Why did you decide to retire when you did?

[Paumavista]

We both took early retirements (I was in my 40's/ he in his 50's) we were Federal employees during base closures and workforce downsizing - we decided to volunteer & take the reduced retirement and spend time with our kids (our youngest were still in grade school). We have NEVER regretted the decision. We've both had part time jobs when we wanted but no 2nd careers. We have enough to live off of, we got involved with foster care & our favorite charities, and truly appreciate the quality time with special people more than anything the extra money would buy. Life is short, seize the moment!

[theroos17]

I am eligible to retire in April of 2020 (Just shy of 50 years old). I'll have 25 years in law enforcement. However, we have a child in school who won't graduate high school until 2022 (no intent of pulling him out of the school system he's been in his whole life). The game plan is to retire in April 2022 (2 years more gives me a bump in my pension anyway). After he graduates, we intend to move down to Florida immediately. Between property taxes and income taxes (In NJ now) we will take home $11000 more in cash per year. Plus, we already travel down there because we love cruising out of Florida ports. With the tax savings I will actually bring home more in retirement then when I was working. We have even already figured out that we will probably be able to take four to six cruises a year when we move down there.

 

It never hurts to have your plans figured out ahead of time.

 

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[Cairn Mom]

I was working for an engineering company as a senior project administrative assistant and liked my job. But, my 94 year old mother was in a nursing and failing. I went to the nursing home every day after work. The traffic in Houston is horrific during rush hours. I was leaving the house at 6:30 am and not getting home till 7:00 at night. I was exhausted. So I retired to spend more time with her. Glad I did. She passed away a little over a year later.

 

 

 

Similar situation. Taking care of my parents was like having two full time jobs. Ultimately,I retired to spend more time with my mom. She’s 85 and has difficulty walking. After my dad passed, I realized there was more to life than work. I loved my job, but it was a job. I think some of my former colleagues are amazed that I don’t miss work. I had a plan for my retirement and it helped me find happiness in this new phase of my life. What will I do with myself each day? What changes will I have to make in order to afford my retirement lifestyle ? In my opinion,nobody should retire until they can answer both these questions. Traveling is great but,in my case, I can’t do it endlessly. Lol- my husband still works and may never retire.

 

 

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Edited February 1, 2018 by Cairn Mom

[msgisfree]

Ready to enjoy the fruits of my labor. High School Educator. Is there anything else to say? Don't enjoy my job. Children are grown tax payers. Time for Me, Myself and I.

[Go-Bucks!]

I'm retiring in 11 months (at 65 yrs old), but I'm not as confident as many of you about finances when no longer working.

I'm a nurse and have only had my career for 27 yrs. As a single mom I couldn't save much retirement money until my children grew up. It's so hard to work on my feet for 12 hr shifts at my age. Wish I could have retired years ago with a bigger 401K. Oh well......:(

[misty57]

I'm retiring in 11 months (at 65 yrs old), but I'm not as confident as many of you about finances when no longer working.

I'm a nurse and have only had my career for 27 yrs. As a single mom I couldn't save much retirement money until my children grew up. It's so hard to work on my feet for 12 hr shifts at my age. Wish I could have retired years ago with a bigger 401K. Oh well......:(

I'm in agreement! I'm so used to those non stop 12,13,14 hr shifts no lunch etc. But the stamina isn't there anymore. I'm sure you can make retirement work. There are a lot of things that you won't have to pay for once you retire. Just think, less than a year to go!!!

[Psycho and Barb]

I did 28 years in the US military...Retired with a nice pay check. Did some years with a major Defense Contractor working overseas In the sandbox. Got another retirement check but even better 401k. Been working on my third retirement back with the US Government for over ten years. I love my job and I’m not ready hang up my combat boots. Figure as long as we can continue to cruise two or three times a year...Why retire?

 

 

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[sirvan123]

Worked until I was 68 got my 25 years service and left. The company changed after merge, I became a number not an employee.

[Barefootwoman]

I have enough money to retire now and not have to work ever again, but I am staying until next year when I will be eligible to take the healthcare insurance with me. It will bridge me through until I reach the age of qualifying for Medicare. I have a bucket list to work on :)

[fyree39]

After a rather frustrating day at my job, I left a bit early, went to HR and started the process to retire. As stated in my signature line, I'll retire on 1 July, just 4 months from now. No looking back and I'm feeling better about work already!

