Calling Net54 Retirees....tell us how Retirement has influenced your hobby activities
 

Has retirement been good to you regarding this hobby ? My retirement story is short-n-sweet.
. https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...iree%20_2_.jpg . https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...e/ATTxTedZ.jpg

TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Not exactly retired, but I sold my company right before Covid. The crazy run up in prices has kept me from participating as fully as I had hoped. I just can't get my brain around the new pricing.

Net54 Retirees....tell us how Retirement has influenced your hobby activities
 

Hi Todd

We are in quite uncertain times. I'm with you, regarding the "new pricing" situation....it is very perplexing. It certainly is not being driven by true collectors.

The "investors" are taking over our hobby; and, who knows what the result of all this will be in a year (or two).

Take care,


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Sold my businesses and retired at age 55 in 2006. How has it impacted my hobby?

It has given me a LOT more time I can devote to the hobby. Which can be both good and bad. More time to search the net, but also more sedentary ( read weight gain!! :) ) from sitting in front of the computer all day.

Net54 Retirees....tell us how Retirement has influenced your hobby activities
 

Great to hear from you, Fred. You look pretty good to me, every time you stop by at the Philly Show.

I try to moderate the weight gain due to "computering" by playing Tennis (Singles, for 2 hours a day....twice a week).
Or, taking long walks in to town (when my left knee isn't bothering me).

Take care, my good friend.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

I retired at 55 in 2019 after 36 yrs working for OPG (Ontario Power Generation, formerly Ontario Hydro) and I can definitely say retirement has afforded me a lot more time to look for cards, namely 52 Topps, but other cards as well.

Other than that I enjoy our trailer in the summer and everything associated with that and I snowmobile in the winter.
With the recent acquisition of 2 kittens in Sept, (getting big now) I will say, however, my free time has definitely taken a hit as these 2 guys keep me busy! :cool:

I retired from the Navy in 2007 after going from E-1 to O-3 and 3 aircraft carriers in 26 years. Now I will retire for good in July of 2023, God willing, with Navy pension, Florida Retirement System pension, and Social Security. I use the VA for health care. If I can't make do with that, well...

James, thank you for your service. I retired in January 2009 with 30 years of service in the Navy. Started out as an E-1 and retired as a CWO4. Continued to work another 13 years with the Navy, retiring this past February with 43 years. Fully retired, will never have to work again. Financially set, so I'm still able to collect as always, but am more selective on what I buy.

Way too much time but card prices are way too high.:(. So, built a greenhouse and now all I buy are fresh packs of seeds:D

Tony that's awesome! Thank YOU for your service!

For me it went by like a snap, and I would do it all again, no problem.

I retired last August. I was an Actuary for 40+ years a few small pension administration firms.

A lot more time to enjoy looking at my cards. Especially cards form the 1960's and prior.

Planning on "cleaning up" some of my collection. I have card sets from the 1990's I put into binders 20 years ago and have not looked at since. Time to put them in boxes to save space and maybe sell. (They are in binders by team so I'll want to put them in numerical order.)

My two youngest grandsons (age 2 and 7) live a block away. They keep me young!

Mike

Yeah, same here! Carriers I deployed on were the USS Truman and USS George Washington.

Mine were USS Midway, USS Independence and also USS George Washington! I was on the Cruiser-Destroyer Group 2 staff while on the GW, and the Admiral on that staff was Rear Admiral Mike Krekich. He played football at the Naval Academy with Roger Staubach, and he was a great guy. That was back in 1994-95, and she was a beautiful ship back then.

Net54 Retirees....tell us how Retirement has influenced your hobby activities
 

James and Tony.....Thanks for your service to our Country.

I was a Radar Specialist in the Air Force in the early 1960's....stationed at a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base in Maine. We had a squadron of B52 Bombers and F102 Fighter planes.
Oct 1962, when Russia threatened us with the "Cuban Missle Crisis", our Bombers and Fighter planes all went South (Florida and So. Carolina). It was an amazing site to watch all our
Aircraft leave the base.
The B52 bomber is an amazing piece of machinery. The first group of B52 bombers were built in 1952. Over 700 B52 bombers were originally built. I think about 80 are still in service.
I will never forget the excitement of being in the cockpit of one of these "big birds". I felt like Slim Pickens in the movie "Dr. Strangelove" :)

This is me when I was in Radar school (in Illinois, 1960). The last year of my 4-year service, I was re-assigned back to this Technical School to teach Electronics & Radar fundamentals.


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...rantoulafb.jpg . http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...rceribbons.jpg


Take care, guys.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Ted, thank you for your service and sharing your story!

Tony

Ted, did you go to radar school at Chanute AFB, Rantoul, Illinois? That is where I went to Weather Observer, Rawinsonde (upper air, weather balloons) and Weather Forecasting schools. The Air Force and the Navy go to weather schools together, to this day. Now they go to Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi since Chanute closed.

