Retirees, Those Soon To Be and the Hobby

Yes, declining health is a consideration for us.  My healt is fine, but arthritis is starting to be a little more than just a nuisance. My wife however has several medical problems that could debilitate her even before her mid 60s.  Even now she can’t travel in any comfort at all.  

Good question about what is to become my trains.  I don’t have that many.  My hope is we will have a grandchild to pass them on to.  If not, I have everything documented for my wife or daughters to contact some of you who may be interested.

Of course, Don, having wonderful friends like you and Vicky make it even better.  Matt

MNCW posted:

Guitarmike posted:

The unkown is the biggest fear, yet if we are doing everything right I know I should just chill out and trust God has my back.

How do you deal with the fear of the unknown? It sure was easier when I was 25.

Mike

Hi Mike,

   When I started this topic however long ago it was (I think 2 years now), that was really one of my biggest concerns...the unknown.  After reading all the responses, and I do recommend you or anyone else to read them, I feel better about the "unknown" factor. The other thing that helped me was a book I think I mentioned at some point, How to Retire Happy, Wild & Free, by Ernie Zelinski. I think it helped be to go from a 9 to 5 structured life to getting ready to retire in another 4-ish years. I like to re-read it every so often, too. Good luck! 

Tom 

Thanks Tom, it is amazing the older you get the more life becones less black ans white and more grey. I will check the book out.

Mike

Mark Boyce posted:

MNCW posted:

Guitarmike posted:

The unkown is the biggest fear, yet if we are doing everything right I know I should just chill out and trust God has my back.

How do you deal with the fear of the unknown? It sure was easier when I was 25.

Mike

Hi Mike,

   When I started this topic however long ago it was (I think 2 years now), that was really one of my biggest concerns...the unknown.  After reading all the responses, and I do recommend you or anyone else to read them, I feel better about the "unknown" factor. The other thing that helped me was a book I think I mentioned at some point, How to Retire Happy, Wild & Free, by Ernie Zelinski. I think it helped be to go from a 9 to 5 structured life to getting ready to retire in another 4-ish years. I like to re-read it every so often, too. Good luck! 

Tom 

Mike, you have a good plan.  You are right, as well as we plan, things won’t work out just as planned.  In my 42 years working in electronics, mostly power and telecom industries, I have been laid off from 4 companies, quit one 3 weeks before they closed, and was given a ‘voluntary’ severance package only to come back as a contractor as I said above.  The point is, no matter what happened, there was life after.  Yes, as you said, God has my back!  I don’t know if I will be healthy or even live until I retire, or if I will live to be 95.  Past experience tells me, God has my back.

We just need to male sure we hear Him when He calls us. 

Mike

What is going to happen to your trains when you pass?


A very popular question and discussion here.

Almost all of my trains are inventoried and identified with either a string tag or a sticker. Steam locomotives and tenders have matching inventory numbers.
This was done to make it easier for my heirs to decide what to do with the trains (and for me to keep track of what I have).

So, what will they do with the trains? - I am really not concerned.
They may keep some. Or maybe not.
The rest will probably be sold. I hope they choose to sell them via auction.

The trains provided me with pleasure, and when they were younger, the kids too. My whole family got into various activities stemming from train collecting. My kids and I garnered a lot of knowledge and useful skills. So the trains have done their job.
My family can take whatever residual value they have, and use the money for something that will give them pleasure.

The person who posed the question this time said theirs will be donated to a museum.
I hope he is aware that in all likelihood the museum will just sell the trains, with the best stuff being cherry picked by interested staff.

