Roll Call for the Retirement Class of 2025!

[Miriam2]

It's time already!

The Roll Call for the Retirement Class of 2025 is now open!

Are you planning to RETIRE in 2025?

Add your name to this Wonderful Bogleheads Retirement Roll Call, post your R-date and age, if you choose, and yes, tentative retirement plans and estimated dates are okay - we just reboot you when they change

What is being retired??




Good times never seemed so good!

[Sandi_k]

It's time already!

The Roll Call for the Retirement Class of 2025 is now open!

Are you planning to RETIRE in 2025?

Add your name to this Wonderful Bogleheads Retirement Roll Call, post your R-date and age, if you choose, and yes, tentative retirement plans and estimated dates are okay - we just reboot you when they change

What is being retired??

Me, me, me, me, ME! I've been patiently waiting for this thread.

Sandi_k
Last day of work: Thursday, June 26th, 2025
Age: 59
Retiring after 36 years of service

[Miriam2]

It's time already!

The Roll Call for the Retirement Class of 2025 is now open!

Are you planning to RETIRE in 2025?

Add your name to this Wonderful Bogleheads Retirement Roll Call, post your R-date and age, if you choose, and yes, tentative retirement plans and estimated dates are okay - we just reboot you when they change

What is being retired??

Me, me, me, me, ME! I've been patiently waiting for this thread.

Sandi_k
Last day of work: Thursday, June 26th, 2025
Age: 59
Retiring after 36 years of service

Congratulations Sandi_k on your upcoming retirement, on your great patience, and for being the first member of the Retirement Class of 2025! You sound pretty excited and we're excited for you After 36 years of service, you deserve a a Big Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call!

What are your plans for this wonderful new time of life? We hope everything turns out perfectly and you have a long happy, healthy and truly enjoyable retirement.

[engineer101]

I'm planning to retire sometime in Q1 2025, although actual date is TBD. Age 58.

After 35+ years of engineering, I'm ready for something else! Time to catch up on years of books not read and movies not watched, plus some sleeping in, home cooking, cycling, traveling, etc. And I will spend some time between now and the big day doing more specific planning.

[Sandi_k]

It's time already!

The Roll Call for the Retirement Class of 2025 is now open!

Are you planning to RETIRE in 2025?

Add your name to this Wonderful Bogleheads Retirement Roll Call, post your R-date and age, if you choose, and yes, tentative retirement plans and estimated dates are okay - we just reboot you when they change

What is being retired??

Me, me, me, me, ME! I've been patiently waiting for this thread.

Sandi_k
Last day of work: Thursday, June 26th, 2025
Age: 59
Retiring after 36 years of service

Congratulations Sandi_k on your upcoming retirement, on your great patience, and for being the first member of the Retirement Class of 2025! You sound pretty excited and we're excited for you After 36 years of service, you deserve a a Big Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call!

What are your plans for this wonderful new time of life? We hope everything turns out perfectly and you have a long happy, healthy and truly enjoyable retirement.

Thanks, @Miriam2 - I am excited.

My plan is about cooking more, baking more, maybe learning Spanish, volunteering with some cat rescue, perhaps taking up pickleball (I have a friend who is anxious for new recruits in the neighborhood); and of course - care for my mom and MIL, both widows.

We also have designs (see what I did there?!) for some house renovations and updates. Redoing the kitchen (the cabinets are 40 years old and failing), replacing the deck, and renovating the master bedroom and bath. We want to construct a walk-in closet, and we want to replace the smaller-than-a-phonebooth shower witrh something that we can actually use.

[Miriam2]

I'm planning to retire sometime in Q1 2025, although actual date is TBD. Age 58.

Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call engineer101! You're in this Marvelous Class of 2025

After 35+ years of engineering, I'm ready for something else! Time to catch up on years of books not read and movies not watched, plus some sleeping in, home cooking, cycling, traveling, etc. And I will spend some time between now and the big day doing more specific planning.

Sounds great! There's nothing like an engineer for detailed planning. We wish you all the best in planning and enjoying a long wonderful retirement full of exciting new adventures.

And since you have "cooking" on your list of important things to do once you punch out of the rat race, read this forum thread "Beef Roast" where several Boglehead engineers tried to cook roast beef - complete with graph paper, colored pencils & pens, spreadsheets, stop watches, a variety of meat thermometers and several cookbooks with detailed directions, all arrayed out on their kitchen counters, trying to cook the perfect beef roast as scientifically perfectly as possible according to precise plans

Note - these are actual quotes, no one could possibly make this up

All equipment tested with engineering precision for all systems go -

Will check the external display thermometer and internal-read thermometer in warm water sometime to see if I still see the 3-5 degree difference.

