Retired? What are you up to?

[John Ranalletta]

Quote

if your portfolio dropped 40%

 

Devil's advocate asks, "-40%.  Sounds like an unhedged portfolio.

[Patallaire]

So many people don't hedge.  Especially in their 401-ks and IRA's.  

[Red]

"if your portfolio dropped 40%"

Sounds like a lack of diversification.  

[Patallaire]

Hardly ~ In 2008 many portfolios dropped by that much and they were diversified. Oftentimes in diversification people own like stocks or in funds, its called overlap.  An example is, if you own large cap growth funds see how many of them hold positions in the FANG stocks. Then look at the Large Cap value funds and look at overlap to the growth funds and International funds.  When you look at ETF's look at whether they are "Cap" rated or Balanced. Then look at what percentage of the portfolio is held in the top 10 positions, if it is "Cap" rated.  If only diversification was the panacea that it is suggested.  It is important, but it is not a get out of jail free card. 

[narcosis]

I retired back in February and like some others, there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to accomplish everything I want to...and that's okay.  Now when I tackle a project, I approach it very methodically which usually means I get it right the first time and without frustration.  I guess I should have always operated like that but the point is that I don't feel rushed.

 

No regrets leaving the workforce.  Between the work environment and lack of sleep and exercise, my health was deteriorating.

 

So, retirement.  To date I've logged over 800 bicycling miles and completed 44 full-body workouts.  I'm getting enough rest.  I usually spend a bit of time each day working on genealogy research.  I'm knocking out household projects that I'd put off (rescreening the pool enclosure was a big one).  We've made several glamping trips to Georgia and Alabama state parks with the motorcycle and RV.  Several more are lined up for the fall.  I went to START this Spring and back to North Carolina again last month to Columbus for a week with my brother-in-law.  We're going on another road trip to the Berkshires in the Fall.  I'm getting pretty good at constructing routes in Basecamp.  Even though I've  planned to sustain my lifestyle until 100 without Social Security, I've been learning to day trade.  The challenge keeps me thinking and I like my odds better than at the casino.

 

Bottom line...staying busy and loving to be able to set my own agenda.

[MichiganBob]

It's interesting how we get wired a certain way, the neuropathways get grooved, and you have to work hard to not let these grooves be the default (unless that is where you want to be). We met with our financial guy yesterday and he talked about habits. We lived a financially cautious life. Not crazy frugal as my motorcycle habits would attest to and golf and such, but watchful. Wait for a sale, put something off until later, not buy a bottle of Blanton's for $200 that lists for $56, even if we could. So now we are comfortable with a 40 year pension that has increased about 17% a year but we still act as if we should not do certain things like pay for others to mow our lawn or landscape. So our financial guy told us about the many people he worked with who had much more money than us but died with it all. Screw it, I'm going to buy a really nice box of cigars  today.

 

Take good care.

 

MichiganBob

[Red]

4 hours ago, Patallaire said:

Hardly ~ In 2008 many portfolios dropped by that much and they were diversified. Oftentimes in diversification people own like stocks or in funds, its called overlap.  An example is, if you own large cap growth funds see how many of them hold positions in the FANG stocks. Then look at the Large Cap value funds and look at overlap to the growth funds and International funds.  When you look at ETF's look at whether they are "Cap" rated or Balanced. Then look at what percentage of the portfolio is held in the top 10 positions, if it is "Cap" rated.  If only diversification was the panacea that it is suggested.  It is important, but it is not a get out of jail free card. 

Couldn't have said it better.  The appearance of diversification is not diversification.  One needs interest sensitive investments and not so sensitive.  One needs to be in cash, debt instruments, and stocks.  Domestic and international/multinational.  Within stocks one needs some large, med, and small caps.  Within stocks one needs basic materials, financial technology, consumer cyclical, consumer durable, telecommunications, healthcare, utilities, energy, and industrial.  Sometimes individual equities have feet in more than one group.  If a person is not looking at a mutual fund prospectus before purchase to see what's in the portfolio and at what %, then caveat emptor.  