Since I last posted on this thread, I have set a retirement date. My last day of work will be September 28, 2018. The countdown has started. My pension does not include medical benefits. I am 65 now but my wife, who doesn't work, turns 65 in September. I am waiting for her to be eligible for Medicare. I will still have to purchase Medicare supplemental insurance but will be able to avoid the high cost of Cobra. Since I will be 66 next month, I will have reached my full retirement age per Social Security. I will have worked at the same company for a little over 44 years although due to purchases and mergers etc. the company name has changed 10 times. Work is no longer satisfying to me. Changes in the company in the last few years has made all the employees disgruntled. I have had enough and am ready to stop working. I have enough hobbies where I don't expect to have any trouble keeping occupied. In fact, I am looking forward to doing some of the things I can't get to now because of work. I am leaning toward taking Social Security starting in January 2019. In this way I avoid any taxes due to 9 months of salary in 2018.  One consideration in when to start taking SS that has not been mentioned, is that living expenses tend to decrease as we grow older. Waiting to collect may result in more money when you don't need it and less money when you do. Again a decision that must be made based on your individual situation. As for my trains, I did not buy trains as an investment. They bring me joy and that is why I bought them. My kids can decide what they want to keep and do what they want with the rest. I am attached to them now but don't really care what happens to them when I am gone.

What is going to happen to your trains when you pass?

"The body won't be cold, dad, and they'll be clicking 'Buy It Now."

Guitarmike posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

MNCW posted:

Guitarmike posted:

The unkown is the biggest fear, yet if we are doing everything right I know I should just chill out and trust God has my back.

How do you deal with the fear of the unknown? It sure was easier when I was 25.

Mike

Hi Mike,

   When I started this topic however long ago it was (I think 2 years now), that was really one of my biggest concerns...the unknown.  After reading all the responses, and I do recommend you or anyone else to read them, I feel better about the "unknown" factor. The other thing that helped me was a book I think I mentioned at some point, How to Retire Happy, Wild & Free, by Ernie Zelinski. I think it helped be to go from a 9 to 5 structured life to getting ready to retire in another 4-ish years. I like to re-read it every so often, too. Good luck! 

Tom 

Mike, you have a good plan.  You are right, as well as we plan, things won’t work out just as planned.  In my 42 years working in electronics, mostly power and telecom industries, I have been laid off from 4 companies, quit one 3 weeks before they closed, and was given a ‘voluntary’ severance package only to come back as a contractor as I said above.  The point is, no matter what happened, there was life after.  Yes, as you said, God has my back!  I don’t know if I will be healthy or even live until I retire, or if I will live to be 95.  Past experience tells me, God has my back.

We just need to male sure we hear Him when He calls us. 

Mike

Very true, Mike!!  So many times we have ears to hear, but do not hear.

Pat Kn posted:

Since I last posted on this thread, I have set a retirement date. My last day of work will be September 28, 2018. The countdown has started. My pension does not include medical benefits. I am 65 now but my wife, who doesn't work, turns 65 in September. I am waiting for her to be eligible for Medicare. I will still have to purchase Medicare supplemental insurance but will be able to avoid the high cost of Cobra. Since I will be 66 next month, I will have reached my full retirement age per Social Security. I will have worked at the same company for a little over 44 years although due to purchases and mergers etc. the company name has changed 10 times. Work is no longer satisfying to me. Changes in the company in the last few years has made all the employees disgruntled. I have had enough and am ready to stop working. I have enough hobbies where I don't expect to have any trouble keeping occupied. In fact, I am looking forward to doing some of the things I can't get to now because of work. I am leaning toward taking Social Security starting in January 2019. In this way I avoid any taxes due to 9 months of salary in 2018.  One consideration in when to start taking SS that has not been mentioned, is that living expenses tend to decrease as we grow older. Waiting to collect may result in more money when you don't need it and less money when you do. Again a decision that must be made based on your individual situation. As for my trains, I did not buy trains as an investment. They bring me joy and that is why I bought them. My kids can decide what they want to keep and do what they want with the rest. I am attached to them now but don't really care what happens to them when I am gone.

Pat, congratulations on your upcoming retirement!!  That is a great point figuring how much money you need in retirement is usually LAS’s than while working!

To be specific I said my trains will probably go the the Nevada State Railroad Museum. 

Even if they decide to sell them, the money will go to restoration and maintenence 

of equipment. In fact some of my trains came from a small California railroad museum

that was selling a donated collection to fund restoration of a Baldwin 4-4-0 named the 

Tahoe that was used here locally on a logging railroad. Its twin, the Glenbrook, is in 

the Nevada state museum, fully restored and operational. I will be dead, I don't care

what happens to my trains. But at least this way it is possible that they will be useful

to a lot of people. 

