Early retirement. I read so many articles and performed computations on so many calculators, but it was still scary to actually pull the trigger. But it’s been three months now and so far so good…

Key Decision Points

1. The Money — We’ve been saving money and maxing out our 401Ks since we got married 32 years ago (I actually was saving even before that!) But the question of do we have enough money always lingered until it didn’t.
2. The Work — It stopped being fun or interesting or challenging and that’s when I knew it was time. If I wasn’t having fun anymore, why bother with the traffic, the stress, and the commute?
3. The Dog — sounds silly, but I really like my dog and my office didn’t embrace dogs in the workplace, so now he’s my office mate every day.
4. The Parents — nobody gets younger and as you get older, more stuff starts going bad. So, not to be trite, but time is fleeting and I really wanted to see my family more than on major holidays as we live on different coasts.
5. So Many Places to Visit, So Little Vacation Time —I love to travel and there was never enough time so now we go when and where we like. So far, this year that’s included Japan (Tokyo & Kyoto), Maine, Nova Scotia, South Carolina, Maryland, and California.