Does anyone else wrestle with the idea of taking early retirement?
I've considered it. Knowing there's a trade-off with pensions and future Social Security.
Affordability along with quality of life issues are issues that matter to me.
What matters to you?
I'm working currently at a job because of a vested pension that is maturing. Were it not for that I'd have left already. If I leave now would give up about 30% of what I'll receive by waiting several more years.
One of my children has wanted me to wait. I've wanted to wait until my cancer scare. Now I'm not so sure.
Maybe take early retirement to enjoy what time I have left while I still have breath to enjoy it?
We don't come pre-packaged with a crystal ball.
I might also get bored if I retired early. I have a job that gives me a sense of purpose and helping others. It has good benefits. If I left it would likely not find something that pays as well or with the same benefits somewhere else. On the other hand, leaving now could be a kick start to branch out in an entirely new direction. :)
It's a big decision for me to leave or stay. I know when I do retire I'll be relocating to the western US. That's going to be another major transition for me. So far I've been taking my time. But am getting closer to the goal with each passing day.
The old adage "Life is a journey, not a destination," has been one of my life mottoes. I try to find purpose in whatever I'm going through. Right now it's winding down in a job I've been at for nearly three decades, while planning for life after retirement. I'm really looking forward to that bridge when I cross it.
I have many interests so hope to keep busy, active and fulfilled post-retirement.
Does anyone else wrestle with the question when or whether to retire? I know I do.
:)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 07:32PM by Amyjo.
That wasn’t a very nice response. The poster was being supportive. Your reply was dismissive and superior and honestly nothing more than an alternative claim to supernatural intercession.
that it is crazy to take it early unless you have a LOT of money socked away in safe investments. She intends to work till she is at least 70. Hubby is planning on full-time till he is 71, giving us a year of double dipping with zero penalties and full health insurance (a HUGE issue for most). Then he will go part-time. He loves his job and would be bored out of his mind sitting around the house.
I have been subscribed to this place for a couple of years. topretirements.com It's main focus is on retirement communities but they also have a lot of great articles of general interest to those of us getting older. I would suggest you sign up for their newsletter. It's a complex issue and the more you study the better off you will be.
Susan, my brother took early Social Security, but he already had a lot of money socked away in savings. I have no other sane option but to take a full SS payout at age 66 and a half.
It's possible that your husband might change his mind about working somewhere along the way. My brother did. He went from working full time, to working part time, to full retirement more quickly than he thought he would. (Like your DH, he loved his job as well.) He reached a point where he was just *done*. Also, he had his retirement avocations already figured out and in place (furniture making, golf, sailing, gardening, and travel.)
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 07:48PM by summer.
Is in good health and has had a job since he was 8 and lied and got his first real fulltime job at 15. He loves his job and the people he works with. They still think he is a big contributor to the company/industry. He is in high demand. They have cut back on the overseas trips and if it is a big heavy job that will demand a lot of brute force they send someone with him. There are quite a few people working there now on semi-retired status. I can't get him interested in any hobby except for The Dumb Ass Game aka Diablo 3. We have a neighbor who retired a year ago and he is bored to tears. His wife is now taking a LOT of classes lol.
Since we are paying a LOT of money to the CPA for her advice I will throw a couple other things out there. Always buy a used car. Pay it off as soon as possible - that interest isn't helping you at all. Next, put every dime you can into your primary residence. She also confirmed something a dear friend, another CPA told me. When possible, use OPM - Other People's Money. Buy on deferred interest and be sure to pay it off a month in advance.
I've got the car covered! It's a 2004 Toyota Camry with 181K miles on it. I'm hoping to take it up to 250-300K. My mechanic tells me that the engine is "bulletproof." He says that I will get sick of the car long before it dies. He doesn't know me, hah! I will likely drive it into the ground.
I'm trying to get my mortgage figured out. Right now I've got about six more years. Paying it off is integral to me retiring. Sometimes I think I might refinance down to a low interest 5 year loan, and other times I think I might just ride it out (my current interest rate is 4.625%.)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 08:36PM by summer.