Hello Friends,

This has been a great and multi-faceted thread.  Back in February when the subject was more about what were we doing or planning hobby related for retirement, I posted the current state of my train room after more than eleven years of retirement.  Not a pretty sight!

Now that the subject has turned more to retirement itself generally and Social Security in particular, I thought I would relate a bit about our experiences and the decisions we have made so far.

My wife is less than a year older than me, but she qualified for retirement from the school district four years before I was eligible to retire from the bank.  When she was ready to lay down her chalk, we decided that she would take her teacher's pension at that time.  This would be her well-earned "walkin' around" money in her retirement.  The current monthly benefit would have grown a little if she had waited to draw it until she was older, but not very much because she would have had no salary those intervening years.   We weren't counting on her pension as our primary source of retirement income anyway.

I retired four years later at age 59 1/2.  We both decided to delay taking Social Security until we each reached the "full retirement age" of 66.  Again, we weren't looking to SS to be a primary retirement income source, so we did not choose to delay it beyond 66 but rather to consider it as a mid-retirement, mostly tax free, "cost of living" increase in our cash flow.  A nice bonus was that my wife's SS nearly doubled seven months later when she went from drawing her own account to drawing on mine when I reached 66 and began taking my SS.

I have been retired for 11 years now, and my wife has enjoyed nearly 15 years of retirement.  Looking back I would not have done it any differently.  Her pension covered much of the medical insurance premiums we paid after I retired but before we both qualified for Medicare/Medadvantage coverage.  And while we never considered drawing SS at or after age 62 but before age 66, we are glad we did not wait until age 70 even if we wound up paying taxes on some of it.

Now age 71, my wife has been battling cancer for nearly three years.  We are not doing nearly as much long distance travelling as we did earlier, nor do we anticipate doing so in the future.  (We do miss those TCA and TTOS national conventions, though!). Our home is still paid off, and we have no car loans or installment debt.  In our case, we might not have been able to enjoy our more active retirement years or found ourselves in quite as solid a financial position now if we had deferred her pension our SS benefits to the oldest ages available.

Of course, and as always: Your mileage will vary.

"Plans are what you make until Life gets in the way."

Cheers!

Alan

Alan, 

  Sorry to hear about your wife's cancer.  Glad that you are happy with the decisions you have made about when to start  receiving your money. Post pictures of your layout when you can even if there is no progress! 

Best wishes,

  Tom 

As Ed said "While no one can say what their health will be 5, 10 and 15 years down the road it is safe to say that physical things become just a little harder to do year by year. "   Amen to that.  I am past 72 and I now have mobility issues; however, as my medical examiner said, I am not standing up when I am flying so he renewed my medical.  My wife has been retired since she was 62 and I am still employed. We both enjoyed attending our college 50th year reunions.  For me it was very enjoyable seeing her and three others from their graduating class of 10 from Alvernia College.  The school is now a university and she and her "sisters" walked behind the faculty in gold robes and referred to by the commencement speaker as the school's golden girls.  That made the 2&1/2 hour ceremony worth the time.  If you have the opportunity, attend your class's 50th year reunions.  No regrets to still be working.  I get to fly myself to audit sites around the country and we have sufficient funds to take any vacations we desire to include her living in a beach community in CT during the summer.  I am building a layout in her CT basement and I have started my 4th level of my layout in our house.  I still purchase some new engines provided I sell three for one new one - a nice way to thin the roster.  I will be teleworking from CT this summer in-between audit visits. Samparfitt indicated that after we attain 70.5 years we have to take mandatory IRA (or other non-taxable pockets of funds) distributions.  You do not have to do that if you are still working for that employer and the company can still contribute their portion each year and my contributions are still tax deferred. Coming back from Reading PA after her festivities, I still get enjoyment and a sense of satisfaction breaking out of the clouds and seeing the runway 1.5  miles ahead of me.   I have asked my wife if she wants to join the ABS fly-in to St. John's, Newfoundland and St-Pierre, France for a couple of days in early August.  It might be a nice mini vacation.

Just checking to see if anyone retired recently or not so recently and wants to share any life/railroad activities? 

Gloating is allowed!  

