgetting to throw a switch. Those hi-rail flanges track extremely well on code 148 track.
Congrats to all the recent retirees. I'm jealous! I turn 59 this month and would love to pull the plug, but not quite ready financially. I figure I have 2 years to go, plus or minus a few months.
I'm still trying to get my arms around how much income I will need in retirement. My wife and I had kids late so I still have 2 of my 8 at home. The rest are all out of the house or in college. But we still don't know what it's like yet to just take care of ourselves without kids. Certainly the income demand will be less, but I imagine we'll find a way to spend when it is just us. The bottom line for us is striking the balance beween having the time together and have enough income to enjoy it, whichbof course means trains for me!
My approach to retirement is different than most of you.
If possible, and when affordable, consider retiring from that portion of your business or occupation that you don't love, and continue doing what you do love.
I will give myself as an example, but before I do, my sense is that the above is more likely if you have an ownership interest in a business and are not an employee.
As some of you know, I'm a divorce lawyer and mediator with his own practice. You may think that means I'm very wealthy, but I'm not. Although I get paid at a comparatively high hourly rate like most divorce lawyers and am very good at what I do, there is a lot of competition in my field where I'm located, one reason being that there are many women lawyers who gravitate to my field, who decades ago would have been legal secretaries. Although not upper class economically, I do well enough to maintain an economically middle class lifestyle, and consider myself very fortunate to be able to do that during these challenging times.
So, here's the deal for me regarding retirement. I plan never to retire from the work I love, which includes the various ways of helping clients make a good divorce settlement outside of court (mediation, collaborative divorce, etc.,), preparing prenuptial, postnuptial and separation agreements and other divorce settlement agreements; preparing uncontested divorce papers; and advising clients on all aspects of domestic relations matters to help them resolve their disputes so as to avoid monumental legal fees and stress that litigation entails.
Regarding litigation, I do not love it. I find it to be very stressful for various reasons and plan to retire from it, but not yet. At this time, I am very selective carefully picking my battles and deciding what litigation clients to take on.
I got my wife laughing the other day when I told her I cannot retire yet from divorce litigation because I need the money to pay for and maintain my trains. LOL. Although that is not the only reason, it is one of them. Arnold
@Bob Delbridge posted:Tom,
The 3 new engines are my 3D printed Seaboard motorcar 2028, a MTH RailKing 4-8-4, and a Williams/Samhongsa brass USRA 2-8-2. The only one I have photos of is the motorcar:
The Southern Rwy 2-8-2 is still like the day it arrived, the black tender didn't match the greenish boiler. No problem though, especially for the price I paid. A repaint of the boiler and I'll be happy.
The 4-8-4 is undergoing heavy cosmetic upgrades to try to turn it from this:
into this:
I've Dremeled off what I felt were the main items that needed changing like the running boards, sand dome, and some smaller cast-on appliances, and removed items that were screwed or pressed into place like the top piping and smoke stack. I made new running boards and had a smoke stack that looks more like what's on the original and made new cab sides with the arched window out of thin brass glued over the diecast cab sides. I have the boiler painted but no decals.
Now I'm building a new tender using styrene. The basic box is done but I have to build the front wall that faces the cab then apply some Archer Rivets, that's gonna take time. Also, the rounded top is giving me a fit. It's there, but not very smooth so I have to work on that or cut it off and make them as separate pieces. I did a Bachmann HO 4-8-4 like this years ago and trying to apply what I did then to what I'm doing now.
Unfortunately there's no color photos of the ACL 1800s to be found, so the colors I chose were chosen by the time-proven SWAG method
The main reason I bought this model was the 8-wheeled trucks. If I find I don't like the boiler after all the work I've done on it well...I'm trying to learn a CAD program called FreeCad. If I'm comfortable with it I'm going to try to design a boiler and 3D print it, but that's WAY down the road. May even do a new tender while I'm at it!
