Quote from: K-Dog on Feb 05, 2024, 02:38 PMI am working but I earned my social security so I don't have to work full time or have a job with beaucoup responsibility.  An argument could be made that I don't have to work at all.  I am not so arrogant to claim that.  With the job I have I can eat good food.  Steak dinners, and I do not worry about the extra cost.  If I only had social security I would have to watch every penny.  I have savings but I might need that later.  I do not know how long I will live.  Arbitrary spending would ruin me in a few years.  Am I retired?

If I did not work, what would I do.  People who 'retire' get old fast.  Then they die.  As long as I have the health to work, not working makes no sense to me.  It keeps me young, as long as it is not overdone.

Even if I had a few million.  In that case I would rent a space and make wood furniture and things to give away for free.  I'd make sure I put in at least four hours a day doing it.  It would be my choice in that case for sure.

Retirement means not having to pay for health insurance.  You get it for free.  By that standard not many Americans ever get to retire.  RE can weigh in on that one.  I have to pay for supplemental insurance every month.

What exactly do we mean by retirement?  Not having to work?  By that standard all sorts of people of all ages are already retired.  We have to define our terms.

I got to retire early at 55 due to disability.  If it wasn't for the health issues, retirement would have been by far the greatest time of my life.  Even with being crippled, it's better than working.  I would have no trouble finding shit to do with myself, and I can live on just SS no problemo.  I learned how to live cheap.  I'd probably have driven my van and picked up a trailerable sailboat to cruise around the fjords up here in summer if I wasn't crippled, then drive it down trailering behind the van to costa rica in winter and sail the coast there.  As it is, I write, make some vids, play chess and watch crappy TV.

I love not having any responsibility or having to answer to a boss or have a test to prepare for or paper to write.  Do what I want, when I want.  No worries about money.  Just that amount of freedom is great, I don't need to be rich.

Far as medical bills go, there are 2 solutions, either you are filthy rich or just poor enough to qualify for state Medicaid to go as your secondary insurance behind Medicare.  I fit Door #2.  Nothing costs me a dime.  Ive had $100sK in operations, more in hospital stays, still more in the nursing gulags and in home health aids.  Free drugs all around, including my narc prescription.  My guess is over the decade I have been disabled/retired, I have pulled well over $1M in medical bennies, not including my SS & Pension checks.  I'm just under the income allowed for subsidized housing as well, so I have had 2 very nice apartments, a 1 BR and a 2BR both at 30% or less of my monthly income.  I have zero debt and both my cars were paid off and bought for cash.  I no longer have a car, but I have an EV scooter to go shopping or to restaurants, which is all I ever go out to do.  If/When I get a new apt, I intend to upgrade to one of those Chinese mini EVs that sell for around $15K.  It will take a little while to save up for it once I have control over my retirement money again, about a year if I watch my pennies.  Don't really need it, but there is one I think is really cool.  8)

One thing I definitely would NOT do if I was healthy is to work as K-Dog has chosen to do.  I would have downsized out of his McMansion, which is worth a fortune.  Split the proceeds with his wife and bought a top of the line RV and parked it somewhere cheap running on solar panels and growing bushels of high quality Ganja and wacky Mushrooms.  But that is me, and K-Dog is not me.  He's a foot taller and I think breathing the thinner air up there addled his brain. lol.

RE