Beagle
but I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen...
... 
[shrugs]

I'm 63, and getting close to that day when you kinda do not want to work full time anymore. I'm hoping that my company will allow me to work part time (no benefits OK!), because I like what I do.
 
But I am not sure that they will want to do that, and it will be too bad, if they don't.
 
I hope to spend the rest of my time writing and learning more music stuff.  If things work as they seem to be going, I will have no bills and should be able to make it work, though it will be on the poverty level, but I live on so little right now, until all my bills are clear, which they will be in 6 months to a year!

Jbow, your parents´story really makes me envy, in a positive way.
I can't help feeling a little bitter. The main motivation to pay our high taxes has always been getting good education, medical care and senior care for a very moderate cost, and now (mainly) the  globalisation is wiping all that away. Knowing that we most likely have to sell our house when we retire is not motivating.

I don't think 55 is in the cards for me either Reese. I am guessing that I will be really lucky to retire at 67 the way things are going these days with Social Security. I have been investing in 401K for the last 20 years, but only at 3-4 % at a time. Our company used to match 100%, up to 6%, but stopped doing that about 5 years ago. Now I believe they match 1/2.

I have wanted to up my percentages to 401k, but I have a kid in college that is absolutely sucking us dry. I hope he can find a job when he graduates and spends all of this money, but I here the job market is pretty bleak.

I work about 40 miles from home and I have wanted to move closer to work for at least 8 years now. Our biggest issue there is that we finally have the house paid off and moving closer would mean starting a new mortgage. The homes in the area close to where I work are half again as expensive or almost double the price of the house we are in, for something equivilant. My youngest child starts high school in the Fall, I'm guessing that if we don't move before then, we will be staying put for another 4 years.

yep.  it's always sumpin.

I'm coming up on 64, I've told my company that we should plan on this being my last year however I'm in the middle of leading a large project and don't like the idea of leaving in the middle of it. I'm currently on a 32 hour week by choice and may stay another year if I can cut back to 24 hours a week. I love what I do but I've been at the same company for over 20 years and I'm, uh, familiar with it. You know what they say about familiarity?
 
I used to think retiring would be easy but the closer I get to the actual reality of it I find I'm more reticent to actually pull the plug. On the other hand, if I have a bad day I sometimes think I could walk away right then and there. Take this job and ... 
 
Regards,

mmorgan
I'm coming up on 64, I've told my company that we should plan on this being my last year however I'm in the middle of leading a large project and don't like the idea of leaving in the middle of it. I'm currently on a 32 hour week by choice and may stay another year if I can cut back to 24 hours a week. I love what I do but I've been at the same company for over 20 years and I'm, uh, familiar with it. You know what they say about familiarity?
 
I used to think retiring would be easy but the closer I get to the actual reality of it I find I'm more reticent to actually pull the plug. On the other hand, if I have a bad day I sometimes think I could walk away right then and there. Take this job and ... 
 
Regards,

retiring at this point would be extremely easy for me.  I am not happy with office politics at this point and I am ready for a new challenge.
I don't care for stagnation.  once I have conquered something I think it's time to move on to something I'm not as familiar with.

Beagle
retiring at this point would be extremely easy for me.  I am not happy with office politics at this point and I am ready for a new challenge.
I don't care for stagnation.  once I have conquered something I think it's time to move on to something I'm not as familiar with.

I hear you Beagle and I don't care for stagnation either. I'm lucky in that my projects change fairly significantly over the years...Cash Flow Analysis, Resource Planning, Control Systems Engineering. It's really the office politics that drive me around the bend but I have an excellent position where I can pretty much name my own tune as far as what I want to do (not speaking of money there). I can work at home, work short weeks, long weeks etc and so on...but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe I could start programming VSTs? 
 
Regards,
 

I'm starting completely over so does that mean I'll be retiring when I'm 85 now? 

mmorgan
 
Maybe I could start programming VSTs? 
 

Well, I just did retire from four and a half decades of software engineering on March 1 at the age of 66.  Getting into VST development has crossed my mind as an option - but certainly not for money.  If I still needed money, I would not have retired ... duh! 
 
Fortunately, VST development would require working in C++, a language I really don't care for.  As a result, hopefully I'll be able to resist the temptation and channel my energies into actually (and finally) producing something musically significant.  But, yeah ... that urge does crop up from time to time.

there are SO many VST developers and SO many VST's already available.
 
it would be difficult to justify doing it unless there was a niche market you know about or have a desire for your own work that you could even begin to get anything out of the market.