But she showed me how that would cost more than just scraping together every dime and putting it on the principle. Even if it is just $200/month it adds up.
Susan I/S Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > that it is crazy to take it early unless you have > a LOT of money socked away in safe investments. > She intends to work till she is at least 70. > Hubby is planning on full-time till he is 71, > giving us a year of double dipping with zero > penalties and full health insurance (a HUGE issue > for most). Then he will go part-time. He loves > his job and would be bored out of his mind sitting > around the house.
That is really good advice, from a CPA. Even if I were to leave my present job at 62 and relocate to the west, I could foreseeably continue to work until I'm 70 - thereby postponing taking Social Security until it maxes out. This of course depends on my health. If I don't foresee I might live that long, then it would make more sense to take SS early.
> > I have been subscribed to this place for a couple > of years. topretirements.com It's main focus is > on retirement communities but they also have a lot > of great articles of general interest to those of > us getting older. I would suggest you sign up for > their newsletter. It's a complex issue and the > more you study the better off you will be.
Thanks Susan. I am definitely signing up for that newsletter.
One thing I observed from my mom's (very long) retirement is that for women in particular, inflation can be killer. Her mistake was not putting more of her retirement money into stocks (and not being fully informed about investments in particular.) For women, retirement can last two decades or longer.
I hear you, Amyjo. I'm about 5-6 years out from full retirement, although I can pull my full pension at the end of the next school year. I'm mulling over my options. I'm so tired right now, and I'm trying to figure out if I'm burned out on public school teaching, teaching, and/or working. Most of the people on my floor are job hunting. It is getting unbearable.
Right now I am thinking of getting an additional certification (ESOL, English for speakers of other languages) that would give me options if things go really south. All I would have to do is pass a test. I'm great at test-taking. ESOL has its own challenges, but at least I would be out of the regular classroom and the constant testing pressure.
It's probably in my best interest to stay on with my current school system as long as I can stand it. But after next year, I may start to keep an eye out for other opportunities.
I'm with you, my friend. Any time you want to think out loud about retirement, I'll be right there with you.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 07:40PM by summer.
Aww! Right now, my family is holding me here in the Chesapeake Bay region, and I really do love it. It's possible that after my brother dies, my SIL may relocate to be closer to her California family. At that point, I may look at my west coast options. But I'll be fully retired at that point. The PNW sounds great!
Really? I am a teacher and love my job but hate where i live so i just want to retire asap so i can get out of here. But ive got twenty years experience and i teach social studies and think it would be really hard to find a job.
I could have left at 55, for an early retirement from my present position.
There has been a pattern of some hired help every so often that have tried pushing me out of my job so they can take over. They've typically been half my age.
That has had the effect of making me feel like a prehistoric dinosaur lol.
That hasn't happened in over a couple of years. Out of stubborness and tenacity I've hung on because of the "great unknown." :)
Although, Kathleen, I would love to leave. I'm tired too.
Having been a single mom makes me feel the weight of Gibralter on my shoulders.
It's my health right now that has me questioning the logic of hanging on to a job that I'm only there because of some benefits. When one benefit of leaving would be to enjoy a new phase of life that I'm over ready for. I've been pre-planning my retirement since 2012. Even that's getting old lol. :)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 09:26PM by Amyjo.
I retired early because I felt I had enough money, and I wanted to travel while I was young and healthy enough to enjoy it.
You do take a hit on SS of about 6% for each year you retire early (before age 66 (actually, SS keeps going up for each additional year of delay until age 70) ). If you live past age 84 (iirc), you would have drawn more SS if you had waited to retire, but if you die before age 84, you actually withdraw more SS by retiring early. So by retiring early, you are either betting you will not live past mid eighties, or you are deciding you are OK missing out on potential SS increases.
I actually delayed one year because the 2008-9 economic meltdown happened the year I planned to retire (2009) and beat my 401K severely about the head and shoulders. By the end of 2010, an extra year of income/savings and the market recovery undid most of the damage.
