RETIREMENT!! or retirement?? When, Where, What

You definitely have it right! There is ALWAYS lots to do. I started pretty slow by eliminating some of the “guys”-pool guy, yard guy, etc.-and doing almost 100% of home chores myself. Add in exercise, travel, hobbies, volunteering, dog “child” care, errands, more cooking for yourself because you have time to shop and cook, a random nap here and there-you will absolutely never run out of things to do. Ever. Indeed, you will often think, “when did I ever have time to work?”

Edit-What was I thinking? I forgot to add-And, more time for Las Vegas! Definitely always something to do there.

 

One of the things we're most looking forward to is Terri being able to partake in far more of my -- our -- travel opportunities. She wants a job designation so I guess she'll be the photographer/videographer ... and wine quaffer.

 

Yeah, medical coverage is a big consideration for most, and I can see why a lot of people need to hang onto their job, for that reason alone.

I am very fortunate to have good medical insurance coverage from my company, and the union I was in, during retirement. It is designed to take me up to age 65, when medicare takes over.

So I feel very blessed to be in this position.

 

I’m in that situation now. Would love to retire but still too young with cost of health care. I’m trying to see when is a good time.

Thanks for posting this

 

There have been many retirement and pre retirement threads.

I just retired at the end of 2017 at age 60. I had 30 years of service and work was stressful so I just got out of the rat race. Been almost 8 months since I retired and I don't miss work one bit. The only things I miss are the friendships and the a/c in the office. All year round it was nice and cold all the time but now at home I have to put up with the heat and humidity at home. I get a big kick, I was working on the computer system for the DMV/driver license and I keep hearing about screw ups at the dmv, like how they lost data earlier this year, etc. etc. I am glad that I'm not part of that anymore.

Because I worked for the government my pension is about 63% of my work salary. Not the best but my mortgage is paid off and I was throwing a lot of my salary into deferred comp and IRA's so my take home pay is about the same as I was bring home while working. I am also happy, getting free medical, dental and vision. When I turn 65 I will get medicare but any costs that medicare doesn't cover my current medical insurance will cover 90% of the rest. My medical insurance will also take care of the medicare premiums so at least health costs won't bog me down. And when I start to take out social security at age 66 1/2 (or so) that will give me an extra 2 grand a month or more that I can use to travel and save. At age 70 I will start to take out my IRA's and deferred comps so that will give me even more $$ in retirement (I have over $200k in my retirement accounts so expect to have a lot more in 10 years).

But since retiring I got lazy. Although I go to the gym 3x a week and golf 2x a week I end up on the couch watching tv the rest of the day. Not good, I need to find a way to stay active and keep my mind active. I don't see and talk to many people so I need to find someplace to go to mingle with other people.

SteveO, congratulations (in advance) and moving on to the next stage of your life.

 

I am hoping to retire in less than 3 years. It was never my intention to work past 60. This past December I became eligible to draw my (state) pension. So, by retiring at age 59 1/2, Some of my PTO will roll into a HSA which will take me to age 60 at which time I can draw off my late husband's Social Security. I will leave my SS sit until I reach full retirement age. Fortunately I can continue to carry my current health insurance after retirement at what I consider a decent rate (approx $640 per month), which has good coverage and a max out of pocket expense of $1200. Fortunately I can also use tribal health services and get any office visits and medications at no charge. Not the best of coverage and I would still have to make the 60-70 mile drive to get there.

EVERY DAY I drive to work and think about retiring. I'm sure I could make it on my pension plan, because hell, I actually live on less than that a month (only because I contribute most of my paycheck to savings and putting extra in my 403B) I also have NO debt, no mortgage, no car payments, etc. I also live a pretty simple life. About 4 years ago we downsized and I now live in the home I will live in for the rest of my life. It's perfect for me, small, one level, (no basement) and an established yard with plenty of shade to sit out on the patio and read or have a beer or two.

So yeah, I am ready, I am thinking 59 1/2, but if I get sick of it, I'll just throw in the towel and call it quit!!!!

