It's been more than 12 years since I pulled the plug, thinking at the time that I was leaving a couple of years early. In retrospect, it was the right time. I was fortunate to have spent my working life in public service/campus law enforcement and earned a defined benefit lifetime retirement. My wife retired from elementary school teaching and also enjoys a lifetime defined benefit pension and we use her lifetime health insurance benefit.
Two years ago, at 67, I began collecting Social Security. My income now is more than my take home when I worked, and our combined income also exceeds our working income. so even living in CA, life is affordable. In a few months, our mortgage will be paid off. Several CBidders bad mouth CA, and are happy to be someplace else, but I am happy here, and most importantly, my wife is happy here. Our families are here and we enjoy the weather, which is superior to most places we had considered moving to. To us, the beauties of this state outweigh some of it's drawbacks.
If there is a regret in retirement; we can do more traveling, which was our pre-retirement goal that was postponed due to a commitment to help care for grandkids. Unfortunately my wife, who retired the same day as I did, has suffered a back injury that limits her mobility, so our travel plans have to be re-evaluated...but we both are happily retired and do not miss working one bit.