[Francois_Dumas]

Oops, somebody mentioned my name here.... ??

Am still around (and riding even) but not much on the Internet except for Facebook...... the months that I am not banned, that is.

And I changed email address...... so there.

[Francois_Dumas]

On 8/30/2021 at 5:05 PM, John Ranalletta said:

 

Anyone here who's ridden Italy ever ridden in the area east of Rome toward Pescara?  My folks came from that area and maybe, maybe just maybe we'll make it over.

 

 

We live a little further north, but have ridden to the coast just north of Pescara. Also visited the Gran Sasso mountain on our way to the coast via Aquila.

Haven't traveled much the past 2 years because Italy was totally locked up. Just let me know if I can help with anything.

Francois

[Paul De]

Like the OP by Mike, I am retired as of Jan 2019. Was planning on going to June of that year but my employer offered me a severance that had me struggling to refrain from doing a happy dance to not be an ass to my co-workers still stuck on the corporate hamster wheel.  As for the purpose thing that will come, but surely I have been really busy.  Maybe even more than when I was working, but it is all about my priorities and timing so it isn't taxing me at all. I will admit to enjoying some long over due putzing around for most of the 2020 covid shut down and like Mike hid out with my wife at our Northwoods Wisconsin place.  It must be genetic as my father was a renowned for his putzing after he hung it up, happy as hell until he passed.  What life for a full year at our Northwoods place taught me was why the hell are we hanging onto our place in the burbs of Milwaukee, because we didn't miss much about life there. So, 2021 was about getting our place in MKE sold, upgrading a few things at our place in Northwoods and moving their in earnest.

 

There is a bonus to this period of our lives in that my wife and I actually got in better shape in during the pandemic year in 2020 and the upgrade projects at the Northwoods place along with the move there has us both in better shape since we were in our late 30's.  Both dropped 30 LBs and I am buying pants with a waist size I haven't been able to fit into since I was 35.  Eventually, this pace will ease, and hopefully we'll get covid behind us, because I want to apply for my post 65 dream job...stock boy at the local grocery store!  I figure that is one job where eventually I'll meet everyone in the community, because unlike any other low stress job around these parts sooner or later everyone has to go to the grocery store and I'll be able to expand my Northwoods friends and acquaintances fast as a stock boy. Maybe even enter the regional bag packing competition if I get good at it!  Oh, and maybe some type of STEM tutoring at the local middle/high school.

[Wayne Johnson]

Just celebrated my first year of retirement and after attending my first Rally In Great falls and a return through Wyoming and Western Colorado {6800} i am happy to report that with two additional trips down south to the blue ridge and the dragons {all of them} I have traveled a record 16k this season the most in 50 years of riding. Already made my reservation for next years Rally and looking forward to discovering the Ozarks

[Bud]

Dec 1st, I will have been retired for 19 years. Retired at 56. Nancy retired 7 months latter and was 57.

 

We both had a defined benefits plan the gives us a 3% COL compounded annually.

 

We have sufficient cash reserves to cover any foreseeable emergencies.

 

Have great health insurance at a very reasonable cost. Max out of pocket capped at $1300 per year.

 

First retired go, go, go. Went on many mission work trips with our church. Helped organize and sustain a school/orphanage in Haiti. Continue to financially support several of the older ones that now are in secondary education.

 

We have taken over 20 trips with long time friends (we have known each other over 50 years) and been to places I never dreamed of. Iceland was one of the highlights.

 

Nancy has made a full time job for herself as the "Worlds Greatest Nana"!  Many years of a week long "Nana Camp" at our house with all 6 of our grandchildren.  She also buys all Christmas, birthday, anniversary, care packages and graduation gifts. If she dies first, they all know they will never get another gift or card in their life!