Tom 

Tom, Funny I was just thinking of this topic yesterday.  I’m in limbo.  Is there a thing as forced retirement before your time?  All that seemed to come up a few months ago was people talking about choosing when to retire.  

I’ve been I guess you would call it semi-retired since last September.  Part time, with no end in sight.  In fact, I was off for 6 weeks recently, but did nothing with the layout.  In the winter I would work on my layout some.  Since May, I’ve been mowing, cleaning out, and doing other chores at my parents empty house.  I’m seeing this handling the hobby and retirement as a gradual thing.  Responsibilities still come our way.  Once the responsibilities for my parents, aunt, mother-in-law go away, maybe there will be grandchildren I can get interested in trains.  It didn’t work with my daughters.  LOL

Mark,

 Part-time retired still sounds a lot better than full-time working! 

 My wife and I dealt with my parent's empty house several years ago. Hope it all works out well.

Tom 

I just inherited my 5 yr old grandson.  So I'll postpone my retirement for 13 yrs and try to get him thru high school.  I'll be 80 and probably ready to retire then for sure.

Just in time for him to return the favor and take care of you! 

Tom 

Retirement is great. I truly don’t know how I had the time for work. My wife and I were fortunate to take early retirement, and have enjoyed good health to boot. 

As far as model railroading, I buy less than before and have an annual budget set by my wife, but have all the time I want to indulge myself with the trains. 

All in all, retirement is wonderful for us and we feel very blessed. 

I buy less trains too. I don't think it's for financial reasons. The opportunities to purchase something that will enhance my collection at a reasonable price are scarce. And I have plenty of operating pieces.

I have set my retirement date to September 28 2018. I gave notice to my company. I scheduled all my remaining vacation time and as of today, I have 17 work days left. Looking forward to retirement next month. 

I retired this past January. 

It's been interesting times.

Rusty

Aussteve, Yes we know folks raising their grandchildren.  God bless you and your grandson.

I had planned to buy trains late in my working days, then in retirement just buy small things for the layout when money permitted.  I have enough engines and cars for a layout bigger than one I have room for.  So I am not complaining about that with the decrease in income in my last few years of working.

Pat, Congratulations on your quickly approaching retirement!!!!!!

I retired last January as well.

To all the retirees (or soon to  be), just make sure you have "stuff" to do. Specifically, focus on accomplishing at least one thing every day. Sitting around in your boxer shorts eating Cheetos and drinking beer all day won't cut it.

This is a great hobby, but sooner or later you run out of things to do on the layout. I have a list of activities that keep me occupied. Echoing previous comments, I look back now and can't see how I ever had time to go to work.

Some folks are never done. When they 'finish', they find something to redo and improve or change.

Hard to believe but I retired Jan. 1 2015, seems like yesterday. Key to retirement, as others have mentioned, is to have hobbies or other things to keep you busy. Model trains, real trains, golf with church buddies, ice hockey with some old timers, home repairs, helping sons with projects, grandson, camping, etc., gives me plenty to do. Work at the end was not a lot of fun anymore so not missing any of that at all. 

While working I got most of what I needed for layout so I only buy the odd boxcar or item every now and then. 

Pat, congrats on your Sept retirement.

Aussteve, your grandson is lucky to have you, God Bless.

Best thing about retirement is you get to do what you want, when you want, provided wife approves it. I was lucky 45 years ago to marry a good one and we are having fun growing old together.

Hope all are enjoying retirement.

Dean

Retiring is replacing all four tires and get back rolling.  Guess I am easing into retirement.  Left my primary contracting responsibilities around 2k but kept up the bench work building until recently but concurrent to both of them my wife and I built up an insurance practice which sustains us indefinitely.

My numbers say the whether you take SS at 62 0r 70 it is revenue neutral at 82 1/2.  Not one betting on dying early we waited a little to take SS.   Plus if you are aware of how unfunded government obligations are there is no telling what may still be available as the years roll on.  

Our lifestyles have always been very healthy which enhanced mobility. 

The kids are always welcome to visit but know we changed the locks.  We have no guest bedrooms.

Finding time to overbuild this stupid layout has consumed way too much time.  (Layouts can not be stupid so that must mean....me).    Looking forward to actually running this thing.  No RR buds on the horizon so it is all solo.

