Anyone close to retirement? Take two!

I notice that there is an 'Anyone close to retirement'? It is pretty long and the last posts were a year ago. As I can retire next summer when I will be 55, I thought I would start another. I have a little dilemma. Financially, it makes more sense for me to wait until 2016. It is manageable for me to go next year though, my monthly budget for day-day-life would mean being careful, but I would have enough savings for several lovely cruises. I tell myself that, yes, financially I'd be better off if I waited another year, but that will apply every year, so when would it be enough to make it an easy decision?

Over the last 12 months, I have heard of several people (friends and relatives of friends and colleagues) who have died suddenly, or developed serious illness in their 50s. I know that we can't predict the future and none of us know how long we have for our plans. Also, my OH is retired. He went early from teaching, aged 56. He will be 61 next year. I really feel I want to retire so that we can spend time gardening, cruising etc together, but I do struggle with the nagging thought that I should wait. We have only been together for 5 years, our kids are grown and we love spending time together.

Anyone else here dealing with this, or been where I am? Did you go, or stay? Was it the right decision in retrospect?

Hi I'm due to retire in 2yrs 8months DW in 10year we are aiming to get her retired in 4year we want to spend time together.

My wife, a half dozen years older than I, retired in 2003 at age 59, after a bout of breast cancer. Doing well after treatments back then.

Travelled with her friend many times as I slaved away at work.

I retired in 2009 at 59, and then got major prostate cancer in 2011, doing well after 6 months of treatments then.

Had first big cruise just before diagnosis, and another one right after treatments.

If you can, retire as soon as you can, because you don't know what will happen down the road

Yes, time together is so important. Germanyboy, I know you are right. My instincts are telling me so! August 2014 it is then :)

Retirement does not have to mean loss of income. I retired from my full time government job at the age of 52. I was lucky that I had 31+ years and could retire with full benefits. My husband is younger and has a sufficient income, so money wasn't as much of an issue as my mental and physical wellness and the stress the job caused me. I struggled for over 2 years trying to decide if I should retire. After 6 months off, I decided retirement wasn't making me as happy as I had assumed it would, so I went back to work part time. I have had several jobs over the past 6 years and now work 4 hours a day, 3 days a week at a dream of a job. So yes, I am retired, but I still work. The difference is I work because I want to, not because I have to. My sister did the same thing. She retired from a very stressful government position, but went back to work after a year in the private sector.

Yes, I consider myself VERY lucky! Not a lot of people can say they have a dream job. :)

I worked for 30 years in a small local government job. At 25 years the state offered an incentive that I was just eligible for. I debated leaving and my DH had retired many years earlier as he is 16 years older than I am. I decided that it just wasn't the right time. I went the additional 5 years (would have been better if it had been 3) and retired 6 years ago. Our health is good, but at 83 and 67 everyone usually has issues. We travel as often as we can. DH still works PT, I do a lot of volunteer jobs. Heading to Bermuda in a few weeks, and we always do a cruise in Feb to get out of the crazy CNY winter weather.

Basically I think you know when you are ready, and you know when you are not. Good luck and happy traveling.

I expected to keep working for many more years and then I turned 60. A lot of people have a difficult time dealing with one of the "0" birthdays and 60 was mine. I got to thinking about all the things I would love to do if I retired (especially my long anticipated world cruise) and wondering if I would have the time to do it all. I spent that year thinking about it and figuring out budgets. When I crunched all the numbers and realized I could live comfortably (cruising is my only major expense) I retired at 61. I have loved every minute since then.

I notice that there is an 'Anyone close to retirement'? It is pretty long and the last posts were a year ago. As I can retire next summer when I will be 55, I thought I would start another. I have a little dilemma. Financially, it makes more sense for me to wait until 2016. It is manageable for me to go next year though, my monthly budget for day-day-life would mean being careful, but I would have enough savings for several lovely cruises. I tell myself that, yes, financially I'd be better off if I waited another year, but that will apply every year, so when would it be enough to make it an easy decision?