 

We owned trailerable sailboats for many of those years and dragged them all around the country. Our last one was a 23' motor sailor that we bought in BC, cruised the Desolation Sound area for 2 weeks including Chatterbox Falls and then towed it back home and sold it to a guy on the east coast. We have since owned 4 C-Dory's, our current on is named Emma Mae after our mothers.

 

I've ridden from S. Il as far West as the coast of Oregon and as far East as Meat Cove, NS. Many trips to Colorado that remain some of my favorite rides. I've owned 17 different Beemers. 

 

I also have spend a lot of time making sawdust in my shop. I recently upgraded my cnc machine to a ShopBot desktop which has a bed of 24" x 36" but can work with 24" stock of unlimited length. Just got hooked up with a customer who owns a home furnishing/gift shop. I've made a lot of large carving boards for guys who smoke whole briskets. Also a lot of stove and sink covers for C-Dory owners.

 

Lots of smaller items which I carve and add value.  It was a steep learning curve when I first started using CAD software. Old dogs, new tricks kind of thing. But I'm pretty comfortable with it now.

 

Having both worked, I was a little apprehensive how being together so much might work out. The good news that we celebrated our 54th anniversary in August, still enjoy each other, laughed at lot, weathered some health problems, and from time to time bickered.  But we were so prepared for covid togetherness when a lot of couples weren't. 

 

My best friend gave me great advice when I retired: Go when you can so when you can't go you won't say "I wish I had". Took that advice to heart and he was so right.

 

Have had a few health challenges the last few years but just bumps in the road in the large view. Able to get up, get out of bed and move forward every day. I'm Blessed.

 

 

 

 

[Bud]

Also dipped my toes into recumbent bikes but back problems made it hard to get into and out of them.

[Rinkydink]

Been busy ripping out and redoing the closets in our 1970’s home. Lumber prices put a damper on that project. Started changing our formal dining room, which we never used to a combo fiesta ware showcase and music room. Making progress. 
 

 

[lawnchairboy]

On 10/28/2021 at 10:48 PM, Bud said:

Dec 1st, I will have been retired for 19 years. Retired at 56. Nancy retired 7 months latter and was 57.

 

We both had a defined benefits plan the gives us a 3% COL compounded annually.

 

We have sufficient cash reserves to cover any foreseeable emergencies.

 

Have great health insurance at a very reasonable cost. Max out of pocket capped at $1300 per year.

 

First retired go, go, go. Went on many mission work trips with our church. Helped organize and sustain a school/orphanage in Haiti. Continue to financially support several of the older ones that now are in secondary education.

 

We have taken over 20 trips with long time friends (we have known each other over 50 years) and been to places I never dreamed of. Iceland was one of the highlights.

 

Nancy has made a full time job for herself as the "Worlds Greatest Nana"!  Many years of a week long "Nana Camp" at our house with all 6 of our grandchildren.  She also buys all Christmas, birthday, anniversary, care packages and graduation gifts. If she dies first, they all know they will never get another gift or card in their life!

 

We owned trailerable sailboats for many of those years and dragged them all around the country. Our last one was a 23' motor sailor that we bought in BC, cruised the Desolation Sound area for 2 weeks including Chatterbox Falls and then towed it back home and sold it to a guy on the east coast. We have since owned 4 C-Dory's, our current on is named Emma Mae after our mothers.

 

I've ridden from S. Il as far West as the coast of Oregon and as far East as Meat Cove, NS. Many trips to Colorado that remain some of my favorite rides. I've owned 17 different Beemers. 

 

I also have spend a lot of time making sawdust in my shop. I recently upgraded my cnc machine to a ShopBot desktop which has a bed of 24" x 36" but can work with 24" stock of unlimited length. Just got hooked up with a customer who owns a home furnishing/gift shop. I've made a lot of large carving boards for guys who smoke whole briskets. Also a lot of stove and sink covers for C-Dory owners.

 

Lots of smaller items which I carve and add value.  It was a steep learning curve when I first started using CAD software. Old dogs, new tricks kind of thing. But I'm pretty comfortable with it now.

