My wife convinced me a few weeks ago to go with her to a Financial Advisor, as she wanted to get her/our/my IRA, 401K and savings working smarter for us  We were able to pay off the mortgage on our house last summer when we had the Savage Forum group ride at my house......Lancer/Verslagen/Oldfeller/MMRanch got to witness the burning or our mortgage at the catfish fry.  We had to provide the advisors with a list of all our savings/investments/spending habits and income.  My wife retired almost 2 years ago, and I was not sure when I as going to retire.  I am currently 61 and decided I didn't want to work until I am 66yrs, 4 months to be fully vested in Social Security - and I thought maybe 62 was too soon.....maybe I could tolerate this working environment until I am 64.  I normally get to the office at 6 AM, and the last 3 days I have not been home until after 9 PM as I had Council and Planning Commission meetings every night this week so far......12-16 hours days are not all that uncommon for me during the week, so I try not to stay late on my Friday "date night" with the wife.....or work on weekends.

The investment advisors used a retirement date of 1/1/2018 in their scenario.....and the bottom line is that I could retire and we could make it financially....Woo Hoo!  We won't be living a lavish lifestyle and going on expensive vacations or buying a vacation condo anywhere - but we could survive in our current home and buy groceries and pay our bills.  And as Oldfellor has discovered, health care costs are a big concern when you begin to look at retirement.

I have decided to work full time in my engineering job until July 1, 2018.  At that time I will continue to work 20 hours a week for one of the local cities as their City Engineer/Zoning Administrator/Building Inspector...the part time work will help me to cover the cost of health care, cell phone service, and give me some fun money. The work will be hourly, and most likely my hours can be adjusted to fit the work load and be adaptive to my desires to take time off to travel.  This will allow me to go on more rides, spend more time with my wife, and more time at home with my projects.  The last 10 years has been pretty busy at work, and my wife and I have not been on a good vacation together in more than 11 years.......it will be good to be able to do that again.

Cool. That is great news. Congratulations to you Dave. I turned 59 in December so I am a few years younger but the thought of retirement certainly crosses my mind more often now. I keep on saying I will probably work another 7 years but who knows. I am truly happy for you Dave.

My work environment has degraded such that my wife has given me permission to quit at any time, but with insurance being up in the air so badly I need to wait until the mandatory year and a half of COBRA insurance would span the time until Medicare picks up at age 65.

So, next year at the earliest for me too, with me paying out a whole bunch of $$$ for COBRA coverage.  Or until the Republicans cook their Obamacare replacement plan enough to pass it into law should that actually be both 1) advantageous and 2) affordable.

I really wish my state would extend Medicare as so many other states have done, in which case I could go next week.

Dave, Santeetlah lake has a 6 man cabin for $35 with a shower/bathrooms station 150 feet away from the front door.   They have two of these cabins in a cluster with the bath house in the middle.

I did not realize you were 61 Dave; you do not look like it.
Congratulations on your upcoming retirement !

Jealous! I'm 54 and retirement can't come fast enough.

I work for very small cities - so I do a lot broader scope of work than an engineer who would work for a large City or Engineering firm as a part of a team.

I review the streets and determine which streets get replaced, repaired, resurface or patched.  I then put together the design or paving specifications, put the project(s) out to bid, review the work in progress, and approve the payments.

I design new sanitary and storm sewer lines and pump stations....and get them out to bid and approve the construction and approve billing.  I also write any easements necessary for this work and get them to the City Attorney for recording....and for most of the projects also negotiate the terms of the easement with the property owners.

I review the design and construction of new streets, sidewalks, water and sewer lines that will be turned over to the City for ownership once the project is completed.

I help with the planning, design and operation of the water and sewer systems, and help to plan for expansion to serve new subdivision, office or industrial projects.....and for the replacement of stuff that is just old and worn out.

I attend City Council Meetings and Planning Commission Meetings to address any engineering issues and report on current and future projects.  I author a lot of the updates to the Zoning Ordinance or Subdivision regulations.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 02/17/17 at 12:38:26:


That is one of the reasons that I am tired (burned out), and ready to slow down a bit - trying to stay ahead of all this in 3 cities is a bit much for an old guy!

I am also a Licensed Land Surveyor in the State of KY, and a licensed Building Inspector for 1 & 2 Family construction.  In one of the Cities I work for I also issue the Building Permits and do the construction inspection and I am also the Zoning Administrator and I serve as the staff for the Planning Commission.  My future part time job will be with that 1 city as their City Engineer/Zoning Administrator/Building Inspector....and I believe it will be a 20 hour/week job.

Here is a photo of a project I did about 24 years ago.  It was a new opening in the flood wall along the Ohio River.  The opening has 2 steel doors that are hinged on each side of the opening, and the doors weigh 10,000 pounds each.  There are supports that are cast into the paving, and they pull up out of the roadway to carry the load at the bottom, and the walking bridge provides the support at the top of the doors.  There are rubber gaskets that seal the joints when the water rises up on the doors.  I did not do this project alone, and I had to hire geotechnical, structural and electrical help to get the project completed - the roadway, traffic lights and several utilities had to be relocated.....I was the Engineer that worked to get the project designed, approved by the Corps of Engineers, bid, and built.

Serowbot wrote on 02/16/17 at 12:21:56:


I moved from Ohio (go Bucks!) to South Carolina and definitely get more riding Suzuki.  Today it will be 75 and Sunny, and tomorrow, 75 and partly cloudy.

I think Ohio is buried in snow!