Yes, the article specifically point that out as one of the caveats.
I love to work until 70, 72 but I am not sure I can. Age discrimination is the major concern in my employment sector: software development.
Yes, H was constantly concerned that his position would be eliminated or moved to somewhere 1000s of miles away. He was definitely not interested in searching for a new job after so many decades at the job he finally retired from. He ended up doing lots of peoples jobs all as part of his before retiring. When folks retired or left, tgeybwoulsnt hire new folks and H would just add their duties to his and work longer and harder.
After he retired, they paid him to return for 6 months to train 6 people to do parts of his job. 5 years later, he still sometimes gets calls asking for help and meets folks for lunch and tries to help them.
Age discrimination and downsizing do not favor longevity in workplaces, even if nothing done is illegal. Looking for a new job in your 50s is challenging.
I vascilate between thinking I should work many more years, and realizing my mother and her sister both died at about 70, and dementia runs in our family. I am eligible to retire with a pension now, at 56, but am not ready yet. My plan is to work until sometime between 58 and 62. I probably have enough money, but you never know what will happen with the stock market.
I retired the first time when I was 56. That was a year before my eldest daughter started college. I took up a part-time consulting business as much to keep me busy and engaged as to earn extra money as my pension and wifeās sally were sufficient for our needs. Last year, after my younger daughter graduated from college, I began collecting social security and scaled back my business so that I basically work a day a week. Iāve filled the vacuum with volunteer work and assisting my 93-year-old mother-in-law maintain her home and her (relative) independence. This also allows my wife, who is nearly ten years younger than me, to continue working at a job she finds fulfilling. When she retires in 3 or 4 more years we will be in pretty good shape with two pensions, social security and a reasonably healthy sum tucked away in cash and equities. Iām not really certain what that all translates to in dollars but Iām not very concerned about our retirement unless we see the onset of Weimar-style inflation in the next ten years.
A story of one coupleās downsizing for retirementā¦
@hudsonvalley51 How nice that you help your MIL like you do. You certainly have earned favorite son-in-law status.
@BunsenBurner Super house and property. Love those stained glass panels.
Yeah, I donāt think this is too typical for most people. I sure donāt have an architect on call. 
And that architect is an award winning one at that. Iād like thread something more typical rather than representing 0.1%ers norm.
These folks had worked with the architect on building out their prior house which earned the architect some acclaim, so I assume the guy was very willing to work with the couple again. 
Not an architect on call, but in general we found that contractors will prioritize you if you had already worked with them and the relationship was good.
Thatās how we feel about our new house. We pinch ourselves at least 3xweek that we found his house and could afford it. We donāt have an architect on call, and have done triage:
- A few things we knew HAD to be done right away
- Things that would increase our enjoyment of the house
- Things that will make the house more energy efficient, self-sufficient, etc.
What we did NOT succeed in doing was downsizing. We went from 0.5 acres in NJ to 23 acres in MA. Oooops! Dang! It keeps me busy.
Lol @IxnayBob. We went from a horse acre of grass to a more than an acre of swamp and woods. It does feel like downsizing because no more stupid lawnmowers!
Congrats on finding the place!
Hey! Weāre practically neighbors! 
I probably should get a tractor and do my own mowing, but maybe next year. Things Iāve never had before:
A pool
A hot tub
A sauna
A cabana
A garage that has room for cars
A well
A septic system
A solar field
Protected wetlands
Propane tanks
. . . Adding a tractor (and chickens) to the list would be too much for my first year.
CC pool party at @IxnayBobās? Iāll bring some wine from our cellar in the finished basement (two things we never had before).
Protected wetlands are good; it means no neighbors building out near that area. We love our swamp buffer.
Lived 18 years on a septic and only had to pump it 3 times, so nothing against septic systems. Well and solar field go well with your energy independence concept. We are still waiting for Elon to start selling his stupid roof. I would have reroofed by now and added a panel or two on the garage, butā¦
Chickens are low maintenance but beware - they will dig up anything in their way, so a good enclosure is landscape-saving. Does anyone make e-tractors for mowing?
I expect to keep on working past 70 (as does ShawWife) but the driver for this is enjoyment and not financial need. I love my work (running a small consulting company) and am looking at bringing in someone whose job is to grow it as that is not my favorite part of the work. I actually like solving clientsā problems. I expect to do more pro bono work over time. However, my current pro bono project, a book or series of podcasts on managing oneās career choices over time that people find very helpful, has to take back seat to a project that is both a social benefit and a for-profit enterprise: Iām currently helping to start a new company combining my professional expertise to machine learning to offer automated advice to a limited domain relevant to new entrants to the job market and those switching jobs. If it succeeds, Iām sure this alone will go past age 70. ShawWife just won an award honoring her for excellence in the arts (the second time she has won it) and is going to join me when I go to London ā she will talk with a gallery there that wants to represent her. So, she has a lot to look forward to as well.
