Retirement may be closer than I thought......EVEN CLOSER NOW!!!

[ScottsGT]

I'm 58 1/2 yo, 30 years in with the state right now. I'm beyond fully eligible for retirement.  We recently made a move that puts me 26 miles further away from work.  This morning I crunched the numbers using the online calculator with my current numbers to include the gas I now burn to drive the 90 mile round trip commute. .  If I retired today I would see a loss of about $750 per month. My wife could make that up with less than 1 shift at her job and I could be her house keeper/cook/yard man/whipping boy full time instead of just on the weekends. 

Or even better, find a part time gig close to home and work 3-4 days a week.  I'm sure there's a bait and tackle shop somewhere that needs help.....

Beats the hell out of this agency trying to run it like some kind of corporate big brother having us constantly filling out ever changing online forms, management changes, dealing with employees bad attitudes, looked down upon by other areas of the department, etc....

Sorry, just venting.....and thinking out loud.

[Martinnfb]

Do it !

[Jeff]

Yes DO IT !! I jumped out at 58 after 38 years behind the wheel, haven't regretted it for a minute.... yeah, a little bit of a financial change, but what I lost in monthly income, I MORE than made it up with LESS stress, and now I do what I want when I want........ made all those heavy snowy crappy days of of risking it all , worth it in the end.... I gave the companies my best years, NOW it is MY time..... 

[k5ikl]

Yes, by all means do it.  I got shoved out the door just prior to my 60th birthday (21 years ago) and I never looked back.
With your wife still working and maybe a possible part time job a few days a week, I would be all over it.
Believe me, you will be so glad you did.  Good luck Scott.

Cheers,
Jerry  

[BlrwestSiR]

My vote is go for it and enjoy life! The time saved on commuting alone will be worth it. 

Eight years ago shortly after our second son Edward was born, Sue and I did some similar live/work calculations. Day care was going to cost us $36K a year for our two boys. I was making $50K so after tax, about $35K. I was burned out at work, had a boss who had it in for me so it wasn't hard to make the leap to stay at home dad.  There haven't been any regrets on my part. 

Carl

 

[Jeff]

1 minute ago, k5ikl said:

Yes, by all means do it.  I got shoved out the door just prior to my 60th birthday (21 years ago) and I never looked back.
With your wife still working and maybe a possible part time job a few days a week, I would be all over it.
Believe me, you will be so glad you did.  Good luck Scott.

Cheers,
Jerry  

EXACTLY !

[ScottsGT]

My only real hesitation is our previous house is still on the market.  We're carrying two mortgages, two insurance bills, two power bills, etc...

Seems the market price it is at is right in the middle of those that are trying to step up from a starter home, but not quite financially there yet.   We had a contract last month, but the buyer backed out over nit-picking the ridiculous home inspection.   There was stuff on it that should have never been on an inspection report.  "Plumbing pipes visible in garage"  Well no crap!  It's the main line down from the toilet about it, against the wall. Items listed as not working when they did work.  Inspector was a real moron.

Our last offer showed us their approval letter and they were right on the threshold of affordability.  We told them to put up the earnest money as collateral if they could not get funding and they backed out.  Just goes to show, tell them to show their cards and they folded.  Not letting another obvious to fail contract keep the house off the market for another 3 weeks. 

Got another offer last night. Waiting to see their pre-approval.   I think once the old home has sold, the wife will be a little more on board.

[Landlubber Mike]

I still have a decade or so to go, but I'm planning to take early retirement when I get there.  I think the big considerations are (1) do you have adequate health insurance coverage to cover you until you go onto Medicare, and (2) do you have enough cash in reserves that you don't have to draw down tax-advantaged retirement accounts, take a haircut on any pension, etc. during the bridge period before you take social security, etc.

To help those bridge years, I keep telling my wife that since she is three years younger than me, she needs to work three extra years.  As I'm sure you can expect, I haven't been very successful at convincing her...

Good luck with the home sale!

[Bomber_County]

I hear you Scott, now 61, had 44 years in the business and I fluctuate between furlough and balls to the wall work. We have also decided if the redundancy fairy comes to visit, that’s me done. I’m 4.5 years away from state pension but I think with savings and going down to one car, it’s possible…🤞……..if you can do it Scott, do it…….

[ScottsGT]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I still have a decade or so to go, but I'm planning to take early retirement when I get there.  I think the big considerations are (1) do you have adequate health insurance coverage to cover you until you go onto Medicare, and (2) do you have enough cash in reserves that you don't have to draw down tax-advantaged retirement accounts, take a haircut on any pension, etc. during the bridge period before you take social security, etc.

To help those bridge years, I keep telling my wife that since she is three years younger than me, she needs to work three extra years.  As I'm sure you can expect, I haven't been very successful at convincing her...

Good luck with the home sale!

I have the BCBS State coverage until I go on Medicare with the retirement package, as does the wife.  My youngest son turns 26 in August and he gets kicked off.  Youngest daughter comes off if she finally gets her big girl job after she graduated this past May, or when she gets married in December. At that point, her soon to be husband is a cop at a university and will put her under his coverage.  At this point, my insurance deduction drops even more for me and spouse coverage.