Oh...all my engines and rolling stock are on 3-rail wheels, but the engines on battery power and remote control (BPRC). They run fine on code 148 2-rail track, I can honestly say I haven't had a derailment that wasn't "operator error" yet and the ones I've had were mostly forgetting to throw a switch. Those hi-rail flanges track extremely well on code 148 track.
Bob,
I'm a little worried because you seem to be doing a lot of "work" in your retirement! That motorcar is beautiful. So, it is 3D printed...I assume you did not do the printing yourself since I think you described it as a purchase? Also, is it powered?
Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Tom
Arnold,
What a blessing to be an attorney who loves what he does. According to an ABA poll about 10 years ago, more than 80% of all attorneys said that if they could make a living doing anything else, they would quit the law business and do it!
I quit my practice because I hated it. Mergers and acquisitions for 28 years with a 600 person firm. (What a soul killer.)
I think your quote at the bottom of your post says it all! Trains help build that little world.
Mannyrock
My monthly retirement income (civil service retirement, social security, annuity) is equal to what I was bringing home when I was working, after taxes, insurance, etc. No bills other than monthly utilities, house and car are paid for, so I've been able to save more money now than when I was working!!!
Those tv commercials that say you need $1M and up to afford retirement, I think they must mean if you have nothing else coming in every month and plan on living another 20+ years than yeah, $1M plus interest could hold you over at least that long, IF you don't have a house payment that is astronomical.
The big unknown IMO is health, you never know what will fall upon you. Even with Social Security and Blue Cross, I'm not sure if something were to happen to me what kind of bills I would be left having to pay. So far, after almost 14 years of retirement, the only doctors bills I've had are from my dentist, as I don't have a dental plan that amounts to much. That and the lenses I got when I had cataract surgery, they cost me a bit over $3000, the "standard government lenses" would have cost nothing but I had an astigmatism so I opted for the Toric lenses.
And it all depends on your lifestyle. I did enough traveling when I worked for Uncle Sam, and after my last trip (where I had to take my shoes off 3 times in the same airport for security after 9/11), I don't care if I ever see the inside of another airplane again. There's nowhere I want to go that bad and don't care for long distance driving anymore, my longest drive now is the 1hr drive to the shooting range.
It boils down to this...depends on what you want to do AFTER you retire. If you want to travel, run the streets, hang out at the bar, build up your favorite "collection-of-the-day" then you better save your pennies now or have no other big monthly bills.
The decision as to whether to draw your social security early at age 61, or wait until you are 66, is a complicated one. Not as cut and dried as most people think.
Yes, if you wait until you are 66, you will get more money per month, into the future. But, because of a little something called inflation (very tame now, but who knows?), future dollars are worth less than present dollars. A dollar received 10 years from now won't buy anything close to what that dollar will buy today. AND, if you are comfortable enough to be able to invest those dollars today, then 10 years later they could well be doubled or tripled.
If you have enough money so that you do not have to spend your early received social security dollars on living expenses, then as many advisors will tell you, you are far better off drawing your social security early at age 61, and investing those 5 years of payments for your future needs.
Also, although claiming social security at age 66 results in larger monthly amounts going forward, it takes approximately 14 years for those larger payments to equal the total amount that you will receive by receiving the lower payments 5 years earlier and continuing to receive them over that extra 14 year period.
Because of this, your health, family history, and longevity must be entered into the equation. Age 66 plus 14 years is age 80. Is it likely that you will live that long? Has any male in your direct ancestor line in the past 60 years lived that long? Do you have any high risk factors in your family history, such as cancer, congestive heart disease, athrosclerosis, excessive blood pressure? Do you have any of those conditions today?
Just some things to consider in making the decision. Especially when the U.S. Government is now printing literally trillions of dollars off the presses and paying it out to the public in stimulus payments and virtually free loans, and the national debt continues to grow. What will those dollars be worth in 10 years? Not just because of inflation, but because of worldwide devaluation of the U.S. dollar.