And I am guessing you were stationed at Loring AFB in Maine? I went to forecasting school at Chanute with an Air Force sergeant named Dennis Flanagan, who was at Loring before coming to school at Chanute. He and I went to White Sox games at old Comiskey Park on weekends when we could. It was only 100 miles or so to Chicago from Rantoul up I-57.

The photo of me in the "Cracker Jacks" dress blues was taken at Chanute AFB in 1983. It is a real WW2 uniform, and I still have it. It is very dark blue wool, not black like today. The reason I am wearing my white hat like that is because that is how they wore them in WW2. The photo of me as an officer was made in San Diego not long before I retired in 2007.

Thank you for YOUR service.

I guess I should say that, if anything, I am better off now that I am "retired" from the Navy. But I was better able to collect because the prices were way, way less.

It's been a bit of a Catch-22 situation for me. My last gig in IT ended June 2019 and I've basically been retired since. It's been great to relax, stay up late, sleep in late, not be concerned with commuting or work related issues, etc.

I've had a lot more time to grow my collection and it's been a lot of fun. In fact, I'm online for hours each day looking for stuff. Problem is, in order to keep growing my collection, and to be able to afford the really good stuff...... I've been thinking about going back to work.

Ted,

Gonna have to wait a bit longer for me to give you an answer. I am targeting Jan 2023 to retire. 6 years in the A.F. And 36+ years as a contractor for the A.F.

It just cannot get here quick enough for me.

Butch

I'm at a sorta similar place. I am not retired, though I am only 5 to 10 years away. I'm a career supply chain professional and have spent the last 10 years doing sourcing and procurement in the oil and gas industry (midstream division.) My employer was bought out last year by a larger company and faced with the choice of moving to Houston or moving on, I chose the latter. My retention and severance have given me enough of a financial cushion to consider a change in direction.

I have been thinking about getting into consulting, but don't have the network to hang out a shingle. And I wasn't interested in the big accounting/consulting firms (PWC, EY, Deloitte) because they are generally sweatshops for young 'uns fresh out of B school. I'm in the process of getting aligned with RGP, which has an interesting business model. It is gig work, of a sort, but they actually do it on a W-2 basis and offer benefits. I know the plural of anecdote isn't data, but I just completed my background check application Friday morning and had a call that afternoon about a potential contract. It was pretty far away from my O&G experience (and I am still on retention for another month), so I demurred. But, it looks like a possible route to income while maintaining flexibility to take time off between assignments.

Lastly, I would note that they have a technology practice.

Net54 Retirees....tell us how Retirement has influenced your hobby activities
 

James

You and I have a "double coincidence" here......

Ten months of my 1st year in the Air Force was going to Radar school in Rantoul (IL). The 2nd coincidence is my 1st tour of duty was associated with the Weather Service of the
Air Force.
I was stationed at Dow AFB in Bangor, Maine. I was responsible for operating....maintaining....repairing the Radar sets on this Strategic Air Command base that were associated
with the Weather Squadron. As a side consequence, I learned a lot about weather forecasting.
I am sure we could go on comparing notes regarding our Service that would fill several pages here. But, I will leave it with this......the smartest thing I did was enlist. The many
experiences, and meeting my wife in Maine has made it all worthwhile.

You look great in your Navy uniforms.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

One of the great things about being in the military is being able to travel and be stationed in different places. I grew up in New York and have always been a huge New York Yankee fan and collector. I have always been a player collector, so being stationed in different places, I found myself watching teams and following players that I normally wouldn't have. When I was in Texas, I watched the Texas Rangers a lot. I liked Juan Gonzalez, as he was a pure power hitter, and I started to collect his cards and memorabilia. Hence, this picture shows just how much my Juan Gonzalez collection grew. I even had the opportunity to meet the Texas Rangers Owner, Tom Hicks, when he visited our squadron. Before ebay, the Navy gave me many opportunities to visit local cards shops and shows in other states, giving me more opportunity to find stuff I wouldn't normally have been able to find at home. Now retired, I have more time to search for memorabilia and also focus more on my collection.

Any USAF Net54s stationed in Aviano, Italy in late 70s/early 80s, or in Ellsworth, SD in the mid 80s?

You Boomers are going to be the last generation that can really plan a retirement. Us Gen Xers, not so much. By the time we came up, traditional pensions and defined retirement benefits were all but extinct. We've been forced into the equities markets and they've crapped the bed several times since I started working, which has really messed with planning. Most of us cannot afford to retire on any sort of schedule. If things fall out just right for me, I might be able to quit when I am able to get on Medicare and Social Security. If not, I will have to work until the end of whatever boom-bust cycle we are in at the time.

I intend to unwind my collection when I retire as a way of generating cash flow and having some fun.