[SargassoPirate]

I have the option to retire in April. However, were I to do so, I'd make about 20% less per month. Part of me says it's more important to enjoy my retirement for as long as I can rather than get more money. In either case, I'll be earning enough to live on.

 

What made you decide it was time?

 

When I first entered the workforce as an adult with a job that had a defined pension plan, a very wise personnel counselor told me "On the day you are eligible to retire, from then on you are working for the difference"

 

When I was offered an early retirement opportunity at age 53, I did the math and found the difference in my bottom line take home would be $500 a month. I decided I wasn't working anywhere for $500 a month and was out of there in two weeks.

 

Never even missed the $500.

[fyree39]

I submitted my retirement paperwork on Wednesday. I've been on cloud nine ever since!

[dverzic]

I submitted my retirement paperwork on Wednesday. I've been on cloud nine ever since!

 

 

 

Congratulations! It is such an amazing feeling!

 

 

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[Sailor_Sally]

I worked 4o years as a nurse and one day I just had it .It had been building up so I retired at 60 and never looked back.

[fyree39]

I worked 4o years as a nurse and one day I just had it .It had been building up so I retired at 60 and never looked back.

This is how I've been feeling. I have a job that goes from being dead quiet to extremely busy. In the dead quiet weeks I take that breather: No projects, no meetings, longer lunches (though I make this up at the end of the day). My immediate supervisor has been breathing down my neck and micromanaging. I can't tolerate micromanaging. So, I'm outa there!

[shipper50]

I submitted my retirement paperwork on Wednesday. I've been on cloud nine ever since!

Good for you. Time will seem slow at first and then you will say, I have been retired THAT long.;)

[wishIweretravelling]

I had a high-pressure job that I mostly enjoyed. I promised myself that, if I ever found myself not enjoying it/being miserable more than half the time for a sustained period, I would leave it. That started happening around the time I reached the age at which my financial advisor told me I could afford to retire. So, rather than change jobs, I retired. I do still take on occasional contract work, primarily to fund my cruising, but I still have control over my schedule and my life. I highly recommend it.

[Go-Bucks!]

I worked 4o years as a nurse and one day I just had it .It had been building up so I retired at 60 and never looked back.

CONGRATS!! I've been a staff nurse doing direct patient care for 27 years and my body is taking such a beating that I can't get through the day without taking ibuprofen a couple times. I have 10 months left before I retire (at 65) so I'm just taking one day at a time.

 

Enjoy your new-found freedom and do all those things you've had to put on the back burner all these years. :D

[dverzic]

No comment

[Cyber Kat]

Interesting question!

 

We had planned to retire earlier than we did, but the economic crash in 2008 kind of put a kink in our plans. My husband semi retired - he was an independent contractor. I had a job I loved and was working with a group of great people in a very nice environment. The only thing I hated was the commute - and getting up at the crack of dawn.

 

So I ended up working past my retirement age. When I went to Social Security to sign up because I was trying to decide when to retire, I found out that I fell into a rather advantageous loophole. A first for me, because I usually end up in disadvantageous potholes. I was able to collect from my husband’s account while continuing to pay into my own. Don’t go looking for that - they have found it and closed it. One of the the few times in my life that I lucked out with something like that.

 

So I worked for another year and I was planning to retire at the beginning of the summer. In March, my boss called me in and told me they were going to be cutting back. There were 2 of us doing the same job, so we were going to have to go through a hiring process with interviews and tests to see which one of us would stay. In my head, I’m groaning and trying to decide what I want to do because I really didn’t want to go through the hassle. Plus the guy I worked with was a really nice guy with a young family.

 

As I’m listening and thinking, I hear the HR person say, “Or you could take the package!” I immediately thought, “There’s a package???”

 

Another serendipitous moment. I’d been kind of wishing for just this kind of opportunity. I was going to retire, but I thought it would be lovely to have some benefits.

 

I didn’t tell them that. I just agreed to the interview process. I talked it over with my husband and we agreed that retiring was a no brainer!

 

The next day, I told my boss that I’d like to discuss the package. He was thrilled. Like most, he really hated letting someone go. I also told him that we could just tell everyone that I was retiring. He was happy about that too because people always get nervous when their are cutbacks.