Mannyrock
@Mannyrock posted:The decision as to whether to draw your social security early at age 61, or wait until you are 66, is a complicated one. Not as cut and dried as most people think.
61 and 66? SSA tells me my options are 62, 67 and 70. Did something change?
Deciding when to draw is all a crapshoot with a lot of unknown variables that enter into the decision.
Ron
Bob and Mannyrock thank you for your perspectives.
I dont have big travel plans when I retire. Family time brings me great joy, so while we will downsize our home after the kids leave, we'll still want a place large enough to host family visitors. It's also important to us to live in an area with things to do so family can visit and enjoy being there.
And of course I'll want room for trains! But even there I don't have plans for a dream/nightmare layout. My modeling activities will be modest to keep it fun and relaxing.
Tom, Thank You for remembering that I represented Honda automobiles, a fun occupation for 25 years, and earning GoldMaster over 20 times during that time in my life, was a daily learning experience. My sales career began in 1963 with the largest hardware wholesaler in the USA Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Co, 110 E Main Street, Louisville, Ky. (Belknap also sold Lionel Trains, many of which I purchased) They closed their doors, February 6, 1986, Devastated our way of life. However, God is Good, I became the Canon Copier man, and later, October 22, The Honda Man. 55 years of living on straight commissions and I owe it all to Our Lord in Heaven. Retiring at age 73 has truly been a blessing, and being able healthwise to travel, work on our home, yard, garden, and of course the model railroad and visit our friends in the hobby is icing on the cake. As far as social security, we waited until I was 68, (I wanted to wait until I was 70, the wife made the decision) and our other investments pay our way. One thing for sure, we live in an area of low property taxes, $2200 yearly. Our home is 24 years old, we’ve kept it up well, and our yard is green as can be here in Tennessee. I owe all of this to my dear wife, together we’re debt free, enjoy traveling and going to our church, First Baptist Church. (Born in 1944)
Tom, this is a fun to read thread, everyone does it differently as they do their railroads differently, that’s what makes our hobby so much fun. Some love TinPlate, PreWar, Postwar, and Modern hi tech trains, they’re All Fun. We’ve seen a lot of changes over the last 25 years, some good, some heart breaking, also we’ve seen many modelers go to Heaven and on the other hand, many new comers with new ideas and imagination and ideas that simply boggle our minds. So, as they say, “change is constant”, what will Tomorrow bring? It’s going to be Exciting. Happy Railroading Everyone
@Scott R posted:Congrats to all the recent retirees. I'm jealous! I turn 59 this month and would love to pull the plug, but not quite ready financially. I figure I have 2 years to go, plus or minus a few months.
I'm still trying to get my arms around how much income I will need in retirement. My wife and I had kids late so I still have 2 of my 8 at home. The rest are all out of the house or in college. But we still don't know what it's like yet to just take care of ourselves without kids. Certainly the income demand will be less, but I imagine we'll find a way to spend when it is just us. The bottom line for us is striking the balance beween having the time together and have enough income to enjoy it, whichbof course means trains for me!
You beat me by 3 kids Scott! What a blessing indeed. Today, I was on the pontoon boat with two of my daughters, their spouses and my grandkids. Superb! Tonight they are over for supper and likely - TRAINS!!!
Ron,
The age at which you can begin to draw social security is now on a sliding scale. The younger you are today, the longer you have to wait to begin to draw. If you go to the Social Security website, there will be an explanation of it and a chart telling you, based on the year you were born, when you can first draw.
I was one of the last people born in the year when you can draw early at age 61.
It is my understanding that once you reach that specified age, you can decide to wait, or draw, the very next year, and each year thereafter, up through the five year increase period. It is not my understanding that you have to wait two years to be able to have the decision to draw again.
Social Security sends out an explanation letter to you at a certain age, and they may have just showed you two year periods as an example.
Or, maybe there was some drastic change in the law, but I have not heard a thing about it.
The website is excellent and should cover all of this.
