Retired in Full

Back in March, I "retired" as a full time employee and became a part-time contractor - which meant I was also a part-time retiree. I mentioned then that I thought that available work in my specialty was going the way of the Dodos, and that by the end of the year it would dry up altogether. Hey, I'm pretty good at this forecasting stuff; here it is December and I'm pretty much done (there's a possibility of some work for a new customer, but I give it only about a 20% chance of actually happening).

So. If I'm no longer getting paid for contracting, I'm going to have to turn to the retirement account and actually start drawing from the funds I have been stashing away all this time. That's scary to me. I've read all the literature and know the prevailing wisdom about taking only 4 or 5 percent of the funds and that theoretically allows it to continue growing and we don't come knocking on our children's doors in 10 years. Did I just sense a sharpened interest in this blog?

But there's just something about actually saying, "Okay, let's start taking money out..." when all your life (well, at least the latter years) you have been diligently trying to put money in.

We had the meeting yesterday. Neile, Keeper of All Things Financial, assured us that it should be at least 12 years before we come knocking at the door, and maybe even longer if we actually enjoy dog food, so I guess it was a good meeting. And now I am retired in full.

My next blog will be about all the new and exciting things my wife has planned for me. Most of them occurring away from the house, interestingly enough.