Checked today, and they were spot on (same temp reading on each) from about 90 deg F to about 125 deg F. Then checked in my tea, and at first the instant-read displayed about 5 degrees higher (say 145 vs. 140), but then I noticed that that displayed temp on the instant-read thermometer changed when I moved it slightly, and it was within 1 or 2 degrees when I put the tips of the thermometers right next to each other.

So I'm happy with my thermometers.

So, now your thermometers are cross-calibrated, do you have a sufficient supply of graph paper?

Of course I'm doing a spreadsheet to plan our cooking/baking, and I use the average of min and max times to plan.
Also, I've also read that temp rises less while resting if cooked at low temp, which makes sense. My notes for recipe I think I used last time indicate with 325 temp to remove at 128-130 for target temp of 135, and I'm pretty sure that's what I did, and it worked great. Most common recommendation seems to be to remove at 125 for target temp of 130, but especially with lower temp (say 200-250), I'm leaning toward removing at 128-130.

Next time, try cooking it at the lowest temp. your oven will do. Mine is 170F. With lower temperatures you will get less overshoot. Also, I am an engineer. I have a piece of graph paper on the counter top where I plot temp. vs. time as we're going along. That makes it easy to extrapolate the time when the roast will be done.

So for the first 40 minutes or so, temp increased by only about 0.2 degrees/minute, then 0.5 deg/minute over next hour, then 0.65 deg/minute for next 40 minutes, then 0.61 deg/minute for 20 minutes, then about 0.5 deg/minute for the last 20 minutes before removing from oven. Temp continued increasing at 0.5 deg/min for first few minutes, then 0.4 deg/min for about 15 minutes, then continued to slow from there.

Also an engineer by training, and did same, but entered times and temps into my spreadsheet as I went. Used a formula to extrapolate temp, but of course the curve is not linear, so predictions get better after the first hour or so. Here is the plot shown earlier with calculated temps added:



We can see that at the 42 minute mark, the prediction for the 102 minute mark was way low (19 degrees), due to the slow heat increase rate during first 40 minutes. The prediction at 102 minutes for 142 minutes was 7 degrees low, but after that all predictions were +/- 2 degrees from actual. By 142 minutes I could see that the oven would reach target temp of 125 before target time, since I had guessed 20-30 minutes per lb, and used the average of 25 minutes for planning (whereas actual turned out to be 23.25, and of course I should have taken it out even sooner, so about 20-21 minutes per lb--at low end of my guesstimated range).

As I've said before, I'll admit, engineers make me feel inadequate - all I do is mix a Lipton's Onion Soup packet with ketchup and pour it over a large roast, put it in the oven, covered, for 3 hours, 350 degrees, and it's done

[WonderWander]

I’m planning to retire at the end of June 2025 at 60.5. Original plan was to retire end of 2024 and travel extensively but some family & personal commitments intervened so have decided to continue working and saving in the meantime. Taking the extra time to review, consolidate and fine-tune plans.

[Miriam2]

I’m planning to retire at the end of June 2025 at 60.5. Original plan was to retire end of 2024 and travel extensively but some family & personal commitments intervened so have decided to continue working and saving in the meantime. Taking the extra time to review, consolidate and fine-tune plans.

Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call, WonderWander, and to this upcoming Class of 2025 Taking a little extra time to save more and to review, consolidate and fine-tune your plans makes good sense to me. And where will you wander when your work is done? My husband and I were young once and we wandered - ended up in Newfoundland

Best wishes for a wonderful wanderful retirement full of many neat adventures!

[engineer101]

I'm planning to retire sometime in Q1 2025, although actual date is TBD. Age 58.

Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call engineer101! You're in this Marvelous Class of 2025

After 35+ years of engineering, I'm ready for something else! Time to catch up on years of books not read and movies not watched, plus some sleeping in, home cooking, cycling, traveling, etc. And I will spend some time between now and the big day doing more specific planning.

Sounds great! There's nothing like an engineer for detailed planning. We wish you all the best in planning and enjoying a long wonderful retirement full of exciting new adventures.

And since you have "cooking" on your list of important things to do once you punch out of the rat race, read this forum thread "Beef Roast" where several Boglehead engineers tried to cook roast beef - complete with graph paper, colored pencils & pens, spreadsheets, stop watches, a variety of meat thermometers and several cookbooks with detailed directions, all arrayed out on their kitchen counters, trying to cook the perfect beef roast as scientifically perfectly as possible according to precise plans
[...snip...]