In principle, we want to downsize but we are having trouble a) finding a place to downsize and b) actually downsizing because it feels like we need 3-4 BRs. Plus we need to a studio for ShawWife. Her current studio is a separate 1000 sf building that we built on the adjacent lot. I want a view (a river, pond or big field where I donāt see other houses). She wants to be able to walk to a town center and to see her neighbors (both of which we currently can do). We made an offer on one property that could have worked but were outbid by $150K (and we bid above asking and had a fancy architect line up). We couldnāt figure out how to get a studio on to the site of another place that I would have paid asking price for in a heartbeat. Alternatively, we could get a smaller in-city condo and a place on a lake or something nearby (though weād need a studio in both places).
Congrats on finding your place, @IxnayBob. Weāre struggling. For a couple of years, we spent some time in Northern CA and were contemplating buying property there but are now also contemplating FL ā our good friend has been urging us and several friends to buy nearby him (and several have). One could have an ocean or bay view (though I wonder whether hurricanes and rising oceans make this a smart purchase). We also have a friend who lives in Jackson, WY (great view of Tetons, I believe) and is urging us to visit there as a no tax place to live. I donāt think we are going to let taxation drive our decisions, but the consequences are meaningful. CA would have a 13% income tax whereas we currently pay 5% and FL and WY would have no income tax or estate tax. The avoided income tax alone would finance the purchase of a place in FL or WY. We would have no Federal estate tax exposure but realize that the amount I have accumulated in a defined benefit plan and a 401k over the years plus real estate would trigger significant exposure for the estate tax in our current state. And, although taxes probably wouldnāt be good, we havenāt ruled out ShawWifeās desire to live in her native Canada. If the political climate continues to be crazy or if Medicare gets shredded by the ruling cabal, Canada might become attractive.
Having your own swamp means billions of mosquitoes right outside your door, at least in MA.
We have a septic system and baby it - it gets pumped out every two years at least, and we donāt put anything foreign down the drains - no garbage disposal, no cleaning paint brushes in the sink, no bleach in the laundry. Hopefully it lasts until we sell, it will cost $20K+ to put in a new one.
My in-laws retired to FL, and I really didnāt care for it - the weather is brutal for the summer months, and (at least in the area they were in) it seemed like there was nothing but senior citizens. And I get I will be one soon enough, but that doesnāt mean thatās all I want around me. Half of them should have their keys taken away, driving was always an adventure.
Canadian federal tax rates are actually roughly the same or lower than our federal rates, especially above $200K in income, but the provincial rates are far higher than any state rate, and for Quebec the rate is crazy high - 25.75% incremental rate on income above $105K.
@BunsenBurner, Iāve cooled on the concept of chickens, but the kids are still pressing. A 3 minute drive away I can get fresh eggs, and they actually appreciate filling my re-used egg boxes. Cheap and so very tasty.
The chicken coop would have to be well protected; we have coyotes and hawks here. Iād probably have to have a chicken tractor to move their ranging area periodicallyā¦ did I mention that there are pastured eggs conveniently nearby?
In addition to the above, Iāve signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share for grass-fed and pastured proteins, and I get a lot of local produce. I LOVE MA.
@shawbridge, good luck. It can happen, sometimes when you least expect it. Aside from geography, youād like our current house; it has most of what youāre looking for (the previous owners were artists, with a kiln and wonderful studio for painting with lots of light and away from the main house). The house was cleverly designed, so that even in winter I canāt see a neighborās house.
āChickens are low maintenance but beware - they will dig up anything in their way, so a good enclosure is landscape-savingā
In my area, the fences are needed to keep the chickens from getting eaten by wildlife, and even then there are no guarantees.
āIāve cooled on the concept of chickens, but the kids are still pressing. A 3 minute drive away I can get fresh eggs, and they actually appreciate filling my re-used egg boxes. Cheap and so very tasty.ā
Thatās the decision we wound up making although I occasionally romanticize the idea of having chickens. The coop and other equipment to get started could buy a lot of eggs. As an empty nester, I donāt want to have to worry about living things if we want to take off at any time. Farm raised eggs are readily accessible. Many folks I know who have raised chickens have lost many to dogs, fox, coyotes, fishers, etc.
I guess I canāt refer to you as a gentleman farmer yet, @IxnayBob. 
@doschicos, gentleman farmer? My ex-wife would say NO on both counts :))