Ditto, NRE.
Hey, as far as we know, @shawbridge may be doing pro bono work to help end the federal shutdown. That would be welcome to many.
The contributors on this thread range widely and I personally find the range fascinating.
Same here. I donāt post much on this thread but find the varied contributions from all posters quite interesting. I must say, @menloparkmom I did find yours to be snarky. As the old saying goes, āIf you canāt say anything niceā¦ā
I like to hang in such fine company, even if only online. 
Didnāt mean to cause snark. I still need to/want to work. I probably work 70-80 hours a week and always try to have a pro Bono project in the mix. I run one small company on the east coast though it is global and recently co-founded a tech startup on the west coast. I also teach an exec course at a business school and write stuff. My pro bono projects are never full time activities. The startup also has a social mission in part. I just donāt want to wait until retirement to start volunteering.
Just in case this sounds like retirement, this week I an flying to London on a Sunday morning (Iām on the plane) and then to Vienna and DC. Back to London later in the month and probably to San Francisco. Not complaining-- I love what I do and like traveling but it is work.
Agree with @notrichenough. @menloparkmom, if we all stuck to answering the original question, I donāt think weād be still having a discussion 14000 posts later. As long as we stay pleasant enoug (hint, hint) and donāt get into politics, I think weāre good.
We have many different education levels, goals and money/retirement āissuesā (many of the first world variety). Iām all for being non-judgmental and providing information, advice and comments tnat relate to whatever comes up, and breezing through what doesnāt interest me.
So, I know we have enough. Our planner did our numbers and we can weather even another 2008 without impact on our lifestyle. But how do you mentallly go from saving to spending? I am still consulting part time and it makes me nervous to consider stopping completely and no longer having any income from it. Even knowing the changes in expenses, it just seems so risky. Iām also not a big one on hobbies and volunteering. Did so much volunteering when the kids were little it kind of wore me out. We do travel a lot and that is fun planning and doing but my consulting money has been funding it. What did you do to get over the change?
I rarely post here but read often. Iām a state civil servant (so not facing furlough) and at 62 am older than most of my co-workers. I say that I work because they pay me (we need the money but not all of it, if I had to leave the job tomorrow due to an emergency I think we could find a way to survive) so consider myself somewhere in the middle of the pack, resource-wise. I was basically a SAHM for 20 years so to achieve a time in service goal (20 years) I keep working.
Iāve made it my mission at work to hammer on about what it means to be a public servant - isnāt that what older people are supposed to do, share what weāve learned and support new people coming into the profession/system? A lot of people go into civil service because itās the family business so I try to flesh out the big picture - that weāre delivering services to taxpayers and for many in the public this is their only exposure to government and it should be a positive one. Sometimes I say I am retired - this is what Iām doing in retirement and itās easier to do something you have knowledge/skills in than to retrain to be a store greeter (and stand on your feet all day long.). I know I would have no trouble filling all the hours of every day because I did that for 20 years, and developed some specific skills along the way that I continue to use. If I hadnāt had a large chunk of time in my past to develop those talents Iām not sure I would start at this age (I took a lot of workshops in my hobby). I do feel for people who worked nonstop all their lives and never had the time to take a class or join a group. (Iād argue that not everything in home maintenance should be outsourced - if you garden, repair furniture, sew, etc. you might just realize you enjoy those things and can turn them into useful hobbies.)
Re: Shaw - what I wouldnāt give to be a fly on the wall at his negotiations. Iāve met a lot of different people in life, but never someone who does what Shaw apparently does, so find it fascinating. Thatās the value of these forums - you get a wide range of life experience reporting in.
@shawbridge Is this what you were working on?
I donāt know how long ago I last posted in this thread.
While we work toward our own retirements we have dealt with parentsā estates and one inheritance. This weekend DH and I traveled several states away to check on my 90 yo father and his 87 yo wife (who fell and broke her wrist). My father is finally letting us make sure we know where the important papers are. Her has vision problems and we gathered (from the garage and basement) the trust, wills, pre-nup, birth certificates, death certificates etc. and put them in a fireproof safe.
Itās mindboggling to be so close to our retirement and keeping an eye on this senior and his assets. My maternal grandmother shortly preceeded my mother in death almost 30 years ago. It would have been incomprehensible to me for my mother to have kept separate accounts from my father. Yet, yesterday, I discovered that at the time of her death, my mother had almost $200,000 in accounts she had inherited from her mother, as the sole heir.
