Retirement: When would you like to retire? Do you have a plan to get there?
- Thread starter Southern Elk
- Start date
BRI
Well-known member
Was planning to retire at 57 in 2026 but I was able to roll over money from a 457b account to purchase service credit to allow me to retire this year at 54. I figured I didn't need the money from my 457b to live on and my advisor said do it.
Plan is to have knee replacement surgery in late November, sick leave til retirement date. Then straight rehab for as long as it takes. If I feel like I need something to do, I'll pick up part time work as needed.
Plan is to have knee replacement surgery in late November, sick leave til retirement date. Then straight rehab for as long as it takes. If I feel like I need something to do, I'll pick up part time work as needed.
I’d like to be done with what I’m doing by 55. According to our financial advisor we are well on track for that. I’ll never fully be retired though I don’t think. I’ll just be doing something I enjoy. I’ll be in my late 40s when the youngest graduates and that ship has sailed to have anymore kids so I’ll be really ratholing money the last 10 years.
Marshian
Well-known member
At age 50 which is seven years for me, I’ll be going half time- 26 weeks off. I think I could do that for at least a decade or more without burnout and finally pull the plug for good at 63ish.
SFC B
Well-known member
From the time I was a kid I wanted 2 things.....security and then a definite end point after seeing most of the adults in my life work too hard and my mom die early. I knew pretty early on that it meant government work. When I graduated from law school, decided not to practice and took a federal job a lot of folks scoffed (including my old lady). Then, after a few years in the reserves, I took a shot and went on active duty. After several years I had a break in service and did a few more civilian years. Then I was mobilized for enough years to push me past 20 in the military and was medically retired due to some injuries. I went back to fed civ work, bought back my Army active duty 15 years (since I was retired with less than 20 ACTIVE years I was able to do that and keep both) and was able to fully retire at 50 and a month. I was awarded good VA compensation as well which helps a lot along with Tricare health care. So, as of now I have my military pension and VA. When I turn 60 I will be able to pull my fed civ pension (which really isn't what it should be given income level and service for that job) and then at 62 I will start SS. All of my income strings are inflation adjusted and the pension and VA are tax free. The first year I did pretty much nothing but hunt when I could. For the last 2.5 years i have been selling guns at Scheels to get me out of the house, make some scratch and get good discounts while being able to take off pretty much at will. Once the actual retirement started the wife and other doubters finally went "aaahhaaa!!". If I was still working I would be making very good money but have little time. As has been mentioned, you never know how much time you have and it is the ONE thing you can't make any more of.
SAJ-99
Well-known member
The country faces a labor shortage, growing debt from social programs, underfunded pensions, and underfunded retirement accounts (on average) and we see a thread on how soon we can retire. Not criticizing, just saying…Only in America!
14 yrs ago I walked @54. Flying solo.
Plans come and go and changes to all plans have happened.
I worked hard and paid off all debts and took SS early too.
So far so good. Not what I had planned, but better off than most.
Health changes everything and there are no sure things.
Plans come and go and changes to all plans have happened.
I worked hard and paid off all debts and took SS early too.
So far so good. Not what I had planned, but better off than most.
Health changes everything and there are no sure things.
MLC
Active member
I retired when I became eligible at age 55. Fished for a year and then worked another 7 years in the same profession but in a less demanding job. We saved enough money to buy a second home in Montana which we enjoy. But it’s not the same place we started vacationing at 30 years ago. My advice if you are are considering retiring today would be to not overlook the significance of taxes and inflation. Property taxes go up very year and I can’t think of many things, if any, that have not increased 50% - 100% over the past few years. I heard some people talking at a ball game last week of a family with three or four kids who went through the drive through at McDonalds. Their bill was $80+.
I stay very active fly fishing, hunting a little, skiing, wood working and building fly rods. If I wasn’t busy with that stuff, I would work. I know people who have retired and do absolutely nothing but sit home and watch TV all day. To me that’s not healthy and they’d be better off working.
I stay very active fly fishing, hunting a little, skiing, wood working and building fly rods. If I wasn’t busy with that stuff, I would work. I know people who have retired and do absolutely nothing but sit home and watch TV all day. To me that’s not healthy and they’d be better off working.
BuzzH
Well-known member
My retirement is really dependent on a lot of things.
Been lobbying D.C. for about 6 years to allow Federal Workers to buy back their post 1989 seasonal years. If that were to happen tomorrow, I could walk at 56 years 8 months with over 30 years. I would be pretty tempted to do that since I would get the SS offset for 5 years as well as full pension, insurance for both the wife and I, etc.
