90 days until retirement

[Huskerguy]

I'm 66 but we are holding off until I am 70 to maximize Social Security (wife will be a young chicken at 62). That way I'll have 20+ years as a Fed (pension increases). Also, my 401k will be compounding interest (I'm maxed plus $200 a month "catch up"). Cars paid off, house will be. Liquidating my gun "accumulation" to pay off credit card debts. Drawing Medicare now and will keep my Blue Cross into retirement.

When I retire, wife wants me to pursue my PhD in Biology (as many of you know, I have an MS in Animal Behavior and my BS is in Marine Biology). Whether I do or not, I will likely teach and/or do volunteer or part-time work with a non-profit. Also, I plan on becoming more active as a Brother in my Lodge.

All together, we are HOPING to be getting about $90-$100K in retirement. Only 3.5 years to go!

I have been doing the calculations for SS. I am currently 66 1/2. Each year gains me 8% so some look at that as an 8% increase on their money. I think the numbers are if you take SS at age 62 as compared to 66 the break even is around age 82. So if a person is in poor health then it makes sense to take it sooner. If you are going to live a long time (no one knows for sure but there are factors) then wait. I too considered getting my PHd in education or leadership as I love to go to school but now I am not so excited about spending 30K on it, it takes several years to obtain and it will never pay for itself in the short time I have left to work. If I was going to do it should have been 20 years ago.

We have had our retirement plans mapped out for several years and I have taken it to at least three financial planners and and not a one of them could improve on what we had. I was pleased with that. I wish I could have save a bit more when I was younger - but on a teachers salary it was not easy. Later I got into administration and that helped a bunch. What will kill you is taxes. Depending on where they set the breaks at you will at least be in the 25% category and you won't likely have many deductions. So that $100,000 is really $75,000. The taxes in retirement are a killer. Also look at taking some 401(k) or 403(b) money and turning it into Roths. You pay taxes on it but everything you earn on it is tax free. Bottom line is they get you coming and going in retirement.

Best of luck

 

[chud333]

Congrats early on your milestone.
I retired last May at age 55.
Best darn thing i've ever done.
Take some time to just relax. Then get to deciding what
you want to get serious about. Shooting, fishing, or both !!

Chuck

 

[S&W SS Revolvers]

Thanks, yeah I know. I won't be eligible for SS for a couple of years, but that was one area that I wasn't sure of. My wife worked for the State, so she isn't eligible to draw, but can draw half of mine when I apply. The catch was that she took her pension many years ago when she left, and we needed to make sure that it didn't include any State contributions. It took us a while, but we got a letter from the State to give to SS when I do file.

There's a lot to think about, which is what makes me nervous. I keep asking myself, what am I missing.

Be sure to check it all out. I personally don't trust government and they are all hurting for money...

 

[S&W SS Revolvers]

Congratulations! My retirement will be the ride down the conveyor belt into the cremation oven, by which time, my wife will have already spent my considerable life savings and will be trying to hunt down with rabid glee and fangs bared the "hidden accounts" that are reserved for the children.

LOL!!!

We set up a Trust earlier this year. The Lawyer presented it as "Ruling from the grave" and we were SOLD! Their will be some to heirs but they ain't getting it all! NRA , Churches and animals will do OK...jus' sayin'

We worked for it and it won't kill the heirs doing that too...

We'll help but Freedom Ain't Free!

 

[Rustyt1953]

Congrats!

If there's a downside to retirement, I haven't found it.

 

[Narrowback]

Congrats early on your milestone.
I retired last May at age 55.
Best darn thing i've ever done.
Take some time to just relax. Then get to deciding what
you want to get serious about. Shooting, fishing, or both !!

Chuck

Thanks Chuck. I plan to do just that. I've got to just relax. I originally thought it was a bad idea to retire this time of year, but I think it will give me a chance to plan things out through the winter and just take it easy.

 

[Narrowback]

17 days left. Wow, hard to believe. Did any of you who are retired have tons of thoughts and emotions flying through your head?

I'll tell ya, I won't recommend giving a 90 days notice to anyone. Give a two week notice, then tell them your taking your two week vacation.

My committee has been driving me nuts.

 

[johngalt]

It was a mistake for me to retire. I feel bored and useless. I've been going to school for a masters degree to learn something new. Now I need to go job hunting since there is no good quality health insurance available anymore, which will impact my ability to finish school.

