It is official. I am retired and collecting pension checks. First one unexpectedly arrived yesterday. Strange that it wasn't 92 days, so I'm delighted and thoroughly confused. I wonder if I'll get another check next week, during the regular monthly cycle of payments?
It is clear that COVID-19 is going to wreak havoc with the national autocross schedule for the west coast, so I pulled the trigger on car upgrades. In surveying the class (STH: Street Touring Hatchback), it seems all the top drivers have moved on to other endeavors, other classes. Which I believe leaves me as the most talented driver remaining, provided I manage to become sympatico with Pepper (the car) after the upgrades.
Early Retired: The First Month
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George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
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George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Re: Early Retired: The First Month
Second check arrived today, Jan 2, so the pension system is fully engaged. Which means the goal of bridging the gap between age 55 (when I left employment) and age 58 (when the pension begins) was entirely successful. And that pretty much wraps up this journal.
Re: Early Retired: The First Month
Congrats, George! Please keep us updated on your racing adventures.
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enigmaT120
- Posts: 1240
- Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 2:14 pm
- Location: Falls City, OR
Re: Early Retired: The First Month
Congratulations! When I was reading your first entry above I was thinking "I thought he was already retired!" So you did manage it a year younger than me. 56 is just my minimum retirement age so it's only early compared to most federal employees I know who spend too much money to do it.
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George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Re: Early Retired: The First Month
A year passes... so last year I won 3 of the 4 National Tours I entered, slightly down from where I felt I could perform. Then I sucked during Nationals, partly due to lackluster driving and partly due to an error in setup after switching tire brands a week before Nationals. A lot of new car builds came out of the woodwork last year and most did well at Nationals. I'm still the fastest west of the Rockies.
During the winter, I made the required setup changes and was able to test them in the dry on Mar 5 & 6. Codriver & I found we needed to adjust tire pressures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXOleXFClLs
Got it right, though, for Mar 6, looking VERY good now for the upcoming season:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXmy6e3jG7w
This weekend and next weekend I'll be testing other tires, then it's the April whirlwind as I'm off to Las Vegas for a National Tour on Apr 2-3, Fontana for a ProSolo on Apr 9-10, Crows Landing National Tour Apr 23-24, and Crows Landing ProSolo Apr 30-May 1. There's live timing & audio for these big events on the internet at http://sololive.scca.com if you're interested. My class is STH during National Tours and S5 during ProSolos.
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George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Re: Early Retired: The First Month
<big time gap as the routine is settled>
One Way to Live
Chatted with one of the subsistence locals while I enjoyed a gin & tonic in the outdoors at a Seaside bar on Friday afternoon. He did custom upholstery in Yakima until retiring a year or three ago, then came out to the coast with his RV, a little dog, and a boat. Trying to decide where to settle on the Oregon coast, he started out here in Seaside and thought he'd find his way down to Newport.
Worked in one of the local upholstery shops (maybe the only one, LOL) for a few weeks, but the shop got caught up on their backlog and let him go. He tried doing a stint at Safeway, didn't like their management, so he left that after about a week. He's paying to park the RV on someone's property that's above the winter flood level, but still in the tsunami zone. Bought himself an e-bike to tootle around Seaside and thinking about selling his boat.
His time is spent chatting, people-watching, riding around, eating crab & razor clams & mussels & salmon/steelhead on top of the regular groceries. Friends were coming to visit for easter weekend, so he booked them motel rooms and will take them to dinner.
Moving down to Newport hasn't happened and likely won't. His initial idea was there is a bigger market for upholstery there (true), but he ran low on funds and is finding life here is pretty good. He's currently in business with a buddy selling firewood. They've arranged a source of logs, have their own small chainsaws, and periodically rent a woodsplitter. Gives them spending money, but is mostly something to do.
One Way to Live
Chatted with one of the subsistence locals while I enjoyed a gin & tonic in the outdoors at a Seaside bar on Friday afternoon. He did custom upholstery in Yakima until retiring a year or three ago, then came out to the coast with his RV, a little dog, and a boat. Trying to decide where to settle on the Oregon coast, he started out here in Seaside and thought he'd find his way down to Newport.