If that doesn't happen, I'll make a decision at age 60 which is 5 more years. There is some benefit to working until 62 for a decent bump in pension.
A lot can happen in 5-7 years and I really do like my job. I like the flexibility, like the work, like the people I work with, like the amount of vacation, etc.
But, I also don't want to hang around taking a job from someone else either. It's good to pass the torch.
Been lobbying D.C. for about 6 years to allow Federal Workers to buy back their post 1989 seasonal years. If that were to happen tomorrow, I could walk at 56 years 8 months with over 30 years. I would be pretty tempted to do that since I would get the SS offset for 5 years as well as full pension, insurance for both the wife and I, etc.
If that doesn't happen, I'll make a decision at age 60 which is 5 more years. There is some benefit to working until 62 for a decent bump in pension.
A lot can happen in 5-7 years and I really do like my job. I like the flexibility, like the work, like the people I work with, like the amount of vacation, etc.
But, I also don't want to hang around taking a job from someone else either. It's good to pass the torch.
Kiwi
Well-known member
I'm 53 and no plans to retire. For the last 13 years I have 'slowed down' and worked 3 - 4 days a week in a normal office job, with 6-8 weeks holiday per year. So will keep working as long as I can but continue to make time to hunt or fish weekly and also do big regular longer trips.
Yeah, I retired at 60 in March of 2021.
Bored as heck. I volunteer for five entities now.
My hobbies are archery and gun hunting, reloading, making arrows, guitar, fly fishing, hiking and camping. It is just not that much fun by yourself all the time.
Wife is still working as she is quite a bit younger.
David58
Well-known member
At ten years, March 1, 2025, I get access to Los Alamos Lab group rate for health care. But my wife is younger than me, so the calculation gets complicated, Hoping for sooner, but likely another two years out,
David
NM
David
NM
LopeHunter
Well-known member
Will retire a couple of months before turn 63 which is early next year.
As for timing of retirement, I could have retired comfortably a few years ago with zero change in our monthly budget though I calculated back then that it would cost us $200K to bridge to Medicare. I have now worked a bit longer so the outlay for healthcare should be $70K or less which is certainly a lot of cheese though we will not qualify for a $1 of health insurance subsidy.
As for my health, I had planned to get in better shape next year after retire and would be easier to consistently eat better meals during the day. My doctor yelled at me even louder this May than my prior three annual check-ups so I listened and have dropped 24 pounds in the past 62 days so am no longer be medically obese as of last week. 16 pounds left to reach my goal weight and should hit that before Thanksgiving. I last weighed my goal weight in 1997. Easy Peezy. Working out 4x a week and monitoring my food intake with MyFitnessPal is my new normal. Losing the weight has changed so much including I feel was though am walking on the moon as go up stairs and stand up from sitting.
As for fun stuff once retire, I will get on a plane post-retirement to fulfill a dream which hatched when I was a grade-schooler thumbing through an Outdoor Life magazine. I will be hunting Cape buffalo as the sun rises on my 63rd birthday. First trip to that continent. Likely my only trip. This will not be the safari I imagined as a wee lad where a cast of dozens keeps camp for me as we follow the great migration across the vast land. My African vacation will be more of a shoot than a hunt though I am okay with that reality as I am not there to replicate the challenge of a multi-day high country mule deer hunt. My archery hunt will be on a chunk of land bigger than 8 miles x 8 miles which, for comparison, is about 1/2 bigger than the land mass of Antelope Island in SLC. That said, there will be fish in a barrel as I arrive.
As for hunting, I am applying for Western big game hunts again. I drew a migration bull elk hunt for November/December and a quasi-rut Coues hunt for late December. I am on private for the elk hunt though the Coues hunt is the real deal on public with me solo.
As for where in the World is LopeHunter, my spouse and I are preparing to make an offer on a home in CO just SW of Denver. Am in no hurry if miss out on a particular home. We had targeted Reno with a trip to look at homes last year but we really like Denver metro, too, and has edged out NV. Will sell our other two homes after get things moved to CO. Will skip part of the CO winter while am healthy enough to do so by venturing to warmer climes.
As for thankfulness, life has treated me more than fairly. I played the hand I was dealt though am the first to acknowledge was a really good hand due to my family support, emotionally and financially, as I was reaching young adulthood. Was a really big safety net and I bounced on it once or twice during my 20's.
I am well into the autumn of my life. It is time to switch gears as I like my spouse and we have some things to see and do still that is difficult when active with careers.
