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moneywise3 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:21 am With so many Southwest mentions, that seems to be the Bogleheads' airline of choice!

Not mine. Probably it is location dependent, but they are not generally cheaper than other airlines for recent flights that I have researched. They clearly have had substantial customer service issues and flight delay issues recently. They claim bags fly free but we rarely check bags and if we do, fees are typically waived thanks to our credit cards. So they have no advantage in that regard (YMMV.) Having to pay SW to check in early to attempt to have adjoining seats with my travel partner(s) is frustrating. I'd rather book on an airline that allows me to select a seat in advance, yet I know that many people are okay without an advance seat assignment.

Maybe you can take a break while spouse works full time for a while? I'm not typically a fan of one income from two partners because the working partner often bears the brunt of the job stress, which seems to be OP's case. If your spouse was working, you would have more options to walk away from a job that you don't like. I agree with other posters that you can/should find another job rather than considering retirement. You shouldn't stay in a toxic environment but also should look for a new job. Good luck!

In addition to buying grocery store gift cards for use for the remainder of the year, we buy gas gift cards for our own use. We need to buy grass seed from Home Depot soon so will use HD gift cards that we purchased at the grocery store.

One option to consider is to report the employer's behavior to the corporation's ethics hotline. If illegal/questionable ethical behavior is ongoing, the OP's wife should report this; the hotline will be anonymous. Then giving notice is a very reasonable approach, to be sure. With any luck, she will not have to serve her two weeks notice but will be paid for it and shown the door.

Best wishes!

I recommend kayaking in the mangroves, a visit to Dry Tortugas National Park, a visit to Fort Zachary Taylor state park and the Hemingway House.
Have fun!

The Walgreens nearest to me can't keep staff. They're hiring for multiple positions, based on the sign on the front door. Customer service is terrible and I try to avoid going there. We had appointments for flu shots last fall at Walgreens and despite having the appointment, had a very long wait time and it was overall just a very unpleasant experience. Our CVS seems to be more appropriately staffed,

I retired a couple of months ago at age 54. The money was really nice and I gave up a nice bonus too, which would have been paid in March/April.

Spouse and I are very fortunate to have extremely low cost health care, no mortgage and several trips planned.

Retired life is incredible! I'm enjoying having a very flexible schedule. It's wonderful and highly recommended! No regrets!

My advice is to have wife get a job with an employer who will pay for her degree. She can work full time while earning this degree. Then save up a bit more money for the down payment and new home expenses. In a year or two you should be in better shape financially to purchase a home. Then your wife can move on to a higher paying job, if relevant, after earning the additional degree.

Good luck!

I agree that the Butterfly Conservatory is worth a visit if you have time.

Lighthouse is just a nice view, but not necessarily artistic, if I recall correctly. Custom House is a museum that focuses on history of the area.

I recommend Dry Tortugas National Park, the turtle hospital (in Marathon, not Key West) and kayaking/snorkeling the mangroves near Key West. The Light House, Fort Zachary Taylor, Hemingway House and Custom House are also interesting.

I do not recommend a glass bottom boat tour. There's very little to see because the coral has died...

Have fun!

Thanks for sharing this tip. I enjoy reading strategies for saving money and realize that not every strategy will be everyone's cup of tea. (So punny...)

We are a caffeine free household in terms of beverages. Sparkling water is our beverage of choice if we're going to have a fancy beverage.

I previously worked in academia and applied for and received an offer for a position at Cal Poly. I turned the offer down, although it was a generous offer. I liked the area and thought the academics at the school were reasonably strong. One factor that held me back was the small airport and the need to travel to a different city for a decent sized airport. FYI, American Airlines added mainline service to several regional California airports last fall, including SLO. The mainline service is an Airbus A319 to/from Dallas-Fort Worth: https://www.sloairport.com/american-airlines-expands-san-luis-obispo-service/ . But you're right that it's a small airport and there's no guarantee that mainline service will persist to the future. Although, wit...

I previously worked in academia and applied for and received an offer for a position at Cal Poly. I turned the offer down, although it was a generous offer. I liked the area and thought the academics at the school were reasonably strong. One factor that held me back was the small airport and the need to travel to a different city for a decent sized airport.

I would pick Cal Poly over the other institutions you have listed, based on your description of desired area and hobbies. I would agree that none of these institutions are academic standouts, but Cal Polly does have a strong reputation relative to the others, which I consider low to mid tier in terms of engineering.

Good luck!

You're on track yet I would ensure you have adequate insurance, particularly in a one income family with toddlers. Do you have sufficient life and disability insurance? Those seem to be critical financial questions (in addition to those you have posed.) Being underinsured in either of those could very much derail your plans for retirement, which seem solid otherwise.