Wow, that's a lot of math! I'm generally pretty casual about cooking - I tend to eyeball ingredients rather than measuring out precise amounts. A little more red wine in the Bourguignon probably won't hurt. But I'll admit this doesn't work well for some things, like breadmaking. Many years ago, I accidentally switched the amounts for sugar and baking soda in a banana bread recipe. My roommates at the time were hovering around the kitchen waiting for it to be done because it still smelled fantastic. I warned them that I might have made a minor mistake but they didn't listen until it was literally foaming up in their mouths. I didn't have to share my cooking for a while after that.

[Miriam2]

I'm planning to retire sometime in Q1 2025, although actual date is TBD. Age 58.

Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call engineer101! You're in this Marvelous Class of 2025

After 35+ years of engineering, I'm ready for something else! Time to catch up on years of books not read and movies not watched, plus some sleeping in, home cooking, cycling, traveling, etc. And I will spend some time between now and the big day doing more specific planning.

Sounds great! There's nothing like an engineer for detailed planning. We wish you all the best in planning and enjoying a long wonderful retirement full of exciting new adventures.

And since you have "cooking" on your list of important things to do once you punch out of the rat race, read this forum thread "Beef Roast" where several Boglehead engineers tried to cook roast beef - complete with graph paper, colored pencils & pens, spreadsheets, stop watches, a variety of meat thermometers and several cookbooks with detailed directions, all arrayed out on their kitchen counters, trying to cook the perfect beef roast as scientifically perfectly as possible according to precise plans
[...snip...]

Wow, that's a lot of math! I'm generally pretty casual about cooking - I tend to eyeball ingredients rather than measuring out precise amounts. A little more red wine in the Bourguignon probably won't hurt. But I'll admit this doesn't work well for some things, like breadmaking. Many years ago, I accidentally switched the amounts for sugar and baking soda in a banana bread recipe. My roommates at the time were hovering around the kitchen waiting for it to be done because it still smelled fantastic. I warned them that I might have made a minor mistake but they didn't listen until it was literally foaming up in their mouths. I didn't have to share my cooking for a while after that.

That's a funny story! I recently accidentally doubled the amount of pumpkin when I was making pumpkin bread. I knew it was a problem when the bread came out of the oven like pudding It didn't taste so good because I hadn't doubled the sugar, but scoops of vanilla ice cream on top made it edible.

For retirees looking for cooking and baking ideas, here are Bogleheads threads to enjoy -

So what are you cooking

What have you baked recently?

[ProsperGoalzz]

It took me a few days after seeing this roll call posted to commit to signing up. I've reviewed the plan again and will continue to tweak, but it works! Nicely.

I've been working (W-2) since age 15 and will retire in June 2025 at 57. Perhaps on my birthday, 280 days from today.

Edit: 401k match hits a few weeks later than I thought, so it'll be a belated birthday present. Still in June.

Spouse will continue to work while I focus on home economics and support of our high-schooler. I'll be gardening, cooking, decluttering, cleaning, exercising, reading, homework helping, planning vacations.... Yes, I will have plenty to keep me busy for the next two years, after which we will then pack up and move abroad. That will be a new chapter and adventure.

It's scary, but it's time.

[Wannaretireearly]

It took me a few days after seeing this roll call posted to commit to signing up. I've reviewed the plan again and will continue to tweak, but it works! Nicely.

I've been working (W-2) since age 15 and will retire in June 2025 at 57. Perhaps on my birthday, 280 days from today.

Spouse will continue to work while I focus on home economics and support of our high-schooler. I'll be gardening, cooking, decluttering, cleaning, exercising, reading, homework helping, planning vacations.... Yes, I will have plenty to keep me busy for the next two years, after which we will then pack up and move abroad. That will be a new chapter and adventure.

It's scary, but it's time.

Congrats! It’s time

[ProsperGoalzz]

Congrats! It’s time

Thank you!

[WonderWander]

I’m planning to retire at the end of June 2025 at 60.5. Original plan was to retire end of 2024 and travel extensively but some family & personal commitments intervened so have decided to continue working and saving in the meantime. Taking the extra time to review, consolidate and fine-tune plans.

Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call, WonderWander, and to this upcoming Class of 2025 Taking a little extra time to save more and to review, consolidate and fine-tune your plans makes good sense to me. And where will you wander when your work is done? My husband and I were young once and we wandered - ended up in Newfoundland

Best wishes for a wonderful wanderful retirement full of many neat adventures!

Thanks @Miriam2 for the warm welcome - somehow I missed your post in July!

Always wanted to visit Newfoundland, but somehow never made it east of Quebec City. Hopefully one day post retirement

[Miriam2]

. . . And where will you wander when your work is done? My husband and I were young once and we wandered - ended up in Newfoundland

Best wishes for a wonderful wanderful retirement full of many neat adventures!

