Retirement Update - Long

Reflecting back on the past year and a half, a lot of things related to my retirement have become apparent.  First, is that we are making it work -- if asked two years ago if this was likely, I'd have been sure it would not  be.  I left the career/full-time employment world in January of 2018, and worked part-time into the fall.  I've been completely retired since October 2018.

We are surviving fine on one paycheck.  While our long-term finances have changed because I am no longer contributing to a 401(k), we are still confident that we are far better off than most people because we have both been amassing retirement and investment wealth from the time we both started our careers (since 1985, when we first met!).   As I moved from  one employer to the next, I consistently rolled over my 401(k) balance and it has been cared for wisely.  This month, I received a surprise check that was a disbursement from a pension plan from my last employer -- that went right into my personal Roth IRA account.

My career culminated in a very fine salary.  That, combined with our propensity to live well  beneath our means, enabled me to automatically deposit $500 per pay period onto a liquid savings account.  I  was paid bi-weekly, so that amounted to around 12k per year.  Do I miss having that money? Yes -- but not as much as I thought I would.  What I've come to learn is that the extra money could not buy me (or us) happiness.  The time I have now, however, has turned out to have produced a great deal of happiness.

Do we miss that extra savings and the other part of my paycheck that went into our checking account?  Yeah -- so we don't go out to dinner each week -- saving anywhere from $85 to $120 per week.  We spend less on groceries too.  The big thing, is that I have time to do things that we used to either never get around to  doing or that made our scarce free time drudgery.

How often did I mop the bathroom floor when I worked full time?  Never! How often do I mop the bathroom floor now? Once a week!  How often did I exercise when I worked full time?  We both rushed to fit it in maybe twice per week -- going weeks without!  How often do we both work-out or exercise now?  At least four or five days per week.

People ask me what I spend my time doing -- certain that someone who was as driven as I was must be bored now that I have so much free time.  Primarily I chop.  Yup, I spend a lot of time chopping fruits and veggies!  This translates into prepping and cooking an economical and healthy meal every day.  Here's what I did today:

Took Teddy to the vet
Shopped 29 cent banana day at Save-a-Lot and picked up meat for a camp gathering this weekend
Took Teddy to visit daddy and the guys at work (a 2x a week treat for everyone)
Made veggie slop
Did a load of laundry
Changed the bed
Took Teddy for a swim (and we both took a walk - exercise!)
Went back to Save-a-Lot to get a $2 coupon I forgot processed (worked because it was still in the same cashier's shift, so no hassle!)
Met with my Financial Advisor to roll-over my pension disbursement
Ate a quick lunch at Burger King (using a coupon), while out and about
Took a call from the vet to discuss blood-work (all is good!)
Made dinner & did all associated clean-up
Wrote this post!

Along with this, there were other incidental tasks, like dishes, sweeping, etc.   The main point is that this is everything that needed to do in the course of the day.  This is all stuff that would need to be done even if I were working full time.  The difference is that now I have time to do it all and it doesn't kill me.

Another perk, is that my health is so much better. I feel better, I look better and my skin and hair look better.  Incidentally, I am cutting my own hair -- saving a few $$ here and there.  It took almost a year and a half for the negative health effects from working to be reversed.  My blood pressure was high before -- it's now at the low end of healthy.  A drop of about 30 points -- without meds. 

The consensus at this point is that while the money was nice, not having it isn't a big problem.  Our quality of life is infinitely better.  We went into this without any debt, other than a small mortgage.  We had already saved a healthy amount for retirement.  We have an emergency and house fund, which we do use -- but also replenish.

I left a very stressful and well paying career.  Part of the stress was the mistaken belief that I would be financially ruined if I ended my misery.  People ask me if I have lost my identity.  I have not.  I am completely happy being a haus frau and have even stopped telling people I am retired.  When I tell people I don't work, I no longer care about what they will think about that.  If they ask me what I do with my time, I reply "Mostly, I chop."