Retirement

[ctfjr]

Weird day at work today. Been with the same company 33 years. Well over half my life. Started as a secretary answering phones, filing, etc. Took a pay cut from climbing trees for a tree service to start a more “career” job. Worked up to the job I really wanted after a couple years and made it well past tree service pay. Ended as a manager. One of my goals was to be making 10 times my original salary by the time I left. Not to get political but I’ll have to admit a little boost from inflation helped some to reach that goal.

Today, officially announced I’m leaving at the end of the year. I’ve pretty much known for a while but still a little odd to pull the trigger and make it official.
. . .

Good on you! I'm not far behind

 

[GrizBota]

Congratulations! Good on you for giving a decent notice. Took me 10 years to double my salary the first time. Hadn’t thought of it like you explained, but yes I did manage to make an order of magnitude increase over the years. Like you mentioned, inflation accounted for a fair bit of that.

I did 31 years and gave 6 months notice. Somehow they managed to keep on keeping on without me.

I’m doing the semi-retired thing in the same industry, so I talk with my old coworkers weekly. Some of them are even counted as friends. Working less and making more, I do enjoy that aspect to be sure. I generally have 4 day weekends. It’s different, that’s for certain. I do like it better than the old grind where it was like living on a race track.

Land, a house, a tractor or three and some bang sticks, what more could a fellow want.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Congratulations!!!



Like I tell my coworkers, "On November 18th 2030 at 1411, make sure you are not blocking the door; cause I am gonna be like Dick Butkus running motherf@@kers over going out that door."

 

[Bmyers]

Congratulations. I look forwarded to joining the retired club myself. I'm setting myself up to be able to go in 4 years, but will most likely go in 7 years. The CEO, CFO, and I all have grown up together, went to school and churches together, watched our kids grow up. So, we have all been talking and looking at leaving around the same time, which would be 2030.

Looking forward to the free time, but will miss all the friends from work.

 

[Motion]

I don't want to retire, maybe back off a little. I've got 55 years with the same company. I get older but what I do doesn't. Be like a muffler, either rust out or burn out.

 

[ve9aa]

Congratulations!!!



Like I tell my coworkers, "On November 18th 2030 at 1411, make sure you are not blocking the door; cause I am gonna be like Dick Butkus running motherf@@kers over going out that door."

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Reminded me of the "Terry Tate....office linebacker" commercials.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Congrats NCL!

Only 30 or so more years for me

I'm not quite that far, but far enough that installing that app would be depressing. Very depressing. Trying to retire at 58 but the cost of health insurance at that point is 4.5 times what it would be if I waited till 65.
What I need is a 'days till I retire" app that tales my investments into account.

 

[Magicman]

Congratulations !! Retirement is a good thing but with very different meanings to each of us. There is no "one size fits all".

I involuntarily retired (downsized in 1994, at age 51), so next year it will be 30 years ago. I had an opportunity to "contract" back which seemed like an insult so I went in another direction. We traveled/camped to 49 states and to all of the Canadian Provinces, but traveling can be an expensive pastime without additional income.

With no prior experience, I bought a used portable sawmill in 2002, and have been sawmilling lumber since. For me it was a very good personal and financial decision. @ 21 years of sawing and 80 years old, this year I am finally slowing down a bit and thinking about semi-retirement.

 

[johnjk]

Congratulations for making it out the other side!

 

[D2Cat]

Statistically if you have enough toys when you retire you'll live longer. The Army did a study years ago that told them the officers who retired without anything to do, no hobbies or enjoyable activities, live like 26 months.

So I guess this means working longer so you can buy more?

 

[NCL4701]

I'm not quite that far, but far enough that installing that app would be depressing. Very depressing. Trying to retire at 58 but the cost of health insurance at that point is 4.5 times what it would be if I waited till 65.
What I need is a 'days till I retire" app that tales my investments into account.

I thought I was going to be working for health insurance the last few years of my career until a couple years ago when I was talking to one of the guys in HR and mentioned that would be my issue retiring earn my 50’s. He responded, “You dumba$$, that’s not how it works.” Asked him how it works. He said you’ve been here over 30 years so we still pay your health insurance and you still stay on the group health plan just like you would if you keep working. I said, “Son of a bit(h, I can get out of this place in a couple of years!” And now I am. Benefits here are actually pretty awesome if you can stick it out.

I know several people who don’t really need the paycheck but keep working for health insurance.

 

[NCL4701]

Statistically if you have enough toys when you retire you'll live longer. The Army did a study years ago that told them the officers who retired without anything to do, no hobbies or enjoyable activities, live like 26 months.

So I guess this means working longer so you can buy more?

If more toys = longer life, I might make it to 100.

 

[fried1765]

Weird day at work today. Been with the same company 33 years. Well over half my life. Started as a secretary answering phones, filing, etc. Took a pay cut from climbing trees for a tree service to start a more “career” job. Worked up to the job I really wanted after a couple years and made it well past tree service pay. Ended as a manager. One of my goals was to be making 10 times my original salary by the time I left. Not to get political but I’ll have to admit a little boost from inflation helped some to reach that goal.

Today, officially announced I’m leaving at the end of the year. I’ve pretty much known for a while but still a little odd to pull the trigger and make it official.

Next year I’ll just be a tree farmer. Lots of stuff needs to be done on the “farm”, (almost embarrassed to call tree farming “farming”) both physically and from a business standpoint, that I currently simply don’t have time to do with a 50 to 60 hour normal work week at my W-2 gig.