Good luck.

Can spouse get a job for 2 years, prior to your retirement? That income could help pay the mortgage, although the issue of marketable skills could be at play.

Good luck!

We are going to the gym together (which isn't the unusual part) then getting free sundaes (channeling frugality) as a treat. We're planning several trips this year so are considering travel/time together to be our gift to each other. ❤

I am watching this particular forum post with interest as my elderly wife would like replacement vehicle that sits higher than her Lexus sedan, ease getting in and out and overall visibility. I own a 2019 Outback Touring 3.6R which I love. Similar 2023 Outback models just are not available now. I see mentions about the Mazda C-5 and CX-50 as well as the Toyota Venza Hybrid. One of my biggest concerns is the visibility around the various pillars in these new cars. I know Subaru is known for and highly recommended for its great all-around visibility and I can see that in my Outback. Would anyone with experience in this area care to comment? We would like to stay with a SUV type vehicle and one that has a turbo engine it as we don't necessari...

I recently retired at age 54, as planned. Spouse is already retired. So far retirement has been wonderful. It's a real treat to be able to enjoy having free time, less stress and much contentment knowing that we worked and saved so much in our twenties and thirties (and forties) that we can now enjoy this chapter of our lives. Hopefully all of you Gen Xers that want to join us in early retirement will be able to do so soon! Good luck! Now I just need you to talk to my spouse so you can convince her we should be pulling the rip cord. We actually got a relatively late start/even later finish on kids, so both of ours are still at home (one in 11th grade, and one still only in 5th grade), which is the one major impediment to not retiring immed...

I've only seen this at gas stations and almost never carry cash. I would seek other vendors (which do accept credit cards) as much as possible if this became common at vendors other than gas stations. In theory I could start carrying cash again but this seems less than ideal.

I recently retired at age 54, as planned. Spouse is already retired. So far retirement has been wonderful. It's a real treat to be able to enjoy having free time, less stress and much contentment knowing that we worked and saved so much in our twenties and thirties (and forties) that we can now enjoy this chapter of our lives. Hopefully all of you Gen Xers that want to join us in early retirement will be able to do so soon! Good luck! Congratulations! Plan to retire in about 2 years when I turn 55. Waiting till 55 so that I will have retiree medical insurance coverage till Medicare kicks in. Congrats to you too! Those 2 years will go by so very quickly! Retiree medical care is certainly a gift (that you've earned!) That's a fantastic benef...

MrBobcat wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:46 pm

Colorado14 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:00 pm I recently retired at age 54, as planned. Spouse is already retired. So far retirement has been wonderful.

It's a real treat to be able to enjoy having free time, less stress and much contentment knowing that we worked and saved so much in our twenties and thirties (and forties) that we can now enjoy this chapter of our lives. Hopefully all of you Gen Xers that want to join us in early retirement will be able to do so soon! Good luck!

Congrats, were shooting for an earlyish retirement (we're 56/57) in about 3.5 years.

Congrats to you too! Stay the course and tune out the noise regarding "the sky is falling." Those 3 and a 1/2 years will go by very quickly, although some days it may not feel that way...

I recently retired at age 54, as planned. Spouse is already retired. So far retirement has been wonderful.

It's a real treat to be able to enjoy having free time, less stress and much contentment knowing that we worked and saved so much in our twenties and thirties (and forties) that we can now enjoy this chapter of our lives. Hopefully all of you Gen Xers that want to join us in early retirement will be able to do so soon! Good luck!

I recently retired at age 54 and have a cash/CD cushion so won't need to withdraw from investments for a while. Granted, these are losing money due to inflation but we sleep well knowing that our asset allocation was designed to account for market swings. Are you uncomfortable with your asset allocation? You seem to have a bit of angst with the retirement decision and the reality that markets go up and down.

We've planned for the downturns by having a diversified portfolio and a cash cushion. Staying the course truly is our long term plan, so we are not panicked by portfolio swings; they are normal despite the recent long-lived bull market.

Best of luck!

I'm unsure if it's a FINRA rule, yet I know several people employed by Fidelity and Schwab who have had to do this. The employees also had to preclear any trades to ensure compliance with insider trading rules.

Record high bills here in Colorado too. January has been abnormally cold and sunless, combined with dramatic increases in rates. This is not a great combination! We have surge pricing with higher rates between 11 a.m. amd 7 p.m. so try to reduce usage as much as possible during these hours.

I'll cast another "yes" vote, due to your asset level, handle on expenses and travel plan. You've done a great job of saving/investing, so a break seems well deserved. Your success is inspiring. As others have suggested, be sure you have adequate insurance coverage.