I have no regrets so far. Ask me again if and when I am 95. :)
If you health coverage and a pension. Do it. Lots of days I have been at work and said - I wish I was at home or someplace else, but I have never been at home and wished I was at work.
No regrets. No migraines, no depression, much less stress.
In Federal Civil Service, you can retire at 55. I don't think I could have made it to age 62. On my last day, I walked to my car after work, and just sat in the car and cried for about an hour. I couldn't believe that the day had finally come.
I have a pretty good pension, Medicare, good supplemental insurance through my retirement - couldn't ask for more.
I don't have to wake up to an alarm any more. Ever. If I feel like going to bed at two or three in the morning, it's great. Or an afternoon nap? Great.
I LOVE being retired. I always knew I would. Boredom? Hell NO! There are shelves and shelves of books out there that I still haven't read, and places yet to visit.
I receive a small fed'l pension from having worked at the federal government for part of my career. I'm not able to plan my retirement around it, but it's there like a stipend.
Health will be one of my reasons for taking early if/when I do.
I don't want to have to work right up to the end. I hope to make time where I can spend doing more of the things I love, and being able to spend more time with those I love instead of focusing on the nitty gritty.
Of course that chapter of my life has been important. It is also a wake-up call to realize that the best working years are now behind me. While the future is another transition away from one chapter of lifestyle to the next. From being a career civil servant to retiree.
I still have hopes and dreams for the future - including what retirement brings its way.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2018 08:20AM by Amyjo.
I'm just in my 30s so I got many many working years left but I'm looking into retiring in the Philippines you can live comfortably on 2 grand a month I hear
I retired a month before my 61st birthday. I had qualified for a full pension from my years of teaching when I was 56, and began considering retirement but I wasn’t ready to go then. But I knew I could if I wanted. Somehow, that knowledge kept me going for a few more years. From that point I thought about it every year, but never seriously until my last year of teaching. I knew then that I was really ready, and by the end of the school year it was easy for me to say goodbye to my career.
I have my teaching pension and am receiving one government pension that we in Canada can collect early - starting it early reduced it by about 28% but it was totally worth it. At 65 I will get another small government pension, which will be nice.
Thinking about it is good, and if you are anything like me, you’ll know when you’re really ready. Good luck!
Your retirement sounds like you can afford to take it and be alright.
I'm trying to rely on a combination of intuition, financial planning, and hopefully some good old fashioned luck.
My health is the 'wild card' at the moment. I don't want to wear out my health to squeeze a few more dollars from my future pension plan.
If I knew how to live cheaply off the grid I'd do it in a heartbeat.
But nothing is that easily said or done. I'm a creature of habit who likes my creature comforts. And being in close proximity to full service amenities.
My ancestors may have been pioneers. I don't think I have it in me to be one of those. No desire to either.
I retired at 62. I retired on a Friday and started traveling on a Monday with my wife. There is a lot out there to see and experience. I tell younger people the feeling you have before retirement is there never enough money or never the right time. The time is now.
One of my neighbors tells me now that he's retired he and his wife can just pick up and go whenever they like. He doesn't call their travel vacations anymore since every day has been vacation since they retired.
My former nanny retired from teaching at 54 three or so years ago. Besides 28 or so years of service credit accrued through teaching in CA public schools, she has maybe $600,000 in miscellaneous Tsas, Roth Iras, etc. She also has a spouse who has more assets than she has, and though he doesn't share terribly well, everything but his inheritance is hers as well. She hasn't regretted retirement for a second.
She had reached the point of dreading going to work more often than not.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2018 01:22AM by scmd.
I'm waiting until Medicare kicks in at 65. There is no way I could pay for health insurance before then. I'd have to wait a full extra year for what Social Security calls full retirement, but the reality is that full retirement is now 70 years old. I'd be too old to enjoy retirement by then. Retire as young as you can.
I have a close friend who retired at 55. He had no hobbies or interests other than he hated work. He was brilliant with finances and real estate investments. Now he drinks too much out of boredom. It's not good.