Hope this helps.
Mannyrock
@Arnold D. Cribari posted:My approach to retirement is different than most of you.
If possible, and when affordable, consider retiring from that portion of your business or occupation that you don't love, and continue doing what you do love.
I will give myself as an example, but before I do, my sense is that the above is more likely if you have an ownership interest in a business and are not an employee.
Arnold,
I am so happy for folks who can work at something they love and are good at. I guess it is hard to love work you aren't good at. I never did like electronics, but it seemed like a good thing to do in the mid '70s in Western Pennsylvania when the economy was very bad. I may have changed majors, but my Mum absolutely hates when someone quits something. 
Once I learned about PCs in the late '90s (yes I am always behind the curve) I got to do some PC support for a while which I liked for the most part. However, I was moved to a different position I didn't like. I finally moved into network engineering, but the company kept changing engineers' job focus about as often as they shuffled the managers around. You could never get good at anything. I ended up working on a project that I fairly well liked when I received the email from HR. I was now expendable. However, I did work on that project as a contractor for 2 more years. Go figure! Oh, another thing. There were no raises whatsoever from 2008 until I finally was dumped from the contract in Oct 2018. Every year your buying power deteriorated. After 6 months, I got an entry level job in tech support which was a disaster for me, and I left after 7 months. No one wanted me doing anything I had done before. After my knee replacement was getting stronger, I started to think about something part time, then the virus hit. It's been 44 years out of college, and I'm done. 
Richard, pontoon boat outings with family are a favorite for us too.
None of my kids are train hobbyists, but they love it that I am. They love the sounds and smells when home for Christmas.
I’m retiring the end of the month. 12 more work days. I am planning on coming back on contract.
Congrats to all you retirees that made it to the finish line! I have a year and 8 months before I hit my minimum retirement age for full pension benefits and after thirty years in the corporate rat race, I’m so looking forward to it. All is looking good and the 401k/taxable investments are better than I had ever estimated. My biggest concern is will it be enough to cover everything, plus converting my 30+ mth engines to TMCC when the boards die. Otherwise, really looking forward to joining you guys. LOL!
So, Arnold, as a divorce lawyer, did ya ever get any good deals from ****ed off wives that want to get back at their husbands by selling their stuff real cheap?
Chinatrain99, bet you stop the contract work after a few months. When you see how much fun it is NOT to work. Don
@Scott R posted:Richard, pontoon boat outings with family are a favorite for us too.
None of my kids are train hobbyists, but they love it that I am. They love the sounds and smells when home for Christmas.
Ah, the smell of wafting smoke Scott........ indeed we did have train time tonight and it was awesome. When those smoke generators start, I'm transported immediately back to my childhood. Dad was a businessman and very busy, but the few times we spent together running Lionel trains is indelibly stamped in my memory; likely why I love steam locos so much. A lifetime investment in happiness indeed.
And yes, when we did get away with dad for vacation it was heading to northern Saskatchewan (I'm in Saskatoon) to go fishing - he owned a boat too - wonderful family times.
@scale rail posted:Chinatrain99, bet you stop the contract work after a few months. When you see how much fun it is NOT to work. Don
I bet you’re absolutely right!!
Lionelski,
The bawdy, unlawful, arrangement to which you refer was commonly referred to in the olden days as letting the female divorcee discharge her legal bill by paying "couch fees." :-)
@chinatrain99 posted:I’m retiring the end of the month. 12 more work days. I am planning on coming back on contract.
When I retired one of our contractors asked me to come in for an interview. The whole time I was sitting in their office I could see the traffic backing up at one of the many tunnels in the area. When I got home I told my wife I wasn't taking the job! Plus there was travel involved, mostly stateside, but they did travel about 50%, didn't really want that either.
@Bob Delbridge posted:When I retired one of our contractors asked me to come in for an interview. The whole time I was sitting in their office I could see the traffic backing up at one of the many tunnels in the area. When I got home I told my wife I wasn't taking the job! Plus there was travel involved, mostly stateside, but they did travel about 50%, didn't really want that either.