Please keep us posted as your plans evolve. Have fun!

Earlier today I received the 1099 for 2022 for this $150 bonus. There was NO tax related to the bonus, just $.49 cap gains related to my investment. Thank you to this forum for the "free" money that I earned as a result of this deposit.

I previously held a mortgage with them and had a great mortgage rate. Customer service was terrible; maybe that has improved, maybe not. After I paid off the mortgage, I dropped membership due to the poor customer service. Overall, the cheap rate was probably worth the hassle... Good luck with whatever you decide.

Utilities were our largest expense in 2022, including gas, electric, phone, internet, trash removal and water. We've had a very cold January so far and our local utility rates are increasing rapidly for natural gas, so I expect utilities to continue to be a very large expense.

We have extensive travel planned for this year, so are looking forward to that as our largest expense. (I retired a bit over a month ago at age 54. Spouse is retired also.)

I was able to find gas below $3 a gallon a couple of weeks ago, but the price has now crept back up (supposedly because a refinery in CO is offline, although that may or may not be a legitimate reason for the price increase.) At least it's not back up to $4 a gallon, yet.

Eggs and electricity are crazy expensive here. I am shell shocked every time I go to the grocery store; even prices for store brands have increased considerably.

We bought the Breville Air Fryer Pro Convection Oven and haven't used our other oven since then. We could potentially use the oven if we are hosting a large group, but for the two of us, the Breville is fantastic. It includes 13 cooking functions. Highly recommend.

JoeRetire wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 10:36 am

iim7V7IM7 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 10:27 am Have others been considering this effect of inflation?

Inflation happens. Sometimes people forget when we have a few years of low inflation.

Control the things you can control. Don't worry about the rest.

Agreed. I retired in December 2022 at age 54, knowing that inflation can/will be a factor. Our assets are allocated to theoretically account for inflation, so no additional action is necessary. Stay the course, inflation spikes are typical over the long haul.

Best wishes.

bsteiner wrote: ↑Mon Jan 02, 2023 1:48 pm NYC requires employers to show a salary range.

So does Colorado. Some employers won't hire here as a result, yet having a range is incredibly helpful to applicants who won't waste time applying for positions that are below expectations.

I agree with others that you should aim high, but not too high, whatever that means based on your research. Don't sell yourself short. Good luck.

My lean years were in my 20s. I worked full time while earning a master's degree, but salary wasn't super high initially after earning that degree. I made a lot of sacrifices in my 20s and 30s, to be sure, then increased my income, then retired at 54.

Keep the faith that you will make it! You can definitely recover from lean years. Is your spouse working? If not, address that immediately since your real estate income is variable.

Good luck!

I retired earlier in December. The market had no impact on this timing. We are staying the course. So I agree with posters that indicated that the retirement date doesn't have to depend on market conditions. If your asset allocation is appropriate (per your IPS) then you should sleep well at night. If you have angst, that may be a sign that your asset allocation didn't align well with your risk tolerance. I agree with advice to study sequence of return risk strategies. We won't tap our investments for income for several years, so have reduced risk.

I wish you all the best.

Unfortunately, this is not a new issue in Denver and elsewhere. The thefts have been ongoing for quite a while for these particular models of cars. I'm sorry your daughter has experienced this.

Catalytic converter thefts are also sky high in the Denver area; Prius vehicles are frequently targeted.

I retired a couple of weeks ago at age 54. Financial plans for 2023:

-Paying lower income tax throughout the year due to lower income.

-Obtaining quotes for auto/home insurance in case switching carriers could save money.

-Spending much more on travel; our dream is to travel extensively for the next few years. We have several trips already planned and paid for.

-Stay the course. No other changes will likely be needed. We've planned for and expected market variations and inflation for many years, so there's no need to panic.

I recently retired at age 54, so not as early as some, but this is 15 years younger than my father's retirement age. His obstacles included:

1. Having kids he couldn't afford. I didn't make that mistake.
2. Not having affordable health care. I pay less than $60 a month for medical/vision/dental (and am very thankful.)
3. Lack of high paying job. I was never a super high income earner, but spouse and I did well enough to save aggressively.

Challenges for some of my other relatives:

4. Making house payments in their 50s and 60s.
5. Providing an unaffordable level of financial support to kids and grandkids.

There is no one "right answer" but there certainly seem to be some major themes in the responses posted thus far.

terran wrote: ↑Tue Dec 20, 2022 1:54 pm It's pretty common for financial services companies because their employees have to follow certain rules regarding insider trading.