I was reluctant to move awhile ago until wife said she would relinquish any area of the basement to my  hobby.  I consented to move after we agreed that it would only be a ranch and only with a full basement.

Well that set me up to both win and lose.  Won a 33' x 60' man cave, BUT,  working like a slave to fill it.  That's where stupid comes in.  

The Pennsylvania Dutch have a saying, "Too soon oldt, too late schmart".   

Overall I seek to abide by eternal wisdom, "In all things give thanks" 

I decided to 'throttle back' almost 5 years ago, at first with a severance for 6 months, then pension. Picked up a part time job working from home that pays well, as some of my kids decided that it would be a good time to go back to college! The work is interesting and low stress. 

So having at least 3 days free a week, I bought the remains of the Lee Lines and started making standard gauge trains, 15 engines and over 100 passenger cars to date. Recently bought the Harmon line from Bob Thon, so starting to build standard gauge Challengers (4-6-6-4), and their similar 4-6-4 and 4-6-2 locos, as well as the 28" long smooth side passenger cars. Pretty busy with all of that but, enabled me to build a bunch of stuff for myself as well as buying some cool trains with the 'funny money'. Also playing keyboards and writing music, got a Ham General Class license, a 3D printer, and a certification to design 'Passive Houses', super efficient buildings. 

So pretty much as busy as ever, but enjoying everything I do. 

Maybe I'll slow down a little someday, maybe. I'm about to turn 61. No immediate plans to take early SS. 

Jim Waterman

Jim Waterman posted:

I decided to 'throttle back' almost 5 years ago, at first with a severance for 6 months, then pension. Picked up a part time job working from home that pays well, as some of my kids decided that it would be a good time to go back to college! The work is interesting and low stress. 

So having at least 3 days free a week, I bought the remains of the Lee Lines and started making standard gauge trains, 15 engines and over 100 passenger cars to date. Recently bought the Harmon line from Bob Thon, so starting to build standard gauge Challengers (4-6-6-4), and their similar 4-6-4 and 4-6-2 locos, as well as the 28" long smooth side passenger cars. Pretty busy with all of that but, enabled me to build a bunch of stuff for myself as well as buying some cool trains with the 'funny money'. Also playing keyboards and writing music, got a Ham General Class license, a 3D printer, and a certification to design 'Passive Houses', super efficient buildings. 

So pretty much as busy as ever, but enjoying everything I do. 

Maybe I'll slow down a little someday, maybe. I'm about to turn 61. No immediate plans to take early SS. 

Jim Waterman

Hi Jim, do you have a website for your standard gauge items? Love to see them

My numbers say the whether you take SS at 62 0r 70 it is revenue neutral at 82 1/2.  Not one betting on dying early we waited a little to take SS.   Plus if you are aware of how unfunded government obligations are there is no telling what may still be available as the years roll on.  

I recently became old enough to collect my SS. I am going back and forth on putting in for my benefits.
The first question is whether I will make it past the break even point (82.5 sounds about right).
If I use my own savings instead of putting in for the SS, how much interest would I be loosing on my own money?
And what is the government going to do? Just this morning I saw a report that the folks in charge want to cut social security and medicare to balance the federal budget.

Jim Waterman posted:

I decided to 'throttle back' almost 5 years ago, at first with a severance for 6 months, then pension. Picked up a part time job working from home that pays well, as some of my kids decided that it would be a good time to go back to college! The work is interesting and low stress. 

So having at least 3 days free a week, I bought the remains of the Lee Lines and started making standard gauge trains, 15 engines and over 100 passenger cars to date. Recently bought the Harmon line from Bob Thon, so starting to build standard gauge Challengers (4-6-6-4), and their similar 4-6-4 and 4-6-2 locos, as well as the 28" long smooth side passenger cars. Pretty busy with all of that but, enabled me to build a bunch of stuff for myself as well as buying some cool trains with the 'funny money'. Also playing keyboards and writing music, got a Ham General Class license, a 3D printer, and a certification to design 'Passive Houses', super efficient buildings. 

So pretty much as busy as ever, but enjoying everything I do. 