A bit further north for me. Why not, Minot AFB. I worked on the comm equipment in the launch control facilities from 81 - 86.

B. T.

I've got no pension or defined benefits except $1500 in social security. Also, my 401k has been in a money market the past 10 years drawing close to zero interest, because I was burned badly in the 2008-9 meltdown and that reserve is something I cannot risk. So I don't agree with your thesis.

The key is to make more than you spend, and save for the sake of saving. Develop side revenue streams, like buying/selling cards, maybe get an inexpensive house, cabin, or boat or two and rent them out, or get a few wooded acres in a rural area and spend your weekends having fun cutting and splitting firewood to sell.

A side business or two not only adds to your savings, and provides tax benefits, but it also means your retirement can also include having that extra income rolling in. My retirement, for example, includes rental income from a couple properties I've been able to pick up over the past 20 years, some modest hobby income, and some assorted small, safe ventures.

It's easier to save a dollar than to make one, so if you're looking forward to your retirement, keep in mind, if you can figure out a way to save just one dollar a day (simple, right?) that's $365 dollars a year, or $3,650 per decade. Get a cheaper phone service, cancel TV cable or streaming services you can live without, buy used cars and furniture instead of new, and so on.

If I was suddenly 35 years old again, I assure you, I could count on being retired at 60. But you have to want long-term fiscal security more than current gratification.

I am with you about Juan Gonzalez. I always liked him. One of the few modern era guys who would have fit in back in 50s, 60s, or 70s. Great collection, sir, looks fantastic!

Yeah...I am going to sort of disagree with you there. Your buck a day with another buck a day compounded over 30 years at 3.15% (the average Treasury interest over the last 30 years) is the princely sum of $18,575.51. It is a drop in the bucket. In the United States, assisted living costs an average of $4,300 per month, according to the 2020 Genworth Financial Cost of Care Survey. For the mathematically challenged, that is $51,600 a year. Your dollar a day nest egg vanishes in four months. You either have to sock away far more money, work much longer, or you have to chase a higher ROI. That means equities, and they've crapped out multiple times since I started working. The last crash punched a ten-year hole in our retirement (it took ten years for the inflation-adjusted value of our portfolio to return to where it was in 2007). The average time in assisted living is 28 months; the average long-term care insurance runs three years. It covers 40%-60% of costs. And did I mention health care inflation, which vastly outstripped regular inflation over the last two decades. Even an inflation rider on a long-term care policy will be overrun unless you pay (through the nose) for an indexed rider. Take the typical 3% rider and you are losing 1% a year to inflation even in normal times. Skilled nursing, the next stage of care, averages over 150% of what assisted living does. My father, who passed away recently, spent nearly a year in assisted living at $6,000 a month plus all life expenses, then two months in a skilled nursing facility at $9,750 a month. And if you or your spouse need dementia care, well, throw another 25% or more onto the number. My mother is in dementia care at $8,000 a month. Between the two of them they were chewing through your $18,000 nest egg every month. Now, go to a region where most people actually live and the cost is even higher. But wait, how about that long term care insurance? Sure, price it out. My wife and i just got it (mid-fifties). 3% inflation rider. We are going to invest $6K a year just to pay for a policy that is likely to pay about 40% of the monthly costs of assisted living 30 years from now. That's another $180K to account for. But if you run out of money the government will take care of you, right? Wrong! That safety net has been shredded since 1980. I live in Cali, which has one of the more generous care packages. You must first be truly destitute then you can apply. But try finding a Medicaid facility that isn't a hell-hole and you will find a waiting list stretching 6-12 months.

Here's a suggestion: before making blithe pronouncements about it merely being a process of wanting it more, try actually pricing out what you are likely to need in terms of goods and services if you become one of the millions of infirm elderly, then back into the actual savings numbers to cover that downside so as not to be a burden to your children. The result will shock you.

I do agree with starting early and being disciplined though. I am so happy that I religiously saved into my IRA and SEPP in the 1990s instead of buying more vintage baseball cards. Er, wait...

Is the Ivy grad school going to pay off? If so that money isn't lost. Tell your kid it's a zero interest loan that he can pay back, over time, when he's on his feet. If it isn't going to pay off (like, if he/she is a philosophy major) then why are you wasting your money? Let him/her put himself/herself through a cheaper school.

When I was in my mid 30s in 1994, my baseball card business died with the player strike. The only job I could find was making plastic bags for $6.00 an hour in a small factory in my rural area. I spent almost 4 years there, eventually moving into the office, but never making more than $9.85 an hour.

