New to contributing to this site but have been reading every post I see. My name is Gary. I'm 57 and my wife, Denise is 55. About 2 years ago, my wife was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Best described as the next step to Alzheimer's. Since July of 2012, she has stopped driving, stopped working and trying to deal with this thing that has hit her. All the while, I'm working a 10 to 12 hour day with an hour commute. Granted I was making good money but the stress of a job in management along with what was going on with my wife, was just too much.
One night while talking to my wife about how much I hate my job and felt the need to be home with her. She told me to quit. She was bored being alone at home and she could only have so many conversations with the dog. And that's when it hit me. I needed to quit working. It tore my heart out knowing she was so lonely during the day. Since being empty nesters for the last 5 years, we have had opportunities to travel abroad and enjoy some of the finer restaurants in our city. But from that point on, I began to cut our expenses while searching every "early retirement site" I could find. Suggestions from this site helped me realize how I was spending money so foolishly. We dropped cable, the daily newspaper, stopped going out to eat, hung our clothes out to dry, turned down the heat and bought clothes from Goodwill. This past March, I had a plan ,,,, I had enough of a boss that treated me like shit. I had enough of the stresses at work. I had enough of the petty office politics. I had enough of worrying about my wife when I could not be with her. I had enough of traveling overseas. I had enough of expensive restaurants. I had enough of the long days, I had enough of the crazy commutes. I just had enough.
July 3rd of 2013 was my last day of work. My new independence day. From a financial standpoint, yeah, I should have worked a few more years to gain more stability. But after making these life changes, I've come to realize that the happiness I've achieved trumps all. We have about $330,000 in 401K, we're debt free, have another $40,000 in savings and also collect on Denise's social security disability ,,,, another $1,200 per month of income. You know, it's been 6 months now since I've stopped working and I've never been happier. We spend our days making quality meals, taking our dog for a walk, learning to play guitar, biking and our new hobby of cross country skiing (bought everything for both of us for $45 at Goodwill). The way I figure it, worse comes to worse, as to money, I'll get a part time job at Home Depot. But based on these first stress-free 6 months of early retirement, I don't think I'll have to. But ,,,, I'll never go back to the merry-go-round. I've had enough.