Wife is a CRNA and is making bank.  Cash flow is not an issue as long as we don't get stupid and start spending like a drunken sailor.  Although since we just moved to a lake home, we are looking at two major expenses beside the house.  A pontoon boat and a 12X18 storage building since we downsized the storage area we came from. 

My boat plan is to buy an older used one, restore it with new engine and furniture and flooring.  I save on boat cost by $20K and lower taxes on an older boat. that's a money saver over time.

[Wumm]

If there's one piece of advice I can give you Scott, it's to make sure that you discuss everything with your Wife and make sure that you're both on the same page mentally and emotionally. You sound like you've both done all the math, and you seem to have that side of things pretty much squared away, but that's really only half of the battle without considering the headspace issues that may arise.

In March this year, I left a job after 14 years with the same Employer. I was working a 10 to 12 hour day doing deliveries in all weather, with another 2 hours commuting back and forth daily... a thousand times on and off the clutch for a 25 mile crawl every night home. What started out as mostly envelopes and small parcels last decade eventually morphed into beds and gym sets with the advent of the internet and e-commerce. Covid only made things worse... During the last year I was spat on, coughed on, sneezed on and physically assaulted while doing my job. Traffic was continually getting worse, as people drove their own cars everywhere because they were afraid to sit next to a stranger on public transport. I became the designated Driver Trainer for new Employees, without any choice or any extra renumeration for the responsibility, and had 6 complete strangers placed inside the truck with me for a week at a time last year when we were all supposed to be socially distancing. The Company attitude was always "do it, or else we'll get someone who will", all the time holding the benefits I'd accrued against me. Eventually I came to realise that I was the typical 'Frog in a boiling pot'.

For the last year or two my Wife was constantly encouraging me to come to her workplace. Her job is 7 minutes from our home, they always seem to be hiring, the hourly pay rate is better and it's an 8 hour day come rain, hail or shine. For all that time I put it off; blinded by misplaced loyalty to a Company that didn't care about my health or wellbeing, and worried about the consequences of both of us losing our job at the same time and the household being without any income. The tipping point arrived when I asked to take the 10 year long service leave owed to me that was now 4 years overdue, so that I could use that time and money to make repairs to my Daughters' house... And was denied.

I was beyond ready to leave that place. But what I really needed to do was swallow my pride and accept that my Wife had been right all along. After discussing things with her thoroughly we came to agree that things would be better, and that all of the possible benefits far outweighed the risk of us both becoming unemployed at the same time. I also made a promise to her that I would never blame her if that was somehow to happen, because in the end it was my responsibility to make the decision. That last statement seems to be self-evident, but she needed to hear that from me, and I needed to accept it in my heart to move forward. 

It sounds as if your mind is made up. And fair play to you, things seem to be falling into place naturally - that's always a good indicator. So many Retirees don't get the luxury of having a choice in the matter. Just make sure the two of you are on the same page about the timing is all.

S

 

[GazzaS]

4 hours ago, Wumm said:

Wife was constantly encouraging me to come to her workplace. Her job is 7 minutes from our home, they always seem to be hiring, the hourly pay rate is better and it's an 8 hour day come rain, hail or shine.

 

That sounds like my workplace...   always hiring because the beginning job (assembling grocery orders) sucks.  But I've been there almost 19 years.  So, I have a better...   shitty job.

[BlrwestSiR]

My mom and a bunch of her colleagues all took early retirement at the same time a few years ago. The bank they (and me at the time) were working at decided to make some big changes to the pension plan as well as their retirement benefits. The biggie was a cap on prescription drugs. My mom is a cancer survivor and my dad has had 3 heart attacks so they've got a fair share of meds to keep them healthy. So my mom took a hit on the financial side but kept the old benefits plan. That was almost 20 years.  They would have maxed it out by now so it was the right call. 

Meanwhile my sister has been there since she was 16 so she can retire at 53 (I think or maybe 54?) with a full pension. 

Carl

[Wumm]

4 hours ago, GazzaS said:

That sounds like my workplace...   always hiring because the beginning job (assembling grocery orders) sucks.  But I've been there almost 19 years.  So, I have a better...   shitty job.

I think that's a fairly consistent description of Jobseekers these days. Practically all young people I've had experience with want to start on the middle rungs of the Career ladder, and expect to be paid above the odds for it. Do as little as possible, be on their 'phones half the time, and let someone else do the hard work for them. 4 of the 6 Trainees I had last year had left by the end of their first month, so in the end I was potentially putting my health at risk for nothing. 

You can still have a sh#tty job and love it though. Someone has to empty the garbage cans and sweep the floors. I used to absolutely love being a professional Driver; but the lack of any semblance of road policing and just simply dealing with Human beings on a daily basis wore me down. In the end loving the work and taking pride in my performance wasn't enough to offset the negatives. At this stage of my life, I'd rather have the extra 4 hours a day with my Wife; and as far as work goes, love what I do rather than do what I love.