 

Having both worked, I was a little apprehensive how being together so much might work out. The good news that we celebrated our 54th anniversary in August, still enjoy each other, laughed at lot, weathered some health problems, and from time to time bickered.  But we were so prepared for covid togetherness when a lot of couples weren't. 

 

My best friend gave me great advice when I retired: Go when you can so when you can't go you won't say "I wish I had". Took that advice to heart and he was so right.

 

Have had a few health challenges the last few years but just bumps in the road in the large view. Able to get up, get out of bed and move forward every day. I'm Blessed.

 

 

 

 

Well Done sir.

[Paul De]

On 11/5/2021 at 2:12 PM, Rinkydink said:

Been busy ripping out and redoing the closets in our 1970’s home. Lumber prices put a damper on that project. Started changing our formal dining room, which we never used to a combo fiesta ware showcase and music room. Making progress. 
 

 

Nice Fiestawear collection.  Hopefully the red pieces aren't too vintage and spilling some level of radioactivity.  My wife and I have a contemporary set of Fiestawear we use for everyday use...and some of it is Red which now uses a different glaze from the mid century stuff

[Paul De]

Looking at the Fiestawear collection posted by Rinkydink has nudged me off the sideline to post as I have been pretty quiet as of late around here.  The reason for my MIA status is that my wife and I decided to consolidate our lives by selling our city home and making the our Northwoods home our primary residence.  It was a challenging move as our home in the Milwaukee area had been our primary residence for 37 years and we collected a lot of stuff.  It was made worse by the fact we had purchased the home from my Mother's estate when she passed away and with that came an 2100 sf attic that had 70 years of stuff from our family clan up there.  Clearing our excess and the abandoned family stuff out to get the house on the market this year was a slog, sometimes feeling more like the March of Bataan, to meet our goal of being out of there before 2022.  We made it as the closing on the sale our city home right before Thanksgiving.  Now I can focus on Motorcycles again!

 

Now to be fair, the clear out wasn't all bad because some of the stuff we came across shocked the hell out of me for the price it fetched at the estate sale we had.  I uncovered numerous things that I thought were just junk and glad I didn't just pitch it.  Some things were more obvious, like the early 60's GI Joe deep diving suite outfit in an unopened box.  Mom must have bought it for a present for one of us and put it in the attic and then lost track of it.  Anyway, that damn toy fetched $600!!  I had in my all but forgotten collection of stereo components squirreled away in the basement an early 60's Thorens turn tableI bought in the 70's for a pittance because at that time it was considered an old and unworthy item. I used it for a decade before retiring it for my first CD player. It was now in really rough shape and in need a full overhaul, if it worked at all.  With the resurgence of vinyl records in the last decade that sucker went for $800!!!  WOW!

 

I found this toy water pistol which predates my childhood by a quite a bit and  have no idea of where it came from.  It was was so cool I decided to keep it and put it as a conversation piece in my newly developing rumpus room (a converted a pole barn to a heated hobby and hang out place) at our Northwoods home.  There have recent completed eBay sales at $400 in similar condition.

There was other stuff that I found to have shockingly high market valuable.  Anyway a word to the wise, a lot of us around here have gathered a lot of stuff and you might be surprised it is way more valuable than you might imagine.  Check it out before tossing it!  I am glad my wife and I went with a estate sale company who's business model was to do the research so nothing is sold at Goodwill thrift prices that shouldn't be.  Even after their commission we made a nice chunk of change that is now in the Northwoods home upgrade kitty.

 

So that is what I have been up to in recent retirement.

 

Oh, and I kept these too!  Had to be Mom's cool shades from the early 50's!

 

 

[Bud]

I've enjoyed reading what others are doing in retirement. We are a diverse collection of people with Beemers in common. That's a good thing.

[Skywagon]

An old thread but…. Celebrating 3 years since my last work day. I’ve finally mentally adjusted and it really is the happiest time in my life since I was about 6🎉