Retire or keep working

[BigDawg]

Originally Posted by G G

I don't think I ever really figured I would make those kinds of returns either. It certainly hasn't returned anything since we put it in. In fact right away it lost a ton, and slowly made its way back, and now is down at the moment. I have thought seriously about buying gold and or silver with it. I don't really know much about(as you can tell) about investing as we are newbies but should have been doing it for decades. I am leaning towards keeping the job cause it's the easiest job I have ever had and I am pretty much on my own with no supervisors following me around, the owner has treated me better than any job I have ever had so it's not a hard call to keep working, since it's basically part time and most days I probably make anywhere from $50 to $75 an hour if we were going by hourly rates. So it's really a no brainer. Plus the fact that I doubt very seriously I would find enough to do for the whole month to keep me from going crazy. LOL.

I appreciate all the advice so I imagine I will stay with it at least until 62 and may even put off drawing SS at 62 if I am still able to work.

Sounds like you've got a good plan. I "retired" from 40 years of teaching when I was 62 and started collecting my pension. I had an opportunity knock on my door and I picked up a remote working job where I actually made more that I did when I was teaching. Like you, with little supervision.

I'm 68½ now. Last time I looked, if I wait until 70 to start collecting, my check jumps about $800/month. So that's the plan for now.

On the other hand, one of my best friends was a union pipefitter/welder and retired at 60. He has his pension, which added his projected SS benefit until he turned 62. He just turned 62 and is now collecting both pension & SS. He has never looked back.

So, it can work quite well either way as long as you plan well and have a nice rainy day fund set up for emergencies.