 

Over the last 12 months, I have heard of several people (friends and relatives of friends and colleagues) who have died suddenly, or developed serious illness in their 50s. I know that we can't predict the future and none of us know how long we have for our plans. Also, my OH is retired. He went early from teaching, aged 56. He will be 61 next year. I really feel I want to retire so that we can spend time gardening, cruising etc together, but I do struggle with the nagging thought that I should wait. We have only been together for 5 years, our kids are grown and we love spending time together.

 

Anyone else here dealing with this, or been where I am? Did you go, or stay? Was it the right decision in retrospect?

I turned 55 last September. At that point I became eligable to retire. I'm taking it year by year. I'm looking now at 56 1/2. Don't know if I'll go then or not but I anticipate 59 1/2 to be my absolute max. I'm trying to get as close as possible to 65 to reduce the amount I'll pay over the years for insurance.

If I could retire or work part time I would ( at 56 yo) do it in a heart beat. Unfortunately I carry our health insurance for both DH and myself. It will be at least 9 years before I can even come close to affording to retire.. when we are both on medicare. DH is self employed and will probably work until he can't stand up anymore:p, but will slow down a little as our son is a business partner and can carry some of the work. Everyone's life situation is different... with 4 children raised and educated our funds have been tapped into pretty heavily over the years. Add to that the market dips and the retirement pool has been drained down a bit over the years. Lets hope for good health and the cash to cruise for as long as possible, retirement or no.

Amen Misty :)

I can at any time (I am 58) but not ready. My husband 12 years older has been retired for 8 years. I will probably work 2 more. I have been at my company for 34 years and we do have retiree medical so I don't have to wait for Medicare either. It is somewhat comforting to know that at any point if I want to I can just sayI'm done.

Looking again at the figures, it would be sensible for me to work an extra year until summer 2015, but it will be nice to know from next summer that I can go any time if the urge takes me :)

Retired at 55 with a great pension as did DH. The money we paid into our pension was not missed as we never saw it. Now at 65, we both receive 2 federal pensions as well. House is paid for, kids long ago educated. And the biggie is we are Canadian so have our health insurance and now drug insurance as well. Our pension years truly are golden.

Retired at 55 with a great pension as did DH. The money we paid into our pension was not missed as we never saw it. Now at 65, we both receive 2 federal pensions as well. House is paid for, kids long ago educated. And the biggie is we are Canadian so have our health insurance and now drug insurance as well. Our pension years truly are golden.

Its lovely to hear that. Enjoy :) We're in the UK so our health care is provided too. The lack of that must be very tough in the US.

I retired aged 57 in February this year. I had another 2 years to work to get 40 years in which would give me a maximum works pension. However after looking at the figures, 2 years extra work made little difference to my pension so I retired. Never looked back, don't know how I had time for work ha. Thought cruising would be the first to go but that isn't the case and we are off to the Canaries with P&O in March. Another thing for those from the UK, when is the Government going to next raid Private Pension Funds! I hear they are thinking of taxing lump sums and putting a maximum figure on the amount you can take as a lump sum.Dennis

I retired aged 57 in February this year. I had another 2 years to work to get 40 years in which would give me a maximum works pension. However after looking at the figures, 2 years extra work made little difference to my pension so I retired. Never looked back, don't know how I had time for work ha. Thought cruising would be the first to go but that isn't the case and we are off to the Canaries with P&O in March. Another thing for those from the UK, when is the Government going to next raid Private Pension Funds! I hear they are thinking of taxing lump sums and putting a maximum figure on the amount you can take as a lump sum.Dennis

I'm tentatively planning to retire at the end of 2016, but am waiting to see what the ramifications (both pro and con) are of Obamacare before doing so.

Those of us not covered by pensions are finding it difficult to make definitive plans with so much being unknown at this point.

Garnett

I plan to retire June 29, 2014. I turn 62 on July 3 next year. I will have been at the college where I am and if you are 62 and have been there 15 years, you can "retire" from the college meaning you can keep your health care and pay the current rate you pay insurance which fir us is 150 a month for both of us. Hubby is self employed so ins is a must.