Thanks @Miriam2 for the warm welcome - somehow I missed your post in July!

Always wanted to visit Newfoundland, but somehow never made it east of Quebec City. Hopefully one day post retirement

Newfoundland is extraordinary, but it's quite an outpost. I failed to mention that we also then wandered back from Newfoundland to the States

[jaytee52]

First time poster here. I wish I had discovered this site years ago, as I would have made some wiser long-term $$ decisions. Jan 1, 2025 is first day of retirement after 44+ years in academia. I will be consulting the forum frequently as I move my 403B to a tIRA.

[baldtaxguy]

I'm in!

baldtaxguy
Last day of work: Friday, April 18th, 2025
Age: 62
39 years of tax work is enough tax work
Plans in Y1 & forward: Migrate full-time to our 2nd home in AZ, tend to our animals, live off the land, stay up late, wake up late, etc.

[Sandi_k]

T - Nine months today!

[N1CKV]

I'm a strong maybe for 2025... I will be pension eligible November 14, 2025. I will be in my mid-40's
Retiring at that point would put me at 22.5 hard years of service, turning in 2 yrs, 2 months and 21 days of unused leave + eligible for a "free quarter" of credit to get me to a total of 25 years of service. I could stay on a few years longer and either add to my years of service for 3% more per year and/or sell some of that time for a severance check.

Financially:
That would place my pension at 75% of my top 3 year average, which is plenty for my needs. I also will have a robust Governmental 457b and rIRA available at my disposal. My employer's health insurance allows me to stay on in retirement at current employee rates so that's not an issue either.

What are my plans:
Not really sure but I have options. I may "retire" from my current position and seek another in another state if I find something suitable, lucrative enough and in the right location. I might just delay retirement and stick around if things are pleasant enough (doubt it). I want to eventually leave my current location/state. Regardless I plan to continue running and cycling to maintain my fitness and if I suddenly have lots of available time I might even train up for an Ironman race.

[Miriam2]

First time poster here. I wish I had discovered this site years ago, as I would have made some wiser long-term $$ decisions. Jan 1, 2025 is first day of retirement after 44+ years in academia. I will be consulting the forum frequently as I move my 403B to a tIRA.

Welcome to the Bogleheads, jaytee52! And a big welcome to this most wonderful Retirement Roll Call You're in the Class of 2025 (hard to get away from academia classes). With a retirement date of Jan 1, 2025, you're going to have a double fabulous New Years Eve party!

Don't panic about missing some wiser long-term $$ decisions along the past ways. We all did that and here we are, making wiser decisions now. There are many forum threads to research on moving your 401(k) or 403(b) to a tIRA - and then perhaps converting a little or a lot to a Roth IRA. It appears that a good mix is about equal amounts of tIRA and Roth IRA and don't forget taxable accounts, some of each so you have flexibility as you move through retirement.

We wish you all the best as you celebrate your 44+ years in academia and now enjoy a whole new world ahead of you. Please let us know what your plans are

[Miriam2]

Please join the Bogleheads Life Stage Chapters on Tues. October 29. 2024, at 8:00 pm ET as we host retired life insurance professional and Bogleheads favorite "Stinky" (aka Wayne) with an online presentation All About Life Insurance: a primer and complete overview of life insurance.

Topics include all the different types of life insurance including permanent or whole life, traditional universal life, indexed universal life, secondary guarantee universal life aka guaranteed universal life or no-lapse universal life, variable universal life, group life, and term life, discussing the pros and cons of each type, why we would consider or need a particular type of life insurance - and for how long, taxation of life insurance, and when should we consider buying or chucking our insurance - plus, do we buy it for our kids?

8:00 pm Eastern | 7:00 pm Central | 6:00 pm Mountain | 5:00 pm Pacific | 2:00 pm Hawaii



Stinky has over 40 years in senior financial roles in major life insurance companies and is an engaging presenter of these complicated topics. There will be plenty of time for your Q & A and discussion. All Bogleheads are invited - life insurance is an extremely important part of planning and preparing our family's financial life

Below is the zoom link for this meeting and the zoom link is also posted on the Bogleheads Calendar of Events. It's not necessary to rsvp for this meeting.

Topic: All About Life Insurance
Time: Tues. October 29, 2024, 8:00 pm ET (US & Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting -
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83840330782?p ... 4it5hGai.1

Meeting ID: 838 4033 0782
Passcode: 929517

Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kbVr43SEMJ

**********************

[FIREDrill55]

I made it at 53! I've been contemplating it for a while (viewtopic.php?p=7591062#p7591062). Company offered a package that is the equivalent to me working until my planned retirement at 55. At 55, I will join their retiree healthcare plan to cost ~$500/mo until medicare. Only "bummer" is I will get 16 months severance check and payout of my restoration plan all at once. Need to figure out how to minimize that tax nightmare, but that's a good problem to have!