As soon as I took that job, I enrolled in the local community college and took computer classes. I knew nothing about computers before that. I spent 8 hours a day on my feet, pulling bags of that screaming, antiquated machine, fanning them so the melted seals didn't stick together, boxing them, over and over, and then went to class smelling of plastic. I took school more seriously than anybody; I bought the compiler (Pascal) for $50 (more than a full day's pay) and worked with it almost every minute I wasn't at work, in school, or asleep. After acing several classes I got into a grad program in computer science, worked and studied my tail off, and got a job with a Fortune 200 company 2 weeks after my 40th birthday. Salaried at $45,000, it was the first decent "real" job I ever had.

Just saying, you can be positive about your future and life in general, or you can be pessimistic. If you are pessimistic, you will not likely be successful because in your mind, failure is your expectation and that's what your outcome will be.

You control your life. People come to this country with nothing and succeed every day.

I am not saying that if you save a single dollar a day your retirement is secure. It is an example. Obviously.

I have no equities because I got clobbered the last time they crapped out. So instead, I cobbled together a down payment of about $40,000 and bought a rental house in 2005, then did it again (with $50,000) in 2017. They cash flow about $950 each now. So, that's $22,800 per year. Early social security ($1500/month) is $18,000 per year. So, if I can make $1,000 a month, which I do, that comes out to about $52,000 annually. That's passive income ($40k) and leisure, hobby income ($12k.)

I am not being condescending, I am trying to be encouraging. I was at rock bottom at the age of 36 and retired by 61. Right now, my net worth (savings) grows by abut $2500 each month because I am very frugal. So I'm well aware of the potential very high costs that could come about in the later years of life. Retirement doesn't mean you start drawing down savings and assets - you want to try to always grow them.

But if you prefer to not have your negative outlook on life challenged, that's your decision.

+1, that is the right attitude to have. When we fail it is our fault. When we succeed it is our fault. I have found that even when I am failing, if I am trying to get better, I still feel pretty good. It's not doing anything that is paralyzing and makes me feel bad
.. ...
.

Oh, I do not discount one's own role in both failures and successes, and I am not sitting still despairing over my circumstances, but regardless of what I plan to do, the universe may have other plans. My mother has dementia. No one planned on that. All you can do is plan mitigating moves for that as best as you can.

Retirement
 

It will be a year this month in retirement, at age 61. I worked 39 years in IT. From punched cards to working in the cloud.

Went thru multiple ups and downs in the market to fund retirement, a home, 3 undergrad degrees and 2 graduate degrees for my wife and kids. It wasn't easy, but it's possible with planning, a little luck, and lots of blessings.

I never was a big spender on cards ... it's always been a hobby, and I've always bought low grade raw cards. But I'm finding that even that is a challenge in today's market. So I've spent more time building a small website to show what I've bought over the years. It's low cost (only my time) and fun to do.

And what Adam states about senior care is something to understand while you are young. My mom was in assisted living for a few years. Very expensive and kind of poop theater (I wasn't sure if I could say sh*t show on the forum). Make sure you have this covered thru savings and insurance. And do things in your life that helps prevent / slow down dementia. Read. Continue to learn (I'm currently taking classes on iOS development). Play a musical instrument (I learned to play mandolin and tenor guitar at 58). Stay active and social.

Thanks ... Tim

Net54 Retirees....tell us how Retirement has influenced your hobby activities
 

Butch T.

Just 7 1/2 months to go for your retirement.

Thank you for your Service for our Country.

Minot AFB..... is a huge Base. And one of the last ones still flying B52 Bombers. I used to love to watch the B52's take off, or arrive when I was
stationed at Dow AFB, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base in Bangor, Maine. We had only 13 Bombers, but a lot of F102 Fighter planes. About
200 miles north of us in Maine, was Loring AFB which was one of the largest SAC bases in the U.S. Loring AFB had 52 (or more) B52 Bombers.

Take care,

TED Z
.

I retired in 2020. I have been collecting since about 1980, besides the cards I had from my childhood. Between kids and work, collecting was all I accomplished. No organization. Just got the cards and put them away. I've had time to organize sell off some of the duplicates I bought (due to my lack of organization). I'm a big Cardinal collector so I've been trying to polish off my Cardinal checklist for sets back to 1900.

Great posts, all of you. Ted, glad you got this thread started.

I'm going to gradually slow down with work. I have given thought to taking on fewer new clients, eventually vacating my office, and then meeting clients somewhere in the courthouse. For me it won't be a sudden change from working to not working.

I think part of the change is focusing on exactly what you want to collect or to continuing to collect; and minimizing the random acquisitions of stuff that doesn't exactly fit with what your focus is. Then after that, do you start selling off, or do you leave it to a spouse or kids to sell?

I too confess that this is me: "some of the duplicates I bought (due to my lack of organization)." I have cards that I didn't initially realize were duplicates. JCRedBird's Cardinals Fan confession actually is a twofold confession. 1- having duplicates due to a lack of organization, and 2- "sell off some"... That's me, too. Having discovered unintentional duplicates, I have then sold or traded some of them, but not all.