I suspect the L needs to brace itself for a LOT more work starting in January. We have about 30 acres that is quite accessible via Mule/tractor and another 40 that requires a machete or bush axe to traverse. That needs correction. The pond would be much more user friendly with a small dock. We have a land swap with a developer in process. If that closes, I have about 4 acres of fields that were hilled up by a tobacco farmer but never planted due to sale of the land two years ago which will need to be flattened and planted either with grass or pines. If that doesn’t go through I’ll have to fence in the portion of the kudzu pit we own so I can put goats on it. Need to get the copious deadfall out of the 35 acres of pines so we can harvest the pine straw. Need to look into carbon credit tree saving programs as a potential alternative to harvesting the timber. Probably some stuff I’m forgetting. Anyway, lots of stuff to be done that there’s just no time to do currently.

If we can get some of that in order, we might find some time dust off the Airstream and travel a bit more.

Not a bad thing, but it does seem weird to be making plans here that I’ll never see come to fruition and consider come January I won’t be getting up at 5am to go to an office somewhere. I guess there are quite a few here who have made that transition and somehow survived. I probably will as well.

Been surviving that "transition" for 23 years,. and still going strong,....though now at nearly 83, not quite as strong.
Congratulations on your decision!
You will very likely THRIVE after that "transition"!

 

[The Evil Twin]

I thought I was going to be working for health insurance the last few years of my career until a couple years ago when I was talking to one of the guys in HR and mentioned that would be my issue retiring earn my 50’s. He responded, “You dumba$$, that’s not how it works.” Asked him how it works. He said you’ve been here over 30 years so we still pay your health insurance and you still stay on the group health plan just like you would if you keep working. I said, “Son of a bit(h, I can get out of this place in a couple of years!” And now I am. Benefits here are actually pretty awesome if you can stick it out.

I know several people who don’t really need the paycheck but keep working for health insurance.

It is a conundrum for some. Looking at projections for my retirement accounts, we could swing it for a few years until it goes down. I just have a hard time swallowing $1300/ mo for it. It is prorated from 58- 65 years old. At 65 its under $400. I may split the difference and dip out at 62 where it drops to about $600. As someone in an earlier post said- it may depend on how many bad days in a row there are

 

[fried1765]

It is a conundrum for some. Looking at projections for my retirement accounts, we could swing it for a few years until it goes down. I just have a hard time swallowing $1300/ mo for it. It is prorated from 58- 65 years old. At 65 its under $400. I may split the difference and dip out at 62 where it drops to about $600. As someone in an earlier post said- it may depend on how many bad days in a row there are

Take it at 62!
That will give you 3 more years of you life to be yourself.
Ask me how I know this!
I did it,.....though actually, age 60 was a gov't mandated retirement age for me anyway.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Take it at 62!
That will give you 3 more years of you life to be yourself.
Ask me how I know this!
I did it,.....though actually, age 60 was a gov't mandated retirement age for me anyway.

It's looking like the best choice. By that time I should stand to make more in retirement than I would be (projected) making. It's all a numbers game. Time in the market beats timing of the market!

 

[chim]

My situation isn't unique, but is different from most. We had a vision of what retirement would look like - set aside cash for a new Tahoe, had our ducks in a row. We're blessed with good health. The plan involved a lot of tinkering, restaurants, some travel. Just sort of kicking back.

I worked for the last company from 1973 and planned to retire some time in 2021 when I hit 72. Gave plenty of notice and had people to take over the various duties. Finally retired in September of 2021. One of the guys in the CAD Department told me "I'll give you 6 months". To which I asked "You mean till I want to come back?" He said "No, till you're dead. Guys who retire die." I thanked him for the encouragement

Well, plans changed. In September of 2020 we took in a 10-month old girl who needed a place to land "for a few months". Long story short, things worked out better for her here than where she came from. In April of 2022 she officially became our daughter. So far I can still outrun her!

 

[GrizBota]

It is a conundrum for some. Looking at projections for my retirement accounts, we could swing it for a few years until it goes down. I just have a hard time swallowing $1300/ mo for it. It is prorated from 58- 65 years old. At 65 its under $400. I may split the difference and dip out at 62 where it drops to about $600. As someone in an earlier post said- it may depend on how many bad days in a row there are

$1300 a month to be “free” seems pretty cheap. Less than $16k a year to not have to work? I’d take that deal.

 

[The Evil Twin]

$1300 a month to be “free” seems pretty cheap. Less than $16k a year to not have to work? I’d take that deal.

Another freedom that ain't free. Lol.
It's what I could do with the $16k a year besides insurance that would be stopping me. Add a screened in patio or deck, replace the driveway, buy a new tractor.... all things that I would rather pay for over insurance. That's why I would lean more toward the $8400/ year option. We would have to do that for 3 years till I would hit 65.

 

[old and tired]

I retired this last May 1st. I had planned to work another year but my ankles and body said otherwise. Then I looked into what money I would bring in as retired vs. working, (NC State Pension) and I would be making about $3/hour... Gave them 3 months notice, wanted to hit 32 years.

Good thing I did, my wife's back went out and I've been taking care of her... working more now around the house... would consider going back to work so I can have a break and relax more!!!!

Congratulations on retirement...

(PS, I ran a weekend tree company in college... first job offer was tree climbing in LA, declined that one for one in the Forest Service)