At Last! Retiring for GOOD!

My Father's decision to retire early My father had received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer from his doctor, when he was 60. He was naturally quite flummoxed, and wondered what to do. He returned to work after the news, and made a list of his expenses, his current income, and his income as it would be if he retired. He also noted which expenses would drop if he did retire early, such as commuting expenses, lunches out, and clothing purchases/dry cleaning. He found that he would LOSE money if he continued working. He turned in his forms that day. Was it a good choice? Well, he lived another 16 years, and was able to pursue his hobbies, spend time with his family, and enjoy the freedom of not having to answer to others. I'm not that lucky. I've generally earned more in the last 10 years, and will stand to lose some income as a result of my decision to retire. That's even after factoring in reduced expenses. For me, it's worth it, for the freedom it gives me t...

...we're on the road, again. We are traveling to Cleveland, to take care of some residual business with the house we sold. The contractor (or his people) took stuff out of the house while it was being renovated, then gave us a bum check, as did his mother-in-law. We're making sure that their home has a lien on it, and can't be sold without paying that money they owe us. Other than that, we'll be seeing people, and celebrating our youngest grandson's 1st birthday. Truly a great bunch of reasons to travel. It looks - says she CAUTIOUSLY - as though I WILL be able to retire at the end of the year - now, whether that means the school or the calendar year is still up for grabs. We'll be meeting with a financial planner in May to discuss just how this will be done.

I'm SO on the fence about retirement. On one hand, if it were totally up to me, I'd already have my papers in. DH is more focused on having our income replaced before leaving. If not, at least having a much bigger pile of cash in our TSA (Teachers' Savings Account - a special type of investment available only for Teachers and a few other nonprofit employees). So, the Back and Forth. Today, I'm planning to work on taxes. By the middle of the week, I hope to have them done, and have updated a list of what we owe. On the trip to Cleveland, then, we can talk about how to manage the transition to debt-free (if we agree on the basic premise), and have a clear understanding of how much of each of our paychecks to dedicate to that process. I COULD do another year, but I'm more inclined to commit myself only to until the end of the calendar year (2017) - at that point, if I decide I've had it, replacing me at a semester change would be less of a problem. A lot de...