[mouth]

Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call engineer101! You're in this Marvelous Class of 2025



Sounds great! There's nothing like an engineer for detailed planning. We wish you all the best in planning and enjoying a long wonderful retirement full of exciting new adventures.

And since you have "cooking" on your list of important things to do once you punch out of the rat race, read this forum thread "Beef Roast" where several Boglehead engineers tried to cook roast beef - complete with graph paper, colored pencils & pens, spreadsheets, stop watches, a variety of meat thermometers and several cookbooks with detailed directions, all arrayed out on their kitchen counters, trying to cook the perfect beef roast as scientifically perfectly as possible according to precise plans
[...snip...]

Wow, that's a lot of math! I'm generally pretty casual about cooking - I tend to eyeball ingredients rather than measuring out precise amounts. A little more red wine in the Bourguignon probably won't hurt. But I'll admit this doesn't work well for some things, like breadmaking. Many years ago, I accidentally switched the amounts for sugar and baking soda in a banana bread recipe. My roommates at the time were hovering around the kitchen waiting for it to be done because it still smelled fantastic. I warned them that I might have made a minor mistake but they didn't listen until it was literally foaming up in their mouths. I didn't have to share my cooking for a while after that.

Cooking is Art
Baking is Chemistry ... the decorations are the art!

[mouth]

I'm a 2024 drop out But in my defense I thought the axe (and severance) was probably coming but it didn't. I'm in much the same place for 2025 as I was in 2024: not making metrics (despite a promising start to the year), but with enough of a story, pipeline, and niche value prop that I'll probably survive review despite my best efforts

Still, just turned 52 and hoping to pull chocks next year circa June after the bonus hits. I've got my 401k set to max by April (like last year) and then we'll see what happens.

Plans? Keep playing soccer, maybe become a ref, maybe sign up to be a VITA volunteer and an election poll worker, volunteer at a dog rescue, and we'll see what else strikes my fancy. Plenty of books, movies, and TV content to fill the quiet hours. I could see myself picking up some part-time side gig if I get bored enough, but I'm for sure done with the grind after 20y in the military and 10y as a gov contractor.

But that said, I have to admit it's a lot of money to leave on the table while they aren't really p!$$!ng me off [shrug]. So until we really come to a crossroads I just might keep floating along.

[fi_no_retire]

Counting down the days literally as I have it in a Google Sheet, retiring on 2/3/25 at age 56. Will be almost 27 years at a tech company. My original plan was to stay til 60:when I hit my 30th year milestone but work is not fun and fulfilling anymore.

Thanks to this community who has helped me assess that I can retire comfortably, it gave me the nudge to do so.

The world will be my oyster. I’ll travel without feeling tethered to my phone. Take classes, volunteer, exercise a lot more, maybe do a part time job that allows me to not bring work home, take hikes with my dog and truly just enjoy life.

[Sandi_k]

My countdown app shows me as having 234 days left. Not that I'm counting, or anything.

[Boglenaut]

My boss just informed me I will be in the Class of 2025!


(I had previously stumbled into retirement and then took this job 3 years ago, so any money I made was "extra". I only took this job because it was low stress and interesting work. I will miss it, but losing it will have little impact on our lives financially. My boss is a nice guy, so I hope his business survives the current downturn.)

[Hillview]

Throwing my hat in the ring, will be leaving my company end of December and joining the ranks of retired or maybe it is a sabbatical. Looking forward to getting off the road for work travel, watching kids sporting games, getting back into shape, getting the house in order, and letting go of the stress. Last kiddo will be in college in 2 years so more exotic plans after that.

[bikeeagle1]

I'm in this class! Retiring in April 2025 at age 65. I've been working pretty much continuously since I was about 13 or 14, so I would say it's about time!

You can find me somewhere on the road in my RV, blissfully ignoring my Boglehead portfolio until it's time to rebalance at the end of the year.

[TexNewMex]

+1
Same here. Long time reader, first post. Wish I had found this site earlier although I have been mostly a buy and hold investor over the years. Currently about 30X expenses. Retiring Jan15th, 2025 after 23 years in academics (my second career). I have some IRA rollovers to get done in the first quarter. Thanks to the forum, I have my AA set and a good investment policy statement for the long term. I know I have more to learn and will be a frequent visitor to the forum.

First time poster here. I wish I had discovered this site years ago, as I would have made some wiser long-term $$ decisions. Jan 1, 2025 is first day of retirement after 44+ years in academia. I will be consulting the forum frequently as I move my 403B to a tIRA.