I’d still be working from home. Wife would just as soon I didn’t. It will give me something to do this winter, but it won’t take much to convince me to not do it. 11 days left!
It was funny in a way. A small group of us retired about the same time. These guys to a person said they were going to move out of the Bay Area. That was 14 years ago and only my wife and I moved out of the area. Most others are now couch potato's. We had a retirement adviser at my work. She advised people not to move for a few years after retirement. If you like a place, rent a house or condo for a month and see how you like it. That's what we did two times. We sold our old house in 30 days and had to move twice before we found our house on Maui. We had seen the house in pictures only and the owners were going out of the country for months. They owned three other houses and had not used this one in years. I had to fly over the next day and leave my wife with two dogs and a cat. I took pictures and video of the house and bought it. Every thing was included from tools to furniture, golf clubs and diving gear. The first time my wife saw the house was when we moved in. I think change with a little adventure is good for you. We were a little shaken about putting everything we owned into a container and not seeing it for over a month. We kept reminding ourselves we can always move back to California. Well now we wouldn't think of moving back there. We have been back once in nine years for four days and couldn't wait to get back here. Don
@scale rail posted:It was funny in a way. A small group of us retired about the same time. These guys to a person said they were going to move out of the Bay Area. That was 14 years ago and only my wife and I moved out of the area. Most others are now couch potato's. We had a retirement adviser at my work. She advised people not to move for a few years after retirement. If you like a place, rent a house or condo for a month and see how you like it. That's what we did two times. We sold our old house in 30 days and had to move twice before we found our house on Maui. We had seen the house in pictures only and the owners were going out of the country for months. They owned three other houses and had not used this one in years. I had to fly over the next day and leave my wife with two dogs and a cat. I took pictures and video of the house and bought it. Every thing was included from tools to furniture, golf clubs and diving gear. The first time my wife saw the house was when we moved in. I think change with a little adventure is good for you. We were a little shaken about putting everything we owned into a container and not seeing it for over a month. We kept reminding ourselves we can always move back to California. Well now we wouldn't think of moving back there. We have been back once in nine years for four days and couldn't wait to get back here. Don
That's because where you live, Don, is the closest thing to Paradise on Earth.
I also agree that adventure can be a very good thing for those of us that are up in years. Arnold
Not too much retirement planning for me. When the wife and I became eligible for medicare, I retired. Health insurance costs are to great to retire without a big bank roll.
@Arnold D. Cribari posted:That's because where you live, Don, is the closest thing to Paradise on Earth.
I also agree that adventure can be a very good thing for those of us that are up in years. Arnold
Whereas California is the closest thing to **** on earth.
My advice- don't make a permanent change, until you try the idea and area you are considering on an extended temporary basis first.
Example- we live in the "snowbelt"- where we get gloomy winters that average about 100" of snow a year between Dec 1 and April 1. Many of our friends relocated permanently after retirement, to southern States, where is is brutal in the summer, yet (unless in Florida or Arizona) the winters are still cool enough that you are limited in outdoors time.
We on the other hand- have tried Florida, and Arizona, each for 2-3 months. By the time April rolls around it's near 90 already, and (in FL) humid as well- so we are glad to get back to Ohio. Also- we think that, by having a second home, it owns YOU instead of the other way around. (Example- say we owned a place in New Orleans today- we'd be planning a trip south to access the damage.)
We never bought a second home- and find it's better to rent, then leave the keys on the kitchen counter on the way out.
@Mike Wyatt posted:Example- we live in the "snowbelt"- where we get gloomy winters that average about 100" of snow a year between Dec 1 and April 1.
From my perspective, more snow equals more train room time. As I get older, I like winter better than summer.
Ron
Ron045 - You should live in Ontario Canada where I do and then in the winter you'd get all the 'train time' that you'd ever want!
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