This is absolutely correct and is standard practice. In addition, the financial services company may require preclearance of any trades. Noncompliance with preclearance requirements may result in dismissal. This too is related to insider trading regulations.

We pay cash for our cars and keep them a long time. Previous cars were 19 years old (probably kept it too long but sold it for a silly amount) and 12 years old. As long as we have heated seats, which we do, we're happy. We may purchase an EV or hybrid someday.

Our additional strategies to early retirement include:
Keeping housing costs in a reasonable range. Don't buy a mini mansion just because you have kids. Don't send kids to private schools.

Keep up the good work! And reconsider your crypto.

I didn't love Dublin. It was cold and dirty, although this was years ago and maybe it's cleaner these days. I don't love dampness and cold, which isn't Dublin's fault, yet it made for unpleasant times. Cold weather clothing is likely much better than it was 20 years ago, so my goofy complaint about the weather is likely moot.

We visited interesting historical sites, but I wouldn't go back.

Likely my biggest mistake is having held fairly long term jobs in my twenties and thirties. After that, I did a bit of job hopping and with each job change, my salary and bonus increased substantially.

I was raised to believe that longevity with an employer was something to be valued. I absolutely no longer believe that (and haven't believed that for a quite a while.)

I paid $5.29 for Kroger brand/non-fancy eggs this morning. I almost said that we don't need deviled eggs for our upcoming holiday celebration, but who am I to break with tradition?

We average $74 per month for eating out (Jan-Nov) and are hoping to drop that to $0 for the next few months. We would rather have friends over and eat at home.

Our electric/utility bills are going to be crazy this winter (colder temps and much higher cost, despite reasonable usage), but that's another topic... Yet that's one reason we are cutting back a bit on eating out.

My half of the family has agreed on no gifts for adults and I'm very thankful for this. My spouse's half of the family still gives gifts for adults. Often we buy overpriced food gifts; these gifts don't go to waste, so that's a plus. But I think that gourmet food gifting is a bit of a racket… We purchase some of these from local vendors rather than national chains, so that is also a plus. We recieive few/no gifts from other family members, which is preferred. My preference is to be overly generous with gifts for the younger (in their 20s) members of the family. Often we give cash and/or gift cards, which are much appreciated. We also give practical gifts (such as socks, gloves, etc.) which are also appreciated. Our immediate family doesn't ...

Our HOA encourages zeriscaping and our community provides monetary incentives for us to replace lawn with native/low water plants.

Water is in short supply and fires are abundant here in Colorado. I worry about the future of the western half of the United States as a result of our water shortages. The snowstorm that is hammering much of the country right now missed the Denver metro area so it is very brown and dry here.

Your list of choices is all over the board. There is very little commonality between the Maverick and the Civic, for example. So I really think you need to refine what your needs are versus your wants.

Regardless of what you choose, I would omit the Jeep from your list due to low reliability. It's unclear to me how the Corvette would meet needs related to hunting, fishing or kids.

niagara_guy wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:25 pm

....
here is a link to a 10-q filing that has their address in it. I won't guarantee that this is a good address but it's the best I could do. If you have a better address use it first.

GREAT-WEST LIFE & ANNUITY INSURANCE COMPANY
8515 EAST ORCHARD ROAD, GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO 80111

I hope others reply with better options.

As a Denverite I can confirm that the address above is correct. However I would address correspondence to Empower and not Great West.

mister_sparkle wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 11:49 am Does anyone know if this will affect my ability to use Thinkorswim?

The Thinkorswim platform was one of the reasons that Schwab purchased TDA. They will be migrating Thinkorswim over as part of the transition.

This is probably not a helpful post, but I find footwear to be much too personal to find recommendations from other people to be much use. Your foot width, length, arch and stride are all so personal that general recommendations are not useful.

For example, I will only wear a certain brand of running shoe. I understand that you're asking about hiking shoes but the same theory works. Some people swear by New Balance running shoes, for example but those don't work for me at all. So someone else's views on hiking boots are likely to be of limited use to you.

Actionable: Visit REI or a similar store to try them on and see which feels better to you.

Good luck.

Someone mentioned a White House visit; keep in mind you have to request tickets from one of your senators, so it's unlikely you could obtain tickets this close to your travel time. I wouldn't rent a car in D.C.; the metro is fantastic. You can now get from all 3 area airports to downtown via Metro (as of mid-November.) Public transportation is Denver is limited. Others have provided great suggestions for activities. Denver is likely to have highs between 25 and 65 in December, the temps can vary a lot at this time of year. Bring layers and drink lots of water. Also be aware that the sun can be very bright (higher altitudes and reflections from snow) so be sure to bring sunglasses and/or hats. Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs is kid friendly, ...