[Vtsax100]

My intention is Q1 2025. 50 Y/O. I was always a saver but unfortunately didn’t discover Bogleheads until my early 40’s. Oh if I had only found you few years earlier…

[BowBog]

Retirement in Q1 2025, age 65 for me. The federal government gave me a huge bonus with the repeal of Social Security's WEP and GPO, I was going to subject to close to the max offset.

[DukeBlue]

I’m calling it quits in May 2025. I’ll be 59.5 at that time.

I negotiated to keep my health coverage through the end of 2025, but then I’ll be on my own which is scary. (My employer is exempt from COBRA.) Working longer would be even scarier since the stress has been terrible the last few years.

[AlaskaTeach]

I am retiring from education effective end of August 2025. 24 years working in education plus 6 years working for the state of Texas gives me a combined retirement pension based upon 30 years. Age 60 as of yesterday.

I plan to start writing my book during spring break about my years in education, and dedicate it to my mom, who still tutors community college students to this day, after retiring from public education many years ago. She turns 84 in about 27 days. After I finish the book, I plan to focus on my health with exercise and eating better than now, coordinate a move for my wife and I from our current apartment to a better apartment, and after moving in early 2026, continue the ultimate to-do list, finish traveling to all 50 states, and see what I can do volunteering to help others.

[rocket354]

I OMY'd from 2024. My current, quite tentative, date is April 4, 2025. Age 46.

Fingers crossed I don't OMY again.

[Zipster]

I’m still not comfortable saying the R word (since I still plan to work a bit, but only to stay busy and doing things I want to do!)

55 years old
Sometime after March, and definitely before August. March will be the end of my “one more year”, and I’m not doing that again!

In August I plan to enroll in a “Fundamentals of Construction” at my local community college. Will likely do “handyman” type stuff (which is what I like doing, but I’d like to do it better!). Anyone have a non-gendered alternative to “handyman”? “A guy” (as in “I’ve got a guy that I call do stuff like that”) is equally descriptive but suffers the same issue DW will keep working part time and with DS #2 graduating we’ll be traveling more and NOT during peak Christmas / Spring Break times!

[Miriam2]

I'm in!

baldtaxguy
Last day of work: Friday, April 18th, 2025
Age: 62
39 years of tax work is enough tax work
Plans in Y1 & forward: Migrate full-time to our 2nd home in AZ, tend to our animals, live off the land, stay up late, wake up late, etc.

Hi baldtaxguy! and welcome to the Retirement Roll Call - you're in the Class of 2025 We notice your retirement date is after tax time April 15 - it shows your determination to go out with everything completed on time as a true professional! However, we all hope you're still willing to help us with our tax questions here on the forum LOL

Sounds like you have a nice retirement year planned out ahead and we hope everything turns out wonderful and rewarding for many, many years to come

[Regal 56]

I’ve just barely eked my way into the Retirement Class of 2025. Had planned to retire in April of 2026. (That’s when I’ll max out Social Security and my State pension.) But I hit my number for my IRA sooner than I’d projected. With the money in my current emergency fund, I’ll be able to retire at the end of December 2025, and still wait until April 2026 to take SS and pension. So late 2025 it shall be.

I’m a guitar teacher, and plan to keep teaching 8-10 students after retirement. With that and two pensions, my IRA will become my emergency fund and source for discretionary expenses.

In semi-retirement, I’d like to make a series of instructional videos. I’ve spent the last 36 years teaching from a well-regarded method that I helped write. So there’s a built-in audience for such an instructional series. I already know how to do audio recordings. But video stuff will be a new learning curve. (Lighting, for example, is a royal pain in the butt.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyZtYBJnQ-A

Getting better at this will keep me occupied for a while.

[Miriam2]

I’ve just barely eked my way into the Retirement Class of 2025. Had planned to retire in April of 2026. (That’s when I’ll max out Social Security and my State pension.) But I hit my number for my IRA sooner than I’d projected. With the money in my current emergency fund, I’ll be able to retire at the end of December 2025, and still wait until April 2026 to take SS and pension. So late 2025 it shall be.

Time to hear - and sing - those most beautiful words "Welcome to the Retirement Roll Call!" You're on the 2025 Class Roster and 2025 will be here before you know it. Plus - another great benefit (and there are many great benefits on the Retirement Roll Call - is that you may receive the very valuable award as The Most Senior Boglehead of the 2025 Class, having joined this great Bogleheads forum on May 24, 2007 - 17 years ago - a mere 5 weeks after we began on Feb. 19, 2007! Your portfolio must be awesome

I’m a guitar teacher, and plan to keep teaching 8-10 students after retirement. With that and two pensions, my IRA will become my emergency fund and source for discretionary expenses.