 

[Onomea]

Sure, I had tons of thoughts and emotions flying through my head. It is hard, even intimidating, to walk away into the sunset.

But, among the best decisions -- deciding to finally let go -- I ever made.

While I miss the physical vitality of my youth, other than that, I'd say this — retired life — is, in my experience, the happiest stage of life yet.

I guess what I like best is being my own man.

 

[Narrowback]

That's encouraging. Thanks for sharing those thoughts. I've spent 15 years building a training program into what it is today. Now, for the last week or so I've been training a fine young man to take over. He'll do great with it. Shows respect and concern so I know he'll do fine, but it's just a strange feeling.

The committee I work for hasn't helped in the transition though. They've tried pulling some shenanigans and have now made it a part-time position, which is insane. I finally expressed to the chairman that the expectation level was too high.

I just hope they give the kid a fair chance and don't throw away all my hard work. But it isn't my problem or concern any more I guess. I've got a fly fishing trip to plan!

 

[zzzippper]

I punched out on 31 August after 39 years, 11+ months. Best decision I ever made. Good luck. Retirement is the best job there is.

 

[rburg]

Congrats!

If there's a downside to retirement, I haven't found it.

Well, there are things to be on the lookout for. Others feel you should keep busy, so they find projects for you. Things too nasty to do themselves, usually. The response to any begged for help is simple. "I'm just not comfortable doing that yet." Then stick to it.

Wives are a real problem. They subscribe to the idea you need to keep busy. Don't be fooled by it. They lead in with an innocent sounding question like "what are you/we going to do today." The best answer is "nothing". Then when they say "you did that yesterday", you tell them you weren't finished yet. One of the greatest luxuries there is will be taking an afternoon nap. Or two. Try it sometime.

 

[Lt JL]

The real reason I retired is that I wasn't physically able to do the job any more, and driving a desk was already driving me crazy for half of every shift: couldn't imagine being a fulltime housecat.
It took mew a while, a short return to work, but now I think of my life as six Saturdays and a Sunday.

 

[Wee Hooker]

Congrats to you!
My dad died with 29 1/2 years in the job and never got to retire. I swore that would never happen to me. So with 30 1/2 years in, I set my date for this past July 28th. Got within 90 days and they asked me to stay and take a unexpectantly vacated higher level job until they could fill it. Guess after working in the same place all those years, my loyalty overrode my "need" to go. Now all I have to do is make the spring ( as I just can't see retiring into a New England winter.) Do plan to work part time until then though. Going to need to work my way into a new lifestyle.

 

[federali]

One of Life's milestones.

My advice to anyone retiring is to plan a nice vacation with your significant other. Retire on Friday, be on the plane by Saturday morning.

When I retired, I continued to worry whether my replacement remembered to do this or that. I soon found out that I was indeed expendable.

 

[jack the toad]

I soon found out that I was indeed expendable.

We all are.
I'll be 62 in Jan. I officially hung it up last month and so far, not one regret.
But I do wonder how folks that work full time get anything done. There's just not enough time.

 

[H Richard]

Just a couple of recommendations that served me well when I retired in 2004. 1st, be debt free. 2nd. If you have some great trip's you always wanted to take, do it ASAP, as so many plan to go to Europe for years, then when they retire their health goes. 3rd. stay active and exercise, don't sit around. Walk at least a mile or two every day and get in some upper body exercise. 4th. Make sure you have your health Insurance in place as a supplement to Medicare and your Prescription drug insurance.

 

[Narrowback]

My advice to anyone retiring is to plan a nice vacation with your significant other. Retire on Friday, be on the plane by Saturday morning.

When I retired, I continued to worry whether my replacement remembered to do this or that. I soon found out that I was indeed expendable.

Good point, we do have to realize at some point we are in the pasture.

I found that out the last few days. I intentionally didn't go into the office and let my replacement handle things. He did great, put 3 people to work and did some reports for the State. He's doing great, so that eases my mind.

We are planning to drive to California in the future, but for now I'll just be helping my wife take care of her father. He's a 91 yr old WWII vet. We lost Karen's mother last year, along with mine a few months earlier. Soooo, my family needs me to be close, and I want that too.

 

[wilkoi]

Live long, love long, last long.

 

[mtgianni]

Congratulations. I have around 90 working days til I retire which at 4 10's puts me into April 2017.