For me, Mondays are busy. Today I leave at 10 AM for a rehearsal where I play bass clarinet in an orchestra. At 4 PM I play tenor sax in a saxophone ensemble at a local university with faculty and students. This evening I play alto sax in a community band. The conductor is a Julliard grad who pushes us to perform at a high level for a community group. There are a number of professional musicians in all these groups who kindly improve my playing. It can be intimidating and it is fun. The rest of the week is busy too, but Mondays exceptionally so. This was my retirement plan in addition to wife and I traveling. You cannot retire without some expectation of what you will do with your time when retired in my humble experience.
That's a pity to be so brilliant in finances, and yet redundant in his routines of life.
No fun wasting away at all IMO.
He sounds like he has a drinking problem he hasn't dealt with yet, or very well.
My dad was an alcoholic before and following his retirement. One thing I did notice about his drinking was he was able to get it under control toward the latter part of his life. Never quite able to kick it though.
He made time to enjoy life. He liked to fish, golf, read, and keep interested in the world around him.
Miss him so much. He's been gone 18 years this year. He'd be 101 if he were still living. :)
Dad took his retirement at age 62. He thought his wife would outlive him by a country mile. Only she didn't. She died a few years later and a few years ahead of dad, from illness. They were very happily married and it was the best marriage for both of them. So I'm glad they were able to find each other following my parents divorce. Both a couple of Jack Mormons. They didn't have much patience for the nonsense of church. But were both good people despite their admitted imperfections. That made them more lovable, not less IMO. :)
You said that you have a job that gives you purpose and a sense of helping others. That is a key to continue working. When you dread going to work because of stress or you just hate your job, it's time to find a way to retire, working will kill you off early.
If you have lots of hobbies and a lot of activities to keep you busy, you will retire well. I have a friend that sits and watches tv all day, he is miserable.
Healthcare is probably the most important issue to consider. A bad illness could bankrupt you quickly. If you have good healthcare when retired you can really live quite cheaply. You spend less being retired than you do when you are working.
danr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You said that you have a job that gives you > purpose and a sense of helping others. That is a > key to continue working. When you dread going to > work because of stress or you just hate your job, > it's time to find a way to retire, working will > kill you off early.
It's a combination job. Part of it is fulfilling. The other part is a royal pain in the arse. I put up with it because have been there so long, and it's a civil service position. Which means I have a vested property interest in my job. I can't be fired without actual cause. That job has weathered a few recessions since my starting there, late 1980's. It provided stability throughout my children's upbringing - which I am eternally grateful for. Otherwise, like any job, it has its pros and cons.
> > If you have lots of hobbies and a lot of > activities to keep you busy, you will retire well. > I have a friend that sits and watches tv all day, > he is miserable.
I'd be bored too without interests to keep me occupied. Thanks for the reminder. It's easy for me to get absorbed with the daily news as a former Political Scientist. Otherwise I don't get too fired up about much except for politics and the weather. :)
> > Healthcare is probably the most important issue to > consider. A bad illness could bankrupt you > quickly. If you have good healthcare when retired > you can really live quite cheaply. You spend less > being retired than you do when you are working.
One consideration for me is where I hope to retire there are only about a dozen physicians who participate in the health insurance plan I'd be taking with me when I leave work. By waiting until I reach Medicare age, that number expands exponentially.
So many things to consider. Because of my now dealing with breast cancer, it is forcing me to alter my expectations as well of what I would like to achieve as a retiree. For me, each day is a gift. It's always been that way, but now even moreso.
I only skimmed a few posts. Forgive me if I'm redundant.
1) Be sure to apply for Medicare at 65, even if you qualify for a more advantageous private plan. You'll be penalized 10% for every year to delay. 2) Make sure you have a meaningful activity, employment or otherwise, lined up when you do retire. People who are busy live longer, and better. 3) When you make your decision, stop planning and start preparing. Do it! Don't second-guess yourself.