I like your plans, makes perfect sense to me. Keep plucking along

In semi-retirement, I’d like to make a series of instructional videos. I’ve spent the last 36 years teaching from a well-regarded method that I helped write. So there’s a built-in audience for such an instructional series. I already know how to do audio recordings. But video stuff will be a new learning curve. (Lighting, for example, is a royal pain in the butt.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyZtYBJnQ-A

Getting better at this will keep me occupied for a while.

Oh that is a beautiful video and lovely, uplifting music! What wonderful talent! Beautiful guitar. We hope everything works out perfectly for you and that you have a very long and enjoyable retirement

[Regal 56]

Plus—another great benefit (and there are many great benefits on the Retirement Roll Call—is that you may receive the very valuable award as The Most Senior Boglehead of the 2025 Class, having joined this great Bogleheads forum on May 24, 2007—17 years ago —a mere 5 weeks after we began on Feb. 19, 2007! Your portfolio must be awesome.

I indeed may be the oldest on the 2025 roster. This forum comprises many who are a more well off than most, and they retire at a younger age. As for my portfolio, “adequate” would be a more accurate moniker. But having started with nothing, I’m not kvetching.

We hope everything works out perfectly for you and that you have a very long and enjoyable retirement

Thanks! I’ve learned from this forum over the years, and it’s contributed to whatever success I’ve had as an investor.

[Miriam2]

I'm a strong maybe for 2025... I will be pension eligible November 14, 2025. I will be in my mid-40's
Retiring at that point would put me at 22.5 hard years of service, turning in 2 yrs, 2 months and 21 days of unused leave + eligible for a "free quarter" of credit to get me to a total of 25 years of service. I could stay on a few years longer and either add to my years of service for 3% more per year and/or sell some of that time for a severance check.

Hi N1CKV and thanks for checking in with the Retirement Roll Call! A "strong maybe" for retiring sounds good enough to me and your plans look pretty nice and doable. You're on the Roll Call for 2025 and if you change your mind, we just reboot you!

Financially:
That would place my pension at 75% of my top 3 year average, which is plenty for my needs. I also will have a robust Governmental 457b and rIRA available at my disposal. My employer's health insurance allows me to stay on in retirement at current employee rates so that's not an issue either.

From everything I've seen, this is the biggest plus possible, assuming it's good health insurance.

What are my plans:
Not really sure but I have options. I may "retire" from my current position and seek another in another state if I find something suitable, lucrative enough and in the right location. I might just delay retirement and stick around if things are pleasant enough (doubt it). I want to eventually leave my current location/state. Regardless I plan to continue running and cycling to maintain my fitness and if I suddenly have lots of available time I might even train up for an Ironman race.

Wow, that's real fitness! We'll all recognize you at the next Bogleheads Conference



Good luck with all your plans and we hope you enjoy this last working year and glide into retirement smoothly and happily

[Miriam2]

I made it at 53! I've been contemplating it for a while (viewtopic.php?p=7591062#p7591062). Company offered a package that is the equivalent to me working until my planned retirement at 55. At 55, I will join their retiree healthcare plan to cost ~$500/mo until medicare. Only "bummer" is I will get 16 months severance check and payout of my restoration plan all at once. Need to figure out how to minimize that tax nightmare, but that's a good problem to have!

Congratulations FIREDrill55, for making it to this fabulous upcoming Retirement Class of 2025! And for sure, it's really beneficial to have good employee retiree healthcare insurance. Please let us know when your retirement plans firm up. Wishing you an exciting glidepath this next year into retirement, hope your tax bite isn't too serious, we'd enjoy hearing your retirement plans, and also stay healthy and have fun on the Bogleheads forum

[ronhh]

After over 38 years with my employer, I've made the decision to retire in 2025, either April 30th or May 31st. I will be 63 and have been following the Bogleheads tenets for the past three decades. Although I'm extremely excited about this next chapter of life; I also am a little anxious. Going from full-time work to zero is a little daunting to me. Luckily there has been some genuine interest by my current employer and clients regarding the possibility of continued contract work. Anyway, I always enjoy reading the roll call, and I cannot believe I'm adding my name to the list. Best of luck to you all, and thanks for all of the expertise, perspectives and support that I've garnered from this forum.

[MrBobcat]

I was hoping to be in the retirement class of 2024 but did not get my business sold. I have assured my spouse that if it doesn't sell this year I will close up by 12-31-2025.

[Regal 56]

Although I'm extremely excited about this next chapter of life; I also am a little anxious. Going from full-time work to zero is a little daunting to me.