Worked in one of the local upholstery shops (maybe the only one, LOL) for a few weeks, but the shop got caught up on their backlog and let him go. He tried doing a stint at Safeway, didn't like their management, so he left that after about a week. He's paying to park the RV on someone's property that's above the winter flood level, but still in the tsunami zone. Bought himself an e-bike to tootle around Seaside and thinking about selling his boat.
His time is spent chatting, people-watching, riding around, eating crab & razor clams & mussels & salmon/steelhead on top of the regular groceries. Friends were coming to visit for easter weekend, so he booked them motel rooms and will take them to dinner.
Moving down to Newport hasn't happened and likely won't. His initial idea was there is a bigger market for upholstery there (true), but he ran low on funds and is finding life here is pretty good. He's currently in business with a buddy selling firewood. They've arranged a source of logs, have their own small chainsaws, and periodically rent a woodsplitter. Gives them spending money, but is mostly something to do.
Re: Early Retired: The First Month
It’s so cool having these updates from those who “made it”.
I am sure for many (myself included) the biggest fear before pulling the trigger remains the unknown, and not the financial aspect.
I am sure for many (myself included) the biggest fear before pulling the trigger remains the unknown, and not the financial aspect.
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George the original one
- Posts: 5406
- Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:28 am
- Location: Wettest corner of Orygun
Re: Early Retired: The First Month
The Unknown!
Directly affecting the finances was spousal unit needing cataract surgery last year. Knew something was wrong when her eyeglass prescription rapidly deteriorated after only a year. We opted for the cadillac surgery, where the installed lenses are tuned with ultraviolet light before being locked down. Was initially $20k out of pocket until a $4k billing error was refunded. Surveying friends & family suggests about 20% of us will eventually require this surgery.
Cancers are rearing their ugly head in friends my age (range age 60-63). Spousal unit lost one friend from high school to ovarian cancer two years ago, an ex-girlfriend survived colon cancer 5 years ago, one of my friends from high school has a rare cancer that he's fighting (good chance of survival, but he's still got a ticklish procedure coming up), and the wife of another friend from high school is being treated for a non-aggressive brain cancer.
As these friends are all early retirees, navigating the absurd USA medical & taxation system is annoying in all these cases... sometimes we don't realize how absurd the system is until experiencing it. For instance: you have money in IRAs or Roths for paying the out-of-pocket expenses, but because you've been using Obamacare, your subsidies are out-of-whack even if you've pulled the money from a Roth and you'll owe more at tax time which changes the estimate for next year's subsidy. Unpredictable expenses like this are even worse if you're at the upper end of the Obamacare range, where the increased income can nudge you out of the system, triggering additional tax expenses because you might have to pull from an IRA instead of a Roth.
Directly affecting the finances was spousal unit needing cataract surgery last year. Knew something was wrong when her eyeglass prescription rapidly deteriorated after only a year. We opted for the cadillac surgery, where the installed lenses are tuned with ultraviolet light before being locked down. Was initially $20k out of pocket until a $4k billing error was refunded. Surveying friends & family suggests about 20% of us will eventually require this surgery.
Cancers are rearing their ugly head in friends my age (range age 60-63). Spousal unit lost one friend from high school to ovarian cancer two years ago, an ex-girlfriend survived colon cancer 5 years ago, one of my friends from high school has a rare cancer that he's fighting (good chance of survival, but he's still got a ticklish procedure coming up), and the wife of another friend from high school is being treated for a non-aggressive brain cancer.
As these friends are all early retirees, navigating the absurd USA medical & taxation system is annoying in all these cases... sometimes we don't realize how absurd the system is until experiencing it. For instance: you have money in IRAs or Roths for paying the out-of-pocket expenses, but because you've been using Obamacare, your subsidies are out-of-whack even if you've pulled the money from a Roth and you'll owe more at tax time which changes the estimate for next year's subsidy. Unpredictable expenses like this are even worse if you're at the upper end of the Obamacare range, where the increased income can nudge you out of the system, triggering additional tax expenses because you might have to pull from an IRA instead of a Roth.