Medicare instructs newcomers to enroll three months before turning 65, whether you're retiring then or not. It protects you from the delay penalty apparently by waiting even until the 65th birthday.
You and Eric (and others who mentioned it,) have indicated the need to keep busy. I hope to be able to pursue interests in retirement haven't had time for now, and then some.
As for planning, already there. It's just been a slow, but steady, work in progress because of my timing delays.
I can give my 2 cent's worth based on my experience. I took early retirement last year, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. One of the reasons that I was able to do this is because I had a pension and was able to take it in a lump sum, plus 401K. My work place was stressful because of some things that had been going on, and it was time to jump ship into a good life boat. I've been busy, but everybody's story is different. I have hobbies that I enjoy, plus there's always housework, yard work, and some crazy unexpected projects that came up. We have grandkids, so I've been babysitting a lot. Some people want to go right back into the workforce, but I'm at the age where I like being my own boss instead of having to bow down to someone. If you think you'll have enough dinero to be comfortable, and you can keep a little busy, I say go for it.
I went back and forth on this, as to whether it needed to be in it's own thread:
What about moving in with one of the kids? Is that an option that's under consideration?
In 2nd and 3rd world societal view, the notion of assisted living or old-folk warehousing doesn't really exist. It's likely that I will spend my final years (given my health and heredity, in my 90s) with one of the two kids who have extended invitations.
How prevelant is that as an option in modern America?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2018 03:36PM by elderolddog.
A new job may pay more if you make a move. More money and time could make up for the loss in a pension that is likely not funded and you'll get screwed in the end anyway.
At my age there is age discrimination. It's kept under wraps but is still very real in the workplace.
There are some things I can do self-employment wise. If I really want to branch out, I can work in the tax field, legal field, or real estate. Or a combination of the above.
But for I'm tired out and may just really be desirous of that retirement. Being able to manage on a fixed income is what I'm bracing myself for. There just has to be more to life than work. It's about finding a balance for me.
divorce my "ex." I found out a few weeks ago what his pension is and "we'll" be fine. He was talking about wanting to retire early (has been talking like this for years) and then said how much different his pension would be if he waits 5 more years, but then he can't retire. HE NEEDS the insurance more than I do. His medications for his health issues are astronomical. So he's just stuck. I could also still divorce him and get half the pension NOW rather than what it was at when he left me.
I never thought I'd be able to retire as I have no pension. I was surprised to see what my SS will be if I wait until 66-1/2. It was double what I thought it would be. I'm just biding my time as my job has been slowly phased out and I'm one of the last holdouts. I am working for 2 companies who are hanging on for dear life. I was told I'd be out of a job by the year 2000 and I'm still going.
I will take SS when I no longer can get a job in medical transcription, at least one that PAYS decent. If there are any hiring nowadays, they pay less than a living wage.
BUT I work at home. I only have 3 schedule hours weekdays and I work every other weekend 8 hours a day AT HOME. My earliest starting time is 11 a.m. If I had to go to an office and work 9 to 5 again, I couldn't handle it as I've done this since my kids were 4 years old and they are 32 now. I still like my job after all these years.
AND then I might go up to Alaska and work summers with my daughter, which is my dream. I love Alaska. But we'll see. I plan on buying a new car next fall when they have 0% interest so that I can pay it off by the time I retire. I don't want a used car. I've had my last NEW car 8 years and no problems. It will go to my ex when I buy a new one. I don't want to deal with problems. I want a newer car when I retire.
So my retirement depends entirely upon my job situation. I have 1 year and 5 months to make it 62 and then I can breathe.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2018 03:52PM by cl2.
That's close to where I'm at now. I have until 2021 before reaching mine.
I do like my job. Most of the people I work with are decent folks. It hasn't always been an easy ride however.
With 2.5 years to go, you're close to the end post. The time at least does go by quickly if you can stick it out.
I keep telling myself that too. Unless/until something gives that causes me to leave before then. I am open to the possibility. Just want to be very certain before doing so, because once I've resigned there is no turning back.