Iām heartbroken because my father had a significant inventment/business venture that my mother opposed. In my heart, I know that he cashed those assets (probably within his legal rights) but spent them on his venture. He has been known to play fast and loose with the rules (violating the terms of the trust, canceling a designated trust bank account that had my name and address on it, and changing the mailing address on the insurance trust of which he is not the legal owner).
Interesting aside. One very small account also had my name on it. Iāll be writing a letter to the bank to ask about the disposition of that account as I have no memory of receiving it. I was a decade out of college and had closed my hometown accounts by that point.
Depending on how it was invested, that $200,000 could have been worth $2.4-2.9 million today. Instead it propped up a venture that might not even be saleable at $800,000 today. My brother estimates our father has pumped $2,000,000 into that venture. All I can say is that the activity has kept him alive and vital. Unwise but good.
So, Iām sad. I know that my mother should have documented her wishes differently, but she was dying in a short period of time. Perhaps he made her promises about the money, and didnāt keep those promises.
So this is somewhat about retirement, and certainly about end-of-life funds and gifts and the impact they have on others.
P.S. My fatherās wife has long promised her diamond and ruby ring to D2 who was (and is) the youngest grandchild at the time of their marriage. W and D2 share July birthdays. She asked me to review her own āwhen I die fileā filled with funeral plans and I saw a handwritten note that she now expects the ring to go to her niece. This morning she asked if Iād seen the noteā¦yesā¦ and she said she hoped the change ādidnāt hurt D2ās feelings.ā I only said that D2 had been very interested in my jewelry lately. I didnāt say, but: Of course sheāll be hurt!
Each day in 2019 Iām trying to focus on First.be.kind. Iām working toward Leave.Kind.Memories.
Sheesh, most jewelry has very little resale value, why do people play games like that with otherās emotions. Had your D2 never been promised the ring, then there would be no hurt feelings. Itās not who gets it, it the last minute switch.
I also do pro bono projects that have significant humanitarian implications. For example, on Mondays I deliver meals on wheels. You know, feeding the hungry, ending famine, that type of thing.
For the past year my wife has been coming with me and helping out. This helps us avoid domestic conflicts.
Mom220ā¦ this is the pattern Iāve seen once too,often. The spouseās wishes arenāt honored, the other gets into another relationship, and $ and objects move to that person and their family.
I feel for you and your DD about the ring, I would have said āof course sheāll be hurt, but life goes on.ā That is the nicest thing I can think of at the moment.
I think the safe, pragmatic approach is to never assume any inheritance comes your way and when/if it does, then you can be thrilled. Too many variables over which one has really no control.
I agree with @KeyWestComet. Best to assume none and be pleasantly surprised. In my family, there wasnāt ever going to be any meaningful inheritance. In my wifeās family, I have seen one fortune blown by dumb decisions, one largely reduced, and one large one given to charity in its entirety for reasons of narcissism.
@Iglooo, not that one but I have gotten asked to get involved in some strange things. Most of my work is corporate but I once got a call from a former official with whom I had done some work several years back when he was in his countryās foreign ministry, prior to the advent of a dictator. They wanted me to organize and facilitate the work of a group. I kept asking what the group was going to do. After a while, the group intended to talk/negotiate with the dictator. The more I pushed, the less sense it made until I realized was that they wanted me to help organize a coup. I told him I wasnāt in the coup business. Not sure why they even thought of me.
We had a client in his 90s who was fixated on donating enough to be a big name on PBS; he did not have a spare million like Darlene Shiley, but wow, was he fixated on it for the last year of his life. I guess for some people, the thought of having their name printed on the screen before every Masterpiece episode would have been the ultimate pleasure?
āBut how do you mentallly go from saving to spending?ā - Thatās a good question. Probably even if plenty is save, the flipped mindset will be tough. Our financial planner says our concerns are common. Weāll ease into it with DH (7 years older) retiring first. Iāll keep working a while, for salary AND the health insurance.
In defense of snarkā¦sometimes I am snarky too. One is not always responding to a specific post, but a multitude of them. Many people have mantras, that are reflected over and over again in our posts. I am most certain I have a number of mantras, but I generally cannot recognize them. I have been tempted to start a thread where we could point out each otherās mantras, but I suspect it could get insulting very quickly. 
That sounds like a smart way to ease into things. I also have a tough time thinking about spending down. We are going to a financial planner on Monday, for the first time ever. Hopefully sheāll make us feel better. Or worse. Yikes.
The hardest thing for me is to spend savings while awaiting SS at age 70ā¦as a Finance guy, I get the PV is better, but emotionally, itās tough to take money out of the bank now so Iāll have more later. (Assuming that i make it to 80ā¦)