Maybe I'll slow down a little someday, maybe. I'm about to turn 61. No immediate plans to take early SS. 

Jim Waterman

Jim,

  That sounds interesting even though I am not into Standard Gauge. I assume you've seen the beautiful Standard Gauge PRR B6 switcher Harlan Creswell made. Any interest in trying something like that?

Tom 

Surprised to see this thread exist through 11 pages.  Seems to indicate the age of most model railroad enthusiast.  Good thread, a lot of information.  Social Security and Medicare a big part of everyone's future, who is retiring.  You would need to know your SS payment, (automatic deposit to your bank account), related to your age, when you decide to draw, and your amount, base on what you, (and your employer), paid in over your working career.  There is a maximum amount available from SS.  Spouse, in most cases, can receive 1/2 your amount.   There are small corrections for COL, (Cost of Living adjustments).  These numbers should be available from SS on line.  Retirement planning adds to these numbers. IMO  

Best wishes, all on retirement. 

Mike CT. 

Mike,

 Glad I started it way back when, if for now reason than to hopefully reduce any anxiety about making a big lifestyle change. Very interesting to see how people have adapted. 

Tom 

So MARK how old are you. I am 88 and I am still buying prewar trains, & going to York. I retired in 1999.

Just checking to see if anyone retired recently or not so recently and wants to share any life/railroad activities? 

Gloating is allowed!  

Tom 

Retired, I can hardly believe it 11 years ago. I have loved every minute of the time, own more trains than I ever thought I would. I have been wonderfully blessed by my LORD.

Ray

Tom Tee posted:

 

I was reluctant to move awhile ago until wife said she would relinquish any area of the basement to my  hobby.  I consented to move after we agreed that it would only be a ranch and only with a full basement.

Well that set me up to both win and lose.  Won a 33' x 60' man cave, BUT,  working like a slave to fill it.  That's where stupid comes in.  

The Pennsylvania Dutch have a saying, "Too soon oldt, too late schmart".   

Overall I seek to abide by eternal wisdom, "In all things give thanks" 

Tom,

  You mentioned moving, not sure if you moved yet. Where would you move from/move to if it happened already or will be happening (if you don't mind sharing)? 

Tom 

I just posted my thoughts on this topic on Page Three of the parallel  Who has recently retired or will be retiring soon and what are your train plans? thread.  Rather than duplicate that posting here, I'll just refer to that one.

Gilly@N&W posted:

I retired last January as well.

To all the retirees (or soon to  be), just make sure you have "stuff" to do. Specifically, focus on accomplishing at least one thing every day. Sitting around in your boxer shorts eating Cheetos and drinking beer all day won't cut it.

This is a great hobby, but sooner or later you run out of things to do on the layout. I have a list of activities that keep me occupied. Echoing previous comments, I look back now and can't see how I ever had time to go to work.

Of course, sitting around eating cheetos and drinking beer DOES have its place. In moderation.

Tom,  The move involved moving off of a main road with a large lot in a high tax neighborhood to a quiet closed community smaller lot with a fraction annual taxes.  I wanted to stay in the general  area to be  available to existing clients.

For senior health  reasons we wanted to  stay in the Greater Philla / Delaware Valley for it's excellent facilities.  The summers are humid and the winters are cold but we are only  30 minutes to the SouthWest terminal at PHL.

Many other positive factors but gotta run.......  tt

Okay, I have retired a couple years now, and I last commented to this thread a year or so ago. Dry basement has been acquired September 1st 2017.

This photo is of the front of the basement and is less than half the 28' width that I have. The room to the right (or east) is the laundry room/workshop, and yes, I am going to tunnel through that wall in more than a couple places. You can see where some demolition took place where the previous owners made 3 bedrooms down there that were against building codes. They had no adequate escape routes. Now the west half of the basement is one big train room.  The downstairs great room on the south end goes the whole 28' across. The footprint is 28' X 50'. Other than the workshop there is also a bathroom on the east side.

I have boards placed on the floor to keep all boxes off the floor just in case. I have no sump pump, as the walkout basement has a patio, and a few yards later there is a 60' ravine, so the whole lot drains rain nicely. Finally, the house that keeps the elements out of the basement.