I retired a couple years ago and have found my groove and hobbies. If anything, I’d say I feel busier than I ever imagined I would be. Unfortunately I feel I have a void that I haven’t found a way to fill, socializing. All my friends have been work friends. I’ve stayed in touch with a few, but it isn’t the same. I miss that daily conversation and camaraderie. Funny stories, hashing out problems, arguing over issues of the day, covering each other’s backs, and telling each other when they’ve made a mistake. The brutality, humor, trust, honesty, and deep respect for one another was pure. Obviou ..read more

So I know I need to get an accountant but I wanted to know what other people have done? I plan on selling my house in CT and I know my house in Las Vegas is probably going to be a $100,000 more. I can pull money from my 401K but that will be taxed hard. We can take out a loan but we will both be retired as of March 1st. Do we purchase a house now and start having it built? Should we wait sell our house put stuff in storage and move into an apartment? I’ve noticed houses in Nevada go on the market and are sold in two weeks. We are moving to be near my son. A plus because Nevada doesn’t tax pen ..read more

I'm a few years out from retirement, but have moved to fully remote work have a very flexible schedule. I'm trying to test run aspects of retirement especially regarding fully developing my social life and activities to be up those of my choice and not related to work. I'm finding that I really prefer not to go out at night. Meeting with friends? I meet them for coffee or lunch. Errands? I run them mid-morning Activities such as book clubs , volunteering and exercise classes, etc? Again, go during the day as I usually have at least one week day fully free I was asked to be on a community boar ..read more

I think I've come upon an answer for my Roth conversion riddle. FYI, I have a large tax-deferred ("always taxed") IRA. I'm 63. I'm going to be a widower maybe in my early 70s (incurable disease process). If I still have a large IRA when this transition occurs, I am going to get slammed with IRMAA and higher Federal tax brackets until I die, then my kids will have to deal with RMDs from an Inherited IRA. I live in a no income tax State, but having a large IRA at that time would sure be a barrier to me relocating to a State with an income tax, even if I would desire to. So I really want to have ..read more

We are so lucky to have a close group of friends for more than 50 years. Now that we are retired, we have been traveling together. Each trip we take, one guy becomes increasingly obnoxious and rude. He is constantly belittling his wife. She suffers from arthritis and he leaves her to struggle with luggage and walks away from her in crowds. He is critical of everyone, but pulls the just kidding card. It is obvious we need to stop going places with him. He puts everyone on edge, and sours the vacation. The problem is we love his wife. How can we explain to her and still remain her friend. subm ..read more

Some people have bucket list items that don’t require any travel at all, like learning to play the piano or writing a book. Other people have travel plans but with a “just to go see it” approach, like Finland or the Grand Canyon or Vegas. But I’m interested in a bucket list goal that requires you to go someplace other than home or your home town. It doesn’t have to be far — maybe it’s to see the night lights in Marfa, Texas, or to see if you can break into Area 51, or to find a relative’s name on the Vietnam War Memorial. So tell me about the place you want to go and what specifically you hop ..read more

I have started reading posts and am starting to go through the wiki, quite a few good posts I've already seen and a ton of info on other things I need to consider. I'm 50 and looking at retirement down the road 15+ years -currently only have 220k in a 401k (got started late, only put 6k in year) -and do have some equity in my current house ~550k -married, 2 kids , one 4 years out from graduating HS, the other 7 years out. Options I was thinking of to get things setup better for later A ) Own 1 house out right. Sale current house HI +~550k (after costs) Buy cheaper house WA -~425k (no mortgage ..read more

My retirement incentive buyout (2x salary) was approved for a Dec switch to part-time (<50%) contract work. I still have a lot of work to do between now and then and will probably work part-time for another year after that. But ever since I put in, I have found myself daydreaming a lot more than I expected and feel guilty about it. Some of it is fine, like planning our location evaluation trips and some vacation planning (3 so far and 4-5 more trips this year!) I've allocated 30min a day for such "fun finding activities." Still, I find myself spending much more time daydreaming and doing t ..read more

I have a few chronic health conditions which I am keeping under tight management. I depend on some regular exams and testing as well as a couple of specialists to advise on any changes to medication etc. How feasible is it to be a retirement nomad for a while and plan to come back for couple of months every year to have tests/visits with specialists I already have, as well as catch up with friends and family? I'd have to pay continue to pay ACA and, eventually, Medicare premiums. I would also carry travel insurance for anything urgent (realizing travel insurance would exclude the conditions ..read more

I decided to do some consulting for my former employer at their request, with guard rails that it be half-time, six months duration, and that it’d be W2 so I don’t have to form an LLC and all that. It’s right up my alley but I notice some things. I’m glad I don’t have to attend meetings that FTEs do. On the other hand, I seem to be moving faster than my necessary colleagues, which means I’m often waiting on them to do their part or be available. This also means that the work I’m progressing with isn’t consuming all 20 hours, but I’m resisting telling my manager I have more capacity. I also no ..read more