 

The package was great and included some nice benefits. They said they would have a retirement luncheon - and I never turn down a party. They gave me a rather large American Express gift card as a retirement gift.

 

I have never looked back. Not regretted it once. Being retired is the best job I’ve ever had! We were lucky in having a very good financial planner and we had him for a very long time.

 

We had saved the money I got from Social Security while I was working. Combined with the retirement package, we were able to go on our “trip of a lifetime” - a Viking River cruise on the Rhine with business/first flights, extra days in Amsterdam and Lucerne. It was absolutely wonderful!

 

Don’t wait until you can’t do the things you want to. You never know what the future holds. We don’t plan to leave inheritances, nor spend our hard earned money on a nursing home.

 

We have worked things out with our finance guy and know how much cruising and traveling we can manage and we are going for it. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

 

 

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[fyree39]

I worked 4o years as a nurse and one day I just had it .It had been building up so I retired at 60 and never looked back.

It was building up for me. When I was offered this position 2 years ago I said I'd stay past retirement age due to the opportunity they were offering me. I had no idea just how stressful the job was and after about a year that build-up started going on inside me. There were days I'd sit at my desk with my head in my hands internally groaning at some of the stuff that was coming up with the job. VERY stressful.

 

We'll have to do some belt-tightening and I've been keeping a budget for the bast several months to see where our money is going. I can see now that most of our spare income is going to cruises! That might have to change in retirement, but that will just make the cruises we take sweeter.

 

We're also looking forward to some road trips. There is much of this country I haven't seen, particularly the northern states like Minnesota and Montana. My husband is a born and bread Californian and has seen even less than I. I've been pulling out our old Atlas and simply looking at states that might be fun exploring. Hello, Wyoming! How-do, Oklahoma! Greetings to Georgia! That sort of thing.

[Go-Bucks!]

We'll have to do some belt-tightening and I've been keeping a budget for the bast several months to see where our money is going. I can see now that most of our spare income is going to cruises! That might have to change in retirement, but that will just make the cruises we take sweeter.

 

We're also looking forward to some road trips. There is much of this country I haven't seen, particularly the northern states like Minnesota and Montana. My husband is a born and bread Californian and has seen even less than I. I've been pulling out our old Atlas and simply looking at states that might be fun exploring. Hello, Wyoming! How-do, Oklahoma! Greetings to Georgia! That sort of thing.

I'll be retiring about 6 months after you and will also likely need to tighten the belt. My retirement gift to myself is a world cruise, but after that I'll probably have to take short and cheap cruises. Fine with me as long as I can still go at least once a year.

 

I also plan to do some car trips around the country. So many places still to see....the South, the West, New England. :cool:

[OCruisers]

We owned our own business and were given an offer we could not refuse.

Love being retired! :hearteyes:

[MalteseMama2]

I retired from teaching elem school last June. I put in the paper work the moment I was eligible. I still loved the children ( I mostly taught 1st grade and Kindergarten during my 30 yrs) and teaching, however I was being forced to conduct developmentally inappropriate activities and put in 9 to 11 hour days with only useless paperwork to show for it. I was tired of making children cry because they were REQUIRED to be on a computer for x # of mins a day, take a test on subjects they hadn’t been taught just to see what they already knew ( 5 & 6 yr olds don’t understand this concept), no more nap time for all day Kindergarten because academics need more time. My last year was wonderful, because I knew I was going to retire and I did things my way! By the end of that year 1/3 of my Kinder class was reading on a 1st grade level, most of the others knew all letters & sounds, and the only who didn’t were sweet little ones with cognitive issues.

I now work for my husband, am on his company’s insurance, am active with some church groups, take care of our granddaughter occasionally and VOLUNTEER at the school I retired from. We are able to take 2 cruises this year instead of 1. I have absolutely NO REGRETS!

 

 

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[LVFire]

Im still working but the City is on Probation... Im a Fire Captain and although I'm in great shape at 60 it is a young man's game, I was going to leave in April 18... then July 18, now April of 19 with the DW as she will be eligible then... We will retire from City of Las Vegas on 4/4/19 and Leave on the NCL Jade southern Caribbean 10 day in a Suite on 4/12/19...