This is my 39th year in higher Ed, and all three colleges have had the same retirement system so it has just traveled with me. We are debt free, and excited about traveling more. We have been traveling a good bit for the past dozen years, and have 20 cruises since 2006. Life is good.

My Dad died at 62, three months after retiring. I have always been aware that we need to go while we can!

I plan to retire June 29, 2014. I turn 62 on July 3 next year. I will have been at the college where I am and if you are 62 and have been there 15 years, you can "retire" from the college meaning you can keep your health care and pay the current rate you pay insurance which fir us is 150 a month for both of us. Hubby is self employed so ins is a must.

 

This is my 39th year in higher Ed, and all three colleges have had the same retirement system so it has just traveled with me. We are debt free, and excited about traveling more. We have been traveling a good bit for the past dozen years, and have 20 cruises since 2006. Life is good.

 

My Dad died at 62, three months after retiring. I have always been aware that we need to go while we can!

Sounds good. You're so right, we have to live as fully as possible 'now' as we don't know how long we have here! I hadn't realised that when you have health insurance with a job in the US, you have to pay for it. Don't you have free health care for Seniors?

Very few people who have health insurance with an employer in the US get it for free. Ours is reasonable. Many pay from 300 to 600 a month for family coverage. Seniors have Medicare but most pay a supplement.

I will say if you are from a country like Canada with socialized medicine, at least I can get in to see doctors and specialists before I get gravely ill which is what happened to a friend of mine in Canada. Also a friend there with a teen could not get help for him with mental issues until it was too late. I hope most people there get help when they need it. .

Internetwhiz, that sounds very scary to me. The NHS in the UK has its problems (as, no doubt, does every system), but speaking as someone who works in it and uses it, it usually provides very good care. Every working person pays National Insurance of about 9% of their earnings up to a maximum of £800 per year. All health care is free at the point of need. I always thought that when an American had a job with health insurance, it was a perk they didn't pay for :eek:

DH retired about 10 years ago with an early retirement incentive from his job. We have a decent pension and medical coverage for both of us. After about 6 months of me coming home from work and finding him spending his days on the sofa watching Columbo (nothing against Columbo here, just felt he needed motivation to get off the sofa!) I decided he needed some ADULT supervision! We determined that we would be fine without my income, so I was able to get out of a job I really wasn't loving very much.

We cleaned out our basement, packed up the rest of what we had left, and moved from CT to Central FL about 9 years ago. We have never once regretted our decision!

We really enjoy the time we are able to spend together, the chance to do some travelling, and to knock out some of the items on our bucket lists! We are really grateful to be "living the dream".

Internetwhiz, that sounds very scary to me. The NHS in the UK has its problems (as, no doubt, does every system), but speaking as someone who works in it and uses it, it usually provides very good care. Every working person pays National Insurance of about 9% of their earnings up to a maximum of £800 per year. All health care is free at the point of need. I always thought that when an American had a job with health insurance, it was a perk they didn't pay for :eek:

Compared to that, I pay about 2% a month for both of us to be covered. Part of the problem in the US in my opinion is that we have some on the disabled rosters getting a check who could be working and helping out. Many honestly need it but many take advantage of it.

Retired at 55 with a great pension as did DH. The money we paid into our pension was not missed as we never saw it. Now at 65, we both receive 2 federal pensions as well. House is paid for, kids long ago educated. And the biggie is we are Canadian so have our health insurance and now drug insurance as well. Our pension years truly are golden.

It has been nearly the same for us. I never held a job long enough to get a pension. Mostly a stay at home wife and mother. But I took that job seriously and manged to save so that my husband could retire at 53. That was 32 years ago and we are still cruising. He had a heart attack in his 40s, so we wanted to live a different life style asnd here we are loving every minute of it.

It has been nearly the same for us. I never held a job long enough to get a pension. Mostly a stay at home wife and mother. But I took that job seriously and manged to save so that my husband could retire at 53. That was 32 years ago and we are still cruising. He had a heart attack in his 40s, so we wanted to live a different life style asnd here we are loving every minute of it.

32 years of Cruising together with more to come sounds fabulous to me. Living the dream :)