S

[Spitfire]

I always knew that my family had serious heart problems, my grandad died at 64 and my dad died at 65 so I always planned to retire early to have some "me time".

I worked for Shell from the age of 16 until I retired and they were great employers, I always worked in oil refineries and in operations, first in the UK, then in Thailand and then in Australia.

The last two jobs were a bit intense and took up a lot of time and effort so I made up my mind that I would grab early retirement when the time came, so rather than signing up for another stint in Australia I came home to the UK.

The ruling was that if there was not a job at my grade open for me when I came home I could opt for voluntary severance, which I did, it was a nerve wracking time, I loved my job, loved working for the company, but knew that health wise carrying on with the stress was not an option.

So after a years "gardening" leave, I left and have never looked back since, that was in 2005 (age 53), despite looking after myself health wise, eating sensibly and exercising daily I still had a heart attack in 2015 but rapidly recovered from it.

I still cycle every day and the family keep me busy doing all sorts of jobs for them, we go on lots of holidays, I still ride my motorbike, build models and have really appreciated the 16 years I have enjoyed since leaving work.

Highly recommended

Cheers

Dennis

[Bomber_County]

You did well Dennis, in my industry there is no loyalty or options. Hire and fire, even though I have been with them for 27 years, when the big R happens it will be the minimum pay out they can get away with……pretty depressing really…

[BradG]

All I'll say is that no one ever lays on their death bed wishing they'd spent more time at work.

[ScottsGT]

Well it looks like the little green monster (envy) reared it's ugly head last night when we were discussing it, of all places, at a friends retirement party.  She knows I can pull the trigger and we can make ends meet, but the idea of me being at home while she still has at least 10 more years to go just grates at her.  I think an easier option would be for me to start looking for a part time gig closer to home and transition into that. 

She keeps trying to compare what I did during the COVID lock down I had from March 16th to May 30th as an example, even though I had to be online daily from 10-11 for meetings and small classes from home.  It was not the same as putting work behind me.  And no, I could not show up in a meeting online while all sweaty from rebuilding the deck or mowing the grass. 

In our past discussions, she wanted me to wait until I'm 60.  Makes no sense once I ran the numbers.  But that's OK.  I'll just keep telling her I don't have time to deal with caring for a boat that she wants to buy, or maintaining a hot tub she wants or I'll plan out projects at work I can't get away from while she wants to go on a vacation at the beach.....

[GazzaS]

Discussing retirement with my wife recently, I learned she could retire at 60!  The damn mortgage won't be paid off until I'm 65...  and she'll have already had 3 years on retirement.  Yes...  I am jealous!

 

But I don't really know if I'll retire.  Once the mortgage is paid I'll slip back to a three day week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I can't access my superannuation until I'm 67.  Those three days are the busiest days of the week.  Tuesday and Thursday can get a bit boring.  And there's nothing at the end of the day like knowing you don't have to be there the next day.

 

But...   I like having money.  After I hit 67, I might drop back to a 16 hour week...  that's the minimum they'll allow.  I'm not a big fitness fanatic.  So, I need something to keep me vertical for a part of the week.  Otherwise, I might spend too much time sitting.  And it's good to have a reason to want to go home.  And working with people, most of  whom you find either incompetent, lazy, or annoying...   is a great motivator to go home.

 

Broke, bored, and lonely doesn't sound like my idea of a good time.

 

 

[Wumm]

10 hours ago, BradG said:

All I'll say is that no one ever lays on their death bed wishing they'd spent more time at work.

Unless they're a Gigolo.

Now there's a job your Wife would want you to retire from.

S

[Jeff]

2 hours ago, Wumm said:

Unless they're a Gigolo.

Now there's a job your Wife would want you to retire from.

S

Steve...................... you kill me !!!!  Too funny !!!!

[ScottsGT]

Well, I thought I'd dig up this old thread just to say she gave me the green light on retirement Friday evening!  Called the state retirement center today and things are even better that the initial numbers I got using the online calculator. I'm rolling about 6 months of Annual and Sick leave over to time served, and that alone was a huge bump in retirement pay as well.

I think what finally got her on board was a combination of a lot of little projects around the new home, we have our boat now, got her the hot tub she wanted and now she wants me to start building some of the outdoor furniture after pricing them out online or at the stores. 

I'm still kind of in shock over the whole thing.  It's finally happening!!! 

Edit to add:  Looking at a May 1 start date on retirement.

[harv]

Congratulations !!! Now you'll be bizzier than ever.....harv😁

[Bomber_County]

Congratulations, very very envious. Just hit 62 and I am so wanting to pull that bang out ring………

[HubertB]

Mine’s underway for July 1st. However, as long as I have not sold my company and thus gotten the cash to close some of my current commitments, I won’t completely be retired ….

And thanks to the Covid-19- generated slump, the sale had to be postponed to 2024, to get some more positive perspectives and numbers …

Hubert