As for timing of retirement, I could have retired comfortably a few years ago with zero change in our monthly budget though I calculated back then that it would cost us $200K to bridge to Medicare. I have now worked a bit longer so the outlay for healthcare should be $70K or less which is certainly a lot of cheese though we will not qualify for a $1 of health insurance subsidy.
As for my health, I had planned to get in better shape next year after retire and would be easier to consistently eat better meals during the day. My doctor yelled at me even louder this May than my prior three annual check-ups so I listened and have dropped 24 pounds in the past 62 days so am no longer be medically obese as of last week. 16 pounds left to reach my goal weight and should hit that before Thanksgiving. I last weighed my goal weight in 1997. Easy Peezy. Working out 4x a week and monitoring my food intake with MyFitnessPal is my new normal. Losing the weight has changed so much including I feel was though am walking on the moon as go up stairs and stand up from sitting.
As for fun stuff once retire, I will get on a plane post-retirement to fulfill a dream which hatched when I was a grade-schooler thumbing through an Outdoor Life magazine. I will be hunting Cape buffalo as the sun rises on my 63rd birthday. First trip to that continent. Likely my only trip. This will not be the safari I imagined as a wee lad where a cast of dozens keeps camp for me as we follow the great migration across the vast land. My African vacation will be more of a shoot than a hunt though I am okay with that reality as I am not there to replicate the challenge of a multi-day high country mule deer hunt. My archery hunt will be on a chunk of land bigger than 8 miles x 8 miles which, for comparison, is about 1/2 bigger than the land mass of Antelope Island in SLC. That said, there will be fish in a barrel as I arrive.
As for hunting, I am applying for Western big game hunts again. I drew a migration bull elk hunt for November/December and a quasi-rut Coues hunt for late December. I am on private for the elk hunt though the Coues hunt is the real deal on public with me solo.
As for where in the World is LopeHunter, my spouse and I are preparing to make an offer on a home in CO just SW of Denver. Am in no hurry if miss out on a particular home. We had targeted Reno with a trip to look at homes last year but we really like Denver metro, too, and has edged out NV. Will sell our other two homes after get things moved to CO. Will skip part of the CO winter while am healthy enough to do so by venturing to warmer climes.
As for thankfulness, life has treated me more than fairly. I played the hand I was dealt though am the first to acknowledge was a really good hand due to my family support, emotionally and financially, as I was reaching young adulthood. Was a really big safety net and I bounced on it once or twice during my 20's.
I am well into the autumn of my life. It is time to switch gears as I like my spouse and we have some things to see and do still that is difficult when active with careers.
WyoDoug
Well-known member
I retired in October 2020 but find myself doing odd jobs and Doordash to keep busy doing something. Retirement itself without a ton of hobbies can be boring.
Addicting
Well-known member
Same boat, March of 2020 and made it 3 months. Then into a part time gig which transformed into a full time gig where I can take as much time as I want off.
I would second sitting down with an advisor and mapping it out. You are in way to beautiful of a place to be too old to enjoy it working.
At 55 my wife will have her 30 years of teaching in and will gain access to her pension and insurance. We’re still ~20 years out. We’ve planned and are saving with the option of both being able to “retire” then if we want to. Money wise we should be well on track at that point. I’ve seen too many people work until the edge of death because of the financial choices they made, I learned early on that I wanted options. I’m also of the opinion people are better off when they have a purpose so I’m sure we’ll continue with either some part time work with flexibility or find some local cause you can pour time into! No interest in watching tv and wanting to kill each other a few weeks into retirement
If I stay with my state job, I can retire anywhere between age 48-55 with a pension and healthcare. Most of my recently retired coworkers have taken up other jobs to keep them busy. It seems like the ones that didnt keep working and are just sitting at home are fat and miserable.
My tentative plan is if I leave at 48, I'll find other full time employment until 55. After 55, it'll be part time until 62. We should be doing well at that point between my pension, my 457(b), wife's 401(k), and both of our social security.
My tentative plan is if I leave at 48, I'll find other full time employment until 55. After 55, it'll be part time until 62. We should be doing well at that point between my pension, my 457(b), wife's 401(k), and both of our social security.
I had mandatory retirement at age 55 from the state. The stars aligned for me and I pretty much kept my same income through 3 pensions and healthcare for my wife and I. For the next 10 years, i used my acquired skills and certifications to earn really good pay for part time work at my convenience. Now I deliver auto parts for a store when I want to work… sort of a hobby when I’m not hunting or fishing. I also lead an interpretive hiking tour for a local resort one day per week during the summer.
Mallardsx2
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2015
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Mallardsx2
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2015
- Messages
- 2,722
Yes I have a plan. The countdown is real.
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