Your apprehension is well founded. Retirement for some is a gradual descent into disconnection, inactivity, and poor health. Indeed, retirement is worthy of a Surgeon General’s warning, like tobacco and alcohol. As has been said often and wisely, rather than retiring from work, we should retire to a job of our own making—one in which we set our own tasks and hours. Something has to get us out of bed every morning. Without purpose, we wither and die.

I’m lazy by nature. Work keeps me from living in my recliner. With the prospect of losing external motivation, I’m seriously looking at how to provide my own internal motivation. I’ve seen what happens to those who have none. It’s a dark path I don’t want to follow.

[FishTaco]

It's official.

Submitted my resignation effective 1/1/25.

Age 46

20ish years in medicine with a large chunk of that on night shift. I certainly paid the piper but mixed feelings about leaving the profession.

Moved out west last year, buying a raft and looking forward to whitewater rafting, camping, fishing, backpacking, and may step into the hunting world soon.

Still have to get the kids through school so I'm hoping all my numbers pencil out correctly.

[Wannaretireearly]

It's official.

Submitted my resignation effective 1/1/25.

Age 46

20ish years in medicine with a large chunk of that on night shift. I certainly paid the piper but mixed feelings about leaving the profession.

Moved out west last year, buying a raft and looking forward to whitewater rafting, camping, fishing, backpacking, and may step into the hunting world soon.

Still have to get the kids through school so I'm hoping all my numbers pencil out correctly.

Bravo! Congrats
Same age, and hoping to get to this milestone ‘soon’.

[retirewithjoy]

Retiring 9/1/2025 at the latest. Long career in engineering with computer chips/systems.
Retiring at 60, Sept seems so far off but want to get one last RSU vest which is August 9th.

I can't wait. Originally was looking at retiring when 55 but covid hit and the WFH was nice so stayed longer and then my team moved as a group to a new company so that was fun too. But it is time to go.

I wish I had found this group before. Plan on checking out the local chapter here in Austin.

Been fixing my asset allocation to match bogglehead prinicipals. In the past, I was primarily in index funds so I was sorta boggle but now I am all in with stocks only in VT and VOO and fixing the tax allocation part.

I an excited. After our last dog died, my wife said I need to wait until retirement, so another reason.

We love small dogs, so a mutt from the shelter in the tiny section that no one else wants. A misfit since us engineers are naturally misfits too.
Can take him/her on runs (in doggie stroller) and to breweries. Our previous dogs were also shelter mutts or dogs that people needed to rehome because of a death.

[Kings over Queens]

Hello forum. Found this place via the FIRE (er.org) website and am glad to be here. Attended a local chapter meeting last night and it feels good to be around like minded people experiencing the same thing.

My date isn't submitted yet, but expected to be mid to end of June, or sooner depending on an IPO. I picked June because that will put a pin in a 40 year career, started at age 18 2 weeks out of high school. I'll just have turned 58 by then.

What's next is a hotly debated topic. We've seen about a dozen mlb stadiums and plan to finish those and much more new travel and I'll spend more time on my health but at the very least, trying to stay out of my wife's hair.

[Miriam2]

I'm a 2024 drop out

Naw - you're not a sad face drop out - you're just reinventing yourself as your work moves along

But in my defense I thought the axe (and severance) was probably coming but it didn't. I'm in much the same place for 2025 as I was in 2024: not making metrics (despite a promising start to the year), but with enough of a story, pipeline, and niche value prop that I'll probably survive review despite my best efforts

Still, just turned 52 and hoping to pull chocks next year circa June after the bonus hits. I've got my 401k set to max by April (like last year) and then we'll see what happens.

Sounds like a workable and sensible way to approach this Also - good idea to think ahead and front-load your 401(k) for 2025 so it's maxed out for the year so you can pull the plug early in the year without giving up retirement money savings for the year.

Plans? Keep playing soccer, maybe become a ref, maybe sign up to be a VITA volunteer and an election poll worker, volunteer at a dog rescue, and we'll see what else strikes my fancy. Plenty of books, movies, and TV content to fill the quiet hours. I could see myself picking up some part-time side gig if I get bored enough, but I'm for sure done with the grind after 20y in the military and 10y as a gov contractor.

But that said, I have to admit it's a lot of money to leave on the table while they aren't really p!$$!ng me off [shrug]. So until we really come to a crossroads I just might keep floating along.

Nice way to approach this - be done with the grind, but open to interesting part-time side gigs and the decision to keep floating along, stashing away more until it just seems time to pull the plug. Meanwhile you're in this great Retirement Class of 2025 - please let us know what you do with your great options. We wish you all the best with your big future ahead of you!