 

I'm so sorry to hear that. In a small office, with nowhere to hide, I can only imagine that added stress. Full disclosure, I was VERY fortunate... I was in charge of an office with 50 employees and 90% of them were female. So while they often were "catty" with each other, they were always very kind to me... at least to my face. We had very, very little turnover and the staff was hard-working and cared. I was honored to represent them, cause I knew they were outstanding at what they did.

 

Ack. You nailed it Ken. We want to retire young (who doesn't)....and can possibly make the dollars work if we sell a home from a pricey area, and move to a less expensive area, but I can't get around how to cover the medical in those inbetween years (easily).

That...and every "cheap" place we want to retire turns out to be one of the most expensive places in a given state! (Sandpoint Idaho, Blowing Rock, NC, etc.)

 

We found that out too. Also, most all of the areas and neighborhoods we really liked were often like our present neighborhood-they had restrictions on minimum home size. You pretty much had to build another stupid McMansion like we have now-out of the question for us. Building a reasonably sized two bedroom, 2 1/2 bath one-story house in many of these areas is prohibited, even if the house is very nice and would fit in. We’ve found a gated community within 15 miles of where we live now, one of those places where you get way less house for even more money, but you get all sorts of amenities, services and security. I’ll have virtually zero home care responsibility-hard to imagine life without a lawn tractor or pool vacuum.

No one really needs a huge house sitting on a football field size lot, especially in retirement. We had to confront our ridiculous excess and lifelong tendency to have kept going bigger and more expensive-not smart as you get older and certainly not reasonable or necessary. We never wanted to impress anyone but ourselves- we just wanted our own amenities-home gym, lap pool, big garages, dedicated home theater-eventually it gets stupid and you’re trying to make your house into Wynn Las Vegas (not quite, but better to give that up in favor of common or community facilities maintained by someone else).

We’re finding both stress and cleansing in giving up most of our “stuff.” It’s time......

 

These have all be informative and interesting replies and while I don't think I'm going to get out of here any earlier than 2020, I really appreciate everyone's involvement!!!!

 

When my SO stops spending, I may think about but it looks like Freedom 85 for me

 

For those who still have time to think this through, OPEB is your friend. Gap coverage is one thing we're very conscious of when contemplating next work move/moves for my wife.

Why not keep with the Evergreen State? No state income tax can really help stretch things. That's one concern we have with Oregon, between the relatively (for us) high property taxes and still getting an income tax hit ... not having a state sales tax doesn't help much in that regard. And Idaho has other options for you, even if not on the lake.

 

I don’t think I’ll ever 100% retire I have a small online business that I could potentially work till I’m in my 80’s. Right now I am 45 and hubby is 35. He’s already not working he’s 100% disabled veteran. My 2 boys are almost out of the house. My baby is a senior this year other is already in college and soon getting his own apartment.

So the 5 yr plan is to save save save pay everything we have off. Which isn’t much to pay. We plan on traveling a lot which we really already do!! Get a nicer rv/ camper and go off for s month or 2 a few times a year. Technically I can work a light load while on the road so will.

 

You are correct that Dan should already have a plan. When I was his age I was already retired. I started planning when I was 30. "Still young and healthy enough to enjoy it” is a very important concept and I think you’ve nailed the most important part of a good plan. I’ve known a few people who kept saying they’d do this and that “when I retire” and they died before they ever did. I realize that’s mean to think about, but tick, tock.....

 

There is an assumption that putting away X every paycheck is a retirement plan. That's a big part of it, but not close to the totality. Ancillary benefits and needs, alternative forms of saving, investment v saving, lifestyle changes, timing considerations, where/when, dreams v realities ... gawd, I'm anything but a financial whiz so I won't even try to enunciate a complete list.

 

I started planning and saving at age 23. It wasn't necessarily retirement planing, but it was forming a plan and saving for the future. There are some people who can't imagine their lives without work. Maybe Dan is one of them??
I got out at 55 and couldn't be happier.

 

LOL, I was never one of those people. I wanted out as soon as I could afford to do it.